As 2014 begins, here’s a look back at all of the great “Best of 2013” entries we’ve run over the past few weeks. In addition to all of these articles, we also posted this mixtape of 2013 highlights, and this massive playlist of over a hundred releases by local bands last year.
Our Best of 2013 coverage:
- Eric Barleen of Another Planet Entertainment wrote about Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers, discussing how 2013 became “the year of the Grambler”
- Jason Shane collected some of The Bay Bridged’s best coverage of the year, including important stories about art and technology, young music critics, and the work of Women’s Audio Mission
- Daniel Senter surveyed 2013’s highlights from East Bay artists, including Bill Baird, Dan Casey, Glenn Jackson and more
- Marc Ribak of Total Trash Productions celebrated Pookie and the Poodlez, music he described as “like eating good food with your hands and getting the juices all over the place.”
- Roman Gokhman discussed his favorite concerts of 2013, including Jessie Ware, Paul McCartney, The Vaccines and many more
- Russell Jelinek wrote about local highlights from 2013 including Cool Ghouls, John Murry, and WOOF, and included a playlist of his favorite local videos
- Dan Strachota of the Rickshaw Stop described Cocktails‘s debut seven-inch as “Pop, yeah, but with fangs. Grit under the fingernails. Some low-end bourbon spiking the lemonade. Boom.”
- Sarah Sexton from Oaktown Indie Mayhem Productions exalted Yassou Benedict, “one of the most creative and adept bands that I have had the pleasure of working with throughout years of booking and promotions.”
- Patrick Brown of Different Fur Studios wrote about Antwon: “I can’t tell if he’s in the right place at the right time or whether he’s manifesting that time himself”
- Jennifer Maerz from The Bold Italic lauded White Fence‘s Live in San Francisco: “You get dizzy from the cacophony just listening, which is exactly how a psych garage record played live in San Francisco should make you feel.”
- Lynne Angel of Tartufi praised Van Wave‘s “flawless execution of vocal control and songwriting technique.”
- The Hemlock Tavern’s Anthony Bedard wrote of seeing CCR Headcleaner live that “it was more of a Jim Thompson’s ‘Killer Inside Me’ psych with elective self-surgery K-hole romps and post hate-fuck cuddle balladry.”
- Jody Amable examined the importance of San Jose’s Café Stritch, whose runaway success in 2013 “shows that a robust, varied, and self-sustaining scene in the South Bay is possible, and is already happening.”
- Andy De Santis of Polyvinyl Records hailed Warm Soda, a band that “write some of the mightiest power pop songs EVER and you can tell they’re all having a blast doing it.”
- Gregory Hill celebrated the latest album from Dog Party, which he called “the most fun record I can remember listening to.”
- Tim Draut catalogued the most overlooked Bay Area releases from 2013, including albums from Shortcircles, EMOTIONAL, Kites Sail High, FWY! and more.
- MBL gave us “Pain & Prejudice, 2013 in Review — Nitrous, Norco and Novocaine,” writing about 2013 highlights from Yea-Ming Chen, Useless Eaters, Will Sprott among many others.
