The 25 Best Albums of 2013

2013 was the year I finally managed to shed my snobbery and embrace all things pop, thanks to my aforementioned obsession with the movie Pitch Perfect.  So when I say pop I mean mainstream pop.  Like Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna.  Most of that stuff didn't make it onto this list because I was digging into prior year releases, but the inclusion of the likes of Charli XCX, Lorde, and MS MR are telling, even though it isn't necessarily "uncool" to like those artists.  I also got really into black metal with the release of Deafheaven's "Sunbather," and all of that will appear on my Best Metal Albums of 2013 list later this week.  My Bloody Valentine's "m b v" threw me over a shoegaze cliff that introduced me to a whole new world of 90's rock I'd never heard, like Catherine Wheel, Chapterhouse, and Ride.

I suppose what I'm trying to get at is that even though these are my favorite 25 albums that were released this year, I could make a much longer list of favorite albums that I happened to discover this year.

But let's not discount 2013.  There were lots of outstanding releases, and it was one of the best years for new music in recent memory.  I think some releases were overhyped (I'm looking at you, Kanye West and Arcade Fire), and some releases were criminally underrated (CHVRCHES, Junip), but that does nothing to distinguish 2013 from any other year. But we're not here to talk about the nature of the beast. We're simply here to admire it. Let's get to it.

I'd like to note that I began writing little thoughtful blurbs for each album on this list, but I ran out of time before I could finish them all. Apologies for not starting this sooner and giving myself time to put out quality posts.  I did put together a Spotify playlist, however, which you can find at the bottom of the list.

After the jump, The 25 Best Albums of 2013.

The 50 Best Songs of 2013 - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my top 50 songs of 2013, and the women who love them.  You'll notice I've posted my top songs Spotify playlist in the right column for your listening pleasure. You can also click the "Listen" link after each entry to listen to an individual track. We've already gotten the intro out of the way in Part 1, so let's just dive right in.  After the jump, the top 25 songs of 2013.

The 50 Best Songs of 2013 - Part 1

Resurrecting this project with a bang.  My Spotify subscription has allowed me to take in more music this year than any time since college. I've been completely inundated from all sides and pretty much all genres. I literally listened to everything except rap and country this year. Not that I have anything against those. I was too busy digging through all the shoegaze, emo revival bands, dance pop, dream pop, psych rock, and metal I could get my grubby little hands on. I went genre diving in a way that I've never been able to do before. Mainly because Spotify made it so easy to go down those rabbit holes with playlists, genre radio, and mostly on-target suggestions.

The other side of that coin is that I’m only including songs that are available on Spotify, since it was mostly my only source for music this year. Anyway, with that Spotify commercial out of the way, let's roll.  After the jump, part 1 of my 50 favorite songs of 2013, #50 - 26.