50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1

50. Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Summoning have proven time and again that they are absolute masters of their craft, however small their niche may be. Not only are they arguably the best symphonic black metal band ever to play the genre, they take a concept that permeates black metal as a whole and do what nearly all others cannot: turn it into something that is alive and sentient. Old Mornings Dawn brings back the imagery of Middle-earth like only Summoning could, with massive tracks featuring their signature keyboard-laden soundscapes, lumbering guitar melodies, and echoing screams. It has been 7 years since we last heard from Summoning, but they continue to conjure dreams of Tolkien’s universe within our mind’s eye. –Kyle Ward

49. Vali – Skogslandskap

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Vali’s Skogslandskap is one of the most heartfelt and dainty records of 2013. Released at the end of August, just before autumn could start to raise its tenebrific head once more, it is a record that supremely fills the role of a loyal comrade who accompanies you through the darker days of the year. Quiet evenings in a cabin, reflective conversations next to a cozy fireplace, and the awe-inspiring beauty of nature among other similar phenomena associate with this carefully crafted piece of neofolk, and who doesn’t love those things? A feeling of warmness and security is ingrained deep within this beautiful album, allowing for an immediate connection to be made. Skillful guitar playing and delicate constructions are both ever-present, but the record is more than a sum of its parts, since its brilliant structural side is ultimately overshadowed still by the feelings it manages to evoke. This makes Skogslandskap an absolutely must-hear album, one that has something to offer for anyone with an ear for acoustic music. –Magnus Altkula

48. Danny Brown – Old

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Nobody so perfectly embodies the visual equivalent of every illicit substance that has ever entered their body like Danny Brown. Furthermore, nothing so perfectly captures the mind bending insanity of it all quite like his music. His voice, the beats, the completely nonsensical phrasings all blend together like a modern hip-hop Grateful Dead, blending together countless psychotropic trips and their accompanying excess into an all too lucid window into the life of an under the radar super star. Old is an auditory excursion into amphetamine driven clubs and the stranger than strange that lurks in the shadows therein – its clashing beats warped and distorted every which way just like the scrambled mind that birthed it. –Adam Thomas

47. Touche Amore – Is Survived By

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

I must admit that I was not looking forward to this year’s Touche Amore record. Their contribution to their split with Pianos Become the Teeth was not something I enjoyed at the time of its release. It was too long; it didn’t have the bottle rocket-like energy found on their past recordings. In a sort of ironic twist of fate, the qualities that made me doubt the Los Angeles-based post-hardcore band on that split are the very things that make Is Survived By a great record. For the first time Touche Amore’s songs evolved naturally. They no longer started up only to begin winding down seconds later. For as much as I was afraid that I didn’t want to listen to a Touche Amore song that lasted longer than 90 seconds, I’ve got to hand it to them, that five minute one-two punch of “Non-Fiction”/“Steps” won me over. –Adam Thomas

46. Misery Signals – Absent Light

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Misery Signals have always toed the line between traditional, banal metalcore and highly creative and expressive heavy music. While adhering rather strictly to the tried and true formula of their forbearers, Misery Signals approach their craft with surgeon’s precision that cannot help but to be admired. Like each record before it, Absent Light is tight, concise, and full of palpable energy. Whether it is the endlessly oppressive “Carrier” or the dramatic yet understated closer, Misery Signals’ latest album is a polished and impressive affair that boasts some of the most varied and creative songs of the band’s career. Absent Light lives up to the hype and delivers one of the most instantly gratifying listens of the year. –Eli Kleman

45. Ulver – Messe I.X-VI.X

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

The grand pack of wolves known simply as Ulver has teamed up with Norway’s Tromsø Chamber Orchestra for 2013’s Messe I.X-VI.X, a beautifully caustic affair that combines the aesthetics of a few of the group’s past works into one of the most gripping modern classical works in recent years. The album slowly builds steam weaving dark electronic textures into somber string arrangements, sculpting the type of beautifully haunting atmosphere one would come to expect from this prolific outfit until reaching a bombastic climax introducing Garm’s uniquely angelic vocals. The blazing fire of “Son of Man” subsides and smolders eerily through “Noche Oscura del Alma” before settling into the resolute procession that is the closing number. On Messe, the winding digital passages of Perdition City and Lyckantropen Themes find themselves capably fused with the cinematic orchestral parts of Blood Inside and Svidd Neger while employing the potently honed sense of ambiance seen on Ulver’s last two releases to concoct a brilliant new symphony for the modern age. Here’s to letting wolves in the concert hall. –AngelofDeath

44. Lorde – Pure Heroine

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Part of the reason Lorde’s particular breed of “antipop” has caught on so sincerely is that it reflects inward. While the wider spectrum of lauded pop artists often showcases musicians that aren’t quite at peace with themselves, Ella Yelich-O’Connor’s blend of unadorned electro-pop beats and heady lyricism just says one thing: “This is how true honesty sounds.” The official music video for “Tennis Court” works around the idea that pop music can be an immensely personal thing, in that the entire piece films Lorde singing the song, and just that. It’s a close-up, nice and intimate, in which the viewer can’t get away from the song’s creator– even if they wanted to, just for a second. And considering the song (and accompanying album, for that matter) is all about Lorde, why pretend this video is anything but apt? Lorde is considerably proud of this record, and she wants to remind us that this music came from a genuine place. It’s up to the listener to decide what they hear in Pure Heroine’s sparseness, but only Lorde truly understands the sincerity of it all. But she won’t humiliate herself on the television to convince you of its integrity; no, she’s perfectly content knowing Pure Heroine is the album she aimed for it to be. Perhaps that’s why Yelich-O’Connor is a fascinating pop star– she considers herself to be her most important fan. –Jacob Royal

43. Fates Warning – Darkness in a Different Light

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

In 1997, Ray Alder introduced A Pleasant Shade of Grey to the world by singing A Capella: So where do we begin/And what else can we say?/When the lines are all drawn/What should we do today? Without knowing it, Alder described the relative state of saturation Fates Warning had come about with 2003’s FWX, and the seamless steps of their 2013 reformation. It took the band ten years to begin anew and show the world that not all things have been said and not all lines have been drawn. What makes Darkness In A Different Light yet another important Fates Warning album, is the combination of the band’s inherent attributes with the experiences individual band members acquired over the last ten years from their personal or collaborative projects. –Voivod

42. Dark Tranquillity – Construct

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Simply put, Construct is a solid return to form by these Swedish melodic death metal giants. It is not another The Gallery – nor even a Fiction – but a sweeping improvement over the blase We Are The Void? Undoubtedly. On Construct, the band displays a newfound sense of energy, coupled with a slight directional shift towards softer tones, which has managed to breathe further life into the new material. As a result, the album features plenty of catchy hooks and choruses which were either missing or ineffective on their previous effort. Charisma: that’s the key word which separates Construct from its predecessor. At this stage in Dark Tranquillity’s career, most of the metal world already knows what these guys can and can not do, so as long as they churn out memorable melodeath which effortlessly translates over into a live setting – material such as that on Construct – we should all be just giddy. –Magnus Altkula

41. Streetlight Manifesto – The Hands That Thieve

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

There’s a not-so-subtle irony in the New Jersey-based septet’s fifth studio album title (their vitriol towards their former label – where the band wound up boycotting themselves – is well-documented). Not counting (but not discounting) 99 Songs of Revolution, we’ve waited six long years for new material, so here are three quick facts: (1) Streetlight easily have the most imaginative and complex horn and saxophone sections in the music business; (2) Frontman Tomas Kalnoky’s vocals have improved without sacrificing his sardonic wit (e.g. “The Hand That Thieves”, “They Broke Him Down”), hope-vs.-despair dichotomies (e.g. “If Only for the Memories”, “Toe to Toe”, “Ungrateful” [my favorite bass lines are featured here], “Your Day Will Come”), and frenetic guitar riffs; (3) Not to get all Shrek-like here, but the level of layers and seamless transitions in and out of genres feels and sounds so effortless (“The Three of Us” may be the album’s strongest straightforward cut, but the bouncy, Latin-infused flairs and bombastic gang vocals on select songs is impeccable). I give the band credit: they could have easily phoned it in on their label, but the lads have too much pride and integrity to make excuses or release anything but their best work. The Hands That Thieve may sound comfortably familiar in spots, but its listenability and playback value is immense; I hear something new and exciting with each listen. In sum, if you’re interested in continuing to support the band, purchase their merchandise directly from their webstore. Recommended tracks: “The Three of Us”, “With Any Sort of Certainty”, “If Only for the Memories”, “Oh Me, Oh My”. –Jom

40. Ducktails – The Flower Lane

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Those who consider modesty something of a virtue in indie rock would do well to take a quick stroll down this lane. Matt Mondanile’s third-or-fourth-or-seventh release as Ducktails is the anti-Reflektor. This thing has its polo shirt tucked in and its hands in its pockets—its most boisterous offering is the fantastic sophisti-pop pinch “Under Cover,” which means this album, at its most disruptive, sounds like Destroyer’s Kaputt. No matter, however: just about every track on The Flower Lane is gracefully written, snugly produced, and charming as all hell. On the aptly-named “Timothy Shy,” Mondanile explains himself: “I don’t always act so shy, you see.” I don’t know if he’s telling the truth. But old-fashioned though I may be for it, I kinda like this side of him. –Alex Robertson

39. Thundercat – Apocalypse

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Contrasting Stephen Bruener’s blistering fretwork on standout tracks like “Oh Sheit It’s X”, Apocalypse is more-so a stirring emotional statement dedicated to life, debasing any possible suggested air of complexity. Life has many “Heartbreaks + Setbacks”, is a very “Special Stage”, is difficult “Without You”, is simple when you think with your heart and mind as one (“Evangelion”), and eventually, “We’ll Die”. It’s simple, and Bruener truly gets it within the confines of forty minutes. Yet the most heartfelt vibes explored here are the permutations of the afterlife on Bruener’s dedication to late friend and fellow musician/label-mate/member of the human race, Austin Peralta, who perished on November 21, 2012. Death surely ends our lives, but friendships, moments, the way the leaves glimmer in the sunlight from the faintest touch of wind – memories are the real leftover pieces of our lives: “Thank you for being a friend / That you were to me / I cherish the moments of all our good time / You traveled beyond / Your legacy lives on”. –Sobhi Youssef

38. Jon Hopkins – Immunity

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

London-based producer Jon Hopkins’s fourth record is the one where he steps out from behind the curtain and finally delivers an album worthy of the force of its writer’s personality. For years, Hopkins was always the next big thing – the next tastemaking producer, the next talented face in a long line of Eno heirs – but Immunity lies in thrall to no bigger name, only Hopkins and his chameleonic grasp of texture and depth. Immunity’s greatest trait is its ability to make the whirring, interlocking parts of its intricate compositions sound expansive and liberating, a skill that enables the record to retain its immediacy, that exhilarating claustrophobia and throbbing sweat of the club, while still maintaining a deeply introspective vibe that permeates the entire proceedings. It’s an album that is dangerously easy to get lost in, and Hopkins, thankfully, has never sounded more willing to help us fall. –Rudy K.

37. Arctic Monkeys – AM

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

While I was admittedly skeptical about AM‘s blend of desert rock and R&B grooves during my first few listens of the album, I have to say that Arctic Monkeys really made a believer out of me over time. I’ve always loved Arctic Monkeys. To me, they are one of the most consistent groups in today’s music, and what I’ve always admired about the band is their dedication to evolving with every album. We’ve seen them grow from frantic indie rockers to Josh Homme’s desert-rock protégés in the span of four albums, and now with their latest venture into ‘desert-hop’, I think they’ve really created something that truly projects the band’s brilliance. While there are tracks like “I Want It All” and “R U Mine?” that pretty much expand on the stoner-pop sound that Arctic Monkeys perfected in the Suck It And See era, songs like the funky R&B hit “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” and the desert-hop hybrid “One For The Road” take the group to levels I didn’t even know they were capable of reaching. These guys have a real knack for writing catchy tunes that really stay with you, and the fact that they can mix quasi-hip-hop deliveries, R&B sensuality, and ambient ballads into their repertoire, and own it like it’s nothing, is astonishing to me. “Fireside”, I think, is not only the crowning jewel of the album, but one of the best songs Arctic Monkeys has ever written. It kind of mixes the various elements of AM into one song, but Alex Turner especially is in rare form here. His vocals have such a sincere emotional delivery to them. He’s giving vague references of a dead romance that’s obviously still haunting his thoughts (in fact, that’s pretty much AM‘s theme), but while love has always been Alex Turner’s go-to topic, there’s something different about this one. He’s not even singing a song, it feels more like he’s pouring his heart out to whoever it is he’s lost, and this is his plea or wish for a second chance. AM is probably one of Arctic Monkey’s most emotionally-driven albums. Alex Turner kind of rivals Taylor Swift here with the constant references to his own romantic life, but he’s always had a gift for turning his personal love stories into lyrical gold. –Hernan M. Campbell

36. Yo La Tengo – Fade

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Fade is the last indie rock album.  Sounds outlandish, I know, especially considering the several other Guitar-Driven, Pitchfork-Darling Records scattered about this list. But think about it: Fade listens like the end of a paradigm, the last from the ever-fetishized “golden era” of indie rock—only ’90s kids will know what I’m talking about—such that everything that follows its lead could only be variation or reference. The plaintive shoegaze, the laid back 4/4, the smoothness, the warmth—who does this genre this earnestly, this effectively nowadays? Pity Sex’s Feast of Love comes to mind, but even that phenomenal record lives under the shadow of bands like Yo La Tengo, who on Fade have wrapped themselves comfortably in a blanket of twilight. “Ohm” practically creaks awake, revving like a grizzled detective mustering one last bit of energy before retirement. The rest of the album glides by a little more softly, the clean guitars given a tasteful dollop of reverb, the vocals whispered as though they were more for Ira Kaplan’s ears than yours. “Before You Run” finishes things off with a eulogy of horns and relaxed drums, locking into one of the record’s loveliest grooves, before it, too, fades away. Even if there are more YLT albums to come, Fade sounds like Yo La Tengo looking back and waving goodbye. It’s the kids’ game now. No Country for Old Indie Bands. –Adam Downer

35. Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

What makes Darkthrone, out of all the other classic black metal acts, able to stand the test of time and, after twenty years, continue to release quality material? It’s probably because they don’t give a fuck what their fans want to hear. They play what they like, and they like what they play. The Underground Resistance holds especially true in that capacity, with six very distinct tracks that tap a wide array of NWOBHM and early extreme metal influences. All with a blackened Darkthrone spin, of course. The playing from the duo is tighter than ever, and the riffs are guaranteed to induce headbanging. From the falsettos of the epic “Leave No Cross Unturned” to the Quorthon-like shredding on “Lesser Men”, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto serve up a crash course in heavy metal history that should make a lot of their peers reconsider churning out any more plastic black metal. –AngelofDeath

34. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

In order to enjoy Run the Jewels, you have to accept that “bangers” need not be a reductive term in hip-hop. While it’s undeniable that this collaboration between Killer Mike and El-P is all about them beats, there’s something rejuvenating about the no-frills approach Run The Jewels takes. In a year where we’re used to Kanye West baiting “Sweet Yeezus!”es out of us via shock tactics, this duo is refreshing in that they focus on just making good hip-hop on their debut. Lead singles “Get It” and “Banana Clippers” are the best indicators of this– killer beats, wondrous wordplay and a Big Boi cameo that reminds us of when Outkast made us feel this way too. Run the Jewels spearheads this breed of straight-forward rap through a collaborative air– when Killer Mike’s done spitting, El-P comes in to clear the wreckage, only to give way to it again by the end of his verse. And all the way through this thing, it’s banger after another– one point of which the album’s RYM page will remind you as many times as you can stand to bear it. But Run the Jewels provides a convincing argument for the phrase, as well as for the fact that braggadocio can still be pulled off meaningfully in the rap game in 2013. Just listen to El-P’s killer line in “Get It”, where he underlines all the self-indulgent, but loveable nonetheless, qualities of this release: “All I got is this rap shit /All I want is a castle / And to move like a man with a minimum of harassment / The company of women with opinions and fat asses / That’s my list of demands / You don’t answer them, get the Gatling”. –Jacob Royal

33. Nails – Abandon All Life

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

Abandon All Life is every over the top hyperbole that you’ve ever heard about a heavy record. Deservedly so, I might add. It’s really quite impressive. While I’m sure that everyone reading this year end wrap up has at one point put on a record and thought, “Jesus Christ! This is the heaviest thing I’ve ever heard!”, Nails’ latest is the first record that actually lives up to that cliché reaction. Abandon All Life is an unrelenting wall of harsh noise, crusty powerviolence rage, and metallic hardcore attitude. The entirety of the record, from guitar tones to production, is carefully constructed with only one goal in mind: to pummel you into submission with equal parts brooding nihilism and guttural brutality. Sure, there’s been a lot of excellent hardcore this year, but nothing like this. –Adam Thomas

32. Frank Turner – Tape Deck Heart

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

A few months ago I walked into Subway for breakfast and heard the last minute or so of “Recovery.” That was when I realized that Frank Turner isn’t really the folk hero we’ve come to expect anymore. Instead, he’s filling a much more important niche: someone who plays good alternative rock. I haven’t heard his music on the radio since that day at Subway, but I hope that when people turn on rock radio to hear Kings of Leon, they hear Frank Turner instead. In my review, I made a few references to Counting Crows, and I find it hard to think of a higher comparison for a modern band. With the help of The Sleeping Souls – one of the best live bands out there right now – Frank Turner is adding some much-needed gravitas and integrity to modern rock music. — Channing Freeman

31. Arcade Fire – Reflektor

[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]

“Anybody that comes back with a double album, to me, needs to pry themselves out of their own asshole. This is not the Seventies, okay? Go and ask Billy Corgan about a double album. Who has the fucking time, in 2013, to sit through 45 minutes of a single album? How arrogant are these people to think that you’ve got an hour and a half to listen to a fucking record???” – Noel Gallagher.

The most damning thing about Funeral, even up to the release of Reflektor some nine years later, was the fact that it ended up segregating the Arcade Fire’s audience into two camps: those who believed that the band was four-for-four in terms of writing thunderous, life-affirming albums, and those who felt that they were one-for-four and would probably remain that way forever.

But with Reflektor, the Canadian sextet may have given themselves their best chance yet at finally living down the rampaging white elephant of Funeral. With former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy stepping in as producer, the latest addition to the Arcade Fire canon is at once elegant and poetic, sparse yet magnificent, and absolutely frightening in the manner at which it wrenches itself away from the post-modern dreariness that imbibed 2010’s The Suburbs. Yet Reflektor is at its most affecting when it wears its heart on its sleeve: “Daddy it’s fine/I’m used to ‘em now/But tell me why they treat me like this,” pleads the band in unison on the anti-homophobia anthem “We Exist”. In typical Win Butler fashion, there’s also the customary jibe at indie music’s notoriously fickle fans: “First they love you/Then they kill you/Then they love you again,” seethes the Montrealer on “Joan of Arc”. In other words, fuck all you Noel Gallagher types. –Irving Tan

Previous | Next