Spotify list with my favourite records of 2013.

I've compiled a Spotify list with some of my favourite albums of 2013. The first 18 albums are in the same order as the top 20 of my end of the year list that I've posted here (the new My Bloody Valentine and Subrosa aren't on Spotify).

Enjoy!

2014 - A Look Ahead

So, we've just summarized 2013, no it's time to look a head!

Already it seems like 2014 is promising to be a really good as well in music. There are some albums that have been announced that I have high hopes for, and then there are some albums that haven't yet been announced but that I hope will get released,

Here are a few of the highlights to look forward too:
Tool - When will we see the follow up to the brilliant "10 000 Days"? Next year it will be eight years since the last album and the next album will be the fifth in the bands 20+ years career, they're not the most productive band to say the least...

Foo Fighters - It looks like Foo Fighters will release a new record next year, "Wasting Light" from 2011 was one of the best albums the band has released yet, and that is saying a lot!

Opeth - I haven't seen anytrhing confirmed so far, but a follow up to the 2011 release "Heritage" seems logical. It will be very interesting to see which direction Åkerfeldt takes his band on this one.

Mastodon - Mastodon is another band that I'm really anxious to see where they are headed with the next album. After the masterpiece of "Crack The Sky", they made a "little-bit-of-everything-album" with "The Hunter". A new Mastodon album is always something special though!

Iron Maiden - Do we dare hope for a new album in 2014? They probably won't have time to record it so maybe for 2015? And will this be the last album of their career?

Mogwai - Mogwai is one of the first albums to be released in late January. They just keeps getting better and better so this oughta be good!

Beck - It is always interesting what this man will come up with! The new album is set for a February release.

And there are of course tons of other great albums to be released in 2014. It looks like it could be a good year,,,

2013, top 5!

1. Deafheaven - Sunbather
I was trying really hard to put a record a head of Deafheaven's Sunbather this year. It's been really hyped and it tops a lot of end of the year lists. At the end of the day there hasn't been a hype more justified than the one about Deafheaven in 2013. What a masterpiece they have delivered. A few words written earlier.







2. My Bloody Valentine - M B V
My Bloody Valentine 22 years later... Who could have expected that they would return the way they did with M B V? I wrote a few words about the album in March this year.







3. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Mind Control
On my Instagram account, I wrote "What would The Beatles sound like if they would have been around today and played stoner metal? Well maybe something like this brilliant album!". I still feel that this is a perfect description of the record and the band.







4. Subrosa - More Constant Than The Gods
The most dynamic sludge/doom record of the year. A lot has been written in alternative press about the album and the band line-up, with two violins in the mix and three female singers. There are so many elements on this record a part from the typical heavy incredible riffage that is always apparent in a great doom record. You also have some folksy in slow parts as well which make this the best doom record of the year!

5. Russian Circles - Memorial
The most beautiful album of 2013!

2013, places 6-10.

6. Windhand - Soma
This album includes some of the coolest riffs of 2013. It's heavy and catchy doom with a finess and unlike Lumbar they really drag out riffs and songs which is a really cool thing! The closing track clocks in at over 30 minutes.







7. David Bowie - The Next Day
What a comeback!! This record exceeded all my expectations. I've already written about this album earlier when it was released.








8. The Body - Christs, Redeemers
This might be the most evil sounding record on the list. This album reeks of desperation from the first to the last second. You feel almost exhausted when you're done listening to it. I love the screaming vocals, I get the same feeling as I did when I heard Amenra for the first time last year.





9. Skogen Brinner - 1st
It's not often that I have these high hopes for a debut album. I'm not very good at discovering new bands early in their careers. I've got enough job to follow up all the albums that are released every year.

Skogen Brinner however, I've had the pleasure of following ever since they released their debut 7" "Pundarvarning", and after that the cassette EP "Fasornas Berg". On this record they presented five new songs and the other four are taken from the earlier releases. I wrote a blog post about this record earlier this year.


10. Steve Earle & The Dukes (& Duchesses) - The Low Highway
Over the last few years Steve Earle has grown to be one of my favourite artists. I really love his post-millenial stuff, which is a bit different than the stuff he did in the 80s for example.

The Low Highway is no exception. He continues on the more stripped down sound, to me it sounds more honest. There is a great variety of songs on this album, both up-tempo country songs and beautiful down-tempo songs. In this beautiful mix it's the slow songs that stands out. "The Low Highway", "Invisible" and "Remember Me" are some of the best songs of 2013.

2013, places 11-15.

11. Jesu - Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came
Oh how I love the sound of this album. The sort of post punk/rock stuff with the heavy doomy bass/guitars in the background. This sound builds the foundation of the album and sets the tone from the very start.

You wouldn't have expected a "happy" album from Broadrick's Jesu and luckily that is not he's intending on this record. Where for example Trent Reznor made a somewhat up beat (by NIN and Godflesh/Jesu standards), Broadrick stays on the gloomy road.




12. Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty
This album is for 2013 what PJ Harvey's "Let England Shake" was for 2011.I hear a lot of similarities between the two records, mainly that this one is nearly as good as Harvey's last masterpiece and that is saying a lot! This is dark, doomy and dreasmy pop(?), that would be the soundtrack to your nightmare.





13. Wolf People - Fain
The band that released the greatest record of 2010 returned with another great release this year! This album is probably even better than "Steeple". However I think I expected something more, it's more of the same but slightly better which obviously makes it a great album, but for me it's not a contender for a top spot like the previous album was. And in all honesty there aren't a lot of records from 2010 that would end up in top ten this year...



14. Kylesa - Ultraviolet
I thought this was gonna be a contender for best album of the year, it didn't really reach that high though. This album is packed to the rim with sludgy riffs that'll make your ears bleed and there's a great dynamic throughout the record. The mix between Philip Cope's and Laura Pleasants' voices fits the music brilliantly. The band is coming to Oslo in January and I hope to catch the show!





15. Jonathan Wilson - Fanfare
Jonathan Wilson might be my discovery of the year, outside of metal. Best described, Wilson creates psychedelic folk rock inspired by some of the artists that make appearances on the records. These artists are David Crosby, Graham Nash, Roy Harper and Jackson Browne. To fit so many inspirations in one record it needs to be quite long, and it is... The album is nearly 80 minutes long and if I have any complaints about the album it is that it's a tad too long. However, there isn't a single track I would remove so maybe I'm all wrong...

2013, places 16-20

16. Bell Witch - Longing
Although released in 2012 I put it on my list as the vinyl was released in 2013. Some great doom releases this year and this is really one of them. The title "Longing" is really a great description of the music. There is a feeling of longing in the music throughout the entire record.






17. Pelican - Forever Becoming
Instrumental post-metal in the greatest of forms! Pelican released their strongest album yet with "Forever Becoming". A dynamic album that has anything you would like from an instrumental metal album without sounding pretentious. You've got your Mogwai melodies as well as some Mastodon like outbursts, a great combination!







18. Lumbar - The First And Last Days Of Unwelcome
Another one of those great doom releases of 2013! This is a short, hard-hitting and right to the point record. For a doom record to clock in at just 24 minutes is quite unusual, it's probably more usual that one song is of the same length.






19. The Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer
For me The Dillinger Escape Plan always deliver the goods, but since "Miss Machine" it's just been more of the same really. This album has been praised a lot, and rightly so, but there is always something missing from their albums I think. I can't put my finger on what it would be, maybe next album will fit my taste perfectly?





20. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Maybe this album deserves a higher position on this list? For me it doesn't top the amazing "High Violet" from 2010. This might be a more even album, songwise. I miss the incredible highs that "High Violet" presented us with. Songs like "Bloodbuzz Ohio" and "Terrible Love" are among the best songs of the 00s.

End of the year list 2013.

I love looking at end of the year lists. I always get a lot of tips on records that I should get from these. So far I've bought nearly one hundred new records this year. It's been such a good year that I don't feel anywhere near complete on what records I want still that was released this year.

When I made a short list for a top ten or twenty list I came up with more than 40 albums, so it's been tough to decide.

Today I will present you the records that I would place between 21-40. I won't list them as there isn't really any idea to do it. The record I would put at the 40th place might end up on the 21 spot tomorrow and vice versa. I'm just mentioning these records as they are really good records that might would've ended up on a top ten list if it hadn't been for the imense quality of some releases this year.

Tomorrow I will list 20-11 and on Sunday you will get the top ten records of 2013.

In alphabetical order:
ASG - Blood Drive
Black Sabbath - 13
Carcass - Surgical Steel
Church Of Misery - Thy Kingdom Scum
Clutch - Earth Rocker
Cult Of Luna - Vertikal
Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
Earthless - From The Ages
Esben And The Witch - Wash The Sins Not Only The Face
Fuzz - Fuzz
Inter Arma - Sky Burial
Jucifer - Something Russian...
Kadavar - Abra Kadavar
Kvelertak - Meir
The Ocean - Pelagial
Queens Of The Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
The New Alchemy - On The Other Side Of Light
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II
Vidunder - Vidunder
Vista Chino - Peace

These records are all part of the list. At which place will they end up, and can you name them all?