Porcelain Raft followed up his 2012 debut with another fantastic record. Permanent Signal was one of my favorite records of the year, which usually makes selecting a favorite track even more daunting. But after my very first listen, I this track was my favorite. The way the looping piano blends simplicity and beauty is mesmerizing and the lyrics are gorgeous. I can’t really think of a better way to close out an album.
Picking one track from CHVRCHES’ debut LP was one of my most difficult tasks for this year’s 31 days. The Scotland trio definitely lived up to the hype. The synth pop production, along with the excellent vocals of Lauren Mayberry, combined for yet another of my favorite records of 2013. But as I said earlier, it was super hard to pick just one of many standout tracks, which include “The Mother We Share”, “Gun”, “Recover”, and “We Sink”. So to make things a bit easier, i’m going with my favorite at this moment in time.
Karen O and company have one of the coolest sounds around and though I love it when they “rock out”, I’m quite the sucker for their ballads. Yeah Yeah Yeahs newest LP, Mosquito, was a departure from the “dancier” tunes of 2009’s Blitz and a return to the “grittier” tunes of Fever to Tell. With that said, Mosquito definitely has a sound of it’s own and that’s why i’ll always be excited for new Yeah Yeah Yeahs. With every release, I know i’ll hear something i’ve never heard before.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are now the first band ever to perform at the top of the Empire State Building. Need proof? Enjoy the brand new music video for “Despair”. The band’s latest album, Mosquito, is available now.
These are simply in alphabetical order. It’s hard enough to rank my top 10, i don’t want to do it more than once a year. Enjoy all of these on Spotify, which i’ll continue to update throughout the rest of 2013. And with some highly anticipated releases still on the horizon, including new albums from Porcelain Raft, Smith Westerns, and Elton John, i’m sure this list will evolve.
But enough babbling, enjoy my favorite albums of 2013 (so far) and please check back in December to see which (if any) make the cut for my top 10 of the year.
A few of my favorite new releases this week, including new stuff from The Flaming Lips, Iron and Wine, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. As always, be sure to check out Largehearted Boy for more new music.
