Hey, you made it!

As is customary in the expanse of blank calendar space that is the final week before The Next Twelve Months, it’s time to wrap things up and deliver the ultimate rundown in my foolhardy findings in being a single person endeavouring to listen to any and everything garnering solid (or not so) critical recommendations…

As such, I called it quits on the recommendation front at the end of November to the tune of 1150 different recordings, which includes albums, EP’s, mixtapes (which are albums really, right?), and compilations; it’s all been a bit of a much honestly, and keeping a bi-weekly journal of the best stuff has probably meant more content-farm-style delivery than qualified writing, so for next time I feel there’s definitely going to be a less busy writing schedule.

But hey, considering the absolute shitter of a Gregorian calendar year we have all just endured, at least I have been able to summon up multiple-hours’ worth of distraction for anyone prepared to take a deep-dive into the mire of current popular music to enjoy…

For those who would sooner listen than read though, here’s where my Mixcloud page comes in!

The main modus recommendi employed in my collation (other than reminders from my fellow music nerds, obviously) was to keep note of critical plaudits, with particular attention paid to new releases highlighted by Pitchfork, The Guardian, and Resident Advisor; the rest of the itinerary was then made up by the albums that ratcheted up enough notices elsewhere to feature on the New Releases skein found on the aggregator site, Metacritic.

As such, for fans of continuous mixes, I have divided 2023 into three handy deep-dives, each adopting an appropriate theme to their sort-of namesake:

Part 1 – Kitsch Dork Mix

Being on the most accessible end of the pop spectrum, the vibe here is “trying to please and impress everyone” and is therefore a bit all over the place but enjoyably so, nothing too rabbit-holey…

Part 2 – Transient Novice Mix

An attempt to cultivate a display representative of the harder side of electronica and dance music from 2023, with a worldlier bent than most…

Part 3 – Au Pair Mix

The respectable “morning after” mix, probably best enjoyed inhaling coffee and croissants at your local independent patisserie whilst reading your favourite broadsheet/doomscrolling your preferred microblog site…

And for everyone else still on that most unethical of streaming services, I have collated everything into an unseemly behemoth of playlistery below…

However, you’re going to have to scroll through this whole article to get to it; so, in any event, please find below a comprehensive breakdown of the Best Music Of 2023, as collated by a try-hard idiot with far too much free time on their hands to distract themselves with.

Hope you enjoy it!

Top 10 EP’s Of 2023

Because my rating system tended to exclude otherwise excellent extended-plays due to modal averages relating to the amount of awesome individual songs on some longer releases, here are a valuable clutch of short-form masterpieces that may have passed you by over the last year:

10. Nice Idea – Kae Tempest

9. Look Mum No Hands – Yushh

8. Eslabon – Santa Muerte

7. Inflorescence – Rob Moose

6. Become – Beach House

5. Forlorn – Introspekt

4. lil spirits – Two Shell

3. BABYLON IX – Yunè Pinku

2. FEELING BODY – Nyokabi Kariuki

1. Petals / Janoob – Toumba

I may have had to bend the rules slightly here, but hey, the DJ/Producer from Amman came to 2023 with two excellent EP’s which essentially constitutes a whole album of head-turningly good material, so there we are…

Top 10 Debut Albums Of 2023

More words and plaudits will follow seeing as each of these will feature in the Top 100 later, but wanted to highlight these budding stars’ works for special praise, seeing as the first cut is often the deepest, and whatever happens afterwards at least you were there for the very beginning…

10. & The Charm – Avalon Emerson

9. MID AIR – Paris Texas

8. Revanchist – Evian Christ

7. Choral Feeling – Oceanic

6. Asleep In Their Myst – Ricardo Laine

5. Party Gator Purgatory – TEMPS

4. when the poems do what they do – Aja Monet

3. Flowers In The Dark – Kofi Flexxx

2. Madres – Sofia Kourtesis

1. THE INFINITE SPINE – Lauren Auder

Bottom 5 Worst Albums Of 2023

As an example of how rotten my luck is, the same year that I decided to adopt a “Yes Man” style strategy to my listening schedule was the same one where we had TWO Ed Sheeran albums released, because of course it was.

Anyhoo, each of these albums were their own Some Kind Of Terrible, so please avoid…

5. I Rest My Case – YoungBoy Never Broke Again

4. Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent – Lewis Capaldi

3. Autumn Variations – Ed Sheeran

2. It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day – 30 Seconds To Mars

1. Alone In The Crowd – Oliver Tree

And please don’t come at me about how actually-lovely Lewis Capaldi is, I am very much aware of that; the music is still very-much-not-to-my-taste despite how evidently funny and likeable the guy is, and thusly makes it that much more frustrating…

The rest can very much do one though…

Top 100 Albums Of 2023

Now all palettes have been appropriately cleansed, let’s have it, as some are want to say, shall we?

100. One Day – Fucked Up

What I Said: “Just as good-naturedly foul-mouthed as you remember them…”

99. YIAN – Lucinda Chua

What I Said: “…bridges the gap between experimental electronic pop music with contemporary classical movements and compositions…”

98. Talisman – Slowspin

What I Said: “…combines influences from her Pakistani heritage with modern electronic ambience to truly swoonsome effect.”

97. Les Égarés – Sissoko / Ségal / Parisien / Peirani

What I Said: “…an understatedly seismic meeting of virtuosic performers playing with assured sensitivity and harmony.”

96. Bastard Jargon – Nakhane

What I Said: “…bristling with anger, soul, forgiveness and, most crucially, pop-tastic moments of sway…”

95. Anevite Void – Erika

What I Said: “…enveloping soundscapes inspired by celestial bodies and planetary orbit paths that are as sophisticated as they are undeniably danceable.”

94. Cartwheel – Hotline TNT

What I Said: “…quite the statement of bittersweet intent, awash with shoegaze vibes, dreamy power-pop and insouciant decadence…”

93. Nekkuja – Marina Herlop

What I Said: “…Herlop’s latest project is one that finds beauty and splendour that comes from revelling in experimentation…”

92. FURTHER – DJ Bone

What I Said: “…cements his reputation FURTHER (sorry) as one of the more creative voices in dance music with his latest collection of shape-throwing chicanery…”

91. Jbal Rrsas – Deena Abdelwahed

What I Said: “…fusing traditional Arabic rhythms with bracing club-ready beat signatures…”

90. Last Man Dancing – Jake Shears

What I Said: “…elicits the best kind of retro-fitted late-night sleaze and sweatiness…”

89. AmaXesha – Bongeziwe Mabandla

What I Said: “…full of gorgeous soul that combines acoustic instrumentation with subtle electronic beats and signatures.”

88. Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities – James Holden

What I Said: “…possessed of a beatific authority that sweetly percolates as it mounts whilst never becoming overbearing or monotonous.”

87. Masego – Masego

What I Said: “…a different kind of lothario that actually has the talent to back up his braggadocious nature.”

86. RPG – Me Lost Me

What I Said: “…Jayne Dent’s ode to life, art and science is one of 2023’s most compellingly curious releases so far.”

85. UK Grim – Sleaford Mods

What I Said: “…a fine rambunctious display of present-day frustration from the UK’s favourite post-punk duo…”

84. 绿帽 Green Hat – Tzusing

What I Said: “…Tzusing’s latest album of electronic transgression is one of a sharper political mind than most dancefloor-filling long-forms…”

83. Lahai – Sampha

What I Said: “…bittersweet missives inspired by his newfound fatherhood that imbue a more mature shade to the artist’s sonic palette…”

82. Memento Mori – Depeche Mode

What I Said: “…themes of loss and mortality that pervade throughout the synthpop icons’ fifteenth album attain an undeniably high level of poignancy…”

81. Voice Notes – Yazmin Lacey

What I Said: “…a gorgeous concoction of R&B, post-disco, ska, reggae and jazz…”

80. Census Designated – Jane Remover

What I Said: “…a sustained, anguished cry of pain charting their transition across both physical and sonic realms…”

79. Dreamer – Nabihah Iqbal

What I Said: “…a genre-spanning LP that offers cuts that could find favour at both a shoegaze party and a techno rave.”

78. GOOD LUCK – Debby Friday

What I Said: “…a fierce announcement of artistry that straddles the lines of techno, punk and hip hop…”

77. Please Touch – Rrose

What I Said: “…alternating between ambient drone and seductive techno…”

76. 3213123 – Bored Lord

What I Said: “DJ/Producer Daria Lourd supplies some classy nostalgic hedonism…”

75. & The Charm – Avalon Emerson

What I Said: “…a warm and inviting tonic of dreamy synthpop…”

74. I Don’t Know – Bdrmm

What I Said: “…Hull’s Best Thing Probably Ever Really…”

(Editor’s Note: Second to Scarlet’s “Independent Love Song”, obviously)

73. Eyeroll – Ziúr

What I Said: “…an intoxicating miasma of propulsion that is by turns halting, playful and tortured.”

72. SPELLLING & The Mystery School – SPELLLING

What I Said: “…goosebump-inducing arrangements of career highlights…”

71. Slugs Of Love – Little Dragon

What I Said: “…one of their most invitingly playful collections in their discography.”

70. Bolted – Forest Swords

What I Said: “…[a] poignant throughline of ravaged hope and resilience that has always characterised his formidable soundscaping.”

69. A Grisaille Wedding – Rainy Miller x Space Afrika

What I Said: “…quite the revelatory journey into the dark night of UK electronic music’s soul…”

68. Max Bruch & Florence Price: Violin Concertos – Randall Goosby, Yannick Nézet Séguin & The Philadelphia Orchestra

What I Said: “a spellbinding set of concertos that puts his [Gooby’s] gorgeous playing through a constantly thrilling test.”

67. Healing Rituals – Naïssam Jalal

What I Said: “…a composer and performer who concocts trance-like pieces that transcend contemporary jazz and classical music…”

66. Selvutsletter – Lost Girls

What I Said: “…this album boasts Hval’s finest vocal performances ever…”

65. Deliverance – Andrew Hung

What I Said: “…Andrew Hung did not need to go so hard for poignant alternative pop splendour on his third solo album…”

64. Blues & Bach: The Music Of John Lewis – Enrico Pieranunzi, Michele Corcella & Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana

What I Said: “…a fittingly smooth and stirring tribute to one of America’s foremost pioneers in jazz and classical music…”

63. Cluster I – Mioclono

What I Said: “…a foreboding-yet-percolative mix of ambient house and techno…”

62. London Brew – London Brew

What I Said: “…I could simply list each of the twelve musicians hailing from London’s protean contemporary jazz scene that came together for this project and that should be endorsement enough…”

(Editor’s Note: See here, you lazy so-and-so!)

61. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips – Armand Hammer

What I Said: “…the duo’s sixth album finds their sharp wit and scalding intelligence on fine, ribald display…”

60. Daystar – Beta Librae

What I Said: “…proves that audio serenity does not necessarily come at the sacrifice of bopworthy beats.”

59. Germ In A Population Of Buildings – upsammy

What I Said: “Keeping the impishly clever spirit of IDM electronica mischievously buzzing…”

58. MID AIR – Paris Texas

What I Said: “…a unique mix of bratty insouciance and plaintive rumination, as dark and grimy as it is brash and fun…”

57. Colours Of Air – Loscil & Lawrence English

What I Said: “…an at-times beautiful set inspired by the various hues that the celestial body above our heads can afford us…”

56. Pure Music – Strange Ranger

What I Said: “…full of soul-quenching hooks and crescendos…”

55. Gentle Confrontation – Loraine James

What I Said: “…consistent genre-blurring assuredness…”

54. New Blue Sun – André 3000

What I Said: “…those willing to dive in can expect a transporting treat.”

53. Swells – K-Lone

What I Said: “…tripped-out R&B and minimal house that nestles right in the plaintive sweet-spot of your brain.”

52. Touched By An Angel – Klein

What I Said: “…their most epic collection of soundwork yet, finding that fraught space between genres that simultaneously comforts and affronts.”

51. Crash Recoil – Surgeon

What I Said: “…a galvanising tour-de-force that melds house, techno, industrial and ambience…”

50. The Greater Wings – Julie Byrne

What I Said: “…ruminative beauty on display throughout…”

49. Fountain Baby – Amaarae

What I Said: “…as mercurially sinuous and intoxicatingly strange a summer jam record as you will likely hear…”

48. Revanchist – Evian Christ

What I Said: “…a longform that offers fans of both pummelling carnage and poignant reflection a helluva-lot to enjoy.”

47. Choral Feeling – Oceanic

What I Said: “…electronic music producer Job Oberman takes vocal editing to chirpily delirious points throughout his debut album proper…”

46. London Ko – Fatoumata Diawara

What I Said: “…finds the beguiling singer-songwriter embracing more Westernised influences in terms of more electronically disco-fied and dance-ready sounds…”

45. On The Romance Of Being – Desire Marea

What I Said: “…a most heart-meltingly transcendent album of faith and connection, equal parts fervent and sensuous.”

44. Fuse – Everything But The Girl

What I Said: “…an after-party gem chock full of their customary droll wit and soulful longing.”

43. Main Character – Glume

What I Said: “If the idea of Lana Del Rey embracing synthpop sounds like the most exciting thing in the world, you cannot go wrong with Glume’s second album…”

42. The King – Anjimile

What I Said: “…unflinching honesty that is matched throughout by the confronting and at-times harrowing arrangements that accompany them…”

41. Black Rainbows – Corinne Bailey Rae

What I Said: “…a miasma of fraught future-pop that at times hits as hard as 2023 has ever felt…”

40. Asleep In Their Myst – Ricardo Laine

What I Said: “…a collection of thrillingly bedevilled dancefloor epics that does well to soundtrack only the most swoonsomely sinister of raves.”

39. Jelly Road – Blake Mills

What I Said: “…expands his and the listener’s appreciation for the Roots and Americana genres, as well as more experimental forms of jazz and ambience…”

38. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept – Natural Wonder Beauty Concept

What I Said: “…one of 2023’s most insidiously charming treasures…”

37. I Inside The Old Year Dying – PJ Harvey

What I Said: “…delving into neo-folk psychedelia with disturbingly lovely results, as ever…”

36. Party Gator Purgatory – TEMPS

What I Said: “…a cornucopia of alternative/experimental hip hop and soul performers that wondrously defies categorization…”

35. Sus Dog – Clark

What I Said: “…surely his most pop-oriented work yet.”

(Editor’s Note: And yes, that can be a good thing too, you know!)

34. I Des – King Creosote

What I Said: “…Kenny Anderson uses his fiftieth album (yes, FIVE OH-MY) to draw inspiration from his voluminous catalogue of swoonery…”

33. Integrated Tech Solutions – Aesop Rock

What I Said: “…sees the MC and producer take aim at capitalist political frameworks and the social alienation it engenders with equal amounts caustic humour and livewire honesty…”

32. the record – boygenius

What I Said: “ …as natural as it is refreshing, rightly enchanting the world with their ribald and self-effacing lyrics as well as their lush harmonies.”

31. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? – McKinley Dixon

What I Said: “…a lush, tortured and ultimately rapturous slice of conscious hip hop…”

30. The Omnichord Real Book – Meshell Ndegeocello

What I Said: “…a soulful treatise on reserve, happiness and pride.”

29. ٣ (Trois) – Acid Arab

What I Said: “…[a] mix of house disco with Eastern music tropes and signatures has yielded some of the more galvanising dance tracks of the past few years…”

28. After The Magic – 파란노을 [Parannoul]

What I Said: “…each crashing reverberation drenched in the kind of blinkered, life-affirming hope sorely needed right now.”

27. Heavy Heavy – Young Fathers

What I Said: “…there is a tangible sense of hope this time around that could not feel more urgent and stirring.”

26. Sorry I Haven’t Called – Vagabon

What I Said: “…bounce and sassiness that radiates throughout…”

25. ANIMALS – Kassa Overall

What I Said: “…soulfully disturbed swag…”

24. I Came From Love – Dave Okumu And The Seven Generations

What I Said: “…a potent mix of reggae dub, modern jazz and arresting guest stars…”

23. With A Hammer – Yaeji

What I Said: “…continues to tread her mercurial path in contemporary electronica via her eminently charismatic blend of house, trap and R&B…”

22. when the poems do what they do – Aja Monet

What I Said: “…an excoriating tribute to the black experience that is an epic in terms of length and content…”

21. Off Planet – Django Django

What I Said: “…their most quantitively and boppily consistent album to date.”

20. Sundial – Noname

What I Said: “…shines through with enough intelligence, wit and substance to herald a welcome return…”

19. softscars – yeule

What I Said: “…embracing a more punk-pop-rock aesthetic that somewhat improbably has only helped enhance the iconoclastic, future-forward nature of their sound…”

18. Raven – Kelela

What I Said: “…shines a light on the restorative power of dance music…”

17. For Mahalia, With Love – James Brandon Lewis & Red Lily Quintet

What I Said: “…a fiercely jazzified new-century spin on some of the mighty Mahalia Jackson‘s most fervently adored gospel songs…”

16. PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE – Christine And The Queens

What I Said: “…confirms their status as one of the most challenging, confident, wounded and idiosyncratic figures of the current pop world…”

15. Techxodus – Speaker Music

What I Said: “…plays like experimental techno from another galaxy, confronting, transportive and never losing its grip…”

14. Fatima – Ruhail Qaisar

What I Said: “…an excoriating listen that impresses as much as it depresses.”

13. Flowers In The Dark – Kofi Flexxx

What I Said: “being a part of the godfather of contemporary London jazz Shabaka Hutchings’ Native Rebel label should give you a clue as to the incendiary delights that are to be found”

12. Spike Field – Maria BC

What I Said: “…a tormented reconstitution of fractured memories and ambivalent predictions that is vividly brought to life with discordant splendour…”

11. Crépuscule I & II – Tujiko Noriko

What I Said: “…an early contender for some of 2023’s most beautifully rendered music…”

(Editor’s Note: Initial claim made in February… and it held out.)

10. Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) – Yves Tumor

What I Said: “…the Best Pop Star We Have Right Now And Certainly Do Not Deserve has come through with typically iconoclastic style…”

9. Red Moon In Venus – Kali Uchis

What I Said: “…one of the most consistently beguiling singers of the current pop lexicon.”

8. Javelin – Sufjan Stevens

What I Said: “…Stevens really does seem to spoil his fans with his most resplendently beautiful work when pursing through personal grief and trauma…”

7. CHAI – CHAI

What I Said: “…quite confidently delivers possibly The Best Pop Album Of 2023.”

(Editors Note: Status Confirmed)

6. My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross – ANOHNI And The Johnsons

What I Said: “…scorching laments and plaintive celebrations via protest songs that provide a valuable sense of solace and community.”

5. Madres – Sofia Kourtesis

What I Said: “…a gorgeous slice of homemade-house music that beautifully exemplifies the emotional solace that can be found in the diaspora of international dance music.”

4. Radical Romantics – Fever Ray

What I Said: “…it’s always effing lovely when people return to the fold and spellbind you just as indecently and brightly as they did before…”

3. Perfect Saviors – The Armed

What I Said: “…more barnstorming invention and shape-throwing revelry than probably any other rock album to see release this year…”

(Editors Note: Status Confirmed. Again.)

2. THE INFINITE SPINE – Lauren Auder

What I Said: “…each song packed with sultry, agonising power with soundscapes as mellifluously fraught as her lyrics and themes suggest.”

And finally…

1. False Lankum – Lankum

What I Said: “The Irish folk quartet return to the fray with album five, and “fray” is certainly the one of the more appropriately descriptive adjectives one can associate with the epic journey that they have wrought here, going beyond traditional folk idioms in their utilising elements of progressive rock, drone, and modern classicism to deliver a collection of beautifully cathartic tomes that are as horrific and excoriating as they are spellbinding and euphoric.”

And that is the very much end of 2023 right there, theydies and gentlethems!

If you’ve made it this far, both to the end of my article and current state of being, thank you so very much.

Here’s that playlist from The Worst Of All The Streaming Platforms too, all listed in charting order for maximum disorientation.

And if you are still wanting for some of the better undiscovered gems of the year, you can head over to 100 Word Song Review for excellent spotlighting of leftfield pop nuggets. And they’ve even curated an end-of-year playlist for your delectation, because on account of being absolute total girly swots of course they have…

As I say, I’m not sure how my writing will continue on into next year, though it most assuredly will be less busy; in the meantime though, keep well and safe, and see you next time, if and when…

xxxo