The Fashionably Late Top 60 of 2013: #56 - Phosphorescent

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: Phosphorescent

WHAT: Muchacho

WHEN: March 2013

WHERE: Dead Oceans

WHY: I've been a fan of Phosphorescent (i.e. Matthew Houck) since I first heard the song "It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're From Alabama)," off 2010's Here's To Taking It Easy lp. Muchacho is the follow-up to the aforementioned record, and takes Houck's sound in a slightly different direction (as he too moved, the Alabama native now residing in Brooklyn after a stint in California). There's a bit of bombast to go along with the vintage country sound, and the twang I fell for years back is still present and happily accounted for. Houck's voice, too, that distinctive, warmly worn warble, is as hard to resist as ever.  

MY JAMS: “Song for Zula” “A Charm/A Blade” “A New Anhedonia” “The Quotidian Beasts” “Down To Go”







[posted 2.8.14]