The Best of 2013... in 2014

I too am sorry for the hiatus from blogging. It seems being a full-time teacher and a professor is time consuming. Who would've known? But I just had this great idea and just finished researching instead of planning for school or cleaning my room... Highlights of the year 2013 by album release date and a select single from said album! 2013 saw some amazing albums within the year and some new obsessions started to form.

January
January was sort of a slow start, but it saw the second album from Local Natives. Now, I haven't been the biggest advocate of Local Natives, but after listening to their first album 100 times, they started to grow on me a lot. Their second album is decent, but I haven't given it a focused listen.
Breakers - Local Natives

February
February brought the debut album of a group called Atlas Genius. Everyone is familiar with the song Trojans since it became pretty popular. Interesting fact: Trojans was the first song Atlas Genius finished whilst recording the album. Their other single was If So which is also a good one. I feel as if this group hasn't quite gotten the recognition they deserve... Maybe in 2014 they will.
Trojans - Atlas Genius

March
March was not too big of a month. It saw the release of an album from Woodkid, who I recently became obsessed with his song Ghost Lights on an Absolut Vodka commercial oddly enough. The commercial had a Shazam symbol to get a free download, so I did. Great life choice. Just researched his album and Ghost Lights wasn't even a single. Hopefully, it will be soon.
Ghost Lights - Woodkid

April
I know that Phoenix came out with their album Bankrupt!, but honestly what will ever be better than Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The name alone was proof that it would be an amazing album. So, April lets me focus on The Neighbourhood, who Emily and I saw at Lolla this past August and they were hilarious. The lead singer was beautiful <3. Anyway, their debut album I Love You was somewhat life changing. I just gave the album to my roommate to listen and she texted me over break saying "The Neighbourhood album is amazing!!! Thank you!!!" I just like to inspire people through music... and math. Although the classic single Sweater Weather is one of my favorites, I'm going to let you listen to another angst filled song that hits home with me. And just so we're clear, the second I saw the title of this song (W.D.Y.W.F.M.) even before hearing the song, I knew exactly what it stood for: What do you want from me? Ask Emily. I texted her about it.
W.D.Y.W.F.M. - The Neighbourhood

May
Might be the best month of the entire year... Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City, their third studio album. Now, before this year, I was always a Vampire Weekend fan, but I didn't know how serious my love was for them until we saw Ezra live at Lolla with Emily and Davis. Emily might kill me for this, but it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Notice I said one of the best, because Emily would kill me if I didn't say December 13th was the best concert of my life (private show with Alt-j ∆) They were so energetic and I somehow knew every word to all of their songs. I didn't even know I knew the words until they just poured out of me. Nothing will ever top hearing One and screaming "Jake's got a jew face" with my very best friends or the fact that they closed out with Walcott, my #1 VW song for sure because they reference my home, the garden state and Cape Cod, which I love more than anything. I got side tracked because the focus is their NEW album, which brought amazing singles to the table, including one of my favorites Step because they sing about wisdom teeth and it makes me giggle. I also had mine out in August (refer to previous post...). Okay, too long of a synopsis but this entire album/band was amazing.
Step - Vampire Weekend

June
June was one of the greatest months ever maybe... saw Alt-J for the first time, finished my first year of teaching, and Capital Cities finally debuted their first album. I had heard Safe and Sound somewhere a long time ago and when I heard they were coming out with an album, I couldn't wait. Well... it was definitely worth the wait. I've blogged about this album before, but this basically fueled my cross country road trip with my brothers this summer. We listened to this album completely (skipping Farrah Fawcett Hair feat. Andre 3000) several times considering we drove for almost 4 days straight. There are so many amazing songs on this album, but my favorite has to be Kangaroo Court. Ahh that was such a hard decision. Honorable mentions are definitely Chatreuse, Origami, and of course Safe and Sound. Looking forward to them being at Lolla 14 ::fingers crossed::
Kangaroo Court - Capital Cities

July
July, August and December are kind of slow months for album releases apparently... the only one I could find was Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and while I like them... not enough to write an entire paragraph on them. Moving onto August...

August
...and September. This month saw releases from Franz Ferdinand and The Civil Wars. Again, a fan of both, but not enough to write. Moving onto September...

September
September saw our friend Andrew and company of MGMT producing a new album, but I'd really like to talk about Chvrches. Shoutout to one follower Dawber for introducing me to Chvrches. I know he's a bigger fan than I am, but I've started to come around to them. I just bought their album The Bones of What You Believe and my favorite song is easily Recover. I like that they play Chvrches on one of my current teenage guilty pleasures: Awkward. (the only show on MTV I watch)
Recover - Chvrches

October
October was a long awaited month... the release of a second album from The Head and the Heart, the reason for my existence. The band responsible for my tattoo. Let's Be Still was released on October 15th and you know I bought that instantly. This album was much more eclectic as it went through seasons if you can understand that. Literally, they have songs called Springtime and Summertime. My favorite song on this album was absolutely Another Story. It was written right around the time of the Newtown shootings which are near to me considering I work in the Nutmeg State. If you really listen to the words, they're beautiful. I could listen to Another Story for the rest of my life if I had to on repeat, kind of like when Marshall gets the Proclaimer's I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) stuck in the Fiero and he has to listen to it on every road trip him and Ted go on. Mostly to Chitown <3 Anyway, if you haven't bought or illegally downloaded this album, you should because they are an amazing band who are oddly enough always on late night talk shows performing...
Another Story - The Head and the Heart

November
November saw Alt-J produce a Summer album full of remixes, but I'd rather focus on the Catching Fire soundtrack since it is an actual album, not just remixes (Sorry Emily). I was so excited for Catching Fire to be released and then I didn't even see it until last week. I'm the worst and also have no friends or time, but anyway, this soundtrack is up there on list of soundtracks. This soundtrack saw songs from artists such as: Coldplay, Of Monsters and Men, Imagine Dragons, Ellie Goulding, Santogold, The Lumineers, and of course the infamous Sia. She always kills me with her songs. This song, Elastic Heart, featured Diplo and The Weeknd and it perfectly embodies The Hunger Games. It's like an anthem (as all her songs are).
Elastic Heart - Sia (feat. Diplo and The Weeknd)

December
So, as I said, December wasn't that great, but I came through on 9 of the 12 months out of 2013. That's a solid 75%. 2013 saw some amazing music come out and I really can't wait for 2014. Some of the artists releasing albums are: Phantogram, Sia, Adele (?), and hopefully The Black Keys. I would also hope Of Monsters and Men would be soon too because it's been a long time since they released an album.

Well, enjoy this reminiscing post of 2013... It's time to say goodbye to 2013 and hello to new music. 161 days until Lollapalooza 2014 <3

It's a new year and as Lana says, "Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere. Nothing scares me anymore."

xxoo
Jeana