20 Albums of 2013
01. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – INFORM. EDUCATE. ENTERTAIN
“I think you might have a point if we’d called ourselves something a bit narrower like Public Information Films, or something similar, but the definition of Public Service Broadcasting is so broad and so debatable that really we could take it anywhere. In theory just performing interesting music of any sort is a kind of public service, if you will – providing you take Lord Reith’s mantra to heart and seek to inform, educate and entertain.” – J. Willgoose
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – INFORM. EDUCATE. ENTERTAIN
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – INFORM. EDUCATE. ENTERTAIN
02. MARC RIBOT’S CERAMIC DOG – YOUR TURN
“The record, as a whole, is kind of a protest record. It’s a political, social, and biological protest record. So that song was a protest against my body. I’m still waiting to hear back from it to see if the protest was successful. The idea came from a line in a W.H. Auden poem: The error bred into the bone but not to be loved but loved alone. That’s really what inspired that.” – Marc Ribot
03. ALICE IN CHAINS – THE DEVIL PUT DINOSAURS HERE
“As a band, whether you’re writing internally or whatever, you’re not only reflecting on what’s going on with you but also what’s going on around you. And I think that lyric element has always been there with us, if you’re listening for it. I would say “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” is right in line with the spirit of Alice as far as the subject matter is concerned. You can go back to our first hit, “Man in the Box,” and there are elements of that same way of thinking. It’s always been kind of unbelievable and funny to us that a lot of stupid and hateful beliefs get perpetuated. And I remember with “Man in the Box,” we had a couple picketers here and there. But it’s like that old joke: What are the two things you don’t want to get in an argument with anyone about? Religion and politics. It’s a hot-button topic that ignites conversation and strong opinions.” – Jerry Cantrell
04. DRENGE – DRENGE
“I think we just wanted to make some really basic, guitar rock music – that was the inspiration! That was it! There was no concept or anything. We didn’t sit down in a studio and write the whole thing. The first recordings took place in August 2011, and the final four songs in February of this year, with some other recordings in between. So, it’s not a perfect piece of work. But it is a really good first album of garage-rock music that we are really proud of.” – Eoin Loveless
05. SECRET CHIEFS 3 – BOOK OF SOULS FOLIO A
“There’s a thing with being ‘prog’ or ‘progressive’ that tends to come out of rock, like ‘prog rock’. We’re not from that background, at least I’m not, at all! I never listened to Zappa, I never listened to Yes, I don’t get involved in arguments whether Yes is better than Genesis! It’s just not the background, you know? But, it’s cool, because there’s often prog rock people that will show up at our shows and introduce themselves, and it’s interesting to see how that works because we’re outside of their frame of reference, but they’re open minded enough to take it in… Some of the people in prog rock are open minded… ” – Trey Spruance
06. TOMAHAWK – ODDFELLOWS
“It’s a good record. It’s maybe a little bit more melodic than other ones we’ve done. In some ways more intricate and in some ways, way more straightforward. Definitely compared to our last record it’s a more linear song-based record – these are songs and it’s a rock record. Personally speaking I’m singing a lot more, there is a lot less electronic and lot more harmony.” – Mike Patton
Tomahawk – OddfellowsTom
ahawk – Oddfellows
07. SAVAGES – SILENCE YOURSELF
“’Silence Yourself’ means quite a lot of things when you stop and look at it. There are too many noises in the world, and sometimes it is to important to step back and formulate your own views and your own ideas about something, rather than just going with these crazy voices that are pulling you each way.” – Ayse Hassan
7. Savages – Silence Yourself
08. PUSCIFER – DONKEY PUNCH THE NIGHT
“The title is nothing sexual.” – Maynard James Keenan
8. Puscifer – Donkey Punch the Night
8. Puscifer – Donkey Punch the Night
8. Puscifer – Donkey Punch the Night
09. MARK LANEGAN & DUKE GARWOOD – BLACK PUDDING
“Every collaborative thing you do is unique, and even though I couldn’t tell you exactly, I know that I’ve learnt something from it. There will be something I can carry with me and use in the next thing I do. I guess the main thing though, was I got to hang out with a good friend of mine. He’s an excellent, excellent guy with a particularly good vibe, for want of a better word. We had some laughs, which was the best part of it.” – Mark Lanegan
MARK LANEGAN & DUKE GARWOOD – BLACK PUDDING
MARK LANEGAN & DUKE GARWOOD – BLACK PUDDING
10. BERNAYS PROPAGANDA – ZABRANETA PLANETA
“We find inspiration in everything that surrounds us – our city and our country. We are not satisfied that we are turning into a capitalist country.” – Bernays Propaganda
10. Bernays Propaganda – Zabraneta Planeta
BERNAYS PROPAGANDA – ZABRANETA PLANETA
BERNAYS PROPAGANDA – ZABRANETA PLANETA
11. MARK LANEGAN – IMITATIONS
“When I was a kid, my parents would play cards with their friends, and they were always playing Andy Williams and Perry Como and Frank Sinatra records – which I wasn’t really into as a six-year-old. I wanted to listen to The Jungle Book! But as I got older, those songs stuck with me. I grew to appreciate Andy Williams, for instance, as one of the greatest singers of all time. He was a one-of-a-kind talent. For a long time I wanted to make a record that had the same feel as those records, which also included some country music that my folks also listened to at the time. So I used some of the songs that I heard as a kid, and some that were a little bit newer.’ – Mark Lanegan
12. NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – PUSH THE SKY AWAY
“The idea that the songs refer to one another, that they’re a community of songs, that it aids in the process of understanding the record to listen to all of the songs – these ideas are very important in the making of this record. Even though we’re fully aware of these ideas being basically redundant these days, or people claiming that they’re redundant, I personally feel that there are people out there craving this kind of thing, being able to engage with music in a deeper way.” – Nick Cave
13. THE MELVINS – EVERYBODY LOVES SAUSAGES
“We didn’t want to cheapen it and make it a heavy metal song. The better thing to do is a straight version of that song – good luck, right? – and we put the keyboards on to make it sound like Mario Brothers – even wimpier! People were like, “I didn’t like it”, or “It was totally not what I was expecting.” Have you guys listened to our band? Are you aware about what we do? You think that we’re predictable? Well, OK.” – Buzz Osborne
THE MELVINS – EVERYBODY LOVES SAUSAGES
THE MELVINS – EVERYBODY LOVES SAUSAGES
14. MONSTER MAGNET – LAST PATROL
“It was not my intention to recapture what we’ve done before, but rather try to up the game with this work. This album is more song-oriented while the earlier work is more of a soundscape. This album is more personal. It’s creepier.” – Dave Wyndorf
14. Monster Magnet – Last Patrol
MONSTER MAGNET – LAST PATROL
MONSTER MAGNET – LAST PATROL
15. PHIL ANSELMO – WALK THROUGH EXITS ONLY
“Any band can be insanely technical just because they have great players. I’m a big believer in hooks, man. I’ve digested and regurgitated this record so many times. It’s tough for me to see it from an outside level. It feels militaristic as far as the approach goes. I like that part of it. I guess I’m ready to advance on the initial image. That will come in time too. “ – Phil Anselmo
Phil Anselmo
Phil Anselmo
16. THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN – ONE OF US IS THE KILLER
“They’re still so new to me. I was actually thinking about this yesterday after we played. When we play “Prancer” and “When I Lost My Bet,” I still feel exactly what I felt when I recorded them. It’s a lot fresher to me. I understand the energy of the songs. Every now and then, a lyric will come out that gives me emotional déjà vu. I’ll remember what it was about at the time. For the most part, the old songs don’t carry the same immediacy as they did when I wrote them, but these are still very fresh. I feel really close to the source of inspiration when I’m singing, which is a good thing. I’m in touch with them.” – Greg Puciato
17. ROB ZOMBIE – VENOMOUS RAT REGENERATION VENDOR
“The titles come to me over a period of time. Sometimes I’ll just be writing the lyrics for the song. The music always comes first. I can immediately start hearing the words formulating to the melody of the music. Something like “Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor,” which is the title of the record, maybe that could’ve been a song title too. I love the imagery of that.” – Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
18. MELT BANANA – FETCH
“Actually I think that recording with real drummers is easier than using computer! Programming takes a lot of time. The one good thing is that we don’t have to worry about how to get the exact drums sounds we want…or the drummer’s health!” – Agata Ichirou
18. Melt Banana – Fetch
19. THE VEILS – TIME STAYS, WE GO
“I would hope it’s the most focused. I think I’ve always tried to do the same thing which is just to articulate exactly what I’d like to say at the time in the best way I possibly can: I’ve always tried to do that for better or worse effect. This time I gave it as much time as I could give it to do that again and I suppose the way it turned out is just an organic reflection of that: there were no decisions made beyond that.” – Finn Andrews
Finn Andrews
Finn Andrews
20. UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS – MIND CONTROL
“It’s about a man who thinks he is God, starting a death cult out in the desert. He manipulates his followers and feeds them with drugs and hate before sending them off to kill. A lot of it is to do with, obviously mind control, but also the idea of Abraxas; light and darkness or good and evil in the same act.” – K.R Starrs
K.R Starrs
K.R Starrs
K.R Starrs
