That's so good - that should have been mine: Music that moved me in 2013

At the request of good friend Michelle Matthews, I present a few thoughts as to what music did it for me in 2013.

This year Pop music fought back. I'm not talking that shite that pollutes American radio waves, I am referring to the good stuff. Not bad considering this is a year that Phoenix came up short creatively.

Speaking of coming up short, Kanye decided to toss off some rhymes at the last minute which cheapened a record that went places musically - into NIN territory. Thankfully for all concerned, Trent Reznor returned to remind us all that there is a right way to grow old gracefully. If only Jay-Z had taken notes...

So on to the albums that I listened to (a lot) this year:

Vaudeville Smash - Dancing For The Girl

Funky Australian outfit that has some big cajones and bravado. Don't believe me?




The 1975 - The 1975

They breed them well up in Manchester. Their debut album is full of killer singles. Here is one of them.




St Lucia - When The Night

Anthem for the Summer (and the following one as well). I assume Peter Cetera's lawyers are filing papers as we speak.




City and Colour  - The Hurry And The Harm

Four albums in and not a dud amongst them. Continuing to explore new sonic territories, Dallas Green now serves only one master - himself.



Jen Cloher - In Blood Memory

Full disclosure: I contributed to her Pozible campaign to complete and release this album. Of course that doesn't guarantee a successful product. Jen's third album is her most complete and her most ambitious. At only 7 tracks, she says what other bands take a double album to do.




The National - Trouble Will Find Me

Sure they are a bunch of miserable bastards, but damn it they give good music and lyrics:

"When I walk into a room
I do not light it up.
Fuck."

Haim - Days Are Gone

Not only is this the best pop album this year, it is the best album this year full stop. Haters can take their Wilson Phillips comparisons and shove it.

Lenny = White, Carl = Black

I have been listening and thinking a lot about hip-hop of late. Also talking about it. Arjunan is a good friend at work. He is known as Arj only to his friends. Because he is the nicest man on earth, everyone calls him Arj.

An unassuming soul, it was a delight to discover that he was also partial to the art of spoken rhyme. Like myself, Arj wades in the conscious end of the hip-hop pool but also has well articulated views on 90s West Coast rap that belies his character. He is kinda like Charles Grodin in 'Midnight Run' come to think of it.

So as a result we have been swapping discs (remember them?) and chatting further about why we like certain artists and albums. The thing that resonates most of all with hip-hop for me is 'the swagger'. From the time they drop their first single, rap artists are full of confidence which most other genres don't seem to naturally have. The term 'earnest' is virtually unknown in hip-hop circles.

Which inexplicably brings me to Kanye West.

Casual listeners to Yeezy will be forgiven for thinking that Mr West is simply a mouthpiece for boasting and for broadsides at anyone who wins an award he was nominated for. But dig deeper and Kanye is one of the very few of his peers that is willing to bare his soul. This was most evident on his debut album The College Dropout. Sure there was bravado up the wazoo but there were some moments where he dropped his guard a little. Often on the same track.

'All Falls Down' was my entry point to this album and seven years on I still have it on high rotation. The last line in particular spoke to me as a slightly directionless twentysomething:

"We all self conscious I'm just the first to admit it."

As I have mentioned previously, one of the aims of my current writing project is to steer away from the thick slabs of earnestness that weighed down my earlier attempts at fiction. But as Kanye has demonstrated, a little openness on the odd occasion has the ability to keep things grounded.

Write with confidence but with an awareness of what is going on around you.

That's not a bad thing to aim for.