Hello everyone! Despite having last written a blog a few weeks ago, it’s really felt like a long time since I’ve blogged here on GIO. I have a few blogs in the works right now, and hope to post those as soon as I can. I’m not going to rush them though, because I want them to be as nice as they can when they come out. Now, today’s blog actually started on Twitter. As a few of you know, I’m one of the many GIO members on Twitter, and am a pretty frequent user of the site. A few days ago, Stranger and I were having a conversation about music when he asked if we should do a co-op blog together about music. I’m normally one to keep posts on here about video games only, but I love talking about music, and I figured a co-op blog would be fun. So, this blog is the culmination of that idea. It’s both of us presenting our favorite albums this calendar year so far, along with our most anticipated releases, and our biggest disappointment so far. Without further ado, here’s Stranger’s picks:
1. Amorphis - Circle
Ever since I was introduced to Amorphis (last summer) I had been anxiously awaiting this album. I already absolutely adored the band, and even took my new username on various sites from one of their albums, Skyforger. This said, I hung on to every bit and piece of music and information they eked out over the upcoming months leading into the release of Circle. And, when I finally got to it, it was every bit what I hoped. From the energetic Shades of Gray to the quiet intensity of Into The Abyss and from the wistful flute of Narrow Path to the flat out awesome Dead Man's Dream, the entire album is aural ecstasy to listen to. By far my album of the year, and one I'll be listening to for many more.
2. Queens of The Stone Age - Like Clockwork
I only really started listening to QOTSA with this album, when one of my friends (Another Matthew) linked me this entire CD. With the quality of it, I can safely say he won them another fan. The magnum opus of this album is If I Had A Tail, which is an almost impossible infectious song that gets stuck in my head for hours upon end. Aside from that some of the other high points of the albums are Keep Your Eyes Peeled (which is kind of hauntingly disphoric), I Sat By the Ocean (super catchy), and The Vampyre of Time and Memory (more of a somber kind of song). All in all another great find of 2013.
3. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Another band I haven't had the pleasure of listening to up until recently, this was one hell of an album to get started on. There's only one way to properly introduce this album, and that is with the song Get Lucky. Featuring Pharell Williams on vocals, it's a masterpiece, blending electronic and hip-hop music and making a kind of pop that doesn't insult the listeners' intelligence. Other than that, there's also the great songs Lose Yourself To Dance (also featuring Pharell Williams) and Giorgio by Moroder. A well-crafted album.
4. Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Saivon Lapsi
One of the early albums to come out this, it was a fantastic start to the year in music. There's simply no way to convey the reverence I hold for the song, Swan Saivo. It takes one of my favorite musical styles, melodeath, and uses it in such a way it feels almost like an epic power metal song along the lines of a harsher Blind Guardian. I strongly urge you to listen to the song and formulate an opinion for yourself. Other than that, the other song off the album that pushes itself over all others for me is Angelheart, Ravenheart (Act III: Saivon Lapsi), which in retrospect might be a bit too intense for the average music listener but suits me just fine.
5. Sirenia - Perils of the Deep Blue
And what better to cap off my top five with some good old symphonic operatic-style metal? Sirenia is one of the better female fronted bands out there. It might be fairly easy to dismiss them as a mere Nightwish-clone at first glance, but their music stands on its own. Seven Widows Weep is a bombastic song that has a lot of energy to it. Cold Caress is another good one, though I haven't listened to it enough to describe it in adequate detail. Worth it if you like soaring female vocals with the occasional harsher male stuff thrown in.
Honorable Mentions:
The main mention I need to make is Turisas - TURISAS2013. While I'm sure it will end up displacing Sirenia on my list as of now I haven't had time to even sit down and listen to it all yet, it's so new. I did enjoy the early release For Your Own Good though, it's a cool song.
Another album I liked was Tech N9ne - Something Else. I know, it's kind of odd to see a rap album here, but I think Tech N9ne is one of the better rappers out these days. The highlights of the album are Straight out the Gate (featuring Serj Tankian of System Of A Down) and Strange 2013 (actually featuring the remaining members of the Doors and a sampling of Jim Morrison's voice). That said, I haven't heard a lot off this either, so as of now it may displace the Sirenia aswell.
Capping out my honorable mentions is Puscifer - Donkey Punch the Night EP. There's not really much to say here, you can't go wrong with Maynard James Keenan covering Bohemian Rhapsody. There's also a cover of Balls to the Wall (the Pillow Fight remix) that I really enjoy on it.
I would like to mention I need to revisit some other albums I've only briefly touched this year, like Stratovarius - Nemesis, Avantasia - The Mystery Of Time, Orphaned Land - All Is One, and Tarja Turunen - Colours In The Dark (just came out recently as well). So much music, so little time. ^^'
Upcoming Releases:
As of this moment, there's only one I'm looking forward to. But it's a big one. Ayreon - The Theory of Everything. They've created some amazing songs (see House on Mars and Dawn Of A Million Souls). I'm excited to see what Arjen Anthony Lucassen can come up with as a successor to 01011001 (which featured some great music). Only good things can come out of Arjen's Ayreon project at the tail end of 2013.
Disappointments of The Year:
Black Sabbath - 2013. There's not a lot to say about this. I got my hopes too high, and crashed and burned. The founders of heavy metal seems to be slowly becoming more and more lackluster with each effort this millennia. Not that I can fault them when they've written some of my favorite albums, but still...I had hoped for something that more encapsulates their seventies sound.
Tool - ???
IT’S BEEN EIGHT YEARS ALREADY TOOL JUST GIVE US A DAMN ALBUM.
I haven’t heard of some of these, so I’ll have to check them out sometime for sure. Of the ones I have heard, I really enjoyed them. Which ones are they? Well, here are my picks. Before you go on to see my choices though, just know that this is my personal opinion. The order isn’t based on which ones I think are the best, just which ones I enjoyed the most myself. I do grade the albums I mention, but that is in a critical lens sort of way. It’s not how much I enjoyed it. Without further ado, my picks:
Best Album of 2013 (So Far):
-Honorable Mention:
-#10: “Born Sinner”: Coming in at number 10, Born Sinner is J. Cole’s second album. When I heard about this album’s release, I wasn’t expecting too much. Granted, I hadn’t listened to a lot of J. Cole’s music, but what stood out in my opinion was his excellent job in the Jay-Z single “Every Day A Star is Born” and his mediocre debut album. So when it released to solid reviews from critics, I was excited. After listening to it, I was impressed. It did beat my initial expectations of what I thought it would be. However, the album still falls a bit short of other hip-hop albums this year like Yeezus and Magna Carta… Holy Grail. It is an up-and-down affair, with some high points like “Villuminati”, “Land of the Snakes”, and “Power Trip”. However, the album drags on towards the end, and J. Cole never reaches the heights reached in the beginning of the album. In addition to this, he never sells emotion in his songs, despite a want to convey himself as a flawed man. With that being said, it is a solid hip-hop album for any fan of that genre. I give it an 8 out of 10.
-#9: “Endless Fantasy”: I first heard about Anamanaguchi from both members of Game Informer’s Staff on Twitter, and from one of my school friends who was telling me about them. The band has a sound that is akin to a retro videogame, and the band describes themselves as a band in the chiptune genre. With a happy, upbeat take on electronic music, some people might be a bit polarized by this album, but trust me, it’s a solid album that is done well, and is one worth listening to. By far my biggest surprise this year, Anamanaguchi knocks it out of the park with this release. 9 out of 10.
-#8: “Yeezus”: Speaking of a polarizing album, Kanye West takes his newer direction of music even further with this release. With provocative lyrics and dark beats, Yeezus is a beast of an album to try and tackle. The album received critical acclaim from critics and mixed reviews from listeners. Some detested the messages in the album, while others viewed it in a different light, hailing it as art. I fell somewhere in the middle. While yes, what Kanye says on the album is deplorable, I take it with a grain of salt. After South Park’s episode about him, I can’t take anything he does seriously. With that being said, this album legitimately hits some really high points. “Black Skinhead”, “Bound 2”, and “Blood on the Leaves” are some really, really good tracks on this album. The album does hit some low points too though, and towards the end of his album, the listener can just end up sick of his autotuned complaints about nothing of great significance. Come for the style, ignore the substance here. 8 out of 10.
-#7: “In A Tidal Wave of Mystery”: This album is definitely a weird album, but not controversial in any way. Instead, providing radio-friendly alternative rock, Capitol Cities does a great job with their debut album. With a hit single in “Safe and Sound” and a few fun songs such as “Farah Fawcett Hair”, the band’s album is like a Calvin and Hobbes comic come to life in music form. I love the album cover of this band, plus it’s usage of trumpets and other unorthodox instruments for a rock album. If you are up for listening to an album and smiling for a large portion of it, I recommend this album. 7.5 out of 10.
-#6: “Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action:” Actually released yesterday, this album comes from one of my favorite alt-rock bands; Franz Ferdinand. When the album was announced, I was a bit nervous about how it would end up. After their cult classic debut album was released (which is one of my favorites of all-time), the follow-up albums all had the same path. A few strong singles, but they fell apart later on in the album. With strong singles like “Love Illumination” and “Right Action” being released, I thought it was déjà vu for these rockers. While this is true to an extent, the album saves itself and distinguishes itself from its predecessors by simply having more good songs than bad on the album. At a short 35 minutes, I was hoping for more, but it does prevent the album from dragging on, especially since the back half of the album only features 2 good songs, whereas the first half has 4 strong songs that kick-start the album. 8.25 out of 10.
-The Winners:
-#5: “When it Was Now”: Brought to us by alt-rockers Atlas Genius, this album was highly, highly anticipated by me when it was first announced. With a radio hit in the song “Trojans”, the Australian band followed that up by having their album have each song teased on YouTube a month before its release. The band has a great name, and a great sound, with the lead singer just doing a great job vocally on each and every song in the track. I saw these guys live too and they did an amazing job with the performance then. Overall, The album is strong the whole way through, and has a super chill vibe to it. My favorite tracks on the album are “All These Girls”, “If So”, “Trojans”, “Electric”, and “Back Seat”. The only knock keeping this album from reaching the ranks of the musical elite, is that the lyrics on the album are really weak. Now, I don’t expect much when it comes to lyrics, but geez, this album is mediocre at best in this regard. The songs usually don’t mean much at all, and when they do, they are mumbled a bit. It’s a bummer really, because when they do come through strong, it’s when the album is firing on all cylinders and you start to fall in love with the charm and seduction of the album. 8.25 out of 10
-#4: “The 20/20 Experience”: I’ve always been a fan of Justin Timberlake, and this album is yet another reason. With a radio-friendly pop sound, JT just shows everyone how it’s done. While yes, it’s mainly the same topics over and over again such as having a good time and love (this time to wife Jessica Biel), JT still delivers quality songs on much of the album. Strong points include “Suit and Tie”, “Pusher Love Girl”, “Strawberry Bubblegum”, “Let the Groove Get In”, and my favorite; “Spaceship Coupe”. The knock on this album is pretty accurate, in that the songs can be a bit airy at times, and start to repeat themselves. “Let the Groove Get In” is a song I enjoy, but it has maybe 40 words in the song total (I kid. Sort of). 8.5 out of 10
-#3: Random Access Memories: Best described as “70’s, 80’s, and 90’s music layered on top of each other”, Daft Punk’s latest album is being hailed as an instant classic. It was released to immediate critical and commercial acclaim, and is an album that I enjoyed a lot. It lands on number 3 on this list however because I did not enjoy it as much as some. While many albums fall in the line of “solid” or “good”, this album is pretty much the definition of “great”. It’s not “amazing” or “perfect”, but it’s just “great”. Daft Punk goes in a different direction this album than their previous ones, focusing less on the electronic aspect portion of their music, and more on a vocal and funk sounding album. With an eclectic group of guest stars like Panda Bear, Paul Williams, Pharrel, and Julian Casablancas, Daft Punk manages to make each one sound like they are 70’s music stars. The highlights of the album are the insanely catchy and popular “Get Lucky”, “Instant Crush”, “Give Life Back To Music”, and “Lose Yourself to Dance”. The only thing holding the album back is that it can get a bit boring at times. It has a bit too much filler in it where not much is going on. But when the album hits its high notes, it really does. I give it a 9 out of 10
-#2: “Magna Carta… Holy Grail”: One of the 3 in contention for album of the year, “Magna Carta… Holy Grail”, is another solid album brought to you by Jay-z. I really enjoy this album, even more than his last release, “Watch the Throne”. The album was released to mixed reception by critics, who claim it is Jay-z’s worst work yet. Public reception of the album was much better, however it was still a bit mixed. Everyone I know though enjoyed the album, and I did as well. Running tight and well-produced throughout its duration, the album is one of Jay-z’s best. The highpoint of the album is the production of it, with great beats, and with themes fitting of a matured rap star. The best songs on the album are “Holy Grail”, “Heaven”, “La Familia”, “Nickels and Dimes”, and “Oceans”, which just might be my favorite hip-hop song of the last few years. Frank Ocean just kills that track and does an AMAZING job. I’m not even a Frank Ocean fan, but I have to give him credit where credit is due. The only low point is that some of the songs on the album are extremely short, and they are the ones that have the best beats on the album. It messes up the flow of the album somewhat, but all in all, the album is the best hip-hop album of the year so far. 9.25 out of 10.
-#1: “…Like Clockwork”: Yes, “Random Access Memories” and “Magna Carta… Holy Grail” were in contention of that top spot, but it wasn’t really that close. This album by Queens of the Stone Age is one of my favorite not only of this year, not only of this decade, but arguably one of my favorite albums of all time. Arguably. The other albums this year were not in that discussion. The album has a beautiful cover (the Adventure Time version on the internet of it is “Shut up and take my money!” Worthy.) and is strong from beginning to end. Josh Homme sounds like a wounded soul, howling at the moon with each song. It’s absolutely beautiful. Songs like “Kalopsia”, “Fairweather Friends” (featuring Elton John in the sneakiest cameo ever), and “I Sat by the Ocean” are probably some of my favorite songs of all time. The only thing holding the album back is that it does have some weaker tracks, but even those would stand out on other albums. The album also picks up in the middle, and is like a perfect story, starting slow, picking up, and ending slow as well. I love, love, love this album. It is arguably the gold standard of what a rock album should be. I also have to thank it for getting me out of a sadder time in my life earlier this year. A few months ago I was a bit depressed, and it was during a road-trip in California, listening to this album, that something clicked, and I got out of my funk that had lasted for months up until that point. Seriously, if you like rock music at all, this is a must-listen. 9.5 out of 10
-The Upcoming Albums I’m Most Excited For: Now, this blog is already really, really long, so I’ll keep this segment short. It’s simply the band, album name, release date, and why I’m excited for it. It’s in no particular order whatsoever. Enjoy.
-Arcade Fire: TBA (10/29): “The Suburbs” is a solid album in my eyes, but it’s my least favorite Arcade Fire album even though many love it dearly. I on the other hand am hoping for a return to their sound in their brilliant debut album “Funeral.”
-Artic Monkeys: “AM” (scheduled for release: 9/9): I love the Artic Monkeys, and with the strong and sassy single “Do I Wanna Know?” This band should be poised for another strong album.
-Kings of Leon: Mechanical Bull (9/20): Kings of Leon are another favorite band of mine. With their crossover into mainstream music happening two albums ago, I’ve enjoyed all that Kings of Leon has to offer. Especially their last 2 albums. With one of my favorite songs of the year so far “Supersoaker”, I have high hopes for this album.
-MGMT: MGMT (9/17): Ah MGMT. Their first album was unexpectedly amazing, and was an instant cult classic. “Kids”, “Electric Feel”, and “Time to Pretend” are great, but they are getting old. With their most recent work a bit disappointing, I’m hoping for some new stuff by them to put on my iPod. I really do wish them the best of luck this album. They need a good one. To me, a good album release keeps them as a top-tier musical artist, instead of just a b-quality one that got lucky.
-2 Chains: B.O.A.T.S. II Me Time (scheduled for release: 9/10): First off, I know many people dislike 2 Chains. However, I really enjoy this guy. Do I take him seriously? No. But you know what? He’s different, yeah, he’s different. One critic sums him up perfectly. You don’t listen to 2 Chains seriously. You view him as a comedic act, and enjoy it. Which is exactly my view of it. With many, many jokes and pranks based off of his previous music (such as pulling into a very ethnically non-diverse school before a sports game blasting his music out our car windows and staring at everyone with a straight face), this album is highly anticipated by me. I feel like a kid before Christmas. If you don’t like this list? Well, it’s mine, I write it. Thank you 2 Chains.
-Disappointment of the year:
-Comedown Machine: The winner in the disappointment of the year category comes from one of my favorite bands, the Strokes. With the first 2 albums reaching instant classic status, it seemed like the world was the limit for these guys. However, the third album received mediocre reception by people (I personally really liked it), people were claiming the downfall of these once musical giants. Their 4th album didn’t help matters, and neither did this album. While it’s not a bad album by any means, the hype built up for it was strong. With a claimed return to their roots, and an album cover to reflect that, everyone was hoping for another great album. What we got though was a continuation of a distancing themselves from their older sound. “All The Time”, “50/50”, “Tap Out”, and “Welcome to Japan” are all great songs, but they don’t hit the highs of the previous album Angles. However, the lows (and boy are there some lows on this thing) don’t go as low as some of the stuff on Angles either. What you are left with is a mediocre album with decent high points. It is the musical embodiment of a shoulder shrug. I still have trouble fully describing why I dislike this album, but no Strokes album should leave a bitter taste in my mouth. This one does. Maybe I’ll warm up to it. But for now, it’s my biggest disappointment this year. I give it a 7 out of 10. It’s the Other M of Strokes albums.
That’s all for this post. We hope you enjoyed the picks, and please let us know what yours are in the comments. As always, feel free to comment, and I’ll be sure to respond as soon as possible. Here’s to a great rest of 2013 for music.