19. Caitlin Rose – The Stand In
2013 was a huge year for the Nashville music scene. It seemed that every artist I fell in love with this year hailed from the Tennessee scene. Caitlin Rose was born to be a singer-songwriter. Her family claims a Mom who won a Grammy for songwriting and a Dad who sells and markets for the country music industry. With The Stand In, Rose emphatically takes her place atop the list of powerful voices spilling out of Nashville. Her album is a perfect marriage between country and rock music. She tells stories like an old cowboy crooner and yet her sound has a modern flair.
18. Ravenna Woods – The Jackals
The Jackals is the darkest album of 2013. I note that as a warning because the thing is, it may be one of the most beautiful albums of 2013 as well. Known for their acoustic-guitar rock, Ravenna Woods return with another gem. The album is both spooky and beautiful, like walking through an abandoned building at dawn. The lyrics from the Cunningham brothers are biting on tracks like “live alone” when they harmonize, “lock your doors because there’s something terrible happening. As long as it’s a well-fixed game, as long as they can see my face, then I won’t lose any sleep. Just live alone. And lock your doors.”
17. San Fermin – San Fermin
San Fermin is music adventure. Ellis Ludwig-Leone is a classically trained pianist who headed up the project. Obviously he is from Brooklyn and employed two of his favorite voices (the ladies of Lucius) to help add vocal strength to the album. There is no set lead singer and the voices intertwine alongside orchestral arrangements on every track. The result is an album that evokes all different kinds of emotions. Along the ride, you find yourself uplifted, depressed, angry, and finally hopeful that you may be able to find love.
16. Houndmouth – From the Hills Below the City
From the way it sounds, the musicians in Houndmouth have been getting into some serious trouble. The southern folk-rock inspired album, From the Hills Below the City, speaks about getting pinched for selling drugs, losing boatloads of money at a casino, and getting lost out on the road. Houndmouth openly admit to The Band being one of their biggest influences. It clearly shows on this strong debut.
15. Typhoon – White Lighter
Some artists craft albums like it is their profession, making creative tweaks along the way to create an inspiring final product. Typhoons’ Kyle Morton made this album with the mindset that his life depended on it. Morton, the enigmatic lead singer of the 12-person Typhoon admitted in multiple interviews that the theme of dying runs through White Lighter because he truly believed he would be dead shortly after its release. A survivor of severe kidney failure at a young age, Morton’s own experience with adolescence, and a body that rejected him, rings through on this sophomore album. Any artist facing mortality can be depressing for a listener, and yet in the case of Morton who sings “I was born in September and if I die today just know I don’t regret you some things I can explain (like) it’s a slow descent, it’s a lifeless place, every god damned day,” you are left pondering what your own life would be like if you had seen the light at the end of the tunnel and escaped it to keep living.
14. Charles Bradley – Victim of Love
The world had to wait 63 years for Charles Bradley’s debut album. Thankfully we only had to wait a little over a year and half for his follow up, Victim of Love. Having cleared his conscience of most of his built up pain and sorrow, Bradley sings a much more hopeful tune this go-around. He nails the 1970’s soul sound and builds upon it with a combination of blues and psychedelic influences. I am already anxious for his next one.
13. Lone Bellow – Lone Bellow
One of the breakthrough artists of 2013 has to definitively be Lone Bellow. The band is a delight live, combining simple folk riffs with three seriously powerful voices. On the strength of their debut album, the band finished the year on their first headlining tour to sell out venues across the nation. Their album is fresh and filled with strong emotional tales of love and commitment in the face of looming death. Now that the band has had a phenomenal year of success on the road, I can only expect great strides on the sophomore effort.
12. Pickwick – Can’t Talk Medicine
FINALLY the boys in Pickwick got together and gave the people what they wanted – a full length album! After releasing a few EP’s and scrapping a few albums altogether, Pickwick found what they were looking for in Can’t Talk Medicine. The high energy Seattle band combines soul-infused riffs with plenty of tambourines and the booming voice of lead singer Galen Diston. This album was very high in my rotation for the year, only falling out of the mix when I realized that Pickwick have so much more music they are already eager to release in 2014!
11. Deertick – Negativity
John McCauley got sober-ish in 2013 (crack is whack!) and the result was Negativity, the most complete offering from Deer Tick to date. McCauley’s raspy voice still captivates as it once did but now he sings out about his parent’s failures, his own failed engagement, and staying positive in light of challenges. It’s a marked change from the last album, recorded just after McCauley’s failed engagement which featured a song repeatedly singing “let’s all go to the bar.” The album also sees the band spreading songwriting duties around the stage. Guitarist Ian O’Neill wrote the track “Dreams in the Ditch,” ultimately chosen as the first single.
The post The 57 Best Albums for 2013 [Part 4] appeared first on ClotureClub.com.
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