Top Albums of 2013

It is harder with each year to gauge the cultural impact of albums. For instance, would Tuface’s solo debut, “Face 2 Face”, have the same significance in 2013 as it had back then?
It is a great album, but I can only say “Yes, it would,” with ambivalence. The fact is I am not sure.

And it is not for reasons limited to an increasingly crowded musical industry that has made it difficult to sort the merely mediocre from the talent-less. If anything, the influx of wannabes has made the stature of hardworking musicians more substantial— there is nothing quite as ego boosting, for a good artist, as comparison with an inferior practitioner. What it has not done, however, is increase the variety of music on offer. So far, our singers— both the battle-worn and the one-hit wonders—rely on formula proven again and again to draw listeners.

In 2013, the main reason for the album’s dwindling relevance is the internet aided rise of the single.

With the blessing and curse of the internet, the album’s role as a product encapsulating and unifying a musician’s viewpoints, verses and vocabulary— hopefully in melody— for her audience has mostly been overtaken by the single. Released over the internet and broadcast by several blogs, to be downloaded by thousands, a single track by an artiste can have a shelf life of many months, rendering questions about a debut or sophomore effort needless.

Today, albums can be released and allowed to disappear as long as a single or several singles can still be heard in clubs. For artists who have complained about not selling units, and depending on concerts for revenue, this is mostly good news, as the current paradigm frees the artist from investing in promoting an album only for pirates to reap more from his effort.

If the idea that an artist can only be known by the album is contestable, it is mostly incontrovertible that it is the single that has more currency in today’s pop culture. Ask anyone today if R&BW means anything, you are likely to be met with a blank stare. Alter the question, substituting Yes/No for the acronym and you are likely to be rewarded by a hum of the Banky W song from his R&BW album. Today’s fans can recite lyrics and name perhaps more than half a dozen of songs by Davido but may be unaware of his album’s title or perplexed by the fact of its existence.

Is it a sign of the times since as Nigerian music withdraws from chronicling the personal, descending instead into the celebratory excesses of success, the single, with its brief ephemera constitution, reflects the fleeting glories of material conquests? The country is in thrall of instant gratification, wealth, fame— why should the music industry be different?

But it isn’t just a Nigerian thing. It is the state of things worldwide. The album’s existence is now defined by a hit single around which lesser songs are arranged.
Apart from having a physical product to sell, the artiste releasing an album today may do so for vanity since it is only from such a collection that his approach to making music can be discerned and discussed. In other words, the album has become more a theoretical tool than a pragmatic one. Give Caesar’s to Caesar: critics may dissect the album; fans may devour the singles.

The emphasis on singles has accorded ubiquity and relevance to the most unlikely group of all: mix-tape makers. Compacts discs having many songs from several artists have become ubiquitous over the last few years, making mix-tape creators strange merchants of musical tastes. The album, traditionally songs by one artist or band, has been supplanted by the ‘deejay’ mix convening several artists in a sort of meta-album, a consensus by an individual with access to an audio media player.

The problem with this reality is its tyranny, the idea that one list fits all. This ‘deejay’ responsible for a certain mix insists you have to listen to, say, Wizkid’s 'Azonto' after Iyanya’s 'Flavour' and MayD’s “Get Down” just before Omawumi’s 'If You Ask Me.' These mix-discs represent the tyranny of radio without the concomitant pleasure of surprise. In fact, the ones that become popular, blaring from a stall in Wuse and from a bus in Port Harcourt are the antithesis of surprise— by the fifth encounter, the listener can tell the next song, preparing to be swept away again by the familiarity or steel herself to go through the motions.

***
What makes the albums released in a particular year relevant, important?
Popularity? Artistic excellence? Capturing the zeitgeist? For the first it can hardly be argued that that does play a role; pop music after all is short for popular music. Artistic excellence is tricky; one’s art is another’s trash.

To capture the zeitgeist, we may look to, as we discuss songs with lyrics, a linguistic embodiment of the time. Here again, the single bests the album in urgency and singers are complicit as songs best summing up a point in time may be available only on the internet, on radio and not in an album. For example, ‘setting p’ became a catchphrase, and led to a Banky W song of same title; that song did not make the R&BW album.

Other songs with popular appeal like Wizkid’s “Jaiye Jaiye,” may not make his sophomore’s track listing. Waje released “17” and the excellent “Omini Knowest.” Both songs are not on the 'Words Are Not Enough' album. Wande Coal has been releasing songs without an album since “Mushin 2 Mohits.” The list goes on.

Still there is hope for the album, at least if we look beyond our shores. That hope comes in the voluptuous shape of Beyonce, who has just released a self titled album thematically united and cohesive despite sonic experimentations. Dubbed a ‘visual album’ it comes with videos for each song making it unnecessary to release a video for any one single later on.

Luckily, Beyonce— the album— has done commercially well so far, even without the usual single before album release. Released suddenly, its sales have been buoyed by rare but effective non-publicity publicity, where the shock of her subversion of conventional promotional patterns has been enough to drive fans to websites and stores.

From that sign from the west, the album, it appears, will survive.

It wasn’t an especially great year for music as it is still stuck in lyrics offering tired lines about sex and cash, offering more mileage in clubs than in homes. Things can only get better.

Here are the 2013’s best, arranged alphabetically.
 

THE LIST
 

'Chapter One': Sometimes the best pop music is frivolous fun, a song, an album of danceable melodies without much thought given to lyrics. The trick is not to try too hard: can the artist make the thoughtless effortless? For Mr MayD, the answer is a resounding yes. Song after song on “Chapter One” is packed with sweet and senseless singing.

Save for a funny French line on “So Many Tinz,” the language of Chapter One is unpretentious; Pidgin, Yoruba and Yoruba-accented English all find a place. And the music is rooted in the rhythms of 90s. A lot of time has passed since then for the appeal of his music to depend on nostalgia of a certain kind. Nevertheless there is novelty in the album arrangement that sees one song flow into the next without a stretched pause so it is unmistakably dance-themed.

'Chapter One' doesn’t announce the arrival of a good songwriter or even a great voice. But as Sasha Frere-Jones has noted, “Pop ...as a primarily recorded form ... doesn’t reward the most gifted players. The song is the thing.”

'JagzNation': Jesse Jagz returned this year with an intoxicant and an often intoxicating new sound. Fortunately, the pleasure of the latter matched the surprise of the former. Two of the album’s best tracks combine both concerns well and are named accordingly: “Burning Bush” and “Sativa.”

The straight-faced sex song, “Sex and Scotch” and the revolutionary “Redemption” display his other interests. “JagzNation” isn’t the first time ideas of sex and revolution have been conflated. But it is certainly the most recent to succeed.


'Lasso of Truth': Omawumi wasn’t quite the wonder woman on her sophomore— see last Metropole last quarter for review. But in a year with few good albums especially in comparison with the rudderless 'Once Upon A Time' by Tiwa Savage, 'Lasso of Truth' sneaks in. The albums quality is helped with the inclusion of the relatively old songs, 'If You Ask Me' and aged 'Bottom Belle.'

The one new song with redoubtable merit is the sober 'Stay Alive (Jeje Laiye).' It is inspirational without being cheesy and sees Omawumi rein her vocal excess in service of a worthy song. It is a shame the song with its video— released late 2012— has not received enough attention.

'L.I.F.E': Most of what you need to know about Burna Boy’s debut is stated by his granddad, Benson Idonijie, former manager for Fela and columnist for The Guardian newspaper, who phones in his endorsement. Among other things, he says his grandkid has done well and his music has ‘leanings in jazz.’ This last is influenced by his own personal taste as he writes a column about Jazz for the Guardian newspaper.

There is just the one song. It is to our advantage Burna Boy has incorporated other sounds into his music. The real genius in the album may be the producer, Leriq, with whom Burna Boy has an absolute chemistry. 'Like to Party,' 'Smooth Sailing' and both 'Intro' and 'Outro' are pleasing. And LIFE marks a grand arrival.


'R&BW': Banky W showed up this year covering ground familiar to anyone who has ever listened to an R.Kelly LP. He even takes the American’s penchant moral crisis, bookending his third album with an inspirational and somewhat Christian song. While it is less dance-ready than the EME compilation album of 2012, it is less evasive in its approach to the carnal. And Banky W hasn’t lost the ability to craft a memorable hook.


'Words Are Not Enough': Two words: Waje’s voice. It isn’t often lovers of Nigerian music are treated to a great voice and a singer willing to indulge it. On 'Words Are Not Enough,' Waje indulges her voice repeatedly which would be grating if she wasn’t so competent, so sure. She may claim words are not enough in the title, but, of course, she is being facetious. Because if the words sung oh so beautifully on 'Black and White,' 'Ijeoma' and 'I Wish' are not enough, we all should shudder at what it would take to satisfy this gifted chanteuse.