Top Albums of the Year 2013: Staff Picks
Out with the old, no matter how good it is! Here's our comprehensive list of Top Albums of the Year 2013, schizophrenic as always to reflect the diverse tastes of our staff, though there is some overlap. It's highly recommended you check out every release here, as each has its own creative strengths.
Matthew Carter - electronic, experimental, metal, pop, rock
Vivian Hua - dance, indie, pop, psychedelic, soul
Troy Micheau - classical, electronic, experimental, instrumental
Judy Nelson - dance, electronic, indie, pop, psychedelic, soul
Elizabeth Perry - indie, mainstream, pop, rock
Peter Woodburn - classical, instrumental, metal
XUA - electronic hip-hop, mainstream, pop
In a genre as expansive and sonically promising as psych-pop, there is a lot of ground to cover. On his self-titled 4-track debut, Moodoïd, Parisian Pablo Padovani seems to have acknowledged that fact implicitly, and met the challenge ten-fold.
What's most impressive about Moodoïd's debut EP is its ability to combine multiple genres seamlessly, through the quality, variety, and—most importantly—interactivity of its sounds. While relying on the spacey bed of synths and ambient vocals characteristic of psychedelic music, Moodoïd invites other genres into its sphere, including pop, punk, grunge, and experimental, through nostalgic vocals, groovy percussion, heavy instrumentation, and irregular song patterns. "Je suis la montagne" ("I Am The Mountain"), Moodoïd's stunning opener, encapsulates many of the EP's strengths: crisp, echoey percussion that punctuates a fun, repetitious psychedelic loop, along with the driving force of grunge-y electric guitar licks. And though the EP's experimental influences make for rich patches of nightmarish or wild descent, they are in no way overpowering or alienating.
