Your personal discoveries of 2013

[Bear 1817]

Here's my top three albums of 2013:

 

Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels

Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons to Die

Pest - The Crowning Horror

 

I haven't heard a shitload of hip hop thisyear, but I've heard some. But those three are more or less equal. Can't really decide on who's best.

 

But feel free to mention a few better (hip hop) albums.

[Aion 184]

Hmmz, I was kinda out of the loop for some months this year, so I kinda missed out on a lot. Besides that, I also had to purchase a new laptop in that period and had to stuff all of my music from my old HDD to the new one, so I'm not really sure on which things I discovered this year or prior to it. Of what I listened to this year, it's a lot of stuff I was already familiar with before 2013, like the cabs, kinoko teikoku, shibata, eri-nyo, shibata satoko. roth bart baron etc

 

Anyway, for the stuff I'm positive I've discovered this year, these are the one that topped my list

 

うみのて (uminote)

Not really something that stands out, but it has some real nice tunes to it, despite the weak vocals from time to time =)

 

惑星アブノーマル (WAKUSEI ABNORMAL)

Yeah, these girls are AWESOME =). Their debut album was of the charts, and I am curious for their new album, but I guess it's hard to beat their previous one, but then again, I am fine with something that's only 75% of their debut =)

 

Sugardrop

Well, actually I discovered them in 2012, but it wasn't till March 2013 I actually got an album by them. Without doubt one of the shoegaze bands I discovered this year, let alone the last couple of years

 

Shelling

Best dreampop album released this year, period

 

月と電池 (yamiagari)

Really sweet electropop

 

さよなら、また今度ね (sayonara, mata kondo ne)

Really playfull band with catchy tunes. They have to work on their vocals, but overal one of the most listened to bands for me this year.

 

Forgetting a ton, but those are the ones I can think of right now

[Pandabear 414]

1. Rings of Saturn -  Brutal, technical, sci-fic sounding metal with superhuman drumming, blazing alien like guitar riffs, massive breakdowns and deathcore vocals. I've raved about this bands recent album before and will continue to do so because I think it's one of the best metal albums of 2013. And if there's any question about the band's technical ability all you have to do is listen to the instrumental track off of Dingir, Utopia. So awesome, and love that Animals As Leaders inspired section in the middle of the song. They're first album is also pretty awesome.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFWqtLklidc

 

2. Lowcity Rain - A one man band and solo project who recently put out his debut album. You could describe it as post-punk, new wave goth. It works really well and I hope this project continues because it has lots of potential. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqXHHZd-hVY

 

3. Iwrestledabearonce - I had heard about this band before but hadn't checked them out. You could  say they are a metalcore version of the dillinger escape plan with a female vocalist. One of the most important aspect of this band is their aim to avoid being classified into one single genre so they deliberately pool a lot of influences from different genres into their songs. It makes it for a very fun and unique experience. And I love their new vocalist, she has some awesome growls and cleans. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwXEdqs1BUk

 

[enyx 903]

I've made two pretty big discoveries this year, both were artists that I knew about previously but didn't truly appreciate until the early portion of this year. Both have since gone on to become two of my favourite artists.

 

school food punishment - Oh my god I adore this band. Aside from the generic anime opening/ending tracks that started to clog up their later releases, everything else they released was stellar. This is the first band I've truly fallen in love with AFTER they disbanded. Normally I find bands while they're still active so getting into one that had already broken up was uncharted territory for me. Fortunately la la larks exists and appears to be moving in the same direction as sfp's indie music, if only Hasuo was involved somehow...

 

(TK from) 凛として時雨 - Technically two different artists but I consider 時雨 and TK's solo material to be two halves of the same beast, with 時雨 focusing mainly on the more aggressive stuff and TK's solo work focusing more on the experimental side. Funnily enough, whereas I consider sfp's material to have gone slightly downhill after signing with a major label (though still putting out some great stuff), 時雨's just seemed to get better; just A moment, still a Sigure virgin?, flowering and i'mperfect are all exceptionally strong albums, each with their own slightly different direction and focus.

[Pandabear 414]

Almost forgot about.

 

Conquer Divide - All female group doing the rock/metal thing. Been following them on their facebook since I stumbled upon their youtube vids of them tracking their songs. Bought their first single too. They're awesome. The leads vocals are really strong and are probably the best thing about this band besides the amazing sounding drums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N6EOKGPgTA

 

Feed Her To The Sharks - There seem to be a lot of rock/metal bands coming out of Australia that are spectacular. Feed her to the sharks is ones of those bands. They are metalcore at it's finest and what the genre should be.Technical, melodic, devastating and beautiful. The guitar riffs and guitar work in general are technical, vocals are brutal as are the breakdowns, and the drums are lightening fast. What I love I about this band is that they've clearly taken the time not only to be technical, melodic and heavy, but original too. They are rather under rated which is too bad because after hearing them, I know they are at the top of the crop when it comes to the core genre. They put almost every other core band out there to shame.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw1iVUwFm7o

 

 

[rebelstrik 111]

been listening to jrock like 7 years, but only this year I left my comfort zone and made new discoveries

 

dir en grey - know a lot of ppl who are/were listening to this band, but I never rly tried them. nice stuff

sadie - new album and previous stuff is ok

balzac - found in april and sicne them bought some of their cds

deluhi - love everything except balades, sujk solo stuff including

the god and death stars - something new, like the "indie" sound if i can call it like that

art cube - since i am fan of malcie mizer and moi dix mois, this is a must listen

distraught overlord - so so, but nice enough to stay on my pc

jupiter - since i liked versailles, this one is cool too

dead end - after I checked out the tribute album, searched the original songs

nega - those guys have their own style

suicide ali - usualy not my taste, but something attracts me

nocturnal bloodlust - agree to those who said their earlier stuff was better

mantenrou opera - there are some good songs

madeth gray - oh oldies, alf likes them

aliene marriage - oh oldies, alf likes them

 

i guess there are some more i cant remember right now, but the most important ones are listed above

[ronluna 17]

GALNERYUS - after I saw the ANGEL OF SALVATION PV of them, I became their fan. 

CONCERTO MOON - SAVIOR NEVER CRY PV introduced me to this band. somewhat related to GALNERYUS.

BABYMETAL - Ijime, Dame, Zettai was the first PV of them that I watched. very weird act especially when you watch their PV 

Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!.

[utomunukara 48]

48V. I always love fusion between traditional music and modern music and found this in 48V. Really love the atmospheric sound they made! especially a song called "Qing Ming" reminds me of Kagrra,'s

 

LUNKHEAD. Knew them since years ago, but never really interested to listen to them until I tried "memento mori" album and it's not disappointing . 

 

Mahor (ex. Catalogue of Personal Faults). love the aggressive sounds and its nice vocal 

 

タルトタタン. toooo sweet, I can't stand them

 

シリカゲル. late discovery but they're quite good

 

how to count one to ten. also a late discovery

 

Glaschelim. really good..

 

KANA-BOON. really good too..

 

CHVRCHES. really good too..

 

LILI LIMIT. quite ok

[paradoxal 2948]

Royz

I have seriously no idea why I haven't listened to them before. I've known the name for a while and actually listened to them first time after reading some nasty stuff about Subaru and Kuina, and I was mainly expecting to hate their music and give me more reasons to hate them etc. But then I somehow ended up falling in love with their music... Their music is like a drug to me, the choruses are SUPER MOTHERFUCKING CATCHY and some of the guitar riffs are just sick. And I really like Subaru's voice, I like that type of vocals. 

 

 

EAT YOU ALIVE
I started listening to them mainly because of their European tour. Clockwise was my favourite song and I fell in love with it madly. It was sad that I didn't have that much time to listen to them before the concert but the concert sure was a hell lot of fun. The members were so active on the stage and their personal vibes were so inspiring. I ended up head-banging the whole set even though I was super sick and coughing all the time so much my lungs were hurting continuously. I had to take my asthma meds like three times during the concert, I was so all over the place. (Don't worry, it was nothing contagious, so I wasn't there like trying to make all the other fans sick Just my asthma getting worse.)

MEJIBRAY
Yes, I've had my fair share with the Mejigay fandom but still I ended up falling madly in love with their two songs, a b-side from their newest single Shuuei (???) which is called Shitto (lulz for the name) and die Kusse. Yes, I fell in love with the oh-so-obvious Filth in the beauty cover. I've been blasting those two songs so much it makes my brain hurt.
And it's not that I don't like other songs, I'm sure I'll end up liking them too, I just haven't had time to truly listen to them. Actually one of my favorite "pieces" from them is their live show MEJIBRAY - Sliver Crossing @ Takadanobaba AREA 16/12/11. Meto looks super retarded, Koichi looks ridiculous, MiA has some awesome guitar skills but that Apple screen on the background kinda ruins it, Tsuzuku looks super-retarded when he's moving his head from side to side in Sabato, but still there's just something about that live. Maybe it's MiA's guitar skills combined with that super-motherfucking-awesome jacket of Tsuzuku that makes me like that live show, I have seriously no idea.

 

ADAMS

I think ADAMS is one of those "made for fangirls" bands with all the... krhm... erotic music videos etc. Not that I'm not enjoying them, I actually do.... But it's just the fanbase I'm worried about. They aren't musically that amazing, sure Shota is an amazing guitarist and the songs are very catchy, but I can't help feeling like a drooling 14-year-old fangirl when I'm watching their music videos. I somehow feel embarrassed for liking them... But still, they're so cute!! And they produce quite powerful songs, I really can't watch Seseragi without crying. I've tried multiple times but always failed miserably. I just can not hold my tears while watching that PV.

 

Crazy★shampoo

Madly in love with "The place in which I am now." There's really nothing more to add, have been blasting that song since I first heard it in 2013.