Open Mic: What’s Your Favorite New Music Of 2013?

klaus-schulze-audentity2013 has been a great year for gear – but it was also a pretty good year for electronic music.

Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories was almost inescapable for the second half of the year, and also made a lot of ‘best of 2013’ lists.

But there were also many interesting releases from electronic artists a little more outside the mainstream, including Jon Hopkin’s Immunity; Boards of Canada’s Tomorrow’s Harvest; Oneohtrix Point Never’s R Plus Seven; and Autechre’s Exai. 

2013 even brought new material from disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder.

What’s your favorite new electronic music of 2013? And what do you think of the state of electronic music in 2013?

92 thoughts on “Open Mic: What’s Your Favorite New Music Of 2013?”

  8. I am going to contend that Random Access Memories is as much non-electronic as electronic. Also that it is super overrated and kind of sucks balls.

    Records that are actually good that came out in 2013:

    ERIKA – Hexagon Cloud

    LB DUB CORP – Unknown Origin

    BOARDS OF CANADA – Tomorrow’s Harvest

    D’MARC CANTU – Alternate Frequency EP

    JTC – Sonic Criminal

    ECHOLOGIST – Mechanics of Joy

    MIKE PARKER – Lustrations

    PAUL BIRKEN & THE DIRTY PARTY SNAKES – Broken Screens and Blind Machines

  9. LOTS of good music this year!

    Jon Hopkins – Immunity
    Steve Hauschildt – S/H
    Tim Hecker – Virgins
    Oneotrix Point Never – R Plus Seven
    The Field – Cupid’s Head
    Julianna Barwick – Napenthe
    Baths – Obsidian
    BOC – Tomorrow’s Harvest
    Alessandro Cortini – Forse 1
    Knife – Shaking the Habitual
    Erika – Hexagon Cloud
    Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
    Matmos – The Marriage of True Minds
    Pharmakon – Abandon

    (I could probably go on, but these are heavy rotation)

  10. Ulver – Messe I.X-VI.X

    While clearly not their most electronic release to date (while still having a strong electronic feel at times), when Ulver releases a new album, it’s best just to call it “album of the year” and stop pretending that anything else could beat it/them.

    Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest is also a worthy candidate. As well is Autechre -Exai.
    (Am I getting too obvious now? I’ll stop, at least for now).

  11. Lots of great stuff this year:

    Jon Hopkins – Immunity (!)
    BOC – Tomorrow’s Harvest
    How to Destroy Angels – Welcome Oblivion
    NIN – Hesitation Marks
    Robert DeLong – Just Movement

    To name but a few.

  16. I wasn’t sure about it at first (usually a good sign I think). But I think I’d have to say Download’s Lingam is probably one of my favourites of the year.

  17. Best Electronic Album of 2013 was for me “Lulu Rouge – The Song Is In The Drum” really an amazing album, blending idm, dubstep & Trip-Hop

    Another Album, but a Compilation that was my biggest highlight of 2013 was also for a good cause … D4S Vol. 3 – Unclassified.

    Every single song on that album is outstanding in its own kind of way, electronic dance music but then different, actually everything that did not fit on the other two volumes and more … Tracks from Psy’aviah, VV303, Balkansky, MK Ultra

    https://itunes.apple.com/nl/album/dance-4-syria-vol.-3-unclassified/id661756826?l=en

    1. this is SO sad! it sounds like a new version of the awful “das boot”-trash from the mid 90s.
      Trashy preset-sounds and a “beat” that calls for panic…
      Bartos could do MUCH better!

  23. All of the albums I loved this year featured some electronic music:

    How to Destroy Angels – Welcome Oblivion
    Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
    CFCF – Outside
    KMFDM – Kunst
    AFI – Burials
    Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks
    Skinny Puppy – Weapon
    Zomby – With Love
    Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork

    It’s been a good year!

  40. The Impossible Girl – “The Sky Is Calling” (listen to it here http://music.kimboekbinder.com/album/the-sky-is-calling-2). Features sounds of stars provided by NASA.

    As for the state of electronic music in 2013, I guess I’d say it was as always a good year. So many artists of different electronic genres put out awesome albums each year it’s impossible to be disappointed, unless you have a very specific taste. It’s also no surprise that the Daft Punk album was so great. The band took their time for it. I’d rather see artists put out great new stuff every 3-4 years instead of mediocre material every year.

  44. My Top Ten (no specific order)

    – Paul Jebanasam. – Rites

    – James Holden – The Inheritors

    – Violetshaped – Violetshaped.

    – Nils Petter Molvaer/Moritz von Oswald.- 1/1

    – The Haxan Cloak – Excavation.

    – Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven.

    – Rashad Becker – Traditional Music Of Notional Species Vol. 1.

    – Unicorn Hard-On – Weird Universe

    – Karen Gwyer.- Needs Continuum

    – Tim Hecker – Virgins

  46. No love for Siriusmo here?? I thought ‘Enthusiast’ was probably the best thing this year other than maybe Anamanaguchi’s ‘Endless Fantasy’

  50. Daft Punk’s soundtrack for TRON:Legacy, and the three album soundtrack for Portal 2. I’ve listened to Random Access Memories and got bored before it was over. As for the state of electronic music in general in 2013, I am still waiting for that same thrill I felt when I first cued up Brain Salad Surgery in 1973. So, forty years of not-so-bad some-really-good mostly-meh. Really, hugely, mostly meh. I might use that as an album title.

      1. Wow, that Boris Divider music is really cool. I’ve been searching high and low for newer music with a Tangerine-Dream-like feel that’s especially heavy on use of sequencers and not so much “dance” music, yet with enough movement to keep me engaged and alert (driving and “doing stuff” music)… Boards of Canada had a couple tracks that were interesting and like that, but not enough to keep me tuned in. So thanks for listing this. Any other mostly-sequencer music out there?

        1. He has some other very electro stuff (not electro-house). I love this track, it’s a total John Carpenter pastiche in the electro style:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUDfVQI0AtQ

          You might look into Arpanet, which is more toward the Detroit Techno side, but, definitely shying away from the dance music feel.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE60ujt1UUc

          Some of the more recent DMX Krew stuff is less dancey.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y6ofwImNeg

          I also really like TRV. It’s a bit on the dance side, but, I like the way it builds up, and, it’s in the same sorta aesthetic.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLKJxhOx0H4

          1. THANKS! Great recommendations. I just bought 3 album downloads from Boris Divider. Thank you also to Synthtopia for having this “open mic.”

    1. It is nice that this page exists, but the content is bad. I am glad kinds experiment with making videos- it is cute, but before you post it- why not write good music and then make good video- when it is in such shape- do not post it- open mic or not- you all just wasted lots of my and other’s time. Grow up and make something meaningful.

  53. Here are some others, besides the ones mentioned like BOC, Daft Punk, etc.:

    Bibio – Silver Wilkinson
    Chvrches – The Bones of What You Believe
    Clark – Feast_Beast
    Classixx – Hanging Gardens
    Kölsch – 1977
    Solar Bears – Supermigration

    Nils Frahm – Spaces

  58. I staidly don’t listen to new music, as I end up having to listen to the garbage pop. I wish I new where to look for new music that wasn’t that bull- on the radio.

  60. Ulrich Schnauss – “A long way to fall” is awesome. And the Pete Namlook tribute “Die Welt ist Klang” as well. Proud to be a part of that tribute 🙂

  66. MARK FELL – n-dimensional analysis

    BATHS – Miasma sky

    LUCRECIA DALT – Glosolalia

    SONS OF THE MORNING – Movement in Mercury

    … und leider schon ein bißchen älter …

    UTHER MOADS – Breakdown

  67. only electro, techno, IDM, dubstep now evolving, and other treading water ,

    i mean electro (model 500 aux88 dopplereffekt etc no electrohouse shit) and dubstep from clone.nl of course (not skrulex like noises)

  71. So many phenomenal releases this year… I know I’m missing some with this list

    Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
    Shpongle – Museum of Consciousness
    The Haxan Cloak – Excavation
    Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks
    Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind
    The Knife – Shaking the Habitual
    Jon Hopkins – Immunity
    SHXCXCHCXSH – STRNGTHS
    Thundercat – Apocolypse
    Dadub – You Are Eternity
    Death Grips – Government Plates
    BoC – Tomorrow’s Harvest
    Juno Reactor – The Golden Sun of the Great East

  75. Daniel Avery – Drone Logic EP. Nailed it. NIN, BOC, Burial, Hopkins, Four Tet, Moderat. and yes, DIsclosure were my favorites. Worst = Daft Punk RAM.

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