The 55 Best Albums of 2013 (12-22)

Part 4 of our countdown.  We still your picks for best albums of 2013.  Send them in via email or put them in the comment section below.  Send in your top 20...if you can't think of 20...any number will do.

And buy our book, The 111 Best Music Lists of the 2000s.

Here are the 55 Best Albums of 2013 (12-22):

12.  Sky Ferreira - Night Time My Time
13.  Jim James - Regions of Light
14.  Phoenix - Bankrupt!
15.  Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action
16.  A$AP Rocky - Long. Live. A$AP
17.  Midlake - Antiphon
18.  Late Night Alumni - The Beat Becomes A Sound
19.  Capital Cities - In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery
20.  Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of The City
21.  Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP2
22.  When Saints Go Machine - Infinity Pool

Buy these and more albums of 2013...now!!

The 11 Best Songs By Franz Ferdinand

Sexuality is a gift not a right.  Just because you wear something skimpy and get a stage all to yourself, doesn't mean that you can do anything you want and still win over a crowd.  Sexuality is about subtle confidence.  It's about teasing your audience with just enough ammunition that their imaginations run wild.  There's grace to being sexual.  There's charisma.  There's even brains.  What Mylie Cyrus did at the VMAs was not sexual, it was shock and awful.  I'm sure this is what happened, Mylie and her friends were sitting around dropping E or Mollie and they came up with some brilliant idea to have her she's dress up like a gross little rat (lame Disney reference) while surrounded by teddy bears (Hannah Montana reference).  The problem is that idea is only brilliant when you're fucking high.  It was like watching someone else's bad drug trip while being sober.  And what do high people look like to sober people? That's right:  fucking idiots.  This will be a lesson to Mylie.  Watch a Madonna video...see how it's done.  Elvis wore a suit when he gyrated on stage and he had millions of screaming women wanting him.  Mylie had millions of people screaming...for her to go away.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Franz Ferdinand:

1. Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand)
2. Well That Was Easy (You Could Have It So Much Better)
3. No You Girls (Tonight)
4. Dark of the Matinee (Franz Ferdinand)
5. You're The Reason I'm Leaving (You Could Have It So Much Better)
6. Live Alone (Tonight)
7. 40' (Franz Ferdinand)
8. You Could Have It So Much Better (You Could Have It So Much Better)
9. Twilight Omens (Tonight)
10. This Fire (Franz Ferdinand)
11. All My Friends (All My Friends EP)

Buy Franz Ferdinand's new album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions...now!

The 11 Best Albums of 2009: 23-33 (Part 3)

As each step of this list is being unveiled, I have to say...there was a lot of music this year I really enjoyed. Whether it was scrounging to find the unreleased Beck cover album...or the return of Franz Ferdninand...or the underrated ben gibbard/farrar duet, there was a bunch of music out there to get excited about. Two newcomers to watch...Cut Off Your Hands and Cage The Elephant...I have a feeling they will be on these lists for years to come.

Here are the 11 Best Albums of 2009: 23-33 (Part 3):

23. Cut Off Your Hands - You And I (Turn Cold)
24. JJ - JJ No 2
25. Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
26. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
27. Cage The Elephant - Cage the Elephant (Ain't No Rest)
28. M. Ward - Hold Time
29. Beck - Velvet Underground & Nico (I'll Be Your Mirror)
30. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3.0
31. Steel Panther - Feel The Steel
32. Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream
33. Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar - One Fast Move Or I'm Gone

The 111 Best Albums of the 00s (67-77)

The 111 Best Albums of the 00s (67-77):

67. The Decembrists - The Crane Wife (2006) (Get it now for $5)
- Though Hazards was supposed to be Meloy's epic project, the Crane Wife may be the bands best collection to date. With fantastic songwriting that crossed epic 12 minute ecclectic compilations with blissfully Fleetwood Mac-influenced pop songs while pushing their sea shanty style to the forefront, the band delivered an album that made them popular while keeping their indie cred intact. (The Perfect Crime #2)

68. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (2006)
- Was it hip-hop? Was it electronic? Was it R&B? Was it rock n roll? What made this album so spectactular was that it was a little bit of everything...and a Violent Femmes cover that outperforms the original (IMO) never hurts.

69. El-P - Fantastic Damage (2002)
A blast of fire from the hip-hop underground came from a white guy. A new voice would break ground that is still forming the hip-hop world today. Though he keeps shaping his more recent albums in new directions...it was his first that fired the bullet from the gun.

70. Spoon - Girls Can Tell (2001)
- When Spoon jumped to Merge...half their fans left them for selling out. (And that's a hardcore fanbase who thinks Merge is selling out) But Spoon made a massive jump not just in audience but in style and substance. This album rocketed them upward as a band that now needs to be reckoned with. (Me and the Bean)

71. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008)
- Anytime a band's album is traded on the internet months before it comes out...there's a chance it will be good. Though this album lost some music snobs as it found itself featured on every teeny-bopper movie and TV show soundtrack, it remained one of the most talked about albums of that year....with no signs of slowing.

72. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004)
- As of January, FF was not on this list. But their new releases has really given them a newfound boost of respect and influence. The has-beens are now the right now...and are making us remember that they never left.

73. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses (2005)
- Ryan's Grateful Dead opus was the first of 50 albums he released that year...and maybe his best with the now defunct Cardinals. The Dead style perfectly suited RA's talents that remains fresher than some his newer material. (How Do You Keep Love Alive?)

74. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
- Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't get this album's popularity. It might be my least favorite Radiohead release. But this album was the one that made them the household name...and trendsetters that they are today. (Idioteque)

75. M.I.A. - Kala (2007)
- Would Slumdog millionaire have been electric with out M.I.A.? Would the Grammy's have been as exciting without her pregnant belly? And would the world of have dance survived with out her?

76. Eminem - The Eminem Show (2002)
A step-down from the epic Marshall Mathers...but still proof that Eminem was no flash in the pan. His rhymes remained crisp as he continued ripping apart his own life and those around him.

77. Linkin Park - Meteora (2003)
- Before you start bashing me for this choice. How many nu-metal bands survived? how many continued/continue to sell to this day? Linkin Park just didn't out-last the others...they pushed forward. This album wasn't just proof of their songwriting at its peak...it was also the album that launched them into rock stratosphere. And if not for this album...the collab with Jay-Z would have never legitimized mash-ups as we know.

Buy these albums now...especially if you don't have them.

The 11 Best Songs by Franz Ferdinand

I've been hearing polarizing reviews of the new FF album. Some people love it...and think it's a bold new direction for the band. Others think it's almost a joke...a pale bail-out for a band who had hit a creative wall. That said, I have yet to hear the album. But when it comes to creativity, doing something new is never a bad thing. Sometimes the results are in fact bad...terrible and practically unlistenable but the fact that the band chooses to challenge their nature, their existence in the musical landscape is the only thing that can make a good band great. Don't forget Dylan was slammed for merely using an electric guitar. R.E.M. was shunned for signing with a major label. GNR was mocked for spending 15 years to make an album. But in the end, the critics have to sit on their hands because of the brilliant music that came out of those endeavours. Of course you do at times get confusing packages like Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music...but even that...despite all its flaws...is more appreciated and respected than some of his more musical offerings.


Here are The 11 Best Songs by Franz Ferdinand:

1. Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand)
2. You're The Reason I'm Leaving (You Could Have It Better)
3. Well, That Was Easy (You Could Have It Better)
4. 40' (Franz Ferdinand)
5. This Fire (Franz Ferdinand)
6. All My Friends (All My Friends E.P.)
7. Walk Away (You Could Have It Better)
8. Dark of The Matinee (Franz Ferdinand)
9. Your Diary (Bonus Track)
10. Do You Want To (You Could Have It Better)
11. Wine In the Afternoon (Eleanor)

Buy Franz Ferdinand's new album, Tonight.