Top Albums, Shows and Songs of 2013

When I’m old, fat and (hopefully) happy, I will probably look back at 2013 as a pivotal blip in my life, where I lost one of the most important things to me—something I had been planning my entire adult existence around for some eight years—and was suddenly forced to forge a new path on a new map. Opposite directions, graduation, crumbling, cynicism, and the renouncing of my faith in what I thought was my home. Yes, more downs than ups this time around, but if everything was perfect, I’d never feel anything (the balance will allow). To my beautiful lady, supportive family and the following bands, albums and shows that consistently found a way to lift me up from wherever I had fallen this year, I am forever thankful.

Artist of the Day: Los Campesinos!

Coming from a group so synonymous with excellence as Los Campesinos! 2011's Hello Sadness brought with it an unfamiliar tinge of disappointment. Never as chirpy as their indie pop exterior would suggest, the thought of the septet living up to their fourth LP's dour title was actually rather appealing, so it's unfortunate the results in practice rarely threatened to match that which they promised on paper. Luckily, that bold yet unfulfilled outing appears to have merely been a blip (and a minor one at that) now that the Welsh band have soared back into view with No Blues, a sprightly, jubilant comeback which arguably finds them sounding healthier than ever.