YEAR-END LISTS typically hew to the comfy round number 10. And although Top 10 has a ring to it, Silicon Valley’s melting pot of musical talent fused genres, collaborated, innovated and turned out so many great LPs and EPs this year that it became a nearly impossible task to narrow it down to even the Top 15 releases, so we squeezed one more pick for a favorite 16. Here, in no particular order, are some of 2013’s best local releases.

The Bangerz: PRiSM
PriSM, the Bangerz’ second soundtrack LP for the Jabbawockeez Las Vegas stage show, showcases the crew going deeper into some amazing futuristic soundscapes. The crew has always straddled a line between throwback hip-hop and cutting edge electro-jams, but it’s all forward thinking with this release. In a sign of the times—as the line between EDM and hip-hop continues to blur—there’s a healthy dose of dubstep influence on this record, as well.

Rebelskamp: The Kill
Going into a recording studio without any written material doesn’t sound like a winning formula for an album, yet Rebelskamp produced a remarkable LP this year. They’ve gotten so good at improvisation that they don’t sound like they’re inventing the music on the spot. Yet, the spontaneity of such a freeform formula remains intact. These songs go any and everywhere, drifting through funk riffs, psychedelic space jams and crazy free-jazz. A highlight is “The Rebel,” with local rapper Dirtbag Dan freestyling a couple verses.

Philthy Dronez: Wepa Life
Up until recently, Matt Gonzales was known mostly as the go-to guitarist for local bands. (Anya and the Getdown, Raul y Mexia, Chris Reed—to name a few). Now the world gets a taste of his solo project: producing Latin-infused electro-beats under his alter-ego, Philthy Dronez. His debut EP, Wepa Life, was released on Global Bass Experience a few months back. It’s a short EP, about 15 minutes, but it’s bumpin’. It centers on the emerging new-cumbia sound, but also veers into electronic and hip-hop territory, and even some old-school cumbia.

Boboso: Grown Ass Man
There are three things Boboso raps about: food, cats and his love for the female derriere—often within the same song. Yet, he’s not exactly a comedy rapper. He can really rhyme. Plus, his production skills are top-notch: classic West Coast beats with surreal twists. The Beach Boys sample on “That Breathe In, Breathe Out Shit” is a particular highlight. Jeff Rosenstock from Brooklyn punk band Bomb the Music Industry also lays down an impressive verse on “Sartorial Panache.”

Careless Hearts: Alum Rock
Alum Rock isn’t just the latest album by Careless Hearts; it’s the culmination of five years of life-changing events. They started out a laidback Americana group, but since 2008’s Heart’s Delight, they’ve gone through some major lineup changes and played a life-changing show with punk legend, Stooges guitarist James Williamson. It shows in the roots-rock, power-pop songwriting on Alum Rock. The release rocks harder, louder and with more passion than their first two albums.

Antwon: In Dark Denim
In Dark Denim isn’t as accessible as Antwon’s prior work and takes the San Jose rapper in a new direction. His beats are grimier, the samples are darker and the lyrics are dirtier than ever. “Work 4 Me,” with its down-and-dirty hip-shaking beat and raunchy lyrics, sounds like he’s seducing the listener. All the while, Antwon’s fanbase continues to grow, with a successful run at SXSW, an appearance at Treasure Island Music Festival and two national tours during the last year.

The Albert Square: How’s Everybody’s Doings?
Last year, Sim Castro reformed his punk rock outfit the Albert Square. The songwriting is much in the same vein, subtly nuanced ’80s and ’90s post-punk-inspired, but the band’s performances are far more unhinged—a good thing. Their newfound spastic energy complements Castro’s reflective songwriting quite well. However, the strongest song, “(Proud) Parents,” is oddly the most reserved track on the EP.

The Limousines: Hush
It’s been a couple years since synth-pop duo the Limousines released their brilliant debut, Get Sharp. Despite all the views they were getting on YouTube and radio play they received, they had major problems to sort out with their label, but Hush was worth the wait: Its synth beats are dancier, the production is more refined and in place of their signature clever nihilism, Hush offers lyrics that are raw and honest. Hush was made with funds from a Kickstarter campaign that sought $30,000 but ended up raising $75,000.

Dinners: Black Rabbits
If such a thing as a San Jose “supergroup” exists, Dinners might be that band, featuring members from Worker Bee and Doctor Nurse. Dinners go into a different direction than either Worker Bee (moody indie rock) or Doctor Nurse (psychedelic folk) with lo-fi noise-pop and a heavy dose of Guided By Voices influence. At first listen, Black Rabbits sounds like the kind of four-track recording popular with ’90s indie bands, but it’s actually a quite meticulously, thoughtfully crafted album. The cover art is amazing, too.

Rey Resurreccion, M-10, Locsta Villan: First Street Sessions
Some of rapper Rey Resurreccion’s finest works are collaborations. Last year, he worked with the Bangerz to make some killer old school hip-hop tunes. This year, he got together with emcees M-10 and Locsta Villan and created the 1st Street Sessions. Together the trio has produced eight laid-back, dreamy hip-hop songs that should be on urban stations all across the country.

Raul y Mexia: Arriba y Lejos
Brothers Raul y Mexia released a fun, passionate Spanish-language album this year on Nacional Records, the current leaders of cutting-edge Latin music. Arriba y Lejos combines elements of cumbia and other traditional Latin sounds with hip-hop and electronica. The duo, who are sons of Hernán Hernández, bassist of famous Norteño band Los Tigres del Norte, has created something that both pays tribute to classic Latin music, like their father created, and all the newer American music they grew up with here in San Jose.

Sean Blak: #Basslife
Sean Blak books live hip-hop shows, puts on battle-rap events and holds a weekly Tuesday night residency, “the Trap Shop” at Johnny V’s. He’s also a prolific rapper, with a ton of lo-fi, surreal homemade hip-hop records online. His best this year is the LP #Basslife. On it, he takes some of the strangest, most intimate beats and makes them sound like outrageous club bangers.

Slime Girls: Vacation Wasteland
By the time Slime Girls came together, the chiptune scene was already well-established. Yet they’ve still been able to find their own sound within it, taking all the old Nintendo chip Gameboy sounds and mixing them with surf, punk and ska. Their latest EP, Vacation Wasteland, is a seriously fun collection of instrumental chip-rock tunes. It was originally pressed on cassette because they’re that into old technology.

David Brookings: The Maze
The Maze is David Brookings’ sixth full-length album since 2000, yet he’s still working on building his fanbase in the Bay Area. He moved to Northern California from the Memphis by way of Richmond, Virginia, in 2009, and produced his five albums before heading West. The Maze, like its five predecessors, brings together ’60s psychedelic-rock and ’80s New Wave.

Derek See: She Came This Way
The title track to Derek See’s She Came This Way is an amazing psychedelic-pop gem. At first, See, who normally plays guitar in soul group the Bang, recorded it, along with a couple other tunes, just for fun. It was good enough for an indie label to offer to release it, and they even ran out of the first pressing. It’s the kind of song that, had it been written in 1967, would have been a Summer of Love FM hit, no doubt.

Noothgrush: Split LP with Coffins
Back in the ’90s, sludge metal group Noothgrush were a pretty big deal. Along with Sleep and a few other bands, San Jose boasted a strong doom metal scene. Noothgrush just recently reformed, and they also just released a split record with Japanese metal band Coffins. The third track, “Thoth” is particularly special, as it contains spoken clips from the late, great, much beloved KFJC DJ, Cy Thoth, who died earlier this year.

The recently released 26-track hip-hop compilation NoiseLab Vol 1, features  a lot of familiar San Jose faces like Kung Fu Vampire, Rey Resurreccion, Sean Blak, Language Arts Crew and Luck Loosh and lesser known locals like newcomer YDMC and rap veteran Joe Cutter.

The compilation, assembled by Blak, is divided between veterans of the South Bay scene on the first half, and newcomers on the latter portion. The second volume is expected out in May.
In addition to San Jose rapper, the mixtape features artists from Santa Cruz (Playz), Half Moon Bay (Araknophobix), San Francisco (San Quinn, Pariah), Oakland (Kafani, Deuce Eclipse) and Watsonville (Xplisit).

Check it out here:

The Freq Out! series of art and music events prides itself on being a place for spontaneity and synchronicity, and South Bay artists Katie Raynes and Matt Lopez know perhaps better than anyone how true that can be. Raynes, now a San Jose State student, had been going to Freq Out! since it started in Santa Cruz. But it was after it moved to downtown San Jose last year that it led her to Lopez, who would eventually become her artistic collaborator and boyfriend.

“The first time we ever talked was at a Freq Out, on Halloween,” says Raynes.

“I had just moved here from Florida, and started hanging out at live music events downtown,” says Lopez, who lives in Gilroy.

In a nice bit of circular karma, Raynes and Lopez will paint together at the next Freq Out!, on Friday at South First Billiards. This edition will feature seven live acts on the bill, and four visual artists doing live art to the music.

Most people aren’t used to seeing live art during a concert, let alone two people working on the same piece. But Lopez and Raynes began collaborating on their paintings after first experimenting with a long, rectangular canvas.

“I started at one end, and she started at one end, and then we just flip-flopped,” remembers Lopez. “I went over what she was doing, and she went over what I was doing.”

“It almost inspires me more when we work together,” says Raynes. “It’s more of a surprise.”

The canvas they’ll be working with on Friday will be the largest they’ve done yet. Both of them are hooked on the live art experience.

“It draws out inspiration that you wouldn’t normally get,” says Raynes. “Live music is so unpredictable.”

Lopez is now doing most of his art at live music events. “Everybody is really into it, because it’s immediate,” he says. “It’s like you’re a musician playing a song.”

In another interesting bit of symmetry, the San Jose group Rebelskamp, who’ll be performing at this week’s Freq Out!, looks at their music like an artist painting a piece.

“That’s such a match for our music,” says drummer Dan Gilardoni of the event’s live-art component. “We don’t know what we’re playing, but we’ll just start flowing with it.”

Rebelskamp started as the freestyle rap crew LSB, and didn’t compromise their creative process one bit when they became a rock band.

“We make up our music on the spot,” says Gilardoni. “We thrive on that unpredictability.”

What would happen if a bunch of freestyle rappers started a jam-band? It might sound impossible, but that’s exactly what happened to San Jose’s Rebelskamp. Four members of this rock, funk, avant-garde, free-form, genre-busting quintet (along with Kung Fu Vampire) were at one time the local freestyle rap crew, LSB.

“With that pressure of freestyle rap, you’re going to stumble, but the key is how quickly you recover from the stumble. We’re basically taking that freestyle rap pressure that we thrive on and we’re freestyling with our instruments,” says drummer Dan Gilardoni.

Their instrumentation is a fairly standard rock set up: drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and cello. The music meanders from slow, mellow, experimental swells to hyper-funky night-club jams, with just about everything else in-between. It is all 100 percent made up on the spot with no planning in advance, not even the lead vocals.

“We realized that we would stumble upon brilliance by not trying. That was the key. That was our formula, to have no formula,” says guitarist and lead singer Gee Willikers.

They may not sound like rap, but they don’t sound like a typical jam band either. First off, there are no solos. The songs are short and concise, unlike the standard 10-15 minute long songs other such bands tend to play. Plus their music takes shape more cohesively than other completely free-form bands. The songs actually sound pre-written, and people often refuse to believe they are making these songs up on the spot. With just about a year and a half under their belt, they’ve made up and recorded over 800 distinct songs, covering a multitude of musical styles, even within a single song.