Tag Archives: Holy Fire

Submerge’s Top 30 Albums of 2013

Music is awesome, isn’t it? Whether intentional or not, music is a big part of everyone’s lives. It’s all around us: on TV, in ads, in our headphones and earbuds attached to our smart phones with streaming audio. Chances are if you’re reading Submerge, you love music too. Even though there is more great music being made than ever and access to it is becoming easier and easier, it’s still sometimes hard to know where to look to discover new tunes. Enter Submerge’s annual year-end best-of list! In 2013 there were so many amazing albums released that we actually expanded this story to feature the top 30 instead of the top 20. You’ll notice that a lot of this list, approximately 50 percent, is local. That’s not by mistake. That’s not because we tried to include local albums just to round out our list. No, we just have that much talent right here in our own city.

Compiled by all of our contributing writers and staff, we hope this list will help you discover something new. And because all of our attention spans are so short nowadays (are you still with us?), we kept our reviews to 140 characters or less, because we all know that reading someone’s short, to-the-point Twitter post is a helluva lot better than reading someone’s four-paragraph-long Facebook rant. Now, set forth and discover some new jams! Who knows, your new favorite band/album may be waiting for you somewhere on this list.

danny brown-old-web

30.

Danny Brown
Old

Fool’s Gold

What can you say about Danny Brown? He’s rap’s Jim Morrison, The Lizard King. Old has been on repeat since the day I got it. And will be.

run-the-jewels-web

29.

Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels

Fool’s Gold

As dope as promised, it gets no better than this. Killer Mike is at his best, and El-P provides the perfect sonic-scape for destruction.

Biosexual-The Window Wants the Bedroomweb

28.

Biosexual
The Window Wants the Bedroom

Debacle

Fantastically produced debut album of avant-garde supergroup featuring the great Jocelyn of ALAK, brother Michael RJ Saalman and Zac Nelson.

paper pistols-deliver us from chemicals-web

27.

Paper Pistols
Deliver Us From Chemicals

Self-released

2 can do it all. Skinner & Lydell are all binary: beard/belle; drum/voice; age/youth; decadent/austere; beautiful/music.

EGG-Overly Easy-web

26.

EGG
Overly Easy

Self-released

If Cake and Phish had a baby? Close, but doesn’t quite describe this amazing band. An infectious sound that makes you wanna get up and GO.

MIA-Matangi-web

25.

M.I.A.
Matangi

N.E.E.T.

M.I.A. is pissed off, and still fresh as ever, rapping over aggressive beats and keeping the Sri Lankan sound alive.

The Men-New Moon-web

24.

The Men
New Moon

Sacred Bones

Brooklyn noise punks retreat to a rural cabin, finding a balance between a Mudhoney dustup and a Grateful Dead peace-in.

Gauntlet Hair-Stills-web

23.

Gauntlet Hair
Stills

Dead Oceans

Gauntlet Hair dropped the dopest, weirdest album we’ve heard in a minute and then immediately broke up. Spacey, strange, with a dash of pop.

Jacuzzi Boys-Self Titled-web

22.

Jacuzzi Boys
Jacuzzi Boys

Hardly Art

The Miami trio switched things up with a more polished than pure garage sound. Still playful and infectious, just adding new dimensions.

Gap Dream-Shine Your Light-web

21.

Gap Dream
Shine Your Light

Burger

Mid-tempo sex appeal born of psychedelic melancholy and rock ‘n’ roll disco; drugs, dance, drugs, booze, dance, fuck.

Miley Cyrus-Bangerz-web

20.

Miley Cyrus
Bangerz

RCA
 
Crying cats ftw! The most dissed/discussed AoY; w/ hits by Dr. Luke, Pharrell & Mike WiLL, twerk! This is Miley’s year.

chuuwee-thrill-web

19.

Chuuwee
Thrill

Self-released

With rap albums you usually either get bangin’ trap beats OR real lyricism. On Thrill you get both. One of Sac’s best in top form.

Century Got Bars & Bru Lei-web

18.

Century Got Bars & Bru Lei
Midtown Marauders

Self-released

A flawless Tribe tribute and audible tour of this fair city’s nucleus. If you’ve spent more than five seconds in Midtown, you want this. 

David Bowie-The Next Day-web

17.

David Bowie
The Next Day

RCA

Charming, confidently progressive with kick-ass guitar solos. It’s classic Bowie with a modern, enthusiastically suspended twist.

Black Sabbath-13-web

16.

Black Sabbath
13

Vertigo/Universal

Pure smokin’ stoner doom rock at its finest! Timeless lyrics and riffs. This album picks up where the band left off with Ozzy 30 years ago.

Nails-Abandon All Life-web

15.

Nails
Abandon All Life 

Southern Lord

Yeah, it’s a light version of Unsilent Death (the most brutal album ever), but it’s still hard and evil enough to kill your grandma.   

Bombino-Nomad-web

14.

Bombino
Nomad

Nonesuch

A perfect album for trekking the Sahara. Blues guitar, smooth Tuareg vox, steady rhythm. Produced by Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys).

meat puppets-rat farm-web

13.

Meat Puppets
Rat Farm

Megaforce Records

Return to form for desert-baked Brothers Kirkwood. Simple, honest, catchy… Bare bones and poignant. May the Puppets live forever.

Foals-Holy Fire-web

12.

Foals
Holy Fire

Transgressive

With Holy Fire, these British boys delivered their most focused (and heaviest) album to date, bringing a new meaning to “modern rock.”

City of Vain-Backs Against the Wall-web

11.

City of Vain
Back Against the Wall

Self-released

Sacto punkers bring forth one of the best punk rock records of the year, not just locally, but globally. Warm tones and classic style!

Middle Class Rut-pick-up-your-head-web

10.

Middle Class Rut
Pick Up Your Head

Bright Antenna

More fierce rock ‘n’ roll from Sac’s Dynamic Duo…and we <3 it! Grimy grooves and distorted chaos mark MC Rut’s best album to date. horseneck-the worst people ever-web

09.

Horseneck
The Worst People Ever

Artery

Booze-fueled bone-breaking sludge metal with a sense of humor. This EP gives Sac’s heavy music fans something to smile about.

Tel Cairo-Voice of Reason-web

08.

Tel Cairo
Voice of Reason

Illicit Artists

Tel Cairo is the best kind of weird. If Kurt Cobain made hip-hop music in space it would sound like Tel Cairo’s Voice of Reason.

Foxygen-web

07.

Foxygen
We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic

Jagjaguwar

Flamboyantly lilting pop with occasional Jagger twists; creates proneness for nymph-like prancing, sometimes mincing.

Death Grips-Government Plates-web

06.

Death Grips
Government Plates

Self-released

A dizzying mix of poetry, yelling and other stuff people hate. But in the eloquent words of MC Ride, “Fuck your idols/ Suck my dick.”

Screature-web

05. 

Screature
Screature

Ethel Scull

A solid debut by the Sacramento quartet. Guttural lyrical torrents coalesce with shadowy, rhythmic tones, blending into a dynamic framework of sound.

chk chk chk-thriller-web

04.

!!!
THR!!!ER

Warp Records

Your favorite dance-punk band is back again with more rump shaking, baby making, all-night-party-inducing tunes. Instant classic!

Cove-Candles-web

03.

Cove
Candles

Self-released

It’s an insightful album. An emotional excavation replete with lyrical fluidity, melodic flirtations and a groovy aftertaste.

Doombird-Cygnus-web

02.

Doombird
Cygnus

Eightmaps

Vivid percussive landscapes seen through a celestial-tinged lens. Spacey harmonies embedded within hypnotic textures and bright timbres.

Chelsea Wolfe-Pain Is Beauty-web

01.

Chelsea Wolfe
Pain Is Beauty

Sargent House

A beautifully haunting album. Wolfe’s ghostly vocals, layered with cascading guitars, violins and synths, will put you in a trance.

The Sound of Arriving

Foals continue their evolution with latest release Holy Fire

With the release of their third full-length album Holy Fire, Oxford, England-based rock quintet Foals have shown immense growth as a band, proving they have more diversity in their sound than most critics and reviewers thought possible. Much more ballsy and hard-edged than Foals’ 2010 sophomore album Total Life Forever and especially more mature sounding than their 2008 debut Antidotes (which has since become sort of a relic), Holy Fire is the band’s most direct and focused work to date. As their official bio puts it, “This is the sound of Foals arriving.”

“We’re definitely not the same band that we were when we were making Antidotes,” admits singer/guitarist Yannis Philippakis in a recent interview with Submerge. “It’s definitely been a process of us growing up through each record, so I’d expect them to be different. It keeps it fresh for us. It’s a constant evolution. What we sound like is the five of us making music, but it’s not in a definable box. All three records have been quite different, yet I feel that there is something consistent to the three of them. There is something identifiably us about each of the records.”

With an intense couple years of touring ahead of them playing sold-out club shows and giant festivals all over the world, Philippakis took some time to chat with Submerge over the phone from Zurich, Switzerland, in anticipation of their April 20 Sacramento show at Ace of Spades, just one day after the band plays Coachella.

Leading up to the release of Holy Fire, I was shocked to hear how heavy and gritty the first single “Inhaler” was. Then when “My Number” dropped, I was equally thrown off by how polished, clean and dance-y it was. What was the thought process behind releasing those two contrasting tracks first?
Just to throw people off the scent, really. I guess to show the diversity in the record. Definitely putting out “Inhaler” was the kind of thing where we relish in surprising people and being unpredictable to some extent. I think it was the song that we felt was the furthest from what had come before. And then “My Number,” you know, it was just the second song released, there wasn’t a particular tactic. I think it’s good to show people the scope of the record.

It keeps listeners off guard and seems like it’s a fun way to make it playful.
Yeah, exactly, playfulness is the right word. It keeps things exciting. It makes it feel less like you’re putting a product out and it actually becomes more psychological I guess.

Quite a few parts on the new album have a sticky, swampy, sort of delta-vibe to them. Where did that come from?
I think it came from different vantage points. One of the formative experiences was recording in Sydney, outside. We were in a studio, and it wasn’t really gelling. It just felt unnatural to be in a dark room while it was gorgeous weather outside, so we relocated to a river house. I think being surrounded by the natural environment and by insects in particular, things just sounded different in that environment. We felt it was an inspiring way to textualize the songs. It also similarly came from an imaginary understanding of things like the Delta and the Bayou, like old Alan Lomax recordings. You can smell the sweat on a lot of old blues and gospel recordings. There is a zealous energy to it. It just seeped into our pores basically, and it started to become what subliminally we were trying to achieve on certain tracks.

How was it working with Flood and Alan Moulder, two people who produced and engineered some of your favorite albums growing up?
It was great. It definitely brought stability to the recording process. There was a trust there. We were working with these elder statesmen of the British recording business, you know? It brought a balance. It made us feel content and confident. It turned the volume down on the neurosis that sometimes plagued our experiences of making records before.

Holy Fire has been out for a while now, and the reviews are all in. You’ve had time to breathe and sort of let things settle. What is it like to look back on it now? Relieved? Anxious to write new material?
I feel good about it. I feel like I kind of want to make another record already.

After the last two records did you immediately feel that urge?
Maybe not as much, but I don’t think it has anything to do with this specific record. At the moment I’ve got kind of an impulsive urge to produce more. Maybe in some ways it’s the pressure of the time that it takes, you know? It takes two years to tour and write. I want to be able to spend more time creating and then releasing quicker—not such a retracted period. There is such a long build up before we actually get to put music out into the world. A little of it is coming from that. But in terms of how I feel, I feel good about the record. It is what it is. It is a document of where we were at the time, and I think it sounds great. I have no real urge to re-do the record, I just want to make another one. I want to write the next paragraph in the book.

I thought I read somewhere that you said you have one more album in you lyrically. Still think that holds true?
I can’t say for sure, but I definitely have one more, then we’ll have to see. I feel like musically speaking we could write music and instrumentals, like riffs and pieces of music, for a long time. I don’t think there’s any kind of cap on that. I’m just not sure lyrically if I can… Trying to write songs is a different task. I definitely feel like I’ve got enough right now to do one more, but it just depends I guess on the life experience I have in the next two years. I feel like there’s a trap in contentedness. You slow down, you start to enjoy cooking, you have a pleasantly moderate social life, everything gets comfortable. And then that booming desire to spend all of your time working on music and trying to get yourself mentally into a place where you can write songs that you feel are meaningful is something that maybe the inclinations for it lessen. What I don’t want to do is make music without…I don’t want to do it for applause, or for money, or for security. I just want to feel like I’ve got some burning desire to make something and to say something. So, it depends.

The last time you were in the States you had a weird experience in Detroit, right? What can you tell me about that day on tour?
We had been touring for a while, and we got to Detroit. It was just a special moment. I felt something in that city, and I’ve felt it every time I’ve been there. But I had a specific encounter with a street drummer named Larry. He and I hung out for a little while and he was playing these incredible drum rudiments, real precision drumming but on a couple of trashcans. We got high together, and it was just kind of a semi-spiritual moment.

That’s pretty cool. Were you just out wandering the streets?
Yeah, kind of. We had played the show and it was great, it was fun. I just crossed the road and I could hear the sound of him drumming. I followed the sound. I was kind of entranced by it. Then you know there’s like these burnt out tenements behind him and the whole thing was just very surreal. For a middle class boy from England, to be in that sort of environment, the experience is just sort of a special one for me.

You and Larry are from two totally different worlds yet music, more specifically the rhythms that drew you to him, were sort of your guys’ common ground.
Yeah, exactly. There was just a real beauty to the way that he was playing, and that was kind of all he had on him were these two trashcans and some drumsticks.

Maybe Yannis will run into a Sacramento street performer and have another semi-spiritual tour moment when his band Foals hits Ace of Spades on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Locals Cold Eskimo and Desario will open the show. Doors open at 7 p.m. and all ages are welcome. Hit up Dimple Records, The Beat or http://aceofspadessac.com/ for tickets. Foals will also be at Dimple Records on Arden at 2 p.m. on April 20 for an in-store performance and signing.