The Fashionably Late Top 60 of 2013: #1c – Snowden

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 of 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: Snowden

WHAT: No One In Control

WHEN: May 2013

WHERE: Serpents And Snakes

WHY: I have waited something close to seven long years for this record, and as impatient a girl as I am, I have to say it was worth the wait. They pick up pretty much right where they left off. Listening to it, it’s almost as if the past seven years never happened, and along comes the new Snowden record right on schedule. This is an unusual album for me, because there’s not a single song on No One In Control that I don’t love to pieces. They’re all amazing, all full of that delicious fuzz-centric prettiness coupled with smoky smooth serpentine vocals, some spiky guitar, and an endless, exquisitely haunting haze of an atmosphere. More often than not, Snowden is transcendent (see: “So Red,” “Anemone Arms,” "Hiss," “Don’t Really Know Me” etc etc etc). These are songs to stir your senses, songs to make you remember, songs to make you forget, and songs to fall in love with (or perhaps even fall in love to).

MY JAMS: Every single song













[posted 3.20.14]