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Bob Boilen's Top 20 Albums of 2013

Khaela Maricich (left) and Melissa Dyne of The Blow.
Kyle Dean Reinford
/
Courtesy of the artist
Khaela Maricich (left) and Melissa Dyne of The Blow.

2013 was a bountiful year in music packed with a mighty range of sound, sometimes intimate, sometimes danceable and sometimes both.

I kept aural company with an electronic performance art duo (The Blow), a 13 piece brass band singing songs of mortality (Typhoon), a gospel infused British singer (Laura Mvula), a few remarkable acoustic guitar pickers (Glenn Jones and William Tyler), an adventurous improv band from Australia (The Necks), a hot jazz 1920 band playing Roxy Music songs (The Bryan Ferry Orchestra), an Icelandic composer of soundscapes and poetry, (Ólafur Arnalds) an acoustic punk band from New Jersey (The Front Bottoms) and so many more. What a wonderful world of sound we inhabit and create. With so many great albums it was tough to keep my list to just ten, so I needed to double it. I share this list with you, 20 albums long, hoping you'll find a new friend or two here. If there's something you loved and think we all should hear, share it in the comments.

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