Daniel's 2013 in Review

My Very Favorite Albums of A.D. 2013

20. Mikal Cronin - MCII

MCII is a starkly straightforward guitar album. It won’t make you think. It won’t make you wince. It’s not going to rearrange your definition of rock and roll. It won’t change you. But it will make you want to take a walk. It might get you looking out a window for longer than you even realize. I woke up the other day with a tune in my head. It was early in the morning, earlier than I normally get up at least. It killed me for about 20 minutes (including a failed attempt at googling fragments of lyrics). Then, I realized it was “Weight,” the first track from this record. I sat down in a chair with some headphones and put it on. 40 minutes later the album was over, and I had barely moved at all. It’s been a while since I’ve started a day so fresh. Mikal Cronin’s music is so god-damned everyday, but it’s the most spectacular kind of everyday I can picture, a no-holds barred assault of perfectly timed pop-music cheap shots that will wind you (the crowd goes wild!) and make you feel proud to be everyday human you are. 

Casey's EPs, Songs and Albums of 2013

After the relative mediocrity of 2012 following up the fantastic year of 2011, it's nice to see that 2013 let no one down. It makes sense based on the length of a typical album cycle that many of the bands that put out great albums in 2011 and 2010 would return for 2013, and we saw the return of Vampire Weekend, Kanye West, The National, The Wonder Years and far more atop many lists. However, debuts really made an impact on my list personally, as three of my top four favorite records of the year happened to be a band's first full length release. Owel, The World Is A Beautiful and The 1975 all showed that they are full of fantastic songwriters and are bands whose popularity should continue to skyrocket through 2014, and their followups will be sought after by far more people than these fantastic debuts. However, the best record of the year was one I was only slightly anticipating after a poor last release, but ended up being one of the biggest growers of the year. Below, you will be able to see my favorite 10 EPs, 25 songs and 25 albums of 2013, a year which had plenty for everyone. If you click on an album title, it will link to our coverage (if we had any) and if you click on a song title, it will bring you to YouTube or Soundcloud. Enjoy!

Best Of The Year 2013: Third Quarter Update

Welcome to MuzikDizcovery's quarterly article on our favorite releases of the year to date. Each of our staff members has posted a list of our five favorite albums of the year to date, with a little blurb showing why we love each one so much. Every album released in 2013 that we have heard was eligible, even if the album has not been released to the public just yet. As always, there's a wide variety of music on these lists, and every release on here is worth checking out. Kanye West, Vampire Weekend, The 1975, The Wonder Years, Captain, We're Sinking and Justin Timberlake all take prominent spots in multiple lists, and represent some of the best that 2013 has to offer. Check out of all of our lists below, and click on the links in the album names for our coverage.

Best Of The Year 2013: First Half Update

Welcome to MuzikDizcovery's quarterly article on our favorite releases of the year to date. Each of our staff members has posted a list of our five favorite albums of the year to date, with a little blurb showing why we love each one so much. Every album released in 2013 that we have heard was eligible, even if the album has not been released to the public just yet. As always, there's a wide variety of music on these lists, and every release on here is worth checking out. Owel, The World Is A Beautiful Place, Kanye West, Captain, We're Sinking, Rare Monk, Justin Timberlake, Sigur Ros, The Knife, Tegan And Sara, Youth Lagoon, The Wonder Years and Lights and Motion all take prominent spots in multiple lists, and represent some of the best that 2013 has to offer. Check out of all of our lists below, and click on any links in the album names for our reviews.

Album Review: Kanye West - Yeezus

Album Rating: A+

Looking back now that the dust has settled a bit, Kanye West's interview with The New York Times set the stage perfectly for Yeezus. The interview was a case of 'Ye's massive ego run rampant, a piece of work which inevitably caused both fans and detractors of the producer and rapper to shake their heads in disbelief (or lack thereof) and pity. West's focus on self and lack of perspective angered many, and the popularity of the interview and analysis thereof (see Vulture's "The Sixteen Most Amazing/Ridiculous Things Kanye Said in His New York Times Interview") was indicative of the polarizing nature of Kanye's personality. The cynical among us may have assumed the interview was nothing more than a publicity stunt, meant to sell copies of West's then-upcoming album and create hype where there was (apparently) not enough before. It's entirely possible this theory is true, of course, though as Pitchfork astutely pointed out in their analysis of the album Kanye is "now making a point out of rejecting corporate sponsorship."

The Daily Blair: The "Get Laid" Playlist Theory

I know you. All you want out of your day is to get your school work done, you want to watch your favorite sports team or TV show, you want to have a brew with a few of your bros, you want to read Eli Kleman's thoughts on some awesome new album, and you want the company of a handsome lady. You feel like you should be able to accomplish all of this in one day but you always seem to strike out when it comes to scoring that mermaid. Let me help you.

The problem you are having is that you like music by artist that are not Gaga, artist who are neither slim nor shady, artist who refuse to kiss you through the phone, and artist who actually have some sort of musical talent. Once the female hears that you like music that is not on "Shit Songs 107.1" she immediately considers you to be a weird person who she could not carry on a romantic relationship with. She needs a man who makes 250K a year not a man who has 250,000 different versions of "Reckoner." Once you admit that you are not a radio robot, all hope seems to be lost.

Albums Of The Year 2010 #1: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Call me cliche. Call me a bandwagon jumper. Call me a p4k lover. But Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is easily the most influential album (to me) of the year, simply because in twenty years, I will look back and remember that this is the album that got me into hip-hop. "All Of The Lights" features some of the most creative orchestration heard this year, with horns and the customary electro beats working together in unison. The list of guest lists is endless, with Bon Iver, Rihanna, and Alicia Keys as some of the more notable ones. "Blame Game" is one of the most serious and intense songs on the album, until Chris Rock's two minute spoken word "bit" that both seems out of place with the song and perfect for Kanye's image of the album. "Lost In The World" is probably the first Kanye song ever to be featured on the extremely indie Sirius XM U station, sampling and turning into an upbeat, hip-hop version of Bon Iver's "Woods", before going into an intense spoken word outro about the downfalls of America. "Monster" is the darkest song on the album, with a crazy beat and nasty verses by Rick Ross, Jay-Z, and the surprisingly amazing Nicki Minaj. "Runaway" is Kanye growing and perfecting the emotional, singing based style of 808's and Heartbreaks. Which brings us to the centerpiece of the album, the most epic and in my opinion, the best song of the year, the incredible, King Crimson sampling "Power", whose beat could easily be mistaken for a cult ballad and where Kanye shows us what he really thinks of himself. But seriously, how could one man have all this power? Because Kanye thinks he should rule the world. We all better watch out, because based on this album, he can do anything he damn wants to do. Just buy this album, because there is parts of this album that can appeal to music lovers in general, and everyone should give it a chance. Amazon link is here.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

In the future, I will thank this album for getting me into hip-hop. You may hate his ego, but his ego actually helps him make his music amazing. Even though songs such as "Power" show off his self indulgent beliefs, it is actually one of the best tracks on the album, surrounded by tribal chants and Kanye's signature flow. Every track brings out every bit of creativity in his mind, even containing unconditional artists such as folk artist Bon Iver on a track. Pitchfork gave this album the first 10.0 score since Radiohead's Kid A. If this hasn't convinced you to buy it yet, then just take a listen to the clips on the amazon page here. Once you love it, buy it for $3.99, an unbeatable deal.