Favorite Albums of 2013...so far

Caveat: I haven't listened to every album release this year and this is a list that will grow and change over the year. It's a list that I'd probably change two years into the future. For example, this month I discovered Cloud Nothing's 2012 January release Attack On Memory. I've listened to the album every day for the last few days. It wouldn't have appeared on my 2012 list, but it certainly deserves to be now.

This list is in alphabetical order, other than my favorite album of the year thus far, which is last. Enjoy!

Disclosure Settle 

The James Hunter Six Minute By Minute

Killer Mike and El-P Run The Jewels

Mikal Cronin MCII

Parquet Gold Light Up Gold

Rhye Woman

Savages Silence Yourself

The So So Glos Blowout

William Tyler Impossible Truth

(Favorite) Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City

There was a lot of buzz on the web in 2008 about this band named Vampire Weekend. I largely ignored it, because amidst the Twilight and True Blood culture I had enough of vampire imagery of any kind. I wanted nothing to do with an indie band that would name themselves Vampire Weekend.

In 2010, they released their second LP Contra. I was living in Tokyo at the time and there were a few things that kept me connected to home. One of those items was watching The Colbert Report. Colbert and I seem to have a lot of the same music interests. He often has bands on his show that I'm really in to. One night in 2010, Colbert brought on a band that I had avoided despite the hype - Vampire Weekend. Son of a....I can't get away!

Vampire Weekend came on the show and Colbert introduced himself to the crowd - as he does. They looked they were dressed for a day out the beach. Colbert thanked them for dressing up for the show, they laughed and he flashed the vinyl of their new LP at the camera. It had this haunting picture of a woman and above her written in Futura font the band name and below her Contra. (Futura is the font Kubrick often used in his films) Colbert immediately went into attack mode - as he does - about a track from their debut album called "Oxford Comma". (I'm a creative writing major and this immediately peaked my interest)  The verse he pointed out and criticized was "who gives a fuck about an Oxford Comma." Colbert stated, "I give a fuck about an Oxford Comma. If we didn't have it, it would be red, white and blue instead of red, white, and blue. Our flag would be red and baby blue!" Ezra Koenig laughed and stated, "It's just protocol." The band explained that the song is about being open minded and not being a sheep. Dammit, they're cool.

After the interview, Vampire Weekend played a track called "Holiday". It was the first time I'd actually heard them. The song was well-written, thoughtful, political and mixed afropop with my kind of indie. It wasn't something, at the time, I had heard before. I decided to give them a chance. A few months later I saw them live at Studio Coast (Ageha) in downtown Tokyo. I spent the rest of the year, much to my chagrin, trying to convince people to listen to a band called Vampire Weekend.

Their new LP Modern Vampires of the City have them further embracing their name and making leaps in maturity and songwriting. Don't be the last guy to get in line and pretend you were a fan from the beginning. Get in line now! We will be talking about them long after they are gone.