I host the show Flight of the Squawkatiel on WRUV, which is on every Wednesday night from 8-10 pm. You can find my list of my Top 20 songs of 2013 and listen to a Soundcloud playlist of my favorite music of the year

There were a bunch of fantastic albums that came out this year. Here are a few that didn’t quite make it to this list, but are worth a mention:

Savages – Silence Yourself
Julia Holter – Loud City Song
Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
Wolf Eyes – No Answer: Lower Floors
Darkside – Psychic
Forest Swords – Engravings
The Flaming Lips – The Terror
Deerhunter – Monomania

Besides working at Pure Pop, I also study music and journalism at St. Michael’s (one semester to go). Besides music, I also enjoy books. Movies too. I guess that’s about all I have to say right now.

Oh, this was my favorite song find from this year (even though it comes from 1966): The Black Diamonds “I Want, Need, Love You” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHF-MskhMFM

My name is Cayla, I’m part of a collective here in Burlington called Friends + Family booking bands including these and many more like these at various locales around our itty bitty city. I have always been a fangrrl and never a musician myself so making this list brings me great joy. I have a few other honorable mentions that for various reasons could not list in my top 5:

Krill – Lucky Leaves: Jenny already listed this, and they are also my extreme homies and therefore I am too biased to rank them but I totes would, at or around #1, since it’s so full of hits that I can’t handle it most of the time and instead just weave the lyrics on a semi-regular basis into my everyday conversations.

Fatty Acids – Bolero: They are like the best buddies of Sat. Nite duets and I would probably rank them if I happen to catch them live (hint hint Fatty Acids… Call me…)

Various Artists – First Gear: Feminism in the Northeast (A Compilation) by Stick Shift Records
Stick Shift Records is out of Burlington helmed by former members of Doll Fight! and includes too many kick-ass songs to list. It’s incredibly and should be listened to at full volume every day for your health.

Great Valley – Lizards of Camelot: I haven’t actually heard the whole thing yet because it came out like yesterday but I can’t wait and I know I’m gonna love it.

others:
Grouper/The Man Who Died In His Boat
Locrian/Return to Annihilation
Deafheaven/Sunbather

Favorite thing I got from Pure Pop this year- Emperor/In The Nightside Eclipse vinyl reissue

I make music under the name Drawing and in some other bands too. 2013 was the year I completely stopped caring about indie-rock. I mostly listen to top 40 country.

George W. Bush, the painter.

I live and work in publishing in Burlington. All I need is craft beer, mountains, and live music. It seems like every time you turn around there’s a new Americana band or another folk singer-songwriter type and it doesn’t bother me at all. It was an amazing year for folksy music. Honorable mentions to
The Lone Bellow, The Lone Bellow
The Wood Brothers, The Muse
The Devil Makes Three, I’m a Stranger Here Myself
Bombadil. Metric of Affection
Gregory Alan Isakov, The Weatherman
Dawes, Stories Don’t End
The David Mayfield Parade, Good Man Down

I’m Tyler Machado and I’m the digital media manager at Seven Days, which is a good job to have if you like to listen to music. I feel like I’ve been out of the loop on music stuff for a few years now, but something this year happily kicked me back into it.

The list above is in a rough order at best and omits lots of stuff I loved both local (Rough Francis, Paper Castles) and not (Mazzy Star, Yo La Tengo, Kendrick Lamar). But I do have a few bonus category awards from the year to hand out.

Best Lazy Trippy Summer Saturday Afternoon Album: Kurt Vile – Wakin on a Pretty Daze
Best Inexplicably Under-the-Radar Album: Valerie June – Pushin Against A Stone
Best Album By a Member of the Sonic Youth Diaspora: Lee Ranaldo and the Dust – Last Night on Earth
Best Kiss-Off Breakup Song in the History of Ever: Josh Ritter – “New Lover”

I’m Justin.
I work in Financial Aid at VSAC.
I enjoy playing music, brewing beer, reading, writing, and talking about music all the time.

I cannot stress enough the embarrassment of quality albums that dropped this year. Here are some honorable mentions:

The Knife – Shaking the Habitual
Tim Hecker – Virgins
Savages – Silence Yourself
My Bloody Valentine – MBV
Arcade Fire – Reflektor

There’s a ton of others. I’m way too lazy to list them. What a year.

hi, my name is Karla and I work at Pure Pop! I love music and I love puppies. this year has been a crazy year for me – I was able to see so many great bands live and had the opportunity to interview some of my all time favorite artists. I had so much trouble trying to pick my top 5, but the above tracks were on HEAVY rotation in my collection. although I’m obsessed with all of these albums, there are a few others on my list that must be mentioned and are worth a listen. sorry I cheated.

6. What Surrounding by UN BLONDE
7. HS by Hello Shark (another local Burly album that was the soundtrack to my year)
8. Mala by Devendra Banhart
9. To Be Close to You by Julia Brown
10. Holo Pleasures by Elvis Depressedly
11. Split 7″ by Alex G and R.L. Kelly
12. Lonely Women by TV Girl
13. S/T by Wren and Mary (local from Burly)!
14. Humble Noon by Lisa/Liza
15. Persona Non Grata by Cosmonauts

happy almost new year 🙂