Sara Bareilles – The Blessed Unrest Producer – John O’Mahony, Sara Bareilles, Mark Endert, Kurt Uenala The Grammys got one thing right this year and that’s nominating this record for album of the year. Sara will finally get the credit she deserves as the most versatile and talented female pop artist currently making records. Everything Katy…
Category: 2013
#2 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 2 Producer – Dr. Dre (exec.), Rick Rubin (exec.), Eminem, Aalias, Alex da Kid, Cardiak, DJ Khalil, DVLP, Emile, Filthy, Frank Dukes, Frequency, Jeff Bhasker, Luis Resto, M-Phazes, S1, Sid Roams, StreetRunner The one thing that makes me love Eminem, and this album, so much is that his songs are…
#3 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
HAIM – Days Are Gone Producer – James Ford, Ludwig Göransson, Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim, Ariel Rechtshaid The debut album from the sister trio of Alana, Danielle and Este Haim is a masterful work of retro pop/rock art. Their sometime Wilson Phillips style pop songs are incredibly catchy and their alt rock tracks show their talent is…
#4 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Queens Of The Stone Age – …Like Clockwork Producer – Josh Homme, Queens Of The Stone Age, James Lavelle Josh Homme does not get enough credit for how much of a musical genius he actually is. …Like Clockwork is easily his best work yet. Haunting themes and catchy melodies absorbed into masterfully crafted musicianship creates an instant classic of an album. It…
#5 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt Producer – Brendan O’Brien It’s Pearl Jam at their best – Being the greatest grunge rock band out there. Everybody talks about Nirvana and how they changed music forever in the 90’s, but it was Pearl Jam that solidified that change back then and still continue to this day. After all…
#6 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Arcade Fire – Reflektor Producer – James Murphy, Markus Dravs, Arcade Fire Arcade Fire are on what has to be a record setting streak of continuously making extremely adept albums. They have yet to release a bad album and have yet to not make my top 20 list. Reflektor, their fourth album, is a two disc…
#7 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Avenged Sevenfold – Hail To The King Producer – Mike Elizindo Hail to the King will be remembered as one of those all time great classic mainstream metal albums on par with greats like Metallica’s black album, Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction and Anthrax’s The Sound of White Noise. Blistering riffs and thunderous rhythms meld…
#8 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Paramore – Paramore Producer – Justin Meldal Johnsen, Taylor York Paramore somehow lost two of their primary songwriters to a bitter feud yet managed to write their best album yet. The sound of the band has gone in a slightly different direction while still maintaining their roots as a female fronted pop punk band….
#9 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Crash Kings – Dark Of The Daylight Producer – Nick Launay No that is not an electric guitar, it’s a clavinet outfitted with a whammy bar and played through a distortion pedal. If that isn’t reason enough to listen to this band then I don’t know what is. Blistering riffs and Coverdalesque vocals drive the…
#10 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Bastille – Bad Blood Producer – Mark Crew, Dan Smith To call Bastille a copycat of Coldplay would be a fair comparison. Just don’t let that discount their creativity and originality. Once you get past that both bands are Verse-Chorus-Verse songwriters with piano based songs and similar vocal styles they still remain worlds apart….
#11 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
John Mayer – Paradise Valley Producer – John Mayer, Don Was John Mayer has yet to disappoint me with one of his records. Paradise Valley, his sixth full length record, has to be his greatest accomplishment. Mayer has somehow managed to release two albums in two years while also undergoing two surgeries on his vocal chords….
#12 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Heaven & Earth – Dig Producer – Dave Jenkins Like the album cover suggests Heaven & Earth have excavated the lost art of making a great straight forward Hard Rock album. Bands like Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Led Zepplin don’t simply influence this band, they impact the development to their entire sound yet keep it…
#13 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
The Band Of Heathens – Sunday Morning Record Producer – Steven Christensen, George Rieff One of the last albums to make my list given it was released just last month. Call it Americana or Southern Rock or Alt-County it doesn’t really need a genre due to the fact its a record for everyone. It’s just…
#14 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Black Star Riders – All Hell Breaks Loose Producer – Kevin “Caveman” Shirley For those who don’t know Black Star Riders = Thin Lizzy. Yes, the band with 70’s rock hits like “The Boys are Back In Town” and “Jailbreak” have recorded a album of new material. Why, you may ask, did they…
#15 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
The Gallery – Restless Producer – Warren Huart When I first listened to this album it made me think of The Wallflowers, Counting Crows and Tom Petty. Restless is an incredible rock record that is filled with radio friendly hits and huge anthemic rock. This album would have been a huge success in the…
#16 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
PHONOFLaKES – 7.30 and Edinburgh Producer – Matthias Hillebrand Gonzalez Swiss indie rock outfit Phonoflakes are one of those bands that nobody has heard of and it’s a shame. I can’t even remember how a stumbled upon this album but I can tell you I was hooked within the first couple of tracks. You really can’t…
#17 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
The Winery Dogs – The Winery Dogs Producer – The Winery Dogs I love when supergroups form into serious acts not just one off side projects. This year brought us The Winery Dogs, a supergroup consisting of drummer Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), bassist Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big) and guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen (Poison, Mr. Big)….
#18 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Travis – Where You Stand Producer – Michael Ilbert There is nothing complex to the Travis sound. They just simply write good, catchy songs with infectious hooks. Their first new album in four years is easily one of their best. One listen and you will understand why they are considered the inspiration to bands like…
#19 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience Producers – Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon, Rob Knox, The Tennessee Kids, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience was one of 2013’s most anticipated pop albums that turned out not to be a pop album. Gone from the album are the shortened striped down radio edits. 10 songs clocking in at 70…
#20 – My Favorite Albums Of 2013
Queensrÿche – Queensrÿche Producer – James “Jimbo” Barton 2013 brought us the ultimate battle of the bands. Two new inceptions of the classic progressive metal giants of the 80’s and 90’s. For those who don’t know the story of how this came to be here it is in a nutshell. Original lead singer Geoff Tate parted…
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