King Krule – Six Feet Beneath The Moon

Just 19 years old, the genius behind King Krule, Archy Marshall, demonstrated his great promise with his debut album, Six Feet Beneath The Moon. Marshall has slowly been building his talents over the past few years, first putting out a single under the moniker Zoo Kid in early 2011. While some of his early material shows up here, most memorably the early single “Out Getting Ribs,” the new songs demonstrate how he has improved by leaps and bounds. Opener “Easy Easy” rides in on a slinky bass groove, until Marshall’s frenzied singing rips the track apart. Meanwhile, “Baby Blue” shimmers sonically through spacy guitar lines, while Marshall laments a broken romance: “My sandpaper sigh/Engraves a line/Into the rust of your tongue.” No 19-year old should be this talented, but there’s no reason to complain when we get something so special from it. – Tanner

Dutch Uncles – Out of Touch in the Wild

The third album from English band Dutch Uncles was a bolstered by a monumentally catchy leading single, “Flexxin.” It’s video, equipped with the best non-ironic white dancing since the end of Napoleon Dynamite, looked to push them even further into the public eye. In the end, Out of Touch in the Wild was largely overlooked. It’s a shame, because this is smart, catchy pop music. With a fairly simple mix of xylophone, staccato synths, palm-muted guitars, and a punchy rhythm section, Dutch Uncles manages to create an immediately accessible album. Elements of math rock, including irregular time signatures, and synth pop are augmented by orchestral flourishes, most successfully on “Threads” and “Nometo.” Out of Touch in the Wild is a complete package from a band in total command of their sound. – Justin

Kyle – Beautiful Loser

There are three albums from 2013 I know 95 percent of the lyrics to. Acid Rap, Yeezus, and Beautiful Loser by Kyle. Kyle, a 20-year-old MC from Ventura, Calif. has garnered plenty of Drake comparisons in his short career and while that’s warranted, it’s also a bit of a disservice. Kyle’s not dropping “Courtney from Hooters on Peachtree” lines, he’s a much funnier and charismatic rapper than Drake, even if he is a little limited technically. This isn’t a high concept album by any means, it’s a bunch of catchy, well-produced songs about girls with some EDM influences, but it’s an album that has stayed heavily in my rotation since it came out in August. It’s an incredibly cohesive project, and it’s a testament to Kyle’s mic presence that there are only three features over the 16 tracks. You won’t be blown away by punchlines (although there are some nice bars on “Keep It Real”) but if you’re looking for a buzzy, upbeat 16 tracks I couldn’t recommend Beautiful Loser more. – Grant

Gorilla Warfare Tactics – Zoology

Gorilla Warfare Tactics are a flat-out unheralded hip-hop talent. I’m honestly blown away that these guys haven’t gotten a lot bigger. Over the course of two mixtapes, 2011’s Premier and this year’s Zoology, the group has put out some consistent lyrical and sonic gems. On Zoology, the group expands their debut’s reliance on Indian music samples, with madly satisfying results. “drugDILLA” samples the classic A Tribe Called Quest cut “Award Tour,” pitches it up a notch and throws in a propulsive cowbell, creating one of the year’s most satisfying beats. “No Place Like Shibuya” is more laid-back track, letting the lead rapper ponder, “Never been the archetype / Always been the architect.” While I don’t expect these guys to blow up anytime soon, (it doesn’t look like this is anything but a side project for these guys) that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it. – Tanner

Esta – Paradise

I tend to stay away from producer albums because they can get pretty repetitive, but Esta’s Paradise, one of two full-lengths he released in 2013, is completely immersive from start to finish. The album oscillates between gorgeously layered synth pads on tracks like “Paradise” and “For You (& Her Too)” and more aggressive, trap-inspired cuts like “Baddies.” Throughout Paradise, Esta displays an uncanny ability to flip vocal samples and sequence hypnotic drum patterns that few modern beatmakers possess. If you only listen to one song, skip to “.ycarT,” a terrific remix of Disclosure’s “Latch” that transforms the song into a chillwave-inspired mid tempo banger. Best of all Paradise is a free download on Bandcamp so really you’re only hurting yourself by not heading over there and downloading it. – Grant

Octopus Project – Fever Forms 

The most confounding part of Octopus Project is how they aren’t superstars by now? When I stumbled across their early morning set at Lollapalooza a couple years ago, they were playing to a crowd of 30 people. By the end of their set, the crowd had swelled to about two or three hundred. With an assortment of homemade stage decorations, noise making gadget, and a theremin player, they charmed the crowd. On their fourth proper album, not counting 2010’s multi-media experiment Hexadecagon, the energy of their live show is maintained while adding vocals to their usually instrumental mix. The immensely melodic “Whitby,” featuring vocals from the band’s Theremin player Yvonne Lambert, works just as powerfully as the synth romp, “The Mythical E.L.C.” It’s a mystery why the band didn’t start singing earlier. Fever Forms continues their, often under appreciated, string of stellar albums. – Justin 

Elvis Costello & The Roots – Wise Up Ghost

I’ll admit it: I have a soft spot for everything Elvis Costello. Dude’s made some of the greatest music of all time, even if the last time he made a truly  “classic” album was 1982’s Imperial Bedroom. Nevertheless, it seems that Mr. Declan McManus finally found his muse with The Roots, the hip-hip group most famous for serving as Jimmy Fallon’s backup band. Their team-up, Wise Up Ghost, was one of 2013s most satisfying collaborations, really only eclipsed by rap duo Run The Jewels. Album opener “Walk Us UPTOWN” opens with an organ that sounds like someone buzzing into an apartment, while Costello sings, “Will you walk us uptown? / While our tears run in torrents / To suffer in silence or pray for some solace.” Throughout the rest of the album, The Roots conjure up a smoky, bluesy atmosphere, which wraps effortlessly around Costello’s weathered voice. Costello is never gonna make another album as classic as his early gems. But as Wise Up Ghost shows, there’s nothing saying that with the right partners, he’s still capable of offering up some memorable music. – Tanner

CJ Fly – Thee Way Eye See It

The Pro Era collective consists of over a dozen members, but the only one most hip-hop fans can name is 18-year-old wunderkind Joey Bada$$. That won’t be the case for long though, as CJ Fly threw his name into the ring with the stellar, if overlooked, Thee Way Eye See It. CJ embodies the same gritty, Big L inspired New York style that Joey brought to prominence, but is far from a carbon copy of his more famous cohort. CJ is a gifted storyteller and a clever wordsmith whose flow fits perfectly with choice production from the likes of Esta and Carnage, who imbue their production with just enough 90’s nostalgia. The slow-burning “Q&A” and seven-minute epic “Loco Motives” are high points, but Thee Way Eye See It is a thoroughly listenable project that is one of the most slept-on rap debuts of the year. – Grant