ALARM's 51 Favorite Albums of 2013

ALARM’s 51 Favorite Albums of 2013

Saving the best for last, we’ve chosen our 51 favorite albums of 2013, pulled from the acclaimed and the unsung — some of the best as well as most boundary-pushing releases from rock and beyond.

ALARM's 50 Favorite Songs of 2012

ALARM’s 50 (+5) Favorite Songs of 2012

Last month ALARM presented its 50 favorite albums of 2012, an eclectic, rock-heavy selection of discs that were in steady rotation in our downtown-Chicago premises. Now, to give some love to tunes that were left out, we have our 50 (+5) favorite songs of last year — singles, B-sides, EP standouts, soundtrack cuts, and more.

ALARM's 50 Favorite Albums of 2012

ALARM’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2012

Another year, another torrential downpour of albums across our desks. As always, we encountered way too much amazing music, from Meshuggah to The Mars Volta, Converge, Killer Mike, P.O.S, and many more.

Melechesh

ALARM’s recap of CMJ 2012 (photos)

Spread out across venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn, this year’s CMJ Music Marathon provided a glimpse at some of the year’s best emerging artists in addition to a healthy lineup of veteran performers. With five days of showcases and concerts to attend, the festival offered something for everyone, with bands representing a variety of genres.

Riot Fest: GWAR

The best of Riot Fest Chicago 2012 (in photos)

On the final weekend of the summer, Chicago’s Humboldt Park hosted the city’s eighth annual Riot Fest, the punk-, rock-, and hardcore-filled festival that has since branched to Brooklyn, Toronto, and Dallas. This year’s installment was special for more than its consolidated location in the park; it also boasted a brand-new carnival — featuring a Ferris wheel, funnel cake, and impossible-to-win prize games — to enjoy between sets.

Maynard James Keenan

Interview: Maynard James Keenan’s desert adventures — in winemaking

This content appears in the July/August iPad edition of ALARM Magazine. Download it for free and keep reading!

Puscifer: Conditions of My ParolePuscifer: Conditions of My Parole (10/18/11)

“Man Overboard”

Puscifer: “Man Overboard”

While the world’s been caught up with his musical prowess, Maynard James Keenan — the essential vocalist for Tool and A Perfect Circle and the creative lead for Puscifer — has spent the past decade teasing secrets from the soil of Verde Valley, Arizona, bottling stories squeezed from the vine.

Jack White

The best of Lollapalooza 2012 (in photos), Day 3

Maybe it was the joy of catching At the Drive-In, where we saw actual people in band T-shirts at a music festival, but of this year’s action in Grant Park, Sunday most felt like the festival’s original incarnation (still spliced with a raging dance party, of course).

Lollapalooza 2012

The best of Lollapalooza 2012 (in photos), Day 2

Saturday’s Lollapalooza festivities began well enough, with Minnesota rap collective Doomtree and soul singer/rapper Aloe Blacc providing early highlights. Things got a little less festive, however, as 60,000 people were evacuated from Grant Park in advance of a powerful storm with 70 MPH winds.