Craig, I am working on it furiously, and even broke my promise to myself not to listen to the new Nils Frahm album until I get the CD at Christmas so that I could complete the list earlier. (I watched this video of him performing one track four times yesterday - absolutely spellbinding, the most awe-inspiring thing I have seen in a while.) Can't write the list until I have re-listened to all the candidates - I'm getting there.
I am also considering a piece on retro analog synth music from 2013, as I have quite a few of those hovering around the fringes of my best of list. Kind of a retro-retrospective.
Craig, I noticed that you have inverted the sequence from last year - last year we were putting #1 at the top and counting to 20 down the page. This year you have put #1 at the bottom. Do you want us to follow that pattern or is it to each his/her own?
I'm ripping up the rule book on this one. I'll kick off with my #1 and then arrange the other 22 thematically. Yeah, that's right, I'm doing a Top 23. The world needs more end-of-year lists based on prime numbers.
Holy crap. Just checked MiG to see how many people had liked my post yesterday (it got shared a bit in the Twin Cities music community). It has been liked 78 times. That's more readership than I expected!
Also:
The Top 10 Overlooked Albums of 2013
The Best R&B of 2013
The Best Film Scores of 2013
The Best Americana of 2013
The Best Country Music of 2013
The Best Hip-Hop of 2013
The 75 Best Albums of 2013
The Best Metal of 2013
The Best Indie-Pop of 2013
The Best Progressive Rock (and Metal) of 2013
The Best Indie Rock of 2013
The 75 Best Songs of 2013
Hmm, you'd think I would have some from that list, but no. It occurred to me seeing Tim Hecker again that maybe another reason why I could not be bothered to investigate that when it came out was that I really did not care much for Instrumental Tourist (in fact I had forgotten about it - the last one I liked was Dropped Pianos). I'm finally embarking on Virgins now on spotify - too early to tell...
More seriously, it doesn't help of late that a couple of recent widespread trends in what one might broadly term ambient music have mostly left me cold. The first was adding breathy wordless vocals to a droney background (prime example: the recent bvdub/loscil release). The latest seems to be noodling on a guitar over a droney background (prime example: the recent Taylor Deupree and Seaworthy release). I do have the loscil - City Hospital release from that list, though it didn't strike me as one of his best. I've tried to like Ben Fleury-Steiner, it sounds as if I should, but something in his aesthetic does not quite match my ears. The Field Rotation album does sound pretty interesting. But no mention of Stephan Mathieu, for instance?
I am more than please that I haven't seen Lisa Knapp's Hidden Seam on any year end list related to Folk. Despite all the hype, it's an approach to adding ambient elements to Folk music that is at least as old as Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball, and the songs aren't that striking.
Comments
I am also considering a piece on retro analog synth music from 2013, as I have quite a few of those hovering around the fringes of my best of list. Kind of a retro-retrospective.
Craig
Craig
Well, then you're gonna have to do it all by yourself, because if you need help, I see no way possible to divide up the work.
Craig
Craig
11. µ-Ziq - Chewed Corners
8. Autechre - Exai
1. Tim Hecker - Virgins
- And BoC is on 3 (got to have a try on this)
Also:
The Top 10 Overlooked Albums of 2013
The Best R&B of 2013
The Best Film Scores of 2013
The Best Americana of 2013
The Best Country Music of 2013
The Best Hip-Hop of 2013
The 75 Best Albums of 2013
The Best Metal of 2013
The Best Indie-Pop of 2013
The Best Progressive Rock (and Metal) of 2013
The Best Indie Rock of 2013
The 75 Best Songs of 2013
A quick scan tells me I have at least 47 of the tracks, which is a pretty normal amount.
Craig
Craig
A Closer Listen's assessment of the Top Ten Ambient 2013, with which I disagree fairly thoroughly.
GP - You're just and outsider's outsider.
Craig
if an outsider is outside outside, he must be inside, obviously . . .
;-)
P4K's Honorable Mentions
Craig
Craig