WCDB’s Top Albums of 2013

1. Arcade Fire – Reflektor

Voting Points: 213

The spectacle of the album release was a wonder in itself, and Arcade Fire’s experimentation into Disco was the top voted album of the year by a wide margin in our poll.

2. Chance the Rapper – Acid Rap

Voting Points: 157.5

The second mix tape from Chance the Rapper caught the attention of multiple departments in our station, helping it be named the top hip-hop album of the year on our list.

3. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City

Voting Points: 142

The sound matured for Vampire Weekend, solidifying their role as one of the premiere pop artists in today’s music scene.

4. Local Natives – Hummingbird

Voting Points: 112

An inspired and experimental album from the group garnered them a lot of attention this year from media publications, and our DJs viewed it with a similar level of admiration.

5. FIDLAR – FIDLAR

Voting Points: 106

The debut album for the California Skate-Punk band brought a ton of energy with it during their screamed stories about drugs and youthful ideals.

6. Kurt Vile – Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze

Voting Points: 102

A relaxing and pretty listen, Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze gave Kurt Vile a lot of artistic freedom to create long songs about his past experiences that have led up to this point.

7. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – II

Voting Points: 92

The sophomore album by the group tended to get mixed reviews from critics, but our DJs were supporters with it finding it’s way onto numerous lists.

8. The National – Trouble Will Find Me

Voting Points: 90

One of the more consistent alternative bands out there released another very good album this year, while also having a documentary about them made by Berninger’s brother aptly named “Mistaken For Strangers” receive favorable reviews at film festivals. 

9. Foxygen – We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

Voting Points: 87

Foxygen found themselves getting talked about a lot this year with We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors, and they were the most played artist on our station in 2013.

10. Kanye West – Yeezus

Voting Points: 77.5

Probably the most polarizing man in music added a new album to his discography this year and debate ensued about where the album actually stood in his discography. Our DJs liked it enough to have it round out the top 10.

WCDB’s Top 35 albums of 2012

WCDB is coming up on it’s 35th Anniversary (which we’ll be celebrating on March 1st at Valentines!).  So it only feels fitting to name our top 35 albums of 2012! This list was compiled from reverse scoring lists from 28 of our DJs and a total of 168 different albums received points. Thanks a ton for listening to WCDB in 2012 and we look forward to playing you more great alternative music in 2013!  Click the jump to find out what albums made the cut!

The Most Played Artists in the History of WCDB

WCDB started charting online in 2002 (8/23/2002 by DJ Starks who played Pharcyde – Passin Me By). Some of us (I) were (was) curious to find out which artists have been played the most on our station since that starting point.  This entire list was constructed through manual searches so there are potential artists that could’ve slipped through the cracks. If you find one make sure to let me know in the comments. (Just know that you have to make sure you don’t count covers of their songs and songs where they were just featured.)

All this being said, I’m proud to present the top 10 artists that I found in WCDB’s charting history!

WCDB’s Top 50 Albums of 2011!

Sorry for the delay… but here it is!

1	M83- Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
2	St. Vincent- Strange Mercy
3	Steven Malkmus and the Jicks- Mirror Traffic
4	Wild Flag – Wild Flag
5	John Maus- We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
6	Bon Iver- Bon Iver
7	Cults- Cults
8	The Antlers- Burst Apart
9	Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
10	Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Belong
11	Givers- In Light
12	Panda Bear – Tomboy
13	Wye Oak- Civilian
14	Beirut- The Rip Tide
15	Washed Out – Within and Without
16	Man Man- Life Fantastic
17	Yuck- Yuck
18	Dale Earnhart Jr Jr- It’s A Corporate World
19	Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain in the Cloud
20	Zola Jesus- Conatus
21	Wire- Red Barked Trees
22	Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues
23	Dum Dum Girls- Only in Dreams
24	Cold Cave- Cherish the Light Years
25	The Mountain Goats- All Eternals Deck
26	tUnE-YarDs – w h o k i l l
27	The Weeknd – House of Balloons
28	YACHT – Shangri-La
29	Okkervil River- I Am Very Far
30	The Parlor- Our Day in the Sun
31	Destroyer- Kaputt
32	J Mascis – Several Shades of Why
33	Bright Eyes- The People’s Key
34	Iron & Wine- Kiss Each Other Clean
35	Real Estate- Days
36	The Decemberists- The King Is Dead
37	David Bazan- Strange Negotiations
38	Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx – We’re New Here
39	James Blake – James Blake
40	Future Islands- Out of Water
41	Radiohead- King of Limb
42	Cloud Nothings- Cloud Nothings
43	Wilco- The Whole Love
44	Dillon Francis – Westside
45	Mister Heavenly- Out of Love
46	Explosions in the sky- Take care, Take care, Take care
47	The Black Keys- El Camino
48	Smith Westerns- Dye it Blonde
49	Kanye West & Jay-Z- Watch The Throne
50	Rubblebucket – Omega La La