2013 In Review: A Year for Comebacks

Not only did My Bloody Valentine return after a 22-year break, but it returned with the neatest, probably the best album of a really competitive year. Imagine Nicolás Jaar (the guy behind Darkside) was just an infant when Loveless was released in 1991. And here they are, sharing mentions in best-of-the-year lists, with sounds that seem perfectly contemporary. David Bowie, take note. Aside from the albums undeniable quality, what is so great about M B V is the kind of message a legendary band leaves after an album like this. Their sound prevailed, their legacy is alive, they never really left.[divider]

Daft Punk. What happened this year with the French duo might be the biggest thing that music has lived in decades. Suddenly we were back in the eighties, when an album itself paralyzed the whole world. Not a controversial new star or a YouTube phenomenon. This was no Lady Gaga or Gangnam Style. An album, the format that has suffered the most in the age of digital downloads and on-demand music platforms. Yes, “Get Lucky” was a spot-on single to start with the promotion, but critic sites and mainstream market were fascinated by the phenomenon the album itself became. It wasn’t even a subject of quality. Random Access Memories is not a neat album. It is sure an improvement from their last studio album, Human After All (2005) but it is nowhere near Discovery, the band’s masterpiece from 2001. It’s more of a homage to their influences and to music itself. To giving life back to music. Perhaps this spread nostalgia to what music once was is what lead the album to have such great vinyl sales.

Music is alive.

[author image=”http://awardswatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/profile_alvareztostado_rsz.jpg” ]Aldo Álvareztostado is an architect and designer based in Guadalajara, Mexico. Cofounded Mexicana de Arquitectura in 2010; and started his own line of industrial design, Álvareztostado, in 2013. Member of the ICS and part of the Awards Daily community since 2003.[/author]