I don't care, I love it
December 18, 2013 8:05 AM   Subscribe

While traditional music venues offer their usual Best Albums (or whatever) of the Year round-ups, Spotify confers with a different set of experts of find out what songs and musicians were most important to 2013: You.
posted by Potomac Avenue (58 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
(for the 'you' link, scroll down. I was confused at first...)
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:19 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I wish it was me. Turns out it's just a bunch of people with questionable musical taste.
posted by rocket88 at 8:20 AM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


"You?" "I read about them in TIME Magazine."
posted by Artw at 8:22 AM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


Wow, so 20% of tracks on Spotify haven't EVER been played. I wonder how much of that is amazing undiscovered artists and how much is, like, rain sounds track number 1,267.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:24 AM on December 18, 2013


Wow, so 20% of tracks on Spotify haven't EVER been played. I wonder how much of that is amazing undiscovered artists and how much is, like, rain sounds track number 1,267.

I got a decent if not amazing out time radio comedy sketch about a doctor's office.

It also refused to give me my own year in review. It claims there was an error, but I imagine it was trying to spare my feelings about how terrible my taste in music is.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:26 AM on December 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


Spotify is not available in your country

I guess I don't exist
posted by philip-random at 8:29 AM on December 18, 2013


That spotify chart has like every scroll effect. Seems like there are a lot of those parallax-y long scroll pages these days. Did a new jQuery library come out that makes those easy to do or something?
posted by cirrostratus at 8:32 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also, am I a weirdo if year end lists are my primary way of keeping up with music now?
posted by cirrostratus at 8:35 AM on December 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


Seems like there are a lot of those parallax-y long scroll pages these days. Did a new jQuery library come out that makes those easy to do or something?

My friend whose job involves 'digital trend prediction' told me a year or two ago that this new obnoxious scrolly interface where the different things move at different speeds down the screen was about to be THE NEW HOTNESS. I was like "I hope not, I find it confusing and overdesigned." Guess he's better at his job than I would be!
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:38 AM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


Also, am I a weirdo if year end lists are my primary way of keeping up with music now?

Nope! There's way too much music out there to catch up with even if you wanted to try. I keep up with certain kinds of music and I've found some new stuff to love through year-end lists already.
posted by immlass at 8:40 AM on December 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


Wow Pitchfork seems to be playing it pretty safe this year.
posted by Hoopo at 9:00 AM on December 18, 2013


Seeing Pitchfork described as traditional makes me feel very old. But then, what doesn't these days?
posted by entropicamericana at 9:04 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I was sure my 537 streams of Marina and the Diamonds would push her to the top, but no.
posted by mittens at 9:10 AM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


My top album for the year was a Floyd Cramer compilation. Huh.
posted by ghharr at 9:11 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Spotify is not available in your country

I guess I don't exist


Speaking as an American, of course you don't.
posted by maryr at 9:17 AM on December 18, 2013


If you click on You on the left you can just see your numbers from Spotify. Mine are...well, they are the direct result of a Metafilter Shitty 90s thread. I swear. Honest. Well OK maybe mostly.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:19 AM on December 18, 2013


I do listen to Spotify "Every Morning" hohoho
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:20 AM on December 18, 2013


Wow, that "prettymuchamazing" link is absolutely insufferable clickbait. Holy hell.
posted by Theta States at 9:28 AM on December 18, 2013


Can this be the thread where we all share our favourite album lists?

My top 30, alphabetically:
AlunaGeorge - Body Music
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Basia Bulat - Tall Tall Shadow
Best Coast - Fade Away
Bill Callahan - Dream River
Bonobo - The North Borders
Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap
CHVRCHES - The Bones Of What You Believe
CocoRosie - Tales Of A Grass Widow
Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 3; To See More Light
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Death Grips - Government Plates
Forest Swords - Engravings
Haim - Days Are Gone
Kanye West - Yeezus
Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle
Lustmord - The Word As Power
Majical Cloudz - Impersonator
Major Lazer - Free The Universe
Nosaj Thing - Home
Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory - Elements Of Light
Rae Spoon - My Prairie HomeC
Sam Amidon - Bright Sunny South
Seaworthy & Taylor Deupree - Wood, Winter, and Hollow
Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - We The Common
The Knife - Shaking The Habitual
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan - Uzu
posted by Theta States at 9:30 AM on December 18, 2013 [6 favorites]


Mine is pretty similar, will post momentarily. Also I had no idea Deafheaven was so popular, they're on like 3/5 of these lists.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:41 AM on December 18, 2013


I don't want to call these my favorites, because I do a cruddy job keeping track. These are just albums in my 2013 playlist that I've really enjoyed this year:

Phox - Friendship
Foxygen - We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic
Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety
Devendra Banhart - Mala
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - We The Common
Sin Fang - Flowers
Phosphorescent - Muchacho
Foals - Holy Fire
Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia
Mikal Cronin - MCII
Matias Aguayo - The Visitor
Psychic Ills - One Track Mind
Janelle Monae - Electric Lady
Drake - Nothing Was the Same
The Blow - The Blow
James Blake - Overgrown
Cass McCombs - Big Wheel and Others
Policia - Shulamith
Juana Molina - Wed 21

I also listened to an unreasonable amount of Lorde, but only a few songs, constantly on repeat.
posted by tofu_crouton at 10:08 AM on December 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


Can this be the thread where we all share our favourite album lists?

Why the heck not?
posted by saul wright at 10:36 AM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


I want to give a signal boost to the Basia Bulat, Rae Spoon and Colin Stetson albums!
Canadian artists that don't get as much press internationally, but all produced amazing works.
posted by Theta States at 10:43 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Janelle Monae and Beyonce, not sure anything else existed this year. I, umm, tend to listen to the same music over and over and lots of Prince.

Wow, actually according to spotify my top 2013 album is "The Bones Of What You Believe" which I would not have guessed at all. I didn't even know what the album was called. I just play the same four songs over and over again.

Did CHVRCHES come up on Metafilter before or something? I swear I never heard that album title before today yet I definitely listen to them a lot and I must have listened to the album in order to find those songs.
posted by Danila at 10:50 AM on December 18, 2013


Ah, here it is
posted by Danila at 10:51 AM on December 18, 2013


Disclosure- Settle
Chance the Rapper- Acid Rap
Valerie June- Pushin' Against a Stone
Blood Orange- Cupid Deluxe
Daft Punk- Random Access Memories
James Blake- Overgrown
El-P and Killer Mike- Run the Jewels
David Bowie- Brand New Day
Ka- The Night's Gambit
Haim- Days Are Gone

(really surprised not to see the Disclosure and Valerie June albums on more lists...)
posted by rollbiz at 10:55 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


(really surprised not to see the Disclosure and Valerie June albums on more lists...)

Disclosure was voted #3 by Pitchfork, so there's that.
posted by Theta States at 11:03 AM on December 18, 2013


I really liked that they did this. I also want to figure out who has 90,000 playlists! I thought I had a lot and I'm at only 150 of my own.

Also sadly I listen to a lot of classical music that isn't tagged consistently. Thus my chart looks crazy.

I am not even sure what I have listened to by Wiener Philharmoniker but I'm guessing it was mostly several different operas. Last.fm says that my top artist was Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, at 150 plays.

Last.fm agrees that "De ma dame vient" by Adam de la Halle was very high (and probably the highest non-erroneous track); I first heard the track this year (I'm not always 800 years behind the times) and loved it.

And my top playlist is one of my rotating playlists I have off-line on my phone for my commute; it can get re-done a couple times a week. I only listen to my playlists on a phone. Otherwise I take albums/pieces/songs from playlists to populate my queue.
posted by mountmccabe at 11:10 AM on December 18, 2013


And on a music-related forum on which I post I am seeing Disclosure (and Deafheaven) on a lot of lists.
posted by mountmccabe at 11:11 AM on December 18, 2013


(for the 'you' link, scroll down. I was confused at first...)

*scroll scroll scroll*
"What the fuck, where is the information."
*scroll scroll scroll*
"Oh, there is something happening."
*scroll scroll scroll*
"Okay that was interesting but pointless."
*scroll scroll scroll*
"Come on, show me something."
*scroll scroll scroll*
"Ah, here we go. Mackelmore's Thriftshop, yeah that made me laugh. I'm still surprised at how much traction that song got."
*play*
"Humm, won't play, better check no script to see what is blocked. Just Facebook, should work."
*play*
"Same monster/ animal/ creature/ troll (not exactly sure what that was) and content message. Okay, lets see what else is here."
*scroll, scroll, scroll*
"Jesus Christ who designed this piece of shit?"
*scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll*
"Okay this is getting ridiculous. Is this page broken?"
*checks page slider thing and scroll, scroll*
"No appears to be still moving but man all this scrolling, have seen little and am half way down the page."
*click free wheel and scrolllllllll and scrollllllllll and ....*
"Ciboire! Ca n'a vraiment aucune sens."
*closes tab*
"Maybe it is designed for swipe and touch or voice commands or something."

I'm still confused. Love the lists though, keep them coming, always wonderful discoveries to be had and have already made a few.

I'd just add Classified - Inner Ninja ft. David Myles as a favorite track of the past year that I didn't see in the lists. Don't know if it counts but it came out near the end of 2012, so I'm going to pretend it does.
posted by phoque at 11:13 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Here's my list, in order. This is obviously the correct list.

1. Laura Marling - Once I was an Eagle
2. Volcano Choir - Repave
3. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
4. Atoms for Peace - Amok
5. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse
6. James Blake - Overgrown
7. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 3; To See More Light
8. Dawn of Midi - Dysnomia
9. Baths - Obsidian
10. CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe
11. Moonface - Julia with Blue Jeans On
12. Sky Ferreira - Night Time My Time
13. Typhoon - White Lighter
14. Rhye - Woman
15. Lorde - Pure Heroine
16. Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob
17. Kanye West - Yeezus
18. Haim - Days are Gone
19. The Knife - Shaking The Habitual
20. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:33 AM on December 18, 2013


Stuff I loved this year:

La Santa Cecilia, Treinta Dias
Bosnian Rainbows, s/t
Bajofondo, Presente
Xenia Rubinos, Magic Trix
Mala Rodriguez, "33" (I just got Bruja and haven't had time for it to sink in)
Raul Y Mexia, Arriba Y Lejos
Andrea Echeverri, Ruisenora

Non-Latin alternative favorites are the same things everyone else loved: Lorde, Sky Ferreira, Ebony Bones...
posted by pxe2000 at 12:06 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Here's my list of the records that made me go WHOA WHO IS THAT in 2013, or otherwise were more than a decent record by a known factor. If this was Best Albums it would include MIA and Kanye and the Nashville Soundtrack and who gives a crap (well if you do this is a spotify playlist of a bunch of great albums including these 23 and more and too much too many all at once)

23. City Forgiveness - Wave Pictures
22.Weird Sister- Joanna Gruesome
21. The Sun Dogs - Rose Windows
20. Shangri La - Jake Bugg
19.Curse All Law - Könsförrädare
18.ST- Bass Drum of Death
17. Years Not Living - Larry Gus
16. ST - Bells Atlas
15.Imps of Perversion - Pop 1280
14.Give In - On an On
13.Images Du Futur - Suuns
12. Doris - Earl
11. No World - Inc.
10. Becoming Bastian Salazar - Drew Danburry
9. his & hers - Denita and Sene
8. Zabraneta Planeta - Bernays Propoganda
7. ST - Radioactivity
6. Book of Hours - Cloud Boat
5. ST - Companion
4. Sock it To Me - Colleen Green
3. Innocence Is Kinky - Jenny Hval
2.Whenever, If Ever - The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
1. Acid Raps - Chance the Rapper (1st in every way)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:37 PM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


El-P and Killer Mike- Run the Jewels

yeah holy how did that get overlooked? Because it was free?
posted by Hoopo at 1:14 PM on December 18, 2013


yeah holy how did that get overlooked? Because it was free?

I skipped it because of the juvenile, douchey and rapey parts.
I liked the instrumentals album a lot, though.
posted by Theta States at 1:22 PM on December 18, 2013


I skipped it because of the juvenile, douchey and rapey parts

But not Kanye?
posted by Hoopo at 1:30 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I skipped it because of the juvenile, douchey and rapey parts

But not Coco Rosie?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:56 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


#Nerdfight
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:56 PM on December 18, 2013


Heh, I don't mean to start a fight, just kinda shocked cuz I never really thought of Run the Jewels as particularly bad on any of those counts. At least from a hip hop perspective, which is admittedly a pretty low bar. Just had a look at the lyrics, I didn't see anything "rapey" other than El-P joking about dolphins at one point. I could be overlooking something. Juvenile? Oh sure, absolutely, I mean these are grown men bragging about how much better they are than you, issuing idle threats, and making references to pop culture and drug use. But that's sort of normal in hip hop, nothing I'd single Run The Jewels out for. The beats are pretty great, as usual for El-P, and the rhymes are better than 90% of what gets put on less good beats by most other rappers in any given year.

Anyways, I think this is going to have to be the year I finally check into The Knife because it seems like every year they have an album out they wind up on one of these lists and I'm always thinking "hmmm sounds interesting" then don't do anything about it.
posted by Hoopo at 2:26 PM on December 18, 2013


Ugh the Knife are the best thing ever ugh I forgot all about them this year ugh uggggh
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:28 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I am terrible at year-end lists because most of the time these big blogs or magazines come out with lists of stuff that are merely copies of each other and I typically disagree with them a lot, and also I can't remember a bunch of stuff I've listened to in 2013. Last.fm use to help me remember these things, but I've been streaming albums and songs from so many different places this year that I don't have an accurate list of stuff.

Sunbather, by Deafheaven is my go-to favorite album of this year. I'm someone who grew up listening to metal and hardcore, but also softer stuff (of course!). This year I mostly listened to rap and hip-hop and this album really threw a cog in that. They were also one of the best shows (probably top 3, really) I saw this year. (Bonus points: I made my first post here about them!)

MBV, by My Bloody Valentine is my second favorite. I really enjoyed the album and blasted it at inappropriate volumes as soon as it dropped. It was quite the surprise when all of a sudden it was released one day.

Wakin' On A Pretty Daze, by Kurt Vile

Anything in Return, by Toro y Moi

Alex G. / R.L. Kelly split

Boy Crush / Starry Cat split

To Be Close To You, by Julia Brown

Holo Pleasures, by Elvis Depressedly

Nostalgic 64, by Denzel Curry

Jeffro, by Main Attrakionz

Guilt Trips, by Ryan Hemsworth

I really can't think of anything else right now so maybe I'll come back later after I think about it. It's been a long year :(
posted by gucci mane at 2:51 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Because I don't pay enough attention, most of the albums I get into in a particular year tend to come from previous years, so no good for this. For example, despite loving previous Juana Molina albums, I missed out on the new one, and also on the new Prefab Sprout album. My favourites earlier in the year were 1977 and La Bala by Ana Tijoux (from 2011 and 2012 respectively though new to me), and I've recently been going through an intense Nakata Yasutaka period, with the result that my favourite albums from this year are Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's Nanda Collection and Caps Lock, the new one from Nakata himself as Capsule (which is definitely my favourite release of 2013). But his recent collaboration with Shiina Ringo led me to discover her 2003 album Karuki Samen Kuri no hana, which is currently sweeping all before it and seems to have jumped straight into my all time top ten, although I'm currently so enthralled by it that I'm not really thinking straight (however, previous albums that had the same effect on me include XTC's English Settlement, Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left, Cardiacs' Sing To God, Scott Walker's Tilt and St Vincent's Actor, so I'm expecting it to stick around like they did).

I quite liked the backing on Run the Jewels, too, though I encountered the same problem I have with a lot of rap, which is that once I unravel the words they are not so much sexist and all that (though they are, often), but that they just seem really banal. Though the fact that I've mostly been listening to songs in languages I don't speak should demonstrate that I don't care that much about lyrics.

That's no good to anyone, really, is it?
posted by Grangousier at 2:57 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I have also seen accusations of extra-bad misogyny leveled at Run the Jewels and had difficulty finding anything worse than the rap music baseline, and I dinged Yeezus and Old pretty hard for misogyny in my own list.
posted by valrus at 3:35 PM on December 18, 2013


Surprised that Kobo Town, "Jumbie in the Jukebox" didn't make anyone's list...
posted by ph00dz at 3:41 PM on December 18, 2013


Also I don't know if it's "Best of the Year" but 7 Days of Funk is in heavy rotation on hoopo's earbuds ATM. I can barely remember the last time Snoop Dog sounded that good.
posted by Hoopo at 4:12 PM on December 18, 2013


I enjoyed a lot of new music this year (Death Grips, Yeezus, Janelle Monae, Chance the Rapper) but I'm sad to say that the only album that jumped from "that's great, what's next" to "I need to hear this more again (and again and again) was A Tribe Called Red

And then a good 50% of my Spotify usage is spent listening to glam rock and Ween. Shrug.
posted by elr at 6:07 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


(for the 'you' link, scroll down. I was confused at first...)

Seems like there are a lot of those parallax-y long scroll pages these days. Did a new jQuery library come out that makes those easy to do or something?

It's no surprise to anyone following the death of Flash, yay for HTML5 dynamic over the last couple of years that HTML5 was going to come right in and Flash up the web anyway, only without a plugin!

Look no further than Apple, the company that was our saviour in regard to Flash, and the Mac Pro web site. Jesus Christ.
posted by juiceCake at 6:45 PM on December 18, 2013


the Mac Pro web site

My god, it's like they're advertising the most advanced toilet on earth.
posted by mittens at 6:59 PM on December 18, 2013


It's no surprise to anyone following the death of Flash, yay for HTML5 dynamic over the last couple of years that HTML5 was going to come right in and Flash up the web anyway, only without a plugin!

Oddly enough, unlike Flash, that site doesn't make my laptop sound like a B-52 taking off.
posted by entropicamericana at 7:11 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


The list of major Shopify cities should have begun...New York, London, Paris, Munich...
posted by jonp72 at 7:22 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Musically speaking, I spent a lot of 2013 digging through the past (and loving it), so didn't end up hearing a lot of new stuff. But this Cassandra Gillig mash-up of Dylan Thomas + Miley Cyrus (found right here at Mefi) is a definite standout.
posted by philip-random at 8:03 PM on December 18, 2013


But not Kanye?

Remember the scenes in Lynch's Dyne when Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is all flying around the room?
That's how I see Kanye: total over-the-top spectacle.
posted by Theta States at 9:07 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oddly enough, unlike Flash, that site doesn't make my laptop sound like a B-52 taking off.

Yeah, I was thinking "oh God, not one of these crappy Flash-fests" then I noticed it was still working, the browser hadn’t crashed, and my laptop wasn’t melting a hole in my lap. Progress?
posted by bongo_x at 9:10 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Heh, I don't mean to start a fight, just kinda shocked cuz I never really thought of Run the Jewels as particularly bad on any of those counts. At least from a hip hop perspective, which is admittedly a pretty low bar. Just had a look at the lyrics, I didn't see anything "rapey" other than El-P joking about dolphins at one point.

Well there is this:
How you feeling now sweetheart? A little more relaxed?
Maybe it's that half a molly I put in your Mountain Dew
Yeah, works like a charm. Just chill out for a second, relax, relax, I got it under control
Remember the rage people had the last time a rapper slipped in a line about drugging a woman's drink?

It's a tragedy because so much about the songs are good, but when you drop "bitch" three times in a track, fuck it, I'm out. Hiphop CAN be more than pandering to adolescent power fantasies. And I know both El-P and Killer Mike can raise the bar higher, so it left me dissapointed.
posted by Theta States at 9:18 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I have also seen accusations of extra-bad misogyny leveled at Run the Jewels and had difficulty finding anything worse than the rap music baseline, and I dinged Yeezus and Old pretty hard for misogyny in my own list.

I couldn't get through Old because of the misogyny...

And as much as I love Chance The Rapper, I had to go in there with a wave editor and obfuscate the line "Slap-happy faggot slapper", which, FUCK, I shouldn't have to do in this day and age.
posted by Theta States at 9:23 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


when you drop "bitch" three times in a track, fuck it, I'm out.

I obviously can't defend it but I do still find it weird to call out El-P and Killer Mike for this when you have albums by Kanye and MC Ride on there--on Anne Bonny he's calling people bitch on the chorus!
posted by Hoopo at 9:08 AM on December 19, 2013


Also that line you quoted was Prince Paul in his Chest Rockwell character, and pretty obviously over-the-top sleazy and gross. Pretty sure he's actually calling out Rick Ross
posted by Hoopo at 9:09 AM on December 19, 2013


Oddly enough, unlike Flash, that site doesn't make my laptop sound like a B-52 taking off.

Not odd at all, hence the mention of no plugin. Shitty interface and useless animations are still there though. I was one of the fortunate few apparently who had a laptop that did not behave differently when using Flash.
posted by juiceCake at 5:06 PM on December 19, 2013


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