#18 40 x 2023
Or, a 40 year old tells you about 40 good records from 2023
Good afternoon friends,
With three days left in 2023, it’s time for me to share my favorite records of the year. I will admit, I spend all year working towards this, my main act of reflection on the year, and have for at least 20 years, and am not sure who this is for besides myself. That said, contrary to how I spend my energy producing, music is the art form that inspires and grounds me more than any other, and it still does to this day. Having these lists to look back to exists as journals, and if somehow I’ve forgotten about songs that exist as time machines, I can always find my way back there.
2023 feels like the year music got back to normal, with far fewer of the weird experimental products of lock down. It’s also a year it seems touring got back to normal, and at least every show I saw, musicians were so full of joy and gratitude to be back to doing the thing. This is also to say 2023 feels like a year my life got back to normal, whatever that is now, and these songs provided the soundtrack.
There are 40 albums here, which I know sounds like a lot, but is truly a fraction of what I listened to this year, and there is still so much I’m sure I missed. The list is in some sort of order, at least thru the top 20, and then it gets a little arbitrary. Because of that, this playlist flows like a dog’s breakfast, but hopefully you find some things you like. I’ve written some brief thoughts on a handful of records below the links.
Thank you as always for indulging me.
#18 40 x 2023
Listen here on Spotify or here on Youtube music
The Tallest Man On Earth, Henry St - Bless You
Sun June, Bad Dream Jaguar - Washington Square
Fred Again & Brian Eno, Secret Life - Secret
Ben Howard, Is It? - Moonraker
Cut Worms, Cut Worms - I’ll Never Make It
Matthew Halsall, An Ever Changing View - An Ever Changing View
Julie Byrne, The Greater Wings - Moonless
Ratboys, The Window - The Window
Young Fathers, Heavy Heavy - Rice
Madeline Kenney, A New Reality Mind - Red Emotion
Gia Margaret, Romantic Piano - Cicadas
Holly Humberstone, Paint My Bedroom Black - Ghost Me
Jessie Ware, That! Feels Good! - Free Yourself
Loma Prieta, Last - One-Off (Part 2)
Good Looking Friends, Wasted Now - Jaywalker
En Attendant Ana, Principia - The Cutoff
Buck Meek, Haunted Mountain - Where You’re Coming From
Gregory Alan Isakov, Appaloosa Bones - Miles to Go
Agriculture, Agriculture - Look, Pt 2
Matthew And The Atlas, This Place We Live - Record Store
Girl Scout, Real Life Human Garbage - Do You Remember Sally Moore?
Slaughter Beach, Dog, Crying, Laughing, Waving - Summer Windows
Slowdive, everything is alive - alife
Generationals, Heatherhead - Waking Moment
Feist, Multitudes - Calling All The Gods
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown, SCARING THE HOES - Garbage Pale Kids
Jam City, Jam City Presents EFM - Wild n Sweet
Spanish Love Songs, No Joy - Pendulum
Skinny Pelembe, Hardly The Same Snake - Same Eye Color
Avalon Emerson, & The Charm - Karaoke Song
Young Moon, Triggered by Sunsets - Dance Yer Sadness
Billy Nomates, CACTI - Blue Bones
Truth Cult, Walk The Wheel - Unstoppable
Lowly, Keep Up The Good Work - Keep Up The Good Work
M83, Fantasy - Us And The Rest
Superviolet, Infinite Spring - Big Songbirds Don’t Cry
Nickel Creek, Celebrants - Celebrants
Cindy Wilson, Realms - Realms
Sampha, Lahai - Dancing Circles
Wilco, Cousin - Meant To Be
Some expanded thoughts on some of the records above….
The Tallest Man On Earth, Henry St: I admit, I’m a bit of a Tallest Man shill. I heard this record for the first time live, a month before it even came out, when on his second show ever touring with a band, he played the entire record. It was a bold move that I would normally hate, but the warmth and joy with which they played these songs made them feel familiar from the first note. Luckily, the recorded album captured that same joy and this is easily my most listened to [new] record of the year.
Sun June, Bad Dream Jaguar / Gia Margaret, Romantic Piano: These are both records that were just listened as honorable mention type things in blogs I listen to and I do not know what made me decide to put them on with zero context, but both of them had that same effect upon first listen: that feeling in the back of your heard and then down your back when your whole body feels a record because its exactly what you were looking for. They both feel like an overhead view of young adulthood.
Fred Again & Brian Eno, Secret Life: My TRUE record of 2023 was “Fred Again’s entire discography”. There is not an artist I listened to more in this entire year. This record came out the same day I had a rainy morning flight to Seattle where I both saw lots of friends, and it turns out, had covid, which I couldn’t have asked for a better soundtrack than this sparse, melancholy masterpiece.
Ben Howard, Is It? / Slowdive, everything is alive/ Feist, Multitudes / M83, Fantasy / Nickel Creek, Celebrants/ Wilco, Cousin / Cindy Wilson (B-52s), Realms / : All of these records are by artists who are deep in to their careers and you probably know and love(d). Each of these records exist as examples that no matter what stage you are in a career, you can mix things up and still catch the magic. This is easily Ben Howards best record, Slowdive and Nickel Creek haven’t missed a step getting back together, Feist got even weirder and quieter at the same time (?), M83 figured their shit out, and Wilco worked with an outside producer (Cate LeBon) for the first time in 20 years unsurprisingly made their best records in 20 years. If you walked away from any of these artists at some point, I highly recommend diving back in.
En Attendant Ana, Principia: If you like Alvvays and want a french version that also kind of sounds like Belle & Sebastian, here you go.
Gregory Alan Isakov, Appaloosa Bones: Gregory Alan Isakov is one of my favorite musicians, but I admit I did not get this record when it came out. I’m still not sure I get what he’s doing in this moment of writing songs that feel more like short memories of an idea, but much like Tallest Man, seeing this record live made it sound so big and beautiful and full of something, and it’s kept me coming back.
Loma Prieta, Last / Agriculture, Agriculture / Truth Cult, Walk The Wheel: For whatever reason, I returned to metal and hardcore quite a bit this year. While there is A LOT of great stuff out there at the moment, these three records are the ones I kept going back to when I needed shouting and shreding.
Spanish Love Songs, No Joy / Skinny Pelembe, Hardly The Same Snake / Avalon Emerson, & The Charm / Lowly, Keep Up The Good Work: These records as all by bands that are new to me and contained certain songs good enough I kept coming back to the records hoping to find more. Avalon Emerson’s Karaoke Song might actually be my favorite song of the year.
Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, & Tomorrow, & Tomorrow: Not a record, but a book, an audio book rather, and genuinely the best thing I listened to all year. Easily the best depiction of collaborative relationships and how it feels to make things with people I have ever absorbed. I cry just thinking about moments in this book, and wish I could go back to the week I walked around Boston listening to this.
I love to skim a “best of” music, books or films list, which is what I was doing when I initially read your post. I noticed that you said Avalon Emerson’s “Karaoke Song” may have been your favorite song of the year. I’d never heard it, so I went to check out the song and, ultimately, the whole “& The Charm” album, which I have now been playing on repeat for several days. Thanks for the recommendation!