2013 pitchfork best new music albums

paladisiac · 2013-11-04T11:09:34-05:00

I was curious and found that there are about 55 albums pitchfork declared a "best new music" album for 2013 (so far). Since they usually figure out their favs of the year in November, i thought i'd check out the list. Since i was checking it out, i thought i'd copy the 9.0's and up here. (Look -- it's arcade fire!) Arcade Fire Reflektor By Lindsay Zoladz; October 28, 2013 9.2 Arcade Fire's lush, imaginative 85-minute fourth album, produced in part by James Murphy and featuring guest vocals from David Bowie, is a triumph, but not a victory lap; the band never sounds content enough for that. Instead, it's an anxious, occasionally downright paranoid album that asks big, barbed questions aimed not just at the man who may or may not be upstairs, but the more terrestrial gods of rock history, too. Nearly a decade after Funeral, Butler still sings like everything is at stake. And while there's always been a physicality about the Arcade Fire's sound, the rhythm section has never popped on one of their albums the way it does here. It's limber and loose, as though the songs were performed live; the arrangements breathe, seethe, and sweat. Reflektor sounds as if the Arcade Fire have ingested a bunch of the great art-rock records you're "supposed" to learn to appreciate in your formative listening years, and thrown them into the fire in an attempt to make new shapes from the smoke. Darkside Psychic By Ian Cohen; October 7, 2013 9.0 Darkside, Nicolas Jaar’s partnership with guitarist Dave Harrington, follow their recent reimagination of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories with a fascinating, endlessly explorable debut. Psychic is translucent and dense, electrified and organic, holding a form while constantly being prodded into new shapes. It's rife with extraterrestrial atmosphere and alien texture, but it never strays into pure ambience. In a record that fits an incredible amount of music into a compact 45 minutes, the silences are moments of active listening, too. Rarely has an album appealed to the high-minded while accommodating the simply high-minded. Kanye West Yeezus By Ryan Dombal; June 18, 2013 9.5 Kanye's bracing and provactive sixth solo album marks a blunt break with the filigreed maximalism he so thoroughly nailed on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Each fluorescent strike of noise, incongruous tempo flip, and warped voice is bolted in its right place across the album's fast 41 minutes. For Kanye, there's joy in repulsion. And on Yeezus, his happiness involves switching out smooth soul for jarring electro, acid house, and industrial grind while delivering some of his most lewd and heart-crushing tales yet. Disclosure Settle By Larry Fitzmaurice; June 4, 2013 9.1 Disclosure's debut is not only 2013's best dance record so far, it's also one of the most assured and confident debuts from any genre in recent memory. Dance music's long had a fickle relationship with the album format, but Settle's impeccable sequencing leads to a record that begs to be heard in its entirety. Some of Settle's giddiest highlights are clear 2-step/UK garage callbacks-- "Voices" and "You & Me", especially-- but Disclosure refuse to stick to any single genre. They effortlessly spin through romantic house ("Defeated No More", "F For You"), pitch-screwed bass music ("Second Chance"), and raunchy grime-inflected motifs ("Confess to Me"); nothing is off limits, and Settle is all the better for it. Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City By Ryan Dombal; May 13, 2013 9.3 Vampire Weekend's third album is a remarkable progression from a band that was already functioning at a high level. The songs are more spontaneous and dynamic and, along with the more lived-in sonics, Modern Vampires finds the group taking a leap forward into emotional directness. Vampire Weekend seem to have internalized all of the positive traits of their internet-soaked generation while resisting the ugly ones: they'll offer jokes and humanity on Twitter without navel-gazing; they'll play a concert for a credit-card company while roping in Steve Buscemi for promo videos that are no-shit funny; they'll use the tools of modernity to expand their universe rather than contract it. And then they'll go ahead and crack your heart in two. My Bloody Valentine mbv By Mark Richardson; February 6, 2013 9.1 Almost 22 years after My Bloody Valentine's last album, Kevin Shields has completed this stunning followup. What My Bloody Valentine have done is take the precise toolkit of Loveless-- layered Fender Jaguar guitars made woozy through pedals and tremolo, hushed androgynous vocals way down in the mix, titles that hint at the grey memory of feelings rather than saying anything explicit-- and made another album with it, one that is stranger and darker and even harder to pin down. Rather than feeling effortless, mbv strains, pushing at its boundaries with a sense of pensive gloom.

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Zapruder Profile

Fuck, I hope they don't give the aoty to kanye again.

meccalecca Voice of Reason Profile
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Zapruder wrote:

Fuck, I hope they don't give the aoty to kanye again.

agreed. I could definitely see it happening. P4K is al about doing whatever gets them the most attention.
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Patman360 Serenity Now Moderator Profile
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You know what? I've never actually used Pitchfork... 🤔
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meccalecca wrote:

agreed. I could definitely see it happening. P4K is al about doing whatever gets them the most attention.

Lolwat giving it to MBDTF was from contraversial.

meccalecca Voice of Reason Profile
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Jhereko wrote:

Lolwat giving it to MBDTF was from contraversial.

while it's not controversial, people still talk about it a lot. Because Kanye is popular. They're not gonna give it to Darkside, because Darkside isn't well known. Pitchfork has a tendency to watch what other people are saying about a record before sounding off on it. They'll test the waters first. But don't be surprised if Kanye gets AOTY again.
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Hayden Profile
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2013 is kind of like 2011.. there really hasn't been a definitive album of the year... 🤔 I think MBV will top p4k's list though. I can't see them giving it to Kanye.

And fuck today's Matangi review. That album is excellent. 🧱
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meccalecca Voice of Reason Profile
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Hayden wrote:

I really doubt they'll give it to MBV. there's been very little talk about it since it was released.

2011 had Let England Shake. that was pretty definitive. at least in comparison to what's been released this year
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bongritsu 电子人 ( ｃｙｂｏｒｇ) Profile
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I think 2013 has been a far stronger year then 2012, 2011 and 2010. Techno and grindcore slayed it this year. Also lots of good noise and experimental release
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