Album Ratings for 2013

Another year; another list of album’s I either managed to review or ones I intended to, going so far to score them but never getting there. I ran into two albums that ranked a nine (a first!) but album of the year goes to Sigur Rós with Queens of the Stone Age in a close second.

So enjoy this long list of titles and numbers and have an awesome start to 2014.

Lady Gaga - ARTPOP Review

In the words of Monty Python; And now for something completely different!

The following is my ramblings and ongoing thoughts during my first listen to Lady Gaga's third album ARTPOP. Obviously an album of this magnitude requires me to break the review mould.

Revere - My Mirror/Your Target Review

Question; what's the best band no-one's ever heard of? I'm sure for each of you the answer will be different, especially with how vast music can be and the many opportunities there are to discover new favourites.

When I went to Field Day in 2012, the first band I watched was Revere. The best way I can describe the performance was the vocals of Ian Curtis or Tom Smith with the music prowess of Arcade Fire.

Arcade Fire - Reflektor Review

Arcade Fire; the holy grail of hipsters, two superb albums, one very good album, in their own words, have never had a hit single, but have enough critical acclaim, cult following and well deserved adulation, that they can pretty much do anything and the world will take notice. After The Suburbs and a three year wait; what did the band have in store for the adoring public?

Reflektor (the title track, not the album) gave a tantalising glimpse of things to come. A seven minute, Nu-Disco infused track with so much happening sonically, that brief moments with David Bowie and even the surreal accompanying music video were completely overshadowed. It was epic, it was strange and it nearly perfect.

Upon the album's release, the last thing on my mind (which normally rears it's ugly head with any double album) is whether the band could maintain interest and deliver an interesting package. Instead, I was still fascinated by the potential huge changes to their sound and atheistic.

Retcon-Nation's Five Biggest Nitpicks, Inconstancies and Problems with Breaking Bad (...that aren't Chemistry related)

Tomorrow (or today for our American/Canadian readers) is judgement day. Years in the making, hyped to Soprano-levels and with plenty of unanswered questions, Breaking Bad reaches it's dramatic conclusion and, much like you, I cannot wait...despite the fact that I'm going to, but I digress.

A Few Words on... The 1975 - The 1975

I'd like to pride myself in not getting swept up in undeserved hype. For a while, this didn't apply to The 1975; a new band which took the unusual step of having four EP's of material before releasing their debut album of sixteen tracks of re-recorded and new material.

A Few Words on... Pixies - EP-1

It's been nine years since the last Pixies release, the forgettable Bam Thwok and the Warren Zevon cover Ain't That Pretty At All and things have changed significantly. Kim Deal has left...again, the band is reaching the age where one wonders if they still have enough fuel in the tank to keep going with the same insanity and energy of years past.

So it's surprising to see the band with not one, but two releases in short succession. Today's subject matter lies with EP-1, featuring four new songs which, despite the inclusion of all the other band members, sounds distinctly non-Pixies.

Arctic Monkeys - AM Review

Two years ago, I hailed Suck It and See as, not only the comeback that Arctic Monkeys needed, but one of the years better albums, brimming with tunes and a return to the fast beats, the riffs and the hard rock edge that was severely lacking in Humbug.

Retcon-Nation's Top Ten Games of E3 2013

Another year, another e3, another recap. An important one too; Nintendo for the first time downsizing their presence with the ongoing failure that is the Wii U. Microsoft did everything humanly possible wrong with the up and coming Xbox One to the point that they had to backtrack on everything (thus making their press conference...wait for it...retconned).

And Sony played it safe and, for a week, looked like the clear winner of the next generation.

But consoles can only go so far, and unlike the big three who keep pushing gimmicks, whether it's touchscreen controllers that no one wants to develop for, a camera that offers an Orwellian nightmare or sharing every useless aspect of your playtime; it's games that gamers want and, as with every year, here is my top ten titles of the year.

Sigur Rós - Kveikur Review

A lot has changed over the year since Sigur Rós' comeback album Valtari and their latest offering Kveikur. You can put it down the band losing keyboardist Kjartan Sviensson, maybe Valtari's mixed to positive reception with main criticisms being the sense of over-familarity or maybe, just maybe, after over fifteen years since Von, it's time for a change.

Change that sees a Iceland's most famous musical export...after Björk, produce it's most radically different, yet traditional album yet.

Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork Review

If you were to tell me at the start of the year that Queens of the Stone Age could potentially craft the album of the year, I'd raise my eyebrow and look for a TARDIS as it'd be quite obvious you'd travelled from 2002 when QotSA had produced one of the albums of that year and the idea of them even getting close to Songs for the Deaf was, well, ludicrous.

Noah and the Whale - Heart of Nowhere Review

Folk pop is either entering another renaissance or entering it's first now that Mumford & Sons are one of the best selling bands of the past five years. Whereas years ago, the idea of making millions with simplistic arrangements, string instruments aplenty and timeless themes were so far removed from the clean-cut, electronic heavy and hyper-sexualised cartoon exploits of early 21st century popstars; Mumford & Sons simplistic take on one of music's older genres was a much needed antithesis.

Unfortunately; Mumford & Sons are one of the most criminally overrated acts of recent memory and like all somewhat undeserving bands; there's always more that should receive the critical and public adulation.

A Few Words on... Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito

Yeah Yeah Yeahs return from a hiatus that saw Karen-O turn into a credible composer and the other two wait for Karen-O to return to the band after becoming a credible composer.

After creating what many called the album of 2009; Yeah Yeah Yeahs follow-up with a return to normality with album number four Mosquito; with one of the most eye-catching yet awful album covers in recent times.

The Strokes - Comedown Machine Review

I knew that if I stuck by long enough; I'd end up doing follow-ups and, whilst Sigur Rós will have to wait until summer; The Strokes return with album five after the dull and uninspiring Angles. They've returned to the routes of recording music and vocals together, it's lead single is eerily similar to their first two albums (the ones everyone seems to like) and the world holds it's breath in anticipation; hoping for a drastic return to form a decade after said two albums.

Well; not so much holding their breath, but more "Can it get worse?"

A Few Words on... Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse

Frightened Rabbit's major label debut isn't a sell-out nor a radical departure of sound that's made them one of the most enduring, underrated and consistent acts out there.

A Few Words on... Atoms for Peace - AMOK

Whilst Radiohead continue to tour with hints of new material arriving sooner rather than later, frontman Thom Yorke has been exceptionally busy elsewhere with newer friends.

David Bowie - The Next Day Review

I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably not the best person to review this. My first experience of Bowie came when my Dad asked me to scour the interwebs in search of the Spiders on Mars' album (the actual band, not Ziggy Stardust...) and my friends raving about Life on Mars (the TV show) and having the song of the same name played repeatedly for driving.

Naturally; I was suckered into the hype of David Bowie's first album in a decade. How years of trawling through his back catalogue showcased some of the best albums I'd ever heard. How the media was left stunned that his comeback wasn't on their radar and how the album would see Bowie reinvent himself again as a veteran rock and roller as opposed to the otherworldly persona's seen from his early days up until...2003?

It's a guaranteed number one and might possibly be the best selling album of the year but, at the end of it all, if you move past the hype, the ongoing adulation from other publications; is The Next Day, not only a good album but the comeback that Bowie needed?

A Few Words on... Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)

With Porcupine Tree on a indefinite hiatus; all eyes are on Steven Wilson's third solo outing and whether it can top the surprisingly great double album Grace for Drowning.

A Few Words on... The Hunger Games

A Few Words on... Foals - Holy Fire

Before listening to it in full; I had Holy Fire as one of the possible Albums of the Year, taking into consideration how much I liked the singles Inhaler and My Number and how much the band progressed from their debut to Total Life Forever.

Biffy Clyro - Opposites Review

There are only a handful of good double albums, afterall, it's a hard art to master. Instead of showing the creative output that simply couldn't be contained on one disc; it can normally go on for too long. Songs that should have been relegated to B-Sides or, not released at all, are suddenly thrown in the spotlight and the record suffers for it.

Christopher Owens - Lysandre Review

One of last year’s biggest musical casualties was the break-up of Girls. No, not the TV show. No, not the gender itself. Rather, the indie-rock darlings that had the lead singer who sounds like Randy Newman and music that takes more than a fair nod from sixties and seventies’ rock and roll.

A Few Words on... Villagers - {Awayland}

After hearing so many good things regarding their live shows and getting Becoming a Jackal in at, a then, cheap deal, Villagers have never really done it for me. Sure, Connor O'Brien's lyrics have a darkness that doesn't sound cliché and tiresome, but the Becoming a Jackal had the unfortunate circumstance of arriving a bit too late, a few tracks unmemorable and ultimately, the record had been done better years before, but soon after with adulation with Bon Iver's second album (which is surprising, since I found both For Emma, Forever and Bon Iver far, far worse).

Green Day - ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! & ¡Tré! Review

One of the least surprising and least interesting stories of last year was Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong doing a very typical rock and roll thing. After channelling faux rage for being cutshort on a televised show, his publicist’s blamed numerous niggling issues and off to rehab he went. 

Unsurprisingly; this all took place during the release of Green Day’s album trilogy and perhaps most unsurprising of all; no one mentioned that the events which manifested into said breakdown; might explain just why mind-bogglingly average the three records are. 

Originally; I was going to review each album but this proved to be problematic for the simple reason of…I only listened to ¡Uno! just days before ¡Dos! was due for release and it became apparent that all three records could be covered in one review. 

That and I’m lazy, but anyway.