The Best Of 2013: Local Albums

Over at Reviler Labs we’re always working on the next cutting edge development in music blogging.  This year, after hour upon hour of tireless scientific experimentation we’re pleased to unveil the newest feature that we’re pretty sure is going to take the world by storm. It’s called the end-of-year list, and it’s brought to you for the very first time by reviler.org. How it works is that we pick our favorite songs, albums, shows, etc from the previous year and present them to you in the form of a list. Pretty neat, eh? So without further ado, we’d like to present the Best of 2013.  Just remember, when all of the other blogs go copying this in 2014, you heard it first from reviler.org.

Ali (Background Noise Crew, Egypto Knuckles)

1. Lizzo “Lizzobangers”
2. Caroline Smith “Half About Being A Woman”
3. Rapper Hooks “All Black Jesus”
4. Poliça “Shulamith”
5. Greg Grease “Black King Cole”
6. IBE & Benzilla “This, That & The Third”
7. Haphduzn & Dimitry Killstorm “Whittier Alliance”
8. Big Wiz & Mike The Martyr “Vintage Cloth”
9. Ecid “Post Euphoria, Vols. 1 & 2”
10. Metasota “#BlackFriday”

Bonus top 10 local songs

1.  Lizzo “Batches & Cookies (feat. Sophia Eris)”
2.  Rapper Hooks “88 & Beyond”
3.  Greg Grease “Continuum”
4.  Haphduzn & Dimitry Killstorm “No Big”
5.  Mixed Blood Majority “Product of My Company”
6.  Caroline Smith “Magazine”
7.  Ecid “Akmude Sallam, Pts. 1 & 2”
8.  Poliça “Chain My Name”
9.  Metasota ” Wu Forever”
10.  IBE & Benzilla “Bottomless Bottom”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Kraus, Vernon Wayne

1)     Nerves – S/T

As an early 2013 release (January 25, 2013), this would be an easy one to overlook.  This far exceeds that chartered goal to combine the wicked viscera of post-hardcore with the courageous aspirations of progressive music.  Their relative lack of belt-notches speaks nothing to their artistic bravery, and this album reeks of the kind of unbound potential that makes this jaded heart beat with fresh hope. This was an easy choice for best album of 2013.

Standout track: [Track 2:] Appears Shrouded, Through Mire-Dim Light

2)     Mrs. – Cave

A nice bookend for the number one slot, this release eeked in under the wire on December 12, 2013.  This concept album bears the unmistakable mark of veteran expertise.  This is a rock record that has its hooks rooted deep in the days when well-crafted rock records had their teeth sunk deep into the pop universe. It smacks of singularity of vision, executed without the grandiosity that sometimes over-saturates the concept album.

Standout track: [Track 4:] Supple

3)     Aby Wolf – Wolf Lords

As a bit of a departure for both halves of this duo, the fruits of true collaborative experimentation unfold before your ears on this release. Aby soars with soulful swells that are humid with sultriness and Grant punctuates with butter-smooth rhythmic, electronic musical gesture drawings. Hopefully this release is indicative of a provocative new direction for both artists, instead of a one-off partnership.

Standout track: [Track 8:] Brave Boy

4)     Kitten Forever – Pressure

Local purveyors of indignations and economy of instrumentation, Kitten Forever offered us this solid release, packed with short anecdotes (many of them clocking in at less than 2:00).  Don’t sell them short and call them a girl-band, but if that is what gets you in the door, then come on in.

Standout track: [Track 3:] Little Beasts

 5)     The Great Went – S/T

The Great Went are part of a distinguished collection of musicians in town (another notable inclusion being Nomia) that can making something like doing the dishes seem epic beyond imagination (seriously give it a try). This release really gives their sound justice and goes toe to toe with any release of genre. 

Standout track: [Track 2:] Toynbee Tiles & Pigeons

 6)     Morality Crisis – Boats

Morality Crisis takes us slow’n’low with this release, taking breaths from their typical frenzy. This manifests itself with more downtempo numbers than usual, without sparing us the blistery, blast-beat punctuated heights that they have fostered an expectation for.

Standout track: [Track 5:] Touched by an Adult

7)     Maeth – Oceans into Ashes

As has become the calling-card of Maeth, this release aspires to take us on a journey through space and time with stops along the way to rubberneck at gawk-worthy scenery. The crunchy skeleton of prolific riffs is blanketed with a velvety-smooth topsoil of cream. Needing not the dulcet timbre of the flute to round out the landscapes, the band throws it in there anyways.  Think of it like sprinkles in the frosting.

Standout track: [Track 6:] Burning Turquoise

8)     With a Gun for a Face – Autocrat

With a Gun For a Face deploy a shrieks of the voice and strings to fuse together a big feedback and distortion soup into something that falls somewhere between 90’s alternative rock and modern punk.  Aggressive but not without delicate charm, this short release packs a lot into its short length.

Standout track: [Track 2:] Millennia

9)     Sleeping in Gethsemene – When the Landscape is Quiet Again

Like the swan song of a great beast (the last song is even appropriately titled the same), this recording echoes through the hills of Minnesota with a thunderous reverberation. In fact, this is a even a stretch to call “local” since these boys hail from North Dakota. They made their mark on many Minneapolis natives and will leave an imprint on the collective cultural memory with this record.

Standout track: [Track 2:] Earth is for the Living

 10)  Ex Nuns – Dead of Zero b/w Crash Meditation 7″

Much like Nerves, Ex Nuns made a big splash in 2013 by emerging seemingly out of no-where with a foaming momentum and unbridled vigor at their performances. This 7” is but a small indication of their malicious din, but lasts as a noise punk footprint nonetheless.

Standout track: [Track 1:] Dead of Zero

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Mielech, Modern Radio

STNNNG – Empire Inward

Hollow Boys – It’s True

The Blind Shake – Key To A False Door

The Cloak Ox – Shoot The Dog

The Chambermaids – Whatever Happened Tomorrow

Crimes – Thin Sunlight

Low – Invisible Way

Oaks – Field Beat

Kitten Forever – Pressure

Gospel Gossip – s/t

Kyle (@solace)

1. Actual Wolf – Actual Wolf

2. The Cloak Ox – Shoot The Dog

3. Taj Raj – Fine Hearts Alive

4. Frankie Lee – Middle West EP

5. Caroline Smith – Half About Being a Woman

6. The Ashtray Hearts – The Strangest Light

7. Van Stee – We Are

8. The Farewell Circuit – We Were Wolves EP

9. No Bird Sing – Definition Sickness

10. The Chambermaids – Whatever Happened Tomorrow

Jon, Reviler

1.      Tickle Torture – Spiritual Machete EP

2.      Some Pulp – Some Pulp

3.      Anonymous Choir – Anonymous Choir Sings Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush

4.      Polica – Shulamith

5.      Food Pyramid – Ecstasy and Refreshment

6.      STNNNG – Empire Inward

7.      CLAPS – Lies/White Lies EP

8.      Blind Shake – Key to a False Door

9.      Lizzo – Lizzobangers

10.  Crimes – Thin Sunlight

Runners Up: Brute Heart – The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari, MaLLy – Strange Rhythm, Shell – Caterpillar EP, Robust Worlds/Filthy Huns – Split CS; Orchard Thief – Professional Textures; Cloak Ox – Shoot the Dog; Sun Gods to Gamma Rays – The Water, The Wave; Rapper Hooks – All Black Jesus; Greg Grease – Black King Cole EP;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam, Reviler

The Blind Shake – Key To A False Door

Brute Heart – The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari

The Chambermaids – Whatever Happened Tomorrow

Claps – Lies/White Lies

Cloak Ox – Shoot The Dog

France Camp – s/t

Marijuana Deathsquads – Music Rocks

Real Numbers – Only Two Can Play

STNNNG – Empire Inward

STNNNGRVNMNT – Remarkable Citizen

Jon Jon Scott(Sound Verite)

Greg Grease – Black King Cole

Polica -Shulamith

Metasota – Black Friday

Marijuana Deathsquads – Oh My Sexy Lord

Vandaam – Vandaam

P. O. S. – WDELH/MDS/RMX

Mally -Strange Rhythm

Lizzo – Lizzo Bangers

Crimes – Thin Sunlight

Up Rock -Let The Bass Shake

Empire Status (Muja Messiah & Bobby Raps) – Empire Status

K. Raydio & Psymun – LucidDreamingSkylines

Josh, Reviler

1. Marijuana Deathsquads – Oh My Sexy Lord + Music Rocks 1 & 2
2. Beat Detectives – Casual Encounters of the Third Kind + Music About Time + Music 2
3. American Cream – Nathan
4. Food Pyramid – Ecstasy and Refreshment + Creation Beat EP
5. Brute Heart- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
6. Lizzo – Lizzobangers
7. Dosh – Milk Money
8. Greg Grease – Black King Cole
9. Teenage Moods – ‘best tudes + Grow
10. Anonymous Choir – Anonymous Choir Sings Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush

HM: Cactus Blossums – Live at the Turf Club, The Blind Shake- Key to a False Door, Robust Worlds/Filthy Huns – s/t, Frankie Teardrop- s/t, The Chambermaids- Whatever Happened to Tomorrow, Gospel Gossip- s/t, France Camp – ST, STNNNG – Inward Empire, Orchard Theif First Dimension Park, Brother Ali – Left in the Deck

Best 7’s/non album songs (Gigamesh “Bad Girls (Donna Summer remix),” Ex-Nuns “Dead of Zero,” Web of Sunset “Fool’s Melodies,” Sonny Knight and the Lakers “Hey Girl,” Kitten Forever “Pressure,” Condmimum “Carl”)