Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2013 50. Pusha T - My Name Is My Name 49. Julia Holter - Loud City Song 48. Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana 47. The Range - Nonfiction 46. M.I.A. - Matangi 45. Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus 44. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience 43. The National - Trouble Will Find Me 42. Rhye - Woman 41. Mutual Benefit - Love's Crushing Diamond 40. Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold 39. A$AP Rocky - LongLiveA$AP 38. Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest 37. Jon Hopkins - Immunity 36. Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe 35. Phosphorescent - Muchacho 34. Forest Swords - Engravings 33. Burial - Truant / Rough Sleeper 32. DJ Koze - Amygdala 31. Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety 30. Deerhunter - Monomania 29. The Haxan Cloak - Excavation 29. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 27. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight... 26. James Blake - Overgrown 25. Drake - Nothing Was the Same 24. Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven 23. DJ Rashad - Double Cup 22. Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt 21. Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe 20. Jai Paul - Jai Paul 19. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris 18. Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady 17. Haim - Days Are Gone 16. Bill Callahan - Dream River 15. Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time 14. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual 13. Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze 12. Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap 11. Darkside - Psychic 10. Arcade Fire - Reflektor 9. Savages - SIlence Yourself 8. Majical Cloudz - Impersonator 7. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories 6. Deafheaven - Sunbather 5. Danny Brown - Old 4. My Bloody Valentine - mbv 3. Disclosure - Settle 2. Kanye West - Yeezus 1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
2. "I love the first two Vampire Weekend albums, but hate this one" In response to Reply # 0
ill give it a 6th try.
What's weird is I can't tell if I am just locked into music more this year, or if Pitchfork has become more mainstream(or the mainstream has become more Pitchfork) but this is the first time where a sizable amount of the records I know and have heard.
3. "A lot of these albums are from old favorites." In response to Reply # 2
Drake, Yeezy, Daft Punk, National, Vampire Weeknd, MBV, Boards of Canada, Arcade Fire...all acts that have been around and are already established.
Plus the road from nobody to somewhat famous has never been shorter. I hadn't even heard of Chance the Rapper or Haim a year ago but they blew up quick.
------------------------------- If life is stupendous one cannot also demand that it should be easy. - Robert Musil
9. "RE: I love the first two Vampire Weekend albums, but hate this one" In response to Reply # 2
>ill give it a 6th try.
I'm surprised it's number 1, but I'm kind of pleased, actually. I consider myself a fan and think it's probably their best so far, although I burned it out kind of quick through excessive repeats...
10. "RE: P4K Top 50 Albums of the Year (swipe)" In response to Reply # 0
>35. Phosphorescent - Muchacho This should have been higher - it's a slow burner, one that really rewards repeat *close* listening...
On a similar vein, why isn't Iron and Wine's Ghost on Ghost ranked? Dude is probably one of the most interesting artists of the last decade in terms of artistic development, and GoG is a top-notch record.
>27. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight... I'm kind of mad more people haven't been paying attention to this record. I think her last album - Middle Cyclone - had suggested that maybe she'd fallen into a rut, so folks aren't bothering to check this one out? But it's genuinely different from much of her prior outcome, and aside from one or two tracks is a beautiful and engaging listen.
>18. Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady Good to see this so high.
>17. Haim - Days Are Gone I haven't met anyone who doesn't like this album, and for good reason. There's something intensely infectious about it, and it's nostalgic w/out feeling saccharine or cloying...
>1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City Like I said above, kind of surprised this is #1 but not mad at it.
24. "this is the first year I haven't heard 80% of their list" In response to Reply # 0
or most lists.
I dunno how I feel about that. I guess it means I'm busier in real life than I ever have been but it sure doesn't feel that way. I kind of feel like I have more time than ever, I just got into Netflix and video games in a real heavy way this year.
It will be funny when 20, 10, fuck, 5 years down the line, people will look at those lists (obviously, P4k is the standard-bearer today) and compare them with other years. "Oh, Vampire weekend made the best album of the year and a Kanye album not even his fans like is #2". LOLOL!!!
Btw, wasn't the Girls a hip band a while ago? Anyone jamming or "rocking out" to the girls recently? People really looking forward to their next album (yes, I know they have broken up; doesn't matter)? Fucking shit culture.
And Arcade Fire is ALMOST as bad as U2, Radiohead, Coldplay or Muse; granted, they "only" came in at nr 10 but still... that band should not be on any lists...
Seems like a lot of reviews and reception to the album in general have been lukewarm. Personally, I think it's because he pissed some insider off by either not granting an interview or giving them something unusable. He's got a lot of press in the UK still. A place like pitchfork doesn't just hype something like that up, only to completely ignore it. I mean, 'Easy Easy' didn't even get a mention in their top songs list. That, to me, smells of blacklisting. Whatever. He doesn't need their approval. Still made the best record in years. Sold out most of the dates on his recent US tour without much problem. Playing smaller venues, but still, ad hoc added dates also sold out eventually.
To be honest, I'm kind of glad pitchfork seems to have disowned him. He's much too good of a guitar player.
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