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| Typhoon. There's nothing I hate more than breaking my self-imposed "Arcade Fire band size limit" rule, but good music is good music. |
The MJR Top 5 Albums of 2013 Weekly Standings*
*Spotify links provided when available
1. ...Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age (Last Week: 1)
2. After Dark 2 by Various Artists (Last Week: 2) ^
3. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen (Last Week: 3)
4. White Lighter by Typhoon (Last Week: NR)
5. The Flower Lane by Ducktails (Last Week: 4)
Other 2013 Contenders (in no particular order)
- MCII by Mikal Cronin
- Amok by Atoms For Peace (Last Week: 5) +
- Trouble Will Find Me by The National
- OutRun by Kavinsky
- Floating Coffin by Thee Oh Sees
- Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend
- Curiosity by Wampire
- Specter at the Feast by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
- Settle by Disclosure
- Thr!!!er by !!!
- Light Up Gold by Parquet Courts
- Anxiety by Autre Ne Veut
^Newly available on Spotify
Newly Added 2013 Contenders This Week:
- White Lighter by Typhoon
- Mozes And The Firstborn by Mozes And The Firstborn
- Soft Will by Smith Westerns
- 180 by Palma Violets
- The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River
- Idle No More by King Khan And The Shrines
1. Say it without saying it exercise: America's greatest export in the 21st century is manufactured controversy and outrage. We largely react passionately and quickly to the things that don't matter and display a remarkable ability to gloss over/effortlessly look most of the things that do matter. You don't have to care about ANYTHING. But if you're gonna make noise about the shit you do care about, maybe make it something slightly more substantial than her. And him. And all that.
2. Having said all that, the Beetlejuice photoshopping this week was top notch.
3. Pitchfork and ESPN are culture changers who have radically impacted the way in which we consume and evaluate music and sport, respectively. And I faithfully pray each day that true, viable competition will emerge to try to make right all that they make wrong on a daily basis.
4. I love writing about music. And not because I'm necessarily any good at it, but I love doing it in the way that a certain segment of geeks out there enjoy writing fan fiction. Hell, this probably IS fan fiction. I'm an over the top music superfan who has probably--in your estimation--made up a bunch of shit on the fly and laid it at your feet and called it a finished product. Having said that, I wish MORE of YOU--my friends and even others who reside on the periphery of my life--would write about music. And not just because I feel particularly alone in my present blogging music nonsense geekery. It's because I know so many of you have done it before (and well) and/or have as much if not WAY more to offer in terms of quality opinions, recommendations, etc. And most of you could do it better than me whether in terms of style or substance or critical analysis. God knows I hear you talk/tweet/bitch/praise/decry music enough. And while I can't assume that writing will carry the same cathartic value for you that it does for me, I suspect many of you will be pleasantly surprised by the feeling of satisfaction and occasional accomplishment it brings. If a billion strangers can blog from their finely-manicured thrones up on High Horse Mountain about the cultural merits/implications of the VMAs, surely a handful of YOU people (you know who you are) can offer your thoughts on music, what it means to you, its implications for your life as either a backdrop or occasional catalyst for something, etc. Go beyond reviews and playlists and recommendations. Tell stories with it, make art with it, make it the soundtrack to a bigger narrative. C'mon. Hello? Any takers?
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