The Fashionably Late Top 60 of 2013: #51 - John Grant

When it comes to year-end lists, y'all know I don't mess around. I don't post my picks from the previous year for weeks after the next year has started. In 2013 there was a bounty of music that entered the world that made me deliriously happy to be blessed with the sense of sound. So I have pondered, marinated, and contemplated for weeks. Music from 2013 has been digested for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and yes, even dessert). And now, friends, it's time. Time to share with you what I consider the cream of one heck of a crop indeed. You might see things omitted here that you think should be on a Best Of list. This list isn't what I think you want to read. This list is what I feel about last year. These are records and songs that really mattered to me for one reason or another. If it's not here, I either didn't spend enough time with it or just didn't love it quite enough. A big, big thank you to all of the artists who created the music on this list, the music that I fell in love with last year.

WHO: John Grant

WHAT: Pale Green Ghosts

WHEN: May 2013

WHERE: Bella Union/Partisan

WHY: The more I listen to Pale Green Ghosts, the more vexed with myself I become for taking so long to get familiar with such a dynamite songwriter. That songwriter would be John Grant, a man who strikes me as a little Magnetic Fields, a little King Biscuit Time, and a little Divine Comedy, and a whole lot of something totally unlike anything else I listened to this past year. Obviously a strong songwriter, Grant has a gift for clever lines. My favorite line of the entire record is probably thus: "Etch-a-Sketch your way out of this one" from the fabulous "Blackbelt." From throbbing, sassy synths to simpler structure, Grant's earnest self-deprecation and lyrical wit is so very easy to fall for. Highly, highly recommended. 

MY JAMS: “Blackbelt” “GMF” “Why Don't You Love Me Anymore” “Sensitive New Age Guy” “I Hate This Town”






[posted 2.17.14]