Individual Writers’ Lists: The Best Albums of 2013

From Chad Liffmann:

1) AM – Arctic Monkeys
2) Random Access Memories – Daft Punk
3) Modern Vampires of the City – Vampire Weekend
4) Warp & Weft – Laura Veirs
5) Pure Heroine – Lorde
6) Trouble Will Find Me – The National
7) New – Paul McCartney
8) Once I Was An Eagle – Laura Marling
9) The Bones of What You Believe – Chvrches
10) Bankrupt! – Phoenix

From Kara Murphy:

This wasn’t the strongest year for music, overall. Needless to say, there were definitely some surprises – especially in the form of newcomers fronted by women. Here are ten albums that had the greatest impact on me, with a gratuitous description of the top five.

MS MR – Secondhand Rapture

Lizzy Plapinger is a darker, modern-day Beth Orton.

Daft Punk – Random Access Memories

When “Get Lucky,” featuring Pharrell, is arguably the weakest track on an album, you know there’s a lot of depth to uncover. Five years in the making, this album’s richness and high-fidelity production makes as strong argument as one of its best statement songs: “Give Life Back to Music.”

CHVRCHES – The Bones of What You Believe

Do believe the hype: this is definitely one of the best debut albums of the year, if not the past few, from the Scottish electropop trio.

Junip – Junip

It’s small wonder Ben Stiller asked Junip’s frontman, José González, to score the soundtrack to his film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” – a true-life tale of a dreamer-turned-adventurer. González’s delivery is tranquil, at times, but his lyrical content and backing band bring a sense of urgency and passion to themes revolving around redemption.

Local Natives – Hummingbird

The departure of Andy Hamm was a tough, unexpected blow. Yet the group carried on as a foursome, experimented with their sound in a no-holds-barred fashion, and avoided a sophomore slump.

The Rest:

Kanye West – Yeezus
Moshe Kasher – Live in Oakland
Lorde – Pure Heroine
Deltron 3030 – Event II
Kate Nash – Girl Talk

See Page 4 for OJ Patterson and Michelle Viray