NME's 50 Best Albums of 2013

NME's 50 Best Albums of 2013

Original Source →

50.

April 8, 2013
Critic Score
82
44 reviews

It’s not an easy listen, but it may just be one of the most nuanced, soothing and adventurous of 2013. 

49.

March 18, 2013
Critic Score
75
22 reviews

There’s beauty here in heaps, and by leaning a bit less hard on the heartbreak pedal, turning down the reverb and letting that wild youth out a bit more, they can become a Daughter we’re truly proud to call our own.

48.

October 8, 2013
Critic Score
78
24 reviews
Pusha T is yet to find overground fame. ‘My Name Is My Name’ should change that.

47.

August 24, 2013
Critic Score
77
30 reviews
A debut that captures the atmosphere of contemporary London in all its bleak and lonely glory.

46.

May 6, 2013
Critic Score
74
31 reviews

As inventive and relevant as they’ve ever been, it’s an alarm call for a comatose nation being slowly drained of lifeblood. It’s exactly what 2013 needs: more fight.

45.

October 21, 2013
Critic Score
85
15 reviews

It is a serious album for serious rock fans, even though taking anything seriously isn’t exactly Andy Falkous, Jack Egglestone, Jimmy Watkins and Julia Ruzicka’s strong point.

44.

July 9, 2013
Critic Score
79
17 reviews

One of the reasons ‘Major Arcana’ works so well is because it’s addictive and fun, which could explain how these characters got into such a mess in the first place.

43.

April 8, 2013
Critic Score
80
44 reviews

'Shaking The Habitual' is a radical gesture from an enigmatic group. As such, it will not be for everyone. Newcomers will likely be baffled. Hardcore Knife fans will hail it a masterpiece, while privately making fairly regular use of the skip button.

42.

November 12, 2013
Critic Score
75
22 reviews

‘Mug Museum’, her third full-length, is as wonderfully weird as any of its predecessors. And there’s now sparseness in her music, plus a cool, controlled confidence that showcases her knack for the surreal more than ever.

41.

March 26, 2013
Critic Score
64
43 reviews

It’s flawed, it’s imperfect and it’s downright odd at points, but it is packed with belting tunes. Most of all, it’s fun – a great achievement considering it hasn’t looked like fun being in The Strokes for years. 

40.

July 23, 2013
Critic Score
79
43 reviews

It is all-consuming and consistently impressive from the off

39.

The Julie Ruin - Run Fast
September 3, 2013
Critic Score
78
10 reviews

37.

April 9, 2013
Critic Score
81
39 reviews

Mostly, ‘Wakin On A Pretty Daze’ shows Kurt Vile’s determination to make something of that slice of genius he got for free.

36.

Deap Vally - Sistrionix
June 28, 2013
Critic Score
68
17 reviews

Deap Vally certainly aren’t afraid to say what needs to be said, and they do it with style and wit.

35.

September 17, 2013
Critic Score
79
30 reviews

Callahan’s early work as Smog painted him as a lo-fi sex case, but of late he’s adopted a sweeter, eddying Americana, and ‘Dream River’ takes a turn to lush country-soul.

34.

September 10, 2013
Critic Score
83
41 reviews
The sci-fi soul maverick’s second album can’t match her debut for ambition, but it’s still fiercely entertaining.

33.

January 29, 2013
Critic Score
78
30 reviews

Out goes the usual folk-meets-new wave stuff, in comes Lily Allen’s producer Greg Kurstin and big, spangly electro hits. The results could have been messy, but ‘Heartthrob’ is a triumph.

32.

February 25, 2013
Critic Score
62
27 reviews

You’re struck by the strength of the songs, and the roguish, self-assured charm with which they’re delivered.

31.

March 18, 2013
Critic Score
67
8 reviews

This is a band who think nothing of giving over the album’s title track to a stern nine-minute churn that sets growling guitars against dirty squalls of brass. 

30.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito
April 16, 2013
Critic Score
73
46 reviews

A confusing, intriguing record, then. Not their strongest, but there's a transition underway.

29.

February 3, 2013
Critic Score
87
42 reviews

‘m b v’ needs to be digested like chewing gum, left to swirl around in your system for months or years, before anyone will really be able to gauge how it measures up to ‘Isn’t Anything’ or ‘Loveless’.

28.

June 10, 2013
Critic Score
80
28 reviews

Devoid of easy access points, it’s sparser and stranger, filled with eerie lulls and sudden, discombobulating rushes of noise. Anyone hankering for a visceral body-and-mind-fuck á la ‘Hidden: Part 2’ is going to feel alienated.

27.

August 20, 2013
Critic Score
80
33 reviews
His creative process naturally involves other people, and he doesn’t want to be a powerhouse rap star. ‘Doris’ may alienate people looking for him to be that. For everyone else, this is a powerful record.

26.

September 9, 2013
Critic Score
80
32 reviews

Crucially, Factory Floor innovate rather than imitate

25.

September 27, 2013
Critic Score
76
36 reviews

Haim have been working towards this since they were barely strong enough to hold a guitar, and over time they've written more good tunes than most bands manage in a whole career.

24.

August 18, 2012
Critic Score
82
26 reviews

The entire record is as premeditated and grounded in US alt.rock history as you can get.

23.

September 24, 2013
Critic Score
79
42 reviews

Chvrches have stuck to the bones of their beliefs, and you're going to want to suck the marrow right out of them.

22.

May 3, 2013
Critic Score
78
36 reviews

For all their experimental tangents, they've always been able to write a decent hook. So maybe Bradford Cox's monomania is just that – an ongoing obsession to carve Deerhunter's future place as one of the great American rock'n'roll bands.

21.

February 19, 2013
Critic Score
79
37 reviews

In the end, ‘You’re Nothing’ is a sort of toast: to loud music, hard drinking and the energy of the unbroken.

20.

May 21, 2013
Critic Score
84
47 reviews

‘Trouble…’ is a collection of anthems, full of rich orchestral fanfares, bolstered by the cast and crew of New York’s finest.

19.

June 3, 2013
Critic Score
76
36 reviews

Throughout, ‘Settle’ will blind you with so much sheen you’ll want to tile your bathroom in it.

18.

March 4, 2013
Critic Score
82
8 reviews

This record is not the sunburnt wooze of Tame Impala: it’s angrier, colder.

17.

March 5, 2013
Critic Score
76
26 reviews

... she’s still brutally picking at old scabs to expose the muck festering underneath. The truth has seldom sounded so good. 

16.

June 10, 2013
Critic Score
78
17 reviews

The best – and simplest – trick Jagwar Ma have pulled off is delivering an album with no rubbish on it.

15.

March 25, 2013
Critic Score
74
13 reviews

If ‘In Love’ lacks depth it’s because it’s too busy being wide-eyed with marvellous wonder, thrilled by its own discoveries. Even the hi-hats are epic. Peace are intoxicated by their own youth, and all that matters is that they’re happening NOW.

14.

May 14, 2013
Critic Score
81
45 reviews

This is a gorgeous album, but sacrifices had to be made. They’ve undeniably lost something that made them special in the first place.

13.

August 19, 2013
Critic Score
78
16 reviews

Drenge are true to their phonics, subjecting listeners to a gnarly, ultra-funky – and that’s in the stinky sense, not the Nile Rodgers sense – aural pummelling.

12.

November 5, 2013
Critic Score
77
44 reviews

She’s reminded us exactly why she’s important: she’s a hyper-intuitive artist with a mongrel sensibility who bows to no one. 

11.

June 3, 2013
Critic Score
84
33 reviews

‘Immunity’ is expertly paced, and as good for coming down as it is for coming up.

10.

March 12, 2013
Critic Score
81
46 reviews

This album is, foremost, about songcraft. Rather than reinventing Bowie, it absorbs his past and moves it on, hungry for more.

9.

May 27, 2013
Critic Score
86
40 reviews

'Once I Was An Eagle' is an intense, internal record with a clear emotional arc. The portrait it paints of the author is not always flattering, but the truth rarely is.

8.

February 18, 2013
Critic Score
84
47 reviews

What Cave and co have managed here is no mean feat: a masterpiece that merges the experimentation and freedom of their side projects with Cave’s most tender songcraft.

7.

October 29, 2013
Critic Score
77
49 reviews

‘Reflektor’ is cleaner, sharper and dancier than anything the band have done before.

6.

May 21, 2013
Critic Score
83
50 reviews

By assembling a cast of their favourite musicians and delving into their adolescent memories, Daft Punk have created something as emotionally honest as any singer-songwriter confessional – and a lot more fun to dance to. 

5.

May 6, 2013
Critic Score
80
41 reviews

As with some modern art, you may find ‘Silence Yourself’ leaves you whispering, “I appreciated it, but I didn’t love it.” 

4.

February 11, 2013
Critic Score
76
33 reviews

At times it feels as if there is no arena, stadium or field big enough to contain the songs on ‘Holy Fire’ - although you get the feeling plenty of them will be filled with these songs over the next 12 months.

3.

June 4, 2013
Critic Score
83
49 reviews

The crap filter has been whacked up to 11 and the groove-o-tron set to interstellar for the band’s slickest offering to date.

2.

June 18, 2013
Critic Score
83
46 reviews

‘Yeezus’ is so tight, so bold, that with a few tweaks Kanye could’ve made his rock for the ages. As it is, he’ll have to settle for one of the best records of the year.

1.

September 9, 2013
Critic Score
81
43 reviews

Arctic Monkeys’ fifth record is absolutely and unarguably the most incredible album of their career. It might also be the greatest record of the last decade.

Original Source: http://www.nme.com/photos/nme-s-50-best-albums-of-2013/326689/1/1?recache=1&t=1231316
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