If you’re just joining us for the first time, and are wondering what the heck is going on here, in 2021 I set out to catch up on newer music, which I hadn’t really done in about a decade at that point for various reasons.

I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my own favorites. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from the critics most highly rated albums. And I started off listening to new releases each month in 2021, eventually picking the 21 best albums of 2021. I had so much fun in the process that I decided to do it again in 2022 and 2023, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022 and the 23 best albums of 2023.

There are links to the albums in the posts, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve got that set up in Spotify for the 2021 top 21 and the 2022 top 22, and in YouTube Music for 23 Best Albums of 2023. (Eventually I’ll move the 2021 and 2022 lists to YouTube, because artists are asking us to avoid Spotify for very good reasons.)

Okay, so now you know what we’re doing. Well guess what? I’m doing it again! A quick word on the “yes” and “maybe” categories I’ve sorted things into, and then we’ll get going:

Yes– This isn’t a guarantee, but it represents the albums that, upon first listen, I think could definitely be in running for best of the year.

Maybe– These albums have something to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m putting them in their own category, because I have found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.

And now, without any further ado, let us get on with my top picks from 71 new January releases that I listened to!

21 Savage, American Dream– Dreamlike classic grooves backing glitchy beats, philosophical lyrics, and presented with a steady accessible flow. It may run with cliché themes at times, but it also never let me down for the entire 50-minute run. In the hands of this British-American artist, hip hop is not dead!

Billy Porter, Black Mona Lisa– Clear, powerful, and masterful in its feeling for the dance, R&B, and Broadway idioms it targets. That, frankly, might be enough even if it had no particular import on top of it, but in this era of bubbling danger against people of diverse races and sexualities in America, actor and singer Billy Porter leaves no punches pulled. Without sacrificing the sheer joy of the music in the process!

Charley Crockett, $10 Cowboy– I knew from the title that I was potentially in danger of love, and indeed. Suffused with a feeling for both outlaw country and the Nashville sound (and the seventies intersection of R&B & country), and songs here are musically straight up while channeling being down and out in America. As solid a set of songs as you could ask for to remind you that country can still country and thank God for that!

Cheekface, It’s Sorted– Goony new wave music! Goony new wave vocals! Goony new wave lyrics! I could have heard this on college radio in the eighties and I would have loved it. But the lyrics are about things like changes in the New England hardcore scene, drones not leaving you alone, and dark web e-mail breaches, so plenty current. There is an artlessness here that’s pure fun, and a sound that is seriously sharp at the same time as it’s being silly. Per the Wikipedia article on this Southern California band, they’ve been compared to Stephen Malkmus, LCD Soundsystem, The Dismemberment Plan, Jeff Rosenstock, The B-52’s, and Devo. Okay, plucky little band. Okay!

Eye Flys, Eye Flys– This is giving me some serious Melvins and Mastodon vibes, which if you know, tells you a lot. But if you don’t know- it is Heavy! And lumbering and sludgy, pulling you under in the best kind of way. I haven’t been this enamored of a new metallic release in a while.

Kula Shaker, Natural Magick– In this case, the cover gives you a highly accurate clue! This album has a nice rollicking sixties garage rock sound, with layers of psychedelia and Indian pop influences. It’s almost hard to believe at times that this isn’t a genuine artifact from circa 1968-1972, and also hard to find anything to not like about it. Kula Shaker made my honorable mention list for 2022, and I have a feeling they are going to be in contention again this year.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, FU##IN’ UP– Oh, I like this one! This is the lyrically and sonically dense and seething Crazy Horse that I personally can never get enough of. Per another review: “Neil Young’s latest effort with his longtime backing back Crazy Horse is both a new album and an old one. FU##IN’ UP is a spiritual sibling to their 1990 comeback album Ragged Glory, but this time repurposing each track with loose, sprawling, guttural new edges.” Even as a derivation, I can’t fault it!

SPLLIT, Infinite Hatch– I love the perfect lo-fi pop-rock as mutated by off-kilter rhythms, electronic squelches, and weird and snarky lyrics. This is a good example of how being “damn fun” renders “not necessarily profound” utterly irrelevant as an objection. Get going little Baton Rouge band!

Tapir!, The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain– Are you in the market for some beautiful, oddly anguished folky pop? I am told that, “Tapir! is a six-piece indie folk band from London. Known for their blending of folk music with genres such as post-punk and art pop.” I’ll tell you that I found this to be intriguing from start to finish!

Trevor Horn, Echoes: Ancient & Modern– The “ancient” echoes here are perhaps twofold, Horn himself, a widely influential music producer in the 80s (and founding member of The Buggles’ and power behind their single “Video Killed the Radio Star”), and the song cover choices, hearkening back to his 80s heyday. If so, the “modern” ones are surely the polished reworkings and the new power the songs draw from his touch and his smartly curated list of guest stars. I recommend this for fans of both the eighties, and fans of albums where you can see a producer show off doing their thing.

Maybe

• Angry Blackmen, The Legend of ABM– Sharp cutting sounds, inventive stuttering glitchy mix, lyrics with weight. The vocals are a little flat, but the mix is magic, and the best songs are revelatory.
  
  
• Bruiser Wolf, My Story Got Stories– One of my favorites of 2021 for his album Dope Game Stupid is doing it again! The hilarious verbal barrage, tongue in cheek delivery, repositioning of hip hop history and presenting himself as an OG who ought to shuffle off the stage while simultaneously not ceding an inch of it is a winning combo. Maybe not quite as sharp as his 2021 outing, but still with plenty to recommend it.
  
  
• Ekko Astral, pink balloons– Fuzzy, distorted, properly serrated, with dense elliptical lyrics that perhaps involve anonymous burials, sexism, and never having seen Star Wars? If not totally together, it is an echo, astral in a noisy way, and thank goodness for it.
  
  
• Loukeman, Sd-2– What I read that got me interested was “The Canadian producer laces glow-worm synths and house beats with vocal snippets culled from indie-folk gems and Billboard hits.” And indeed, it does sound like that, and very unlike other electronic projects floating out there. It sometimes drifted a little toward the abstract, which was my hesitation, but I also never wanted to turn it off. Three cheers for folks who are still out there looking for new soundscapes!
  
  
• Marika Hackman, Big Sigh– Nuanced and textured, with an acoustic style but instrument surges reminiscent of the nineties. The deep, emotionally literate lyrics that cut in both directions are appreciated. It is a little one tone- musically and vocally, but powerful.
  
  
• Nicholas Craven/Boldy James, Penalty of Leadership– Dense, cinematic mix and lyrics, and rich seventies soul-feeling backing. The flow is a little flat, but that fits the darkly textured picture being painted.
  
  
• Pearl Jam, Dark Matter– We can perhaps agree there’s not going to be a “bad” Pearl Jam album. The lads just don’t have it in them! But this is not “merely” a “not bad” Pearl Jam album, it has quite a bit of verve and snap to it, and if it’s not the freshest thing ever, it is my favorite album of theirs since the eponymous 2006 album. There’s more than a bit here (without sounding AT ALL old and fogey) of the feeling of the wise and world-weary checking in that you would hope for from your veteran acts. For anyone who objects to that characterization, keep in mind that there is archival evidence that Pearl Jam’s first album came out 33 years ago, and that other albums that likewise came out 33 years ago during their 1991 debut were released in 1958. I object!
  
  
• Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope– A nuanced album which rocks plenty hard, but also has textured depths. If it is not totally focused, and it isn’t as thunderous as my best-loved albums from them, it is about something, and has depths that repay attention without losing sonic verve.
  
  
• St. Vincent, All Born Screaming– As darkling as any of her earlier work, but with variety, verve, and wit as well. I like it best when it’s waxing a little less meditative and a little groovier, but she does self-bill it as a “post-plague” album, so I cannot begrudge her the tone. Definitely worth another listen!
  
  
• Ty Segal, Three Bells– I mean, you get me your fuzzed out nineties garage rock, pepper it with heavy trip 70s psych rock vibes, put it in the hands of a past master in these forms… About my only hesitation is the hour+ run time vis-à-vis how heavy it gets in parts. But regardless, rock on!

And there we have January, out in the first third of May! Let’s see what we can do with February!