Retrospective | 2013
As per usual, I’m just a little bit late handing in this final report. But it’s not because we left it to the last minute… (Well that’s not entirely true; some of us did.) But some of us have been deliberating for weeks – and much more intensely during the last week or so. After countless hours of sifting through the ol’ iTunes library and scrolling through SoundCloud <3s, we painstakingly compiled this list of releases that moved us from the past year.
We didn’t rank them. Who are we to make the ruling that “so-and-so dropped the best track of the year”?
Think of this as a music yearbook for our eclectic little dysfunctional family of music enthusiasts.
It’s not the case that all of us agree on every single item on the final list. The list would look completely different if any one of our other staff-writers had prepared the final draft in my stead. But I did my best to weave a tapestry of each of our distinctive contributor’s thoughtful selections. That said, it is impossible for me to transcend my personal bias in the final selection process.
There were way too many tracks that I wanted to include and had no choice but to leave out due to length limitations. We could have put together a list of three hundred tracks, but we had to abritrarily draw the line somewhere… We selected twenty LPs, twenty EPs, and one hundred tracks to share with you.
So – don’t take this as an exhaustive list. I must admit that we left out a large handful of gems, but I did my best to throw together a sampling of music from 2013 that bobbed our heads, shook our butts, and filled our hearts with reverence and joy.
What does the future hold for us?
L O W – L I F E
…
Selected LPs
Reflektor – Arcade Fire [Merge]
Family Vacation – Axel Boman [Studio Barnhus]
Tomorrow’s Harvest – Boards of Canada [Warp]
Random Access Memories – Daft Punk [Columbia]
Psychic – Darkside [Other People]
Settle – Disclosure [PMR]
Amygdala – DJ Koze [Pampa]
Doris – Earl Sweatshirt [Tan Cressida, Columbia]
Engravings – Forest Swords [Tri Angle]
Beautiful Rewind – Four Tet [Text]
Overgrown – James Blake [Atlas, A&M, Polydor]
Rap Album 1 – Jonwayne [Stonesthrow]
Immunity – Jon Hopkins [Domino]
CUT 4 ME – Kelela [Fade To Mind]
Yeezus – Kanye West [Def Jam]
6 Feet Beneath the Moon – King Krule [XL, True Panther]
Cold Spring Faultless Youth – Mount Kimbie [Warp]
Eve – Booka Shade [Embassy One]
Anything In Return – Toro Y Moi [Carpark]
Treat Me Right – Trus’me [Prime Numbers]
…
Selected EPs
Scala – Agoria, Francesco Tristano [Innervisions]
Tatischeff EP – Ame [Innervisions]
Rival Dealer – Burial [Hyperdub]
MTS Vol. 2 – Crazy P [Future Boogie]
Careless – Dusky [Aus]
The Uprising – Ian O’Donovan [KMS]
Planets, Spaceships – Jamie Jones [Hot Creations]
Taking Over – Joe Goddard [DFA]
Anaphora – John Tejada [Palette]
Yugen – Koreless [Young Turks]
LZD II – Laszlo Dancehall [Man Make Music]
Brother/Sister – Leon Vynehall [Aus]
Airglow Fires – Lone [R&S]
Truths – Maribou State [Southern Fried]
Send A Prayer – Motor City Drum Ensemble [MCDE]
Sweet Life – Rick Wade [FINA]
Elliot – Roosevelt [Greco Roman]
Gotham – Ten Walls [Innervisions]
Requiem – Ten Walls [Life and Death]
Strandbar – Todd Terje [Olsen]
…
Selected Tracks
Axel Boman
Pressure – Adesse Versions [Make Love In Public Spaces]
For One Hour (ft. Scalde) (Paradis remix) – Agoria [Rebirth]
Out – Autem [ASL Singles Club]
Hello – Axel Boman [Studio Barnhus]
Cinderella Curfew – Baunz [self-released]
Boards of Canada
Satisfy – Bicep [Feel My Bicep]
It’s All Over – Blanc 1 [Hivern]
Semena Mertvykh – Boards of Canada [Warp]
Heat – Boddika [Swamp 81]
Imperfection – Bodhi [Future Classic]
Booka Shade
Giving It All (Joe Goddard remix) – Bondax [Ultra]
Cirrus – Bonobo [Ninja Tune]
Love Inc. – Booka Shade [Embassy One]
Come Down To Us – Burial [Hyperdub]
Walkin’ – CAS [self-released]
Darkside
All My Love (Kingdom edit) – Cassie [self-released]
FlyLOVE – Chris Turner [Rebirth]
Lose Yourself to Dance (ft. Pharrell Williams) – Daft Punk [Columbia]
Confidence – Daniel Stefanik [Cocoon]
Heart – Darkside [Other People]
Disclosure
Colt – Dense & Pika [Hot Flush]
When A Fire Starts To Burn – Disclosure [PMR]
No One Gets Left Behind (Konstantin Sibold remix) – DJ Yellow, Flowers & Sea Creatures [Compost]
Started From the Bottom – Drake [Cash Money, Island, Republic]
Need U (100%) ft. A*M*E – Duke Dumont [Ministry of Sound]
Four Tet
Careless – Dusky [Aus]
Hive (ft. Vince Staples & Casey Veggies) – Earl Sweatshirt [Tan Cressida, Columbia]
Love Your Illusion – Eric Volta [No. 19]
Between Villains – Captain Murphy, Viktor Vaughn, Earl Sweatshirt [Williams Street]
For These Times – Four Tet [Nonplus]
Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich of Atoms For Peace
Pyramid (Atoms For Peace remix) – Four Tet [self-released]
Majestic Mountains – Franskild [Sweat It Out!]
I Can Tell (By the Way You Move) – George Fitzgerald [Double Six]
Truth South – Glimpse [Aus]
Renata (Daphni remix) – Holden [Border Community]
James Blake
Musician – Homeboy Sandman [Stones Throw]
Sirocco – Ian O’Donovan [KMS]
Faithful – Jacques Greene [LuckyMe]
Retrograde – James Blake [Atlas, A&M, Polydor]
You Naked (Jimmy Edgar remix) – Jamie Lidell [Warp]
Kaytranada
Golden (Kaytranada Life Living Edition) – Jill Scott [self-released]
I See Lights (Karmon remix) – Jimmy & Fred [Exploited]
She Burns (ft. Mara Carlyle) – Joe Goddard [Greco-Roman]
Somewhere – John Tejada [Kompakt]
Open Eye Signal – Jon Hopkins [Warp]
Jonwayne
Altitude – Jonwayne [Stones Throw]
Ringo – Joris Voorn [Green]
Big Room Tech House DJ Tool – TIP! – Joy Orbison [Rinse]
Lucky I Got What I Want – Jungle. [Chess Club]
Avalanche – Just Friends [Clown & Sunset]
Kanye West
Everything – Justin Jay [Southern Fried]
Hold My Liquor – Kanye West [Def Jam]
Survive – Kidnap Kid [Black Butter]
Sun – Koreless [Young Turks]
Nightflow (Kenny Larkin Drama remix) – La Fleur [Watergate]
Leon Vynehall
Guuurl – Lapalux [Brainfeeder]
Ain’t No Time – Laszlo Dancehall [Man Make Music]
I Know – Leftwing & Kody [Off]
Sister – Leon Vynehall [Aus]
Airglow Fires – Lone [R&S]
Maceo Plex
Loneliness – Luca Bacchetti & Guti [Endless]
Closer – Lulu James [Sony RCA]
J.A.W.S. – Luxury [Method]
Mind On Fire – Maceo Plex [K7]
Eyesdontlie – Machinedrum [Ninja Tune]
DJ Koze
It’s Only (DJ Koze Remix) – Matthew Herbert [Pampa]
Burning Bright (ft. Kim Ann Foxman) – Maya Jane Coles [I/AM/ME]
Creep (ft. Wayne Tennant) – Michael Gracioppo [Innervisions]
Trace – Midland [Aus]
Without You – John Talabot [DJ-Kicks]
Jamie Jones
Turn Off the Lights (Jamie Jones remix) – Mineo [Hot Creations]
Send A Prayer Pt. 2 – Motor City Drum Ensemble [MCDE]
Made To Stray – Mount Kimbie [Warp]
Finder – Ninetoes [Kling Klong]
Thank You 4 Letting Me Be Myself – Omar S [FXHE]
Theo Parrish
Wires (Theo Parrish Remix) – Owiny Sigoma Band [Brownswood]
Untitled – Paul Woolford [Hotflush]
Your Love (You Give Me Fever) – Romare [Black Acre]
Elliot – Roosevelt [Greco-Roman]
The Wheel (Employee Of The Year remix) – SOHN [self-released]
Shlohmo & Jeremih
Bo Peep (Do U Right) – Shlohmo & Jeremih [Yours Truly]
Lady C’mon (Kissey remix – extended version) – Sinkane [DFA]
Bipp – Sophie [Numbers]
Makin’ Love – Sound Stream [Sound Stream]
Time (ft. Seth Troxler) – Subb-an, Tom Trago [Visionquest]
Ten Walls
Another Earth – Tale Of Us [Minus]
Requiem – Ten Walls [Innervisions]
Amaze – Terekke [L.I.E.S.]
Oh Sheit It’s X – Thundercat [Brainfeeder]
Let’s Go Dancing (Maya Jane Coles Dancing In The Dark remix) – Tiga vs. Audion [Turbo]
Todd Terje
Strandbar (disko version) – Todd Terje [Olsen]
Worst Enemy – Toddla T Sound [Ninja Tune]
Hummel – Topspin, Dmit Kitz [Save Room]
Imprint Of Pleasure – Tube & Berger [Suara]
Wit(z) – Valentin Stip [Clown & Sunset]
Larry Heard
Summer At Night – Vincenzo Varagone [Soundlab]
Say You Won’t Ever (Larry Heard club mix) – Wallflower [Rebirth]
All Little Things – Wareika [Visionquest]
Make It Good (Pete Josef remix) – The White Lamp [Mixmag]
A1 – 8prn [self-released]
…
with love,
L O W – L I F E
