Noise Narcs’ Top Albums of 2013 is now available. Better late than never, right?
As per usual, our best albums of 2012 proved that my powers of anticipation for the year’s best albums were weak. Our overall and my personal #1 was ranked #45, our #2 was unranked, our #3 was #52, our #4 was unranked, and our #5 unranked. But hey: #6 was ranked #5, and #7 was ranked #1. So hey, baby steps.
I have to admit: this year’s lineup of albums is getting me pretty excited. A lot of very, very promising releases.
So things might get a bit bumpy, non-existant readers.
In the meantime, enjoy Thom Yorke and a Thom Yorke-lookalike lady dancing:
Despite our claims of sexism, in the last two years, two smoky and sparse female rockers have come out of nowhere to claim our top album of the year spot. If you scanned our most anticipated albums of 2013, however, you wouldn’t find a single one. Given the ridiculous slate of great music to be released in 2013, I’d bet against a hat trick, but if the stylings of PJ Harvey and Sharon Van Etten are your thing as much as they are ours, Torres’ quietly explosive eponymous album is well worth throwing in the ring.
Our best of year list is now available here.
In January, I looked through our list of most anticipated albums of 2011 to see how my powers of prognostication held up. Well… let’s start with the fact that I ranked my own personal and our overall number one album of 2011 at #21… below Peter, Bjorn, & John. Whoops. Sorry, Polly Jean.
Of the albums in our actual top #20 of 2011, only six were in the top #20 of the anticipated list (Radiohead, Cut Copy, Fleet Foxes, Jay-Z & Kanye, Bon Iver, and Kurt Vile). Seven of our anticipated of 2011 continue to be anticipated: next year in Aphex Twin? And a whole bunch of albums that hadn’t been announced swarmed the lists. Of course, it’s also possible that I may not be as hip to the “new music” as I pretend to be…
So, for my own edification, right after doing that comparison, I put together this list of my most anticipated albums of 2012 in January, with the intention of posting it. January’s the new March, know what I mean, Vern?
I’m going to try to keep this updated as new releases come out. When an album’s release is conjectural, I’ve noted it, and weighed that albums anticipation level accordingly. I won’t change the order based on hearing an album, but I will try to update it based on albums being announced, like I’ve just done by adding Beach House to the #1 spot cuz holy shit a new Beach House album.
Click here for our top 20, geographic breakdown, individual voter lists, etc. Thanks to all the voters for humoring me. Happy New Years to all.
Even though the blog has been still for many a month now, my love-life hasn’t. After a Russian doll-worthy series of lies, I conned my then-girlfriend into arriving at the PEP Boys parking lot at Broad and Federal in Philadelphia. That is, directly outside the stately row home we met six years ago as roommates. Where the Blood Feathers happened to be playing their beyond-lovely “You’re Welcome.” And Bands in the Backyard happened to be filming. The rest, as they say, is engagement history.
Thank ya’ll. And Kandace, this is the punishment for never posting on Noise Narcs: you become the subject of the post. And the subject of the rest of my life.
The Blood Feathers will be playing Johnny Brenda’s 5th Year Anniversary on Friday, September 30th 9:15PM, with Like A Fox and Matthew O’Neill opening. Tickets are $10, available here.
As you, our single digit readers, may have noticed, our posting has “slowed.” Although I’ve had a ton of fun writing about music, bands, and Philadelphia for the past year and a half, Noise Narcs will no longer be regularly updated. At the very least, this site will stay active in its current form until the end of the year, and then I’ll move it to cheaper (read: free) hosting, where it will live in semi-retirement, gathering moss and making future generations snicker. Like a Geocities X-Files fansite. It’s likely that there will be a few more sporadic posts, as whim strikes us, over the next few months. And the site will live on as a portal for our friendly Best Album of the Year poll.
So thank you. Thank you readers. Thank you to all the bands who submitted music. A special thank you to all the bands who submitted who didn’t suck (a surprisingly large percentage).
A big thanks to all the bands who endured our awkward interviews: Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Incan Abraham, Work Drugs, Bridge Underwater, Drew from Blood Feathers, The Eeries, and Grubby Little Hands.
Thank you to our loyal contributing narcs: Christopher “I know how spell psychedelic” T, Cydney “Music to dance/read/write to” A, Billy “I actually know things about music” L, Greg “I’m confused about The National” W, Matt “Gaga” K, Trent “amazing Italian video” W, my brother Aaron “I teach the children of rock stars” G, Katherine “I’m adorable about talking about how I don’t know anything about music but still am willing to post” H, Kenny “stills owes a Mog post” R, Andrew Mattey from Cozy Galaxies, Matt “What’s PBR&B?” S, Miya “Dairyland” T, and Dave “Ugly Furniture” B. And thanks to all of you who contributed to our year end lists: I hope you’ll keep doing it.
Thanks to all of our commenters. At the most spiteful and banal, you made us feel read. At your best, you made us feel challenged, intrigued, and appreciated.
Our sincere gratitude to the bands who played our show in March: Cozy Galaxies, Bridge Underwater, and Grubby Little Hands. You guys killed it, and I’m excited to hear where you guys will be going next.
Thanks to MOG, who ran our advertising. And I say this with all impartiality, if you love music, you should subscribe. Their pitch-perfect streaming has changed, permanently, the way I listen to music. So one last heartfelt advertisement: .
Penultimately, a few shoutouts to a few highlights among the Noise Narc features and posts:
This really has been a pleasure for me. And, on Friday, tune in for my last “official” post: numerous versions of the saddest goodbye song I know. It’ll be a real tearjerker, jerks.
Do you like Philadelphian music? Do you like neo-circus (nu-circus?) music? Do you like bands with names like The The, Duran Duran, the Go-Gos, and Talk Talk? Do you have a thing for streaming an album before it’s released? Oh, or a blistering dose of delicious musical explosive weirdness?
Then you’d be wise to jump over to Stereogum to listen to Man Man’s Life Fantastic: Stream.