Album Notes - The Best of 2023
It's that time of year again, for the annual roundup of albums and tunes I loved from the preceding 12 months. However, when I reflect on music in 2023, my biggest takeaway has nothing to do with the style I most love or the band(s) that hit me just right. Instead, my mind circles back to a concert I did not attend by an artist I am not interested in, and the crystallization gleaned during a business trip.
Her music isn't my thing, but it's hard not to think of this as anything but the year of Tay Tay. Musically, culturally, she won 2023. Yes, we're generally not in the pop business here, but her presence was unavoidable and even piqued my curiosity, due not to her songs, but the happenstance of being in Chicago the same weekend as her shows at Soldier Field. The parade of fans from our hotel (and the others surrounding) made me "get it" from a standpoint of the force of nature that she and her legion of Swifties are. Bizarrely, the stream of pink and cowboy boots and glitter and camping chairs in front of coolers behind trunks in the parking lot reminded me of the Dead phenomenon or Phish back in the 90s: every city and every show a scene, an event, an experience not to be missed by the fans of the artist in question. Tailgating, lot vendors, homemade attire, a "uniform" for the concertgoers. Just swap out tie dye and patchwork pants for pink, boas, and sequins. I have to admit, it's pretty cool when, on those very rare occasions, an artist is a traveling circus, a world unto themselves.
Incredibly, watching all of this in and around The Blackstone had me searching second-hand ticket sites for the shows on the two days I was in town. The curious sociologist in me wanted to check it out from the inside. The miser in me, considering the fact that the cheapest tickets for a style of music I have little interest in were about $900, led me to pass. But still, the fact that I was looking for Taylor Swift concert tickets is not something I ever expected.
Why am I babbling on about this? As I was sitting on a bus from the convention center to my hotel, followed by taking pictures for a group of fans in the lobby, then watching the masses make their way to the stadium, it brought me an unexpected joy. Two nights in a row. How cool that that many people get after this one thing so much. With plenty of shit in the world, if that's what does it for you, then do it up to no end. Music makes my world go round.
On that note, as usual, here are some albums I came close to sending out but didn't make the cut for whatever reason. In alphabetical order:
Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions
Bakar - Halo
Helena Deland - Goodnight Summerland
Dope Lemon - Kimosabè
Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom
King Tuff - Smalltown Stardust
The Wood Brothers - Heart is the Hero
Here is, at least for today, my year-end top ten, all previously featured, in alphabetical order:
boygenius- The Record
Gorillaz - Cracker Island
Steve Gunn and David Moore - Let the Moon Be a Planet
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - The Silver Cord
Dean Johnson - Nothing for Me, Please
Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Jeff Rosenstock - Hellmode
Shakey Graves - Movie of the Week
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
As for my favorite? I'm just going with the one I listened to the most: Shakey Graves' Movie of the Week. Is it the "best" of 2023? Probably not. But I couldn't resist putting it on the turntable time and time again. I'll enjoy looking back at this in five years and possibly having a different favorite, but for now, that's what struck me the most.
Per tradition, here are two 40-minute mixes of tunes I enjoyed from albums that didn't get the full treatment. The first is the more upbeat collection. The second, more relaxed.
2023 Rock_in Review
Tracklist (Artist - "Song" - Album)
1 Frankie and the Witch Fingers - "Empire" - Data Doom
2 Lionel Limiñana, David Menke, The Limiñanas - "Snatcher" - Thatcher's Not Dead (soundtrack)
3 JW Francis - "Swooning" - Dream House
4 Dobbeltgjenger - "Rocket Shoes" - The Twins
5 The Academic - "Heartbreak's Where It's At" - Sitting Pretty
6 The Cat Empire - "Money Coming My Way" - Where the Angels Fall
7 Low Cut Connie - "I Don't Understand You" - Art Dealers
8 King Tuff - "Rock River" - Smalltown Stardust
9 Queens of the Stone Age - "Paper Machete" - In Times New Roman...
10 Fidlar - "Centipede" - That's Life
11 The Delta Riggs - "Stone Hearts" - The Real Electric
2023 Chill_in Review
1 Andy Shauf - "Wasted On You" - Norm
2 Atmosphere - "Okay" - So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously
3 Bakar - "OneInOneOut" - Halo
4 Citizen Cope - "The Victory March" - The Victory March
5 Helena Deland - "Spring Bug" - Goodnight Summerland
6 Abraham Alexander - "Eye Can See" - SEA/SONS
7 Fruit Bats - "Waking Up in Los Angeles" - A River Running To Your Heart
8 JJ Whitefield - "Sost" - MILS001: Ethio Meditations / Drama Al Dente
9 The Slingers - "Living in the Age of Loneliness" - Sentimentalism
10 Lord Huron - "Ace Up My Sleeve" - Music for the Starling Girl (soundtrack)
11 Miniature Tigers - "Bloomless" - Miniature Tigers
Enjoy.
We'll be kicking off 2024 with another thematic month. Like the music to be featured, as it begins I'm not sure where exactly it will go, only that it'll all be glorious. Until then, happy new year!
