Hard to believe that another year has been crossed off. Much has changed since our last list, for HearFeel and otherwise, and I almost don’t want it to be over. 2013 has been a fine, very fine actually, year for music and it’s been a tough one hashing out the list this time. But I’ve struggled through all this excellent music to provide once more the official Best Of from HearFeel. This is purely subjective and personal, and you wont find too many of the year’s biggest albums on here, but everything on it is something I consider top quality.
As always, I just wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to not only view the site but everyone who has subscribed and taken the time to message me their thoughts and especially music. It means a lot and if it weren’t for the feedback and the continued mails from some great labels and incredible artists, I doubt I would remain as enthusiastic about maintaining this little project. So, here’s to 2013, what a great year it’s been, and let’s all hope that next year can follow in its footsteps. Without further ado, the list.
(Links to HearFeel reviews under the album name where appropriate)
1. Lusine – The Waiting Room
No list of mine would have been complete without Lusine at the top. A powerful Ambient Pop meets Microhouse release which finally sees Lusine employ vocals and pulls it off superbly. One of my favourite all time artists and so accessible, perhaps one of the most underrated Electronic artists on Ghostly’s roster.
2. Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
Pushing the boundaries of Neo-Pysch and alternative electronic dance, there is nobody out there that quite sounds like these guys right now. It’s their heaviest, thickest release to date, and certainly their most rhythmically driven. Alienating and metallic, but intoxicatingly brash. Some criticism to be levelled at their awkward segues but a very strong album nonetheless.
3. Tim Hecker – Virgins
Could anything ever top Ravedeath, 1972? It was a tough one to followup but Virgins manages to stand its ground by employing tonnes of startlingly clear live instrumentation in perhaps his most head-scratching and thought provoking release yet. The piano is the scalpel of choice this time round, dangerously sharp and harrowing.
4. Raffertie – Sleep of Reason
Perhaps one of the most surprising releases of the year for me; hovering on the edges of Dubstep and Art Pop, Raffertie’s debut is a bit nebulous and doesn’t quite know where to hold itself, but compensates with insatiable basslines, crooning vocals and lush guitars. Intelligently crafted, subtly experimental and utterly groove-inducing.
5. Julianna Barwick – Nepenthe
It truly was love at first sight for me. The way that Barwick manipulates her voice and interfingers it with vast clouds of indistinguishable drone makes for an album that can shift from warm and peaceful to anxious and fearful at the flip of a switch. It’s difficult not to get caught in its emotional fog but I cant imagine anything I would want to do more.
6. EUS – Sol Levit
Challenging the meaning, the purpose, of life and what it means to be alive is no mean feat, but EUS channels the hard realities of loss and musings on the afterlife in vast swathes of potent drone and lush violin and piano sequences. It wasn’t an easy pick but this album is so heartfelt and earnest it’s pretty difficult to ignore. Big, but in a refined and introspective way.
7. Roly Porter – Life Cycle of a Massive Star
“Big” isn’t the word that comes to mind when detailing the scope of this vast Noise and Dark Ambient behemoth. Spanning a mere 30 minutes, Porter expresses this vast astronomical cycle to perfection in that short time, from the calm drone tracts of deep time and stable periods, to the tumultuous, chaotic and noisy sequences following birth and destruction. Indescribable.
8. Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
Another difficult pick, but who can deny BoC’s ability to create compelling and readily identifiable releases no matter the quality? Choosing to employ more percussion than any of their previous albums, TH creates a future nostalgic record centered in some post-apocalyptic universe, with bleary 60’s synth notes cutting through the more sophisticated modern electronica. Fascinating.
9. Witxes – A Fabric of Beliefs
An early album from this year that has managed to ride the wave and avoid demotion, saving itself thanks to its ability to juxtapose abrasive guitar and electronic dominated melodies against more ethereal synth drones and careful ambient sequences and field recordings. Incredibly detailed and texturally rich release touching on the nature and need for religion.
10. Jasper TX – An Index of Failure
Yet another one that has endured from the earliest parts of the year, Jasper TX’s final album under the alias is every bit as painful as you’d expect. Summoning deeply rooted Ambient melodies he places them in a Post-Rock framework to create powerfully poignant and expansive pieces that blossom with a slow and wistful sadness
11. 36 – Shadow Play
Sadly not able to breach the top 10 this year following Lithea’s success, Shadow Play is his most ambitious and intelligent release to date but suffers from an incoherent coherence in that, it tries so hard to be and mean something, that it just doesn’t quite achieve it. Some of his best Ambient singles and some incredible Drone sequences but could have kept it together better.
12. Grouper – The Man Who Died In His Boat
For those fans of Liz Harris and her continuing work as Ethereal Folk persona Grouper, I doubt this album will come as a surprise. It does however nicely straddle the divide from her older, more Lo-Fi and more Folk lead albums and her work like AIA which has a stronger Dream Pop focus. Perfect compromise between vocals and instrumentation.
13. Saåad – Orbs & Channels
Saåad are beginning to define for me a particular brand of heart-wrenching Drone and Dark Ambient that involves the deep processing of growling guitars and the distant wailing of voices. Every track sounds like it’s suspended in some vast room with much unseen space hinting at the political and social undercurrents retained within. It’s thick and meaty and I love it.
14. Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven
Taking a swipe at the homogeneity of Electronic Dance whilst avoiding criticism for aimlessness at the same time is tough, and OPN couldnt do it. But there is something in the torrent of MIDI samples and whirling miscellaneous electronica that’s thoroughly compelling and almost naive in its sound that I find interesting in its irony.
15. Kiln – meadow:watt
A remnant of Ghostly International’s old roster, Kiln have brought me hope that more unconventional music still remains somewhere in their heart. Kiln fans will be pleased to note that this follows very similar blueprints to their earlier releases, with lackadaisical and jovial minimal electronic and IDM to the max. Just fun, sunny and lightweight, perfect for Autumn listening.
16. Aaron Martin/Christoph Berg – Day Has Ended
The best splits are those that have two artists that are practically indistinguishable rather than totally disparate. Day Has Ended charts a beautiful procession from day to night from someone burdened with depression and desperate for alone time, reflected in the simply gorgeous minimal violin and piano seamlessly migrating from one artist to the next.
17. Daughter – If You Leave
First record I bought this year; while my enjoyment of this album has somewhat waned over recent months, I still do love the slightly lilted and accented vocals and their empowered but not dominating supporting Folk instrumentation. It knows when it needs to be stripped back and go one-on-one, forging more minimal and heartfelt soundscapes.
18. Jon Hopkins – Immunity
While I’ve never been entirely sold on the premise of this album and the fact it welds two very opposing Dance and Ambient electronic strands together rather awkwardly, I like a lot of the core aspects. Some of the big-beat tracks are positively club ready, whilst some of the latter, easier going tracks are just fantastically blissful.
19. Apparat – Krieg Und Frieden (Music For Theatre)
Soundtracks almost certainly work best in their given context, but that doesn’t stop them being great pieces of art alone. Apparat has created some amazing pieces of Modern Classical and Ambient music here, fusing piano with glitch, noise, synth and even some astonishing vocals right at the end.
20. CHVRCHES – The Bones Of What You Believe
Don’t deny me this one guilty pleasure. Every year I have one; last year was Carly Rae, this year it’s the Scottish Electro-Pop of Chvrches. Ok, it’s not the most ambitious or progressive release but there’s a tonne of great singles in here that follow the same catchy blueprint that’s hard not to get caught up in. OH O-O-OH, OH OH OH, O-O-OH
Very honourable mention to Raum – Event Of Your Leaving, which I sadly have not had time to properly enjoy. Would certainly be a Top10 contender though I feel.
If that’s still not enough for you, here’s 80 more on my Rate Your Music page.