TOP 5 ALBUMS

Occasionally I write things for SLUG Magazine. I don't do a lot of work for them, but a few times a year I'll put together a long-ish piece about something or someone that's important to Salt Lake City.

That means that I'm a contributor and my name and choices get included in the magazine's annual year-end Top 5. It's not as cool as my own Top 5 Anythings list that I do over here, but it's pretty cool. The SLUG list is mostly centered on music or comedy. Albums really.

I'm really bad at keeping up on new music (as documented many times on this site), but after Esther asked me to write up my list, I tried really hard. I spent the next few weeks listening only to records that came out this year and avoided depending too much on old stand-by's.

I had to send my list in on October 28. There were still two months of new releases to come! How dare Esther Merono try to get things in a timely fashion to have ready at the beginning of December! How dare she, I say!

But really, with over 50 contributors to corral, it's totally understandable that she'd want my list that early. It's also 100% my fault that I spent way more time perfecting my 90's punk and Ludacris guest-spot playlists than listening to new stuff.

This is what it looked like when I sent it to her.

1) Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
2) Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's - Mosquito
3) The Bronx - IV
4) Ghostface Killah - 12 Reasons to Die
5) Low - The Invisible Way

I still stand by a few of those. Nine Inch Nails and Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs are safe. I question my own judgement on the other three. I haven't listened to the Ghostface Killah record a single time since I added it to the list- the same goes for Low. I think that means they should both be taken off.

I have, however, listened to Pure Heroine by Lorde half a dozen times since then. What that says about me, I'm not entirely sure. It's a good album. Now, anyway. In three years I might think differently.

This is all a pretty roundabout way of saying that I have no idea what the best 5 albums that came out this year should be.

Do you?

What were your favorite records of 2013? Tell me what I should be listening to.