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I'm linking up with Twisted Mix Tape Tuesday again! This week's theme? New music- from 2013. Not all of this is "new," per se, but it's either new to me or there's something new about it that has to do with 2013, so... there you have it.

So let's get to it!



Lorde. I feel like I don't need many more words than that, but I'm going to go ahead and use a few anyway. I think Lorde is brilliant. I think she extraordinarily talented. In a lot of ways, her first album reminds me of Fiona Apple's "Tidal," dripping with potential while still spectacular. And while I am crazy about her big hit, I think this is the album's strongest track.



First of all, yes, I know this song is pushing the decade mark. But if I had to pick a few songs to sort of define 2013 (and it seems very much that's what I'm doing) The Fratellis have to be on the list. My husband got me hooked on them this year, but more importantly, THIS SONG was something you simply could not escape through the first half of 2013 if you lived in Chicago. And every single time you heard it, it came with a smug satisfaction that the Blackhawks were crushing it night after night on the ice. So if you enjoy hockey, and you live in Chicago, by this point this song is practically part of your ego.



So when this album came out in 2010, I was impressed, and then I didn't buy it. Because I was busy having toddlers and going to school and a million freaking things. So I kind of forgot about Jannelle Monae, until last year she came out with this new album, and I heard a few tracks and said, "Oh yeah, she is AWESOME!" and finally picked up this album, which I've listened to pretty much nonstop ever since. No, I still don't have the new one. I'll wait until she releases another one and just always be an album behind. Or you could always get it for me from my Amazon wish list for my birthday. Hint hint, M. Hint hint.



Yes, I know Macklemore and Ryan Lewis actually released this at the end of 2012, but I don't care. And no matter how many great and still underrated tracks there are on this album (seriously- have you listened to "Wing$" yet?), this is going to be my favorite, if only for the dozens of times I've watched my husband perform the entire thing in the car. At this point, the only song I've seen him do more often is "Bombs over Baghdad," and both of them should REALLY be immortalized on film.


This next one is a twofer.



This video came out before M and I even moved in together. and I was freaking crazy about it. I love everything about it. I thought it was BRILLIANT. And as far as I know, this wasn't on television anywhere, because the band... sort of kind of didn't exist yet. Really, this was a project the costumer, director, animator, and musician did for their art school- but they loved doing it, and said they were going to do more. So, being the kind of psychopath who does this sort of thing, I made a note of the band (Lolly Jane Blue) and held out hope that someday I'd run into them again. And wouldn't you know? In 2013 they FINALLY released their first EP, now as Jane Blue and the Hunters. And it is TOTALLY different. And totally awesome.