Burn the Bowery Favorite 20 Albums of 2013

So many great albums in 2013, a truly fantastic year for music in my opinion. Usually something I agonize over for weeks, this was one of the easiest year end lists I've made to date.
This year I'll be bringing you my top 5 albums list plus my best of the rest.
As always thanks for stopping in throughout the year it's much appreciated. Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!!

THE TOP  5:

#5 THE DODOS- CARRIER
A somber yet beautifully retrospective disc that deals with the death of their former bandmate Christopher Reimer. Same melodic qualities you would expect from the SF band with heavier themes this go round. One of their best.
Favorite track- "Confidence"
Other standouts- "Substance" "Holidays" and "The Current"

#4 NIGHT BEDS- COUNTRY SLEEP
Young and incredibly talented, Nashville's Winston Yellen released one of the years finest debut LP's. With a wild vocal range and heartfelt sentimental lyrics, this album is stacked from top to bottom with heartbreaking numbers.
Favorite track- "Lost Springs"
Other standouts- "22" "Even if We try" and "Cherry Blossoms"

 

#3 GAMBLES- TRUST
Tackling intensely personal subjects like divorce and miscarriage doesn't make Trust an easy listen.  But it's done so purely and so raw, just a voice and a guitar, that it's one of the most powerful things you'll hear this year.
Favorite track- "So I Cry Out"
Other standouts- "Animal" "Your Are the Truth" and "Angel"

#2 TYPHOON- WHITE LIGHTER
This big 11 piece orchestral collective out of Portland released their sophomore full length in 2013. A big, bold and joyful effort that juxtaposes singer Kyle Morton's songs about sickness, death and lost childhood.
Favorite track- "Young Fathers"
Other standouts- "Hunger and Thirst" "Common Sentiments" and "Dreams of Cannibalism"

#1 THE NATIONAL- TROUBLE WILL FIND ME
If you know me I'm sure this comes as no surprise at all. I don't hide the fact that The National are my favorite band. As obscure as their lyrics can sometimes be there's always been something that speaks to me in Berninger's anxiety filled stories. As nerve wracking as it can be when a favorite artist releases something new,  Trouble Will Find Me did not disappoint in any way shape or form. It's way too early to judge if it's their best album to date, but it does see the group hitting their stride and sounding as confident and tight as ever.
Favorite track- "Don't Swallow the Cap"
Other standouts- "Pink Rabbits" "Heavenfaced" and "I Should Live in Salt"


THE BEST OF THE REST (in alphabetical order):

CAVEMAN- SELF TITLED


CHVRCHES- THE BONES OF WHAT YOU BELIEVE


DAUGHTER- IF YOU LEAVE


FRIGHTENED RABBIT- PEDESTRIAN VERSE


GENERATIONALS- HEZA


HAYDEN- US ALONE


LOCAL NATIVES- HUMMINGBIRD


MODERN KIN- SELF TITLED


PARQUET COURTS- LIGHT UP GOLD


PHOSPHERESCENT- MUCHACHO


PICKWICK- CANT TALK MEDICINE


VAMPIRE WEEKEND- MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY


WATER LIARS- WYOMING


WAXAHATCHEE- CERULEAN SALT


JESSE WOODS- GET YOUR BURDENS LIFTED



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Gambles- "265" & "So I Cry" Out (Live Acoustic Session)

Gambles debut album Trust came out earlier this month, and it's all sorts of wonderful. Check out these powereful acoustic performances of album tracks"265" and "So I Cry" that he performed for the folks at Shufsounds.


http://www.gmbls.com

New Video: Gambles- "So I Cry Out"

Sometimes a song will come along that just hits you like a punch in the gut. The lyrics, the emotion, the story, that perfect combination that can create goosebumps. That's how I got when I first heard the tunes of Matthew Daniel Siskin aka Gambles, and how I still feel today with each new track I discover from this talented new artist. His debut full length Trust comes out this Oct. 1st and it features this stunner of a track, "So I Cry Out" which he just premiered a new video for.

http://www.gmbls.com/

Song of the Week: Gambles- "So I Cry Out"

There may not be an artist's music that has touched me more this year than the work of Matthew Daniel Siskin, Aka Gambles. His 'Far From Your Arms' EP has been on constant repeat with it's stripped back raw sound and emotional lyrics cutting right through me.
Gambles also has a debut full length on the way called Trust, and it hits shelves this Oct.1. The LP features the heart-breaker of a track "So I Cry Out" which premiered yesterday on Stereogum.  


GAMBLES- "SO I CRY OUT"

so here we are
in the final stand
kids grown up
by the hardest
of circumstance
its sad to blame
when things
go from good
to dark
we tried a very
long time to start
so I cry out
and I cry out
and you
hide your eyes
so I cry out
and I cry out
our world
we can not
recognize
but if we had
made
what we tried
to have
that boy or girl
would have
been
so loved
had a dad
so I'll cry out
and I cry out
and you just
hold my hand
so I'll cry out
and I cry out
but you
cannot look
in my eyes
and love
has hands
while the moon
holds the tiniest
eye
but whose to choose
who will grow
who will laugh
who will die
so I cry out
and I cry out
and you
cannot look at me
so I cry out
and I cry out
I wish that I felt
differently
so here we are
in the final stand
kids grown up
by the hardest
of circumstance

find more at http://www.gmbls.com/

Gambles- "Far From Your Arms"

Gambles is the project of Matthew Daniel Siskin, who's debut EP Far From Your Arms came out this May. I heard the self-titled track from the EP just the other day and it has just left me floored ever since. It's one of the most raw, beautiful, and powerful things I've come across so far this year.


Gambles- "Far From Your Arms"
Far from your arms
it's taken me
through cities far
they've carried me
on the sound of a heart
barely holding on
you breath my lungs
you keep me strong

Smelled the cities hell
climbed the iron stares
traded clouds for dreams
lost a year at sea
on the sound of man
barely holding on
you breath my lungs
you keep me strong

But we're going down
nowhere I been
in a hollow sound
so hard to live

But through these roads
I move to you
heels dragging slow
but they drag for you
on the sound of a heart
stretched far so wide
you breath my lungs
stand by my side

But we're going down
nowhere I been
in a hollow sound
so hard to live

I'm an honest man
no harm to give
and on my blood
I will come home again

Far from your arms
it's taken me
through cities far
they've carried me
on the sound of a heart
barely holding on
you breath my lungs
you keep me strong

But we're going down
nowhere I been
in a hollow sound
so hard to live

I'm an honest man
no harm to give
and on my blood
I will come home again

more at https://www.facebook.com/iamgambles