Arielle's Top 8 New (to me) Artists of 2013

2013 was a year in which my musical tastes changed - or I suppose I should say broadened - quite a bit. I went to more shows, became a more active consumer of music and made more of an effort to learn about what I was listening to.

"Arielle, you go to a lot of shows," many people have noticed.

"Who are some of your favorite new artists?" no one ever asks. Well, no one, I'll tell you!

So even though no one seems to write these "year in review" type retrospectives once it has actually turned the new year, I will run the risk of being gauche and list my 8 favorite additions to my iPod in 2013. In no particular order...


1. Vampire Weekend

While much of this whole list will qualify as "Arielle, you are absurdly late to the party on this one," this is probably most true of Vampire Weekend. These indie rock guys are upbeat and fun and even Ezra Koenig's lack of stage presence cannot bring them down (it helps that his Twitter is hilarious, though).




2. Bassnectar

Bassnectar makes me want to get down and dirty. I mean this literally. It makes me want to dance low to the ground while covered in mud. His stuff is sick and filthy and lots of other words that are supposed to mean bad things but are actually good things.



3. Pretty Lights

I downloaded some Pretty Lights stuff early in 2013 because I was supposed to go to a festival he was playing at and I wanted to familiarize myself with the music before I went. Well, I didn't go to that festival, or the other festival I was supposed to go to, or the other other festival I was supposed to go to where he would be, but I kept listening to his stuff anyway and by the time I finally saw him in October I was long since hooked. Every EDM fan I've met in the year since I got into this scene loves Pretty Lights, as well they should. His live shows are unparalleled. And they involve top notch use of lasers. I take the shittiest ever concert photos and even I was able to capture these:

As a bonus, in case any of you happen to be cool enough to own a turntable, I was told his music sounds amazing on vinyl. So, there's that.



4. Gramatik

One of the reasons I love Gramatik is because his music is so diverse. You can get excited about 10 songs that all sound different but are all wonderful and chill but hip-shakey. Plus, his guitarist looks like Bret from Flight of the Conchords.

5. Alex Clare

You know Alex Clare. He has that song in that commercial. You know that song. "And it feels like I am just too close to love you...WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB." I went to listen to him at Lollapalooza solely for that song (what commercial even is that?) and ended up loving his entire set. He was blues-y and rock-y and many things in between. His entire album is amazing. And he's Jewish! What what.



6. Knife Party

Drink an extra cup of coffee before heading to see these Aussies work their magic. This is some high energy crazy nonsense flail around dance party stuff. "You blocked me on Facebook! And now you're going to die." (Around 1:40ish in the video) (And for anyone who cares, my favorite song by them is called Sleaze)



7. Brillz

Brillz was a Pandora find, which is pretty exciting because hey, isn't that the point of Pandora, kind of? He's classified as trap music, which is a term I only really learned how to use in the last few months. While I was underwhelmed with his live performance when I saw him a few days ago, I don't even care because I will gladly just listen to his album over and over again at home.



8. Big Gigantic

Walk, don't run, to Big G's website where you can download all their stuff for free (this is true of several artists on this list, actually). They are amazing. This is like EDM/jazz fusion with one guy on the drums and one guy on the sax AND doing all the production. It's super dancey but not clubby dancey. Groove dancey. I got into Big Gigantic when I bought tickets to see Brillz (see above!). Big G was the headliner so after buying the tickets I downloaded some of their stuff and before I listened to it was all, "Well, I'll just leave after Brillz if I don't like this because I'm sooo alternative, leaving before the headliner and shit," except I loved it so much and that show was SO MUCH FUN. When it ended my soul filled with tears because I wanted it to go on forever and even though I had barely heard of them a month ago, I cannot imagine my life without Big G in it now.


And there you have it. I was initially going to do a list of 10, but I had trouble narrowing the last 2 spots down from a number of contenders (also I got lazy). So, honorable mentions go to:

- Passion Pit
- Matt & Kim
- Showtek
- Atlas Genius
- The Glitch Mob
- Flux Pavilion
- The Black Keys
- HAIM
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

What new music did you discover in 2013??

Goodbye, Roxy

In my junior year of high school, my family adopted an 8 week old german shepherd mix from a shelter. I didn't think she could replace our golden retriever, who we had lost a few months earlier, but I quickly grew to love her for all the things that made her similar to - as well as different from - our first dog.

That was 14 years ago, and I cannot imagine my New Jersey home without Roxy's face greeting me in the window, sitting under the table hoping to catch some scraps during meals, or resting in the den while my parents watch TV. I loved playing games with her around the house, and even as she got older and less energetic, I would always spend a fair amount of time at home sitting next to her on the floor, petting her and trying to get her to pose for pictures.

14 is pretty old for a dog, but Roxy was surprisingly healthy. She was lazier, sure, and we were pretty sure she didn't hear as well as she used to, but she was still pretty youthful for her age. I knew, though, that it couldn't last that long, and for the last few months I've had a sneaking feeling in the back of my head that she was due to start declining pretty soon. I sometimes felt preemptively sad for the pain I knew was coming - I had seen my last dog's health decline (he was only 7 years old, sadly) and knew it was a heartbreaking process. But I would accept and enjoy Roxy's good health as long as I could.

What I did not expect was the New Year's Day phone call from my dad. It started with, "there was an accident," and even though it was only an 8 minute phone call, it felt like the world's longest story. I started sobbing long before he reached the end, because I knew what the punchline was going to be.

All this time I was worrying about my dog getting sick, but instead I should have been worrying about her getting hit by a car.

And so I've spent the last day crying hysterically, partially because the dog I've known for almost half my life is gone and I didn't even get to say goodbye, and partially because the end of her life was so tragic and unfair. I've been crying for the pain and fear I hope she wasn't conscious enough to feel, and for the fact that if she was conscious, there was a span of several hours between the time of the accident and the time that she was put down at the vet's office after they determined that her back was broken. She deserved so much better.

Roxy, you were a great friend and pseudo kid sister, and you brought so much joy to our family for so many years. I will always miss you.

The Grinch Who Hates Christmas

That's me.

Because yes, as impossible as it may seem, I really, truly, from the bottom of my cold, black heart, do not like Christmas.

I certainly don't begrudge anyone their Christmas cheer and celebrations, I just wish I didn't have to be privy to every detail of it. This isn't entirely because I'm Jewish - plenty of Jews love to get all up in the Christmas biznass. The reason I personally hate Christmas is because for probably 2 full months out of the year, I can't escape it.

You know how when your whole Facebook newsfeed explodes with people talking about some dramatic episode of ~insert popular TV show here - Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, whatever~, and you don't watch that particular show so you just want to scream and slap a few people and maybe just shut down the internet for awhile?

Christmas is the TV show I don't watch. Only it doesn't stop at Facebook. It's everywhere. I can't walk into a store without being bombarded by Christmas music and I would tell you how many Christmas-related store promotion emails I've gotten in the last few weeks but I'm pretty sure I can't count that high. Christmas does not leave me, or anyone, alone. It's holding us all hostage and somehow I seem to be the only one who hasn't developed Stockholm Syndrome.

Also around this time of year is when people with real, grown-up lives, and also occasionally single people with their shit together, start sending out cards. Some of them are holiday cards. Some of them are Christmas cards. Every year I get some holiday cards, and every year I get some Christmas cards. I love getting cards and am totally down for this, especially because I like to see the ways in which my friends alter the Christmas cards for me (and I love people trying to adapt Christmas for me in general - see photo below), but I also can't help but feel like some oddball freakshow at this time of year.

So this is why I feel all Scrooge-y around Christmas, like I'm lacking in whatever the "Christmas spirit" is supposed to be. Except what is Christmas spirit, really? Going off what I read on social media, here's a list of Christmas things that seem important to people:

- Black Friday. Is this in the spirit of Christmas? Trampling Walmart workers so you can get your hands on a flat screen TV that probably isn't even for someone on your gift list?

- Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Why is every woman obsessed with this song? Stop it, ladies.

- Love, Actually. I know this movie is the talk of the town right now because there's think pieces galore on why this movie actually has a terrible message. Not to sound all cooler than thou, but I've hated Love, Actually since the first and only time I saw it in 2004. Why? Because it's boring. And it's over 2 hours long! I have a firm belief that chick flicks should be no more than 90 minutes long, and I made this rule after seeing this movie, which seemed to take a lifetime to end.

- Spending all your money on presents, often for people you don't care about. "What am I supposed to get for my boyfriend's aunt?" I don't know, but this is a question I hope I never have to ask myself.

- Getting engaged and/or hating on people who are cliche enough to dare get engaged on Christmas. As if.

In the interest of fairness, here are some Christmas things I like:

- Eggnog! This shit is delicious. I will drink those 4000 calories and ask for seconds, thank you very much.

- Advent calendars. I've never owned one, but they seem fun. Windows that reveal chocolate? Sign me up.

- Secret Santa. I always participate in at least one. Secret Santa is fun and a good excuse to make whole groups of friends hang out. 

- Not going to work. Yay!

And that's pretty much it. Because all the eggnog in the world could not make me more excited for December 26th, when Christmas finally gets out of my face and people can start complaining about how they have no plans for New Year's Eve.

(PS, to all my Xmas-friendly loved ones out there - Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals)