Friday, January 3, 2014

Top 25 Albums of 2013 2 - Numbers 20 to 16

Here are the next 5 albums in our countdown of the top 25 albums of 2013.


Rank Artist Album Source



20 Mumford & Sons Babel Sales
19 Bruno Mars Unorthodox Jukebox Sales
18 Gorguts  Colored Sands  Fans
17 One Direction Take Me Home Sales
16 Boards of Canada  Tomorrow's Harvest  Fans


Mumford & Sons - Babel

The Mumford & Sons is pleasant enough - it's nice to hear a big selling album that is at least a bit organic and without a totally compressed and cluttered production style.

Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox

I didn't have high hopes for Unorthodox Jukebox but was quite pleasantly surprised by the range of stylistic influences. 

One Direction - Take Me Home

I couldn't say the same thing about Take Me Home. It was pretty much what I expected - expertly crafted pop music. Guilty pleasure when it pops up on the radio - but nothing that makes me want to listen to an album of it.

Gorguts - Colored Sands

The fan selections in this bracket are pretty interesting - and divergent. Colored Sands is intense death metal - not a genre that I listen to much. I have a particular aversion to Cookie Monster vocals (AKA screamo) - although I can appreciate a certain artistry therein. Notwithstanding, Colored Sands is worth checking out for fans of the genre, or newbies wanting to know what it's about.

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Tomorrow's Harvest is one of my personal favourites of 2013. "Downtempo" is the emergent label encompassing many subgenres that have sprung up in the wake of Massive Attack and Portishead. Tomorrow's Harvest is an excellent example - there are elements of trip hop, ambient, IDM (intelligent dance music). I have listened to a lot of new music. The majority only get one or two listens - but I have kept coming back to Tomorrow's Harvest.

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