She Drives Me Crazy

Tricky put this up on his Facebook feed today. I don't know why, but it put me in an unbelievably good mood.

Favorite Albums of 2013

I'm just in time to be late for 2014, as usual.

For the most part, at the end of every year, I put together a favorite albums list. I realize that most of the world has gone back to the single format for consuming music. I also realize that this is meant to be just a coffee blog.

However, its still my blog, and I really liked quite a few albums this year. I have mentioned about half of these artists and albums already in the past year, and this is not quite a complete list.

It also is probably missing some things that I will discover or remember in the coming weeks when reading through some of the professional music blogs. That always seems to happen. 

This list of the albums I keep coming back to from 2013. These albums stick with me for one reason or another, or simply blew me away to the point where I wonder what I was listening to before I heard it. There are a few old favorites on here, and some new things I only really got into this year.

Musically, rather than rehashing the 60's or the 80's or revisiting one part of the 90's or another, I feel like the music I am enjoying are things heavily influenced by the Southern California sound of the early to mid 1970's. 

2013 was a year to stop, pause, and smell the coffee. Somewhere along the way, I spent a good chunk of the past year figuring out just who and what I am as a person slipping into his mid 30's. Not a midlife crisis, really, but just one a little more accepting of some forms of bullshit, and a little less tolerant of other kinds.

I only have so much time, so listening to something I ought to be listening to is being replaced quickly by what I want to be listening to. They're my ears, after all. 

So here's the list. Your agreement and mileage my vary.

Jonathan Wilson - FanFaire

Turin Brakes - We Were Here

Midlake -Antiphon

Steven Wilson - The Raven that Refused to Sing

Depeche Mode - Delta Machine

Bombino - Nomad

Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe

Capital Cities - In a Tidal Wave of Mystery

Johnny Marr - The Messenger

NIN - Hesitation Marks

Tricky - False Idols

There were a couple things I did not put on the list, because I just cannot justify including Best Of's or Greatest Hits collections. However, I really kept going back to A Perfect Circle's 360 Collection, and The Killers best of album. 

Happy 2014 Everyone!