The MJR Top 5 Albums of 2013 Weekly Standings and 3 Thoughts/Facts/Opinions/Lies/Kneejerk Reactions

"Oops, did I just blow your Top 5 of 2013 wide open?", Janelle Monae seems to be saying here with a single look.

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.  The Electric Lady by Janelle Monae (Last Week: NR)

4.   White Lighter by Typhoon (Last Week: 4)

5.  AM by Arctic Monkeys (Last Week: NR)


Other 2013 Contenders (in no particular order)

•  We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
(Last Week: 3)
• The Flower Lane by Ducktails
(Last Week: 5)
• MCII by Mikal Cronin
• Amok by Atoms For Peace +
• 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
• 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

+No longer streaming online

Newly Added 2013 Contenders This Week:

• The Electric Lady by Janelle Monae
• AM by Arctic Monkeys 
• The North Borders by Bonobo
• The Bones of What You Believe by Chvrches 

3 Thoughts/Facts/Opinions/Lies/Kneejerk Reactions to/about Music This Week

1.  The biggest musical revelation for me since we last met like this is without a doubt Janelle Monae's sci-fi-tinged pop masterwork The Electric Lady.  The album is magnificent and I can't promise it won't move higher in the rankings before all is said and done.  Lady finds Monae and co. happily taking residence in the adventurous, futuristic, space-age wonderland that Daft Punk was seemingly so eager to give up so that they could give us this year's Random Access Memories--a largely well-made, well-produced, joyless listening experience (with a few notable exceptions) that was so far from the dance-driven, electro-pop (often soulful),  and FUN work that had preceded it.  Janelle Monae embraces this vacant space and expands upon it to create an album that is just as much a unique and imaginative narrative as it is a collection of songs.  Though it doesn't hurt that in pursuit of developing a "concept album", Monae has delivered an abundace of great pop songs. And there's a duet with Prince. PRINCE  Buy.  This.  Album.

2.  Having said all that, I am both surprised and perplexed at how much I damn hard love "Doin' It Right" from the aforementioned Daft Punk album (I told you there were a few notable exceptions).  And it's a collaboration with Panda Bear (I mean seriously, look at this doucher)--one of my sworn enemies due primarily to the fact that I hate him and his fans and everything he stands for and his pesky habit (labored breathing) of making one super rad song (another being "Bros", for instance) for every hundred borderline unlistenable songs that I end up loving which inevitably leads to my continued self-loathing and discontent about my place in the world of music consumption and beyond.

3.  Exactly one week from today, I will be in the midst of my first Austin City Limits Music Festival Experience where on Day 3 I will literally be forced to choose between Thom Yorke and Lionel Richie.  And the fact that this is a true dilemma for me speaks to the odd place I find myself both in terms of age and outlook.  Thom Yorke is like the Batman of my music universe and thus a hero and icon beyond compare or reproach in my eyes.  But Thom Yorke never gave me this.  And that's just a fact.