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.
Chicago has announced the artists for its free summer concert series in Millennium Park, Downtown Sound and Loops and Variations. Clear your Mondays and Thursdays.
Brokeback: Brokeback and the Black Rock (Thrill Jockey, 1/22/13)
The new album from Western-psych-rock group Brokeback featured “more than a little reverb, a sense of wide-open space, and a strong kinship with Americana,” and we here at ALARM thought it was pretty good. Now the band has premiered a video for “The Wire, the Rag, and the Payoff,” which we premiered last month.
Brokeback: Brokeback and the Black Rock (Thrill Jockey, 1/22/13)
With more than a little reverb, a sense of wide-open space, and a strong kinship with Americana, Brokeback and Black Rock is what instrumental albums should be. There is no struggle with absent vocals; these are complete compositions, finished and evocative.