Favourite albums of 2023 thread (other fave lists welcome)

already did this on the twitters.

1. Peach - Self Titled
2. Clt Drp - Nothing Clever, Just Feelings
3. Dark Star - ...Out Flew Reason (recorded in 2000. was cancelled & widely bootlegged. But...its the 'official' release, so I'm including it)
4. Treeboy & Arc - Natural Habitat
5. Esben & the Witch - Hold Sacred

Oh, its an absolute monster, innit.

broke my laptop, got a new one, couldn't remember my ruddy logon for this place could i!

anyway, i had a bit of a weird year. i spent 3/4 of it listening to horrible ladrock and second rate post britpop then the last 1/4 of the year i had a real jazz phase and was listening to a lot of gilles peterson on the radio. these two things are kinda reflected in my list so it looks a bit strange. i thought 2023 was a bit rubbish for indie guitar music but as always, plenty of good records out there after digging a bit deeper. here is what tickled my pickle...

top ten live performaces of the year (i appreciate the average age here must be over retirement age, they've all still got it though!)

1, Richard Ashcroft @ Sandringham
2, The Who @ Sandringham
3, Iggy Pop @ Crystal Palace Park
4, Paul Weller @ Thetford Forest
5, Pulp @ Latitude
6, Tom Meighan @ Epic Studios Norwich
7, Stone Foundation @ Norwich Waterfront Studio
8, Suede @ Norwich UEA
9, Dry Cleaning @ Latitude
10, Blondie @ Crystal Palace Park

top 10 EPs of 2023

1,Deary - Deary
2,Marseille - Freedom EP
3,Marseille - This Dream of Mine
4,Crushed - Extra Life
5,Aphex Twin - Blackbox Life Recorder 21f/in a room 7 f760
6,Moleskine - Comfort
7,Opus Kink - My Eyes, Brother!
8,Cowboyy - Epic the Movie
9,Hallan - The Noise of a Firing Gun
10,Angel Olsen - Forever Means

top 20 old albums discovered in 2023

1, Pharoah Sanders - Karma (1969)
2, The Young Disciples - Road to Freedom (1991)
3, Baby Charles - Baby Charles (2008)
4, The Blow Monkeys - She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter (1987)
5, Candi Staton - I'm Just a Prisoner (1970)
6, Nolan Porter - Nolan (1972)
7, Lord Finesse - The Awakening (1996)
8, Terry Callier - Ocassional Rain (1972)
9, Al Green - Al Green Explores Your Mind (1974)
10, Lack of Afro - Press On (2007)
11, Haircut 100 - Pelican West (1982)
12, Yussef Kamaal - Black Focus (2016)
13, Trio Valore - Return of the Iron Monkey (2008)
14, Desperate Journalist - Grow Up (2017)
15, EPMD - Business Never Personal (1992)
16, Everything but the Girl - Eden (1984)
17, Shirley Brown - Woman to Woman (1974)
18, Above the Law - Livin' Like Hustlers (1990)
19, The 3 Pieces - Vibes of Truth (1975)
20, Das EFX - Straight Up Sewaside (1993)

top 40 albums of the year

40, Hotline TNT – Cartwheel
Imagine if Teenage Fanclub and Ride had a powerpop shoegaze child but they were American. This is a fairly new one on me but one I keep finding myself coming back to and sounding better on every listen. Slight vibes of the Been Stellar ep from last year that I loved too.

39, Yoni Mayraz – Dybbuk tse!
Debut album from Yoni, an Israeli jazz pianist now based in London. A lot of the PR for this talks about it combining jazz with 90s New York hip hop. Piano isn’t normally my first choice of lead instrument when it comes to jazz but this really works.

38, Shake Stew – Lila
There’s loads of good jazz about in mainland Europe at the minute and Shake Stew are another fine addition hailing from Austria I believe. These are several albums into their career but this was the first I’d heard of them so I need to dig deeper as I was really impressed by this. There’s some spoken word bits on the opening track which I’m always a big sucker for and the whole atmosphere of this record is slightly dark and foreboding which again is one of my soft spots.

37, Alcynoos – Rewind
Excellent hip hop album with a big jazz vibe going on too. It’s all about the production and beats here. Rapping is fine but prevents it scoring higher.

36, Organic Pulse Ensemble – Formative Stages
One of two releases he’s put out this year. Only heard this one so far as the other isn’t on Spotify but this is really good. It’s spiritual jazz but almost has a slight pastoral folk feel to it too with flute featuring heavily. I need to check out more from the RR Gems record label this is one as the stuff I’ve heard so far has pretty much all been killer.

35, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Lonnie Liston Smith – Jazz is Dead 017
I got back into the Jazz is Dead series again lately and 017 is the standout of their 2023 releases for me. Hope this project goes on forever.

34, Kool Keith and Real Bad Man – Serpent
I think Kool Keith has had about 5 albums out this year and there’s been some real shit in there. This was surprisingly good though and it is mostly down to Real Bad Man’s beats. The two work really well together here and it ends up being Keith’s best release in quite some time.

33, Holiday Ghosts – Absolute Reality
I don’t think it has been a great year for guitar music at all, especially for new bands with debut albums. This was a rare one that stood out to me though. Nice jangly indie pop with a Velvet Underground vibe. Reminds me a bit of bands I used to love like Veronica Falls. This would have been a top 10 album for late 00s maddix.

32, The Toads – In the Wilderness
Australian version of Holiday Ghosts really though this time leaning more on a post punk influence. Good shit.

31, The Murder Capital – Gigi’s Recovery
I was initially really disappointed with this but then saw them live at Latitude where they smashed it and then this all made sense. I then hammered this for a few weeks after Latitude and thought this was going to place really highly but have kinda forgotten about it again since. A lot more subtle than the debut and benefits from repeated listens. Some big tunes here though.

30, The Good People – A Good Year
The Good People have ended up being one of my favourite hip hop acts of recent times. Basically because all their records sound like fun party records that could have been released in 1991. It’s total throwback but I love it.

29, Pardoner – Peace Loving People
Saw this described as “90s inspired indie rock” so had to check it out instantly. I think one of the reasons guitar music has suffered a bit the last year or so is the lack of new American bands coming through but I’ve finally found one here that I love. Apparently their earlier stuff is a bit more punky so not all fans were down with this but this is my entry point and I’m loving it. To my ears it has a mix of the three Ps – Pixies, Pavement and Parquet Courts.

28, Drop Nineteens – Hard Light
What a pleasant surprise to have these back. I’m really hoping they make it over to the UK for some gigs. Delaware has always been one of my favourite shoegaze records and this follows on nicely.

27, Raw Poetic – Away Back In
Raw Poetic and Damu the Fudgemunk team up again here for another great album. I love the rapping and beats here but always find the guitar from Raw Poetic slightly unnecessary as it tends to be fairly generic. They just about get away with it here though and it doesn’t ruin a great album.

26, The Sherlocks – People Like Me and You
LADS. I really like these. They’re proper squares without much charisma which is unusual in the ladrock game but they make wonderful anthems for real lads so all is forgiven.

25, Pale Jay - Bewilderment
Stunning soul record from a mysterious masked and bucket hatted American singer. I tend to love anything on Colemine and its subsidiaries and this keeps that record going. Jay has a falsetto even higher than Tim Burgess on Wonderland and this album is all killer no filler. It’s just a bit too short.

24, Squid – O Monolith
Found it difficult to place this album. I think it varied from top ten to being out of the top 40 completely at various points in the last few months. I love Squid and clearly it is a great record and a more coherent record than the debut. I just prefer the debut more and have more fun with the highlights of those early eps and album than I do anything on this.

23, El Michels Affair and Black Thought – Glorious Game
Not as good as Cheat Codes but still wonderful. I think that’s the general perception of everyone on this.

22, Object Heavy – Love and Gravity
I’ve been really into funk and soul this year and this is another great release from that genre. It isn’t on Colemine but sounds like it probably should be.

21, Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
Carrie and Lowell was my album of the decade. I’m not sure I’d quite go that far now but I do love that record. This is more of the same but just not quite in that league.

20, Baxter Dury – I Thought I Was Better Than You
He’s just brilliant but this is too short. Give me another couple of songs Baxter and you have a top ten record on your hands.

19, The Sextones – Love Can’t Be Borrowed
Yet another wonderful soul record from this year. Ignore the awful band name, this sounds like a classic soul record from the early 70s.

18, Flyying Colours – You Never Know
This really got under my skin. I’d seen the name about before but not properly listened until this year. I’ve delved back into their earlier releases and while all good this is a career highlight for me. It’s a shoegaze record but will a big dose of indie pop too. There’s a handful of tunes here that I could see fitting in on the Pains of Being Pure at Heart debut lp which we all know is one of the all time greats.

17, Gaz Coombes – Turn the Car Around
I’d never been overly arsed with his solo stuff before but this is just great. He fucking sounds like Thom Yorke at times. Just a consistently excellent piece of work.

16, Isaiah Collier – Parallel Universe
Checked this out purely because I saw the cover and it looked cool as fuck. This properly excited me. It was about midnight when I saw it and I had to be up at 5am the next day so needed to sleep but I stuck the opening tune on and it blew me away so I had to listen to the whole thing there and then. The opening song is still by far my favourite but the whole thing is a wonderful live straight to disc mix of jazz, gospel and soul. Could have been even higher if it wasn’t such a new release.

15, Afflecks Palace – The Only Light in the Tunnel is the Oncoming Train
I had a bit of a weird year this year where I’ve spent the past few weeks listening to nothing but jazz but in reality spent ¾ of the year hammering the ladrock. The Afflecks Palace lp was one of the ladrock records I spent a lot of time with earlier in the year and really enjoyed. It is a Stone Roses tribute act making their own material and sounds exactly like what you’d expect from that.

14, Tom Meighan – The Reckoning
Big Tom! Genuinely a wonderful return after being booted out by weird Serge. He’s stuck it to them and made an album better than anything Kasabian have done in years. #notomnoparty

13, Durand Jones – Wait ‘til I get Over
I love his work with The Indications but must admit wasn’t overly excited about the prospect of a solo record – until I heard it! This is just a wonderful soul record that is full of emotion and tenderness. It’s not completely throwback though like some modern soul can be and sounds fresh and modern. I think I now prefer this to anything he has done with The Indications so high praise.

12, Sleaford Mods – UK Grim
They’re just brilliantly consistent and keep doing their thing to high levels. I like all the guest spots here even your man from Janes Addiction. Feels like a bit of the aggression is back with Jason too. Hopefully he will be back on the booze soon.

11, Anohni and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross
Only checked this out fairly late in the year (not sure why as her Hopelessness lp was a highly ranked album by me in 2016 too) but it blew me away instantly. A really soulful and beautiful album that is creative and interesting but also really accessible.

10, Blur – The Ballad of Darren
I loved The Narcissist instantly and the whole album just doesn’t disappoint. Yeah it sounds like an Albarn solo lp (while being better than any of his actual solo lps) but this is just a fantastic bit of work and an album I have played time and time again this year. Even my Mrs loves it and she normally listens to exclusively American indie shit.

9, Jalen Ngonda – Come Around and Love Me
Another incredible soul album for 2023. I first heard of this guy through his support slots with Stone Foundation a few years ago. Interesting journey in that he is American but now based in Liverpool I think. Anyway he has finally got his debut lp out on Daptone and it blew me away. Yeah it sounds like Marvin but the voice and the songs are so strong he gets away with it. Can’t wait to see him live and see what he does next.

8, Thysenterprise – Essential
Rucksack Records are a small Dutch label that have put out some of my favourite hip hop records of recent years. This is something they put out a few months ago from a Dutch guy who is now based in Barcelona called Thysenterprise. It is a jazz record first and foremost but has a real under layer of hip hop vibes going on but in quite a subtle way mostly with the drums and percussion. It’s an album made in tribute to his late Father who apparently got him into jazz and they used to listen to the greats together. He revisits and reimagines melodies from classic jazz records like Coltrane, Sanders and Davis and manages to make an album that while looking back also sounds incredibly modern and forward thinking.

7, Dexys – The Feminine Divine
I loved this from first listen. It’s a bit weird but it made me love it even more. Long live Kevin Rowland.

6, Stik Figa and The Expert – Ritual
Another Rucksack Records release. Longstanding fans of my end of year lists will remember The Expert from the album he did with Jermiside last year that also featured highly. This is similar in that it is another hip hop album that clearly has 90s boom bap influences but isn’t entirely throwback and also sounds very 2023 too. You can keep your Billy Woods, this is where I’m going for my modern hip hop.

5, DMA’s – How Many Dreams?
I fucking love this record. Lots of DMA’s fans didn’t as it is quite over produced and poppy sounding but for me the big production actually really suits their sound. Had this belting out of the house all year long.

4, Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My
MITH was my album of the year a few years ago. This is his proper follow up to that and initially I wasn’t that impressed. It’s a lot more subtle than MITH but with repeated listens this really got under my skin. He has some big names feature here including Michael Stipe and Bon Iver so it is good to see him getting that level of respect. A great album.

3, The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds
The Diamonds!! My word what a journey this album is. I nearly didn’t bother with it at all as I didn’t like Angry and thought it sounded like Status Quo. I remember vividly my first listen to this. My bus to work was on a huge diversion and I stuck this on and it just sounded huge from first listen. I kept expecting the quality to drop but it didn’t and it was just banger after banger. I love sticking this on and doing a Jagger strut around the house. Get Close might just be my song of the year.

2, Slowdive – Everything is Alive
So fucking happy to have these back again. I kinda get why some of the reaction to this record has been lukewarm as it doesn’t necessarily have any big singles but as a whole piece the atmosphere and ambience it brings is like nothing else. It’s a great headphones record and one that has benefitted from darkness and winter. I love listening to this early in the morning on my bus to work sat in the pitch black. Long live Slowdive.

1, Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music
So, this album is basically responsible for kickstarting my love of jazz again these past few months. I’m not even sure why I checked this out in the first place as I had been binging on a diet of purely ladrock for ages. There was something in the write ups about this on release week that caught my attention though and I gave it a go the weekend it came out. Instantly I knew there was something special about this record, it was the slight funk it had to it that initially appealed to me I think, but I did find the length a bit overwhelming and thought it ran out of steam by the end. It was only on second listen I realised that it wasn’t the record that ran out of steam at all but just me. The whole thing is truly epic was so much going on and I still discover new things every time I listen to it. You can clearly pinpoint Dayes’ influences but it is in no way at all a backwards looking album and if anything sounds almost futuristic at times. The drumming is as you’d expect, incredible, but everything going on here just works and seems really well thought through. Gutted to see he played Norwich a few years back before he was on my radar. I definitely need to see him in 2024. A worthy winner of my album of the year and worthy of the hype this record has been getting elsewhere.

What do you think of the Gallagher/Squire single, Maddix?