2023 AOTY: The Top 15

The fifteen albums I kept coming back to in 2023.

Dec 26, 2023

Welcome to a holiday edition of Substack! I’d totally intended to have this post written and published over the weekend, but it just took longer than expected to write. I wonder why? Perhaps because it’s getting close to a 5,000-word entry with a 22-minute reading time?!?! Jeez! As I said in my last post, I’m still finding my way on the platform, and figuring out what my writing here is going to look like. Finding the balance between what I want to say and a reasonable post length remains an ongoing journey, but I’ll get there. To those of you that decide to read this whole entry, thanks for the patience. For those that simply decide to scroll through to see the list of albums, I understand, and thanks for stopping by.

Here’s the Spotify playlist for this batch:

Let’s get into the selections!

15. Ahmed Ben Ali - Subhana

Selected Track: Yarait

My first introduction to Habibi Funk Records, a Berlin-based reissue label specializing in “eclectic sounds from the Arab world”, was through their 2020 release Habibi Funk 013: The King Of Sudanese Jazz which chronicles the music of Sharhabil Ahmed. It was a doorway into a treasure trove of mostly non-traditional Arab music, primarily disco, funk, and jazz-infused but also more recently extending into singer-songwriter folk and reggae.

Habibi Funk’s 2021 release Habibi Funk 016: Fine Anyway, a reissue of Roger Fakhr’s obscure 1970s releases, ranked 5th in my 2021 AOTY list. When describing listening to Fakhr’s music for the first time, label Habibi Funk co-founder Jannis Stürtz had this to say:

“I was blown away! The music was a mixture of folk with touches of other genres. Maybe one could also refer to it as “singer-songwriter”, since all of the songs were Roger’s own compositions. Songs of unique beauty both musically as well as lyrically. At the same time they gave me the feeling of them being somehow time and space isolated capsules. Nothing really revealed where they could’ve been recorded and without knowing it was Beirut, my first guess maybe would have rather been California, sometime in the 1970s. The immersive effect of his compositions and voice are just incredible.”

I occasionally like to fantasize about what might have happened if the original copy of Fine Anyway had found its way to a North American A&R rep. I like to imagine there would have been a record deal and perhaps critical acclaim and worldwide success for the artist. Regardless of how it turned out, I’m happy that one of the tiny run of 200 cassette tapes made its way to Stürtz to be combined with seven previously unreleased recordings on the Habibi Funk release, one of my favorite albums of the last five years.

But back to the 2023 album on my AOTY list!

Habibi Funk 022: Subhana, released in June and focusing on the mid 2000s releases of Libyan reggae artist Ahmed Ben Ali, completely blew me away. The familiar reggae and dancehall rhythms, supplemented by Arabic instruments and musical flourishes, and overlaid by Ali’s mesmerizing vocals in the Libyan folk tradition, make for an auditory experience well outside my musical expectations for the genre. It’s a banger of an album and one I return to regularly.

14. U.S. Girls - Bless This Mess

Selected Track: So Typically Now

This is the second AOTY appearance for U.S. Girls after their 2018 album In A Poem Unlimited ranked #17 that year. 2020’s Heavy Light didn’t quite do it for me but their latest, a synth-heavy jaunt through an array of genres, is a lot of fun that rewards repeated listens.

My friend Chris who reviewed this on his blog Comm. Failure had this to say:

“This album is Meg Remy’s finest, from the beautiful balladry of the title track to the disco rhythms, funkiness, infectious R&B hooks, and synth-pop of the remaining tracks.
It is her most accessible work to date.
“Bless This Mess” is a creative, complex, but wonderous journey and I would recommend it to anyone interested in alternative dance and indie pop.”

13. Cherry Glazerr - I Don't Want You Anymore

Selected Track: Soft Like a Flower

Another top 20 AOTY appearance for Cherry Glazerr whose 2019 release Stuffed and Ready exploded into my list at #15 that year. In September 2023 the band released I Don’t Want You Anymore, their third album on the Secretly Canadian label. The first few tracks read like a greatest hits of my early relationship failures, from an inability to separate myself from an unhealthy relationship (“You are my eyes / I don't need them tonight / Cut 'em out / You are my bad habit”) to the self-centered guilt of dragging someone into the mess of my life to fill a hole in my soul “So sorry I did this / I threw you into my chaos / I wanted a reason to feel you / Under my breath I said that I love you”.

The gentle opening track Addicted to your Love sets the emotional tone for the album but belies what’s to come sonically. The sonic palette is varied throughout with the music alternating between soft and loud, often within the individual tracks themselves. Similarly, lead singer Clem Creavy engages her voice as an additional instrument, ranging from a hush and plaintive almost whisper to a fierce and urgent wail. It’s an engaging and enthralling album. My only complaint is the running time which at a smidge over 34 minutes is a little short for my tastes.

12. Anna B Savage - in|FLUX

Selected Track: Pavlov’s Dog

In a discussion with a work colleague and fellow music lover earlier this week, I mentioned that I’ll often give repeated listens to an album that I initially find challenging. He asked me why I’d spend my admittedly limited listening time on such an endeavor. I had an answer although I wasn’t convinced it was a good one. But after chewing it for a couple days, my answer remains the same and I’m comfortable that it’s valid and appropriately represents my motivations: I think there’s something there.

I’m an avid user of Instagram, primarily sharing and enjoying photos and videos of hiking and the great outdoors. But there are also a few other interests reflected in my follows, ranging from border terriers to pottery to mudlarking. As early as the late 18th century, ‘mudlarks’ were individuals that would search the muddy shores of the river Thames in London at low tide, looking for anything that could be sold. People dwelling near the river could often scrape a subsistence living by doing so. Modern mudlarkers, who must be licensed by the Port of London Authority, are continuing this tradition. But rather than seeking to make a living, today’s mudlarkers are looking for items of historical or personal interest. One of my favorites is Lara Maiklem, who posts as the London Mudlark on IG.

How on earth does this relate to music you may ask. Don’t worry, I’m getting there!

Some of my favorite posts are reels where the video pans over the muddy and rocky foreshore, eventually zooming in on something. At first glance we’re not sure what it is, but then the mudlarker picks it up and begins to scrape away some of the mud. Even then, it’s not clear what we’re looking at. Until they rinse it off in the river water to reveal something absolutely magical (one of my favorites is here). At times an album will wash up on my musical shoreline that’s challenging at first listen but piques the musical processing areas of my brain in such a way that I think there’s something there. I’m compelled to come back for repeated listens, slowly scraping off the mud of my musical expectations to reveal what lies beneath. It’s not unusual for such an album to be thrown back to the shoreline, but very occasionally a musical gem emerges. A couple examples that immediately come to mind are Vulnicura, Bjork’s ninth solo album released in 2015 and David Bowie’s final studio release 2016’s Blackstar, both of which found their way into my top 20.

Here’s another one of those musical gems. My sentiment on this album echoes that of Ims Taylor who reviewed in|FLUX for The Line of Best Fit in February, writing “On first impression, in|FLUX is almost alienating, an unsettling listen that does all but invite you back for more. But with determination, passion, and survival instinct – the very feelings explored at such length – it yields excellence.”

There is something here for me . . . and it’s magical.

11. Blondshell - Blondshell

Selected Track: Salad

This stunning debut album from Sabrina Teitelbaum who performs as Blondshell sounds like it could be a reissue of a lost or unreleased classic from the early 90s. From the fuzz-drenched guitars reminiscent of Veruca Salt on album opener Veronica Mars to hints of Smashing Pumpkins on Sepsis, this is an album that delivers powerful hooks and devastating lyrics. Teitelbaum includes Hole and Nirvana among her influences, but I’m also picking up a PJ Harvey vibe and at times a delivery reminiscent of Liz Phair. With these influences, the album can’t help but feel somewhat derivative, but it manages to maintain a level of originality and authenticity. As a fan of all of the artists mentioned above, I’m definitely here for this album, and looking forward to seeing where her career goes.

10. Bayonne - Temporary Time

Selected Track: Perfect

Temporary Time is the third studio album released under the Bayonne moniker, the stage name of Roger Sellers, a minimalist composer and electronic musician based in Austin, TX. I’m very much a lyrics guy, but in the case of this album it’s the music that really carries me. I’m not exactly sure what it is that grabs me so much about this album, but when I close my eyes and immerse myself in the music it feels like a warm escape. Like lazing in a sun-drenched hammock next to a Mediterranean villa without a care in the world.

9. VA - Once Again We are the Children of the Sun

Selected Track: Come and Take Me by the Hand

It’s unusual for a compilation album to make its way onto my AOTY list. By my count it’s only happened four times since I started compiling an annual list in 2013, all of which have taken place since 2019 when I became more active on Bandcamp. In case you’re interested, here’s the list of those albums along with their ranking and a link to their Bandcamp page:

Sad About the Times (2019 #6)
If I Had a Pair of Wings: Jamaican Doo-Wop Vol. 2 (2019 #24)
Penrose Showcase Vol. 1 (2020 #11)
Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1 (2021 Honorable Mention)

Andrew Male of MAJO referred to Once Again We Are The Children Of The Sun as "One of the most emotionally uplifting and hazily beautiful compilations of recent years." This is an album I’ve come back to again and again since its March release. I urge you to give it a listen, there really is something for everyone here.

From the Bandcamp verbiage for release:

“Once Again We Are The Children Of The Sun is a shimmering collection of rare finds, reminding us that we have more to connect us than to divide us. The music encompasses a broad range of sounds, starting in Cajun country with Will & James Ragar, their handmade acoustic guitars allowing for soaring vocals. Along with many of the tracks featured on this compilation, "As the Day Grows Tired" is reissued on vinyl for the first time.
Experience the previously unreleased cover of "Milk and Honey" featuring Kat Barnard and Greg Foat, a versatile mainstay of the UK jazz scene. Discover the first-ever vinyl release of "Kayenta Crossing" by William Eaton Ensemble, capturing the austere presence of Monument Valley. Immerse yourself in Wendy Grace's jazz-folk masterpiece "More Than Hope" and the acoustic ambience of "Golden Hour" by Aria Rostami.

Paul Hillery and BBE present a compilation of styles and genres, fusing together to make private press wants accessible as a springboard for further listening pleasures. Once Again We Are the Children of the Sun is an eclectic selection mixing styles, year and tempo, painstakingly gathered and presented with a great deal of love.”

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8. Metric - Formantera II

Selected Track: Days of Oblivion

Metric is one of a handful of artists that immediately come to mind as one of my favorites over the last five years (along with Fruit Bats and Marissa Nadler). Last year’s Formantera was my 3rd ranked album of the year, with the track Doomscroller coming in as my #1 song of the year. Much to my surprise and joy I learned earlier this year that a 2023 follow-up was on its way with the October release of Formantera II.

Something about Metric’s music has the ability to evoke a visceral emotional response in me. The stretch of their song Doomscroller is nothing short of incredible and a perfect example of how I connect with music. After expressing her love and support “…either way we’re gonna love you, whatever you do / either way we’re gonna love you, never mattered”, Haines’ voice rises slightly in tone on the last two words of “how many or how much more you’ve been through” and she implores the subject of the song to “Come back to yourself from the battle”. A slight pause and then the tightly knit guitar and drums explode into life and carry the song for 30 seconds before Haines begins an angelic vocalizing that takes the song through to its outro another 30 seconds later. That stretch of the song brings me to tears every time and may be the best two minutes of music I’ve heard in the last decade. If my description intrigues you, I urge you to give the song a listen (the song title above is linked to the track on Spotify). Let me know what you think in the comments.

While there aren’t any musical moments quite like this in Formantera II, Days of Oblivion resonates with me lyrically. The line “it turns out these were the days” hits like a gut punch. What if, five, ten, twenty years hence, one were to look back and say, “Wow, I guess those were the best days of our lives”? How horrendously sad that would be. To be clear, I don’t fear that at all. Although it’s been an incredibly challenging year, I’m still filled with gratitude for each day and feel like I’m living a life beyond my wildest dreams. And I know the best is yet to come. But songs like Days of Oblivion remind me of the importance of remaining present to the joy in life and being an active participant in the direction of my life, with agency and purpose.

7. Tanlines - The Big Mess

Selected Track: The Big Mess

I’d never heard of Tanlines before The Big Mess arrived in May. By some accounts this album represents somewhat of a departure from their earlier work. In the headline of his review (which felt more like a mean-spirited diatribe than a music review to me), Pitchfork’s Jesse Dorris had this to say: “On their first new album since 2015, the onetime Brooklyn indie darlings turn definitively toward dad rock.” Thankfully I didn’t come to this album constrained by the weight of any prior expectations, which is often the best way to approach an album.

To be honest, I had to look up “dad rock” to see what it was. The term has been around for some time, but as described in an Esquire article, it was “unleashed on the world” by Rob Mitchum in a review of Wilco’s 2007 album Sky Blue written for (would you believe it? yes, actually I would!) Pitchfork. After 20 minutes of internet sleuthing, I’m still no closer to a definition of dad rock. The term feels like a moniker employed by self-satisfied musical gatekeepers to denigrate an album without having to engage in any intelligent musical criticism. But perhaps it’s being used “ironically” and I’m just not getting it.

There’s actually a 3-CD Box Set called “Now That’s What I call Dad Rock”, which includes the track listing below. While I’m not a dad, I am a 52-year-old white guy who sees a bunch of excellent songs on that list. If that actually IS dad rock then you can count me in!

Okay, so not much of a review of the album! I’d suggest giving the video a watch. If you like what you hear then this album may be for you.

6. Will Johnson - No Ordinary Crown

Selected Track: In Granada

The review from Sputnik Music hits the nail on the head when it comes to this release:

“Some albums are difficult to pin down, but No Ordinary Crown isn’t one of them. Do you like the proto-grunge sound of Neil Young’s louder works? Or the rustic melancholy of Jason Molina’s various projects (Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co, etc.)? Or the downcast but powerful singing of another Jason (Isbell) backed by his grooving 400 Unit? If any of those references sound appetizing, you’re almost certainly in this LP’s target audience. Veteran singer-songwriter Will Johnson’s latest combines Young-ish guitar crunch (see the heavy instrumental “Alta (Warped Kite)”) with delicate melancholia (a la closer “Of Passengers and Plight”) demonstrating the influences taken from the artist’s one-time collaboration with Molina, all the while featuring dominant vocals over the more barn-burning musical backdrops (like “The Conductor Calls”) in a manner reminiscent of Isbell. The highlights here, including the beautiful “In Granada” and the mournful “Tempest Time Again” stand as some of my favorite alt-country pieces in a while. All this is to say that, while No Ordinary Crown likely won’t feel like new and different, it’s excellent nonetheless, melding well-worn influences into something at once gritty and emotive. If this kind of thing is your kind of thing, don’t skip it.”

An additional musical reference for me would be Dan Mangan, more so vocally than musically. On several tracks, but particularly on In Granada, Johnson’s voice is reminiscent of Mangan whose release Club Meds was a top 20 AOTY for me in 2015.

5. Dylan LeBlanc - Coyote

Selected Track: Coyote

From the Rough Trade Records release page:

Coyote marks Dylan LeBlanc’s fifth studio album and his first full-length LP to be self-produced. Recorded at the iconic Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, it boasts a handpicked ensemble of world-renowned session players including Fred Eltringham, known for his work with Ringo Starr and Sheryl Crow, pianist Jim "Moose" Brown, who's collaborated with Bob Seger, and bassist Seth Kaufman, celebrated for his contributions to Lana Del Rey's tracks. The album is both semi-autobiographical and a concept album centered on the evocative character of Coyote, a man on the run in pursuit of an ever-elusive freedom from his past.

I’d never previously heard of Dylan LeBlanc before this album, something I’ll need to rectify after having enjoyed this absolutely gorgeous album since its late October release.

4. Sam Burton - Dear Departed

Selected Track: I Don’t Blame you

Although I don't agree with their ranking, I find this excerpt from the review in The Guardian to be right on the money: "there’s a timeless lushness to the sound of Dear Departed. It’s an album that draws heavily on the influence of 1960s and 70s singer-songwriters – think Harry Nilsson, Glen Campbell and Jackson Browne. Songs develop at a leisurely pace, subtly deployed strings and piano very much foregrounding Burton’s gentle, ruminative, slightly mournful vocals."

The orchestration on this album, particularly the decoration of otherwise blank spaces with plaintive, soaring, and heart-tugging strings, is a joy to behold. But it's the sound of Burton's voice, and the pacing of his delivery, that make this sophomore effort (a follow up to 2020's I Can Go With You) so much more than the sum of its parts. His voice has a languid quality; there's a sense of his vocals being teased or stretched out of him by the music itself. At times the vocals seem to start at the last possible moment. Words are stretched taut (“I took the lo-o-o-ong way around") as if trying to fill up too much musical space with too few words. But that deliberate pacing, those sweet and sultry vocals, combined with the orchestration, make for a velvet-covered hook that draws me in and holds me transfixed for the 40-minute running time.

3. Mega Bog - End of Everything

Selected Track: The Clown

End of Everything is the seventh album from Erin Birgy who performs as Mega Bog. Reviewing the album for Under the Radar Mag, Ben Jardine had this to say:

“There’s something a little off about the new Mega Bog album, but that isn’t a bad thing. The seventh record from LA’s Erin Elizabeth Birgy, End of Everything is a wobbly, synth-heavy ode to surrender and mourning, and it sounds more readily plucked from the ’80s than the contemporary indie canon. We hear Birgy reflecting (in restrained angst) on the self, on the climate, and our collective futures, all over bubbling synths, harmonic howling, and the occasional grit of a guitar. It’s a record packed with glittering dance tracks, where, under the surface, dark and dramatic lyrics simmer.”

There’s a lot of ground covered on this album, both musically and lyrically but Birgy’s versatile voice ties everything together. At times whispering, at times spoken word and, at its most glorious, the crescendoing almost operatic interrogative of “how do you see me now?” in Clown, the highlight of the album for me.

2. RAYE - My 21st Century Blues

Selected Track: Ice Cream Man

Trigger Warning: my verbiage and the video cover themes of sexual violence and may be upsetting.

After six years as a prisoner to the whims of Polydor Records who were seemingly unwilling to release her songs, Rachel Keen, who performs as RAYE, has released a singular work of art with My 21st Century Blues.

She exhibits fierce strength in Hard Out Here as she remonstrates the record execs that held her back: “All the white men CEOs, fuck your privilege / Get your pink chubby hands off my mouth, fuck you think this is? / I told my lawyer to stand by (war) / there is no wrath like a woman scorned / huh now I bet you wish.”

We’re invited witness Raye’s self-doubt and body image issues on Body Dysmorphia. “I hate the way my face is square / I hate my arms inside these sleeves / For this hourglass we all desire / I wear three corsets underneath”. It’s a sad and painful revelation, made all the more real and devastating by the voices of young girls that close out the song:

“I think when I grow older, I’m going to get a nose job”
“I have a bump in my nose and it’s ugly”
“When I grow up, I want to be skinny, but with an hourglass figure”
“I hope I’ll be pretty when I grow up, or I think I’ll be sad”

The track that absolutely destroys me though, is Ice Cream Man in which RAYE sings about the emotional and mental impact of sexual assault. The courage to be able to so openly and explicitly share on this topic is breathtaking.

And I was seven, was twenty one, was seventeen and was eleven
It took a while to understand what my consent means
If I was ruthless, they'd be in the penitentiary
But all the stress of being honest wouldn't help me
I pushed it down, but it was livin' in me rent-free
And then I fell into some things that were unhealthy
A place where no one heard me asking them to help me (Help me, help me)

RAYE bares her soul in the vocal bridge as she shares the internalization of the damage inflicted:

I wish I could say how I feel, how I felt / And explain why I'm silently blaming myself
'Cause I put on these faces, pretending I'm fine / Then I go to the bathroom and I press rewind in my head / Always going round and round in my head
Your fingerprints stuck a stain on my skin / You made me frame myself for your sin
You pathetic, dead excuse of a man

Yet, through all of this, somehow RAYE finds the incomparable strength and power to not be defined by these unimaginable experiences (unimaginable to me, not to the 1 in 4 women who have been sexually assaulted). The chorus exudes a powerful determination as RAYE fights to reclaim and stand in her power:

'Cause I'm a woman
I'm a very fucking brave, strong woman
And I'll be damned if I let a man ruin
How I walk, how I talk, how I do it
Man, I've been broken for a moment
I've been through it, no
It's even harder to be brave alone
I was a girl, now I'm grown, I'm a woman
A very fucking strong woman

This emotional powerhouse of an album shines a light on uncomfortable topics, ones that I might prefer not to think about (a privilege, that), and compels me to bear witness to a talented and powerful woman’s ability to overcome.

1. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Weathervanes

Selected Track: King of Oklahoma

I’d only ever listened to one Jason Isbell album before this year’s Weathervanes. I only vaguely remember 2020’s Reunions and it must not have made much of an impression because it never made its way onto my 2020 Music Tracking Excel file. In a 40-minute interview on CBS News the host, John Dickerson, says, “Jason, let’s start with Weathervanes, your latest collection of short stories.” Wow, what a perfect way to refer to this album! That’s exactly what this album is, as echoed in the review on Sputnik Music, “These songs might be (mostly) the soundtracks of people drifting at the fringes or sinking lower and lower and mourning everything they’ve lost, but Isbell shares it all with endless precision and skill, making us care (perhaps too much).”

On my first few listens to Weathervanes I was instantly connected to the stories Isbell was telling. I related to the characters. At the opening of Deathwish Isbell asks “Did you ever love a woman with a death wish, something in her eyes like switching off a light switch?” I’ve both known and been that person. I immediately connected with lines like “the night was young once, we were the wild ones” and “it takes a whole lot of medicine to feel like a little kid”.

“This guy gets me,” I thought, “he IS me.” And in a way he is. In the CBS News interview, I learned that Isbell, like me, is a recovering addict and alcoholic with over a decade sober. He talks about the importance of specificity in a song in terms of connecting with your audience. If you can eschew the temptation to be broad and vague and say things that relate to everybody and instead, “get really specific and put the tiny little weird stuff in there, that’s when you hear from people: ‘how did you know this about my life?’ and to me that’s how you make a really strong connection with somebody in your audience.” Somehow, I’d never thought about songwriting that way before, but it makes sense. And it helps explain why I feel such a connection to the album.

This is an album that just gets better with repeated listening, one that I expect to be a candidate for top ten of the decade, once that rolls around.

Trigger Warning: the video contains graphic depictions of substance abuse and domestic violence which may be disturbing or traumatizing.

Did any of these make your top albums list this year? Which of these artists are new to you? And which ones are long-time favorites? Does any track/album particularly resonate with you?

Please leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Joy in the Journey

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