It’s day two of our best of 2013 coverage and we’re jumping right back into our favourite albums of 2013. Yesterday we delivered 40 to 31 and so today let’s hit into the top 30, kicking off with one of our favourite up-and-coming Australian groups, The Trouble with Templeton.
Mairead Bilton-Gough: Another amazing breakthrough album, from a young Australian band. Thomas Calder’s vocals are mesmerising.
What We Said: Cloud Control make Dream Cave sound completely effortless… the experimentation and “boundary pushing” makes for a largely successful follow-up album and one that surely won’t disappoint fans of the band. – Clare Armstrong (Original Review Score: 8.3 out of 10)
Simon Clark: An utterly (and brutally) honest and remarkable album. Full of witty and biting lyrics nestled amongst a mixture of lush ballads and stark sparse electro.
Meredith McLean: Reviews and leaks all agree, this topically titled album only reassures us of Donald Glover’s creative skills.
Matilda Mornane: Donald Glover is an amazing musician and rapper, and I love what he does with his songs. It’s a rough album at some points, but still awesome.
Shasha Gong: He’s really thought through this album. The songs have a lot more complexity yet the music remain uniquely his style. Love the headspace I’m in when I listen to this album.
Sabina Rysnik: Callinan’s willingness to experiment and push the boundaries has resulted in a striking album. It’s abrasive and unapologetic in parts and tranquil, almost eerie in others. It’s all just really good.
Stuart Sevastos: For album No 3, Karnivool have delivered arguably their best effort to date. They aren’t afraid to expand their boundaries and push their sound. It’s an album that grows and each time you listen to it… it just gets better and better.
Dave Roberts: At first i wasn’t super keen – it didn’t grab me immediately like Sound Awake did. Now, it’s on my daily listening list.
What We Said: Since his 2008 debut Constant Hitmaker, Kurt Vile has been making the type of music that many other musicians would trade their biggest hit for. Take a quick look at the running times of the songs on the album and you’ll notice the extended jams on ‘Too Hard’ (8:04), ‘Air Bud’ (6:30), and closer ‘Goldtone’ (10:26) make this Vile’s longest album to date, and also one of his best. – Paul McBride (Original Review Score: 9.0 out of 10)
Nicholas Langley: While supposedly a more collaborative effort, the second Thom Yorke solo album may as well have been named as such, given the undeniably Yorke sound throughout. Nonetheless, the songs are energetic, melodically inventive, and irrepressibly catchy.
Andrew McDonald: Neat and to-the-point post-punk done with the anger of youth and wisdom of age. There isn’t a wasted second on the album, which moves from scorn to mourning without ever becoming oppressively depressing. The whole album is so brilliant cohesive and conceptually sound it’s absurd it’s the first full length from a band with a bright, if dark, future.
Pete Dovgan: Silence Yourself is classic Post-Punk angst, channelling Siouxsie Sioux & Ian Curtis. Powerfully intense songs combined with excellent musicianship. Cant wait to catch Savages at Laneway Festival 2014!
Keep checking back for our top twenty albums of 2013! Or click HERE to read through our picks 40 to 31! Part THREE is also now live HERE.
