Monomania… Fevered imagination
100 best albums of 2013 countdown: 20-11
Published on January 3rd, 2014 | Jonny Abrams
Look! Our countdown of the 100 best albums of 2013 is reaching its natural end, as we look at numbers 20 through 11…
20. Steve Mason – Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time
What we said…
Substitutes out its predecessor’s crisp, Richard X-produced R&B for a crunchier, more organic feel, all the while mixing things up as he’d been wont to do previously with The Beta Band and as King Biscuit Time.
Read our review of Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time in full!
19. Mazes – Ores and Minerals
What we said…
Twiddly psych lead guitar, a burning sort of driving intensity… Takes a bold leap forwards in a manner that reminds of Alfie on Do You Imagine Things? and Cloud Nothings on last year’s Attack on Memory… A brilliant bolt from the blue.
Read our review of Ores and Minerals in full!
18. Deerhunter – Monomania
What we said…
“Pensacola” and “Dream Captain” are just so deliciously fuzzy and sunny of disposition, the latter seeing fit to throw the line “I’m a poor boy from a poor family” into its chorus; it gets quite crashing and gnarly then ends in the splendour of a major 7th chord, making for a pretty nifty microcastle – sorry, microcosm – of Deerhunter as a whole.
Read our review of Monomania in full!
17. Julian Cope – Revolutionary Suicide
What we said…
The sweetly folky, ‘spot of sunlight on the wall’ melodies of “Hymn to the Odin” accumulate crunchy guitar, thunderclaps and monotone keyboard notes until it transforms quite unexpectedly into something really quite tempestuous…and this is just the beginning of one heck of an odyssey.
Read our review of Revolutionary Suicide in full!
16. MGMT – MGMT
What we said…
MGMT’s eponymous third sees the psychedelia take over altogether, and the results are genuinely stunning. Their affiliation with The Flaming Lips shines through in the frazzled ‘n’ fuzzed-out production – no coincidence, what with Dave Fridmann on knob-twiddling duties – but it winds up being a sound all of their own.
Read our review of MGMT in full!
15. Matmos – The Marriage of True Minds
What we said…
Humour and intelligence have always contested some kind of mad grapple for power in their work, and once again they’ve constructed a venue that’s brimming with colour, vibrancy, eclecticism, painstaking attention to detail and brain-frazzlingly hallucinatory properties.
Read our review of The Marriage of True Minds in full!
14. Elvis Costello & The Roots – Wise Up Ghost
What we said…
The (relatively) unlikely collaborative success story of 2013, following David Byrne and St. Vincent last year… Costello is as lyrically sharp and brimming with well-directed anger as ever over the crunchy, shuffling Roots funk.
Read our review of Wise Up Ghost in full!
13. Candy Claws – Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time
What we said…
Loveless meets SMiLE… Make no mistake, if this had come out on a renowned indie label at the beginning of the ’90s, we’d all still be referring to it in hushed, reverential tones.
Read our review of Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time in full!
12. The Duckworth Lewis Method – Sticky Wickets
What we said…
The cricket theme may sound prohibitive but this writer can assure you, as someone who’s never got round to being immersed in “the gentleman’s game” (goodness, that sounds euphemistic), the great melodies and ever-present sense of playfulness dictate that a specialist knowledge is not a prerequisite… Black-belt-level songwriting from Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh.
Read our review of Sticky Wickets in full!
11. The Stepkids – Troubadour
What we said…
Stepkids songs teem with colours, benevolent good humour and a funky kind of psychedelia/psychedelic kind of funk, all aspects that they’ve somehow managed to embolden on Troubadour… Complex as you’d want it to be without it spilling over into inscrutability, while at the same time being as melodic – either in harmony or discordance, usually both at once – as anything else out there.
Read our review of Troubadour in full!
Previously on our 100 best albums of 2013 countdown: 100-91 – 90-81 – 80-71 – 70-61 – 60-51 – 50-41 – 40-31 – 30-21
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About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
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