Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 1

I was tempted to be a wise guy and list my bands record but that would be too obvious, right? Oh by the way, click here and do a little commerce and come back in a few.

Let me stress that this list is for my FAVORITE record of the year. Like I said at the start of this it is impossible for your humble correspondent to declare what the best record of the year is. I can most definitely say what it is NOT however, and it certainly is NOT the Kanye West record. That guy could smear his shit on a disc and Spin would give it 5 stars. Please. No, it is far more accurate to say what my favorite records are, the ones I keep coming back to to enjoy and find new things with.

So my favorite record pf the year is hands down The Eldritch Dark by Blood Ceremony. The band's name coupled with the album cover make it sound like this is some satanic band. Well, only kind of. HA! This nominally gets put into the metal category, but more appropriately it is folk-metal. What the hell is that, you ask? I describe Blood Ceremony as if Jethro Tull did Black Sabbath songs. Or maybe Black Sabbath doing Jethro Tull songs. Imagine it either way but front the band with a sexy witch. Mix that up and shake and you get Blood Ceremony.

They are another Canadian act. Four-piece. Guitar/bass/drum with the lovely Alia O'Brien doing vocals and keys and naturally the flute. They traffic in a classic proto-metal sound while incorporating folk touches. It's great stuff. Lyrically they find interest in the occult. Titles like "Witchwood," "Lord Summerisle" (for you Wicker Man buffs), "Ballad of the Weird Sisters," and "The Magician" give it a way. It is not as tongue in cheek (or Dio-inspired) as Ghost, but it's wicked in an amusing not sinister way. It sort of reminds me of the goth girl on my residence hall floor my Freshmen year who was probably casting spells on everyone, except with better taste in records. It plays like those creepy Italian horror movies from the 70s.

Why do I name it my favorite? It is an alluring record, especially with the alluring Ms. O'Brien presiding over the festivities. It helps, I will not downplay it. But without that the music is still great, still alluring in of itself. Ms. O'Brien is an excellent singer. The songs are catchy and heavy and airy all at the same time. The band is super-tight. Great riffs and grooves. I saw them open for Kylesa and was so blown away I hunted out and found a similar Yamaha guitar that guitarist Sean Kennedy plays. Which has incidentally become my go-to guitar for shows. Back to the record. The songs are just really good. Great interplay with guitar and keys/organs and flute and fiddles.

Here's "Goodbye Gemini."

So there you go...my favorite ten records of the year. I do hope you have been inspired to check them out! Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to all the trouble. I will talk about some of the records I got recently that did not crack my list but might have if they had shown up earlier!

Oh, and a very Happy New Year! To paraphrase a poet of old, got a feeling '14 is going be a good year!

Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 2

Ultraviolet by Kylesa was an album I gushed about earlier this year. They are a Georgia band that has grown past the wall of noise that made up their earlier records. This builds upon their previous record to show a continued progression, not to the mainstream mind you, but a progression to more interesting and rewarding paths. Stoner metal and sludge metal is good, but when a band can use that as a foundation instead of a ceiling, those are the bands that are on to something.

Here is not a record for everyone. It's hard and it's heavy and it's trippy and it's spacey and it hits like a punch to the face. It takes a progressive track. The driving forces behind the band are Laura Pleasants and Phillip Cope. Their trading of vocal duties be it from song-to-song or within the same song keeps a close listener on his feet. Whether they are singing or shouting it remains mesmerizing with the heavy yet melodic music. "Unspoken" channels Megadeth-esque guitar runs with chanting vocals underlaying the main vocal line. It is a record with bottom in the guitars. I love the tone. It's heavy but it grips you not just through power and explosiveness but through strong song-writing. Good metal has good riffs and Kylesa has them by the bushelful. The swirling opening of "Grounded." The chugging Sabbath-esque riff powering "We're Taking This."

Another positive. It is short. At just under 39 minutes it starts, beats your ass, then gets out. I do not subscribe to the more-is-better school. My favorite records are those that do not fuck around. That say what they are going to say and be done with it. It is not brevity for the sake of it but it is knowing when the point is made. That's refreshing.

It astounds me that this record is failing to show up on so many best-of-metal lists. It is number two for me. I find it impossible to fathom there are 25 better metal records than this.

There was ONE record I found better than this one....what will it be!?!

Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 3

When you think of metal, what do you think of? Hair bands from the 80s like Twisted Sister or Ratt or Poison? Weird Brits singing about the devil and other similar things like Ozzy and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest? Nu-metal from the 90s like Korn and Limp Bizkit and Slipknot? The metal-as-fuck bands that the weirdos in high school listened to like Metallica and Slayer and Megadeth?

To me, only the second and fourth ones qualify as metal. That's just what I think so sue me. The first is glammed up pop, though Motley Crüe was close. The third is just....ugh...it's just not my thing so I will leave it there. I grew up on bands from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, more commonly reffered to as NWOBHM by nerds like me. That's Iron Maiden and Priest and and Mötorhead and even Def Leppard before they went pop. Bands like Metallica and Slayer have definite roots in NWOBHM.

That is all to say is that all music is a progression. The good bands are the ones that build on what came before. There is not too much new ground to tread. I joke that every chord progression has been used up. It is just how you use that progression; how you play that riff. Coming up with something completely new and different, at leafs with guitars and drums and amplifiers turned way the hell up is exceedingly difficult.

To me modern metal is no better exemplified than by a band like Pelican and their new album Forever Becoming. It is all instrumentals. A vocalist is not needed here because the music says it all. It is very hard to pull off but a band does not need a singer when the music is as perfect as this is. Metal can be difficult for many to find accessible. Pelican is accessible. Listen to "The Cliff" or "Perpetual Dawn" or "Immutable Dusk," listen to the prettiness in the passages. No band brings together beauty and aggression together better than Pelican. The songs are all sort-of longish, around seven minutes each. They form and twist and spiral within themselves; heavy aggressive passages power into majestic soaring riffs before spiraling back into black twists and turns. I have said again and again, good music is power. Good music grabs you by the throat and says "listen to me!!!" Forever Becoming grabs hold and doesn't let go, it makes you race back to the turntable to flip side over or hurriedly put on the next disc.

I love heavy bands. I love old-school Metallica, I still love Iron Maiden and admire Slayer for staying true to what they do, and for being one of the few bands I actually fear. HA! Metal today is post-metal bands like Pelican and Isis making heavy, melodically brilliant music. Metal is metal-as-fuck bands like High On Fire and Kvelerator keeping thrash alive. Metal is the Sabbath-worshipers like Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats and Black Tusk and Lo-Pan. Metal is the bands like Mastodon and Red Fang and Baroness that bring metal without ignoring pop sensibilities. Metal is bands like In Solitude and Ghost paying tribute to their NWOBHM forbearers. Metal is the doom bands like Windhand and Wolves In The Throne Room making music frightening. And metal is the progressive bands like Opeth and Anathema and Alcest. It is the most interesting genre of music out there because it has so many facets, so many limbs from the enormous trunk. The future of rock is not metal. Rock will always be metal.

Enjoy "Immutable Dusk." The louder the better.

Up next...number two! Georgia has a plethora of amazing metal acts. Here comes my favorite.

Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 4

True Widow's Circumabultation was originally lower on the list but after listening through the headphones a week or so ago it catapulted into the top 5. And really made me sad that I missed them when they came through town a couple months ago.

This year I have been really into heavier music. From this point on the list will reflect that. Some records that just missed the cut included new joints by Dead Meadow, ASG, Earthless, Windhand, Uncle Acid, Kadavar, Palms, Anciients and Red Fang. Great records all around put only so many could make the list.

Circumabultation is heavy but not loud. It's heaviness is rooted in dread but not doom. The vocals aren't shouted or grunted or screamed or growled. They are quite...normal I guess is the best way to put it. True Widow is a three piece from Texas. They deal in a mix of stoner metal and shoegaze. Vocal duties mix between the guy guitarist and the girl bassist. it makes for a great and interesting shift from song to song. The guitars do not shriek but echo and hum and shimmer. Each song finds a musical idea and explores it. There are not any time shifts or even any discernible choruses. The band just powers along filling the space with energetic dread. Being done well it does not get old or boring. The groove catches you up and propels you along. The song titles are often as enigmatic as the music: "S:H:S" and "I:M:O" and "HW:R" balanced against metal-esque song titles like "Creeper" and "Numb Hand" and my favorite, the spaghetti-western inspired "Four Teeth."

Next up...instrumental post-metal bliss from one of Chicago's best bands.

Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 5

As I have said before, Steven Wilson is the artist I admire most. He is supremely talented. He makes amazing music. He does it across a variety of projects. He has been the driving force behind Porcupine Tree, the best progressive rock band this side of Rush. He has worked with Aviv Geffen in a more pop-oriented project called Blackfield. He has also worked with more esoteric progressive projects like No Man and Bass Communion. He has done remixes for classic King Crimson and Jethro Tull albums. Sadly it looks like Porcupine Tree is finished and that Blackfield is less a priority for Mr. Wilson. But that is OK because his solo output has been amazing.

Each solo record has gotten better. The first, Insurgentes, is already great. The follow-up was Grace For Drowning and was my favorite record of 2011. I am hesitant to call his latest, The Raven That Refused To Sing, his masterpiece because his track record has shown him getting better and better and better.

This is definitely progressive rock so it is not for everyone. But the biggest knock against prog is that it's unemotional, it is detached, lacking feeling. One cannot listen to Raven and miss the feeling. It is just a gorgeous, lush album. It is not particularly guitar-driven, though Steven Wilson is one of the best guitar players around. Strings, keyboards, rhythm all work to bring the work to life. It is a beautiful listening experience. The band he has assembled is fantastic. And all the talents he has honed and skill he has is brought to bear here. His work remixing King Crimson records has rubbed off here; this is a very Crimson-sounding album.

This is the one album on my list I don't have on vinyl because I purchased the beautiful hard cover book that came with the CDs. Like any good progressive rock record there are stories at work here. Each song tells a story. The most touching of them is the final track on the record and the record's namesake. I will not spoil it for you. The video bellow is a beautiful interpretation of the song. I encourage you to watch it and enjoy it.

Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 6

The words Elephant Stone immediately call to mind The Stone Roses, that hard luck British band that spawned a million mop-headed imitators. Canada's Elephant Stone sounds like they owe thanks to The Stone Roses but they do not imitate that band at all. They are excellent at creating a sound all their own. Twelve-strings, keyboards, sitars, grooves. It works.

There are great grooves at work here. "Heavy Moon" has this slinky rhythm that gets the head bobbing. "Setting Sun" and "Masters of War" have that great classic sounding twelve-string guitar work. "Hold Onto Your Soul" is a total Teenage Fanclub homage. That's not a bad thing because the Fannies are an awesome band themselves. The sitar gets broken out half-way through the record. I am listening to the record as I write this and I couple pretty much just name each sopng and tell you how great it is. "Looking Thru Baby Blue" has a hyper-Pink Floyd kind of feel, especially in the organ line.

I guess this gets lumped into the psychedelic, trippy category. But it is not weird psychedelic. It is much more like a kaleidoscope. Most psychedelic music mellows you out; this will brighten you up.

Here's the most groovy cut..."Heavy Moon."

Up next...the most progressive of this year's favorites, from one of the artists I most admire.

Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 7

Arbouretum's Coming Out of The Fog is striking for the classic rock vibe it has. The band that comes to mind is Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Take "Renouncer," it struts along at a slow beat with a thudding bass and heavy guitar run.  It's the kind of song that would play when we first see the smooth not-too-sure-about-this-guy in a movie. There's a sense of dread around it. "All at Once, the Turning Weather" is similar. Nothing fancy in either of these tracks but there is a tremendous heavy vibe. Not a metal heavy but a strong rock heaviness. That classic rock heaviness is balanced by other tracks with a cosmic-American sense like side 1 closer "Oceans Don't Sing." Pedal steel and acoustic guitars come together to close out the side on a warm note.

This record is about mood, it is about texture. I played a couple tracks for a friend who was not impressed at first, but he came back to me a few months later with greater appreciation for it after giving it a chance on his own. When I first heard it the power beneath it struck me. I liked the simple beats and simple bass lines propelling the guitar playing.

Arbouretum are a Baltimore band. I live in DC but even though the distance is not immense I cannot say I have a good feel for the Baltimore scene. A band like Arbouretum makes me wonder about the rock and roll life. Not the nonsense you see on Behind The Music about big-time-bands but the working life of a small time band. I imagine the guys in Arbouretum must have day jobs. They just finished up a two-week tour that took them as far as Chicago and Atlanta. Making a life out of music is terribly difficult, especially a life that has spouses and kids and mortgages and bills to pay. I would love to go out on a tour with my band but a) I know the likelihood of that is slim to none; and b) I have a job and taking a month off to do that is not feasible. We just recruited a new bass player because ours sadly had to move away to St. Louis. He's been in a moderately successful band, especially when compared to what we have accomplished. But he has still had a day job the whole run of that outfit. It is tough sledding I imagine.

Here's the aforementioned "Renouncer."

Up next...Canadians invade the list!!