2013
Bubblegum is a rare record for 2013. In an era where everything is streamable, pitch-shifted, and packaged, Kevin Devine made a record with heart. Bubblegum is earnest, a front-to-back LP that is unified in theme and in ideology, without relying on the trappings of a bloated rock opera. And the message is simple: Are our 2013 symbols real? What's the value of iconography if it is only used to cause suffering? Do we create heroes to control the public or inspire them? 2013 finds the world wrapped in bitter competition with itself; there's a plethora of concerns from global warming to our U.S. foreign policy. Devine asks us if we're angry at these injustices because he's angry too, and knowing that kind of solidarity exists feels like a garage rock sigh of relief.
Bubblegum finds Devine leading his goddamn bandmates through 12 fuzz-blasted blitzkriegs, drawing on the traditions of Weezer, Nirvana, and Superchunk. The group's jagged guitar buzz cuts through politics (the 3-song opening salvo of "Nobel Prize," "Private First Class," and "Fiscal Cliff"), interpersonal-connectedness ("Red Bird," "She Can't See Me"), and self-reflection ("Bloodhound," "I Don't Care About Your Band"). Although his past work was always endearing, there's a newfound ferocity on Bubblegum that Devine has rarely tapped into ("Once we've poisoned all the water/Once we've blackened out the air/We'll finish murdering each other/Fair is fair"). Credit Devine's long time touring partner Jesse Lacey (of Brand New fame) for purposefully keeping things lean from the producer's chair: Snarling bass, spiky guitars, and soaring power-pop punch puts Devine's thoughts front and center. As a result, Bubblegum ends up being Devine's most direct record, an album that demands mindfulness of its listener by cutting out the extraneous.
Ultimately, Bubblegum should be lauded for its bravery and honesty. This is Gen Y's The Times They Are A-Changin', a record that compels its listeners to identify symbols of oppression and change them. Actually, the cover's disintegrating George Washington best captures this sentiment because our best ideas hold no meaning if they don't inspire the best in each other. In the end, Kevin Devine has created the year's most focused protest record with Bubblegum, an album that will live with you long after 2013.
In addition to Bubblegum, here are my other favorite releases from 2013:
- The 1975 | The 1975 (Dirty Hit)
- Alkaline Trio | My Shame is True (Heart & Skull / Epitaph)
- Arctic Monkeys | AM (Domino)
- Atoms For Peace | AMOK (XL Recordings)
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | Specter At the Feast (Abstract Dragon / Vagrant / Cobraside)
- The Bronx | The Bronx (IV) (ATO / White Drugs)
- The Civil Wars | The Civil Wars (Columbia / Sensibility)
- Deafheaven | Sunbather (Deathwish)
- Drake | Nothing Was The Same (OVO / Young Money / Cash Money / Republic)
- Fall Out Boy | Save Rock & Roll / PAX AM Days (Island / Decaydance / PAX AM)
- FIDLAR | FIDLAR (Mom + Pop / Wichita / Dine Alone)
- Frightened Rabbit | Pedestrian Verse (Atlantic)
- Haim | Days Are Gone (Polydor)
- How To Destroy Angels | Welcome Oblivion (N/A)
- James Blake | Overgrown (Atlas / Republic / Polydor)
- Kanye West | Yeezus (Def Jam / Roc-A-Fella)
- Kevin Devine | Bulldozer (Procrastinate! / Devinyl)
- Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band | Bubblegum (Devinyl)
- Lorde | Pure Heroine (Universal / Lava / Republic)
- My Bloody Valentine | m b v (Domino)
- The National | Trouble Will Find Me (4AD)
- Native | Orthodox (Sargent House)
- Nine Inch Nails | Hesitation Marks (The Null Coporation / Columbia)
- Paul McCartney | NEW (MPL / Hear Music / Universal)
- Queens of the Stone Age | ...Like Clockwork (Matador)
- Run The Jewels | Run The Jewels (Fool's Gold / Big Dada)
- Sleigh Bells | Bitter Rivals (Mom + Pop)
- Tegan & Sara | Heartthrob (Vapor / Warner Brothers)
- Touché Amoré | Is Survived By (Deathwish)
- Vampire Weekend | Modern Vampires of the City (XL Recordings)
Originally published December 17, 2013 on Tumblr.