2013 Albums
Album Reviews | Beyoncé – Beyoncé (2013)
Just when everyone had yelled “Cut! That’s a wrap!” and declared 2013 in music finished in early December — that’s when all the music publications release their year-end lists to get them on the...
Album Reviews | Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)
To be honest, I lost interest in Eminem like 10 years ago when he released “Just Lose It” as the lead single from his fourth album, 2004’s Encore. After releasing two all-time classi...
Album Reviews | Yuna – Nocturnal (2013)
With apologies to New Zealand teen sensation Lorde, who took the world by storm this past fall with her smash single “Royals,” Yuna is the burgeoning pop star from the opposite side of the...
Album Reviews | Arcade Fire – Reflektor (2013)
Ever since Arcade Fire‘s “surprise” win for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards a few years back, anticipation has been sky-high for the inevitable follow-up to 2010’s The S...
Album Reviews | Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt (2013)
God, I love Pearl Jam. While most “fans” are only intimately familiar with their 1991 debut Ten, and the vast, vast majority of their listenership checked out after 1994‘s Vitalogy, ...
Album Reviews | Paul McCartney – New (2013)
Of the Fab Four, Paul McCartney turned out to have the longest, most successful, and ultimately most interesting solo career. While the Rockcrit establishment has deservedly branded John Lennon‘...
Album Reviews | Lorde – Pure Heroine (2013)
When I first started listening to music, Britney Spears was 17 and her career was taking off at a considerable speed. Ever since, emerging pop stars — especially female ones — have launche...
Album Reviews | HAIM – Days Are Gone (2013)
Something exciting is happening in popular music right now that we haven’t seen in decades: the line between pop and rock is blurring again. In the ’60s, pop and rock were inextricably lin...
Album Reviews | Sons of the Sea – Sons of the Sea (2013)
Until Tom Erlewine compared Incubus to Radiohead in his review of their 2006 album Light Grenades for AllMusic, I had never really considered them that alike. There are some similarities there, for su...
Album Reviews | Kings of Leon – Mechanical Bull (2013)
I was introduced to Kings of Leon in the spring of 2009, just as their career was finally hitting its stride in America after years of building a considerable fan base overseas. They were playing a sh...
Album Reviews | Avicii – True (2013)
As Avicii‘s smash single “Wake Me Up” swept the globe earlier this year, I was keyed into the song’s success by some Incubus fans who keep tabs on what all of the band members ...
Album Reviews | Elvis Costello and The Roots – Wise Up Ghost and Other Songs (2013)
This album is so cool. In fact, everything about it is cool. Who could have imagined Elvis Costello, who basically is the definition of hip, playing with hip-hop group the Roots? Unlike other mash-ups...
Album Reviews | Arctic Monkeys – AM (2013)
When the Arctic Monkeys exploded onto the scene in early 2006 with their classic debut Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, it was with the force of a hurricane, their garage roc...
Album Reviews | Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks (2013)
After close to two decades of only (at best) sporadic productivity, Trent Reznor appears to have found a way to exorcise his demons (both internal and external), delivering Nine Inch Nails‘ firs...
Album Reviews | JAY Z – Magna Carta… Holy Grail (2013)
When I saw that Magna Carta… Holy Grail was nominated for nine Grammys (!), I felt honor-bound to give the album a few more listens after shrugging it off last summer. And, well, I’ll just...