As I did last year (which you can go read here) I am going through and plucking out my Top Ten Albums of the year. Before we start the listing let me cover the usual bases:
- I don’t stream music. Nothing against people who do, mind you. I just like to buy my music, a mix of mp3s and CDs.
- I don’t do vinyl because, honestly, I grew up at the end of vinyl and then rebought things on cassette and then CD and I can’t go backwards. I just can’t. That’s me. Again, however you listen to music you should enjoy it.
- I get albums and tend to think of music in terms of albums not singles more often than not. Which is why I am not doing the Top Ten Songs.
- This is my Top Ten Albums That I Personally Purchased (or got as gifts) This Calendar Year. I had to work out what best meant in that context. For these purposes it meant things I reached for more often than anything else.
- Not all the music is from this year, it is just stuff I first heard this year. I ended up with somewhere around 80 or 85 albums this year (there’s a reason the number spiked and it will be part of one of the blurbs).
- This list will be in no special order, so read nothing into that, there is no best of the best past this collective lump.
So with all that covered let’s get to the list itself!
Metric – Formentera (Band Site | Amazon)
Metric is one of those bands I feel like everyone knows by now, or at least hope they do. They’ve gone through so many evolutions from straight rockers to far more electronic fare. Formentera feels like a synthesis of everything they’ve ever released. By turns uplifting, tragic, melancholy, joyous, and angry the album will take you on a journey and leave you with echoes of the trip for ages.
I mentioned in the intro that the number of albums I got this year spiked. The reason is Synthwave. I got deep into it and, well, a lot of it is honestly cheap-ish compared to mass released stuff. Hollywood Burns is an amazing French band that have two albums out, both of which work are soundtracks to movies that never happened. Not that each is a single soundtrack, just that every track is very much movie-vibe-esque in the best way possible. Also the last minute of Saturday Night Screamer is one of the darkly funniest things I’ve heard all year.
Like another artist on this very list, I first ran into Theo Katzman as part of Vulfpeck. Pretty much every member of Vulfpeck has an incredible solo career, though, so eventually you go digging. And when you do you realize that Katzman, who in Vulf sings, plays guitar, and drums, also released one of the world’s perfect albums. And yes that whole thing is the title. Modern Johnny lives somewhere, musically, in the 70s, but also amazingly modern. Lyrically it is full of sarcasm, and truth, when talking about relationships and humanity.
I wasn’t doing these lists the year I first heard Rina Sawayama’s last release SAWAYAMA but if I had it would have made that year’s list. I wasn’t sure if this new one could live up to how much I adored the last. I actually might love this one even more. This is an album made by an artist who is embracing everything about themselves, and putting it into each lyric and note. There’s a joy in the honestly, and freedom being found in every track, even the sad ones. Just stunning pop, and I know pop can sound reductive, but pop is incredibly hard to do really well. If you want to see what that looks like, here you go.
At only 17 minutes this is probably just an EP but for my purposes that counts. Gloomy June used to be a band called the Y Axes, but this release is just a shotgun of killer pop hooks, and, if this makes sense, anxiety anthems. They remind me of Metric, when Metric started. Get in on the ground floor here, because Gloomy June has the sense of sonic self to really stick around and grow and become massive. And they should, if we’re lucky.
Another EP release, Leathers is the solo project of Shannon Hemmett of the band Actors. Sitting somewhere in the realm of Darkwave (synthwave but now with more goth!) Leathers hits you right in that Cocteau Twins but synthwave sort of space. Not even close to exactly, but emotionally. They fill that void from the late 80s of good goth electronic/rock that, let’s be honest, we miss.
Like with Theo Katzman, I followed Cory Wong from Vulfpeck. He’s an incredible guitarist, with funk in his veins. His band, The Wongnotes, kills it with the horn section and Sunny T on bass (he used to play with The Revolution, mmkay?). This album is an interesting example of Wong’s output, not quite sounding like anything else he’s released. It strays from pure funk a bit more into rock, and even bluegrass. Part of the later is guest spots with Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten, and Sierra Hull. Even if you don’t know Wong, this is a killer place to start your journey. Though be warned I intend to do a deep dive into him in the next month or so…)
Somehow I missed the train on Brandi Carlile for far too long. Honestly I blame her name. I would see it and my brain would transpose it to Belinda Carlisle. That’s on me. But, as I am sure you all already know, this album – holy shit. It is pure Americana/Blues/Folk the way very few people can write, much less perform at this level. Every emotion in every line rips clear and tears through you with an almost intensity. This is masterclass level stuff.
This strange, instrumental, London band self-describe as “surf-disco safari” and they’re doing a lot of Colombian inspired styles throughout their debut release. It’s a sonically diverse, strange album that manages to remind me a bit of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, as well as Katzenjammer, while being totally neither of those things.
I like country. Well, I like old country, and some modern stuff. Miss me with the 90s, for the most part. This though, is Country with a capital C. Rhett McLaughlin, here using his middle name, delivers one of the most powerful looks at religion around, through the eyes of self, and family, and society. It’s a stunning set of songs that is brutally honest, calling himself out as much as anyone else. It also features a track that I swear might be a Tom Waits song (it isn’t but dang it feels like it could be).
I think there was a time most of us laughed at the label “Prog rock.” Right, it makes you think of yodeling, be honest now. Well Polyphia, who got their start doing metal, have become what prog rock could be, if anyone else could keep up. A metal drummer and bass player, along with two of the most subtle and stunning guitarists around, Tim Henson specifically being this amazing example of every technique you can think of, all happening at once and just melding perfectly in ways you’re sure that they can’t. That’s Polyphia. It’s addictive to listen to.
Taylor Swift – Midnights 3AM edition (Artist site)
This is a really strong album, but I also feel like mixing the rawness of the folklore and evermore with her older pop stuff doesn’t quite always work. Lyrically it is fantastic, but a bunch of the songs feel open in ways I wish they didn’t. That said, you already have this one, so let’s move on.
Etta James – The Montreux Years (Amazon)
Did you know there was a 2 CD set of Etta James performances at the Montruex Jazz Festival? The second disc of which is her complete set from 1975, her first Europe appearance? The first cd moves backwards, starting with bits from 1993. Seriously, why are you not running out to buy this already? It’s live Etta James.
Actors – Acts of Worship (Bandcamp)
So above we had Leathers and below we have the singer’s full band, Actors. I contemplated which way that should go, but in the end, though they have many, many, similarities in sound, Actors is a bit less raw, in a way I enjoy. You may like the slight step of distance it provides, however, and even if you prefer Leathers as a project, Actors is a very tight second.
Larkin Poe – Blood Harmony (Artist site)
Possibly the only reason this album didn’t unseat something above is because it came out in November. It’s hard to leap that far that fast, but if anything did it would’ve been this. Larkin Poe have been the best Blues/Americana/Rock band for a while now, coming in like Seger in his prime, like Tom Petty, like Keb’ Mo’ and Kingfish. Just heady, good stuff, and their newest kicks all sorts of ass along the way.
Kenny Garrett – Sounds From the Ancestors (Bandcamp)
Here you have Miles Davis’ sax player going back to gospel, and reaching for Coltrane, to find sounds that only a master of his level could hope to come back to us with. There are hints of Stevie Wonder mixed in, as well as … well … every one. Garrett takes you through a dizzying journey here, that you should jump on board with.
Bat Fangs – Queen of My World (Bandcamp)
The guitarist and singer of Ex Hex (if you don’t know Ex Hex you should), Betsy Wright, teamed up with Laura King to form Bat Fangs and, again if you like Ex Hex you should already own both Bat Fangs albums. Just good solid rock, with a dose of hair metal to it, much like Ex Hex, and just as essential.
What I’m Listening To – February 2023
Read Article
What I’m Listening To – May 2023
Read Article