At long last, for me anyway, I’ve shared my favorite songs and albums of 2023. Each year, I spend months pouring over these lists as I catalogue each new release I listen to over the course of the year and am always really proud to share these with my friends and readers (thank you to everyone reading here!). I listened to over 150 new albums this year and even more new songs (plus some reissues and EPs, but I’ll get to that next week). Even though I listened to over 70,000 minutes of music on Spotify this year, I also purchased a lot of records to help support the artists I love.
I know ranked lists can, for some, be overwhelming and since I don’t have the time to write about each individual album on the list (and because perhaps my writing doesn’t specifically call out the genre), I’ve gone ahead and expanded on that further down in this newsletter. So, if you’re just looking for the best jazz, metal, shoegaze, hardcore, pop albums, and more, this should help.
Below, you can find links to both album and song lists followed by un-ranked lists of albums broken down by genre (including some that didn’t make the top 50). If there’s something on here that you really enjoy, I highly suggest clicking the link to buy the album (whether in physical format or at least a digital download) and help support the artist and perhaps even consider going to see them live if they come to a town near year. After all, none of this would be possible without the creators.
Country / Folk
Jess Williamson | Time Ain’t Accidental
Julie Byrne | The Greater Wings
Kara Jackson | Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
Mutual Benefit | Growing at the Edges
Sufjan Stevens | Javelin
Electronic
Barry Can’t Swim | When Will We Land?
Fever Ray | Radical Romantics
Overmono | Good Lies
Romy | Mid Air
Sofia Kourtesis | Madres
Experimental
André 3000 | New Blue Sun
Animal Collective | Isn’t It Now?
Arnold Dreyblatt | Resolve
Blue Lake | Sun Arcs
Fred again.. / Brian Eno | Secret Life
Hardcore
Drain | Living Proof
GEL | Only Constant
Militarie Gun | Life Under the Gun
MSPAINT | Post-American
Zulu | A New Tomorrow
Hip-Hop
Armand Hammer | We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
billy woods / Kenny Segal | Maps
JPEGMAFIA / Danny Brown | Scaring the Hoes
Navy Blue | Ways of Knowing
Noname | Sundial
Jazz
Brandee Younger | Brand New Life
Irreversible Entanglements | Protect Your Light
jaimie branch | Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world wide))
Superless | Superless
Zoh Amba / Chris Corsano / Bill Orcutt | The Flower School
Metal
Baroness | Stone
Frozen Soul | Glacial Domination
Horrendous | Ontological Mysterium
Liturgy | 93696
Ragana | Desolation’s Flowers
Pop
Caroline Polachek | Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Carly Rae Jepsen | The Loveliest Time
Chappell Roan | The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Prom Queen
Jessie Ware | That! Feels Good!
Olivia Rodrigo | Guts
R&B
Amaarae | Fountain Baby
Jamila Woods | Water Made Us
Janelle Monáe | Age of Pleasure
Kelela | Raven
Nourished by Time | Erotic Probiotic 2
Rock
boygenius | the record
Bully | Lucky for You
Wednesday | Rat Saw God
Yo La Tengo | This Stupid World
Yves Tumor | Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
Shoegaze
Black Belt Eagle Scout | The Land, The Water, The Sky
feeble little horse | Girl with Fish
Hotline TNT | Cartwheel
Parannoul | After the Magic
Slowdive | everything is alive