HYPETRAK Top 10 Albums of 2013

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It’s that time of the year again. As 2013 comes to an end, the moment has arrived to take a look back and see what musical gifts the past 12 months had in store for us. While we usually list our Top 50 choices for each category, we decided to switch things up a little this time around. In this year’s End of Year-list edition, we share with you our top 10 choices plus six notable mentions of the following categories: Album Of The Year, Song of the Year, Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. In addition, you are invited to voice your opinion by selecting one of the 20 listed options from the poll form below. In case you do not agree with any of them, you can debate as to why in the comment section. The result of your votes will be shown on January 2.

Today we present you our top 10 album choices, spearheaded by James Blake’s brilliant sophomore release Overgrown. It faced tough competition from two of the most talked-about full-length offerings this year: Kanye West’s Yeezus and Drake’s Nothing Was The Same offerings. Despite its mixtape format, its complexity and cohesiveness catapulted Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap to our top 10 ranking. See below who else made it on our list.

Overgrown

James Blake

Sophomore releases tend to be crucial for the longevity of every recording artist’s career. While his excellent self-titled debut album has made him a key figure within the indie and electronic circuits, James Blake’s second full-length offering Overgrown has raised the bar more than just one step higher. Driven by the juxtaposition between lyrics of love, pining and loneliness with harmonious music, Overgrown beautifully showcases the complexity of Blake’s sonic palette as well as his abilities as a composer. As virtuosic and genre-bending his debut album was, it takes things even one step further in terms of consistence and growth, making the 25-year old singer-songwriter and producer one of the most influential musicians of our time.

Yeezus

Kanye West

Kanye West’s Yeezus acts as an embodiment of both art and music. With its sound largely borrowing inspiration from Parisian museum The Louvre, Kanye steers away from traditional hip-hop elements, pushing the culture into a different, but much-needed direction.

Nothing Was The Same

Drake

Nothing Was The Same serves as an open diary, conveying emotions in a way that’s unseen in current pop music. Fueled with vibrant songs like “Started from the Bottom,” “Worst Behavior and “All Me,” Drake delivers one of the most universal LPs this year.

Acid Rap

Chance The Rapper

Cohesive and complex, Acid Rap brings a level of enjoyment and energy to Chance the Rapper’s music which makes it hard not to connect and see the vivid stories he paints with lyrics — and catapults the Chicago native to hip-hop’s elite.

The Bones of What You Believe

CHVRCHES

Carried by powerful hooks, emotive songwriting and vocal delivery, CHVRCHES’s debut LP offers a seamless fusion of these elements that also challenges our musical imagination.

Random Access Memories

Daft Punk

Breaking from their usual sound, Daft Punk delivers an LP infused with live instrumentation. Loved by the critics and fans alike, RAM garnered Grammy nominations and spawned the ubiquitous “Get Lucky” single.

Because The Internet

Childish Gambino

Opting to go left with the likes of his animated artwork & the backdrop of a screenplay, Childish Gambino’s latest concept-driven album, which features memorable guest contributions, shows that the multi-faceted artist in a class of his own.

Doris

Earl Sweatshirt

With fans and the music industry awaiting his return after his mysterious disappearance from his rise in celebrity status, Earl Sweatshirt played his cards right by suppliying one of this year’s finest LPs, intertwined with intricate wordplay and a solid beat selection.

Aleph

Gesaffelstein

After two years of production, the Yeezus collaborator Gesaffelstein offers us his debut offering Aleph. The album shines bright in thematic consistency & coherence in sound, but also brilliantly couples modern techno with a wild range of genres.

Wolf

Tyler, the Creator

Ripe with juicy beats and complex lyricism, Wolf is an album filled with personal confessions and controversial commentary, but also demonstrates that its composer should be taken seriously as a producer, and most of all, a truly original artist.

Notable Mentions