“For us, music is about exploration. We may start down a traveled path, but our real objective is to discover what is beyond. We’re no retro-fetishists, but it seems like the future used to be more boundless and inspired.” - Marc Melzer, Bassist & Vocalist of Lumerians

Out with the old, no matter how good it is! Here’s our comprehensive list of Top Albums of the Year 2013, schizophrenic as always to reflect the diverse tastes of our staff, though there is some overlap. It’s highly recommended you check out every release here, as each has its own creative strengths.

The information boom of the last 15 years has given people a thirst for crate digging. What started on illicit pirate blogs has blossomed into a healthy industry of re-issue labels, and still, the race is on, to find the dustiest, mustiest rarity that no one has ever heard. Captured Tracks are drawing ahead of the pack, with their Shoegaze Archive series and now the Fantasy Memory imprint, curated by the seasoned vinyl archaeologist Andy Grier, of Thieves Like Us. This binge of eclectic listening has opened our ears to totally unknown movements like European coldwave, minimal synthesis, mutant disco, funk, and every permutation of world music. In this rich and ripe polycultural climate, perhaps we are finally ready to…

Meditation and Violence, the new album by Das Fluff, explores subject matters both private, personal, and universal, head-on and without caveats or reservation. Timeless themes of isolation and loneliness are recast for the internet era, while the uncomfortable truth of social networking, and the distorted nature of friendship that come with it, are placed under the unforgiving glare of Dawn Lintern’s unflinching lyrics and vocal delivery.

Now that vaporwave has taken over as the cynical soundtrack for the global marketplace, new age is due for a reassessment. On I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age Music in 1950 – 1990, the wonderful Light In The Attic reissue label turns back the clock to a time before new age was merely designed to shift units. To accomplish this, they turn to the world of private press LPs, self-published records by high-minded altruistic individuals, many tracks seeing official release here for the first time.

After finishing up a recent series of tour dates with Kishi Bashi, Virginia’s My Darling Fury are now premiering to the world their bright and bushy-tailed new track, “Spilled Milk”. An intentionally positive spin on a negative interaction with a former romantic partner, the track turns sunshine into darkness with glittery landscapes of instrumentals and lead vocals by Danny Reyes which soar high over everything. Indeed, the vocals are the shining focus of the track and what encourages listeners to come back repeatedly — and to those who understand its intentions, Reyes’ fascinating incorporation of English idioms will be charming. Explains Reyes in the press release: “Typically, I’d write a song about what a jerk that guy was but this…