The Future of Music Online 2013

 

My Top 10 Albums of 2012

1. Visions - Grimes
2. Born to Die (Paradise Edition) - Lana Del Rey
3. Kin - Iamamiwhoami
4. Ice Level - Ava Luna
5. Good kid, m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar
6. III - Crystal Castles
7. Shrines - Purity Ring
8. Instinct - Niki & The Dove
9. Master of My Make-Believe - Santigold
10. Give You The Ghost - Poliça

 

 

 

10 Musical Trends for 2013

 

• MySpace will try to re-assert itself versus Spotify and iTunes - some nice features in the recent update, but not sure if it’s enough to take on Spotify and become the defacto music discovery site - vs current front-runner YouTube
• YouTube is still most likely to remain the dominant Musical discovery / promotion vehicle for most pop artists throughout 2013
• iTunes and Spotify will hopefully bring out browser versions of their interfaces in 2013 - meaning we don’t need to continue using clunky desktop applications
• We will see more mixing apps and utilities in 2013 - allowing you to create seamless fx-laden DJ mixes and compilations from your own digital collections, YouTube, Spotify and iTunes, something along similar lines to Turntable.fm - but simpler and more stand-alone
• We are still waiting for genuine competitors to Spotify; - iTunes was feted to launch a streaming service in 2012 but nothing materialised - perhaps we will see something more promising this year - perhaps MySpace can have a real impact
• Expect to see further advancements and refinements in musical services SoundCloud and MixCloud - both could do with better music discovery facilities
• In 2012 almost all my Music Album consumption was digital - I only bought a handful of CDs for albums which I was unable to acquire digitally - still suprising to see that not everything is yet available universally in commercial digital formats
• Amazon is set to become sole purveyor of mass-market solid format music (CDs really) with the demise of Play.com’s own products retail and HMV in dire trouble, digital music really is king (For me that means iTunes, Amazon, Beatport, Juno and even Spotify downloads on occasion)
• Lady Gaga has announced a multi-media / apps extravaganza for her new album - along similar lines to Björk’s Biophilia, kind of surprised more artist have not followed suit already
• What with cinemas now showing Live Theatre, Opera, Concerts and Sporting Events, I’m expecting a Live Nation Online Concert Viewing App any day now ...

 

 

20 Music Discovery Resources I regularly use (alphabetical)

• Allmusic.com - Musical equivalent of IMDB
• Amazon.com / co.uk - Amazon has great music discovery features such as Listmania, personalised mailings and musical features like ’New for 2013’
• Boomkat.com - Great independent electronic music retailer with superb charts and amazing 14tracks.com music discovery selections
• Beatport.com - DJ’s favourite downloads portal
• Digitalspy.co.uk/music - ’The Sound’ Playlist is particularly good for new music
• Digster.co.uk - New music discovery site and Spotify app
• Discogs.com - Reference discography site - great artist / label / music search - with brilliant music markeplace
• Discovr.info - IOS - Similar Artists app
• Drownedinsound.com - Recommended Records + Mailing List
• Factmag.com - New Music + Mailing List
• GogoYoko.com - The Icelandic Spotify with more proportionate payments to artists - great lists and mailings
• Juno.co.uk - Best online Dance Music Store + mailing lists
• Last.fm - Great Music Discovery Resource
• Metacritic.com/music - Great reviews site with new releases and coming soon listings
• Music-map.com - Similar Artists mapping site for discovering like artists
• Phonica - Best record store in London + mailing list
• Pitchfork.com - Best New Music + Features
• Tomahawk-player.org - Desktop multiple-source music playback - good for music discovery
• Tonlist.is / IcelandicMusic.com - Leading Icelandic online music retailer - with lists and charts
• YouTube.com - Music / Artist Search

(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

• Girl Groups - Following the excellent Girls Aloud revival last year, Destiny’s Child and the original Sugababes are back in 2013, The Saturdays and Little Mix are looking to break America, and new Girl Groups like M.O. are showing genuine promise. 2012 was peppered with Boy Bands, 2013 will be the girls turn
• Dancehall - I’m tipping Elliphant for great things in 2013 and what with new albums from Major Lazer and Diplo, there is likely to be a significant Dancehall flava to 2013
• Italo Disco - Sally Shapiro is back with a new album in 2013, and ItaLove are already responsible for some great singles in the last 9 months, I expect more Italo Disco sounds to hit the charts this year
• 80’s Inspired R&B - With Prince and Cameo inspiring contemporary acts like Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, Inc. and Daley - I expect to see a lot more of an 80’s R&B inspired influence in 2013
• 70’s West-Coast Inspired Pop/Rock - Haim have often been compared to the 70’s sound of Fleetwood Mac, I expect to hear more Fleetwood / Eagles inspired tones throughout this year

 

 

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