2013 was a great year for some of my favorite bands…kind of. A few of my top bands released new albums that I just didn’t connect with at all. However, one of my previous favorite bands, Typhoon, released an amazing new album in 2013. As you can see by my list below, they are my clear pick for my top band of 2013.
Here’s the playlist, grouped by band. Note that this list contains songs that I heard/bought for the first time in 2013, so there might be some older songs on the list.
- “Morton’s Fork” by Typhoon
- “Artificial Light” by Typhoon
- “The Lake” by Typhoon
- “Dreams of Cannibalism” by Typhoon
- “How Loud Your Heart Gets” by Lucius
- “Tempest” by Lucius
- “Tokyo Sunrise” by LP
- “Into the Wild” by LP
- “Renaissance!” by San Fermin
- “Sonsick” by San Fermin
- “Bourgeois” by Phoenix
- “Entertainment” by Phoenix
- “Anything Could Happen” by Ellie Goulding
- “I Never Know” by The Generationals
- “Furr” by Blizten Trapper
- “Ghosts That We Knew” by Mumford & Sons
- “Yamaha” by Delta Spirit
- “Atticus, in the Desert” by Kishi Bashi
Thank you to everyone who recommended bands and songs to me this year. I love getting recommendations for specific songs. If you have any favorite songs from the past year that you’d like to mention below, I’ll definitely check them out, especially if we have similar taste.
Modern Vampires of the City was without question one of the best albums I heard in 2013. It can’t find its way out of my rotation very long.
I don’t know if we have similar tastes, since I haven’t heard any of the songs above (yet!) but my favorite album of 2013 was Heartthrob by Tegan and Sara (also made a bunch of top lists by music critics too). I’ve been a huge fan of theirs for well over a decade, but this was really their first album to have widespread commercial success and a big year for them because of it. Highly recommend, it’s intelligent pop (instead of their previous “indie rock”) and highly enjoyable. If you listen to top 40 radio you’ve probably heard their single ” closer” from the album, but there’s a lot more to it 🙂
Angie–Thanks for the recommendation! I bought Closer and really like it. I’m familiar with some of their older work, but I didn’t realize they had a new album.
Joe–What’s your favorite song on that album?
It’s really hard to decide. It’s such a departure from their first two albums, and there’s not a weak track on it. I love every single one. Admittedly, some of them took a little bit to grow on me (Diane Young, I’m looking at you) but I love them all. I would say that the standouts for me would probably be Step, Finger Back, Worship You and Ya Hey. Hannah Hunt is delightful too. Was a fan since their first, but this album really stepped up their game.
Cool, thanks Joe!
Nice list! I’ll have to check out Typhoon etc. The two songs on my heavy rotation are “Hurricane” by Ms. Mr. and “The Mother We Share” by Chvrches (pronounced Churches)–both are heavy synth, with a nod to the 80’s–probably not totally your style but I like it.
Thanks Jen! I’m checking them out right now.
Three of my favorite albums this year were Mavis Staples’ “One True Vine”, Polica’s “Give You the Ghost”, and Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell’s “Old Yellow Moon”. I don’t know Typhoon; I’ll have to check them out.
Thanks Aaron–I’m sampling them on iTunes as I write this.
Just checked out “Tempest” by Lucius. Digging it. I don’t know why because they are completely different but the female vocals remind me of the female dual vocals of Cocteau Twins but a lot less ethereal. The male voice balances out the female. I like dual male/ female vocals too. Cool song.