2013 Music

It's usually hard for me to rank Best Albums, because I tend to focus more on individual songs as opposed to albums (for instance, I might absolutely love a song but the rest of the album might not do it for me. So if I just ranked albums, my love for that song wouldn't be recognized). So I compiled a list of the Best Albums to recognize the albums that had a bunch of good songs on it that I liked. And then I also did a Best Songs list. I didn't want to go crazy -- which I could have -- so I limited it to my Top 40.

Best Albums:

1. The Head and the Heart - Let's Be Still

2. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

3. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

4. Hey Marseilles - Lines We Trace

5. Matt Pond - The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand [yep, he dropped the "PA"]

6. Volcano Choir - Repave

7. Tegan & Sara - Heartthrob  [Both Matt Pond and Tegan & Sara tried to make more poppy-dancey albums to try to get more attention/sales than previous albums. I like both of their "not poppy" stuff, but I also enjoyed both these albums.]

8. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park

9. Lucius - Wildewoman

10. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You 

11. Mandolin Orange - This Side of Jordan

12. Josh Ritter - The Beast in its Tracks

13. Mikal Cronin - MCII

14. Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co. (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [This year they re-released Magnolia Electric Co. because A) It was the 10 year anniversary of its release and B) Jason Molina, the force behind Songs: Ohia/Magnaolia Electric Co., died this year. I included this re-release on the list because it comes with a bonus disc of unreleased tracks, including demo versions of songs. I absolutely love these stripped down versions.] 

15. Colin Meloy - Colin Meloy Sings The Kinks


Best Songs:
(Note: I put a playlist down at the bottom where you can stream the songs. I put songs from the above albums first -- with the exception of Colin Meloy because the tracks aren't available online -- and then the other songs are in no particular order. The final three songs are youtube clips, since that's the only place they're available for streaming.)

1. The Head and the Heart - 10,000 Weight in Gold

2. Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers

3. The National - Fireproof

4. Hey Marseilles - Tides

5. Matt Pond - Love to Get Used

6. Volcano Choir - Comrade

7. Tegan & Sara - I Couldn't Be Your Friend

8. Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow [She was only 24 when this album came out. I picked her popular "See, isn't she sassy and liberal!" country song. But she has a lot of good ballads as well, like Silver Lining and It Is What It Is. Her writing reminds me of Dolly Parton and her voice kind of reminds me of Lee Ann Womack.]

9. Lucius - Don't Just Sit There

10. Neko Case - Local Girl

11. Josh Ritter - A Certain Kind of Light

12. Mikal Cronin - Weight

13. Songs: Ohia - Just Be Simple (demo version)

14. Arcade Fire - Afterlife [This album was a disappointment. This is pretty much the only song from the album that I love]

15. Guards - Silver Lining

16. Rilo Kiley - Let Me Back In [Rilo Kiley released an album of b-sides and unreleased tracks this year. So glad to finally have a studio recording of this song!]  

17. The Milk Carton Kids - Snake Eyes

18. Sylvan Esso - Hey Mami [This duo consists of vocals by Amelia from the folk trio Mountain Man and electronic beats by Nicholas Sanborn. At least make it to 1:33] 

19. Mother Falcon - Marigold [There's like 18 members in this band! So many instruments!]

20. The Civil Wars - Tell Mama

21. Iron & Wine - Winter Prayers

22. Maria Taylor - Up All Night [This song about Maria having a baby and becoming a mom is adorable]

23. CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share

24. Frightened Rabbit - Holy

25. The Avett Brothers - Apart From Me

26. San Fermin - Sonsick

27. Charles Bradley - Strictly Reserved For You

28. Adam Green & Binki Shapiro - Don't Ask for More

29. The Postal Service - Turn Around [The Postal Service also re-released a 10th Anniversary deluxe edition of their album Give Up -- was I really in college 10+ years ago?! This is one of the new tracks they added.]  

30. Jim Guthrie - Difference a Day Makes

31. Marcus Mumford & Oscar Isaac - Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song) [A cover of the traditional folk song, from the movie Inside Llewyn Davis, which stars Oscar Isaac.] 

32. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Holy Roller

33. Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones - Silver Haired Daddy of Mine [I never would have imagined Billie Joe and Norah would do a duet album together, but it works. Their voices go well together (I assume Norah sounds good with just about anyone). Their album ("Foreverly") consists of Everly Brothers covers. They covered all the songs that appear on the 1958 Everly Brothers album "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us", which is a collection of traditional songs. This particular song is an old Gene Autry song from the 1930s.]

34. City & Colour - Golden State [You know all those songs about how California is so awesome? This is the opposite of that. Another Canadian-not-that-impressed-with-the-allure-of-California song, a la Joni Mitchell "River"]

35. Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful [One of the songs I was most surprised to find myself liking -- I'm not exactly a Lana Del Rey fan. But this song just does it for me.]

36. Noah Gundersen & The Forest Rangers - Day is Gone [Song from the final scene of this season's Sons of Anarchy episode. The song paired with the scene -- I won't give spoilers -- gives me goosebumps and sometimes makes me teary-eyed. 

37. She & Him - London

38. Mandolin Orange - Cavalry

39. Shearwater & Sharon Van Etten - Stop Draggin' My Heart Around [a Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks cover]

40. Laura Gibson - Live Long in Oregon [It's only 1:00 long, but I love it. Laura wrote this song to advertise Oregon's health care exchange. And the commercial is adorable.]

Lists of 2013

Usual disclaimer: This is not a complete list, as there's plenty of good stuff I didn't get to in 2012. But of the stuff I got to, this is what I liked. The lists are roughly in order, but sometimes I liked the #7 pick just as much as the #1 pick...

Favorite Books:
(Note: These are books I read in 2013, and not necessarily books released in 2013)

1. Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

2. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Anthony Marra

3. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

4. Where'd You Go Bernadette - Maria Semple

5. The Circle - Dave Eggers

6. The Good Lord Bird - James McBride

7. This is Where I Leave You - Jonathan Tropper

8. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler

9. The Submission - Amy Waldman

10. Tenth of December - George Saunders

11. Denialism - Michael Specter

12. The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer

13. Arcadia - Lauren Groff

14. Underworld - Don DeLillo

15. The Lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri

16. The Middlesteins - Jami Attenberg

17. Bobcat and Other Stories - Rebecca Lee

18. The Flamethrowers - Rachel Kushner

19. Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter 

20. Orange is the New Black - Piper Kerman

Favorite TV:

1. Breaking Bad (excellent series finale)

2. Orange is the New Black (so many amazing characters!)

3. The Good Wife (fantastic new storyline to keep the show fresh in season 5)

4. Enlightened (so sad this show was canceled)

5. The Americans (I love Keri Russell. I love the outfits/wigs. I love the music.) 

6. Game of Thrones (Two words: Red Wedding)

7. Brooklyn 99 (Reminds me a lot of Parks & Recreation --was even created by the same guy, Michael Schur) 

8. 30 Rock (I loved the finale episodes -- so funny and touching. Great reminder of how fantastic the writing is on this show. Another excellent series finale.)

9. Parks & Recreation (Still bringing it. Still has my heart)

10. Masters of Sex (How charming is Lizzy Caplan?)

11. Key & Peele (The skits are just as hilarious and now they have an even bigger budget. Win-win. Too many favorite skits to name.)

12. Veep (Liked this season even more than the first. Great ensemble cast.) 

13. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (They were really on this season. Every episode was the right blend of hilarious and insane. From the season opener "The Gang Broke Dee" to the 100th episode "The Gang Saves the Day", to "Flowers for Charlie" which was written by Game of Thrones showrunners Benioff & Weiss, to their latest installment of Lethal Weapon. Loved it.)

14. The Writers' Room (Great new show hosted by Jim Rash where he interviews the writing staff of various shows. You get great behind-the-scenes commentary. Really loved the Breaking Bad, Parks & Rec, and Game of Thrones episodes.) 

15. Happy Endings (Ok, so this show was technically still on in 2013. But I completely missed this show. I don't think the show was packaged/advertised right, because I would see commercials for it and had no interest. But a pop culture critic I like really liked this show. So I gave it a chance when I found the DVDs for a ridiculously low price (and I do love Casey Wilson -- sad she was let go from SNL). And I'm so glad I did -- my siblings and I binge-watched it over Christmas. It's a really quick, witty show. There's a billion jokes a minute, with tons of pop culture references, in the style of 30 Rock (how many Scottie Pippen references can you find! And they have the meta jokes, like Elisha Cuthbert made a 24 joke and Damon Wayans Jr made an In Living Color joke). It's a great cast of characters, and there's the right amount of snark and awww friendship moments. So sad it was canceled after the third season.)

Notable Mentions: Mad Men, Girls, Homeland, House of Cards (great acting and neatly stylized, but man is that show dark), Portlandia, Community, Arrested Development, Best Week Ever (now with way more Adam Conover!), Drunk History. I also enjoyed ESPN's Nine for IX series (celebrating the anniversary of Title IX), particularly The '99ers, which was about the 1999 US Women's World Cup team.

Downton Abbey, I love ya, but what were you pulling with this 3rd season? Chipper it up a bit!
Sons of Anarchy is one of those shows I keep threatening to stop watching. But, man, that season finale...holy shit. 

And Dexter...man, that final season was depressing. Depressing in that it was terrible. It never felt like a final season. I kept thinking, "Well, there's 3 (2, 1) episodes left and it doesn't seem like they're wrapping things up..." And it wasn't interesting. And the decisions were odd. And it felt rushed and out of character. And the ending was terrible. It made me sad because Dexter has had its ups and downs throughout the years (and I stuck with it for better or worse), but there were some really good seasons and episodes. And I love Dexter and Deb as characters. But the last season was not representative of how good the show could be. Breaking Bad & 30 Rock's final seasons were representative of how good the show was, and they ended on a good, high note. The Dexter series finale just left a bad taste in my mouth. 

Favorite Movies:

1. The Heat

2. In a World...

3. Dallas Buyers Club

4. No

5. Stories We Tell

6. Frances Ha

7. American Hustle

8. Philomena

9. The Sapphires

10. Catching Fire

11. Walesa: Man of Hope

12. Atraco!

13. The Way Way Back

14. Enough Said

15. Before Midnight

16. Shadow Dancer

17. Who is Dayani Cristal?

18. Mud

19. What Maisie Knew

20. The Past

The above are all movies released in 2013. Early in the year is when I get a chance to see some of the Oscar-nominated movies from 2012 that I didn't get a chance to see. I enjoyed Searching for Sugarman, Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, How to Survive a Plague. 

The movies not released in 2013 but I really loved were Hello I Must Be Going, Your Sister's Sister, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Intouchables.