The 50 Best Albums of 2023
Greetings once again!
Sincere apologies for the tardiness of this one — turns out moving house over Christmas takes up quite a bit of time?! An early 2024 release will just have to do — sorry for keeping you all on the tightest of tenterhooks xxx
Anyways. Another year, another stellar collection of audial art displayed not in a prestigious cultural centre, but in a descending numerical list — the most captivating format known to humanity (and best for gaming the scroll depth engagement metric).
Here are my absolute faves of 2023.
50. PARTY GATOR PURGATORY — Temps
Every year, a fair few public figures who sit outside the realm of music make a surprise venture into the industry to showcase their chops. Usually this manifests in the form of a solo rock or jazz record, and often involves them fully handing the production reigns over to whichever producers and musicians that’ve been assigned to the project.
Then, in barges none other than James Acaster — with his eclectic music taste and excellent drumming background — going against the celebrity grain and actually putting some effort into the whole process. Collaborating with some of his favourite underground & independent artists, Acaster was able to curate the fun, groovy, experimental hip hop of PARTY GATOR PURGATORY. And it’s absolutely worth a listen.
49. After the Magic — Parannoul
South Korean nu-shoegaze extraordinaire Parannoul promptly burst onto the scene a few years ago, carrying the torch for the latest movement of noisy, heavily-layered, euphoric rock music that’s brimming from the streets of Seoul right now.
With almost one album release every year since 2020, the anonymous Parannoul has produced consistent quality with each of their releases since starting out. But After the Magic is the cherry on top so far. It has insanely tall highs, the most poignant lows, and the album’s song structures throughout take you on a real journey. Not many artists this year have been able to craft something this evocative.
48. Heaven knows — PinkPantheress
90s nostalgia alternative pop prodigy PinkPantheress finally released her first full-length record in 2023. And this latest release has seen her tactfully venture the furthest from her famed lo-fi, bedroom-borne ditties yet.
While the majority of the tracks remain characteristically under three minutes, she marries her iconic vocoded…I’m gonna say ‘Nokia’… sound with some grander, more R&B-infused instrumentals to add that teeny bit more depth and vibrance that helps to create a full album experience. Very nice work 🤙
Also, if you don’t think Boy’s a liar Pt. 2 (feat. Ice Spice) is an unadulterated banger then we can’t be friends, sorry.
47. Let’s Start Here. — Lil Yachty
This is probably the most notable genre shift of the year, but it’s far from the most surprising. Lil Yachty probably always had a psychedelic rock album in him, but whether he’d do it so well could’ve been decided by a flip of a coin. Well, thankfully, the coin landed on right side because he absolutely pulled this off.
We hear influences from all across the genre’s history — opening track the BLACK seminole is true Dark Side of the Moon worship, THE zone~ and drive ME crazy! are right from the Kevin Parker playbook, and gem of the album IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSION!!!! (I’m gonna say it) is what Hendrix would be doing if he was born at the turn of the 21st Century.
Some of it borders on pastiche and feels a teeny bit derivative, but none of that takes away from the huge effort Yachty put into making this album sound right. His enthusiasm and attention to detail shines through so clearly, and he does an awesome job.
46. Bewitched — Laufey
TikTok-turned-Big Time vocal jazz (sorry Adam — mid-century pop) artist Laufey broke out of the phone screen prison this year with her debut full-length record Bewitched. (I do kid — I actually saw her perform in real life before all you losers did!!!)
As much as we often don’t admit it, it’s always fulfilling to see an artist progress from bedroom cover virtuoso to concert hall-sellout phenomenon, and Laufey’s has come in rapid fashion. Bewitched is everything she must have dreamed her first album would be—it’s a myriad of the softer acoustic jazz styles like bossa nova, harmony-rich standard-style barbershop, and glossy, nostalgic orchestral numbers that drop you right into a 1950s Disney movie.
45. softscars — yeule
yeule has swiftly been making a name for themself in the glitch pop underworld for the last few years, mainly producing dark, dizzying obscure music you’d often put on for that ✨ quintessentially unsettling ✨ vibe. But on softscars, we hear something noticeably brighter and open.
For the first time I can recall in yeule’s catalogue, we hear more of a guitar-heavy shoegaze sound, a slightly ‘cutsier’ vocal delivery and the most up-front, transparent presentation of their persona so far. And since the music still retains much of the robotic, AI-tinged sound that yeule is well known for, softscars is able to deliver a complicatedly saccharine feeling that makes it very captivating.
44. Did you know there’s a tunnel under ocean blvd — Lana Del Rey
Lana’s epic is here. Her biggest, most experimental record of the Antonoff era, Ocean blvd… is her White Album by every metric.
There’s a mix of genre exploration and concept album-theming that push and pull at your desire to listen to the whole thing every time, and given the 77-minute runtime I’m sure no one would be scorned for cherry-picking their favourite tracks out and dropping in a playlist or two.
But you’ve got to respect the immense burst of passion that produced this record, and that at least deserves giving the full thing your full attention at least once.
43. Disaster – Ostraca
Just some fucking sick hardcore screamo out of Richmond, Virginia here.
I’m slowly learning and discerning all the heavy music subgenres, and this year, part of that included realising that there’s so much to screamo that my little underdeveloped brain didn’t initially understand. Its roots in hardcore are clear as day, and I absolutely credit Ostraca with helping me understand that.
As for the record itself, Disaster evokes a horribly anxious psyche. It plays with your head gleefully by dragging you along a stupidly lengthy build-up one minute and heavily landing harsh, abrasive anvils of sound the next. The band focuses on pacing the album, not so much each individual song, so you can get a much better experience over a much longer runtime, and eventually leave feeling in equal parts exhausted and exhilarated. What else should music be for?
42. Perfect Picture — Hannah Diamond
Unfiltered bubblegum pop from an undeniable bubblegum pop prodigy. In the year that Barbie became human, Hannah Diamond (of PC Music, of course) established herself as the world’s new inanimate sensation.
She embodies a tiny little anthropomorphic item sitting in a tiny little bedroom in a tiny little doll house, with an inbuilt speaker repeating endearing catchphrases designed to delight and motivate its owners. Her mass-manufactured character refers to personal anecdotes and times she overcame adversity to provide solace and belonging to a keen audience of those in need of it.
In addition, the production is artificially sweet, robotic and prefab in the best way. It’s really as if a toy made a record, and that’s the best thing about it.
41. Blackbraid II – Blackbraid
One of the best black metal releases of the year comes from the Adirondack Mountains. A pummelling record that draws occult inspiration from the natural environment of rural New York State and its Native American lineage, there’s so much intensity and little let-up to the solo project’s sophomore album.
There’s an addictive dynamism to the song structures throughout in the exact way an album from this genre should, with tense builds and harsh breakdowns constantly keeping you enthralled throughout. But the sound is thicker, fuller and more defined as you’ll often see with the more melodic releases in the genre. It’s just a great example of what modern black metal should be.
40. Raven — Kelela
Returning six long years after her acclaimed debut album Take Me Apart, modern alternative R&B legend Kelela returned with more sultry vibes, but this time through an awesome downtempo lens.
The production on this record is absolutely stellar — it’s so consistently nocturnal, there are so many quirks & unique 808s in each instrumental, and they all blend together so well to provide one hour of meditative, seductive music that perfectly accompanies a dark, moody evening in the city.
Also, Contact is one of the best songs of the year. So goddamn entrancing, absolutely can’t get enough of it.
39. Crépuscule I & II — Tujiko Noriko
A chasm of a record. After spending the last few years working on film scores and soundtracks, longtime glitch pop artist Tujiko Noriko made her first official foray into the expanse of ambient music with Crépuscule I & II. And what wonderful decision that was.
Hanging up her beats and drawing on her last few years of experience in film, Noriko lets us bask in her music for longer than ever. The result is a deep, colourful, tropical underworld that only gets more warbled and mysterious the further you dive down.
Just like the Mariana Trench and other barely explored parts of humans’ most inhospitable ecosystem, the ocean of this record only becomes more enigmatic the longer you spend within it. The sounds you hear become more sparse, less intelligible and less predictable. And your isolation will only intensify, but your sense of wonder will remain strong throughout. It’s just the most amazing setting to just sink yourself into for nearly two hours.
38. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We — Mitski
Mitski takes it down a well-earned notch on her latest release, revealing her country crooner side over 11 tight, stripped back numbers that do extremely well to showcase the sound of the land in which she is setting this narrative.
Wearing her America on her sleeve, she delicately plucks its Southern musical influences and drip-feeds them to us with care, gracing yet burdening our ears with her soft, melancholic assertions of self-doubt and romantic tragedy.
Yes it’s sad, and you likely won’t feel as warm once you register the perception Mitski presents of herself throughout. But to me, that will only ever reinforce the appreciation you can gain of her work, which must take so much sincerity and courage to put to record.
37. Heavy Heavy — Young Fathers
The first album in five years from the Scotland-based genrebenders was a beautiful return to form. Their previous record Cocoa Sugar faced split opinion amongst fans and critics, but Heavy Heavy feels far more backed by a consensus…including me which is why it’s here!
This may be their least hip-hop-adjacent album yet, with the trio instead opting for more psychedelic, slightly hookier numbers to complement their trademark West African and gospel influences. The result is a more direct, dancey, head-bopping approach that grooves and shakes more than any Young Fathers album has done so far, imo. It’s just so much fun. So go listen to this and have some fun.
36. This Is Why — Paramore
With This Is Why, Paramore’s first album in six years, the new-look band marked their third stylistic evolution in their third decade as a group. After the emo-tinged pop punk that put them on the map in the 2000s, the band evolved into a synthier, dancier outfit in the 2010s — and now the 2020s has seen its first example of a heavier, more guitar-based post punk direction. And it’s like they never left.
The new sound has Paramore sounding fresh, energetic and like they’re brimming with ingenuity. The punchy songs penetrate you like a hot machete, and Hayley Williams’ overpowering delivery and elastic vocals creates such an explosion in your mind that you can’t help but gawp at the talent. It’s like they’re telling you to sit down, shut up and witness this insane somersault they’ve just learned. Yes it’s EXACTLY like that, no questions please.
35. Integrated Tech Solutions — Aesop Rock
The synonym machine returned this year with a fresh batch of lyrical gems for the linguistically inclined 🥰
Aesop has been on top of his game for what seems like forever, verbosely pumping out high-concept bars for an increasingly incredulous audience. How does he do it? None of us know. But there’s not much I love more than just whacking this man on and staring dumbfounded into space for an hour or so.
As for ITS, this time Aesop decided to mostly invite us into a (not-so) fictional capitalist hellhole, regurgitating biztalk and startup speak into a disorientating frenzy like a faulty AI text generator. But spotted throughout he also offers up an absolute worldie like By The River—seemingly unrelated to the record’s main concept and just a complete nerd-out on our planet’s liquid lifeblood. Love him. Never change, dude.
34. It All Returns To Nothing — Burner
Not many metal albums have taken me on such a journey as It All Returns To Nothing in 2023. The pacing of this record is impeccable — both in the track listing and the sequence of instrumental movements that flow throughout the entire 34-minute runtime.
It’s an insanely good album to consider a debut — the whole package feels so tight, with expert song structures that play loosely with time signatures and syncopation, alongside the hints of death metal and dissonant atmospherics that any good modern metalcore album should contain.
The lyrical content reflects the album’s gruesome soundscape perfectly, with desperate laments on events and phenomena that call into question humankind’s seemingly endless capability of depravity. You can’t help but feel isolated, small and powerless after listening to excellent music like this. And boy, that is this record doing its job.
33. 12 — Ryuichi Sakamoto
I’m loath to admit that I wasn’t familiar with Ryuichi Sakamoto’s solo-composed music until this year. I’d listened to a couple of Yellow Magic Orchestra albums before, but even that was years ago.
I came across his final album, 12, shortly before his passing — thoroughly enjoying its peaceful, ambient and quietly promising piano-led meditations. But it was only after his death that I’d go on to listen to his opus, 1996, and it was a poignant moment for me connecting the dots between its huge, mesmerising, buoyant compositions and the much more muted, yet still optimistic music of 12 in his last years.
It clearly shows that even while the fireworks were dying out, the colour never faded over those decades. And he never lost that carefree, hopeful feeling that everyone adored his music for. 12 is a beautiful conclusion to a beautiful body of music.
32. Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? — Kara Jackson
For someone who hasn’t even turned 25 yet, Kara Jackson has established herself so firmly as an artist across multiple disciplines that you could be forgiven for thinking she’d been around for decades.
She’s a former U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate with at least one published book of poems already to her name, as well as an EP in 2019. And this year, the same year she also graduated with an English degree from Smith College, she released her first solo album — a folky singer-songwriter record with, of course, some of the best writing and storytelling of any album this year.
Some of her best songs on the album span 6–7 minutes, where Kara has the freedom to impart upon us a delicate, emotive story across themes of grief, relationships and making it as an artist in an increasingly hostile environment for art. Wisdom radiates from Kara like she’s lived it all already.
31. GUTS — Olivia Rodrigo
Despite already being a household name in the modern pop scene, Olivia Rodrigo further solidified her already rich legacy with her sophomore record GUTS.
In this album, Rodrigo broadly remains in the pop rock space she carved a space for in her first album, but this time she feels more assured, her songwriting feels more individual and her stamp on the overall sound is far more distinct. It’s proof that her first album was no flash in the pan, and further proof how she can so effortlessly capture the undivided attention of millions.
Each track is banger after banger, including the slower acoustic ones like lacy or the stripped-back ballads like making the bed. But there’s no doubting the absolute showstoppers of bad idea right?, ballad of a homeschooled girl, get him back! and, of course, vampire. Rodrigo is simply an earworm factory.
30. My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross — ANOHNI and the Johnsons
ANOHNI made a much-anticipated return in 2023 a gorgeously heart-wrenching and inarguably important record in My Back Was A Bridge…
Her first record with original band The Johnsons in 13 years was also for a very specific reason — to drop the glitchy, electronic sound of her solo phase in favour of a true blue, blue-eyed soul album. The more accessible nature of the album’s musical backing helps to put her messages at the front and centre of the record.
Her lived perspective on the sudden and awful regression of the already vulnerable status of transgender people in Western society is translated through a number of songs in the track listing, with the recent phase of public vitriol driving a bonfire of anger and heartache in her performances. But ANOHNI also touches upon other societal issues close to her heart, revisiting the environmentalism she showcased in 2016’s HOPELESSNESS, and lamenting the death of and grieving for close friends who have supported her every move for her entire career.
It’s a painfully emotional window into the side of the 2020s many people ignorantly overlook, simply because they are yet to have the debilitating effects of a decaying society directed towards them.
29. Hit Parade — Róisín Murphy, DJ Koze
One of the best collaborations of the year, and one of my favourite iterations of an artist’s sound in recent memory, Róisín Murphy’s decision to venture into DJ Koze’s studio to create Hit Parade was unexpected, but absolutely vital.
Róisín’s been known to make some stellar alternative dance and disco albums in her decorated career so far, so it was likely about time to throw a curveball. And with the equally decorated Deep House & Downtempo experience possessed by DJ Koze, her first House album is chock full of glitchy and choppy, yet always groovy bangers that attract hipsters like a dog whistle with a backing beat.
It’s the perfect album for that ‘frown while bopping your head’ kind of thing you do at a small DJ set when you want people to know you’re enjoying the music in an ‘academic’ way.
28. O Monolith — Squid
The latest record from Squid takes you on a journey through the meditative and cerebral. Listening to O Monolith is like being hypnotised into a psychedelic fever dream where floating faces keep emerging out of the ether to haunt you with unnerving phrases like “The blades will make you pay” or “You’ll never know I’m even there”.
The songs remain as progressive as every Squid song does, with the band’s trademark gradual inclines and satisfying summits leading the charge through the record. But this time, during each build the group employs a looping, almost minimalist technique, revolving their licks and rotating their lines into a perpetually spiralling, entrapping labyrinth that you can’t escape from until they decide you can.
If the slow crescendos of Squid’s first full-length Bright Green Field made you think the tension was about to snap at any moment, O Monolith was where that tension instead strung itself out into a never-ending, maddening infinity. Much more effective than a simple snap, in my view.
27. The Greater Wings — Julie Byrne
The gloriously glossy world of The Greater Wings is presented to you by the ambient folk-y excellence of Julie Byrne.
Many folk artists use strings and orchestra to add space and grandiosity to their acoustic compositions, but Julie instead achieves the exact same atmosphere with synth and electronics (plus a few strings & harps here and there of course).
Her soothing, droning voice caresses each track with so much wisdom and beauty that every time I listen I just sit there in awe at how someone could manifest such a deep, rich, inviting world. I’ve never wanted to topple into something so much — the draw her music creates is just that strong. There’s normally one album a year that I wish I could breathe for the rest of my life, and The Greater Wings is absolutely that one for 2023.
26. We’re Still Here — The HIRS Collective
The Philadelphia-based hardcore queerpunk group The HIRS Collective are back, baby!!! And what an absolutely thunderous showing they & their collaborators decided to hand us with this release.
We’re Still Here is the shortest, sharpest shock of 2023. It channels the immense injustice faced by the LGBTQIA+ community into such a heavy, overpowering, enraged set of statements that it lays bare the fact that there is still an imperative need for marginalised voices to be heard as loudly as possible through hardcore punk.
And if you think politics should take a back seat in music, let this righteous record punch you around the head until its message enters your little brain.
25. Live at Bush Hall — Black Country, New Road
This decade’s The Band (figuratively of course, not literally The Band the band) has been through a lot of flux over the last couple of years, with their release of 2022’s history-making Ants From Up There quickly following the departure of their frontman Isaac Wood, who brought so much to the fore of that record and their 2021 debut.
As a result of some of these complications, the group apparently had to fulfil a final album quota that they’d promised their record label before truly moving into the next phase of their journey. And it comes to no surprise that, even under those circumstances, this live album is almost as stunning as their recorded work.
It’s complete with brand-new material that only serves to showcase the absolute talent required of all members involved to produce peaks almost as high as AFUT, just one year after its release and without the figurehead that provided so much of its emotional gratification. And while we might not see fully recorded versions of all songs on here, I’d be devastated if I never got to hear an official rendition of Turbines/Pigs, goddammit. Goodness gracious, what a group.
24. KNOWER FOREVER — KNOWER
The unquestionably rocking duo of Genevieve Artadi and Louis Cole finally returned in 2023 with their latest jazz-funk masterpiece, KNOWER FOREVER.
Two insanely talented musicians and songwriters with the maximum propensity for having fun could only create something as fast-paced, mesmerising and utterly enjoyable as this. Cole’s astounding multi-instrumental chops drive each piece forward with blaring intensity alongside kindred spirit Artadi’s eccentric, whimsical vocal delivery, creating one of the most jovial and carefree records of 2023.
There’s truly something for everyone — virtuoso jazz musicianship with all of the complicated chords and time signatures the nerds could wish for, easy singalong refrains that stick in your head all day, and just about enough accessibility to be able to play this in basically any public setting. Pound for pound an excellent body of work.
23. the record — boygenius
The boys got the band back together this year to gift us their first fully-fledged album, and literally everyone on the planet knew about it.
The tour de force of Julien, Lucy and Phoebe cranked up the distortion compared to their 2018 EP to provide a rocking spectacle, with true blue tunes like Not Strong Enough and poignant coming of age ballads like True Blue.
Their chemistry is addictive, their harmonies are gorgeous, and their energy blows much more established bands firmly out of the water. Long live ’em all, praise be unto them. You already know what’s up with this wondrous trio.
22. 棲居在溪源之上 Seeking the Sources of Streams — Cicada
Oh I just fucking love this stuff. The modern classical coming from East Asia is just the stuff of dreams.
We’ve already touched upon Ryuichi Sakamoto’s wonderful compilation 1996, and many of us are aware of the blissful soundtracks to the legendary Studio Ghibli movies. Well, Seeking the Sources of Streams by Taiwanese quartet Cicada is just another example of the immense abundance of this utterly gorgeous style of classical music.
The wholesome tones of the string section are like liquid serotonin weaving through the wrinkles of my brain; the odd staccato piano jabs keep the mood peppy and hopeful, while the soothing woodwind mellows you out to provide a sonic concoction of pleasure and contentment. Wanna cheer yourself up? Put this on.
21. Erotic Probiotic 2 — Nourished By Time
Discovering Nourished By Time this year was absolutely heartwarming. His unwavering devotion to what he does shines through so strongly that you can’t help but have a wide beaming smile on your face while listening to him doing his thing.
Erotic Probiotic 2 carries a real ‘man places speaker on the ground in a busy street and proceeds to improvise refrains and scat over retro R&B tunes’ kind of vibe, where the strongest appeal (alongside the wonderfully inspirational songwriting) is just the sheer energy and welcoming environment of the performance.
It’s a true DIY passion project that makes you feel like you’ve just stumbled across a gem of a live solo show in a small Soho bar on a Wednesday night with about 15 people watching, knowing that the guy on stage will one day be doing exactly the same thing in front of thousands. Yes I’ve mixed metaphors but for god’s sake let me process this passion in peace.
20. Atlas — Laurel Halo
I don’t smoke, but I’ve never wanted to smoke more than when I listen to Atlas. That’s just the best way I can describe this masterful return to the forefront of ambient music from Laurel Halo.
It’s the hazy, moody, liminal sort of ambient that won’t help you focus on something else or pass the time with it on in the background. It’ll just sit there in the corner disturbing you like a sleep paralysis demon for 40 minutes before you can carry on living your life properly.
If there was ever a Hollywood movie about my (comparatively uneventful) life, I’d want this music to be playing over one of the many times I emerged from some drab London coffee shop in the rain knowing I had three hours to myself before I could head along to my second social occasion of the day. Have I advertised this album at all? I guess to the right people I have. Iykyk.
19. 93696 — Liturgy
I love highlighting insanely good black metal that presents a progressive divergence from the genre’s source material. Liturgy has been at the top of this righteous resurgence for a number of years now, with leader Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix consistently pumping out thrashingly violent, theologically philosophical metal for her entire illustrious career.
93696 is a complete epic — it contains so much reference to deep obscure literature and scripture that I won’t even bother to dive into the thinking that developed such a concept we hear on the record. But it truly feels like a culmination of everything the Liturgy project has explored in its existence.
It reflects the entire sonic palette of black metal, contains vulnerable moments of beauty that provide blissful pauses to the intensity, and resorts to horrifying breakdowns infused with divine lore to truly feel like the apocalypse is right around the corner. Witness this essential work.
18. Wallsocket — underscores
My god, what a fun, dynamic, entertaining listen this is. San Fran musician underscores, despite bringing so much experience and prolific excellence to her music, is somehow only 23. It’s befitting of the album’s genre, sure, but way younger than what you’d expect from something this polished.
I’ll say it. Wallsocket is the most accessible hyperpop album in history. If you’ve heard the term here and there or been scared away by the abrasiveness of a gec or two, this album may be your perfect starting point for the very Gen Z style. It’s so subtly hyperpop that you won’t know it is until you hear the similarities in its parallel, albeit usually much more intense, genre releases.
The energy and heaviness of each track fluctuates throughout, with many tracks like opener Cops and robbers, Old money bitch or Johnny johnny johnny taking a harsher, punkier route, left-field electro-pop making its way through in Locals (Girls like us) or Seventyseven dog years and gorgeous slower acoustic ballads nuzzling us with You don’t even know who I am and closer Good luck final girl.
The result of this concoction is just a masterclass in musicmaking from an innately masterful musicmaker. There’s nothing I feel more than awe when listening to it.
17. SCARING THE HOES — JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown
There was no chance in hell that this was not going to be good and there was every chance in hell that it was going to be. I think that’s partially why it’s not even higher on this list for me, because excellence is just part and parcel with both Peggy and Danny. It doesn’t surprise me that it’s fucking awesome.
The best album title of the year is a hilarious nod to the style of hip hop that the two are known for — essentially, stuff you wouldn’t play in front of just anyone, or people you want to impress. Appreciation of these two bois comes hand-in-hand with an appreciation of wildly experimental and eccentric hip hop that does all it can to mesmerise and disorientate. So it was inevitable that this would be a collaboration for the ages.
Peggy handles the instrumentation with effortless ingenuity once again, turning the most esoteric samples into the choppiest, glitchiest things that are just about identifiable as beats. Then he and Danny tar lyrical with their characteristically bewildering delivery and content in the way we all know they do. I know there’s not much here about what makes this record so good, but knowing what these two are capable of, I really shouldn’t have to say much to convince you to enjoy it thoroughly.
16. Dogsbody — Model/Actriz
Gay industrial at its finest. Model/Actriz produced such an brutally seductive, domineering piece of music with Dogsbody that all I could feel when listening was an irredeemable sense of submissiveness and cowardice.
Drawing on noise and industrial rock like a duck to water, the band’s ugly, metallic instrumentation tied in with lead singer Cole Haden’s calls to join him in a sexual deviancy dungeon makes me feel like I’m being beckoned into simultaneously the best and the worst night of my life. His performance is the most twisted version of camp I could possibly describe, like a demented yet charming cabaret that everyone must experience at least once to have claimed to have lived a proper life.
And constantly as he squeaks and screeches in our direction, we’re met with pummelling bass and coarse percussion designed to intimidate us into the experience no matter what. And by god am I absolutely up for anything by the end.
15. Lahai — Sampha
The boi is BACK, and he’s better than ever ❤️
Sampha finally returned after starving us to near-Frank Ocean levels with a stunning sophomore record in Lahai. Mostly leaving the heartfelt ballads behind in favour of a left-field contemporary R&B experience, in the space of one album he’s progressed from serenading artist to revered auteur — showcasing so much undeniable talent for songwriting and production that you’d be forgiven for thinking he invented music.
Hyperbole aside, the production is just so tight and hypnotic, yet also airy and ethereal, that it whips you into some mad sort of spaceless dream state. And the only thing keeping you lucid is Sampha’s insanely beautiful crooning, which provides a welcome, comforting solace to the intangible.
He’s just an absolutely insanely good musician who’s capable of producing simply insanely good things. And this is his latest, and let’s hope not his last for a while, example of that.
14. blómi — Susanne Sundfør
blómi triumphs in finding euphoric emotional highs in as many different ways as possible. Already known for a good crescendo, Norwegian singer-songeriter Susanne Sundfør has a natural knack for emotive accumulation, and on her latest record she decided to present this to us in a wide range of genres and sonic palettes.
A very inward-looking record (as many genre exploration albums seem to be for some reason), Sundfør’s most stripped-back pieces are reminiscent of the prolific female songwriters of the ’70s (Náttsǫngr / Fare thee well), her most ambitious draw upon choral, folky, almost primal compositions (Leikara ljóð / Alyosha) and her most outlandish turn towards odd spoken word electroacoustic cuts (Ṣānnu yārru lī / Orð vǫlu). I also can’t talk about this album without mentioning the downright plain stunners that are the title track Blómi, and Rūnā.
The one common theme throughout this mix of approaches? Everest-level heights of complete and utter delight. This album is a fucking mountain of dopamine.
13. The Lamb as Effigy — Sprain
It should come as no secret to anyone who knows me that the more an album (/film/TV show/book) unsettles and discomforts me, the more I will obsessively want it to devastate me throughout the year. Well, despite this album’s 90-minute runtime, I’ve absolutely tried my best to achieve that with Sprain’s The Lamb as Effigy.
Last year it was Chat Pile’s God’s Country. The previous year it was Lingua Ignota’s supreme SINNER GET READY. 2020 hosted Clipping’s Visions of Bodies Being Burned. Each time the sun revolves around this wretched Earth a truly twisted album sticks to me like a diseased leech, and Sprain’s second (and apparently last) album has taken that baton for 2023.
File this record into the ‘lead singer has mental breakdown in the studio’ folder that we entered Chat Pile into last year, because the lengths and depths that Alex Kent had to reach to produce such a deranged, guttural performance on this record is just astounding. I’m unsure any track will beat out opener Man Proposes, God Disposes and final song God, or Whatever You Call It in terms of the best displays of this, but I’ve also got to shout out the opus that is Margin For Error as the most likely song to give me nightmares in 2023.
12. SAVED! — Reverend Kristin Micheal Hayter
The Reverend Formely Known As Lingua Ignota has been at the peak of my musical enjoyment for years at this point, especially after her stunning Album of 2021 under her old moniker, SINNER GET READY.
Hayter retired her old brand to properly move on from the trauma it inspired, yet continued to run with the occult, Appalachian, religious-fanatic themes that permeated her previous work — taking a more conceptual approach under her new name and creating an album that one might find when browsing old cassettes in a hidden-away box in a run-down record store in rural Virginia.
The resulting record is an assortment of hardy Christian hyms that sound like they were recorded through a Smith & Wesson, juxtaposed against a number of Hayter’s trademarkedly stunning classically-trained renditions of songs from similar origins.
It’s a stark difference to flip between throughout the track listing, but that only convolutes the conceptual mystery behind what would have produced such a supposed album in such a remote part of the USA. The Hayter renditions are so beautiful that they almost could have been donated by angels, with the hardy Virginian musicians witnessing this heavenly visit yet too removed from society to convince anyone they were greeted by a real celestial being.
Yeah this description kind of got out of hand but hey, channeling expressive prose and all that x
11. Ooh Rap I Ya — George Clanton
Mr Clanton hasn’t been too active on the solo record front for a while. His last non-collab full-length, Slide, was one of my favourites of 2018, so it’s quite the understatement to say that I was looking forward to this. And my god it didn’t disappoint.
The one main critique I had of Clanton on Slide was his vocals — they were a little non-committal and washed-out by the production at times, which hurt the emotional resonance his insanely well-produced vaporwave carved out a space for. Thankfully, on Ooh Rap I Ya, his insanely vibey instrumentation has stayed excellent five years later, and his vocals have excelled far more than I could have hoped for.
We now have some of the most satisfying beats of 2023 mixed with some of the most passionate performances of 2023. And it works so goddamn well. This sounds like what AI music could be in 50 years time, yet we all know AI could never gain the innate talent needed to create something so uncannily digital, but so organically evocative in every measure.
Whether it’s screaming Clanton’s juvenile self-healing declarations in the chorus of Justify Your Life or I Been Young, or swaying along to the gorgeous vibes of You Hold the Key and I Found It or Punching Down, this album is coded to grip you tight and latch itself onto your subconscious for weeks. Maybe it is fully digital…
10. HELLMODE — Jeff Rosenstock
Jeff exudes prolific consistency. Despite his undisputed pole position in pop punk, I’ve largely admired his work at arm’s length for a few years now – checking in on each of his new releases and always appreciating them to a high degree, but then moving onto the next thing pretty swiftly. Finally, with HELLMODE, I stayed a little longer.
This record contains everything a great Rosenstock record should — it’s as punchy, energetic and engaging as any good pop-tinged punk record of the last 20 years. But I truly think HELLMODE takes this so much further. And that’s down to how well he balances poignancy and joy.
Joy can be felt in its strongest form throughout this album. Which is ironic, considering the apparent aesthetic & tone presented by the title and track names. And it’s not like Jeff hasn’t constantly displayed joy in his music either — he made a fucking ska cover album of his own album for god’s sake. But Jeff doesn’t steer away from honesty and introspection either. He uses the passion he has for his craft to process tough times and portray them in ways that stick like superglue.
There’s just a particular, sincere enjoyment — even in delivering heartfelt, poignant thoughts — that I particularly felt from HELLMODE. It put a huge smile on my face all the way through, and the youthful exuberance every chord pumped out just made me feel so genuinely happy. The positive vibes will rub off on you like glittery paint.
9. Maps — Billy Woods & Kenny Segal
It’s hard to think of a time in the future where Billy Woods will have dropped an album and it wouldn’t appear on this list. Especially when it’s another album made with genius production that could only come from Kenny Segal. That man was behind Milo’s (now R.A.P. Ferreira’s) 2015 record so the flies don’t come, which opened my eyes wide to abstract hip hop, so credit must be due to him wherever fuckin possible.
Anyway, despite completely blowing me away with Aethiopes last year, Billy came back with a nuclear bang just one year later with Maps. Focusing his content on travelling & touring obviously hasn’t limited his lyrical scope either, as his unique word percentage must still be outlier-levels of high. And despite Billy’s characteristically unsettling delivery, this record also brings a seldom-heard tone to the fore — light.
Hear me out, because underground hip hop michelin chef Billy Woods of course doesn’t usually evoke much in terms of lightness. But I couldn’t shake that feeling off with some of these tracks — Soft Landing / FaceTime / Houdini (with classic Segal prod) / Rapper Weed are airier than we’re used to with him, I swear. It’s refreshing to hear Billy in this sort of vein, as he seems to hit both old and new touchpoints with Maps, and I can’t help but almost feel settled while listening to this one. Almost enough so to make me suggest him to other people, believe it or not…
8. 3D Country — Geese
Geese were brand new discovery for me (and many) this year — and aside from their extremely fun and playful rock music, the main identifier of this group I could provide is that lead singer Cameron Winter has the most ‘elastic’ singing voice in history.
You’ll hear that immediately, and it’ll absolutely be the main takeaway from this record once you finish it. It’s such a prominent attribute; such a clear USP of this band that even though many other aspects of this band are fucking awesome, Winter’s voice takes the cake. It’s responsible for so much of the absolute roller coaster this record takes you on.
I’d cheekily stretch to say the singles of this album are what puts this album so high up on this list — of course the whole experience is immense enough to be worthy of its position, but the title track 3D Country, Cowboy Nudes and I See Myself have established themselves so concretely in my mind since I first heard them that I often listen to this whole album just to hear those three songs, then kick up my feet and enjoy the rest of the ride at a slightly easier pace.
3D Country is the production of a group of wonderful musicians who possess a wonderful bond and have a lot to say. And each member has their own unique outlet that regularly shines through individually too. Rock is by no means dying, thank you.
7. Desire, I Want To Turn Into You — Caroline Polachek
Of course Queen Caroline’s all the way up here.
Her first solo album Pang, released in 2019, felt like such a breath of fresh air for art pop. It was a booster jab for the genre — one that retained healthy amounts of quirk but never once strode into pretentiousness. Thankfully, Desire… is just the same, yet this time Caroline leans even more heavily into the upbeat, sugary side of pop that we all knew she could devise with her eyes shut.
From the explosive, retro pyrotechnics of opener Welcome To My Island, to the modern cult classic of Bunny Is A Rider, to the meditative beauty of Hopedrunk Everasking, to the climactic ballad of Butterfly Net, to the twee banger that is I Believe, to the absolute diamond that is closer Billions, it feels like Caroline came across a fallen asteroid containing the rarest, most precious materials known to humanity and just put them up for display in her favourite nightclub.
Her flawless ability to just never miss is mind boggling. Anything that exits her brain is Nobel-worthy. She deserves so much more praise than she gets. And you could feel this immense appreciation I have for this person immedatiely if you just play Desire, I Want To Turn Into You.
6. Playing Robots Into Heaven — James Blake
This man can do no bloody wrong. James Blake has seemingly been at the top of his game since he came out of the womb. His debut self-titled album is one of the best of this century, and though his sound since then has verged closer into the traditional songwriting / more accessible alternative R&B spaces (which he still bosses), he’s never lost touch with the scene that put him on the map. And Playing Robots Into Heaven is proof of that.
This record is James crawling back into the underground tunnels, waking up the grubby, nocturnal alternative EDM nerds and putting on the best show they’ve seen in their lives. Yes — the beats are back, and they’re of the hypnotic, convoluted, mystifying type that James is so good at churning out.
His trademark is still ever-present too — his overwhelmingly beautiful voice, which famously suits both the softest of ditties and the grimiest of bangers, flickers over the broken-up, dusty instrumentals like the only source of light on the deepest of concrete caves. So even while you’re grimacing to his twisted 808s, you can simultaneously blissfully sway along to his serenading. It shouldn’t work, but it’s James Blake, so it obviously does.
Protect this man at all costs.
5. Everything Harmony — The Lemon Twigs
It must be so difficult to get this kind of thing right. Somehow, without a whiff of the derivative in sight, The Lemon Twigs were able to concoct the perfect time capsule into the ’60s pop rock scene — all with their own brand-new material released in 2023.
It’s mad to think that these brothers are Gen Z. To learn and then tackle a very specific, bygone sound so accurately, with so much consideration for the lyrical themes, guitar tones and song structures must have taken such a deep knowledge and appreciation of the history of this music scene, because it’s so, so easy to get it wrong and to instantly fall victim to pastiche or parody. By hell do they dance with those words, but it’s only ever at arm’s length in the closest of times.
The spellbinding and deeply touching opener When Winter Comes Around whips you right into a sense of musical déjà vu – your brain has to instantly work out how this wasn’t just discovered in a basement somewhere after decades of darkness. And that’s only reinforced by the next few tracks (the singles) In My Head, Corner Of My Eye and Any Time Of Day. After this absolute behemoth of a start, things largely take a mellower direction, but that’s when the downright heartfelt ballads come in too — the twosome just never fail to lose the emotion from their output throughout the whole record.
And it’s just done so goddamn well, too. The harmonies are insane. The singalong choruses are an utter delight. The peaks are overwhelmingly joyous and the quiet moments are captivatingly moving. What an amazing achievement this is.
4. Drop Cherries — Billie Marten
As many would know, it’s not a huge surprise to see Billie so high up on the coveted Beckett List. She’s been a mainstay of my musical canon since her incredible debut album was released in 2016 at just 17 years old, and she has shown no sight of leaving it since I first heard her.
What’s even better is that Drop Cherries might just well be the best thing Billie has released since her debut, and very possibly so far. As much as her style and attitude have barely shifted (only matured) since she emerged onto the scene, this crop of songs is just such an outstanding feat that I couldn’t put it anywhere else but the Top 5.
Her insane knack for writing killer melodies and guitar lines has rarely been on such clear display. The mood she sets is so relaxed, comforting and warm that there’s no feeling you can escape with aside from ease. The music suits any setting, rain or sun, and set the mood to bliss and contentment no matter what the original setting.
God Above, Acid Tooth, Willows, Arrows and closing title track Drop Cherries are all some of the best songs I’ve heard all year, and none of them were lead singles leading up to this release. And I can’t get past Tongue for being the closest fix I’ve had to Aldous Harding all year either.
It’s a record that will more effectively settle your heart rate than any other of 2023, and that’s by far the best compliment I could give it. Big up Billie.
3. PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Fucken hell yeah my dudes, get that heart rate right back up 🔥 🤘 😎
God damn this thing is so cool. It’s another dazzling example that Gizz can absolutely do no wrong and that they’ll always be fighting at the forefront of our battle against the evil, climate-destroying multinationals that are hell-bent on driving our ecology into the ground.
The band’s second foray into pro-climate metal, PetroDragonic Apocalypse… is even more dynamic and fascinating than its predecessor. Gizz are becoming consistently known for their adventurous, semi-improvisational compositions throughout each of their last dozen or so albums, and despite the switch back to metal, that sound is still very present through the tracks on this too. It’s just a crushing, thunderous version.
This album grips you by the hair, drags you onto a wooden chair, gaffer tapes your limbs to the back of it, vertically sticks toothpicks under and above your eyelids and forces you to witness the future downfall of a carbon-poisoned planet, with Godzilla-sized mythical creatures thrown in here and there for good measure.
We are this album’s bitch and King Gizz know it. It deserves our submission. What better way to profess to the masses the desperate situation and abject emergency our society faces than by creating the loudest, most intimidating message a group of humans ever could. Satan bless this fucking band.
2. False Lankum — Lankum
Me oh my, what an epic. Lankum has produced what could well be their greatest work with this latest release. That’s not only evident in the chunky runtime, but in the sheer scale and impact of what this group of folk musicians has been able to produce with False Lankum.
Standing out from the usual crowd of Irish folk, Lankum’s signature is their dark, droney and brooding take on the traditional sound — often repeating the same stories and refrains that the culture has passed down for centuries, but presenting them in this scarcely witnessed or attempted context. It’s absolutely their USP, and it sounds fucking awesome. And False Lankum takes this concept to the Nth degree.
It starts with the drawn-out horror story of Go Dig My Grave, where singer Radie Peat channels a figure mourning their own death, which builds patiently and sinisterly for way too long, and then breaks down with immense weight for even longer. It’s the ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS of 2023. Then we’re met with a much-needed cooldown from another singer in Daragh Lynch, who takes on another oldie, Clear Away In The Morning its impact on the album’s pacing is very literal, as it’s the perfect de-mister after the weather front of the opener.
I could go on and describe the rest of the utterly thrilling journey, but I genuinely don’t want to spoil it any further. It’s just some of the most patient, satisfying, meditative and captivating set of folk songs you’ll hear this decade. The pacing is perfect, the instrumentation is sublime, and the atmosphere presented on each track is one I would gladly exist in forever, even throughout the unsettling Fugue trilogy of interludes. Lankum were a brand-new band to me this year, and it excites me immensely that they’ll now remain close to me for the foreseeable.
1. Javelin — Sufjan Stevens
I had to.
Those who know me well will know how much of a predictable move this was for me. But once again, there is not a fibre of my being that Sufjan has failed to simultaneously devastate and enlighten with his music. Javelin is just the next dose of the complicated, uniquely euphoric feeling I experience when listening to his singer-songwriter records, and I hope to god it won’t be the last.
There is a chance I’m placing this so highly because I’m helping to support a man who has had a completely earth-shattering 2023. He released this album with a dedication to his late partner, who died in April of this year, in a message that also served as a coming out message. And the album’s launch has also been in the context of his recent diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an auto-immune disease that has severely impacted his ability to walk and move freely. Recovery from such a condition can take years.
But even if his personal tribulations contributed to the effect this album had on me, I still couldn’t see Javelin being placed anywhere else this year. Sufjan has just cracked the code to my heart. He can go on a years-long experimental streak, producing wild collaborations and odd genre flirtations with such prolificacy that only a fraction of them stick, but then, almost dependably, come back with a solo record after a significant period time and share something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. It’s like clockwork, and I’m so grateful to be able to be a part of that cycle.
The hauntingly fragile opening lines and subsequent burst of all catharses in Goodbye Evergreen, the devastatingly hopeful A Running Start, the utterly overwhelming Will Anybody Ever Love Me?, the quiet gem Everything That Rises, the wispy hymn of Genuflecting Ghost, the wholeheartedly cute My Little Red Fox, the upsettingly powerful So You Are Tired, the profound Javelin (To Have And To Hold), the immediate Sufjan Hall Of Fame entry Shit Talk and finally the subtle cover of There’s A World, all culminated in the best listening experience of all for me in 2023.
Because of course it did. Because it’s Sufjan. And as futile devices as words can be, I love you, man. And I wish you well ❤️
Honourable mentions
New Blue Sun — André 3000
That! Feels Good! — Jessie Ware
Formal Growth In The Desert — Protomartyr
Multitudes — Feist
Census Designated — Jane Remover
The Gray In Between — Jeromes Dream
But Here We Are — Foo Fighters
Carousel (An Examination of the Shadow, Creekflow, and its Life as an Afterthought) — Vylet Pony
A Man And His Nature — Ropes Inside A Hole
Rat Saw God — Wednesday
Miracle-Level — Deerhoof
April Mixtape 3 — Snow Strippers
Lucky For You — Bully
Everyone’s Crushed — Water From Your Eyes
Norm — Andy Shauf
We Cater To Cowards — Oozing Wound
I Inside The Old Year Dying — PJ Harvey
