TOP 65 ALBUMS OF 2013

A Spotify playlist will appear at some point - meanwhile, after listening to vinyl, CDs and downloads (ugh, detestable invention) totalling a few hundred, these are the best of the bunch. Not a bad year, all told.


1 - Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest


For their fifth album, Boards of Canada apparently began sessions straight after The Campfire Phase, delaying completion to travel and hole up in their studio upon their return. The essential element of journeying is reflected in the slowly-shifting music throughout this fabulous album. Forget about Daft Punk being the new electronic saviours (again), this Scottish pairing have double the imagination right now, even if they don't do disco. Want a club anthem on a scale of one to Get Lucky? Forget it - Tomorrow's Harvest reaps different rewards with the nearest to a banging anthem repped by Split Your Infinities, which comes on like a hybrid of David Lynch, Biosphere and deleted scenes from Les Revenants (The Returned). In fact, if the makers of said French serial-killer series opt to make a follow-up series, Boards of Canada would make ideal sound-tracking foils.


2 - David Bowie - The Next Day 


Aside from Dirty Boys, a rather leaden sprawl that recalls David Sylvian's unsteady work with Robert Fripp, every track on The Next Day is thoroughly deserving of its inclusion in the track-listing. From the opening title-track which bobs and weaves around the same sort of compositional techniques found on Reality's New Killer Star or Low's Beauty and the Beast, past the second and very classic single The Stars (Are Out Tonight) and the lovely, languid, lachrymose air of Where Are We Now?, right up to the powerful closing trio of (You Will) Set The World On Fire, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die and Heat, you know you're in safe hands. That's safe as in Bowie, rather than safe as in humdrum. The box-set edition is even better - worth picking up for that superb James Murphy remix of "Love Is Lost".

3 - Public Service Broadcasting - Inform Educate Entertain


You know PSB (the PSB duo with corduroy, not the PSB with disco balls) by now - cut-and-paste radio announcements and public information film excerpts, assembled seamlessly over real drums and a welter of gorgeous guitar-hooks and nifty synths - all of which worked a treat on the pair's debut-album issued in the spring. Whether it's the music, the no-nonsense accompanying videos or their fuss-free (and frequently light-hearted) live shows, Public Service Broadcasting have proven that the simplest ideas are often the best. 



4 - Section 25 - Dark Light


Whilst there isn't a Hilltop or a New Horizon here, Dark Light, as an album is all about hope and moving on, so much so that bassist Stuart Hill had left by the time the album went to press. New member Jo (another Cassidy) now completes the line-up which is by turns, a little more feminine (obviously) and poppy, but in a good way. As one man curtly observed many years ago, "you can't be a punk all your life". Producer and collaborator Derek Miller (Outernationale) has applied deft touches to the usual dense layers and has helped create a punchier sound throughout. Perhaps the biggest changes have befallen Colour Movement Sex and Violence and Inner Drive. Originally released as part of 2011's Invicta EP, the originals were charming electro-pop requiring refinement - here, they don't. Inner Drive is a triumph now, although I still prefer the original mix of CMSV (a radio version would make this unbeatable).


5 - OMD - English Electric 


There are so many harks back to OMD's past endeavours that English Electric, their first studio-album since 2010's meandering History of Modern, sounds like a 'best of'. Suffice to say that this collection is the comeback album they should have issued a few years back, in place of the haphazard History of Modern - it's right up there with their best, borrowing heavily from the band's key earlier period, as well as a few later glories and, of course, their peers. Pop's radio-friendly sensibilities recur on Night Cafe, Helen of Troy and Kissing The Machine, with the latter reproduced from a previous incarnation included on Karl Bartos' long-forgotten Electrik Musik album Esperanto (it originally featured McCluskey on vocals).



6 - British Sea Power - Machineries Of Joy



The re-assuring sound of British Sea Power returns with this, their sixth full-length album and perhaps their most consistent since 2008's "Do You Like Rock Music?". Recorded in their home-town of Brighton, Machineries of Joy is an altogether less bombastic beast than "Valhalla Dancehall" and as such is a friendlier album to take home with you. For me, the album's final few songs are nothing less than triumphant in places, especially the graceful Radio Goddard and the mesmeric last track, When a Warm Wind Blows Through The Grass, though lord knows what your man Yan is harping on about. Frankly, it doesn't matter - Machineries of Joy is comprised of an atmospheric grandeur that's essential enough.



7 - Karl Bartos - Off The Record


Most of this engaging LP is worthy of repeated listens - International Velvet is indeed a very pretty track (like Air and OMD on a picnic) and Rhythmus explores the tough electro-patter of Computer World and Numbers with solemn pathos, rather than parody. The final track is perhaps the most playful - Hausmusik reminds me of an old Martin Rev tune (Mari) and perhaps something Paul Haig might cook up for his Cinematique series. And for all Electronic fans out there, Bartos has even had time to unearth a pin-sharp rare track (Musica Ex Machina) co-written with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, possibly around the time he contributed to the band's Raise The Pressure album in the '90s. It's rather good.


8 - Jon Hopkins - Immunity 

From the opening sound of a key being turned in a door-lock (his own studio) to the creaks, rattles, bangs and knockings of cruet sets, fireworks (he's based near the Olympic Stadium) and vehicles reversing (no really), Hopkins has elevated Immunity from machine to man-made with the deftest of touches. Perhaps his most familiar recent collaboration with King Creosote has rubbed off on him, in particular on the title-track. Here he's joined by his Diamond Mine partner for what is possibly the most beautiful track on the album. Think Talk Talk circa Spirit of Eden, think Eno, think Frahm, think Sakamoto, all nestling in a bed of gentle understated piano-powered rhythms and oscillations. Perfect. Cliched as this sounds, Immunity is a  genuine contender for album of the year.

9 - Bill Callahan - Dream River


Treading a similar path to Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, Jamie T. Commons and Jonathan Jeremiah, the emotive troubadour sows lyrical seeds that touch on restlessness, travels, break-ups, heartaches, self-effacement and reflection, before growing into something of a musical event that borders on devotional and celebratory, rather than self-indulgence.
The opening 'The Sing' sports a natty couplet - "The only words I've said today are 'beer' and 'thank you'" is as torn-apart as a person can get, that time when hitting the bar is the only answer. The album's glorious centrepiece 'Ride My Arrow' not only carries an atmospheric narration, the music recalls Richie Havens in full flow and is possibly one of Callahan's most rewarding songs ever.
As for the rest of Dream River, you can expect a rich woven tapestry of all of the above Callahan trademarks - fabulous.



10 - Edwyn Collins - Understated


From the opening belter Dilemna to the concluding and gorgeous cover of Rod McKuen’s Love’s Been Good To Me and all points in between, it is safe to surmise that Edwyn Collins is at the pinnacle of his eventful career. There are no low points and the whole album is so good that I am reduced to singling out a few personal favourites. 31 Years recalls the singer’s memories (“It’s the little things that help me through”), Forsooth sees him waving a positive flag (“and I feel alive, and I feel reborn”) and potential single In The Now is as rousing a tune as you could get. Superb album, Mr Collins, as if we were going to get anything less.


11 - Mogwai - Les Revenants

















12 - These New Puritans - Field Of Reeds















13 - Pet Shop Boys - Electric
















14 - Factory Floor - Factory Floor

















15 - Emily Baker - All At Sea
















16 - Robyn Hitchcock - Love From London 
















17 - Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
















18 - Paul Haig - Kube
















19 - Chris Morphitis - Where To Go
















20 - Ruts DC - Rhythm Collision 2
















21 - Ultramarine - This Time Last Year















22 - Stornoway - Tales From Terra Firma













23 - Lloyd Cole - Standards













24 - John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts














25 - Christian Kjellvander - The Pitcher 














26 - Iron and Wine - Ghost on Ghost 













27 - Moby - Innocents













28 - Ed Harcourt - Back Into The Woods













29 - Wire - Change Becomes Us













30 - Drenge - Drenge

















31 - Gold Panda - Half Of Where You Live -- 32 - Eat Lights Become Lights - Modular Living -- 33 - Karl Hyde - Edgeland -- 34 - Manix - Living In The Past -- 35 - Electric Soft Parade - Idiots -- 36 - Daft Punk - Random Access Memories -- 37 - Editors - The Weight Of Your Love -- 38 - PJP Band - And So It Goes -- 39 - Camera Obscura - Desire Lines -- 40 - Transept - Buff As Fu*k



41 - The National - Trouble Will Find Me -- 42 - James Blake - Overgrown -- 43 - Brown Reininger Bodson - Clear Tears Troubled Waters -- 44 - Triptides - Predictions -- 45 - Sons of Kemet - Burn -- 46 - The Wave Pictures - City Forgiveness -- 47 - Julia Holter - Loud City Song -- 48 - Kevin Hewick - The Heat Of Molten Diamonds - 49 - Steve Arrington & Dam-Funk - Higher -- 50 - The Field - Cupid's Head




51 - Space Dimension Controller - Welcome To Mikrosector-50 -- 52 - Hookworms - Pearl Mystic -- 53 - Autechre - Exai -- 54 - Lloyd Cole/Hans-Joachim Roedelius - Selected Studies Vol 1 -- 55 - Atoms For Peace - Amok -- 56 - Kevin Tihista - Modern Standards -- 57 - Lubomyr Melnyk - Corollaries -- 58 - Zomby - With Love -- 59 - Crayola Lectern - The Fall And Rise Of... -- 60 - Solyst - Lead -- 61 - Pieter Nooten - Haven -- 62 - Phoenix Foundation - Fandango  -- 63 - Daughter - If You Leave -- 64 - Marnie - Crystal World -- 65 - Depeche Mode - Delta Machine


Check out the Flipside Top 65 Albums of 2013 Spotify Playlist - (yes, there's only 58 at the moment - a few artists aren't on Spotify so go seek them out on their websites).