Jeff's Best Albums of 2013: #2: Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside - Untamed Beast

My #2 album of the year is Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside's Untamed Beast. Ken saw them live earlier this fall, and he's pretty much the reason why I'm a fan.

With that said, a confession: the debut album, Dirty Radio? Really uneven for me. "Danger" was off the charts awesome, but it didn't hold up so well for me. Part of it is because the whole jazzy/blues thing is not always my cup of tea, so my expectations for her new album were not terribly high.

The album works really well for me in part because a lot of the blues parts are put in the backseat in favor of a more rockin' point of view. It results in a moodier album with a lot of attitude, and, frankly, a lot of sexuality oozing out of every pore. It means more mid-tempo songs like "She Told Me" have a significant purpose while sexy rockers like "Lip Boy" or "Do Me Right" are equal parts fun and frolicky. It's really well-crafted, and doesn't suffer from any sort of sophomore slump at all. Sadly, we learned this week that this incarnation of Sallie Ford music has broken apart, so, while we'll hear more from Sallie Ford and her apparent all-girl group next year, this is the last we'll hear of the Sound Outside.

You can stream the album below:

First Listen: New Releases for December 17

Only one release of note:

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside - Summer EP: Man, Sallie Ford loves singing about sex. I'm not sure if these are new songs or outtakes from the excellent Untamed Beast, but this EP has three excellent songs sandwiched between a fun instrumental and another decent effort, something that is rare for an indie EP period. "Lips N Hips" in particular has been stuck in my head for two days running now.

Ken's Best Albums of 2013: #10: The Dead Milkmen - "Welcome to Undertown"

I probably would have ranked this higher on the list, but it's supposed to be albums and this is a three song single, so #10 it is! Instead of following up 2011's unbelievably great The King in Yellow with another album, the Dead Milkmen opted to release four 7" singles throughout 2012 and 2013. The most recent, "Welcome to Undertown," is my favorite of the batch.

The beauty of the Dead Milkmen's return to recording is how well the songs hold up when compared to their previous work. A lot of punk/alternative bands' new material sticks out completely during a live show. Back in April when I saw the Dead Milkmen, I completely forgot that "William Bloat" wasn't on one of their classic albums. Their new material is just that good. The single "Welcome to Undertown" is written from the perspective of an angry gun owner and fits right in with their classic gun themed anthems ("Right Wing Pigeons," "If I Had a Gun," etc.). It always seems bizarre to me that a band can sing about political issues 25-30 years ago and then sing about the same issues now, but I digress. "The Sun Turns Our Patio Into a Lifeless Hell" might just be the angriest song about middle age of all time. It also has a killer noisy guitar solo you wouldn't normally associate with the Milkmen. It's odd that this particular release is all Rodney Anonymous without a Dean Clean song. That's more of an observation than a complaint. 

For more information on the Dead Milkmen, head over to their website. You can stream "Welcome to Undertown" below via Soundcloud.

Jeff's Best Albums of 2013: #3: Allison Weiss - Say What You Mean

Allison Weiss's Say What You Mean is not the best album of 2013 in my view, but it's absolutely my favorite.

This was another Spotify discovery recommendation, as I was fully engrossed in Jenny Owen Youngs at the time and the app recommended I try this album. I'm so glad I did. The album is wall-to-wall indie power pop, alt-rock chick at its finest. Much like the Lisa Loeb album discussed earlier, the album is just pitch-perfect from the start, with both slower songs and more upbeat tunes landing in the right spot.

Spotify has been great for this album, as there's an entire alternate take of the album available as well as some EPs with early versions of the songs. If you want a good hint as to what you're getting into, "I Was An Island," "Making It Up," and "One Way Love" are all solid choices, but this album should really just be in your standard rotation regardless.

You can stream the whole thing below:

Jeff's Best Albums of 2013: #4: Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

There's not a lot I can say about my #4 album of the year, Boards of Canada's Tomorrow's Harvest, that I didn't already say a few weeks ago. It's not as if the type of music they do is conducive to individual songs, and the album (along with their sound in general) almost defies description.

So I'm not even really going to try. This is the best electronic album I've heard in years, rivals some of the best music they've put out period, and although I know that this isn't everyone's cup of tea, it's quite the surprise that it's exactly the album I've been seeking out for quite some time.

Oddly enough, this is the only album in my top 10 that isn't either a female singer-songwriter or a group with female lead singers. It's one of those years, I guess, and it's made my ears very happy, but it's an odd little statistic.

As for Boards of Canada, you can stream Tomorrow's Harvest below:

Jeff's Best Albums of 2013: #5: Lisa Loeb - No Fairy Tale

I promise, I'm as surprised as you are.

I know it's decidedly uncool for anyone to really be a Lisa Loeb fan, especially 20 years after "Stay" propelled her into the public consciousness. I've actually kept up with her music for the last decade, and none of it was especially special in terms of what it was doing. It was beautifully serviceable folk music, but that's it.

Enter No Fairy Tale, which is a re-entry into the pop area for her, and is easily the best power pop album released in the last few years. There's literally not a bad song here - each one is just an immediate powerhouse from start to finish, and even the slower songs feel both stripped down and complete. There's really not a flaw to be found on the album, and especially for a veteran musician like Loeb, it's a very pleasant surprise.

It's difficult to recommend just a handful of songs, but "Matches" and "The 90s" are both great representations of what the album is like, and other songs like "Sick, Sick, Sick" show the range that Loeb has developed as of late. Just a great album from top to bottom, very reminiscent of some of Juliana Hatfield's 90s solo stuff if you need a comparison. You can stream the whole thing below:

Speedy Ortiz - "Everything's Bigger"

Speedy Ortiz has a new 4 song EP coming out in February, and they released the first single from it, "Everything's Bigger." It's much slower and more laid back that Major Arcana, and I can finally hear the Liz Phair comparisons that everyone else has been claiming. It's not a complete departure, it's just a lot more melody with their quirky noise rock than before. It's a great song to get us out of the December new release doldrums.

New Real Hair is due out on February 11. You can listen to "Everything's Bigger" below. Also, head on over to Speedy Ortiz's Livejournal for details on their absurdly extensive tour which is most likely coming to your town, quite possibly multiple times.

Jeff's Best Albums of 2013: #6: Laura Stevenson - Wheel

My #6 album of this year was probably my most anticipated release of the year. Her song "Master of Art" might be an all-time favorite, so Laura Stevenson's Wheel was something I really looked forward to, and it pretty much lived up to my expectations.

If I had an issue with Laura Stevenson's previous efforts, it was that her slower songs felt maybe a little too plodding and quiet. Wheel addresses that by offering a lot of straightforward indie-pop combined with a solid, experienced singer-songwriter mentality that provides a whole mess of memorable songs on this album. The continued rise of Stevenson as a songwriter is really evident across the board, from "Eleanora" to "Runner." Most importantly, the album is really a cohesive unit from start to finish, a feeling I never truly got from her previous albums.

Overall, a truly great effort. Along with the songs above, "Triangle" and "Sink, Swim" are great, great songs to check out. The whole album is streaming below:

Jeff's Best Albums of 2013: #7: Amanda Shires - Down Fell the Doves

With a lot of real world responsibilities this year including a new kid, I didn't make it to a single concert this calendar year. This is the first time this has happened in quite some time, but there is one show I regret missing a lot, involving Jason Isbell and his wife, Amanda Shires, who was touring for her new album and my #7 of 2013, Down Fell the Doves.

I fell hard for Amanda Shires's music last year when a music blogger posted her song "Sloe Gin." It was a fairly standard Americana piece all things considered, but Shires's voice is absolutely haunting, and many of her upbeat songs are among my favorites. With Down Fell the Doves, we absolutely have her most ambitious effort yet, a significant change from her earlier, violin-based songwriting work.

From the highlights like "Devastate" and "Bulletproof" to more complicated songs like the title track and "Look Like a Bird," we're watching the evolution of a songwriter who is doing things with a more twangy folk sound that seem very, very different from a lot of other artists. If you've found the evolution of artists like Neko Case to be up your alley, you'll really love what Shires is doing. The album is embedded below:

Free Music Alert: Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip - The Abstract & the Dragon

This just dropped overnight (do the kids still say dropped?), so I can't vouch for it being any good, but I can vouch for it being free. Free mixtapes tend to be the domain of new, rising hip hop acts and are rarely used by established legends like Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes. They could have easily saved a collaboration for an actual album, but instead they're offering it for free. There aren't even sketchy download codes and email entries that make you start to wonder if you're being phished. It even features A Tribe Called Quest, Redman, Raekwon, Big Daddy Kane, and more. It's 28 tracks including skits, so I'm sure it can't all be "Scenario," but really, what can be. Before you head off to work, download The Abstract & the Dragon here. If you're not ready for that level of commitment, you can stream the entire thing below.