The Best Album Covers of 2013 (So Far)

This year's releases win in terms of art and design.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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As 2013 dwindles, the year's releases are already piling up and with even more anticipated to come it's easy to lose grip on the releases we were fangirl-ing over just last month. This year's leaks, teases, drops, and brand new artists alike have shape-shifted this years scene into an audiovisual arena. Album artwork is a necessity, it is the look a record is prematurely judged on. This year has definitely had a smattering of beautiful works and here at Complex we don't forget anything, ever, ever. So here are the best album covers of 2013 (so far), from Tyga with a tiger, to a lady sawing a man in half, and many more that we've collected here for you!

The Best Album Covers of 2013 (So Far)

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20. Disclosure - Settle

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20. Disclosure, Settle

Label: Universal Islands Records

Disclosure hath branded themselves. Their lightning-like outlined faces have taken over their music videos, albums, street campaigns, and merch. The brothers opted with their baby picture, which probably wasn't that long ago, only furthering the cradlerobbing stampedes.

19. LE1F - Fly Zone

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19. LE1F, Fly Zone

Label: Greedhead

LE1F will forever be fresh. He can stay crisp in his music videos when he's covered in soda in a sauna, and he might as well stay fashion forward garbed with layyers and layers of sheer fabrics, making himself a chrysalis of fabulousness (which aptly describes his sound). It's a sound that can only be reigned in by each of his outlandish musical moves balancing themselves, unexpectedly making them his own channel of vogue.

18. Toro Y Moi - Anything in Return

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18. Toro Y Moi, Anything In Return

Label: Carpark Records
Art Director: John Storz

Chaz of Toro y Moi employed John Storz to craft this colorful portrai of himself. This album is the furthest he's reached thus far into the expanse of creativity, toying with bigger and poppier soundsl. The artwork shows a half-hidden Chaz, which could denote his timidity, while the outspoken colors mimic the sounds that speak much louder than he might have on his own.

17. CSS - Planta

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17. CSS, Planta

Label: Street Quality Entertainment

Taking cue from llamas and the middle east, CSS varies from their normal playfulness yet maintains their artistic drive to dress in all black turbans, and they still look good. This album cover reflects their aesthetic and their ability to keep winning visually.

16. Lil Wayne - I Am Not a Human Being II

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16. Lil Wayne, I Am Not a Human Being II

Label: Young Money Cash Money/Republic
Art Director: Kanye West/DONDA

Now we know that Lil Wayne likes butterflies, especially those of a fire-ember red that are most likely poisonous. Wayne told MTV, "[Kanye] said, you know, man, let me do your cover. I saw the cover and I approved it...he said, he chose the moth butterfly thing because it has so many different stages of life, and it goes through so many forms and changes, and no one can figure it out, and it's always beautiful." We get it, if Kanye wants to do your album artwork, you let Kanye do your album artwork. Also, Wayne is definitely the human version of a moth butterfly.

15. Killer Mike & El-P - Run The Jewels

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15. Killer Mike & El-P, Run The Jewels

Label: Fool's Gold Records

The Fool's Gold collab between these two heavyweights makes sense. The album art, maybe not so much. But, who cares? Its a zombie hand stealing a hefty chain from another zombie hand, which is enough. After both artists finished up very solid albums of their own last year, they were ready to have some fun. Killer Mike says of the vibe—"This is the Louis CK record".

14.Foals - Holy Fire

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14. Foals, Holy Fire

Label: Transgressive Records

Keeping in line with Foals' music, this album art is simply beautiful. It has every aspect of romanticism present. Sunset? Check. A lapping ocean wave? Yup. A pack of wild-yet-recently-trained-stallions? Of course.

13. A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP

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13. A$AP Rocky, Long.Live.A$AP

Label: A$AP Worldwide/Polo Grounds/RCA

Long.Live.A$AP is quite an album. With cameos from Skrillex, Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, Danny Brown, Yelawolf, Santigold, Schoolboy Q, Big K.R.I.T., Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, it is a melting pot, matching the American refrences on the album art, yet it's a bit out of line by some standards, hence the disjointed parts of the image. It may look distorted and fuzzy, but stylistically, it works and made for a memorable image.

12. Mac Miller - Watching Movies with the Sound Off

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12. Mac Miller, Watching Movies With The Sound Off

Label: Rostrum Records

You may have forgotten about Mac Miller, and that's probably for the best. He sheds his frat-rap days, and his clothes, wearing nothing but some ink and chest hair for this fresh start of an album. When asked what he wanted for this album, he said, "I want to get it weirder." Well, weird made for the what may be the best album and album cover of his career so far.

11. Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze

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11. Kurt Vile, Wakin On A Pretty Daze

Label: Matador
Art Director: Steve Powers

In one day, legendary Philadelphia artist ESPO worked on this wall piece devoted to Vile's single. The album's cover shares the feelings of the album with its breezy yet meaningful observations in a desolate place of body and mind.

10. Tyga - Hotel California

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10. Tyga, Hotel California

Label: Young Money/Cash Money

Whether you know it or not, this is what you really want in life (unless you're allergic to a tiger/tyga). Being the consumers that we are, we can only assume that this album must be the soundtrack to success. It's simple syllogism at its best, and it's working (*runs out and buys three copies*).

9. Kvelertak - Meir

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9. Kvelertak, Meir

Label: Roadrunner Records
Art Director: John Dyer Baizley

Warning: this album is much more intense than it appears, so pay attention to the artwork. A passing glance might lead one to think, "Oh wow, a beautiful woman playing in a fountain," but NO. She's actually crouched on the skull of a ram, who she might have just killed with her bare hands after listening to this album. And she's surrounded by a flock of pigeons that are just shitting everywhere. Oh my, how the tables have turned.

8. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

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8. The National, Trouble Will Find Me

Label: 4AD
Art Director: Scott Devendorf

We would love to tell you what's happening here, but we're not entirely sure. She sure is beautiful and probably a semi-normal human being, yet we're not sure what she's doing staring at us halfway underneath a mirror, which directly coincides with The National's new album. It's beautiful, but what are they doing? "Don't Swallow The Cap"? We weren't going to. "I Should Live In Salt"? Probably shouldn't do that. Cheers to beautiful, weird, artistic shit that doesnt make sense.

7. Tyler, the Creator - WOLF

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7. Tyler, The Creator, WOLF

Label: Odd Future Records

Tyler implements his cover as an angelic preface for a knowledgable album. Changing pace from his previous releases, he takes a stance in his newly stable place. Leaving his humble home on his grandmother's floor and moving things to his newly acquired mansion, he repeatedly references, half bragging and half in subdued disbelief. As his album's art, including the version by Mark Ryden, denotes, things are looking up for Tyler.

6. Baths - Obsidian

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6. Baths, Obsidian

Label: Anticon

Baths has been perfecting his music to reach touching places further than before, and his artwork is simultaneously fearful and inspiring. The bedarkened skies show this man sheltering two others with his own body, yet he smiles with glowing white teeth. It's a beautiful accompaniment to his music that delivers a sense of provision and inadequacy yet also optimism.

5. Kanye West - Yeezus

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5. Kanye West, Yeezus

Label: Def Jam
Art Directors: Justin Saunders, Matthew Williams, and Virgil Abloh

The most life-changing, chaotic, and beautiful things in life can be housed in the deceivingly simplest of cases (shout out to your exes!). The only thing on the case—a piece of red tape—even underwent a few revisions to capture the true essence that Yeezy was looking for. We wonder how much money he saved on album art. Of course, there's always a chance that this version cost more in the end.

4. Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety

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4. Autre Ne Veut, Anxiety

Label: Mexican Summer
Art Director: Thunderhorse

Are they mimes? Are they butlers? The nondescript hands on either side of the frame serve as enigma not too far off from Autre Ne Veut itself. We were really looking forward to the follow-up from their last release, which sported a zoomed-in lady part. There's always next time!

3. Rhye - Woman

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3. Rhye, Woman

Label: Polydor
Art Director: Stuart Hardie

Rhye's album is the perfect sound for solace on lonesome evenings, lonesome mornings, lonesome afternoons, and lonesome times in between. The only thing you could possibly want when you're lonely is to listen to this album, glance down at your iPod, and see this picture of another beautiful lonely person. Lonely is okay (mom I'm fine so stop trying to get me to talk to your boss' son)!

2. Beacon - The Way We Separate

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2. Beacon, The Ways We Separate

Label: Ghostly
Illustrator: Langdon Graves 

We've never seen a female magician saw a man in half, but it sounds pretty scary. If Beacon's album alone doesn't make you burst into and bathe in emotional tears, think of this poor man's fate. The entirety of the album is a lovelorn tale of losing. The female with saw-in-hand may just personify the ghost of past girls as he lays back and lets them saw into him. Damn.

1. Sigur Ros - Kveikur

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1. Sigur Ros, Kveikur

Label: XL Records
Art Director: Sarah Hopper

We may never really have any clue as to what Sigor Ros is trying to tell us. All we can do is admire them from afar and thank them for the mysterious imaging they add to our lives. With Kveikur there's a fifty-fifty chance that the group was asleep when they approved the artwork, which gives us the hazy beauty we love so much.

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