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Album of the Year 2013

1. Boards of Canada – “Tomorrow’s Harvest”
2. Arcade Fire – “Reflektor”
3. Darkside – “Psychic”
4. Fuck Buttons – “Slow Focus”
5. Kurt Vile – “Walking on a Pretty Daze”
6. Deafheaven – “Sunbather”
7. Death Grips – “Government Plates”
8. Disclosure – “Settle”
9. My Bloody Valentine – “mbv”
10. Run The Jewels – “Run The Jewels”
11. Daft Punk – “Random Access Memories”
12. Danny Brown – “OLD”
13. The National – “Trouble Will Find Me”
14. Deerhunter – “Monomania”
15. A$AP Rocky – “LongLiveA$AP”
16. The Knife – “Shaking the Habitual”
17. Chance the Rapper – “Acid Rap”
18. Cut Copy – “Free Your Mind”
19. James Blake – “Overgrown”
20. Sigur Ros – “Kveikur”

Best Albums of 2013…So Far

As far as categorizing the best albums of any time frame goes, these last six months were probably the easiest.  Agree or not, post your thoughts!

1. “Tomorrow’s Harvest” – Boards of Canada
2. “Overgrown” – James Blake
3. “Random Access Memories” – Daft Punk
4. “Settle” – Disclosure
5. “m b v” – My Bloody Valentine
6. “Walking On A Pretty Daze” – Kurt Vile
7. “Breaking The Habitual” – The Knife
8. “Trouble Will Find Me”  – The National
9. “Acid Rap” – Chance The Rapper
10. “…Like Clockwork” – Queens of the Stone Age

Spring Awakening Festival 2013

I’m heading off to Spring Awakening fest in Chicago this weekend thanks to the awesome dudes at PANTyRAiD hooking me up with a couple of passes. Super excited to finally get to see a Moby DJ set! Also very much looking forward to Gramatik on Saturday. Here’s a little snippit of the last time Gramatik was in town. Anybody else that’s heading to Soldier Field, feel free to share your excitement!

Final Lollapalooza 2013 “Prediction”

Compiled from multiple sources and common sense:

The Cure * Nine Inch Nails * Mumford & Sons

The Killers * Phoenix * Vampire Weekend * The National
The Postal Service * Queens Of The Stone Age* Pretty Lights * Hot Chip

Alice In Chains * Feed Me * Kendrick Lamar

 

While The Cure and Nine Inch Nails made me buy my ticket, I hope I’m wrong too.

Confirmed.

For Coachella, at least.  If you ask me, it won’t stop there.

Animal Kingdom

If you like Imagine Dragons, Walk The Moon, Blind Pilot, or Ra Ra Riot, you’ll love Animal Kingdom.

The Postal Service Reunion?

Ok, let’s talk about the what’s arguably the biggest news in music (especially for those of use interested in festival talk) in the past few months.  First things first, let’s clear the air and say that at this point, a Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard reunion is nothing more than speculative, but with a surge of highly successful musicians reuniting with old bands becoming the new “thing,” a la At The Drive-In, we have reason to hope.  The rumor started when the Brooklyn Vegan made a very clear statement that the reunion was in the works (specifically for Coachella 2013).  With Death Cab For Cutie out of the touring cycle now and for the foreseeable future, Ben’s been recently putzing around doing his solo thing, most recently seen on The Colbert Report.  In the meantime, Tamborello has been stumbling through the music industry, promoting his Dntel act.  Needless to say, the $20+ million that would come with an extreme heavy Postal Service summer tour stopping at every major U.S. festival must be stirring some deep consideration in the minds of Tamborello and Gibbard.  Even if the potential reunion is a cash grab opportunity, I’d happily fork out whatever it takes to see this great band (most likely) one last time.  In fact, I’m so confidant in the reunion, I’ve added The Postal Service to my Lollapalooza 2013 Prediction Table.  One thing is for sure though – there won’t be a new record any time soon.

Lollapalooza 2013 Lineup Predictions and Discussion

I think it’s a lot of fun to make educated predictions of festival lineups, so we’ll start with my favorite festival, Lollapalooza. Last year I was over 70% on my predictions. We’ll see how 2013 goes!

[Work in progress]

Pearl Jam * Daft Punk * Mumford & Sons
The Killers * Beck * The Postal Service * David Guetta
Queens of the Stone Age * Modest Mouse * Fleet Foxes
The National * The Flaming Lips * Animal Collective * Wu Tang Clan
Grizzly Bear * Band Of Horses * Of Montreal * The Hives

(North vs. South vs. Grove)

Friday: Grizzly Bear > Mumford & Sons vs. Band Of Horses > The Killers vs. Animal Collective

Saturday: The Postal Service > David Guetta vs. Queens of the Stone Age > Pearl Jam vs. Wu Tang Clan

Sunday: The Flaming Lips > Daft Punk vs. Modest Mouse > Beck vs. Fleet Foxes

EDIT February 25, 2013:

There’s obviously been many changes since the original potential lineup was posted.  For starters, Pearl Jam is out with a Wrigley Field show on July 19.  Daft Punk was more of a pipe dream and has now announced that they will “definitely not being touring in 2013.”  Mumford & Sons, being #2 at Bonnaroo and not playing playing Coachella all but confirms them in my opinion.  With Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake (whom many thought were legitimate headliner options for Lolla) playing a July 22 show at Soldier Field, they’re off the ballot.  Recently, Trent Reznor has announced the return of Nine Inch Nails with extensive touring in 2013 and 2014, more of less confirming the act for Lolla ’13.  The only issue here is that the new lineup includes Eric Avery of Jane’s Addiction, a man who Perry Farrell hates with all sense of the word.  Thankfully, Perry doesn’t have much poll on what goes on at his own festival anymore (thank you C3), so I’m running with NIN at this point.

The Cure * Mumford & Sons * Nine Inch NailsBlur * The Killers * Vampire Weekend
The Prodigy * The Postal Service * Pretty Lights
My Bloody Valentine * Kendrick Lamar * The Flaming Lips
Above & Beyond *Wu Tang Clan * Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Alabama Shakes * Eels * The Lumineers * Alt-J * Foals
STRFKR * Feed Me * Foals * Tegan & Sara * Crystal Fighters

(North vs South vs Grove vs Perry’s)

Friday:  The Postal Service > Blur vs Eels > Mumford & Sons vs Kendrick Lamar vs Feed Me
Saturday:  Vampire Weekend > The Killers vs My Bloody Valentine > The Cure vs Alabama Shakes vs The Prodigy
Sunday:  Alabama Shakes > Pretty Lights vs The Flaming Lips > Nine Inch Nails vs Wu Tang Clan vs Above & Beyond