It would appear to be
that time of the year.
There were two
important albums released in 2013. (There may have been three, but I don't
feel qualified to comment on the Bowie album, on account of having largely
ignored his output since the early 1980s.) Obviously the Daft Punk is my
favourite album of the year. I just love it so much (apologies to the many who
don't). But why is it important? I think because it serves as a timely reminder
of how a record can be made, and what a record can sound like, and stand
for. It's all about the music. (And yet the music is frequently insane, some of
it may not even, as Sasha Frere-Jones pointed out when it came out, be any good,
but nevertheless the entirety of it is magnificent.)
The other important
album this year is the 10th entry in Dylan's "Bootleg Series":
important because the armchair Dylanologists (those of us with -- ahem -- some
semblance of a life outside of the pursuit of Bob) had long sensed that the
"Self Portrait" era could not possibly have been as awful as it
seemed to be. And here, 40-some years later, is the proof that in fact Dylan
was making music as alive and meaningful as any he had made up to then, and any
he would make after. You could listen to this music forever, and dream
about what might still be lurking in the archives.
Even in the absence of
those two signifiers, though, this has been a bloody good year for recorded
music. There is a long list, if only I could remember them all, of albums that
have advanced, even if ever so slightly, what music can be. In no particular
order:
"Psychic",
by Darkside.
"News From
Nowhere", by Darkstar.
"Lux", by
Brian Eno. (Technically late 2012, but took time to absorb.)
"Immunity",
by Jon Hopkins.
"Beautiful
Rewind", by Four Tet.
"World Psychedelic
Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor?", by William Onyeabor.
"Push The Sky
Away", by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. (I know I haven't written
anything about this record; I'm not sure I have the words to do it justice,
also my take on it is even more than usually personal. In short, it's a big
one.)
"Four: Acts Of
Love", by Mick Harvey. (That colon is important.)
"Chance Of
Rain", by Laurel Halo.
"R Plus
Seven", by Oneohtrix Point Never.
"Cupid's
Head", by The Field.
"m b v", by
My Bloody Valentine.
"Seasons Of Your
Day", by Mazzy Star.
"Dysnomia",
by Dawn Of Midi.
"Pull My Hair
Back", by Jessy Lanza.
"Empty
Avenues", by John Foxx And The Belbury Circle.
"Engravings",
by Forest Swords.
"Nepenthe",
by Julianna Barwick.
"The Weighing Of
The Heart", by Colleen.
"Roaring
Lion", by Lee Perry & His Upsetters.
"Joy One
Mile", by Stellar Om Source.
"Open", by
The Necks.
"Tomorrow's
Harvest", by Boards Of Canada.
"She Beats",
by Beaches.
"Box Set, Volume
2", by Cleaners From Venus.
"The Next
Day", by David Bowie. (Because, "important" or not, it is still
one of the year's best.)
"The Elektrik
Karousel", by Focus Group.
"Overgrown",
by James Blake.
"Evidence",
by John Foxx & The Maths.
"Change The Beat:
The Celluloid Records Story 1979-1987".
"Afrobeat Airways,
Vol 2: Return Flight To Ghana 1974-1983".
"Sweet
Sensation", by Embassy.
"Fade", by
Yo La Tengo.
"Berberian Sound
Studio", by Broadcast.
"Across Six Leap
Years", by Tindersticks. (Old songs done in new ways; wonderful stuff
whichever way you cut it.)
"The Skeletal Essences
Of Afro Funk, Vol 3 (1969-1980)", by Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou.
Not to mention the
countless other I have no doubt forgotten.
That is rather a long list, isn't it? (In almost any other year "Engravings" would loom very large. Actually, it still does.)
And the song of the
year? Well, if it wasn't for "Get Lucky", that would be "Love Is
Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA)", by David Bowie.
