(Instagram Poll) The Best Albums of 2013
By Nick Caceres
Published 07/10/2025
Kanye West performance at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
Photo Courtesy of Tommy Ton from Vogue
The following list was composed due to this particular year winning in an Instagram poll. Expect to see the other vintage year winners, 2008 and 2005, in the near future.
*Some Mixtapes made the cut.
*Just my opinion
30. Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time
Released: 06/25/2013
Label: Twosyllable
Genre: Dream Pop, Shoegaze, Neo-Psychedelia, Noise Pop, Indie Surf
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
When using emotional descriptors for Shoegaze and Dream Pop, most will describe the genre as melancholic or depression, however few will describe it as adorable. That’s where the Colorado trio, Candy Claws, come into play with their most popular release to date, “Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time.” Up until this point, Candy Claws have been building this bright and colorful take on this side of music. Their third and final addition to the trilogy features Baroque songwriting, 60s Surf Rock, mixed into a salad of gently packed Dream Pop and Shoegaze, an utter juxtaposition to the insular nature with listeners feeling like that had entered a wonderland of strange yet beautiful plants and creatures, indicated by the album art. Over a decade later, this album has remained a cornerstone in the revivalist landscape of Dream Pop and Shoegaze that started in the early 2010s.
29. Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
Released: 04/30/2013
Label: Profound Lore, Candlelight, Daymare Recordings, Back on Black
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Dissonant Black Metal, Post-Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Industrial
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
The ultimate Metal swansong. Irish band, Altar of Plagues, had been slowly pushing themselves into the broader international Black Metal scene throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s and would release the final full-length, “Teethed Glory and Injury.” What makes this album exceptionally noteworthy is the heavy layering of cybernetic Industrial effects perfectly blending into an Atmospheric bog of Black, Sludge, Dissonant and Avant-Garde styles. The bizarre nature, both sound wise and lyrically make this a cinematic trip with tone set by the first track, taking you on a gripping ride.
28. E+E - The Light That You Gave Me To See You
Released: 12/18/2023
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Epic Collage, Latin Electronic, Deconstructed Club, Caporal, Digital Cumbia, Saya, New Age, Contemporary R&B
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Elysia Crampton has always been a unique force in Latin music, bridging the gap between indigenous styles endemic to her home country, Bolivia and futuristic Electronic, Hypnagogia and Sound Collage. Each release feels like more of an experience than a standard listening experience and this is extremely true for their collaborative group, E+E with the record, “The Light That You Gave Me To See You.” Within the chaos of these genres mingling, lies comfort and love that especially comes out in tracks like “Fire Gut” and “Sword” with enhancing old Pop hits into something more euphoric and emotionally heightened. Listeners will come away from this album rejuvenated emotionally and spiritually with tears to shed, as Crampton likely intended.
27. Dead in The Dirt - The Blind Hole
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
In under 25 minutes, the Atlanta-based Grindcore outfit, Dead in the Dirt, turned the Straight Edge scene on its head with clean yet distorted production, lyrics proclaiming a mythos in socio-political topics and ethics in veganism. “The Blind Hole” was the only full-length release before the disbandment in 2014, mastered by Brad Boatright of Nails fame. The riffs on this album explode with melees of corrosive energy. No dull moments can be found here, this is the bee's knees of pure enragement.
26. Lil Ugly Mane - Three Sided Tape Volume One
Released: 08/07/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Instrumental Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, Southern Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Sound Collage, Plunderphonics, Noise, Funk, Midwest Emo, Shoegaze
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Up until this point, not only did people not realize that Travis Miller was some white guy from Richmond, but his talented production was never limited to some of the best post-Memphis Cloud Rap of the early 2010s. In hindsight, that was just a footnote, with Miller coming from a Punk background and having joint experiences in home productions of Black Metal, Sound Collage, Noise and club-ready Funk bangers. The first installment of the “Three Sided Tape,” which somehow has album pacing, is a collection of that early scrap material recorded between 2008 to 2011 and breaks through the confines of what is considered a beat tape. There is even a foreshadowing of what’s to come nearly a decade in the future with the Shoegaze-Emo derived driver, “Headboard.” This first edition of the “Three Sided Tape” gives you a look into someone putting the pieces together to make their own unique style and brand that persists to this day.
25. Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza - Nordwrong
Released: 10/28/2013
Label: 2060
Genre: Vaporwave, Downtempo, Smooth Jazz, Broken Transmission, Barber Beats
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
The late Vaporwave legend, surprisingly based out of Rio De Janeiro, Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza, was leading the charge of pioneering some of the freshest production in the earliest years of this wave of Experimental internet music drenched in the most potent and uncut nostalgia. One of the most noteworthy projects in their arsenal would be based off of a fictional carbon emotions facility, making their final tests before officially opening with desensitized corporate instrumentals of Smooth Jazz and weather broadcasts tow the line between privileged comfort and the existential fear surrounding the consequences of climate change.
24. Mach-Hommy - F.Y.I.
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
One of the biggest mysteries in Hip Hop is whatever Mach was up to in between 2004’s “Goon Grizzle” and 2013’s “F.Y.I.” which serves as the only dissemination of those insights from the man himself. “F.Y.I.” allegedly came at a time when Mach-Hommy was recovering from trauma he endured from a car crash, his verses coming from pain. However, the pain wasn’t just physical, many of the topics found on this record cover Mach’s transition from a much riskier lifestyle into something more stable, yet the longing of that life stubbornly remains. Each track unpacks a different aspect of this feeling, with a different assigned producer ranging from the likes of August Fanon, Knxwledge and Kozak94, and are incredibly stripped back to suit this conscious atmosphere. “F.Y.I.” helped pave the way from one of the best runs in the underground, still ongoing today.
23. Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Man
Released: 08/23/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Slacker Rock, Singer-Songwriting, Noise Pop, Indie Folk
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Here’s an authentic coming of age chronicle. Before forming the band, Car Seat headrest, Will Toledo began putting together vulnerable Slacker Emo during high school and early adulthood as “Nervous Young Man.” That being said, this two hour epic is not an archive (only three are from the “Nervous Young Man” era) nor a greatest hits as claimed by Toledo. Instead, this meaty collection of Low-Fidelity with higher emphasis on song structure than just unfiltered emotion with tinges of crashout distorted guitar solos, somber electronic instrumentation and organs, all wrapped under the firsthand experience from the prince of Emo twinks (and furries…apparently).
22. Lorde - Pure Heroine
Released: 09/27/2013
Label: Universal Music New Zealand, Lava, Republic Records
Genre: Alt-Pop, Synth Pop, Art Pop, Alternative R&B
Image Courtesy of Discogs
It’s insane to think that one of the most defining Pop albums of the 2010s would come from a kid in Auckland. Already gaining traction within New Zealand after being signed while still in Middle School by Universal Music Group in 2009 after receiving recognition from winning a talent show, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor was recognized early on as a prodigy in songwriting and vocal performance under the name “Lorde.” “Pure Heroine” would serve as her debut studio album, being recorded with Joel Little at Golden Age Studios in Auckland, New Zealand. Being only 16 at the time of its release, the album approaches the teen experience with sharp accuracy, with tracks like “Royals” and “Ribs” being written in the midst of school breaks and house parties, mocking the egotistical “bullshit” references to expensive cars and alcohol by the artists of that time or the fear of aging past youth. So much more treasure like that can be found in this relatively short record that approaches topics with a mature yet youthful lens that only someone like Lorde could pull off.
21. Lil B - 05 Fuck Em
Released: 12/24/2013
Label: BasedWorld
Genre: Cloud Rap, Gangsta Rap, Experimental Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Hyphy, Trap, Crunk, Horrorcore, Chipmunk Soul
Image Courtesy of Chicago Reader
Followers and disciples of the based god himself would be blessed on Christmas Eve 2013 with his longest and most expanding mixtape to date, clocking in at nearly six hours. “05 Fuck Em” is comprised of scripture reteling and reflecting on Lil B’s time in high school with spectrum of topics ranging from personal aspects of confessionals, motivationals and free associations and sex talk along with discussion of the angst, the prison complex and conflictions. The production is perhaps the most soulful out of then Lil B discography, emulating the period of time it focuses on through a wide range of styles from across the country with production aided by Lou Pocus, Keyboard Kid and the late Mac Miller. Don’t let the size of this mixtape intimidate you, the flow between these classy Cloud Rap tracks, while in a jagged Experimental fashion similarly to earlier based god tapes, is somehow seamless yet outwardly bombastic in volume.
20. Bull of Heaven - 299: Self-Traitor, I Do Bring the Spider Love
Released: 11/20/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Jam Band, Progressive Rock, Krautrock, Space Rock, Jazz-Rock
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Already having a five year span and already receiving hate from music fans for some of the most ridiculous experimental releases with runtimes that can sometimes outlast life itself (you read that correctly!) on top of self-releasing hundreds of numbered albums, Bull of Heaven was a project based in Denver, Colorado between musicians, and possibly guilty as charged stoners (I mean…who else would think of crafting albums that last a millenia?), Neil Keener and that late Clayton Counts. In many facets, Bull of Heaven is anti-art, meant to rile up the constraints society places on the “album.” While “299: Self-Traitor, I Do Bring the Spider Love” does not push that time boundary, it proves another aspect which is the undisputed fact that Keener and Counts are extremely talented artists with experience in various genres of music. “299” saw the pair dive deep into long-form jammy Progressive Rock, the type of music one could listen to while lounging around or on some safe form of substance binging. Each chord and rhythm slightly shifts in ways that are tricky to notice when letting the sounds takeover, a true testament to the deserved recognition of Bull of Heaven.
19. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Proceeding their historic “Alive 2007” tour, the French duo would recede back to Paris in 2008 to begin recording demos, slowly abandoning the loud compression featured in their previous two studio albums. They would make way for a more open-air and live instrumental approach to their style, laying off any looping samples and borrowing from the styles of 1970s-80s American disco, the title itself referencing the cigarette hazed past of random-access memory technology paired with the raw human experience. Many have cited a West Coast influence on many of the tracks, with Daft Punk recording chunks of the album in select studios in California and New York City. In time, “Random Access Memories” serves as the final full-length from the duo with a stacked feature list of the likes of Julian Casablancas, Panda Bear and Pharrell Williams with instrumentation, including a custom modular synthesizer and vintage vocoders, from John Criswell.
18. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
With its themes uncovered from one of the darkest periods in the band’s history, “...Like Clockwork” came from Josh Homme’s four month stint bedridden in a hospital after nearly losing his life from knee surgery complication, leading to months of depression. This led to the start of a new album, being announced on their Facebook in late August in 2012 after being uncovered “Like Clockwork” from playing their debut after reissuing it that same year. The final product found Queens of the Stone Age in a more slower Bluesy territory while maintaining the quality of previous albums with a heavy handed placement in depression, death and heartbreak, even featuring some of the best songs in their entire discography such as “Kalopsia,” “My God Is The Sun” and “I Appear Missing.”
17. Kayo Dot - Hubardo
Released: 08/30/2013
Label: Ice level Music
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal, Post-Metal, Avant-Prog, Black Metal, Jazz Fusion, Chamber Music
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Being released in the tenth year of the band’s existence, “Hubardo” could be viewed as both a victory lap and a new chapter for Toby Driver’s Avant-Garde band, Kayo Dot. “Hubardo” (Enochian for “lamp” or “lantern”) pulls both lyrically and instrumentally from previous Kayo Dot projects, even going as far as leaning into more desired Metal outputs from Driver’s earlier band, Maudlin in the Well. Due to its wider list of collaborators, “Hubardo” takes many shapes and forms throughout it’s runtime from Jazz, Chamber, Avant-Prog and various clashings of progressions from Black Metal and Post-Metal that give the project a more cinematic feel, as if Driver is telling a tale in a fantasy parallel speaking in Echnodian. The album would also save Kayo Dot from going under after their departure from Hydra Head, kickstarting the album through a simple Bandcamp pre-order and payed off from an overwhelmingly incredible reception from the fanbase.
16. Billy Woods - Dour Candy
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
By 2013, NYC rapper, Billy Woods, was already receiving high-profile recognition for “History Will Absolve Me” (2012) which was originally going to be Wood’s last album before leaving the music industry for good after years of struggling to find a financially viable footing in both his label and solo-career. Thankfully that timeline was disrupted by the surprising success and newfound appreciation for his political messaging and raw lyrical approach that felt seemingly absent from the mainstream. In the following year, Woods would team up with Ninja Tune producer and fellow New Yorker, Blockhead who already had a reputation in the scene with his work with Aesop Rock and Ilogic, to cook up the sugary but bitter “Dour Candy.” Everything that made Billy Woods find success the previous year can be found on this album, but a much seedier, journalistic account living under the world introduced by “History Will Absolve Me.” Leave sobriety and optimism at the door and drown in “Dour Candy.”
15. Paysage d'Hiver - Das Tor
Released: 02/22/2013
Label: Kunsthall Produktionen
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Dark Ambient, Field Recordings
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
The story continues across the land of Paysage d’Hiver, with the traveler approaching the next chapter, “Das Tor” (“The Gate”). Even with many tracks extending well over 10 minutes, they never trap themselves in redundancy, owed to the idea of the listener being taken on a journey by shifting into different parts of the path towards the menacing gate. This is achieved through the breathtaking atmosphere building of the Swiss legend, Tobias Möckl, with freezing winds, pierced by uniform riffs of utter indifference. Another unforgettable experience of freezing scenery from one of the greatest European Black Metal artists of all time.
14. Buckethead - Pike 13
Released: 05/13/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Ambient Americana, Acoustic Rock, Ambient
Image Courtesy of Discogs
A deeply personal memoir, “Pike 13,” is dedicated to the dying father of Brian Patrick Carroll, more well-known for his guitar performances adorned with a ski mask and bucket on his head…Buckethead. “Pike 13” marks his most personal release to date, with a loving embrace invoked by the image displayed through the repetition melodies of Ambient Americana with Carroll picking up an acoustic guitar and pouring his heart out to someone who played a key role in his musical development, making this one of the most emotional and meditative experiences of the year.
13. RetcH - Polo Sporting Goods
Released: 12/17/2013
Label: Hz Global
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Drumless, Jazz Rap
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Widely considered his magnum opus and one of the best mixtapes of the 2010s, Jersey rapper, Brian Onfroy Jr., who put out music under the name “RetcH” would link up with Chicago producer, Thelonious Martin. RetcH’s style could be described as a younger, more introspective Roc Marciano, especially on this drop, “Polo Sporting Goods” was RectH’s sixth mixtape, who by this point had garnered a tightly knit circle of collaborators who would get a seat at the polo embroidered table; they were Ab-Soul, Da$h and Action Bronson. Thelonious Martin’s beats glistened of East Coast Jazz Rap, perfectly clashing it with the emergent surrealist style of Abstract rap that would continue to grow in the coming years.
12. The Drones - I See Seaweed
Released: 03/01/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Punk Blues, Noise Rock, Art Rock, Post-Rock
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Recorded in a renovated mid-century demountable classroom, “I See Seaweed” is widely considered the most expensive album to date from Perth natives, The Drones, while still holding tight to their DIY ethos. The cleverly constructed lyrics explore a wide spectrum of topics ranging from free will, conservatism and climate change through a menacingly comedic point of view. However, what truly makes this album their boldest work to date was Gareth Liddiard linking up with the legendary keyboardist, Steve Hesketh, who helped bridge any lack of dynamics in previous albums into something truly “complete.” To this day, “I See Seaweed” is considered a landmark album for Australian music.
11. Yayayi - Yayayi
Released: 03/17/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Chopped and Screwed, Experimental Hip Hop, Instrumental Hip Hop, Glitch Hop, Cloud Rap, Wonky, Trap
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
When it comes to Chopped and Screwed, no one pushed the limits quite like LA-based Korean producer, Evan Yi, in 2013. The stars aligned for this guy to perfectly execute a two-half self-titled project of some of the most ambitious compositions of deeply enthralling Chopped and Screwed. The first half of this album features a bad trip of Instrumental Glitch Hop with an uncharacteristically sinister beat that implodes halfway through into mind blowing remixes, famously snatching a track from Freddie Gibbs, making him sound like he’s straight out of Memphis in the year 2040.
10. Black Kray - Crack Cloud$ Over Arts Kitchen
Released: 02/23/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Cloud Rap, Southern Hip Hop, Trap, Witch House, Chopped and Screwed
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
One of the most atmospheric mixtapes in Hip Hop history, Raider Klan member, Sikcboyari, who went by Black Kray at the time, would collaborate with producers like SpaceGhostPurpp, SALEM, Nyx and Ethelwulf to help create a specific sound to encapsulate the dark and baked life in the South. “Crack Cloud$” is a drugged out explosion of Shoegaze-esque washes of heavenly Could Rap, harsh Witch House and completed with Chopped and Screwed. This mixtape is considered one of the most standout releases in the early days of internet rap and one of Sickboyari’s most recognizable.
9. James Ferraro - NYC, Hell 3:00 AM
Released: 10/15/2013
Label: Hippos In Tanks
Genre: Alternative R&B, Post-Industrial, Sound Collage, Dark Ambient
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Historically serving as James Ferraro’s first studio-recorded album, “NYC, Hell 3:00 AM,” is a portrait of American “decay and confusion,” focusing on unseen grooves within New York City in consumerism and hedonism. The entire album was not constructed in the planned-out sense but realized by Ferraro, with the earliest recordings of the album taking place at midnight in the fall of 2012, originally meant to be a mock soundtrack to a sex tape, with the track, “Cheek Bones,” depicting a young couple in a cinematic sexual intercourse and the celebration of their physical struggles. Another example of these themes coming more together is the closing track, “Nushawn,” named after Nushawn Williams who infected a multitude of women with AIDS in New York City during the 1990s, a memory Ferraro had of the city growing up there. The result was an incredibly varied record, pulling from R&B and Pop music (some have compared Ferraro’s vocals to an off-kilter Abel) and Industrial, pushing it’s narrative with interludes of sound collage from media that shares a similar sentiment to the culture it’s depicting, like “American Psycho” (2000), “I Wish It Would Rain” by The Temptations and “Taxi Driver” (1975) and voice-text repeating the drive of such realities as if it’s conditioning the listener into a mindset appropriate for the upcoming themes. Having one of the densest lores of any Ferraro release, this album drags the viewer into the most uncomfortable depths of these disturbing themes of luxurious sorrow and is perhaps the most well-executed musical concept of the 2010s, or at the very least in the Hippos in Tanks historic catalogue.
8. Gorguts - Colored Sands
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Already considered pioneers in the realm of Technical and Dissonant Death Metal with their solid discography throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, French Canadian metal quartet, Gorguts, were considered high rollers by this point. “Colored Sands” was their distantly awaited follow-up to “From Wisdom To Hate” (2001) in which the striations of technicality were turned up a notch. In fact, “Colored Sands” is double-down on why Gorguts are regarded as one of the greatest North American metal acts with tight and thick riffs, hyperactive explosions of percussion and triumphant tales of war that feels like a lore ridden story in itself. There is not a single moment of repetition to spare in this album, everything is in transition, signifying this record as a decade defining work.
7. Tricot - T H E
Image Courtesy of Discogs
As a band that prides themselves as being a Math Rock band with Pop clothing, dullness is nonexistent for the all-female Kyoto outfit. “T H E” would be their breakout release, finding immense popularity in Japan and beyond, featuring some of the most dynamic and joyful to the Math Rock genre with the vocals of the founder, Ikumi "Ikkyu" Nakajima, effortlessly sliding through fast passages of technically advanced yet gentle guitar riffs. You’ll find yourself in an ecstatic trance with this one, guaranteed.
6. Yayayi - [][][][][][][][][][][][][[][][][][][][[][[[][]][[][][][][]][]][][][][][]][][]][][][][][][][][]][]][][][]. PART666% Yayayayay Original Is 666% of This. Read Me U Lazyfuck U Pig Fuck. Bitchfuck Me. Pornstarsdonehate. Amateurporngodnevacummingsoon윌셔룸쌀롱
Released: 02/13/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Glitch Hop, Wonky, Instrumental Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, IDM, Chiptune, Nu Jazz
Image Courtesy of Album of The Year
Once again, Yayayi was out here going ballistic in the LA Beat scene in 2013, randomly unloading a mixtape with perhaps one of the most long winded and crude titles that felt as if Evan Yi is trying to threaten you with a good time. The contents offer a sensual yet disjointed entry with Wonky Instrumental Hip Hop beats that shift into Jazzier territory. Yi wasn’t just layering samples and beats. Here, he was a full-blown maestro in the realm of Experimental Hip Hop. It’s no wonder this spread like wildfire across the sound clouds.
5. Devon Hendryx - The Ghost~Pop Tape
Released: 10/22/2013
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Alternative R&B, Ambient Pop, Art Pop, Hypnagogic Pop, Cloud Rap, Sound Collage
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Widely overlooked at the time, Devon Hendryx was an artist steeped in desperation for recognition, so much so that “The Ghost~Pop Tape” was almost his final release before ending his life. Thankfully we’re in the timeline where Devon Hendryx would receive his flowers as JPEGMAFIA. With that in mind, this tape represents Hendryx at his most intimate and devastated, being a showcasing of Ambient Pop pushed to its layering limit with Devon Hendryx’s faint vocals barely holding on from falling into a pit of nothing, coping through an array of sexual inflections.
4. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
Released: 06/11/2013
Label: Southeastern Records
Genre: Country, Americana, Singer-Songwriter, Contemporary Folk
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
What if I told you that a single album could capture the entire tortured soul of modern Country music? That’s essentially the fourth studio album by Jason Isbell, “Southeastern,” recorded without the prominent backing of his 400 Unit band that dominated previous albums. The reason for this primarily solo approach was due to most of “Southeastern” being recorded after Isbell had spent time in rehab, contributing to many of the topics on the record like “Super 8” with themes of sobriety among other more deeply personal qualings. Another paradigm found on “Southeastern” is the topics of cancer and sexual abuse in tracks like “Elephant” and “Yvette” and are considered some of the most gripping ballads coming out of the South. Even the name itself, “Southeastern” was a reclamation from Isbell’s father, being the original name of the tool and die shop in Alabama he worked at when Isbell was growing up in the state which came with disparaging stories that made such a work environment feel like a dungeon.
3. Tim Hecker - Virgins
Released: 10/14/2013
Label: Kranky, Paper Bag Records
Genre: Ambient, Electroacoustic, Drone, Glitch, Post-Minimalism, Noise
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
The seventh studio album was recorded over the course of a year between three distinct locations across the globe being Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavík, Iceland, EMPAC in Troy, New York and Avast! Recording Company in Seattle, Washington. The game plan this time around was to break past the confines of the Ambient genre, executing instrumentals through woodwinds, pianos and synthesizers, recorded live in an intimate fashion in. Conceptually, “Virgins,” details through instrumentals alone is to extend itself back to theological leanings of minimalistic music in ways that Hecker believes Electronic-based production simply doesn’t allow. The minimalism found here flings itself into the void, with tracks crescendoing and suddenly falling off a cliff, while others disengage and break down before they even start. One might think this is counterintuitive but somehow Hecker does not compromise inside these contraptions of prismic abstractions, something that only a handful of Ambient artists can properly execute.
2. Kanye West - Yeezus
Released: 06/18/2013
Label: Def Jam Recordings
Genre: Experimental Hip Hop, Industrial Hip Hop, Electro-Industrial
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
By the early 2010s, Kanye West had become an icon in the mainstream for his abrasive, borderline egotistical energy and unapologetic demeanor towards the industry. So far, West had overseen classic after classic, and was looking to expand his territory into the fashion industry with his “Yeezy” brand which was met with gatekeepers working overtime. This anger resulted in the sixth studio album being one of West's most Experimental projects to date, constantly shifting throughout dark avant-rap escapades that immediately shift into crude humor made clear through patterned switch ups in the opening track “On Sight” and coincidentally the closing track “Bound 2.” Another inspiration for the overall liminality of “Yeezus” is from Kanye West’s temporary residence in a loft in Paris, France with his then girlfriend, Kim Kardashian. During this time, West fixated on Le Corbusier lamps of all things and cites them as the biggest inspiration for the aesthetic of “Yeezus,” with its minimal Industrial instrumentation. Def Jam co-founder, Rick Rubin, would be hired by West to executive produce the album, owing to its loudness with a massive pool of collaborations like Daft Punk, Travis Scott, Che Pope and Arca flooding across the record.
Honorable Mentions
Aosoth - IV: An Arrow in Heart
The Knife - Shaking The Habitual
Counterparts - The Difference Between Hell and Home
Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Souls: Folio A
Birds and Buildings - Multipurpose Trap
Death Grips - Government Plates
Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza - Transversal Worldwide Shopping
Adrienne Lenker - Hours Were The Birds
1. Ichiko Aoba - 0
Image Courtesy of Ichikoaoba.com
Released: 10/23/2013
Label: Speedstar International, CJ Victor
Genre: Contemporary Folk, Avant-Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Field Recordings
Soaking into her signature style of Contemporary Folk, Chiba artist, Ichiko Aoba, would release one of her most recognizable projects, “0.” This fourth album weaves concepts of fairy tales, folklore and a hopeless romance with Aoba’s sparse but clear as day vocals paired with her trusty acoustic guitar. The structure can at times feel surreal in how it captures the listener into the world it’s trying to build. Each track is just as intimate as the last in ways that are occasionally uncanny and difficult to convey. In short, a gentle masterpiece from one of Japan’s highest ranking songwriters.