Unlike for the gigs, I have decided that I would write this one at the end of the year after all. I did briefly consider doing more ‘live’ updates about the music that took my fancy this week or that week as the year progressed, but as I wrote when I considered this page as a draft: ‘ it’s been a somewhat unsteady year so far, without a defined shape. Sure there are a few tunes already that I liked and I know will figure, but there’s been no huge association of new tunes with events. So I shall leave this page essentially blank until the end of 2023. The year is in progress, but this page will (hopefully) only appear at once much later than now (14/4)’.
Looks like I had made that decision above early-ish then.
Anyway, we are at the end of the year and things are clearer, conclusions have been drawn or not and I ended up writing a whole page about the year in itself, without the music. So this page will focus on the music accompanying all of what was written, rather than the events themselves. Sure, at some point or other, the same things will resurface, that were mentioned on that page, and essentially I will try to stick to the same formula as for other years (but remember the pre-2023 were all written early 2023 so a fair amount of time afted they happened).
A brief summary of the year: it started with a big hope, got lost and confused many times, had some very intense emotions, from depresssion to happiness and all the moods in between sometimes all at once, through a few physical injuries/issues, and ultimately started to stabilise from the month of May on. And so the second part of the year, while not particularly eventful, felt a lot more simple and comfortable. From a 2022 that seemed a more linear progression upwards overall (no doubt there were peaks and troughs then too), 2023 was a lot more uncertain and fluctuating, but it feels like it ends rather well and strongly.
Back to the music though, it was a pretty different year. I’m still somehow going through the process of listening to some of the albums from the year, but it wouldn’t change this post now [Edit: well, it did a bit, listening to the final few on New Year’s Day]. The thing is, unlike last year when the re-listening in particular was fairly emotional and unlocked a few gems I thought I’d missed, the music on record this year felt a little less intense. Not sure if it’s just me as someone else I know expressed something a little similar, but there were quite a few top tunes, but maybe not so many smashing albums. In fact, my re-listening so far has confirmed that idea: there were very very few albums that elicited a ‘wow!’ from me, or that got my undivided attention from start to finish. Having said that, even if I may not come up with a top 5 or 10 in the end as it was a very even field, there were also a fair number of fairly good albums without standout tracks (which doesn’t necessarily contradict what is stated above, it’s just that these albums felt to me like they had a lot of quality, but not any amazing tunes – whereas quite a few albums weren’t that good but had the odd great tune! — and then there were EPs and off-album singles).
On the other hand, I got a lot more from live music in 2023. There was no Cure gig for me (as despite my initial plan, I couldn’t make it to the US leg of the tour for organisational reasons), but plenty of extraordinarily good gigs in a variety of genre (though I was sorry to miss out on some of them, I’d have been interested to hear what a Romy ‘live’ show can be). And so, there was a fair amount of my listening that was driven by older releases of artists just seen live. This will probably show in my selection too.
I’ll try to be sequential in time, driven by either release dates/moments in my more personal year (that includes gigs), and whenever I put them in my ‘best of’ Playlist.
The year started slowly on the new music front, with few interesting releases in January and no gig then (bar the last-minute Royal Republic that led me to visit a back-catalogue that didn’t produce any truly memorable moment). So it was mostly earworms from the previous year, keeping with the emotions I felt, but they’re already mentioned in the 2022 page (Rina Sawayama, Tove Lo, etc.).
The first album that started to get a bit of attention was Leila Moss’ new release (her third album), Internal Working Model. I felt it had a big potential for repeated listens, but in the end, I was left a tad disappointed, her first album still being by far the best in my opinion. Still, good enough to warrant an entry here.
So here’s WOO. Well, I think ‘Welcome To It’ just about edges it, but I can’t find a link on YouTube so you’ll have to check it for yourself. ‘Come and Find Me’ is also worth your time.
There were actually a few low-key albums with some highlights around that time. Gaz Coombes was next, a perfectly pleasant and enjoyable album that took a further dimension with his life performance a little over a month later and is the reason for this entry, while at the time of release it was just filed under the ‘nice but not making any difference to me’ list, that could figure at the end of this page.
‘Long Live The Strange’ was a highlight both on record and live.
The Circa Waves album was highly anticipated by me, but expectations were not met, and while not all bad, it only produced one true memorable tune. Mind you, it’s probably the first that stuck with me this year, more than the ones mentioned above at the time. The first song that made me feel like wanting to go out, some positive vibe coming from it. But they didn’t even play it live a few months later.
Belle and Sebastian, who had to cancel their gig in Paris that month, released a new album (Late Developers) fairly hot on the wheels of their previous one, and it was grand and had a couple of truly excellent tunes. Do You Follow is superb and gives me goosebumps listening again right now (I’m still doing the same way as previous instalments, listening as I type), but When You’re Not With Me, while not quite as good, was another possibility for posting.
One album I didn’t anticipate as I didn’t even know they were still around was We Are Scientists’Lobes. After a quick preview, I was sold, and on top of pretty good stuff, brought two excellent danceable highlights. It’s a toss up between Turn It Up and Less from You for which one was in my head more often, especially after my birtdhay gig. Both pulsating disco numbers. But I’ll inflict the triumphant album closer on you.
A good surprise early in the year was Billy Nomates’ album, ‘CACTI’. Just consistent quality, maybe nothing truly stuck in the head, and so she could warrant an entry only at the bottom of the page, but me being suitably impressed by an artist I barely knew apart from her collaboration with Sleaford Mods on Mork’n’Mindy is worth her own entry with such an album when it looked like the year was starting very slowly.
I’ll pass on the You Me At Six album, that was eagerly awaited even more than the Circa Waves for me, but turned out to be an even bigger disappointment with no song making it to my memory bank…
A few more albums entered my ears and got out of them without making a strong impression despite not being bad at all (they may make it to the list at the bottom, not sure yet, need to check my re-listening notes, but that tells you enough about nothing standing out).
And then Paramore relased a new album ‘This Is Why’, that was not just excellent but also had some superb songs. I’ll put the dynamic C’est Comme ça here, as it has some great stuff that could stick in your mind (yeah, superb song!), but Liar, in a different, much more introspective, way, is also worth a listen. I might even post it later in this post, as the reworked version with Romy released later in the year was great.
I’m not sure I found a lot of dance/pop music to my taste this year unlike last, but Ava Max’s Diamonds & Dancefloors catered for that part of my tastes, a great album with a few highlights, like Sleepwalker, Ghost, and the my favourite here, the title track.
Really strange times, for instance there was an album released early February, Rebecca Black’s Let Her Burn, I remember being impressed by it, feeling nearly every track was great, and I put a lot in my playlist, yet looking back now, none really stuck and even on relisten I think yeah it’s OK, so good album but…maybe not that great. Possibly a sign that times weren’t great mentally, that the year was disappointing certainly musically so far, and that I was looking for any bright spot when they weren’t quite many musical high points. Seems this was released on 8/2 so very much when depression was starting to take hold. Still, Look At You is well worth posting after all.
Just a few weeks later, Gracie Abrams released her proper debut Album, Good Riddance, and it was beautiful, a confirmation after earlier EPs that I loved. Absolutely gutted I couldn’t get a ticket for her gig that autumn that sold out very quickly to my surprise. Some superb tunes and the same delicate voice as before, that carries a fair amount of emotion. I’m giving you the touchingly beautiful Full Machine, but Difficult and I Know It Won’t Work, and Will You Cry? are also well worth your ears as well as other ones on the album.
(in fact that album touches me so much that I wrote the following (though a few months later I see in fact that this was the day after the Birdy gig ( so not a huge surprise, it was truly part of how I was feeling then), the last thing I wrote on this ‘draft’ page until today 30/12) : 15/4 One exception as I’m doing some catching up, listening to Gracie Abrams Good Riddance, it’s a beautiful album and while I’m still a bit up and down, that makes me feel in touch with emotions again. Well worth your time. Sure, there have been other good albums and tunes so far this year that I’m resisting posting now, but this album just hit a soft spot , and I’m still gutted her concert later this year sold out quickly before I saw it was on. If anyone has a spare for Le Bataclan in October, let me know….
Note that the above also shows that I was really not doing well in February in particular, and only started recovering in March if it took me two months to catch up…
But continuing with this slightly bizarre start to the year was the release of a short album by an unknown-to-me artist I still don’t know much about and that was both a little out of this world, and a fair musical reflection of the sort of limbo I found myself in. I quite like this number, the title track off daine’s shapeless.
Sometimes there was a certain delay between album releases/buying and me getting into them, either because I felt too busy or had accumulated a backlog, or because I had a quick listen, liked some stuff and marked them as potential favourites and it took some circumstances for these tracks to truly hit home. And so somehow, the chronology doesn’t match the releases. Caroline Polachek will therefore be mentioned later, despite me liking a few of the tracks immediately.
Released I don’t know exactly when, and another group I wanted to see live (early April I think?) but sold out too quickly was Jadu Heart’s Derealise. A truly excellent album, and while it wasn’t on so high on emotion, it’s good practically from start to finish, with the highlight being, perhaps, the fantastically well-paced Blame.
Something a little lighter was released at some point, got a lot of hype, I wasn’t sure about it, but it sounded fun, and there’s a little track that sounds very happy (and another gig I belatedly considered much later during the year but that was cancelled). So here’s Doritos & Fritos from 100 gecs’10,000 gecs. I think it was released at the wrong time for me, but it’s a very fun track, it’s truly ace.
Depeche Mode are next here. The single Ghosts Again was publicised well in advance of the Memento Mori album’s release, had some great reviews and lots of Mode fans seemed to rave about it and saying they were back to their best. I decided I would wait until the album. And when it came out, yeah once more with Depeche Mode albums from me, it was pretty much ‘yeah, great single(s) but the rest is pretty much forgettable’. But what a single. I actually have a memory of listening to that one on one of my park walks, and I was turning the corner of depression for good, maybe it was early April, I had a very positive feeling, and paradoxically for a song title’ Ghosts Again’, it actually made me feel….alive again. Superb song, and so I find myself agreeing with their fans on that score for sure, still makes me feel that way on listenng now, one of the best this year. Great work!
The linearity of time and releases, interspersed with gigs and other events’ timings may make this page evolve in different ways, and the transition will be thus. It happened after the Birdy gig (so definitely a turning point this year, as mentioned on at least three pages now…), but that Mode song was one that stayed with me during that Vienna work trip. There were a few times when I found myself in the big show room with the noisy equipment, just putting my noise-cancelling headphones and listening to a few tracks, either sitting down or ambling around the room wiht the music full on, in my own little planet, away from everyone there. There was that song, and a couple more, coming from Birdy’s répertoire. I posted Silhouette from another year in the 2022 page so won’t again. But there were a couple of highlights from her first album, which is all covers and that I put on full volume in that room while floating away. Terrible Love (a cover of a song from The National) was one.
I quite like the original, but I’m not sure I had particularly noticed it, whereas this completely bowled me over. Memories come flooding back now. What a strange year with that intense, frustrating and ultimately escaping in my dream world in April, not the way I would have wanted with company, just on my own, but I found solace there.
The other one was a cover of Mew’s Comforting Sounds. It is also amazing, though probably a lot closer to the original. As I will still post a Birdy song as her album was released later in the year, I will go slightly sideways and post the Mew original, from the amazing Frengers album. Not just to post something different, but because in fact I listened to both versions a lot in that room too, so the Mew one became also an important part of this year for me. Here more than in a lot or most of the songs posted above, we really reach the heart of ‘my year in music’ and what it is about outside of new releases. But do listen to the Birdy version too, because it is just achingly beautiful. Really touches me still as I listen to it right now.
And then, the holidays, a lot of new or renewed impressions in Crete, and some wonderful music to accompany me during the trip, particularly during the flights or bus trips or when walking around. Amusingly, the first day out in Agios Nikolaos, I heard a Birdy song while having lunch, though it was not one of my favourites. But my best music there was mostly provided by a few tracks from some excellent artists. I mentioned Caroline Polachek above, so her album was released a lot earlier this year in February, I’d already marked down some tracks, and somehow during this trip when catching up, I found myself in love with ‘Sunset’. It became a highlight: in fact whether at sunrise or sunset it was often in my head during my sojourn. The most amazing thing happened on my return though, the day I was back, one of the first thing I did was go shopping in Monoprix, and while I had not particularly paid any attention to the music they might have played on previous occasions, here it was, the very first song I hear that day, there, thirty seconds after entering was ‘Sunset’. I had absolutely no idea that this could be played in a supermarket (I did hear it once more a few months later, but I’m still amazed). Truly incredible and magic moment (but not leading to more magical things in my life, though those holidays certainly were a continuation of the positive mental turn). Butterfly Net is another great highlight on the Desire, I Want to Turn Into You album, but Sunset has to be my pick. Perhaps it’s the slightly flamenco/Spanish flavour that made it such a perfect holiday tune, but there watching the Mediterranean Sea even much further East than Spain, it fitted perfectly.
The second artist that was with me then is yunè pinku. Only a couple of EPs into her career, so no album yet, and this one, Babylon IX, wa released just before my holidays. But I instantly liked it, it was unlike most of the music I’d heard lately. Very electronic, but with a delicate touch. There are a couple of outstanding tracks (while the rest is also excellent, I was smitten by the music) on there. I was first stuck on Sports but Fai Fighter also made its way into my favourites and I couldn’t stop playing these two during my Cretan stay. I’m only allowing myself to post one, and I’m not even sure which I prefer as they are very different, but make sure to check the other.
I think Daughter made their way into my conscience at about the same time too. Their new album, Stereo Mind Game, was released a few weeks earlier, and there were a couple of incredibly good and emotional songs there in the middle of a great but imperfect album. Touched me in some walks, weren’t so much played during most of the stay in Crete perhaps, but the flight back led me back to them as I was feeling like floating away, listening to those CP and YP tracks and it seemed to continue the mood in a fine way as I was heading back home in the uncertainty of not knowing what the future held and if things would ever feel as good and free again. Dandelion was the first track that caught me, but on relisten, I think I might be slightly more touched by the amazing quasi-opener (there’s an Intro track first) Be On Your Way. Both are superb either way, and Elena Tonra’s voice felt like the most incredible one in the world, just carrying so much delicate emotion, not forced, just one that goes straight to not just your heart but your soul. Listening to both tracks, no, I really can’t choose.
Thanks in no small part to the 5albums series, I got to check back their previous work and was completely floored. How had I missed out on them? The previous albums are even better in my opinion, so many beautiful tracks. I listened to all of them a fair bit at some point, perhaps more later in the summer, in particular on the train back from Nice mid-july, I listened to all three albums in succession and it felt just perfect. I don’t want to post too much, but perhaps one from each album. From If You Leave (2013), I’ll post Still, but tough to choose, with Youth, Tomorrow and Shallows being other choice cuts.
And from Not To Disappear (2016)? You’ll see later. New Ways and Alone/With You are highlights of an incredible album, but there’s one song that I reckon was my most listened to song this year. I’ll put it at the end….
On the trip back, to tone down the intensity, I also listened to The National’s new album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein. Well there’s two or three very good tracks there, but the one that made the most immediate impression on me was Eucalyptus.
Travelling back to something released earlier in the year, that I found excellent though I didn’t take much time to listen to, Yves Tumor’s ‘Praise a Lord that Doesn’t Chew But Which Does Not Consume’ (honestly, that’s the title). A real find of yet another artist I didn’t know, but who offered originality and variation, not so common these days. As witnessed in concert much later in the year, not something to emotionally connect with, but very interesting. Here’s In Spite Of War.
An album that was released to extremely high critical acclaim was boygenius’ modestly titled ‘the record’. Actually, no immodesty there, as a) no capitals, b) I suspect it’s because they had formed a while ago but just took their time to actually release an album. This is the brainchild of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, so already a promising line-up in itself. I was not entirely taken by it to be honest, though a recent re-listen told me it was much better than I remembered, but it contains one of the best songs of this year: Not Strong Enough.
Going a little sideways with an EP now, Heartworms’ A Comforting Notion. Excellent stuff, and a gig I nearly went to, but annoyingle decided to miss despite late tickets still being available, at a time I was slightly too tired and unsure of myself to push everything through. Retributions of an Awful Life should sate your taste for slightly gothic/dance (Miss Kittin?) crossovers.
I’m starting to feel it difficult to reconcile my chronological buys list and other aspects of this post, so perhaps I should go back to that. I was going to wait until June releases to mention The Veils, but it actually makes no sense as I had immediately felt their new album was great and highlighted a few songs from it. So we’re in June, we’re in March, we’re everywhere, but it doesn’t matter, it’s the the year in music, or rather, essentially my favourite tunes of the year with the occasional personal take (also, sometimes I bought albums much after release for a reason or another). So yeah, ‘…And Out of the Void Came Love’ is a beautiful album, released early March and enhanced by a fabulous gig in June. Plenty of highlights, No Limits of Stars and Undertow are worth a shout, but Someday My Love Will Come wins the palm, one of the most beautiful songs I heard live this year, one I would always want to share. Yeah, the tide was turning mid-year but was still rich in emotions, whereas the end of the year had more fun. I can’t choose between both (I’d choose emotion, I guess, who am I kidding) and reliving it all now is an experience that is currently feeling nearly as rich as last year’s listens pre-starting this site.
An album that got a great reception but I didn’t quite appreciate as much as many other people (though not unlike boygenius, a re-listen felt I needed to re-evaluate and classify as pretty good actually) was Blondshell’s eponymous album. Although what this one had too, was a song that instantly belonged to the ‘one of the best this year’ category. Still is, and a few months later was the highlight of her concert: Salad. Powerful.
In a completely different style of slightly overhyped albums (but this time when a revisit didn’t lead to a change of opinion) was Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good!, a relative disappointment for me. But perhaps because this is not quite my natural genre again. Still, Free Yourself sounds like a rather efficient slice of disco I could enjoy any day of the year.
In the ‘great tracks to possibly dance in an indie-way to that I noticed straight away out of very good albums but didn’t stay long in my head more due to circumstances than anything else but that a gig later brought home again’, Indigo De Souza’s Smog, off her excellent ‘All Of This Will End’ album holds a good spot. You can’t get much more Indie+American than that, and I love it.
Next, and I’m still going through things only in a semi-ordered way, Black Honey. A Fistful of Peaches is currently a strong favourite to be my album of the year. Plenty of good songs, it never lets you down, can’t name them all, perhaps check Heavy and Out of My Mind, maybe Weirdos or the softer and beautiful Nobody Knows, but they’re all good. But particularly, have a bit of Rock Bottom, another shooting straight into ‘best of the year’ territory, but this time as part of an excellent and immediately enjoyable album.
The Orbital album from this year, Optical Delusion, was prefaced by the Sleaford Mods collaboration released last year, Dirty Rat. So I won’t post that one again, as there are another couple of excellent tracks on this release. Day One is one, but Are You Alive? (fear. Penelope Isles) wins the contest. Proper excellent tuuuuuuuune! that.
Some albums have plenty of good tunes while maybe not having anything that would make your ‘best tunes of the year’ list, but are original enough and make a big first impression and so are worth their own indidual entry here. So if you have a little spare time, you could do worse than listen to Baba Ali’s ‘Laugh Like a Bomb’, starting with the opening track ‘Hold My Head’.
Some of the best dance/pop is still produced by possibly multi-millionaires star DJs. Tiësto’s Drive has the advantage of being remarkably short and contain a slightly-amputated-handfull of great bangers. Pick of the bunch is possibly 10:35 (featuring Tate McRae) but Don’t Be Shy and Bet My Dollar hit a few sweet spots too.
Bar Italia released two albums this year, but the first one is still the best, so perhaps it wasn’t needed (see The National, though I haven’t even tried their second album of the year). Plenty of good tunes to choose from Tracey Denim (incidentally a contender for the top 5 albums of the year), Nocd, Changer, Missus Morality and perhaps the slightly more conventional and spacious closer, Maddington, but I’ll give you the brilliant Punkt.
One superb album that I was really lucky to stumble upon but reckon will have been missed by most was Hak Baker’s ‘World’s End FM’. Plenty of varied influences, some Streets-y numbers, some a little bit more ragga, some sweet acoustic ballads(Windrush Baby), an interesting thematic album full of subtlety (Run), touching moments like Dying to Live, and with some proper potential hits like this one, ‘Telephone 4 Eyes’. Superb, probably one of the albums of the year.
There were a few bands who impressed both on record and on the stage this year actually, and Dream Wife belong to that category. On top of one of the gigs of the year, they were responsible for another top album, Social Lubrication. Tracks like Orbit and Hot (Don’t Date a Musician) are tops, but the opening track had already set the tone. A (metaphorical) Kick In The Teeth indeed. Note that they also released an off-album single a few months later, Love You More, more sedate but not bad at all.
I’m losing the thread a bit, but as per all these posts, sometimes I post tunes that deserve exposition but that didn’t stay with me long for a reason or another. Sometimes I’m too busy or have too much music to listen to. More concerts, more running and less walking gave less time to listen to music, that’s partly to blame. The Mysterines found the time to release a one-off single, it sounded very oddly American for an English band, but still very good. Begin Again. We all have to sometimes.
There’s a few fairly original artists around thankfully, a few I half-randomly discovered. Amaarae is one, and her album Fountain Baby, another fusion of styles, is very interesting. Mostly sweet, with some lovely tunes like Co-Star and Sociopathic Dance Queen, it’s got a very interesting track in the middle called, Sex, Violence, Suicide. It starts rather quiet again, but something happens near the end that is very unexpected and well…I’m not going to spoil it for you, you might be surprises at the change of style.
Claud had a new album, and while I’m not sure their new album is as good as the first, there’s still at least a tune that perhaps I didn’t completely keep in mind on first quick listen, but on doing my recent December re-listens, lingered on sweetly the next morning: ‘It’s Not About You’, and so it deserves a place here, it has the feeling of a song that could have been more with me if heard first in different circumstances at a time of more space and emotion perhaps.
Some albums get released after the artist’s tour, and so the Birdy album, Portraits, eventually materialised. As foreseen during the gig, it had slightly more guitars than her previous work and overall ended up being mostly one of these highly antipicated (by me) albums that disappoint. But there were still a couple of good tunes, most notably Raincatchers that was previewed at the gig.
PVRIS’ album, EVERGREEN belongs to the same category, with a darker palette but not reaching my too high expectations. ANIMAL makes this list though technically released as a single in 2022 already but as it wasn’t on my list then…
Shamir’s Hoomo Anxietatem, helpfully released a few months before his coming to Paris, was an underrated indie classic of the year, probably worthy of a top ten if not top five, not sure yet. Had a few truly excellent songs, tough choice to make here, between the superb Our Song and the fantastic (but sadly cut out from the live set due to timing reasons, I’m still annoyed :-p) Obsession.
A new Slowdive album, everything is alive, appeared to content the shoegazer (or more likely the stargazer) in me/you. Some beautiful pieces there, the single kisses is one awesome tune, prayer remembered does a darker job, and alife, even though it doesn’t know how to end, is just a dreamy number to swoon to. One of the most beautiful and graceful tunes released this year.
I’m actually being a lot more thorough and extensive that I thought I would be, but on re-listening to a few things, I realise that there are some very good tunes that deserve airing here, even if they were not super present in my year. Sometimes they just missed on a lucky moment of coincidence. Hearing the bully album first time, I thought it was good, but now I can say the opener, All I Do, is very much worthy of inclusion on a ‘best of 2023’ list. Excellent stuff.
Is there every truly a surprise with the Hives? Their new album, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons suggests not. The same tried and tested formula, it starts with its best two tracks, classic Hives. Trapdoor Solution in second has all the frantic energy of the craziest Hives number, but opener Bogus Operandi sounds exactly like what you think a typical slightly longer mid-tempo Hives song should be. Probably perfect to open a show. And so I’ve just had a look at the setlist from their recent Paris gig and no surprise. As I said, predictable and reliable, yet unmistakenly still exceptionally fun.
Going a lot more atmospheric now with yet another artist I didn’t know but created a lovely album this year: Art School Girlfriend, with the aptly named ‘Soft Landing’. A little bit of Daughter vibes there actually, maybe slightly less guitary, plenty of good tunes to choose from, including the opening A Place To Lie and the closer Too Bright, but the drum and bass-led atmospheric ethereal vibes of Close To The Clouds make it my top pick.
Not straying too far from the same genre, though a little more of a dance vibe with Romy’s Mid Air. One of my big live regrets of the year. Slow trigger, perhaps if Nick or I had been motivated earlier or if I’d listened to it a little more. But then it was early November, it would also have made a mad week. There’s a couple of other excellent tunes there (the superb opener Loveher being a remarkable one well worth your time, Twice another wonderful favourite with perhaps a little Everything But The Girl inspiration?), but The Sea was the one that came back to me over and over many times since its release. Beautiful rhythmic and melodic magic.
Travelling back in time ten years with 65daysofstatic. Tenth anniversary of the release of Wild Light, no new release from them, but one of the best concerts of the year, and the near-title track of that album stayed in my head a while after that gig. After the long introduction, it’s the second part after 2’30 that truly makes it incredibly powerful, though it works even better live. Either way, turn the sound up for the crescendo. This needs to be listened to VERY LOUD. Blackspots is the other one that stayed in my head awhile, recommended listen if you have the time.
And on that, I thought I was nearly done and could finish tonight, I probably could, but there’ s still a fair bit to go through, and I’ve been at it for about six and a half hours now, so I think this is officially the post it took the longest to create on this site (well I don’t know, can’t quite remember how long the YiM 2022 took, but perhaps I’ll feel more refreshed to continue tomorrow, on a lazy day, the last of the year, but that doesn’t involve a run, just an Arsenal match to watch mid-afternoon). And so, the rest tomorrow sometime to conclude the year.
So, to finish stuff on the last day of the year.
One good (to me) suprise this year was Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s album, HANA. I have to admit I never followed her stuff since the mythical Groovejet single. But on reading good reviews of this, I thought I’d sample it and I liked what I heard. It’s a very good album though I’m still at this stage not convinced it’s enough to get me to see her live even as there are still tickets for her show in the Bataclan. The week after the half-marathon, but then I have a concert every other day for 12 days then, not sure fitting one more would be a great idea. Still, I’ll give you this….sweet little tune worth listening to over and over.
A new album from Explosions In The Sky? Always something to look forward to, and ‘End’ didn’t disappoint. Consistent and solid throughout, not so easy to pick a highlight, but I think The Fight is it.
A discovery of a band that had been going on for a while but hadn’t released anything for a long time, though popular enough (annoyingly so as it meant the concert was sold out before I remembered to book it) was Blonde Redhead and their new album Sit Down for Dinner. I actually did a relisten this morning to decide which track to select, while walking out to the shops, and the start of this album bowled me over again. Very emotional, brought me close to tears there in the beautiful morning sun of New Year’s Eve. Snowman is a fantastic start, but I’ll select Kiss Her Kiss Her. Not for Me finishes probably the best trio of opening tracks of the year. The album peters out a little further along,before a few more good tunes, but it’s definitely one of the best or most touching of the year.
On top of the usual mention of albums at the end, there are a few tracks I’m listening to now and were very very good but I just didn’t have time, so maybe now is a good time to mention Post Malone’s Laught It Off, and Bleach Lab’s Everything at Once, both excellent tunes on their own, out of decent albums.
A highly anticipated album that didn’t disappoint for once was Cherry Glazerr’s I Don’t Want You Anymore. Released as it was at the end of September when things were starting to get very busy for me, I didn’t have enough time to listen to it, but I have done a little more since, recently, and it’s really very good, with a couple of excellent tracks on top of some very good ones. Bad Habits is a lovely tune, Eat You Like a Pill would be a great candidate too, but here’s the incredibly cool Wild Times.
On to Metric. They released an album, Formentera II, following on Formentera from last year,. It had some good tunes, but wasn’t quite as good as its predecessor. But that acoustic gig….Anyway, it still had some good tracks on record. The amazing Nothing Is Perfect that closed that acoustic set (I’ll post the video from the concert too) was a good tune, but Days of Oblivion is worth a listen, there’s something about that chiming guitar sound that makes me go weak at the knees.
Yeah, the most amazing live moment of the year was filmed….
Something that happened many times this year following gigs (more on that near the end of this page, we’re getting there…) was that a concert triggered me to check older albums or tracks I connected with. Oddly, in the case of Metric, tracking singles that I didn’t own led me to this one Eclipse (All Yours), that wasn’t even played during either gig this year and was the sountrack to the film of the same name, released in 2010. But I liked it a lot and listened to it a fair bit, often on the train, but on other occasions too. Just a beautiful song, and the notes Emily hits for the chorus, she just sounds like she’s from another world.
CMAT’s second album, Crazymad, For Me, was even better than the first, and that’s no mean feat. Probably one of the best albums this year, pretty much no weak moment (even though you could argue it could benefit from being one or two songs shorter), Phone Me being the highlight. Undisputed highlight? Not sure, Rent and Stay For Something are pretty good, and most of all Where Are Your Kids Tonight?, a duet with John Grant, gives it a close run.
Clocking just under half an hour of music, Coach Party’s KILLJOY was one of the last excellent albums I bought this year. Tough to select a track there. The scene-setting opener What’s The Point In Life perhaps? The following, ultra short and incredibly punchy Parasite that closed the gig they played in Paris a little later in the year? The more melodic (reminiscent of Alvvays) Be That Girl? I’ll plump for the mid-tempo All I Want To Do Is Hate, if only because it comes with a nice video, but really it all depends on whatever mood you’re in.
From there on, there are actually a few albums I still need to catch up on, but whatever good tracks they yield, they weren’t a big part of 2023 memories. There’s a few more where I thought ‘yeah that’s good’, so might possibly add them in the end, at least as mentions (the Ren album impressed me), but mostly, my listenings with a busy November on the concerts front and some good stuff on stage to start December too, were informed by live music. So plenty of the next tracks mentioned here will have that link.
Actually, in that respect, I forgot the Boxer Rebellion’s single, released in October just a few days after the concert. Powdered Sugar is quite….sweet, even if it won’t truly figure among the top tunes of the year.
Black Honey had a new single on top of the album, they played it live and it was excellent.
The A.A. Williams concert was a reason for a revisit, and as I only got her 2020 album very early this year anyway, I don’t think it’s mentioned on other posts, and one of the songs that stayed with me following the gig was ‘Melt’. Majestic is the word.
An enjoyable concert from The Big Moon led me to visit their back catalogue, and so one of the nicest live moments of the year translated pretty well on record too (without the extra magic of that performance), so here’s Bonfire from their debut album, Love In The 4th Dimension, from 2017. One of their best songs overall, actually.
One last live-inspired one. Well, Ash actually released an album this year, Race The Night, it doesn’t add much to their oeuvre, and isn’t particularly great in my opinion. But somehow, that little number, Braindead, got me on the spot, and was also played live and did its job. Quick, short, punchy, fun, and a little silly, a lot of things Ash do very well.
Only a couple of tunes left to post. They’re a bit of a post-scriptum really. First, The Anchoress, whose previous album I had very much enjoyed, as mentioned on the 2021 page. I had missed it, but she’s released an album of covers this year. Most songs covered I like the original of, so was intrigued to hear it when it was finally put to my attention. And while I’m unconvinced by most versions there (not bad, but missing a certain something), her version of Bizarre Love Triangle somehow hit the mark.
The last one, I haven’t much listened to, late as it came, and I might never have got. Most of the time, after reading a review, I check preview of tunes on iTunes and decide whether or not to buy the album. But there I remembered you can actually buy individual tunes, something I vaguely did at some point a few years ago, but very rarely bother with. So while I wouldn’t necessarily listen to a Tate McRae album (though the Tiësto song from earlier this year was a factor in me checking THINK LATER) and there wasn’t much to interest me there, I immediately thought ‘we’re not alike’ sounded very good, so I only got that one, I like it and here it is.
Well, I said ‘last one’, but I haven’t forgotten what I said earlier. Posting the song I’ve listened to the most: Daughter’s ‘Doing The Right Thing’, from their 2016 album ‘NotTo Disappear’. This song just has everything for me, the rhythm and change of it, magical guitar riffs floating about, keyboards, the build-ups, the emotion in the voice. Over five minutes of gorgeousness (the video adds on a few things). And the lyrics, I listened for once, probably not hard to work out this is about Alzheimer’s (as I later read from Elena somewhere on the Web). A fate that may or may not befell me later in life (smart money possibly still on the positive though), but I lost myself in that song many times from the first year I heard it. It defintely marked my 2023 more than any other, though the frantic last couple of months swept it away somewhaf. It touches me in so many ways I can’t express, and if I lived with only one song in me, that would be it.
I’m left with trying to compute the usual list of ‘albums not mentioned above, good or sometimes excellent, but that either didn’t fit the moment, or were missing a song towering over the others’. Sometimes I skipped them in the section above as I realise this was already taking too much time.
I’m nearly meeting my ‘before Arsenal kicks off’ deadline, but I guess I’ll have to finish at half-time or after the match.
A few more EPs worthy of a mention first:
– Etta Marcus’ Heart-Shaped Bruise was released early in the year and had some pretty good tunes.
-Patrick Wolf’s The Night Safari, PW returning at last, in good form, the highlight probably the initially separately released Enter The Day.
-Bright Eyes continued to issue ‘Companion EPs’ to his previously released albums, and so this year we got the Noise Floor, Cassadaga and The People’s Key ones, all with worthy revisits of older songs.
-Sarah Kinsley continues to release an EP a year for now it seems, Ascension maybe doesn’t have anything as good as Karma for me, but it’s got a couple of good tunes and I’ll be curious to hear her live for the first gig of next year.
-AI Costelloe’s So Neurotic was very good, with the track that give it its title the best of four.
-Cruel Sister’s Turgid EP had several good tracks, Lenny probably being the pick of the bunch.
-CIEL’s Rather Be Alone is worth a mention too, Shut In My Body the excellent stand-out track there.
-ALT BLK ERA’s Freak Show was a very interesting release. On relisten now, I’m Normally Like This would probably be worth its own video further above if I’d remembered to relisten to it before finishing the main part, or if I’d not forgotten to put it in my ‘best of year’ playlist. Still, you can look for it on YT. 🙂
So, the final albums mentions, not necessarily in any particular order bar perhaps order of acquistion.
-The Murder Capital: Gigi’s Recovery. Critical reception was positive, it passed me by at the time, maybe a mood thing, but on re-listen, it’s rather good.
-RAYE’s My 21st Century Blues is not naturally my type of music and takes a bit of time to get going, but it’s interesting and has its share of fine songs.
-The Go! Team’s Get Up Sequences, Pt.2 (following 2021’s Pt.1) is pretty much standard Go! Team fare, and as such pretty good though probably even more enjoyable live (here’s hoping they come back here soon).
-Samia’s Honey is one of the many to be filed under the ‘very good, many enjoyable songs, but nothing that quite reaches the next level’ label.
-Kelela’s Raven is actually great and ethereal, in a slightly R&B/electronic fashion, one of the most interesting releases this year. It probably deserves a mention higher, it’s part of the few albums that are actually consistent throughout, but that I couldn’t manage to sneak in, due to either their timing in the year, or no special track. Though perhaps if you have to hear one, go for the title track. The sound feels very ‘liquid’, just like the album’s sleeve suggests.
-IST IST’s Protagonists was an enjoyable classic, though nothing very original or outstanding. Something Has To Give, the best there, should give you an idea.
-Ailbhe Reddy’s Endless Affair is one that I instantly liked but didn’t unfortunately give enough time to. Well worth your time though maybe lacking something special.
-Avalon Emerson’s & The Charm is a decent mostly ambient electronic listen if you have the time.
-Hannah Jadagu’s Aperture is nice enough indie music, to be filed next to Soccer Mommy perhaps, good enough to make me book a gig apparently, though maybe I was in a good mood.
-Sleep Token’s Take Me Back To Eden is a strange beast, another ‘good but not special’ one as I seem to have ‘liked’ most of the songs, yet only one makes my ‘best of’ playlist, and I’m not even sure it should be there. ‘Rain’ is OK, but it’s all very American emo-metalcore by the numbers.
-Arlo Parks’ My Soft Machine? It’s pretty good like her previous one, to be fair, and includes a nice collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers.
-Lola Young’s My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely is a relatively short but noteworthy debut album with a few good numbers like Annabel’s House and Don’t Hate Me.
-Protomartyr’s Formal Growth in the Desert is some respectable, what, post-punk if it’s still called that? For Tomorrow is a decent song.
-Sigur Ros’ ATTA is unsurprisingly a totally gorgeous album, but I never had the chance to immerse myself in it, and it’s hard to pick an isolated track off it. But if you like their music, you’ll like it.
-Ezra Williams’ Supernumeraries is fairly sweet in the style of Claud perhaps.
-Grian Chatten’s (him off Fontaines D.C.) Chaos For The Fly is an odd case. I can tell there’s a good album there, but it doesn’t really do it for me, though I like Fairlies (but perhaps that’s because it sounds like something that could have been on Fontaines’ last album).
-PJ Harvey released a nice album called ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’, very delicate and quite beautiful, but that I somehow didn’t get much into.
-Alaska Reid’s Disenchanter is definitely worth a mention, though it doesn’t particularly score originality points.
-Olivia Rodrigo’s critically acclaimed new album, GUTS didn’t for me reach the heights of her first, and while there are some pretty good tunes(ballad of a homeschool girl, love is embarrassing, pretty isn’t pretty), it didn’t connect much with me.
-Mitski’s The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We pretty much got rave reviews everywhere, but not from me. It’s not like it’s bad, but either timing, state of mind or I don’t know what, it didn’t make me feel anything. On relisten a few days ago, walking the streets of Islington, nope, it’s very sweet but still doesn’t move me, perhaps it’s one that needs to be listened to in other circumstances, and live next year might make a lot more sense, as I have taken a seat rather than standing in Le Grand Rex.
-Madison Beer’s Silence Between Songs I was pretty close to putting in the main section, a second excellent album in a row, with plenty of good songs, but probably one that was just not released at a time that made it a companion for me. But take your pick from Sweet Relief, 17, I Wonder or At Your Worst perhaps, all quite beautiful.
-The Rural Alberta Advantage’s The Rise&The Fall offers something different. It’s quite possibly a top ten album this year or close, there’s a couple of tracks maybe better than others, but it’s rather uniformly great more than one that has peaks. Still, the concert itself was definitely a top ten of the year.
-Sofia Kourtesis’ Madres is one I was fairly impressed with on first listen (sometimes it just takes being in the right frame of mind or mood), but not so much after, though it’s definitely one to file under ‘interesting’, maybe check the first couple of tracks, in particular the house-ish Si Te Portas Bonito, or the enticing Cecilia near the end.
-Ren’s Sick Boi is excellent. I am indebted to Lee for introducing me to this artist, through the quite incredible ‘Hi Ren’ single. It’s all even better when you know of Ren Gill’s story. This is very much one that I’d have needed more time to get into, confirmed after a second listen. So many good songs here. It’s labelled ‘Alternative Rap’ from iTunes, whatever that means, the word flow is certainly to be filed under rap (or sometimes just spoken word), but the music offers a lot of variety, different sounds from indie as well as more classic hip-hop and proper melodies. A lot of inventivity, using piano as well as guitar, and very affecting, straight from the brilliant opener Seven Sins. Highlights include the excellent piano-led piece Money Game, Pt.3, Lost All Faith, the instant classic Murderer, the stirring Suic*de and the exhilarating Love Music, Pt.4 . Perhaps it is a little too long and the last third feels totally superfluous to me (nothing after track 11 or 12 gets anywhere near what’s before quality-wise – there’s 18 tracks in total), but the first first two thirds are so good, it’s handy because you can stop rather than skip at this stage.
-Emma Anderson’s Pearlies. While Miki Berenyi was busy playing gigs, her ex-Lush partner released a solo album this year, and while I didn’t take the time for it then, a quiet relisten on 1/1/2024 (yeah, sorry, late addition, the rest, even below, was finished yesterday, but this one brings me back – and if you wonder, the insertion is due to release (or buying in any case) chronology, which I pretty much adhered to in this last part) reveals its beauty. It’s superb and has plenty of sweet tracks to start the year in a beautiful and peaceful way. Well worth a good listen in a serene environment, I love it. There’s barely one song that is not to my taste, and the closer, Clusters, may be the best, so here it is (yes I’m spoiling you with a few more videos after all).
-Kevin Abstract’s Blanket is one I listened to only once and liked, so it might warrant a small update shortly after a second listen. Well, it’s still fairly interesting, original and hard to categorise, but all the good stuff seems to be mostly packed at the start, even if the rest isn’t bad and the whole thing finds its way back at the end, but with a completely different vibe.. So maybe check When The Rope Post 2 Break, Running Out and The Greys.
-Grrrls Gang’s Spunky! all the way from Indonesia is a short one, but hits a lot of right notes. It’s not necessarily original but sounds fresh and joyous enough, bookended by probably its two best songs, the punk-ish Birthday Blues and the very harmonious Breeders-ish The Star. Well worth the 25 minutes of your time.
-Baby Queen’s Quarter Life Crisis came a little too late for me to have time to digest too, but I think there’s a couple of excellent tunes. Yeah, I think it’s an underrated album, very good indeed, plenty of good, like We Can Be Anything, Dream Girl, Love Killer, but in a slightly more introspective final day of the year (I could/should have been out, but decided against on account mostly of running practice, it’s not ideal, because I’m so much better than last year on the same date, so would have actually enjoyed being out rather than needing it for safety, but my responsibility/choice and probably wise), it’s the bittersweet and beautiful Obvious that drives me to post another video link.
Oh, and now I see I had forgotten one I had mentioned much earlier, and a song I told you I would post. Paramore released an album of reworked versions called ‘Re: This Is Why’, collaborating with a lot of different and excellent artists (The Linda Lindas, Foals, Julien Baker, Claud, Wet Leg among others). It’s all rather good, and so, rather than finish this page just with a lot of text (the Baby Queen update came after this :-p), let’s have a final video for the sound: the stunningly beautiful rework of ‘Liar’ from Paramore by Romy.