[Nac Faves] My Favorite Music of 2013

Posted on January 16, 2014 at 8:18 am | No Comments

Another year down, another annual list of the long-players that soundtracked 365 days of my earthly existence. Same deal as ever: 20-ish albums (and a couple EPs), listed alphabetically rather than numerically (never liked ranking), with links to buy and shareable audio if it exists.

This time around I’ve also gotten a bit meta with a short list of my favorite year-end music lists, made by a few people whose tastes I respect and admire. Some have a bit of overlap, but they’ve each given me a few more records to check out, and hopefully they’ll do the same for you. That list follows my own faves…

My Favorite Music of 2013
(plus a couple of EPs & reissues)

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Bent Shapes – “Feels Weird”
[ on Father/Daughter Records ]

Stream at Bandcamp / Buy at Father/Daughter

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Bottomless Pit – “Shade Perennial”
[on Comedy Minus One]

Buy at Comedy Minus One

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The Broken River Prophet – “A Dagger and A Dove”
[self-released via Bandcamp]

Stream / Buy at Bandcamp

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Neko Case –
“The Worse Things Get The Harder I Fight,
The Harder I Fight The More I Love You”
[on Anti Records]

Stream at her site / Buy at Anti

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Dowsing – “I Don’t Even Care Anymore”
[on Count Your Lucky Stars]

Stream / Buy at Bandcamp

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Ex Cops – “True Hallucinations”
[on Other Music]

Stream songs at Soundcloud / Buy at Other Music

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Joel RL Phelps and the Downer Trio – “Gala”
[on 12XU]

Stream / Buy at 12XU

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Mikal Cronin – “MCII”
[on Merge]

Stream / Buy at Merge Records

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Guillermo Sexo – “Dark Spring”
[on Midriff Records]

Stream at Bandcamp / Buy at Midriff Records

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The History of Apple Pie – “Out of View”
[on Marshall Teller Records]

Stream on Soundcloud / Buy at Rough Trade

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Kid Canaveral – “Now That You Are A Dancer”
[on Lost Map Records]

Stream a song at Bandcamp / Buy at Lost Map Records

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Krill – “Lucky Leaves”
[via Bandcamp]

Stream / Buy at Bandcamp

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Minor Alps – “Get There”
[on Barsuk Records]

Stream songs at Soundcloud / Buy at Barsuk

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Ola Podrida – “Ghosts Go Blind”
[on Western Vinyl]

[MP3] Ola Podrida – “Staying In“

Download 2 songs at their website / Buy at Western Vinyl

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Overseas – “Overseas”
[on Undertow]

Stream 2 songs at Soundcloud / Buy at Undertow

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Peyton Pinkerton – “Peyton Pinkerton”
[on Darla Records]

[MP3] Peyton Pinkerton – “Pharmacies and Bars“

Buy at Darla

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Sebadoh – “Defend Yourself”
[on Joyful Noise]

[MP3] Sebadoh – “State of Mine“

Stream at Bandcamp / Buy at Joyful Noise

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Slowdim – “Slowdim”
[via Bandcamp]

Stream / Buy at Bandcamp

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Speedy Ortiz – “Major Arcana”
[on Carpark Records]

Stream more at Soundcloud / Buy at Carpark Records

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Superchunk – “I Hate Music”
[on Merge Records]

Stream at Merge / Buy at Merge

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Throwing Muses – “Purgatory/Paradise”
[on It Books / Harper Collins]

Stream 3 songs at Soundcloud / Buy through Harper Collins

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Yo La Tengo – “Fade”
[on Matador Records]

Stream at YouTube / Buy at Matador

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Elizabeth Morris – “Optimism” EP
[via Bandcamp]

Stream / Buy at Bandcamp

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Withered Hand – “Inbetweens” EP
[via Bandcamp]

Technically late 2012, but arrived in my mailbox in early 2013, and spent too much
time in my headphones to be left out. 2014 will be Dan Willson’s year.

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Unwound – “Kid Is Gone” Box Set
[on Numero Group]

Stream / Buy at Numero Group

So there you have it. Put a period on the end of the messy, run-on sentence that was my twenty-thirteen.

As burned out as I inevitably get on the ever-increasing number year-end lists that flood my feed, a few in particular have risen above the pack. Take some time, dig around in the following posts, and find more music you may have missed…

A non-ordered list of favorite lists of 2013 favorites…

• Steph Mangan’s Favorite Albums of 2013 over at BDCwire

• Bill Pearis’ Top 20 LPs of 2013 at BrooklynVegan

• Ian’s Favorite Albums of 2013 at Why Are There So Many Records In My Life?

• Chromewaves’ favourite albums of 2013

• Chris Villon’s (exhausting) Top 10 of 2013 at Boston Hassle

• Mike’s Favorite Songs of 2013 at Sippy Cup Everything

• Steve’s List for 2013 at Baby, You Got A Stew Goin’!

• Sebastian’s Top 25 Albums of 2013 and his accompanying 2013 Year-End List Extravaganza at New Artillery.

My previous year-end fave lists can be found here: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, and 2001. Jeez, some of those early posts are embarrassing – not the picks, but the associated words. They could also use some serious reformatting thanks to my WordPress migration. I’ll add that to the “won’t do” “to do” list.

Finally, I can’t truly leave 2013 behind before acknowledging the loss of some favorite addictions that will be much-missed, each to varying degrees.

And so I bid a very fond farewell to Chromewaves (the best damn music blog there ever was), the Boston Phoenix (I still get the itch to grab it every Thursday), The Best Show on WFMU (counting the days until its rebirth elsewhere), and to the Lemmingtrail board (a love/loathe relationship if ever there was one). To all the people who made those things what they were, well, thanks for helping me pass the time. Onwards, upwards.

Sometime next week I’ll share up my semi-annual list of releases I’m looking forward to this year, and I’ll be spinning songs from many of them at the first New Music Night of 2014, happening next Thursday at River Gods in Cambridge, MA.

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