If you know anything about me at all, you know I’m obsessed with comparing and contrasting different years based on their music. How does one year compare with the next? How does my top 10 records from one year compare to the top 10 of another year? I’m also often deeply immersed in nostalgic feelings during the comparison process, as most of the records I organize by year bring me right back to the environment when I was listening to them heavily. This feeling is not unique to me in any way, but I seem to have a very intense memory when it comes to these things. Probably because I’m so motivated to listen to things from the current year, so I often don’t go back to things from the past unless I’m either looking for a nostalgia trip or something really sticks with me.

I wanted to start a series of revisiting years to see how they’ve aged, just in case I’ve found some new, rich flavors that I didn’t pick up on at the time, or found some rotten eggs, stinking up the catalog of that year. I’m starting off with 2013, because over the past few years it’s taken on an interesting legacy in my mind and I’d like to expand on it more.

At the time, 2013 was like heaven on Earth for a music fan like myself. New albums from legendary artists like Boards Of Canada, The Knife, Daft Punk, My Bloody Valentine, Arcade Fire, The Flaming Lips, Kanye West, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Deerhunter, The National and Yo La Tengo? You gotta be kidding me. I was in bliss, feverishly soaking up all these albums the best I could and deeming all of them instant classics. After waiting so long for follow-up albums from these bands, I was certain that they were flawless and that 2013 was the best year in music that I’ll see in a long time. I was even tweeting that hyperbole in March, before most of the really good stuff came out.

There were plenty of new favorites for me this year as well, the main leader of the pack being Arca and everything he touched along with it. His mixtape &&&&& is one of my most-listened to records of all time and his production on is the reason FKA Twigs’ EP2 isn’t far behind that. Other than that, I discovered Kelela, Fear Of Men, Grave Babies, Postiljonen, Ovlov, Speedy Ortiz, Infinity Shred, and a few others. Pretty good finds that have offered me a bit of dividends later on, but I feel like didn’t make as much of a mark as other years’ new artists.

Below you’ll find my Top 50 records from 2013 as I ranked them that year.

1. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
2. The Knife – Shaking The Habitual
3. Boards Of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
4. Jai Paul – Jai Paul
5. Tim Hecker – Virgins
6. My Bloody Valentine – MBV
7. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires Of The City
8. The Flaming Lips – The Terror
9. Beach Fossils – Clash The Truth
10. Deafheaven – Sunbather
11. Julianna Barwick – Nepenthe
12. Fear Of Men – Early Fragments
13. Disclosure – Settle
14. Chelsea Wolfe – Pain Is Beauty
15. Iceage – You’re Nothing
16. Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels
17. Julia Holter – Loud City Song
18. Mikal Cronin – Mcii
19. James Blake – Overgrown
20. Anamanaguchi – Endless Fantasy
21. Pity Sex – Feast Of Love
22. Grave Babies – Crusher
23. Arcade Fire – Reflektor
24. Death Grips – Government Plates
25. Ovlov – AM
26. Crystal Antlers – Nothing Is Real
27. Bombino – Nomad
28. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol.3: To See More Light
29. Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – Kismet
30. Merchandise – Totale Nite
31. Deerhunter – Monomania
32. King Krule – 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
33. Machinedrum – Vapor City
34. Kurt Vile – Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze
35. Postiljonen – Skyer
36. Majical Cloudz – Impersonator
37. Cut Copy – Free Your Mind
38. Sam Amidon – Bright Sunny South
39. Ty Segall – Sleeper
40. Alunageorge – Body Music
41. Laura Cortese – Into The Dark
42. Young Fathers – Tape Two
43. Infinity Shred – Sanctuary
44. Kelela – Cut 4 Me
45. Russain Circles – Memorial
46. Fuzz – Fuzz
47. Joanna Gruesome – Weird Sister
48. Speedy Ortiz – Major Arcana
49. Blank Banshee – Blank Banshee1
50. Grouper – The Man Who Died In His Boat

That is a fine and good list. Very top-loaded with star-studded artists, but still good. I thought it would be interesting and fun to try and re-rank my favorite albums from 2013 in the year 2017, so here it is.

BEST OF 2013:: 50 ALBUMS (2017 EDITION)

1. Arca – &&&&&
2. Kanye West – Yeezus
3. Beach Fossils – Clash The Truth
4. Ovlov – AM
5. Julia Holter – Loud City Song
6. Fear Of Men – Early Fragments
7. Jessy Lanza – Pull My Hair Back
8. Disclosure – Settle
9. Julianna Barwick – Nepenthe
10. Grouper – The Man Who Died In His Boat
11. Deafheaven – Sunbather
12. Grave Babies – Crusher
13. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires Of The City
14. Tim Hecker – Virgins
15. My Bloody Valentine – mbv
16. Kelela – Cut 4 Me
17. Porches – Slow Dance In The Cosmos
18. Laurel Halo – Chance Of Rain
19. Chelsea Wolfe – Pain Is Beauty
20. Merchandise – Totale Nite
21. Hiss Golden Messenger – Haw
22. Jai Paul – Jai Paul
23. Majical Cloudz – Impersonator
24. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
25. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light
26. The Range – Nonfiction
27. Yo La Tengo – Fade
28. Ducktails – The Flower Lane
29. Classixx – Hanging Gardens
30. Machinedrum – Vapor City
31. Boards Of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
32. Anamanaguchi – Endless Fantasy
33. Jon Hopkins – Immunity
34. Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven
35. Pity Sex – Feast Of Love
36. Ty Segall – Sleeper
37. Sam Amidon – Bright Sunny South
38. Postiljonen – Skyer
39. Prurient – Through The Window
40. Saint Pepsi – Hit Vibes
41. Blank Banshee – Blank Banshee1
42. Blood Orange – Cupid Deluxe
43. Infinity Shred – Sanctuary
44. Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – Kismet
45. Mutual Benefit – Love’s Crushing Diamond
46. Toro Y Moi – Anything In Return
47. Weekend – Jinx
48. Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
49. Mikal Cronin – Mcii
50. Yvette – Process

So this is definitely a flawed list. For one, this is four years removed from 2013. It’s a loose fit. Let’s take a look at how things developed over the past four years. The disgraced Random Access Memories has fallen off the list entirely. At the time I looked past its flaws like its pacing, among other things, and just put it #1. “Doin’ It Right” is still so good, though. There’s plenty still good overall about this album, it just hasn’t aged well at all. There are other records I held to high regard at the time like The Terror and Shaking The Habitual that are missing as well. They haven’t pulled me back since 2013, despite locking in so much of my enthusiasm at the time. They’re still very striking and powerful records, but I just don’t have the patience for them as full albums in 2017.

Going into the new additions, I notched the new #1 as &&&&& by Arca. It’s technically a mix that I initially placed at the top of my favorite EPs of that year, but the heck with it – it’d be my favorite piece of music in any 2013 category. It’s just that good. Speaking of Arca and EPs, if FKA Twigs’ EP2 wasn’t so clearly an EP, it would have been in the Top 5 of this list.

Coming in both as #2 and as a big surprise to me is Yeezus. As I was considering the order for this, nothing besides &&&&& seemed appropriate to put in front of this. Sure the lyrics are as bad as ever, but it’s just so fun and unique. I also think the lackluster The Life Of Pablo helped me appreciate Yeezus a lot more. In 2013 I thought it was so mindlessly indulgent, a distraction to the incredible beats. I’ve come to love it all now.

Other lovely newcomers to the Top 50 include Jessy Lanza, Porches, Laurel Halo, Hiss Golden Messenger, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Range, Yo La Tengo, Ducktails, Classixx, Jon Hopkins, Prurient, Oneohtrix Point Never, Saint Pepsi, Blood Orange, Mutual Benefit, Toro Y Moi, Weekend, Fuck Buttons and Yvette. Many of these artists were either on my “Leftfield Records” or “Honorable Mentions” lists.

Let’s move onto what I was listening to most in 2013 and what records from that year I’ve listened to most in the present.

MOST LISTENED-TO IN 2013:

1. Arca – &&&&&
2. Beach Fossils – Clash The Truth
3. Anamanaguchi – Endless Fantasy
4. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
5. Grave Babies – Crusher
6. Fear Of Men – Early Fragments
7. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires Of The City
8. Julianna Barwick – Nepenthe
9. Disclosure – Settle
10. Crying – Get Olde
11. Pity Sex – Feast Of Love
12. Slow Warm Death – Slow Warm Death
13. Blank Banshee – Blank Banshee1
14. Boards Of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
15. Chelsea Wolfe – Pain Is Beauty

My most-listened to stats are not surprising. My favorite project, &&&&&, is a ~30-minute mix that got broken into 14 different tracks, some lasting under around 30 seconds. This racked up countless plays and remains near the top of my all-time most listened to records, according to my last.fm. Same goes with Beach Fossils: there are many songs on it, they’re all pretty short, and I started listening to the album very early in the year. Endless Fantasy also has a lot of tracks on it, but “Planet” in particular kept a hold on my ears from the summer onward. Everything else is pretty in line with what my favorites were for the year. Notice how the ones I listened to more in that year moved past those that may have been higher on the initial list but are behind in the 2017 list.

MOST LISTENED-TO SINCE 2013:

1. Arca – &&&&& [-]
2. Beach Fossils – Clash The Truth [-]
3. The Range – Nonfiction [BIG ups]
4. Anamanaguchi – Endless Fantasy [-1]
5. Julianna Barwick – Nepenthe [+3]
6. Kelela – Cut 4 Me [BIG ups]
7. Fear Of Men – Early Fragments [-1]
8. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories [-4]
9. Disclosure – Settle [-]
10. Kanye West – Yeezus [BIG ups]
11. Grave Babies – Crusher [-6]
12. Blank Banshee – Blank Banshee1 [+1]
13. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires Of The City [-6]
14. Ovlov – AM [BIG ups]
15. Porches – Slow Dancing In The Cosmos [BIG ups]

The results since 2013 initially start with a bit of deja vu, with &&&&& and Clash The Truth returning as my top 2. Both records are comfortably in my Top 10 most listened to of all time and don’t look to be dethroned any time soon. After that though, The Range’s Nonfiction smashes all the way up the rankings, unseating Anamanaguchi as #3. I found that Nonfiction is just so easy to listen to, especially tracks like “Jamie” and “Telescope.”  Other newcomers for this list include Kelela, Kanye West, Ovlov and Porches, all records I thought were pretty good in 2013 but clearly stuck with me more than many other things I apparently enjoyed more from that year.

So overall: what do I think of 2013 now? Looking back, it’s clear to me that it definitely wasn’t all that I hyped it up to me. There were a few great records in there, but looking at both Top 50 lists that I made, I don’t feel like it adequately compares to some of the others from the 10s. But hey, I could revisit some other years and see how I think about those, but that’s for another time. I gotta say though, 2012, 2014 and 2015 were blessed years for music. Just truly magical times. 2013 did not have the super duper magic, but that’s alright. For the most part, it’s good for what it is. There are just a few records that have grown stinky with age and not in a good, cheese kind of way.