13 Presents The List: The Top Ten Albums of 2013

Hey folks,

It’s that time of year again. The time when I take all the music that I listened to in the past year and present to you my list of the best. I know I haven’t updated in a VERY long time, and honestly, I don’t think that’s going to change. Whereas XIV still updates when he can, I have found that maintaining the blog regularly is just not something I can make work for myself. So from here on out, this will primarily be XIV’s blog. That said, I may pop up from time to time, especially when I post my yearly top ten lists, which I intend to continue making for the foreseeable future.

This year, in addition to a music list, there will also be a movie list. I published the first of my movie lists last year after watching 44 films but did not publish it to this website because at the time we were still strictly covering music here. Since we have now expanded the format to different forms of entertainment, I am happy to present them both here. I went all out this year, watching and considering 60 films before whittling the list down to 10. So that’s something else to look forward to!

I really do appreciate everyone who follows the blog and I thank you for hanging with us even when we weren’t consistent.

The 8th annual edition of “The List” will be heading your way starting tomorrow. Like last year, it will be released in four separate entries, beginning with #10 and counting down to #1. See you back here then!

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Ringing in the New Yearish Times.

Howdy folks. I’m sure that you’ve missed me as much as I’ve missed you guys. Holidays are over, school has started and everyone has a bit less time on their hands than before. And that, is Fantastic. Going to take this opportunity to express my devout gratitude to you guys for sticking with us this long and hope that you stick with us for another year. (Regardless of how often we do/do not update) Here’s to new loves, new joys, and new music to your ears. Cheers!

Two Weeks of: A Brand New Category

Howdy folks! I’m here to welcome you to a brand new category of days for the blog. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while and I hadn’t really figured out a way to do it properly until around 3:30 a.m. This idea is going to go great well at least it will in my head. And that’s the important part. Well, let’s get into it more after the jump. I’ll explain everything there.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love You, Tomorrow, You’re Only A Day Away…

So, I know today was supposed to be the day that my Albums of the Year List went up. Unfortunately, today will not be that day. Tomorrow however, will be!

Sorry for the delay guys, I really am. If it makes you feel any better, I literally did almost nothing today but listen to music and decide on the order of the list. So it WILL be up tomorrow.

See you guys then!

-13

COMING SOON

Hello Ladies and Gents! I hope you had a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, or whatever it is that you celebrate! And here’s wishing that you have a happy new year too!

I just wanted to pop in briefly to tell you to be looking for my next series of posts starting January 2nd! Every year since 2006, I have posted a list of the top albums of the year on my personal MySpace/Facebook blog, and now that I have this public blog, I’ve decided to incorporate that list here. I’ll be breaking this list down into three parts, posted on consecutive days: 10-7, 6-4, 3-2, and 1. So make sure to check back here to see what albums make the list! Past albums to be honored have been:

My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade (2006 Winner) House of Heroes – Say No More, Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight (2007 Winner), Thousand Foot Krutch – The Flame in All of Us, Paramore – Riot!, The Rocket Summer – Do You Feel?, Shinedown – Sound of Madness (2008 Winner), Fall Out Boy – Folie a Deux, Panic! at the Disco – Pretty. Odd., The Cab – Whisper War, T.I. – Paper Trail, House of Heroes – The End is Not the End (2009 Winner), Needtobreathe – The Outsiders, Florence + The Machine – Lungs, Scott Valentine – Seasons, Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More (2010 Winner), House of Heroes – Suburba, Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy, My Chemical Romance – Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, B.o.B – The Adventures of Bobby Ray, The Secret Handshake – Night & Day, Bruno Mars – Doo Wops & Hooligans, Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials (2011 Winner), Needtobreathe – The Reckoning, Icon For Hire – Scripted, Adele – 21, Noah Gunderson – Family, and many more!

See you Wednesday for the first edition!

-13

13 or XIV Days of Christmas, and The Beginning of the Hunger

Okay, so where did we leave off? Ah, We did a wonderful Coating Records session and the we seemed to disappear with the paint still on the spindle. Rest assured, although the paint dried and we left the records on the table, we’re just beginning to get back the feeling in our fingers but that’s only the first part. School is winding down to a close because the holidays are fast approaching. That means, more music flooding your ears. And that gives us the opportunity to give a bit of ear candy to some people.

13 or XIV days of Christmas!

Sometimes over the next 27ish days, we’re going to go over 14 different songs dedicated to people (or perhaps code names of people) who helped us out throughout our lives with songs that either remind us of them or bring the light to our heads over them. So, stay tuned!

Ingrid Michaelson and the New Way XIV lives

I love Music. Yes, I made “music” capitalized for a reason. Second to dreaming, other than my necessities, I would do nothing but listen to Music all day. I practically do, except for during work and the like. It’s a borderline obsession. Although, I can think of worse things to be addicted to. My love of Music was accelerated by working in a CD store for two years and have access to some of the best Music this side fo the Mason-Dixon line. Back in the Mid-Late Mid 2000s I heard a song on an Old Navy Commercial that would eventually change the way I heard Music. That was this song:

And Now, For Something Completely Different…

Okay, maybe not completely. My partner does have a different background than me, and his musical tastes don’t match mine exactly. But I suspect we won’t disagree on everything. In fact, I hope we don’t. Although it would be boring for our opinions to line up repeatedly, part of my hope in participating in this blog is that when we do agree, you, our loyal followers, will be the richer for it. Few things please me more than introducing someone to a new song or band that they can love as much as I do, and if we both like it, well, let’s just say I respect XIV’s opinions enough that I think it will be worth a listen.

Which brings me to what this blog is going to be about. The idea here is to recommend music to you, be it single songs or, sometimes, entire albums. Since we are on different schedules, XIV and I will usually recommend something on our own for your listening pleasure, which the other of us may or may not comment on. Occasionally though, we would like to double review some things for you, (probably entire albums) to give you a sort of Ebert & Roeper type thing for music (only hopefully, a little more fun). Those guys definitely have different opinions, but their approach can feel the same, and after a while that can get boring. XIV and I are good friends, but our personalities are different enough that that shouldn’t be the case here.

I guess I’ll close out this intro by talking a little bit about my background. In addition to being a huge fan of pretty much all popular music genres, I am also a musician, and have spent time lending my vocals to things as wide-ranging as choirs, pop groups, jazz groups, and yes, a rock band (as admittedly short-lived as that was). I also went to school for music for two years before changing my major, so I have a bit of the “University knowledge”. I don’t say any of that to gloat though, or to make myself sound like the superior judge of music. Far from it. If I didn’t think that my partner had interesting things to say and interesting ways to bring them to you, I wouldn’t have signed on to this project (which was entirely his idea).  I only tell you my background to give you an idea of where I am coming from, and what I bring to the table.

I’m genuinely excited about this. As I said, I love introducing people to new things that are awesome, and I am confident that I have a few things like that to throw your way. Thanks for following us, and we’ll get this thing started soon.

-13

My Introduction

Hello Readers,

Welcome to the first post of 13&XIV. I’m XIV and I’ll be one of your cruise directors for the remainder of your journey. I’ll get my partner  to throw a line as soon as I can. But, I wanted to give you a rundown of the game plan from here on out.  Game plan is, “we’ll have as much fun as possible before the world implodes”. I’ll throw somethings your way and so will my compatriot. And everyone once in a while we’ll drop some double knowledge on you.

Have a bite of that logic.

We are very different people so our timing will most likely not be the same every time but rest assured, I won’ t forget you.

I’ve been around music my whole life, and I’ve spent a great deal of time forgetting myself in the beat. I tend to lean toward songs with great instrumentals but I always come back to the vocals. Every Genre is my playground and every song is the earth beneath my feet. I look forward to jamming with you guys in the future.

-XIV