Top 10 Albums

1. Foxygen, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic (Jagjaguwar)
Ambitious pop songs full of both joy and cynicism.

2. Bill Callahan, Dream River (Drag City)
The work of Bill Callahan gets better with age, but this one seemed to be his most immediate album when age has left his songwriting subdued and hushed. It’s his Aja.

3. Deerhunter, Monomania (4AD)
The band gains solidarity under Bradford Cox’s trashiest vision yet. Gnarly guitars, smoke, leather and hooks are the result.

4. Tegan and Sara, Heartthrob (Warner Bros.)
Could have worked just as easy as a new batch of coffee shop folk. Instead, it pulsates with ’80s radio vibes and roller rink fantasies.

5. Queens of the Stone Age, …Like Clockwork (Matador)
Freed of the constraints of the big machine, Josh Homme makes the comeback of the year. The plush stoner revival unhinged. Like Clockwork is a majestic, hulking, landmark from metal’s only auteur.

6. Kvelertak, Meir (Roadrunner)
Did you see these guys live?

7. Forest Swords, Engravings (Tri Angle)
It’s only a matter of time before Matthew Barnes, a.k.a. Forest Swords, is backing a major diva on the pop charts. For now, I’ll take his haunted beats and echoed hypnogogia as early scripture.

8. Iceage, You’re Nothing (Matador)
How they became deeper, darker, and more existentially brutal since their debut is anyone’s guess. I’ll bet it was spending too much time in America.

9. Haim, Days Are Gone (Polydor)
Pop crafted for pleasure that proceeds to push the right buttons.

10. Mordecai – College Rock (Richie)
Nebulous grind straight from the frazzled minds of a boozy Saturday night in the basement.

The Next 10

11. Yo La Tengo, Fade (Matador)

12. MIA,  Matangi (Interscope)

13. My Bloody Valentine, MBV (self-released)

14. The Strokes, Comedown Machine (RCA)

15. Charli XCX, True Romance (IAMSOUND)

16. Warm Soda, Someone for You (Castle Face)

17. FUZZ, FUZZ (In the Red)

18. Friendzone, DX (self-released)

19. Polvo, Siberia (Merge)

20. Irreperables, Irreperables  (Nominal)

Honorable Mention (because it was an EP)

Perfect Pussy, I Have Lost All Desire for Feeling (self-released)
They played 15 minutes in Columbus the other night, just as I was turning 37, and I could hear the future.

Album I Heard in the last week of 2013 I should have added to my Top 20

The Liminanas, Costa Blanca (Trouble in Mind)
Like the Foxygen record, only done by an adorable French duo who sound like they love the Dungen records.

The “Close But No Cigar” Album of the Year

Black Sabbath, 13 (Virgin)
Rick Rubin gave it his all. It sounds like the Sabbath of old—almost. It’s certainly impressive what Tony Iommi can still do with his guitar in 2013. Maybe it really is the absence of Bill Ward that ruined this one?

Top Five Re-Issues

Various Artists, Purple Snow (Numero Group)

15-60-75 (The Numbers Band),  Jimmy Bell’s Still in Town (Exit Stencil)

The Dur-Dur Band, Volume 5 (Awesome Tapes from Africa)

Anonymous, Into the Shadow (Light in the Attic)

Various Artists, I Am the Center:  Private Issue New Age Music in America 1950-1990 (Light in the Attic)

Single of the Year

Daft Punk, “Get Lucky”