Once you’ve stopped counting and start adding, 2013 will be a holding action, flat with 2012. But I know 2013 will have peaked higher. I loved Spider Bags, but my four favorite albums of 2013 are at least as good as Shake My Head.
In order (I think)
Generic Treasure – Modern Hut – Grade: A
Power of The Trinity A Slight Return – Tomas Doncker – Grade: A
Once I Was An Eagle – Laura Marling – Grade: A
Yeezus – Kanye West – Grade: A
I think that’s how I see it. Doncker is the best played, West sounds best, Modern Hut the most consistent and Marling peaks the highest. Doncker and Modern Hut are less well known and neither album is out yet, Steinhardt is expected early August, Doncker in September.
That’s the pluses, here are some negatives.
Laura sags in the middle and only picks it up again towards the end; Kweezy is perfect through the first four songs and the last one but the five in the middle aren’t as good; Doncker treads too much in familiar grounds and Modern Hut is so inscrutable.
Laura is a journey from need to necessity and back through a side door; Tomas is a political axe stomping all over Haile Sellassie’s terrain; Kanye and Steinhardt (aka Modern hut) are punk rockers. There is a passive aggressive tension at the heart of Modern Hut colluded by a) song craft and b) acoustic detailing. This is reversed in West, he is aggressive passive colluded by the fame monster. West is weakened by over statement: he protests too much, he sinks into a mire of insecurity that, if it was text instead of subtext. would sound like a boy crying for his Mommy.
Laura is constantly snarling: her best defense is an offense; her insistance upon not needing love (in her interviews as well) is constantly made a lie by her deepest commitments. All three of the other albums only delve into love tangentally for the most part.
Tomas, Kanye and Steinhardt are all political on some level or another; Kanye, Steinhardt and Laura are all solipsistic; Tomas, Steinhardt and Laura are built around guitars; Kanye and Tomas are electic Steinhardt and Laura are acousti;, Kanye and Tomas are black, Steinhardt and Laura are white; Kanye, Tomas and Steinhardt are Yanks, Laura is expatriat Californian.
Kanye and Laura are European in attack, Tomas and Steinhardt are American.
All four of these albums have exceptional lyrics.
Steinhardt’s album is not weakened by a bad track or an off note: it is exceptionally lean, barely half an hour but not a wasted moment, it starts at a sky high level and then gets better. But it is a hard sell and would repay a perfunctory listen with apathy. Laura goes on and on and on. Kanye is a smack across the head. And Tomas is an electrifying experience that if you heard it would blow you away, though that is certainly a big if.
Best songs?
History – This is the single best song I’ve heard since Regina Spektor’s “Ink Stains”. A towering dystopian look at modern life performed with a sort of distilled contempt. It may be Steinhardt’s best song, it may be better than “Colorado” or “Headache”.
Take The Night Off/I Was An Eagle/ you Know/Breathe – The four song suite that opens Once I Was An Eagle is among the most beautiful songs you will hear this year. Wait, scratch that: it is the most beautiful songs you will hear this year.
On Sight – The opening track off his new album is there and it is never coming back. It is so thrilling your heart starts beating faster when the album ends because you know you’re gonna hear it again.
Rise Above – The finished piece works in tandem with Marla Mase’s “Piece Of Peace” as modern folk protest music with an electric, suss filled arrogance which dares you to question its passion and dominance.
Kanye and Laura are out now, Modern Hut drops August 6th and Tomas Doncker, September 19th, 2013