At long last, here is this year's Trash Flow Radio "Best Records of 2013" list. This year, I ranked 25 albums and 15 singles, and supplemented those lists with unranked lists of "Best Reissues" and "Honorable Mention." To avoid conflicts of interest or gushes of parental pride, I refrained from listing or ranking the self-released self-titled debut CD by Nathan Katkin's great solo project Sophie's Dream. And for the same reason, I also refrained from listing or ranking the self-released debut single by Nathan's excellent new trio The Great Mistakes. But FYI, both Sophie's Dream and The Great Mistakes have Bandcamp pages, and The Great Mistakes also have a facebook page.
I thought 2013 was a very good year for music. The young Australian garage-pop scene continued to wax bright in my world this year, and is well-represented on my lists. Many old faves of mine (e.g. Sebadoh, Codeine, Death of Samantha, The Pastels, even Andy Kaufman) also returned this year with their first new records in decades! Not surprisingly, all made my Best Records lists, as did several of my long-time faves (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Jeffrey Lewis, Wire, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds), whose recent output has been steadier. While I was compiling these lists, Eric Weisbard noted that 2013 may have been the first year ever in which no baby boomer made any record that anyone cared about. While my #1 Album of 2013 was in fact made by a baby boomer (Nick Cave), I think Eric is generally correct. Except for the late Andy Kaufman and possibly Lee Ranaldo or Martin Phillipps (Chills), no other boomer made a record that made any of my lists. I'm not sure what that means, however. But it's something to write about.
Well, goodbye to the only year of my life divisible by 61, and hello to the only year of my life divisible by 53. Here's the lists:
Best 25 New Albums of 2013:
1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away LP+7"45/CD+DVD (Bad
Seed)
2. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - s/t LP/CD/CA (Palace)
3. Bitch Prefect
- Bird Nerds LP/CD (Bedroom Suck)
4. Radiator Hospital – Something Wild LP
(Salinas)
5. Title TK - Rocks Fake-LP (New Images)
6. Bed Wettin' Bad
Boys - Ready For Boredom LP/CD (R.I.P Society)
7. Andy Kaufman - Andy and
His Grandmother LP/CD (Drag City)
8. Connections – Private Airplane + Body
Language LPs (Anyway)
9. Scott & Charlene's Wedding - Any Port in a
Storm LP/CD (Bedroom Suck/Fire)
10. Courtney Barnett – The Double EP: A Sea
Of Split Peas CD (Milk!/House Anxiety)
11. Bud Benderbe - The Velvet
Underground & Nico & Bud Benderbe LP (Boo-Hooray)
12. Codeine – What
About The Lonely? LP/CD (Numero Group)
13. Sebadoh - Defend Yourself LP/CD
(Joyful Noise)
14. Veronica Falls – Waiting For Something To Happen LP/CD
(Slumberland/Bella Union)
15. Blank Realm - Go Easy + Grassed Inn LPs/CDs
(Bedroom Suck/Siltbreeze/Fire)
16. Jeffrey Lewis & Peter Stampfel - Hey
Hey It’s The Jeffrey Lewis & Peter Stampfel Band CDR (no label)
17. Lee
Ranaldo And The Dust - Last Night On Earth 2LP/CD (Matador)
18. Death Of
Samantha – If Memory Serves Us Well 2LP (St. Valentine Records)
19. Stephen
Malkmus & Friends – Can's Ege Bamyasi LP (Matador/Domino)
20. Wingdale
Community Singers – Night, Sleep, Death LP (Blue Chopsticks)
21. Wire -
Change Becomes Us 2LP/CD (Pink Flag)
22. Wussy Duo - s/t CDEP (Shake
It)
23. Lower Plenty – Hard Rubbish/Mean 2LP/2CD (Fire)
24. The Source
Family OST LP/CD (Drag City)
25. The Pastels – Slow Summits LP/CD
(Domino)
Best 15 New Singles of 2013:
1. Withered Hand/Charles Latham - Split-7"45 (Hangover Lounge)
2. The
Chills - Molten Gold MP3-single (Fire)
3. Jeffrey Lewis - WWPRD 7"45 (Rough
Trade)
4. Royal Headache -- Stand and Stare 7"45 (Matador)
5. The #1s -
Sharon Shouldn't 7"45 (Sorry State/Alien Snatch)
6. Superchunk - Faith/Void
7"45 (Merge)
7. Dump – The Silent Treatment 12"EP (Grapefruit)
8. Joe
Bussard - Guitar Rag / Screwdriver Slide 10"78 (Tompkins Square)
9.
Frontier Folk Nebraska - Drop The Ball, Waste Another Year 7"45 (No
Chaser)
10. Full Ugly - Drove Down 7"45 (Bedroom Suck)
11. Ian Rubbish
& the Bizzaros - The Best of Ian Rubbish MP3-EP (SNL)
12. Bonnie 'Prince'
Billy - Sixty One/Sixty Minute Man 10"EP (Dogfish Head Brewery)
13. Mac
McCaughan & Kelly Hogan - That Summer Feeling video (Onion A.V. Club)
14.
Scott & Charlene's Wedding – Two Weeks 10"EP/CDEP (Critical Heights)
15.
Mick Collins & Danny Kroha - Winter Blues & Greens: Epitaphs &
Elegies by Kim Vincent Fowley 2x7"45 (Norton)
Honorable Mention: Best New Albums of 2013
(alphabetical):
• Anonymous Choir - Anonymous Choir Sings Neil Young's After The Gold Rush LP
(Mind Rider).
• Atomiclock - s/t MP3-album (Bandcamp)
• Bailterspace -
Trinine LP/CD (Arch Hill/Fire)
• Beachwood Sparks - Desert Skies LP/CD
(Alive)
• Beck - Song Reader Book (McSweeney's)
• Bettie Serveert - Oh,
Mayhem! LP/CD (Second Motion)
• The Bloodless Cooties - XX CD (Thick
Syrup)
• Bloody Amateur - s/t LP (Teenbeat)
• Body/Head - Coming Apart
2LP/CD (Matador)
• The Book of Amy - s/t CD (Thick Syrup)
• Bottomless Pit
– Shade Perennial LP/CD (Comedy Minus One)
• Brokeback & the Black Rock –
s/t LP/CD (Thrill Jockey)
• Brother JT - The Svelteness of Boogietude LP/CD
(Thrill Jockey)
• Bill Callahan - Dream River LP/CD (Drag City)
• Neko
Case – The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I
Love You LP/CD (Anti/Lady Pilot)
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Live From
KCRW 2LP/CD (Bad Seed)
• Rhys Chatham – Harmonie Du Soir LP/CD (Northern
Spy)
• Anne-James Chaton & Andy Moor - Transfer (Unsounds)
• The
Chills – Somewhere Beautiful 3LP/CD (Fire)
• Chumbawamba - In Memoriam:
Margaret Thatcher CDEP (Chumbawamba)
• Edwyn Collins – Understated LP/CD
(AED)
• Dead C – Armed Courage LP/CD (Ba Da Bing!)
• Dick Diver -
Calendar Days LP/CD (Chapter Music)
• Mike Donovan - Wot LP/CD/CA (Drag
City)
• Dumb Numbers - s/t LP/CD (Joyful Noise)
• Eleventh Dream Day –
New Moodio LP (Comedy Minus One)
• The Ex & Brass Unbound – Enormous
Door LP/CD (Ex)
• Ezra Lbs - s/t CD (Thick Syrup)
• Chris Forsyth – Solar
Motel (Paradise Of Bachelors)
• Front Bottoms - Talon of the Hawk LP/CD
(Bar/None)
• Philip Glass & Portland Opera- Galileo Galilei 2CD (Orange
Mountain)
• The Gospel Truth - A Lonely Man Does Foolish Things LP
(12XU)
• Grow Horns - Proper Seasons CD (Centsless)
• David Grubbs -
Borough of Broken Umbrellas 10" EP (Blue Chopsticks)
• David Grubbs - The
Plain Where the Palace Stood LP/CD (Drag City)
• Guided By Voices –
English Little League LP/CD/CA (GBV/Fire)
• Steve Gunn - Time Off LP/CD
(Paradise of Bachelors)
• Neil Hamburger – Incident In Cambridge, Mass. CA
(Burger)
• Industrial Park – Cold White LP (Desire)
• Joanna Gruesome -
Weird Sister LP/CD (Slumberland/Fortuna Pop)
• Daniel Johnston/Into It, Over
It split-LP (Daytrotter)
• The Julie Ruin - Run Fast LP/CD
(TJR/Dischord)
• Paul K & The Weathermen - A Wilderness of Mirrors
Audiobook MP3 (Shrunken Stomach)
• Tommy Keene - Excitement at Your Feet
LP/CD (Second Motion)
• King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon 2LP/CD (XL/True
Panther)
• Tim Lee 3 – Devil's Rope LP (Cool Dog Sound)
• Alan Licht –
Four Years Older LP (Editions Mego)
• Limiñanas – Costa Blanca LP/CD
(Trouble In Mind)
• David Markey & Heavy Friends - Volume Infinite CD
(Thick Syrup)
• Martha’s Vineyard Ferries – Mass Grave LP/CD (Kiam)
• Dawn
McCarthy & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – What the Brothers Sang LP/CD/CA (Drag
City)
• Mount Eerie – Pre-Human Ideas LP (P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.)
•
Scout Niblett - It's Up To Emma LP/CD (Drag City)
• Jeffrey Novak – Lemon Kid
(Trouble In Mind)
• Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band - Take Me To The Land Of Hell
LP/CD (Chimera)
• Painted Faces - Alone In My Head: A Painted Faces Primer
2009-2013 (Gulcher)
• Pere Ubu – Lady From Shanghai 2LP/CD (Fire)
• Joel
R.L. Phelps & The Downer Trio - Gala LP (12XU/Triple Crown)
• Raybeats -
The Lost Philip Glass Sessions CD (Orange Mountain)
• Alasdair Roberts - A
Wonder Working Stone 2LP/CD (Drag City)
• Nathan Salsburg - Hard For To Win
And Can't Be Won (No Quarter)
• Ty Segall - Sleeper LP/CD/CA (Drag City)
•
Sex Tide - Flash Fuck LP (A Wicked Company)
• Sleeping Bag - Women Of Your
Life LP/CD (Joyful Noise)
• Speed The Plough – The Plough & The Stars
LP/CD (Bar/None)
• Superchunk - I Hate Music LP/CD (Merge)
• Surf City –
We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This LP/CD (Fire)
• Sweet Talk - Pickup
Lines LP (12XU)
• Thermals – Desperate Ground LP/CD (Saddle Creek)
•
Tweens – s/t CDR/CA (Chow/Hard Body Sounds)
• The Uncluded - Hokey Fright
2LP/CD (Rhymesayers)
• Various - Burger Records' tribute to the Velvet
Underground's White Light/White Heat CA (Burger)
• Various - '78 LTD CD
(Thick Syrup)
• Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze: Deluxe Daze (Post Haze)
2CD (Matador)
• Dean Wareham – Emancipated Hearts 10"/LP/CD (Double
Feature/Sonic Cathedral)
• Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt LP/2CD/CA (Don
Giovanni)
• Dot Wiggin Band - Ready! Get! Go! LP/CD (Alternative
Tentacles)
• Wooden Wand – Blood Oaths Of The New Blues LP/CD (Fire)
•
Wussy - Berneice Huff and Son, Bill Sings Popular Favorites MP3 (Shake It)
•
Yo La Tengo - Fade Deluxe 2CD (Matador)
• Neil Young - Live at the Cellar
Door LP/CD (Reprise)
• Thalia Zedek Band – Via LP/CD (Thrill Jockey)
•
Zomes – Time Was LP/CD (Thrill Jockey)
Honorable Mention: Best New Singles of 2013
(alphabetical):
• Hasil Adkins – "Last" 7"45 (Arkam)
• America Hearts - I Like Bad Music MP3 (Soundcloud)
• The Bats /
Boomgates Split-7"45 (Bedroom Suck/Mistletone)
• Big Dipper - Joke Outfit
7"45 (Almost Ready)
• Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - This Land Is Your Land MP3
(PBS)
• Cairo Gang – Tiny Rebels 12"EP/CA (Burger)
• Connections – Tough
City 7"EP (Lost Weekend)
• Former Utopia - s/t EP (Damnably)
• Alastair
Galbraith & Ivor Kallin/Jesus Christ (Eric Gaffney) split-7"45 (Happy
Soul)
• G. Green - Our Boss 7"EP (A Wicked Company)
• Luke Haines - Lou
Reed Lou Reed MP3-Single (Soundcloud)
• Industrial Park - Echoes/May 7"45
(Toxic Pop)
• David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights – Christopher Columbus
7"45 (Merge)
• The Limiñanas - La Fille de la Ligne 15 7"45 (Trouble In
Mind)
• Lower Plenty/Dick Diver Split-7"45 (Matador)
• Tony Molina – 6
Track 7"EP (Matador)
• David Kenneth Nance - Actor's Diary 12"EP
(Grapefruit)
• Jeffrey Novak -- I Never Knew I Knew So Much 7"45 (Matador)
• Negro Spirituals - Black Garden/Ancient Trees 7"45 (A Wicked Company)
• A.C. Newman - Spike's Obsession with John Wesley Shipp MP3 (TBSOWFMU)
•
Nude Beach - What Can Ya Do 7"45 (Other Music)
• Parkay Quarts (Parquet
Courts) - Tally All the Things That You Broke 12"EP/CD (What's Your
Rupture)
• Salinas Records Guided By Voices Tribute 7"EP (Salinas)
•
Sebadoh - Secret EP 10"EP (Joyful Noise)
• Sex Tide - Flash Fuck LP (A Wicked
Company)
• Superchunk -- I Hate History/Glue 7"45 (Matador)
• Thin Kids
w/ Kate Nash – Free My Pussy/Free Pussy Riot Now! 7"45 (Have 10p)
• Various -
Record Store Day 2013 4-Way Covers Split-7"EP (Trouble In Mind)
• Kurt
Vile/Reigning Sound - Best Show on WFMU Magazine split-Flexi-7"45 (WFMU)
Best Reissues of 2013:
• 15-60-75 (Numbers Band) - Jimmy Bell's Still In Town" 2LP (Exit Stencil) (1976)
• Belle & Sebastian - The Third Eye Centre 2LP/CD (Matador) (2002-2009)
• Big Boys – Fun, Fun, Fun... 12"EP (540) (1982)
• Big Star – Nothing Can Hurt Me OST 2LP/CD (Omnivore) (1972-74)
• The Boys- s/t + Alternative Chartbusters 2LPs/2CDs (Fire) (1977-78)
• Burnin Red Ivanhoe - Canal Trip: An Anthology 1969-1974 2CD (Esoteric) (1969-1974)
• Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Safe As Milk (mono) LP/CD (Sundazed) (1967)
• The Cartoons - She's A Rock and Roller 7"45 (Last Laugh) (1981)
• Cleaners From Venus – Box Set, Vol. 2 4LP/4CD (Captured Tracks) (1983-85)
• Come – Eleven:Eleven Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition 2LP+7"45/2CD (Matador/Glitterhouse) (1992)
• Death - Politicians In My Eyes 7"45+Blu-Ray (Drafthouse) (1976)
• The Dentists - Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now LP (Trouble In Mind) (1985)
• Victor Dimisich Band – s/t LP (Siltbreeze) (1982/1988)
• Dump – Superpowerless / I Can Hear Music 5LP (Morr Music) (1993-94)
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Vol 10 : Another Self-Portrait 2CD/4LP/4CD (Columbia) (1970-71)
• Epicycle – You're Not Gonna Get It: 1978-81 LP/CD (HoZac) (1978-81)
• Roky Erickson - The Evil One + Don't Slander Me + Gremlins Have Pictures LPs/CDs (Light In The Attic) (1980/1986)
• Henry Flynt - Graduation 2LP (Superior Viaduct) (1980/2001)
• Kim Fowley - Wildfire: The Complete Imperial Recordings 1968-69 2CD (Tune In) (1968-69)
• Woody Guthrie - American Radical Patriot 7CD (Rounder) (1942-48)
• Peter Gutteridge – Pure 2LP (540) (1989)
• Hackamore Brick – One Kiss Leads To Another LP/CD (Real Gone) (1970)
• Half Japanese - 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts 4LP/3CD (Fire) (1980)
• Lee Hazlewood – There's A Dream I've Been Saving: Lee Hazlewood Industries 1966-1971 4CD (Light In The Attic) (1966-71)
• Hüsker Dü – Amusement 2x7"45 (Numero Group) (1982)
• Tommy Keene - Back To Zero Now 7"45 (12XU) (1983)
• Tommy Keene - Strange Alliance LP (12XU) (1982)
• Craig Leon – Nommos LP (Superior Viaduct) (1981)
• Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order, Vols. 1-3 LPs (Third Man)
• The Missing Links - s/t LP+7"EP (Sundazed) (1965)
• Mississippi Sheiks - Complete Recorded Works Presented In Chronological Order, Vols. 1-3 LPs (Third Man)
• Scott Morgan – Three Chords And A Cloud Of Dust 3CD (Easy Action) (1976-97)
• MX-80 Sound - Hard Attack 2CD (Superior Viaduct) (1977)
• Mystic Siva - s/t CD (World In Sound) (1970)
• Neo Boys – Sooner Or Later 2LP/2CD (K Records) (1978-83)
• The Nubs - Job / Little Billy's Burning 7"45 (Last Laugh) (1980)
• Paley Brothers - The Complete Recordings CD (Real Gone) (1978-85)
• Charley Patton - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order, Vols 1-3 LPs (Third Man)
• Public Image Ltd – First Issue LP/2CD (Light In The Attic) (1978)
• Pussy Galore - Groovy Hate Fuck 12"EP (Shove) (1986)
• The Riot Squad – The Toy Soldier 7"EP (Acid Jazz) (1967)
• The Sacred Mushroom - s/t LP (Shake It) (1969)
• Sleepers - s/t 7"EP (Superior Viaduct) (1978)
• Songs:Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co.: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition LP/CD (Secretly Canadian) (2003)
• Nikki Sudden - Boy from Nowhere Who Fell Out of the Sky 6CD (Troubador)
• The Standells - Zebra in the Kitchen/Someday You’ll Cry 7"45 (Sundazed) (1965)
• Toody Cole/The Western Front Split 10"EP (Mississippi) (1985)
• Toy Love - s/t 2LP/CA (Captured Tracks/Flying Nun) (1980)
• Various – Dangerhouse: Complete Singles Collected 1977-79 14x7"45/2CD (Munster/Frontier/Dangerhouse) (1977-79)
• Various – The Devil Is Busy In Knoxville LP (Mississippi/Change)
• Various – Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 2LP/CD (Now Again/Sincecure)
• Various – Free Angela comp-LP/CD (Secret Stash) (1973)
• Various – I Heard The Angels Singing: Electrifying Black Gospel From The Nashboro Label 1951-1983 4CD (Tompkins Square) (1951-83)
• Various – Love Poetry And Revolution: A Journey Through The British Psychedelic And Underground Scenes 1966-1972 3CD (Cherry Red) (1966-72)
• Various – Play It Like You Did Back To George Street: An Anthology of Cincinnati Blues 1927-1936 2LP (Shake It) (1927-1936)
• Various – Punk 45: Kill the Hippies! Kill Yourself! Vol 1 LP/CD (Soul Jazz) (1973-76)
• Various – Sharpies comp-LP (Sharps Rock) (1973-79)
• Various – Tragic Songs From The Grassy Knoll: John F. Kennedy 50th Anniversary Collection LP (Norton) (1964-66)
• Various – Turn Me Loose - Outsiders Of "Old Time" Music LP (Tompkins Square)
• Various – Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard: Hard Time, Good Time & End Time Music 1923-1936 3CD (Tompkins Square) (1923-1936)
• Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat Super Deluxe Edition 3CD (Polydor) (1967)
• Venom P. Stinger - 1986-1991 2CD (Drag City) (1986-1991)
• Village Pistols - Big Money 7"45 (Last Laugh) (1981)
• The Waitresses - Just Desserts: The Complete Waitresses 2CD (Omnivore) (1983)
• Zero Boys – Livin' In The 80's 7"EP (1-2-3-4 Go!) (1980)
