And we’re back! 2023, the year that saw a lot of ‘good’ and ‘promising’ albums, but few that really struck the artery of ‘best of’ level that we’ve seen from previous top album winners of the past. If anything, I leave 2023 behind thinking that the future is so exciting, and I have a very strong feeling 2024 will present itself some absolute future classics. With that said, this is still a strong year, and I hope you enjoy the yearly rundown.
And now, a word from our sponsors (AFKA “a few reminders”). Albums from December 2022 - November 2023 are considered across all genres. EPs are 3-6 songs, and can be considered in the mix for the Top 20 if they’re that strong/impactful. Overall, 1388 (240 more than last year) albums were tracked throughout the year, each one being listened to/sampled, and then tracked with a personal rating system. Of those 1388 albums, 87 (down from 111 last year) made the cut to be considered ‘best of the best’, and then trimmed down to the 20 + 5 + 2 (c’mon… let me have it..) you see below. Puttin’ in the work so you don’t have to! Playlist on spotify is here and at the bottom.
2022 Biggest Misses of the Year: Petey Lean Into Life, Ken Yates Cerulean, Young Gun Silver Fox Ticket To Shangri-La, Blvck Svm mangalica mink
EPs of the Year: Medium Build Health - EP, Arcy Drive Beach Plum - EP, The Moss Insomnia - EP, The Rions Minivan - EP, BERWYN Bulletproof - EP, James and the Shame Nothing Left To Love - EP, Franklin Jonas Sewer Rat - EP (bonus jonas ftw)
Most Anticipated Artists / Artists to Watch 2024: Medium Build… 2024 guy will blow up. Willow Avalon, Brenn!, Arlie, Chappell Roan, Oasis reunion (UK friends… i have a feeling THIS is the year)
27. Slaughter Beach, Dog – Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling
RIYL: The Weakerthans, Modern Baseball
Standout Track(s): “My Sister in Jesus Christ”, “Surfin’ New Jersey”
What initially started as a solo side project of Jake Ewald, formerly of emo Philly scenesters Modern Baseball, has really blossomed into much more. The now-five piece act have straddled the lines from rock, garage rock, indie, and midwest-inspired emo along the course of their four albums and two EPs, but their 2023 release hit more along the rootsy indie twang vibe, a new but welcomed outlook. Ewald’s voice is arguably made for this. (Label: Lame-O)
26. Best Frenz – The Mall
RIYL: Joywave, Phantogram
Standout Track(s): “Flatline”, “Everything’s The Best!”
A side project formed by members of Sir Sly and Joywave turned into one of the biggest sleepers of this past year. It’s alt-indie, it’s electro-indie, it’s a beautiful hodgepodge of two of indie alternative’s more beloved acts. I mean, Joywave has done very little that I haven’t liked, and Dan hit all the right buttons with this feel good concept album. (Label: Independent)
25. Wesley Joseph – GLOW
RIYL: Genesis Owusu, Jungle, Thundercat
Standout Track(s): “MONSOON”, “GLOW”
Avant-R&B was a genre I had no idea I would really dig into this year, but here we are. Wesley Joseph, the British wordsmith, found himself Billboard’s “Must Hear” artist of February 2023. Pitchfork, by Pitchfork metrics, gave this album love, and it’s undeniable to think that Joseph is not on the trajectory to become a known name in circles come 2024. Start with “GLOW" and tell me it’s not a feel. (Label: Secretly Canadian)
24. Q – Soul,PRESENT
RIYL: Omar Apollo, Dijon, Daniel Caesar
Standout Track(s): “TODAY”, “SOW”
Always a trip to hear a style come back into the gaze of the public. Q did just that for that electro-inspired 80s groove sound. The 23 year old sounds leaps and bounds above his age, forming a unique, psych-retro sound that makes me feel like i’m listening to something along the faultline of Frank Ocean if he went through a George Michael or Phil Collins phase in life while still traveling back to the classics of Michael Jackson and Thriller. “TODAY” absolutely charts as one of my favorite songs of 2024 and is something truly special. Mark my words… Q will be a thing for a long time to come… this is only the beginning. (Label: Columbia)
23. Paddy Echo – Stay For Dinner
RIYL: Luke Hemmings, Wallows, Harry Styles first solo album
Standout Track(s): “Butterfly Kissing”, “Silver & Honey”
Pop in it’s purest form, but with a slice of 2010s indie-alt influence twisted in at the end. The New Zealand youngster has moments where I think i’m listening to Harry Styles 2017 debut solo album, and moments where I just sit, entranced and dumbfounded that this now-LA-based songwriter is not signed to a label or being pushed on tours with the likes of Dermot Kennedy or Louis Tomlinson. “Butterfly Kissing” is an absolute earworm, “Silver & Honey” brings memories of the previously noted 2010s indie-alt scene, and “Valley Kids” strikes as something that could easily find viral love from TikTok. If you missed the opportunity to blast this album on a summer roadtrip this year, it’s not too late to mold it into your winter roadtrip list, or let it grow onto you for the summer of 2024 playlist you’ll inevitably make. (Label: Independent)
22. Paul Wall & Termanology – Start Finish Repeat
RIYL: Lil Boosie, Three 6 Mafia, Houston 90s Chopped/Screwed
Standout Track(s): “Houston BBQ”, “Palm Trees”
Maybe it’s my Houston-kid upbringing, or maybe it’s the love for nostalgia. Either/or, Houston’s native son Paul Wall teamed up with Boston producer and rapper Termanology to drop one great album. Toss in Bun B and K.R.I.T., odds are high that this will hit and resonate. Start with “Houston BBQ”, dive in to the good sounds of “Palm Trees", and then dive deep into the realities of the world with “No Apologies”. Then, start it all over and go front to back and let The People’s Champ bless you. (Label: Perfect Time)
21. Chappaqua Wrestling – Plus Ultra
RIYL: Vistas, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Wunderhorse
Standout Track(s): “Full Round Table”, “Wide Asleep”
This is an album that bobbled between rankings all year. Released in April, i’d say heading into the summer it was a top 12 album. By end of summer, it’d floated down to top 15. And here we are, creeping out of the fall and into winter and the disc on the outside looking in, face pressed up against the glass, front row. I credit the slippage to a few things - the biggest being that I revisit numerous songs on this album, but the album also lends itself to some skips. While the band is a smorgasbord of all things British, with dreamy-shoegaze elements of My Bloody Valentine, a vibe that fits alongside The Vaccines, and moments where I can hear Heathen Chemistry era Oasis (see: “Wide Awake”) in the gents from Manchester, it just didn’t feel fully complete. Which, totally fine - but for someone who values the existential experience of a good album, it did impact my listening habit. What can be said is that the good on this album can fit anywhere in a modern day indie rock playlist, and that is exciting for the risers. I look forward to hearing the band progress and grow on what was a solid, debut effort. (Label: EMI / Universal)
20. Vincent Neil Emerson – The Golden Crystal Kingdom
RIYL: Zach Bryan, Paul Cauthen, Charley Crockett
Standout Track(s): “Co’dine”, “Little Wolf’s Invincible Yellow Medicine Paint”
East Texas troubadour Vincent Neil Emerson saw himself on the come up in the Dallas music scene around the same time as Charley Crockett, Leon Bridges, and Paul Cauthen. And years later, the songwriter hit pay-dirt with The Golden Crystal Kingdom. It’s twangy, it’s folky, it’s pure renegade Texas Americana with a hat tilt to the classic western sound that is often forgot in today’s country music, along with an ode to VNE’s Chocktaw-Apache background. “Time of a Rambler” is an absolute throwback, and “Little Wolf’s Invincible Yellow Medicine Paint” transports the listener to a “Devil Went Down to Georgia”-type of feeling when you hear that lap steel and the whirling electric guitar. However, it was VNE’s cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie/Donovan’s “Co’dine” that hooked and reeled me in… a truly remarkable cosmic-country trip through storytelling with so much heart, soul, and pain.. a feeling that drew me back to the first time I heard “It Ain’t All Flowers” by Sturgill. Also - gotta admit, the fact that Shooter Jennings produced the album and that songs of VNE have appeared on the great TV show Reservation Dogs is a major added bonus. (Label: La Honda / Capitol)
19. KAYTRAMINÉ – Self-Titled
RIYL: KAYTRANDA, Duckwrth, Smino
Standout Track(s): “Sossaup”, “4EVA”
The soultronic hip hop sound that KAYTRAMINÉ (a side project of PNW electrorapper Aminé and Haitian-Canadian producer Kaytranada) managed to blend together really what was the first big sound of the summer this year. “Sossaup” was a minor hit, but all these months later still holds up as one of the most movable songs of the year. “4EVA” also got some play and love, and was a loop-joint that made it’s way onto many vibe-heavy playlists across Spotify. The duo got some help from the likes of Pharrell, Big Sean, Snoop, and Freddie Gibbs to play alongside their groove-heavy sound, which was a nice added boost of credibility for anyone (myself) on the fence at first. (Label: Venice Music)
18. Cut Worms – Self-Titled
RIYL: Fruit Bats, Deer Tick, Your local NPR / Public Radio Station
Standout Track(s): “Ballad of the Texas King”, “Too Bad”
The best way to describe Cut Worms is with one word: vintage. As Max Clare, the man behind the Cut Worms moniker, calls it, it’s “pop essentialism”. Whatever you decide to pencil it in as, Cut Worms is bringing the yesteryears, the sunny, simpler times, back to the foreground with a bit of static from the wood-trimmed, freshly mint bubble-screen color TV. His Self-Titled album sounds like something that could have been stuck in the 60s with ease. Songs like “Ballad of the Texas King” fall somewhere between the lines of The Beach Boys, Looking Glass, and Margo Price, while “Living Outside” sounds like it could be a B-side for The Wonders. It’s just a fantastically nostalgic drifter primed and ready for the All Things Considered and/or World Cafe fan(s). (Label: Jagjaguwar)
17. Martin Luke Brown – Damn, Look at the View!
RIYL: James Bay, George Ezra, Holly Humberstone
Standout Track(s): “love is a black hole!”, “**it gets better”
What a blissful-yet-daunting listen. The Leicester, UK late-twenties songwriter skews along the lines of pop with secondary qualities ranging from folk to sun-drenched California indie, but is maybe one of pops best kept, non-mainstream secrets. Writing and producing for the likes of Jacob Banks, BTS, and Gavin James, this is MLBs first venture out into the solo world. Damn takes a look at adolescence and coming to grips with a plethora of pasts: childhood, hometown, love, loss. The reflections that we all stumble upon in life. “coca cola never tasted sweeter / than riding on that 26 bus home / to find out that my folks were broken people / now i hate coke but god i love my mum”. Pulsing in just under 25 minutes reel to reel and sitting pretty at 8 tracks, it’s a smooth sail for half an hour for those who fancy their British, acoustic-driven singer/songwriters with unreal potential in all facets of the music industry. (Label: Kartel / AMK)
16. Hazlett – Bloom Mountain
RIYL: Dustin Tebbutt, Gregory Alan Isakov, Novo Amor
Standout Track(s): “Even If It’s Lonely”, “Please Don’t Be”
If there ever was listening to a road trip to the gold coast, i’d imagine this album would suffice. The Australian-born, Sweden-based songwriter (and former 2020 NBTer) released one of the best in the moody raincore sub-genre (I lay rights to that genre label) that could improve any walk through a rainy London town or a trail hike in the fresh, algid morning dew of Belcarra. It’s sonically volatile, beautifully gloomy, and intimately blanketed with the challenge to understand ones personal reckoning. Start with the album opener “Please Don’t Be”, and then proceed along the haze-colored trip that “Even If It’s Lonely” will take you on. From start to finish, the smokey downtempo of emotion is felt and carried like a spark across the entire offering. It is what winter mood music should be. (Label: Nettwerk)
15. Beach Weather – Pineapple Sunrise
RIYL: Dayglow, Hippo Campus, The Neighbourhood
Standout Track(s): “Sex, Drugs, Etc.”, “Wildfire”, “Silent Type”
Beach Weather had themselves a year. A YEAR! The indie pop trio saw their song “Sex, Drugs, Etc” hit the viral stratosphere last year after being around for : cₕₑcₖₛ ₙₒₜₑₛ: 2016. Oh, and : cₕₑcₖₛ ₙₒₜₑₛ: Beach Weather was on the Weekly 15 dating back to 2015. Needless to say, the high hopes of seeing something evolved happened, just at a much slower pace than one imagined. Pineapple Sunrise is a beachy indie bop not about reinventing the wheel by any stretch. Ya know, sometimes there is something just wonderful about someone doing the same ol’ but doing it just a tiny bit better, and that is this album, in the best way. It’s an easy listen, drown out that you can put on in your car, you can trance with it during work, and it’s like a familiar, warm sonic indie/alt-pop hug. (Label: Arista)
14. The Arcs – Electrophonic Chronic
RIYL: The Black Keys, The Raconteurs, Band of Skulls
Standout Track(s): “Keep On Dreamin’”, “Heaven Is a Place”, “A Man Will Do Wrong”
Look.. I know we have issues around these parts with The Black Keys. We stan Michelle Branch. But it’s still cool to appreciate Dan Auerbach right? A lot of those Keys albums of yesteryear are still fantastic, and the first Arcs album from ‘15 was fire. So when news dropped Dan and Co. were getting the ole' side project back together, I just took some liberty in assuming that I would dig it. Annnnd here we are.
Clash Magazine states, “the record balances its psychedelia with more mediative moments offering plenty of variety.” and that is a brilliantly perfect way to look at this. It’s gritty, it’s distorted, and it’s a sentimental album in honor of band member Richard Swift, who recorded parts of the album prior to his 2018 passing. You read that right… this album was all but written and recorded right after the debut, some 7 years ago.. and ultimately sat on. If you like the Keys, if you like the bluesy soul rock, if you like fuzzy guitars… this one is for you. (Label: Concord / Easy Eye Sound)
13. Rod Wave – Nostalgia
RIYL: G Herbo, Toosii, a more emotional Kevin Gates
Standout Track(s): “Come See Me”, “Turks & Caicos”, “2018”
The crosshairs of hip-hop, self-care, and dealing with your mental health is beyond small. It’s like shooting at a tic tac from 1000 ft. away. However, Rod Wave is the forefront flagbearer in that discussion. Nostalgia successfully challenges a generation-old stigma of toxic masculinity, and really is a conversation piece around reshaping black culture and society as it pertains to depression, suicide, and health disparities. It’s maybe one of the most important albums of the year. If you don’t trust my words, take it from the 14 minute YouTube video of father and son listening to “Boyz Don’t Cry” and discussing manhood and the life lessons that spawn from it. While the entire album is not some depressing, self-loathing depiction of Wave’s life (“Great Gatsby” is about throwing (in his words) “the party of the century” and “Turks” with 21 Savage is about an encounter with a model(s)) it really is songs like “Boyz”, “Come See Me”, and “Call Your Friends” that strike the iron hot and lift Wave to the top of the mountain with one of the best hip hop albums of the year. (Label: Sony / Alamo)
Tell me what could make a grown man lay down and cry?
Maybe what he thought was real love, he watched die
Problems drive me insane, shit been wreckin' my brain
I've been poppin' these Percocets to cope with the pain
Everyone think the root of my problem is a broken heart
But ever since a juvenile, I been lonely and lost
And you know when you met me, I didn't do drugs at all
But got a dose of your love, hooked like Fentanyl (Fentanyl)
They say the later you wait to quit, the harder you fall
You took me to your mountain tip and then you threw me offLast night, I was so high, almost jumped out of the window
Last night, I was so high, almost jumped out of the window
And my love's all yours, it's all yours from a distance
I was thinkin', if you ever need me, come see me
12. Inhaler – Cuts & Bruises
RIYL: Sam Fender, The Wombats, The Vaccines
Standout Track(s): “If You’re Gonna Break My Heart”, “Love Will Get You There”, “These Are The Days”
Opening slots for Pearl Jam, Arctic Monkeys, and Harry Styles might see like quite the juxtaposition, but the Dublin quartet did just that in 2023. The bands sophomore album, a mix of British rock, indie rock, and alt-pop is a bold step forward from the bands debut (which is also a great listen). By no means does the album come with something that is brand new and groundbreaking. But what they are doing, while maybe a bit cookie cutter in todays modern alt-indie scene, they do it very, very well and with a different level of pep. Not to bury the lede or go all nepo-baby here, but lead singer Elijah Hewson is the offspring of twentieth century global icon (and more so modern-times activist) Bono of U2 fame, and there are times where you can hear moments of Bono, which is pretty cool (“These Are the Days” is a great instance of that). The band truly has a formula that could them taking that leap on album three and becoming one of the “it” bands. I mean… Elijah did have this to say to the Chicago Sun Times about their 2022 Lolla set:
The craziest thing that happened to us that day was I looked over to the side of the stage during our set and members of Metallica were watching us. That was pretty wild.
If you are getting the endorsement and eyes of the PJ lads, Metallica, current-indie-heavyweights Arctic, and one of the biggest acts of the last five years in Harry, I don’t care if your father IS Bono or not… that is a ringing endorsement for your talent and the arc that your career is heading… and Cuts & Bruises is a great milestone with great, pop-leaning alternative that lends its ear to even the most uppity of indie rock fans. (Label: Interscope / Polydor)
11. Zach Bryan – Self-Titled
RIYL: Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Sturgill Simpson
Standout Track(s): “Holy Roller”, “Jake’s Piano - Long Island”, “Tourniquet”
Few had bigger years than that of Zach Bryan. The indigo troubadour country that has become the new “it” thing for the less-than-radio-hit connoisseur really took a skyrocket assent in ‘23 after a slowburn rise over the last 3-4 years with the likes of Tyler Childers, Charley Crockett, Sturgill Simpson, Ruston Kelly, et al all finding varied levels of success, but all riding a nice levitation up the countryamericana ladder. However, it was Bryan’s fourth album that finally broke the Oklahoma-bred-son-of-a-navyman (and former naval seamen himself) to the masses and the floodgates for the sub subgenre at large. With the help of some heavyweights like Kacey Musgraves, the folksy stomp-holler darlings The Lumineers, and the soulful americana rising stars The War And Treaty, the red-dirt crooners Self-Titled album (which is up for Country Album of the Year at The Grammys (plus two add’l Grammy nods in the singles category)), is a true masterpiece in flatland realism; a heartland-versus-all mentality steeped in feeling-to-the-bones storytelling, country/americana/folk/southern rock instrumentation, and a grippingly ambitious revisit to a vintage sound of yesteryear. In a (very) weird way what I imagine people who first heard the breakthrough storytelling of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan back in ‘63. (Label: Warner / Belting Bronco)
10. Reneé Rapp – Snow Angel
RIYL: boygenius, Gracie Abrams, The Aces
Standout Track(s): “Snow Angel”, The Wedding Song”, “Colorado" (from her late ‘22 EP, but still counts)
The North Carolina native rose to fame a few years back playing Regina George on the Broadway version of Mean Girls, and over the last few years on the HBO series The Sex Lives of College Girls. In 2022, Rapp ventured more into the “industry” with a few singles, and then her late ‘22 debut EP dropped, garnering attention from NPR, MTV, and saw minor success on the Billboard charts. August of this year, her official debut, Snow Angel, dropped and the album is nothing short of a breath of fresh pop goodness. Somewhere between intricate pop (“Poison, Poison”), indie alt-pop (“Talk Too Much”), and R&B influences and styling (“Tummy Hurts”), Snow Angel carries the same angst that other pop risers like Olivia Rodrigo carry with a twinge less of the Disney pop-rock we got from OR on her debut and more of the power-pop of MUNA blended with the pillowy neo-emote Gracie Abrams has become known for. To be a human at ones core, everyone everywhere can surely relate to what Reneé is singing about somewhere along the lines of Snow Angel. It’s not ground breaking, but it is breaking ground for the actress-turned-musician, and the glass ceiling is cracking for this rising star, who, just a few days ago dropped “Not My Fault”, a collab with Megan Thee Stallion, the first single off the upcoming Mean Girls Soundtrack which she will be starring in, and was just announced as musical guest on SNL. Take with that what you will. (Label: Interscope)
09. There Will Be Fireworks – Summer Moon
RIYL: Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Manchester Orchestra
Standout Track(s): “Classic Movies”, “Dream Song”, “Smoke Machines (Summer Moon)”
10 Years. That is how long we waited between the fantastic The Dark, Dark Bright album and TWBF’s third full length, Summer Moon. To say the wait was worth it is an understatement, but dammit if it wasn’t a tiring, long, and treacherous wait. Ask my buddy Jon up in Boston, who I turned onto the band some 14+ years ago and who lived in Glasgow for a time in the mid-2010s and became just as die hard (if not more) than I am while walking the same streets the band often sings about, about my excitement and optimism we’d get another album. The constant text threads when signs of life of the band appeared on socials, the “I miss them” messages, the side projects breathing life… it all came crashing down when word got to me early in ‘23 that the band was wrapping up recording. It wasn’t the first time i’d heard rumors like this, so I kept it at arms length until September when the first single, “Classic Movies”, dropped.
Summer Moon carries on the Scottish indie-post-rock sound the band has shined on the prior albums, though with a faintly tempered malaise and far less weathered shoegaze sound. The band, ten years older and now with families and very different lives, draws more on the here and now. A life of human understanding, growth, and a adolescence that is nothing more than a light haze of the past. Summer Moon feels like a more mature piece of work. From coming-of-age to a found place, all while continuing to draw on similar sounds to fellow Scots Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and more. Guitars whirling, atmospheric rock that draws on that thick Scottish drawl and growl that makes this an absolutely perfect fall album and a beautiful “welcome back” after a decade gone. While Dark, Dark (with bangers like “Youngblood”, “Here is Where”) and (to a lesser degree) the Self-Titled (with it’s own seismic sounds in “Off With Their Heads”, “Foreign Thoughts”) album still do it for me, I have no doubt Summer Moon will continue to grow and continue to impress. Honestly, the lads could have released 4 songs and i’d of taken it to the bank, so i’m just eternally grateful for new music, and hopeful we only have to wait 2-3 years for the next album, maybe? Please?! (Label: The Imaginary Kind)
08. Oddisee – To What End
RIYL: Brother Ali, Mick Jenkins, Talib Kweli
Standout Track(s): “More To Go”, “The Start of Something”, “All I Need”
From one 10 to another 10. While TWBF we had to wait 10 years between albums, with Brooklyn-based underground rapper Oddisee, we were blessed with album no. 10 from the MC. Following the impactful and refined sound that Oddisee has become known for, To What End is ambitious and refined while, as Pitchfork called it, “all about unpacking emotional baggage”. The rapper continues to flow over jazzy, breezy beats, all while continuing to lay down verses inspired by politics, racism, and making the listener ask the philosophical questions of life - one of the biggest being the underlying asking of “how far will we, as humans, go to do what we do and for what purpose?” If you are wanting the Travis Scott or Playboi Carti sound, this may be one for you to skip. However, if you are intrigued by the thought of and looking for Parliament-meets-De La Soul meets NPR’s Fresh Air, To What End is the record for you. I would recommend starting here and understanding how Oddisee got his start, and then dive in to “Many Hats” off this album. From there, start at the top and let the album ride, and then you revisit his multiple Tiny Desks from there and truly appreciate the art that Odd is putting out there. (Label: Outer Note)
07. Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
RIYL: Elliott Smith, Andrew Bird, Iron & Wine
Standout Track(s): “Shit Talk”, “So You Are Tired”, “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”
Heart-wrenching. The first Sufjan album that has done anything for me since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell, it was set to release with the normal amount of Sufjan fanfare, but exploded the day of the release when Sufjan posted on his IG sharing that the album was dedicated to his late partner Evans, equivocally both coming out and sharing his heartbreak of loss publicly for the first time. Once that broke, hearing the album through different ears was the only way forward. “Shit Talk” is a true eight-minute emotional rollercoaster experience, and the first single from the album, “So You Are Tired”, which released prior to the IG post, became even more stirring than it already was upon its release. The haunting choral, the simplistic Sufjan-esque guitar… just everything about it is hauntingly beautiful. While time will tell all, I can honestly say that, as we sit here and now this December, Javelin ranks right behind Seven Swans and Carrie & Lowell in my book, and right up there with the classic Illinois in a 3a / 3b situation.Yes, it’s that good and yes, it’s that heartbreaking. (Label: Asthmatic Kitty)
06. Killer Mike – MICHAEL
RIYL: Run the Jewels, Danny Brown, Talib Kweli
Standout Track(s): “High & Holy”, “Run”, “Down By Law”
One half of the political-skewing hip-hop group Run the Jewels, Killer Mike (government: Mr. Michael Santiago Render) has long thrived as an underground king. The always talented ATL rapper truly hit pay-dirt with his southern-inspired joint Michael, his first solo about in a decade. Merging gospel with funk at the intersection of soulful hip-hop, the album is a personal jaunt through the life of Killer Mike. One may say a musical biopic, and one would not be wrong. Michael is truly fresh, an inventive piece of work that isn’t afraid to time travels listeners to the Roots era of Curtis Mayfield or the funk lean of Al’s Let’s Stay Together. Calling on comrades like Future, Young Thug, André 3000, CeeLoo, and a perfectly read anecdote by comedian Dave Chapelle, the album truly is a rough draft of a past that bears scars but also bears witness to growth. It does everything right, everything that we need sonically. Loops of piano joints, organs, fat bass lines, and a sonic toast to the jazz and soul really are the perfect undertone for Killer Mike and his terse vocal growl and cadence.
Killer Mike told Spin this year when he was featured as the cover story that, “I HAVE BEEN A CONNIVER, I HAVE BEEN A LIAR. I'VE BEEN A BABY DADDY, A PHILANDERER, I'VE BEEN A DRUG DEALER.” and it’s hard to really imagine wrapping this album up better than that narrative. It’s a truly tenaciously cathartic origin story. “Down By Law” is easily a top 10 song for me in 2023, and the album continues to climb in my eyes. I have a feeling this will end up being a top 3 when I look back on it this time next year. (Label: Loma Vista / Concord)
05. Benjamin Dakota Rogers – Paint Horse
RIYL: Colter Wall, Charles Wesley Godwin, Charley Crockett
Standout Track(s): “John Came Home”, “Blackjack County Chain”, “Goodnight V2”
Simply put, one of the best new artists to hit the contemporary folk genre that has come about in a long, long time. I first heard “John Came Home” early in 2022 when I was served a TikTok featuring Benjamin playing the song live, wildly enough. Yes, TikTok is for more than tweens and mukbang. I was so impressed I personally kept tabs on BDR through April of last year when the song was officially released, and the rest is history. A few months later, the songwriter then dropped his version of the Willie Nelson (and Waylon) classic “Blackjack County Chain” live on the same app and the anticipation for the new album was climbing to mythical, legendary levels for me. Fast forward to February of this year and Paint Horse arrives and the needle has not left the groove since. “John Came Home” just ages like fine wine, “Blackjack” in his own style is intoxicating, and songs like “Rosie” blur the lines of bluegrass, country, and singer/songwriter, and “Goodnight V2” could have been the album closer on John Denver’s 1974 classic Back Home Again.
Take the classic Townes Van Zandt sound, mix in a bit of Colter Wall alt-country and a few sprinkles of Charley Crockett americana, and a uniquely distinct voice unlike really anyone else… and you have Benjamin. In his own words on his youth, Rogers grew up building greenhouses, growing vegetables, and living off the Ontario lands. “Growing up my family drove a big VW bus. We listened to a lot of fiddle music, going from festival to festival,” he says. “These days I live in one of the barns, tap trees, and make music.” Truly the Colter Wall of the bluegrass world, who is famously known to still be an active rancher on his Canadian farm. With a twang all his own and a knack for passionate storytelling, Benjamin is primed for a big jump in 2024, and as I noted with Zach Bryan earlier in the list, I could see BDR becoming the next “it” guy in ‘24. Not saying I see him selling out stadiums like Zach or riding the TikTok fame wave like Noah Kahan, but if it did happen, I would absolutely not be surprised. (Label: Good People Record Co.)
04. Angie McMahon – Light, Dark, Light Again
RIYL: Lucy Dacus, Waxahatchee, Angel Olsen
Standout Track(s): “Making It Through”, “Fireball Whiskey”, “Letting Go”
Melboure’s own Angie McMahon may be a familiar name to some, but to most stateside it is a name that is still wrapped in mystery and largely unbeknownst. BUT… the good news here is you are in the here and now, reading this and on the ground floor of the future indie, mid-fi songwriter darling. Falling somewhere on the spectrum of Lucy Dacus, boygenius, and the ‘heavy is the head that wears the crown’ idiom of being the female ozzie Hozier, McMahon launched her sophomore album, Light, Dark, Light Again, with a few singles, including the guitar driven light and airy number “Letting Go”, which balances perfectly something that the aforementioned “Take Me To Church” Irish songwriter could have pulled off as a song of his own. Luckily, from June onward to October’s album release, the songs, singles, and anticipation just continue to flow. Noting to NPR that, between her debut and this release she, “experienced the lowest low that I've ever hit. And I knew that I would use songs to find my way out of it.” is really a reflective look at this album when you go from front to back. It’s as gentle as it is heavy, and it’s as cinematic as it is cathartic. Aussie station of high acclaim and fame Triple J put it up as one of its noms for album of the year at their annual awards, and to say that Angie is one of the most slept on rising artists out there right now is doing a major disservice to the talent this young songwriter brings.
This morning, I didn't want to get out of the shower
But hot water runs out, and you have to carry on, don't you?
Close and move along, don't you?
If you aren’t sold yet, give “Fireball Whiskey” a listen, jump up to “Saturn Returning”, and then go on the full 49 minute and 52 second journey for yourself and let me know later how emotionally enjoyable it was. (Label: AWAL / Gracie Music)
03. blink-182 – ONE MORE TIME…
RIYL: Blink-182, Blink-182, Blink-182
Standout Track(s): “BLINK WAVE”, “ONE MORE TIME”, “FELL IN LOVE”
For a kid coming of age in the late 90s and into the early aughts, blink-182 was the voice of the middle school male who met a crossroads of youth, sex, and dookie jokes: a bit of punk, a lot of rock, and some childish boy humor thrown in. As time wore on, the kid aged and the band morphed and shape-shifted to something a bit more serious. As the hands of time ticked and ticked, time, fame, and age just got the better of them. The band went on hiatus. Tom left. Mark and Travis soldiered on as blink but without the lifeblood of blink. There was some turmoil between friends, some side projects (both music and alien in nature), and a wide array of weird shit that happened to new and old blink. Time did nothing more but tick on.
Sadly, it took Travis almost dying in a plane crash to get the band back together for the first time in 2008 and, sadly, it took Mark getting diagnosed with cancer to bring the original lineup back together 2023. This, my friends, is the first album released by 182 with the original lineup in over a decade. Let that sink in for that kid coming of age in ‘99.
ONE MORE TIME… is a true blast from the past for any one-time blink fan. From bringing back the fan favorite “Anthem” for a part three, to the childish comedic timing of Tom on “Dance With Me”, to the emotional “I Miss You” or “Adams Song” of the album in “One More Time”, (which dives into the breakup, the plane crash, the cancer) it is all there. And it’s perfect. Shockingly, while “One More Time” is excellent, it’s the new wave-meets-pop-punk banger “Blink Wave” that is the surefire stand out on the album for me, a dance banger that I expect to be all over alt stations in 2024. Three cheers to the pop-punk giants and their return. This album is for Spencer. (Label: Columbia)
02. HARBOUR – To Chase My Dreams, Or To Just Lie Down?
RIYL: COIN, Bad Suns, Briston Maroney
Standout Track(s): “Bahamas”, “Sleepyhead”, “Fish Tank”
I have been a HARBOUR fan for some time now, admittedly. The bands 2017 album that first introduced me to the Cincy 5-piece was packed with bubblegum alt goodness, including the nostalgic packed “Judy You Hung The Moon”. The third album dropped in ‘19, and then the band took some time off before returning with ‘23s masterpiece To Chase My Dreams, Or… After hearing this album, it blows my literal g*tdamn mind that this band is independent and unsigned. Their current US tour has all but sold out 600-800 cap rooms in LA, Austin, Seattle, and the infectiousness of this indie rock banger showcases the bands return to sun-soaking sounds, mixed in with a more mature feel but never treading back on their singalong, indie anthem style that one could imagine being sung back in a venue like Cain’s Ballroom or The Metro. or showing up at SX to melt some faces for some happy-go-lucky indie kids of ut and retired 3EB fanboy/girl industry vets alike.
No matter how many times I hear “Bahamas”, the breezy good times, the guitar hooks, and the overall vibe just put me in a happy mood, and this entire album is truly a indie rock fans delight. Of the ten song album, there is maybe one song that I skip - and anytime in the year of 2023 that I can moved and can nod my head to 90% of an album, I will absolutely take it and eat that shit up. HARBOUR, keep it comin’ with the indie jams like “Swimming in My Head”, “Fish Tank”, and the electro-rock closer “Too Close”, which is a 1:55 high energy banger with a delightful vocal effect, one that I usually go against, but feels just right here. (Label: Independent)
01. Lil Yachty – Let’s Start Here.
RIYL: Miguel, Don Toliver, Theophilus London
Standout Track(s): “the BLACK seminole.”, “the ride-”, “drive ME crazy!”
The answer to the age old question of “what happens when an artistic takes a load of magic mushrooms in the year of our lord 2023?” was found in Let’s Start Here. by Lil Yachty. The soundcloud trap rapper ventured into a new soundscape in ‘23, recruiting psych-rock vets from MGMT, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and slack popper Mac DeMarco on the album, breaching the levee of psychedelia and hip-hop in a similar fashion that Kacey Musgraves did for country and psychedelia with 2018’s Golden Hour.
Look, it all seems too weird to work, I get it. I had to convince the toughest music critic in our house, my wife, to give it a go. She became hooked. Roll in the haze of “the BLACK seminole”, and as we agreed, it is a song that belongs played live as the sun is setting on Coachella or Austin City Limits.. the latter of which we were able to take in together this year. I don’t think you even categorize this a true rap, it’s just in its own little corner for hip-hop. Questlove wrote a great little summary about the album, praising it for its complete “creative left turn” and nodding to it that “shit like this got me hyped about music’s future.” And we can leave it at that, because that sums up exactly how I feel about this album. If Yachty retreats back to his trap rap beginnings or continues to push this envelope, I frankly don’t care. I care that we had an artist go full 180, try something, and saw the successes of his efforts. I think we will look back on this album in 10-15 years time and bookmark it as one of the most important albums of the 2020s, and a spellbinding effort that others will now chase. If you ain’t first, you’re last. (Label: UMG / Quality Control)