Top 5 "Listened to" List of 2013

1. Thrice
   
   From Kensrue's solo material to "Major/Minor", this has definitely been the year of Thrice for me. I fell in love with the song "In Exile" and sought out all of the albums I'd missed since "Artist in the Ambulance", while the Alchemy albums left me mostly disinterested, everything else I'd consider "can't miss".
2. Extol
   
   See my top 5 Metal List as well, but I've played every Extol and Extol related album (Mantric, Lengsel, Borud's solo material) until I've worn grooves in them this year. Such an amazing band w/ such an amazing come-back this year.
3. Audrey Assad
   
   Though I didn't enjoy the newest album quite as much as the two before it, I can't get enough Audrey Assad. I believe pretty well everyone that I know could get into this, and should...NOW.
    
4. Music of the 80's
   
   
   
   At some point I got on an audio-engineering kick and started studying how all of my favorite old records had been made and wanted to see what they "really" sounded like. Phil Collins, GnR, old Metallica, hair-metal of all kinds, Van Halen, and Peter Gabriel were at the top of the list, but no 80's artist was spared. 70 cent CD's from Hastings only fueled this sonic adventure.
   
   
5. Music of the 90's
   
   Pretty well the same situation as above, but also extended over into death-metal and nu-metal. This (and the 80's revival too) were spurred on by the newest Soundgarden album (which rocks by the way). Particular favorites included Living Sacrifice "Reborn", Fear Factory's "Obsolete", Pearl Jam's "No Code", early Foo Fighters, Cannibal Corpse's "Bloodthirst", the Soundgarden discography, and Boyz II Men/ Mariah Carey; yes, you read that right. If I can ever get my hands on a Korg Trinity I'm going to start churning out 90's style R&B classics in record time.