What new-to-you artist(s) did you purchase this year (2013)?

You might not think there would be two people on this board who would be into both bands- but apparently so!

 

Coco Rosie
Darkside
Bill Frisell
Julianna Barwick
Daughter
Bonobo
Civil Wars
First Aid Kit
How To Destroy Angels
Junip
Matthew E.White
Monophonics
Portugal,The Man
The Red Elvises
Spiritualized
White Denim
Bombino
Julia Holter
Phosphorescent

 

Madonna - complete studio box set and various remix, tour and other (MDNA / I'm Breathless etc.) CDs. Been meaning to check her out for a number of decades but hadn't quite got around to it - the box set gave me the push I needed

 

Both purchased as lossless downloads from Bandcamp:

Big Big Train

Lily & Madeline

 

Ed Motta
Monkey House
Norwegian Fords
Bill LaBounty

 

Here's a pretty good sample ...

 

The Dream Syndicate

 

Besides actual new releases, I got heavily into Aphex Twin, Arthur Alexander and D.L. Byron this year. All new discoveries to me and all immediate favorites, especially Alexander.

 

Blixa Bargeld
Ewan MacColl
Many Folkways Records artists

 

Their previous 2 are better than that one. The new one is good too, but not up to the standard of the last 2.

Can we get ...three of a perfect pair into both bands?

 

debuts: Chvrches, Haim

artists with considerable catalogs that i just finally stumbled into: Arctic Monkeys, Tegan & Sara, My Morning Jacket (note: i really got bored with MMJ pretty quickly)

 

Some nice discoveries there. I especially loved the CocoRosie record this year, one of my favorites, and they were new for me too. Julia Holter had one of my favorite records this year, but she had one of my favorites last year too in Ekstasis. Spiritualized is an old favorite, Ladies and Gentlemen ... being one of the records I go back to over and over.

 

Just a bunch of random stuff I started diving into this year for the first time:

Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers
Manhattan Transfer
The Black Crowes
The Fixx
Wang Chung
INXS
Magnetic Fields
(older) Apples in Stereo
Roger McGuinn solo
Ned Doheny
HIM
Sparks
Chiddy Bang
Marc Almond
The Only Ones
Rodriguez
Joe Jackson
Big Country
Partridge Family
Tragically Hip
Hungry Kids of Hungary
Roxy Music
Split Enz
Tom Rush
Billy Idol
Thin Lizzy
Midnight Oil
Adam Ant
Blood Ceremony
Bruce Springsteen
Nine Inch Nails
Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
Love and Rockets
Robin Gibb
Chris Hillman
Terence Boylan
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Huey Lewis
Gilbert O'Sullivan

 

Savages
Rokia Traore
William Onyeabor
Deux Filles
Hookworms
Factory Floor
Atoms For Peace
Aktuella

Certainly others, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

 

Chvrchs
Young the Giant
One Republic

 

I saw Mike Scott and the Waterboys in concert this last summer and became an immediate fan. This led me to buy a number of their albums which are now among my favorites. How did I miss this band for so long! Also good and new this year: James McCartney (plays with his dad at times but very good on his own too) and Jake Bugg (bright young singer/songwriter).

 

Alison Krauss & Union Station
The Head and the Heart
Rose Windows
The Civil Wars
Steven Wilson
Kristina Train
Rumer

 

Bombino
Tame Impala
Daft Punk
Bill Callahan
Jason Isbell

Come to mind. I imagine there were others.

 

Arcade Fire
Chvrches

 

Haken, Kadaver, Graveyard

 

Jack Bugg

 

Patenbrigade:Wolff-Discography
The Sounds-Weekend, waiting for the vinyl to ship

 

I wanted to like the Tame Impalas but I found the sound too sludge like and so I haven't played the album more than two or three times. I don't know if it will be a grower for me or not.

At the opposite end of the sound spectrum is The Milk Carton Kids which I really like a lot. I bought their second and third lps and d/l their first today. I'm a big fan of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings so it's pretty natural for these young men to catch my ear. They are playing at the Great American Music Hall next month so I hope to catch them there if it's not on a work night.

 

Radical Face
Jason Isbell
Milk Carton Kids
First Aid Kit
The Black Lillies
Paley Brothers
Lily and Madeleine
The Head and the Heart
and probably a few others I'm spacing out

 

The Fixx
Rosa Ponselle