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    • Best of 2012

2013 Top 5 Lists

So, 2013 is coming to a close. We've decided to bring you the best of 2013 according to a selection of our favourite music industry people. See below for 2013 Top 5 lists from Melbourne musicians Courtney Barnett, Jaye Kranz (Brighter Later), The Orbweavers and Wintercoats, indie record labels Mistletone and Lost and Lonesome, 3RRRFM broadcaster Jonathan Alley, MadfaMusic Feature Album writer and 3RRRFM broadcaster Fee B-Squared and music photographer Tony Proudfoot. 
 

The Orbweavers

These are our favourite Australian albums of 2013.

They are all unique in vision, each album creating a distinctive and rich lyrical world.
  1. Oliver Mann – Slow Bark
  2. Dick Diver – Calendar Days
  3. Pikelet -  Calluses
  4. Ross McLennan – The Night’s Deeds are Vapour
  5. Jen Cloher – In Blood Memory   

 
 
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Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk, Northcote Social Club, 3 August 2013. Photo by Tony Proudfoot
 

Sophie Miles - Mistletone

These are my top 5 Mistletone Melting Moments of 2013...

1. Spunk Tones at Mullumbimby Town Hall
Melting into a humid summer night in a country hall, with Beach House, a gob smacking solo set by Sharon Van Etten and spine-tingling Wintercoats magick. Heaven in the hinterlands.

2. Jonathan Richman at FYF, Los Angeles
I've seen Jonathan Richman before (years ago), but nothing could prepare me for this. On a small stage in the early afternoon sun, the plain truth & sincerity of JoJo split my heart wide open. "When we refuse to suffer / When we refuse to feel / We suffer more / It's like air-conditioning / When we should be out in the summertime". I'm close to blubbering, just thinking about it now. Pure joy.

3. Angel Olsen at the Fletcher Opera Theater, Hopscotch Music Festival, Raleigh, North Carolina
I can't remember being so completely floored by a performance. Angel Olsen is my queen. All of us in the front row were her devoted subjects that night, in utter thrall.

4. Mac cheese at Poole's Diner, Raleigh, North Carolina
So much melt. I've always considered myself quite the mac cheese connoisseur, but now I may never eat mac cheese again; disappointment could only bring disappointment.

5. Sonny & The Sunsets at Some Velvet Morning, Clifton Hill
Someone called it an "non government-approved impromptu shimmy party". The worst kept secret gig in town on a Monday night, a groovy small bar crammed to the rafters. Winner!
 
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Jello Biafra & Guantanamo School of Medicine, Corner Hotel, 11 May 2013. Photo by Tony Proudfoot

Tony Proudfoot - Photographer

Top 5 gigs I photographed in 2013

1. Gary Clark Jr, Corner Hotel, 22 Jan 2013
2. Jello Biafra & Guantanamo School of Medicine, Corner Hotel, 11 May  2013
3. Chris Wilson & Shane O‘Mara, Newport Substation, 8 June 2013
4. Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk, Northcote Social Club, 3 August 2013
5. The Fauves, Corner Hotel, 31 August 2013
 
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Gary Clark Jr, Corner Hotel, 22 Jan 2013. Photo by Tony Proudfoot
 

Jaye Kranz - Brighter Later

These are my Top 5 moments of musical bliss in 2013

  1. Volcano Choir’s song "Comrade" — on clear vinyl.
  2. Martha Wainwright soundchecking “Four Black Sheep” at the Sydney Opera House.
  3. Jogging while Mayer Hawthorn’s “Strange Arrangement” came on shuffle and suddenly feeling like the lead in a romantic drama  ... turned comedy... with a jogging plot.
  4. Listening to Low Roar on maximum volume, in the Victorian goldfields, in the middle of winter, in the pouring rain.
  5. Rediscovering the Cocteau Twins.
 
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Chris Wilson & Shane O‘Mara, Newport Substation, 8 June 2013. Photo by Tony Proudfoot
 

Mark Monnone - Lost & Lonesome

My Top 5 musical moments of 2013

  1. Personal & the Pizzas at Boney 2am slot
  2. The Ancients 'Night Bus' album
  3. Totally Mild 'Castanet' tape
  4. Sonny & the Sunsets at Some Velvet Morning
  5. Architecture in Helsinki at the Corner

 

Courtney Barnett

Top 5 best views out the car window on tour:
  • Townsville to Cairns, the whole thing
  • Darwin to Litchfield National Park
  • Newcastle to Sydney, that bit over the Hawkesbury river, near Brooklyn
  • Melbourne to Adelaide, the koala 
  • Up Mount Wellington, Hobart

PS. Here are the top 5 best videos I watched this year too!
  • Teeth & Tongue - Good Man
  • The Drones - I See Seaweed
  • Jen Cloher - Hold My Hand
  • Batpiss - Loose Screws
  • Big Scary - Twin Rivers
 
 

Wintercoats

Favourite Tracks from Favourite Albums 2013

1. Nils Frahm – Spaces
Favourite Track(s): "For/Peter/Toilet Brushes/More"

2. Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe
Favourite Track: "One Half"

3. Montero – The Loving Gaze
Favourite Track: "Dead Heads Come To Dinner"

4. Pascal Babare – Sorry, Morning
Favourite Track: "Nonna"

5. Yo La Tengo – Fade
Favourite Track: "The Point of It"
 
 

Jonathan Alley - 3RRRFM

Top 5 gigs of 2013

1. Springsteen at Hanging Rock 
Springsteen fans are very serious about Bruce. They compare set-lists, they create song-request signs, they save up thousands between tours to ensure admission to four or five shows. And now, I understand why. 100%, at all times, with the best, brassiest, baddest band you ever saw.  Absolutely compelling and ecstatic to boot. You MISSED it? 

2. Einsturzede Neubaten at The Palace 
A thrilling journey to the outer limits of sound writ large. Compelling, confronting, crushing. Silience was never so loud, volume was never so subtle. 

3. The Scientists, ATP Melbourne 
Lighting and a whip-crack in the air, Bond themes, Jonathan Richman covers, the songs that made them great, a brilliant (and ear-crashingly loud) mix. I was too young to see the Scientists in their heyday: close to actual perfection; truly riveting.

4. PIL at The Palace
Lydon's hyperactive media hyperbole aside, musically speaking this show was so energised and engaged. Lydon's passion for his music hasn't diminished, there were no hectoring theatrics, just the songs. Lu Edmonds' wild array of stringed instruments was a wonderful surprise. Brilliant show. 

5. Red Kross at Golden Plains 
These brothers are just the real deal. No, I'd never seen them before. Were they simply the utterly perfect early- evening-Saturday-with-beers-in-hand-band? Yes thank you. The Meredith Natural Amphitheatre in autumnal mode lapped it up: scrappy, scalding, and sweet; woo-ha a-bludgeon a riff -a-rama hoo ha!  
 
 

Fee B-Squared - 3RRRFM/MadfaMusic

Top 5...actually, make that 4 Tracks I Liked from 4 Album Covers I Hated
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Every time I played "A Tooth For An Eye" IT HURT MY LOOKING BALLS!

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I played "Free At Dawn" on air a few times but this album cover, I mean, where do I start?
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Sweet Jesus!  What the actual what? "Despair" was the song I loved, and despair was what I felt about the cover art.
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"Magic Light" was a great track from these creeps.


View the MadfaMusic top tracks, albums, videos and gigs of 2013 here.
 
Picture
The Fauves, Corner Hotel, 31 August 2013. Photo by Tony Proudfoot
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