My Top 10 Albums of 2012
10 Musical Trends for 2013
20 Music Discovery Resources I regularly use (alphabetical)
(Note - these are just some of the circa 100 resources I use - other notables include BBC, Guardian, NME, Perez Hilton and Popjustice!)
10 New Artists for 2013 (alphabetical)
AlunaGeorge - My favourites from BBC’s Sound of 2013 - cool modern R&B sound with a stack of excellent singles out already
Chvrches - My second favourites from BBC Sound of 2013 - cool EDM on a Depeche Mode vibe - not all singles are equally great, but ’Lies’ and ’We Sink’ are fabulous
Daley - A kind of one man Chromeo - offering an updated template of 80’s R&B / Funk - has at least a couple of great tracks to his name already
Elliphant - Swedish Ellinor Olovsdotter delivers a kind of M.I.A. / Rihanna twist to Scandotronica - a kind of dancehall swagger which works particularly well on latest single ’Down on Life’
Foxes - Not a million miles from Niki & The Dove - Foxes / aka Louisa Rose Allen already has number of great singles in the bag
Haim - The Californian Haim sisters are most commonly compared to early Fleetwood Mac, there’s no doubting their talent though - a good bet if you’re into easy breezy west-coast guitar-led pop with a slight hint of the 70’s and 80’s
Inc. - My most recent find has a foot in the 80’s with a kind of modern R&B sound with obvious 80’s inspirations - sits somewhere between Frank Ocean and the Weeknd - with an even more chilled out vibe
Kate Boy - Swedish / Australian quartet with hints of The Knife and Niki & The Dove
K Koke - Britain’s latest B-Boy MC is one of the most promising I’ve heard to date - authentic urban flows with no hint of whack, whilst Tinie Tempah and Dizzy Rascal are now more pop, K Koke still shows his urban roots - now on Jay-Z’s label
M.O. - Urban girl group with only one great single to their name so far ’Wait Your Turn’ but show a lot of promise
See Sound of 2013 blog post for larger selection
5 Key Sounds / Themes for 2013
2013 Essential Albums Release Schedule (Personal likes only)
® = Review | #★ = Number of stars - out of 5
January
C2C - Tetra 5★ ®
Delphic - Collections 3★
Ian Pooley - What I Do 4★
Late Night Alumni - The Beat Becomes a Sound 5★ ®
L.Pierre - The Island Come True 4★
New Order - Lost Sirens 3★
Ulrich Schnauss - A Long Way to Fall 5★ ®
February
Destiny’s Child - Love Songs 3★
Foals - Holy Fire 4★
Inc. - No World 4★
Kavinsky - Outrun 5★ ®
Matmos - Marriage of True Minds 4★
My Bloody Valentine - MBV 4★
Sally Shapiro - Somewhere Else 5★ ®
Tosca - Odeon 4★ ®
Young Thug - 1017 Thug 4★
March
Bastille - Bad Blood 3★
Bloodgroup - Tracing Echoes 5★ ®
Brandt Brauer Frick - Miami 4★
Daughter - If You Leave 5★
David Bowie - The Next Day 4★
Depeche Mode - Delta Machine 4★
Dido - The Girl Who Got Away 3★
Dirty South - Speed of Life 4★
D.P. Kaufman - Lullabies for the Apocalypse 5★
Hadouken! - Every Weekend 4★
Hurts - Exile 3★
Imagine Dragons - Night Visions 5★
Inna - Party Never Ends 5★
Justin Timberlake - 20 / 20 Experience 4★
Ólafur Arnalds - For Now I Am Winter 5★ ®
Rhye - Woman 5★ ®
April
Bajofondo - Presente 3★
Charli XCX - True Romance 5★
Chk! Chk! Chk! - Thr!!!er 4★
James Blake - Overgrown 5★
The Knife - Shaking The Habitual 4★
Madeleine Peyroux - Blue Room 3★
Marsheaux - Inhale 5★
M83 - Oblivion OST 4★
OMD - English Electric 4★
Rudimental - Rudimental 5★
Sarah Brightman - Dreamchaser 4★
Tomorrow’s World - Tomorrow’s World 5★
The Upbeats - Primitive Technique 5★
Will.i.am - Willpower 3★
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito 4★
May
Caro Emerald - The Shocking Miss Emerald 4★
Crystal Fighters - Cave Rave 4★
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories 5★
Darren Tate - Horizons 03 4★
Gabrielle Aplin - English Rain 3★
Italians Do It Better - After Dark 2 Compilation 5★
Little Boots - Nocturnes 4★
Ms Mr - Second Hand Rapture 4★
The National - Trouble Will Find Me 4★
Natalia Clavier - Lumen 5★
Savages - Silence Yourself 4★
S-Tone Inc. - Lost & Found 4★
Tricky - False Idols 4★
June
Austra - Olympia 4★
Bent - From the Vaults: 1998-2006 4★
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow’s Harvest 4★
Disclosure - Settle 4★
Ed Banger Records - Ed Rec X 4★
Emika - DVA 5★
Empire of the Sun - Ice on the Dune 5★
Husky Rescue - The Long Lost Friend 4★
Iamamiwhoami - Bounty 4★
Kanye West - Yeezus 5★
Marnie - Crystal World 4★
Maya Jane Coles - Comfort 4★
Nitin Sawhney - One Zero 4★
Sigur Rós - Kveikur 4★
Thundercat - Apocalypse 4★
Zomby - With Love 4★
July
AlunaGeorge - Body Music 5★
Editors - The Weight of Your Love 3★
Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus 4★
Ikonika - Aerotropolis 4★
Laki Mera - Turn All Memory to White Noise 4★
Pet Shop Boys - Electric 4★
Samaris - Samaris 4★
August
Colette - When The Music’s Loud 4★
Ellie Goulding - Halcyon Days 4★
Greco-Roman - We Make Colourful Music Because We Dance in the Dark 4★
Moderat - II 4★
Napoleon - Magpies 4★
Rüfüs - Atlas 4★
September
Arctic Monkeys - AM 4★
Blouse - Imperium 3★
Camo & Krooked - Zeitgeist 5★
Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe 5★
Datsik - Let It Burn 4★
Emiliana Torrini - Tookah 4★
Eskimo Recordings - The Pink Collection 4★
Goldfrapp - Tale of Us 4★
Haim - Days Are Gone 4★
Jackson and his Computer Band - Glow 3★
Janelle Monáe - Electric Lady 4★
Jessy Lanza - Pull My Hair Back 5★
Kaskade - Atmosphere 4★
London Grammar - If You Wait 4★
MGMT - MGMT 3★
Moby - Innocents 4★
Natalia Kills - Trouble 5★
Oh Land - Wishbone 4★
Opdot - Opus One 4★
Prefab Sprout - Crimson / Red 4★
Ralph Myerz - Supersonic Pulse 4★
Stacey Kent - The Changing Lights 4★
Sub Focus - Torus 5★
V.V. Brown - Samson & Delilah 4★
The Weeknd - Kiss Land 4★
October
Arcade Fire - Reflektor 5★
Danny Brown - Old 5★
Feed Me - Calamari Tuesday 4★
Kelela - Cut 4 Me 5★
Kraak & Smaak - Chrome Waves 4★
Lorde - Pure Heroine 5★
Midnight Magic - Midnight Creepers 4★
Paul McCartney - New 4★
Poliça - Shulamith 5★
Pusha T - My Name Is My Name 4★
Sin Cos Tan - Afterlife 5★
Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time 4★
Tilbury - Northern Comfort 4★
November
Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe 4★
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP2 4★
Hunger Games - Catching Fire Soundtrack 5★
Lady Gaga - Artpop 4★
M.I.A. - Matangi 5★
Tinashe - Black Water 5★
Tinie Tempah - Demonstration 3★
TBC
Amelia Lily - Be a Fighter (cancelled?)
Angel Haze - TBA
Annie - TBA
AraabMuzik - Electronic Reality
The Avalanches - TBA
Azealia Banks - Broke with Expensive Taste
Basement Jaxx - Music
Bullion - TBA
Burial - TBA
Clean Bandit - TBA
Culture Club - TBA
Daley - TBA
Daroc - TBA
Desire - TBA
Elliphant - TBA
Foxes - TBA
Glass Candy - Body Work
Iggy Azalea - The New Classic
Jamie Woon - TBA
Jay Electronica - Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn)
Kat Graham - TBA
Katy B - TBA
Kraftwerk - TBA
Madeon - TBA
MC Xander - TBA
Mylo - TBA
Nicolas Jaar - TBA
Portishead - TBA
Roisin Murphy - TBA
U2 - Songs of Ascent
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