Music of the Year 2013

Now is of course the time of year for the "Of the Year" lists. So without further ado, here's my list of favorite music I picked up in 2013...

Allemande by Caroline Shaw and Roomful of Teeth



I'm really glad I did this list as this is something I'd kind of forgotten about, but it's simply incredible. Okay, also, technically this originally came out late 2012, but it and the 3 related pieces were released early in 2013 as Partita for 8 Voices, and that's how I picked it up, so I'm counting it.

Put this on good speakers or headphones, sit back in a comfortable chair, and just listen.

Touch by Daft Punk



Yeah, Get Lucky got flogged to death, and the love letter to the birth of disco and funk that's the rest of the album wasn't what a lot of people expected. But just forget any expectations you have about Daft Punk for about 9 minutes and listen to this sprawling epic of a song evolves itself through different styles and sounds.

Pedals by Conte



Okay, so Touch ends on something of a low note (the next song of the album was the upbeat Get Lucky), so here's something that brings something like the Daft Punk funk you expect in a frenetic delivery. Its worth noting that Conte put the music video together over only a day or two, and you can tell in the related 'behind the scenes' video that he was loopy and exhausted during the actual filming. Plus, awesome robots!

Willie Sutton by Built to Fade



I've already posted about this song in a previous entry, so here's the music video version. All I can add is that in the weeks after picking up the full album, I kept having to go listen to particular songs again as so many of them are earworm-friendly.

So Just Hang On, Beautiful One by Au4



My first music entry was about the headline track from this album, Everyone is Everyone (And Everything is Everything). The whole album is fantastic, but it's easy to see and hear why this is the one gracing Au4's home page.