Best of 2013 #1: Savages - Silence Yourself (Matador Records)

When Sleater-Kinney went on hiatus in 2006, it left a huge hole to fill in music. Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss filled that void with their awesome Wild Flag project, but the band quickly broke up. Corin Tucker's solo work has been good, but a touch too melodic and folky to really be the next Sleater-Kinney. What we needed was another group of women to come in and make kick ass indy rock and post punk. Enter Savages. Hailing from the UK, their debut album, Silence Yourself, was bruising, uncompromising and exactly what the world needed. The band has been described as "deadly serious post-punk", which is an apt description. This is serious music for serious people. The band is just a couple of years into their career and they have the perfect balance of young punkish brashness and the polished precision maturity of a long running band. After listening to their album, you realize that this band won't be ignored.

Or maybe it's like a friend said to me, I just like women who play loud and scream...

Best of 2013 #2: Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe (Virgin)

Scottish band Chvrches (pronounced Churches) produced one of the most stunning debuts of the year, plus the best pure electronic albums this year. The band is just three years old, but their debut full length album displays a fully realized sound brimming with maturity. They have an unapologetically 80s synth-pop sound. Like quite a few bands I've loved in the past (Parallels, Crystal Castles) , this band has a solid retro electronic backing sound with a crisp female voice fronting the band. It'll be interesting to see if the sophomore curse hits this band.

Best of 2013 #3: The Thermals - Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek)

I'm a fairly recent convert to the Church of The Thermals. It wasn't until the last few years I really started to pay attention to this band. I've been aware of them for a while, but they never grabbed me much, outside of a few awesome songs. Then I began sitting down and listening to their albums. Then the brilliance started to emerge.

This band is a trio from Portland, OR who have an abrasive style of pop-punk. The singer, Hutch Harris, has a very unique voice, high pitched and emotive. The band overall reminds me of iconoclastic bands like The Fall and Pere Ubu, a band that is difficult to listen to, but so insistent in their sound that you have to listen. They have a feel to them that their sound is a giant middle finger to the music industry, that they don't care if you like their music, they're gonna keep making it anyway, But, unlike Mark E. Smith and Dave Thomas, this band is personable and charming.

Even more interesting is that most of their albums are concept albums. 2006's The Body, The Blood, The Machine, was a story about what America would look like if the ultra-right Christian politics took it over. Desperate Ground is about a soldier returning from war and trying to find his place in a world that isn't filled with killing. The songs themselves are great, but the way they hang together as a full album is what makes this amazing. I considered this album for my #1, but ultimately put is at #3.

Best of 2013 #4: Chelsea Light Moving - S/T (Matador)

It's been a bleak couple of years for Sonic Youth fans (like me), with the band on indefinite hiatus. But 2013 was a good year for side projects, with 3 albums coming out. First we had Lee Ranaldo and the Dust's Last Night on Earth, a solid noise/indy rock album. Then we had Kim Gordon's collaboration with Bill Nace, Body/Head, whose album of skronky guitar noise, Coming Apart, made my honourable mentions list (more on this soon). And Thurston Moore put together a new band, Chelsea Light Moving, who put out a great self titled album. Of the three albums, Chelsea Light Moving got closest to the Sonic Youth sound of old, and the sound they were recapturing in their last proper album, The Eternal (coincidentally, my favourite album of 2009). Those needing a Sonic Youth fix, check here first!

Best of 2013 #5: John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts (Partisan)

My pic for #5 album of 2013 wasn't a favourite when I first heard it. It took several listens for me to start to hear the brilliance within. At first, I found the album a jarring mix of styles that didn't really fit together. John Grant comes from a roots/indy pop background, starting with a Colorado based band called the Czars. His first solo album in 2010, Queen of Denmark, was a lush indy pop album. His follow up, Pale Green Ghosts, was nothing like his debut. Grant has a dense, rich baritone voice well suited for indy pop, but clashed greatly with the music in Pale Green Ghosts, which was performed by Biggi Viera of the lush, experimental Icelandic electronic band GusGus. As I said, the two styles don't fit together easily, but settled down into a dense, atmospheric and almost funky groove upon multiple listens. As typical for Icelandic bands, more depth reveals itself after long sessions with headphones. This album is a grower, and not for the casual listener. You'll find more and more the deeper you dig.

Best of 2o13: #6 - Jay Arner - S/T (Mint Records)

Mint Records had a stellar year in 2013, releasing fantastic albums from Renny Wilson, Pick a Piper, Tough Age and another great Pop Alliance compilation. But Jay Arner's solo debut was the real standout. Arner had been kicking around in several Vancouver bands (International Falls, Fine Mist, Bleating Hearts) plus working as a producer. His debut as himself was a fun mix of indy pop, garage rock and a big helping of new wave and synth-rock. The album bounces all over the place, his influences are also all over the place. It's playful, it's dynamic and it's loads of fun. Watch for his next album to be just as fun.

Best of 2013 #7: Darkside - Psychic (Matador)

Nicholas Jaar was a name I knew for a while, but didn't pay much attention to. His name was thrown around as an up and coming electronic artist, but from what I had heard, he seemed like Just Another Electronic Musician to me. It wasn't until this past year's release by Darkside that he started to catch my ear. Darkside is New York's Jaar along with his touring guitarist Dave Harrington. This project is set apart from a standard electronic soundscape by Harrington's guitar work, which merges into a spacy and textured groove through most of the album. It's a satisfying mix of genres and emotionally moves the listener.

Best of 2013: #8 - Yuck - Glow and Behold (Fat Possum)

2013 could have been the year Yuck faded into obscurity. After a strikingly good debut self-titled album in 2011, Yuck had become one of the bands to watch coming out of the UK. But, their lead singer Dan Blumberg abruptly left the band for a solo career. The band regrouped, with guitarist Max Bloom taking on lead singer duties. Few bands survive losing their lead singer and continue on with the same sound. Fewer still will put out a follow up album as solid as Glow and Behold. Yuck play the droning, melodic style of post-punk similar to the shoegaze movement, like My Blood Valentine, and the morose new wave style of The Cure. Glow and Behold is a showcase of the melodic and wan style of shoe-gaze, but often seems almost happy in places. The album peaks with the shimmering "Memorial Fields" and the poppy "How Does it Feel", which adds some Burt Bacharach horns into the mix. One of the best in shoegaze this year and a welcome addition to the growing field of new bands adopting this style.

Best of 2013 - #9 - The Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO (Jagjaguwar)

The Besnard Lakes are fronted by a husband and wife team from Montreal. Their music is spacy, melodic and more than a touch menacing. They remind me a lot of Mogwai, if Mogwai dropped most of the guitar noise and added more vocal harmonies to their work. I picked their album Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse as my favourite album back in 2007. Their follow up, 2010's Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night, I found lacking and uninspired. It wasn't til this past year that I felt they had reclaimed the greatness they had in 2007.The album's name comes from a mangled foreign language to English translation of a review of one of their past albums. Here's the soaring "Colour Yr Lights In":

Best of 2013 - #10 - !!! - Th!!!er (Warp Records)

We begin taking a closer look at some of my favourite music of 2013, beginning with my #10 pick, !!!. !!! (usually pronounced chk chk chk), are a New York based band that seems to show up on my annual top ten lists whenever they produce a record. Their sound is a high energy mix of rock, electronics and funk. 2013's effort, Th!!!er (perhaps a tribute to Michael Jackson there?) was a more melodic effort than previous albums, much less percussive and in your face. Only a couple of tracks really bust out with pounding funk rhythms. Perhaps the band is getting softer with their age? Who knows. Th!!!er was an enjoyable listen, even if a step behind their previous albums. Here's "One Boy/One Girl":

My favourite albums of 2013

I heard a fellow music lover and DJ say they disliked doing Top 10 lists for the year's music, but did one anyway because it's expected of him as a DJ and taste-setter of sorts. I'm mixed on the concept. Some years it seems tedious, but most years, it's quite a lot of fun. It's nice to look back at the past year and re-discover and even re-enjoy some of the music you loved in the past year. It's also fun to look at what others think. It's also kind of fun to see what the bigger, more predictable sources think. Like which musician in their 60s that Rolling Stone will praise this year (it's Paul McCartney) and what mainstream rapper Pitchfork will chart in the Top 10 (It's Kanye West at #2).

Here's my list. We'll be taking a closer look at the these albums in the coming couple of months. I'll also be counting them down on my radio show on January 10th, 8 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca.

1) Savages - Silence Yourself (Matador)
2) Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe (Glassnote)
3) The Thermals - Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek)
4) Chelsea Light Moving - Chelsea Light Moving (Matador)
5) John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts (Partisan)
6) Jay Arner - Jay Arner (Mint)
7) Darkside - Psychic (Matador)
8) Yuck - Glow and Behold (Fat Possum)
9) The Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO (Jagjaguwar)
10) !!! - Th!!!er (Warp)

Honorable Mentions: Austra - Olympia (Paper Bag), Low - The Invisible Way (Sub Pop), Body/Head - Coming Apart (Matador), Cults - Static (Columbia), Dark Horses - Black Music (Last Gang)

Least favourite thing of the year, probably the neo-folk movement. The most immediately grating song I heard this year was Avicii's "Wake Me Up!"

What say you? What did you like or dislike in this past year musically?

Who we lost in 2013

Musicians (and a few non-musicians) we lost in 2013, along with some video and music goodness.

Patti Page
Steve Knight (Mountain)
Leroy Banner (Ohio Players)
Patty Andrews (Andrews Sisters)
Ann Robson (Safire)
Cecil Womack
Reg Presley (The Troggs)
Mo-Do
Shadow Morton
Tim Dog
Tony Sheridan
Mindy McCready
Magic Slim
Cleotha Staples
Jewel Aikens
Stompin' Tom Connors
Alvin Lee
Peter Banks (Yes)
Claude King
Clive Burr (Iron Maiden)
Jack Greene
Jason Molina
Deke Richards
Scott Hardkiss
Jimmy Dawkins
Oophoi
Chi Cheng (Deftones)
Scott Miller (Game Theory)
Rita MacNeil
Cordell Masson (Parliament)
Christine Amphlette
Richie Havens
George Jones
Chris Kelly (Kris Kross)
Jeff Hanneman (Slayer)
Alan O'Day
Ray Manzarek
Joey Covington (Hot Tuna)
Bobby Bland
Alan Myers (Devo)
Paul Smith
T-Model Ford
Tim Wright (Pere Ubu)
Zev Asher
Jack Clement
Edyie Gorme
Allen Lanier (Blue Oyster Cult)
Marian McPartland
Sid Bernstein
Ray Dolby
Phil Chevron (The Pogues)
Jan Kuehnemund (Vixen)
Cal Smith
Noel Harrison
Gypie Mayo (Yardbirds)
Lou Reed
Cheb i Sabbah
Chick Willis
Ray Price
Lord Infamous (Three 6 Mafia)