After obsessively listening to any notable 2023 release, it’s always difficult to put together a list of my favourites. It feels so wrong that Sufjan and Lana don’t appear here, although they are my honourable mentions. Still, it should be a testament to the quality of music in this list that albums I love still didn’t make the cut. Hope you enjoy and throw on some of your blind spots while reading 🙂
10. Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling – Slaughter Beach, Dog
I had never listened to Slaughter Beach, Dog(?) before this record but I can’t deny how gorgeous this record is front to back. It sounds as if pure sunlight was distilled into music, every melody humming with a magnetic warmth. But their songwriting never becomes sweltering, simply catching a groove and playfully entertaining it until the sun goes down.
9. Gold – Cleo Sol
Cleo Sol is back again with another gorgeous gospel-infused R&B record that I just can’t get enough of. 2021’s Mother was the last time Sol made an appearance before dropping two records this year, Self and, you guessed it, Gold. There’s something so simple and peaceful about the way she writes. She almost has a stream-of-consciousness quality where life affirmations will randomly give way to a choral break. It’s swept me off my feet several times.
8. Quest for Fire – Skrillex
Skrillex used to rule my world when he released his Bangarang – EP in 2012. Although I look back now and cringe at what dominated my iPod playlists, Quest For Fire is a genuine dance odyssey that I can get behind. It’s as if he’s spent the last decade watching dance music become prominent once more with DJs like Fred again… ushering in a sleek, new, personal take on the subgenre, learning all he can. As a result, Quest lives up to its title, finding feverish new rhythms in collaboration and observation.
7. SCARING THE H*** – JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown
Judging by its title, you can most likely guess that JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s collab album is the anarchic, in-your-face record of the year. Embracing his punk sensibilities in the mix, Peggy alongside Danny trade outrageous bars in a project that seeks to give the people who don’t know which songs to gatekeep from the aux a new arsenal of dangerous material. Similar to its blaxploitation aesthetic, its glaringly harsh and sacrilegious. But at its heart, if you can call it that, there’s a refreshing disregard that gives way to something astounding new that dwarfs much of modern hip-hop in the meantime. Perhaps a Marshall Mathers LP comparison is in order…
6. Kings Kaleidoscope – Kings Kaleidoscope
Kings’ sixth album is rightfully self-titled as it seems to be a, albeit short, reflection of their values as a band. Their statement of faith lies beyond their struggles with anxiety (“Alright Kid”), their past (“Story”), even their “reasons why” or why not (“Infinity”). It’s a beautiful portrait of a group of people gracefully working this whole faith this out with fear and trembling, granting us a window into the process to ease our own stress. And, maybe, we too can find rest.
5. 3D Country – Geese
A distinctly American rock odyssey about a hallucinating cowboy lost in the desert. 3D Country doesn’t seem to tell the most linear or compelling story but the way Geese delivers their AM radio rock journey is always fascinating and constantly surprising, as the best journeys should be. Plus, they have an absolutely killer cover of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” (that sadly doesn’t appear here) but that alone demands some serious commendation.
4. GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo
GUTS in many ways is SOUR‘s older and more mature sister. Rodrigo never forsakes the melodrama and silliness of the original but has the know-how to crank it up further in all the right places while throwing a few world-shattering ballads in the mix. To her, the personal is worthy of taking centre stage, mining her struggles even more for their universality and finding new ways to both love and loathe her human tendencies. If there was any mystery as to why SOUR resonates with so many outside of Rodrigo’s teen demographic, it’s because what we deal with in high school was never just a high school thing but more foundational. It’s a well-kept secret that Rodrigo knows how to spoon out with ease while still flawlessly incorporating its fun, punky Y2K aesthetic.
3. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We – Mitski
There’s something about Mistki’s previous records that never really clicked with me outside of a few songs. On The Land Is Inhospitable…, I finally caught up to speed. This gorgeously written and heartbreaking record flies by but casts a large shadow. Nearly every line could compete against most songwriters’ best lyrics and her examination of the inner loneliness of loss maps so well onto our world at large its hard to call it a concept album. It’s a statement of both the cruelty of our days and the resilience it takes to keep going in the midst of it.
2. the record – boygenius
the record turned out to be exactly what you’d expect from a supergroup containing some of the best indie singer-songwriters of the decade. Not every artist is a great collaborator but, in typical boygenius fashion, they excel with ease. Dedicated conceptually to the fear and excitement of truly knowing the depths of one another, the record boasts the strengths of each of its contributors in equal measure and unleashes the sum of its incredible parts masterfully in its best moments. A can’t miss record of the year for sure.
1. Desire, I Want To Turn Into You – Caroline Polachek
Caroline Polachek came through with an otherworldy pop epic in Desire, I Want To Turn Into You and the recently released deluxe has only reinforced what an astounding experience this album is. Her offbeat tendancies and love for industrial textures somehow mesh perfectly with her stadium-ready pop songwriting. Polachek shifts gears from experimental cuts like “Crude Drawing of An Angel” and “Hopedrunk Everasking” into utter bangers like “I Believe” and the delirious opener like a skilled master. It’s a record that is as transformative as its album title suggests. There’s never a moment where it doesn’t feel controlled and curated in the most impeccable way.
Thanks for reading!