December 16, 2013

The 10 Best Albums of 2013

Picks from MoJo music critic Jon Young, from psychedelic folk to blistering punk.

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We saw a ton of great music coming through this year and we’ve culled through it to pull out the gems for you. Below, in no particular order, are the year’s top 10 from our music critic Jon Young—albums he’s found himself going back to again and again.

 

1. Speedy Ortiz’s Major Arcana: Fronted by the charismatic, loquacious Sadie Dupuis, this muscular Boston quartet updates early ’90s faves Pixies and Pavement. (Read full review.)

2. Heliotropes’ A Constant Sea: Four Brooklyn women mix grunge, metal sludge, and psychedelia to stunning effect in an unforgettable debut.
 

3. Various Artists, King Bullard Version: Songs of the BOS Label: From Numero Group, America’s most creative archival label, comes stunning late ’60s gospel, via Cleveland.
 
4. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (film, DVD/Blu-ray): Flawed but intriguing, this lovingly crafted documentary chronicles the brief, unhappy life of the revered (albeit overhyped) ’70s Memphis pop band led by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. The soundtrack of the same name shows why they endure.

Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock earlier this year at South by Southwest (Listen.) Jacob Blickenstaff

5. Robyn Hitchcock’s Love from London: The durable ex-Soft Boy continues to muse on sex, death, and whatever in surreal, deceptively heartfelt psychedelic folk rock.

6. Radiation City’s Animals in the Median: Portland, Oregon’s Lizzy Ellison floats on air as she croons wistfully, evoking half-forgotten memories. (Read the full review.)
 
7. Van Dyke Parks’ Songs Cycled: Brian Wilson’s pal makes a triumphant return, whimsically mixing old-fashioned Americana, 20th-century classical. and goofball outsider pop. (Read the full review.)

8. Tony Joe White’s Hoodoo: Defying age, the “Polk Salad Annie” man casts an irresistible swamp-blues spell. (Read the full review.)

9. Venom P. Stinger 1986-1991: Rude and crude, this boisterous Australian quartet made the competition seem staid, with demented frontman Dugald McKenzie spearheading the attack. (Read the full review.)
 
10. Bettie Serveert’s Oh, Mayhem!: Led by the charming Carol van Dijk, the graceful Dutch pop band produces its liveliest set in many moons.

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“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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