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. 

2013: Records. Themes. Gigs. The Lot.

Like every other self-respecting music freak, I'm more than partial to the annual December list-athon, but what I cannot fathom are those which instantly speculate how a given year will be remembered. Sure, it's an intriguing aspect to the whole discussion, but alleging certain records will remain classics for years and decades to come is ultimately a hiding to nothing. Who's to say that Yeezus, for example, won't gather dust as its production tricks and shock value succumb to age, or that come 2020 we won't snigger at Modern Vampires of the City as an "album of the year" catastrophe? On the other side of the coin, how can we be sure we've not dismissed another Odessey and Oracle or Velvet Underground & Nico; an overlooked gem whose early obscurity masks a future cult classic?

With these and other bloopers in mind, I prefer to avoid declaring which LPs we'll view as "the best" or "the most important" with retrospect, and instead focus on the patterns and events which have unquestionably left an impression on the here and now. Without further ado, then, here the themes which have shaped my own musical year, together with a selection of personal favourites from what present impressions suggest has been another solid 12-month innings...

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: The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

Album Rating: B+

Shaking the Habitual. Where do I start? Obligatory nod at history: in 2007, the Knife released Silent Shout, at this point well-regarded as a classic electronic album and one of the best of the decade. It was a subtle, subdued masterpiece of nocturnal synths and melodies that should have been invented decades ago but that, seeping from between the grooves, seemed totally new, awash with deep blues and shifting sonic shadows. In the six years since, the Swedish duo (actually siblings) have busied themselves with a couple of side projects, including Karin Andersson’s excellent Fever Ray. Most importantly, they devoted time to the study of gender, feminism, and modern radical politics - subjects that informed the genesis of their fourth record, Shaking the Habitual.

Artist of the Day: The Knife

A lot has changed since Swedish electronic duo the Knife put out their seminal third album Silent Shout in early 2006. Burial reinvented eerie minimalism, Skrillex won two Oscars, and James Murphy put dance-punk and the entire decade to bed. Most notably, the moody synth-pop the Swedes so avidly and effectively championed became unimaginably trendy. And now, between the lightning-fast ascension-descension of MGMT and the floundering emptiness of chillwave, synth revival may have just run its course. But the Knife is back, there’s no denying that, and their absence has given their image time to grow to a heroic level. Sure, they wrote an opera, and vocalist Karin Andersson had some real success with her trip-hoppy side-project Fever Ray, but the people want the Knife! Well, the Knife is what they’ll get.

Frenchy's New Muzik Monday (2/13/12)

Here’s some new music for y’all to take in. Just a quick warning though: it’s not all immediately accessible (especially Sigh) and one of the songs is 2 years old, but I’m sure many of you are unfamiliar with it so I’m posting it regardless. Enjoy!

Burial - Kindred
Stream here

Firstly, let’s start off with a song so fresh that it still has that brand-new car scent. You’ll all no doubt have heard of Burial by now. Letting all of us become familiar once more with Dubstep’s presence in 2007 via Untrue, Burial helped us get in touch with a genre we almost forgot existed and has since been satiating the craving for those pining to hear more of his signature style of Dubstep through the release of EPs. Somehow (almost impossibly) redefining a sound that was already redefined, “Kindred” (song and EP) sounds like it’s charting new territory, fleshing out Burial’s brooding side and focusing heavily on atmosphere. On an EP with songs that constantly meander, “Kindred” is decidedly the most straightforward of the three. The other two are available for stream right below “Kindred”, assuming you like said song.