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!

Album Review: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Album Rating: B

Before we begin, I’d like to propose a toast. To Daft Punk. Raise your sleek, silvery and aesthetically pleasing glasses of space champagne to the ceiling of the discotheque. Thank you Daft Punk. Where would we be without you, the prismatic light-show that is your very being cutting through the mucky analog sameness of mid-'90s house, lending life and warmth and vibrancy to a future-of-sound once so bleakly swallowed in spidery spindles of steel-gray and clipping delay. Thank you for what you’ve taught us — like about how robots can feel love, and how computers can paint pictures in our head as vibrant as any crotch-squeezed leather-bound guitar fiddler. Let’s face it guys, we owe them so much, they can essentially do whatever they please. Their latest record, Random Access Memories, could have been full of covers of mid-'50s bossanova classics and they’d retain their secure space in the Valhalla of recorded sound. That’s that.

Artist of the Day: Daft Punk

So Daft Punk, in response to a leak, have put up their new LP to stream on iTunes. As in-house electronic nerd, I feel like I should address this and tell you how much of a great thing this is and how much I love it, but I'm not. Random Access Memories has split the musical world in two between those who love the new release and those, like myself, who are a little disappointed.

I suppose it's easy to dislike Daft Punk. Not necessarily because they are bad, but a cringe-worthingly corporate marketing campaign (I've seen presidents with less shiny advertising) doesn't really invite sympathy when it comes to a pretty shaky release. And while Daft Punk have always gotten away with a fair bit of cheese, RAM may have added a little too much for this particular writer to handle.

That isn't to say it's bad, per se, just disappointing. The second half of the album makes up for the first's shortcomings, with a certain song featuring Panda Bear standing out as the clear favourite. It's okay then, pretty good, decent, worthwhile, passable... that would be okay for a friend of a friend's demo tape but not for one of the most famous electronic outfits in the world. Then again, some seem to like it. Maybe I just can't understand the disco cheese.

Artist Of The Day: Daft Punk

While this isn't my normal area of expertise, it goes without saying that the new Daft Punk album is going to be big. There's a clip of their new single, "Get Lucky," circulating around the internet, getting blood pumping for fans everywhere despite being only a minute in length. However, any new Daft Punk is good, seeing as their last release was a soundtrack for the famous sci-fi reprisal of Tron: Legacy, and the LP before that was 2005's Human After All. The full release of Random Access Memories is coming next month with a lot of change from the original sounds of the band, but the same technique and dance style. Rolling Stone actually reports that there will be a large reduction in the amount of electronic instruments used on the album, instead replacing these pre-recorded effects with mixed versions of studio-recorded melodies. The band never fails to impress, so we'll get to see what happens with the new album come May 17th. In the mean time, keep a look out for the full version of "Get Lucky," which is being released at midnight tonight.

Visit the Random Access Memories site or check out their Facebook page to watch for the new single.