Wait, didnt I already review the 2010s? Indeed I did! See here for my picks for the best albums of the 2010s from that first review. But we’re not quite done, and the reason why involves 2024…It turns out that 2024 is the 25th year of the millennium. And that is just too rich a symbolic target for me to forgo- the chance to review the best albums of the past 25 years! I have all the source material I’ll need: I’ve reviewed the 2000s in several venues, did the above-mentioned 2010s review, and have top 20-23 lists for 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, with the search for 24 for 2024 now underway.
But my 2010s list is a little light comparatively. While my 2000s list from various sources sports around 60 entries, my 2010s review of 52 of the the critic’s top-ranked albums resulted in 34 picks. In order to balance that out a bit decade by decade, I’ve decided to go ahead and review the next tier down of 2010s albums per my original source lists. That will give us 36 more albums to review, which I’ll do in 6 blocks of 6. And hopefully thereby have a few more picks for our Grand Review of 2000-2024 to come!
Got it? Okay, let’s go with part 2!
Coloring Book (Chance the Rapper, 2016)– Acid Rap was one of my favorites of the v1 2010s review, so I definitely came in to this album interested. And it does share exuberant sonic landscapes and a winning personality with that earlier album. In fact, the best tracks here are really great, easily up to decade’s best status. But as a whole it doesn’t quite feel coherent sonically, thematically, or in terms of flow. Not for the first time, a collection of great songs does not necessarily a successful album make!
Pop2 (Charli XCX, 2017)– Similar to the above entry, Charli XCX was already on my radar for her album how i’m feeling now having been one of my top 20 picks for 2020. This outing is also tickling my fancy. It is, to be sure, very highly produced and sometimes autotuned EDM. But it has a sharp jagged energy to it, keeps moving, and pulls out many sonic surprises along the way. Dance music isn’t going anywhere. Dance music shouldn’t go anywhere. So may it be this good!
Settle (Disclosure, 2013)– I am told that Disclosure is an English electronic music duo. This seems plausible, and I find no reason to doubt it. Indeed, a quick listen here bears that out, and it the album down a good background groove. I especially appreciate the more than occasional dips into classic 303 synth bass territory. But I don’t really feel like this adds up to more than a sum of parts.
If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (Drake, 2015)– You know, it is really nice to see a mix tape succeed! His 2011 album Take Care made my original 2010s list, but it did strike me as a little too slick. This is much rawer, with at times even an air of desperation, without sacrificing quality. Some of that’s inherent to mixtape as a form, but maybe also having hit it really big with the earlier album, he had some ambivalent feelings to process (there’s lyrical evidence for this), or just had the confidence and comfort to release something with less trimming and grooming? Wherever it comes from, with a little more than an hour run time there isn’t a single track I tuned out on.
I Love You, Honeybear (Father John Misty, 2015)– I’ve certainly heard of Father John, and seen him play on a late night show here and there, but wouldn’t have considered myself super-familiar. That being said, this kind of thing is right up my alley- a country-inflected southern California folk with reference to some classic R&B sounds and a lush production level on top that raises everything to theatrical levels. The shimmery beauty is perfectly offset by the frequently highly bitter and cutting lyrics, and a heartfelt voice that feels totally sincere in celebrating the beauty and the pain. I think we’ve got a winner!
World War 3 (Gas) (Gucci Mane, 2015)– There’s definitely some skill and welcome flow to this hip-hop album, and some welcome disruptive tongue in check energy. It’s also very autotuned, cliche bound, and kind of sing-songy and same after a while. In a decade with so much hip hop wealth, I just don’t see this as being a decade’s best.
So there we are with the batch two of six of the 36 overflow albums for the 2010s that I’ll be reviewing! From this batch, I would say If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and I Love You Honeybear are definite “yeses”, and Pop2 is a “maybe”. Who knows what may await us in albums 13-18?
Okay, lets start off with the obvious question- why am I revisiting the 2010s again? Didn’t I already do that? Indeed I did! See here for my picks for the best albums of the 2010s from that first review. But we’re not quite done, and the reason why involves 2024…
It turns out that 2024 is the 25th year of the millennium. And that is just too rich a symbolic target for me to forgo- the chance to review the best albums of the past 25 years! I have all the source material I’ll need: I’ve reviewed the 2000s in several venues, did the above-mentioned 2010s review, and have top 20-23 lists for 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, with the search for 24 for 2024 now underway.
But my 2010s list is a little light comparatively. While my 2000s list from various sources sports around 60 entries, my 2010s review of 52 of the the critic’s top-ranked albums resulted in 34 picks. In order to balance that out a bit decade by decade, I’ve decided to go ahead and review the next tier down of 2010s albums per my original source lists. That will give us 36 more albums to review, which I’ll do in 6 blocks of 6. And hopefully thereby have a few more picks for our Grand Review of 2000-2024 to come!
Got it? Okay, let’s go!
21 (Adele, 2011)– I really can’t comprehend how this didn’t rank higher in the critical consensus and end up in the first batch of 52 albums I reviewed. Is there a better album start out there in the decade than the one-two punch of the bombastic churn of “Rolling in the Deep” and the stomping beat and savage ending of “Rumor Has It”? And that’s just tenderizer before you eventually get emotionally ransacked by “Set Fire to the Rain” and “Someone Like You”. I don’t know about you, but every one of those songs still lives in my soul now a dozen years later. And, between the depth and yearning tenderness of her voice, rich blue-eyed soul instrumentation, and lyrical emotional complexity, even the “filler” here is gorgeous. If this isn’t a best of that decade, I don’t know what is.
Malibu (Anderson .Paak, 2016)– His 2021 collaboration with Bruno Mars, Silk Sonic, made my honorable mention for that year, so I’m coming in to this well-disposed. This has many of the the same charms of that outing, namely Paak’s masterful mix of neo-soul, hip-hop, and club music, smooth vocals, interesting sample choices, and witty and complex lyrics. The best songs here are flat out great, but it doesn’t sound or feel totally together, which you need to make an hour+ album work. Still, there isn’t a track along the way that I was unhappy to be there for.
X 100PRE (Bad Bunny, 2018)– I am told I should like Bad Bunny, and so I tried with his album YHLQMDLG (which I was assured I should like) for my 2020 review. And it’s not like I’m mad at him, but… I’ll give it that his music on this album has personality, and some interesting mix and vocal moments. There are some singles I quite like. But a lot of it is very much the autotuned 21st century hip-hop sound that leaves me cold. And at nearly an hour, I need it to be compelling the whole way through to work as an album.
Cupid Deluxe (Blood Orange, 2013)– I am told that Dev Hynes, aka Blood Orange, is an American-born English singer, songwriter, and record producer based in New York City, who has worked extensively writing and producing for others in addition to his own work. That sounds promising enough, but the opening track is some kind of autotuned low-key soul mush. It does pick up and get more lively and funky on the second track, thank goodness. And from there goes on to pleasantly explore several modes of contemporary soul/R&B, with occasional dips back into mushy tracks. It’s often quite good, but given the uneveness, I don’t see it as “decade’s best” material.
22, A Million (Bon Iver, 2016)– This album has an interesting, somewhat dizzying start, bridging the gulf between an acoustical indie and electric kazoo chipmunk sound before drifting off into jazz. The second track has a kind of 70s AM radio feel delivered via glitchy electronic. I could go on narrating track by track, but the point is that there’s a surprising and varied experimentalism that stays just enough in touch with pop song conventions to make the songs work. By its very nature all this comes off as a bit disjointed, and is abstract, but it was headed toward at least a strong “maybe” until it had too many songs in a row that were too lulled out in the second half.
Teens of Denial (Car Seat Headrest, 2016)– My initial take is that this feels like an album that was a few years late for the 2001-2006 heyday of the garage rock revival scene. Subsequent research reveals that the Seattle-based, Virginia-derived band behind it got going in 2010, so it makes sense as the kind of second wave of that scene. This is also apparently their tenth album in a 7-year period, and as witness to that, it’s a tight and confident sound that’s on display here. All of that is just a blah-blah-blah though, and the real story is music that never lets up, and smart lyrics on varied topics. I’m a little leery of the length- you have to work hard to pull off a 70-minute run time, but that’s my only source of hesitation here.
So there we are with the first 6 of the 36 overflow albums for the 2010s that I’ll be reviewing. From this batch, I would say 21 is a definite “yes”, and Malibu and Teens of Denial are “maybes”. Let’s see what we find in albums 7-12!
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!
I mean, at least it’s not 2025 yet? And with that, here we are, the last pre-finale round-up of our quest to find the 23 best albums of 2023!
For those just joining, what happened so far: In 2021, to re-familiarize myself with the latest releases after a new music drought of a decade or so, I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my favorites based on their choices. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from the critics lists for that year. At the same time I started listening to new releases each month, eventually arriving at my picks for the 21 best albums of 2021. I figured that one good year deserves another, so I did it again in 2022, reviewing new releases monthly and discovering the 22 best albums of 2022. And I’ve doing it again for 2023!
There are links to the 2020, 2021, and 2022 albums in the posts above, but if you’d like an all-in playlist for each year, I have those on Spotify:
Each month is divided into “yes” and “maybe” categories as follows:
Yes– This represents the albums that, upon first listen, could definitely be in the running for best of the year. That’s no guarantee though, there are now 132 “yeses”, and only 23 spots. The fields will be soaked with the blood of dead albums!
Maybe– These albums have a lot to recommend them, but also some factor that gives me pause. I put them in their own category, because “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”. As of this post, there are 133 “maybe” albums. More blood! More soaking!
And there you have it! With that, here are my final contenders for 2023 from 224 October-November new releases.
Aesop Rock, Integrated Tech Solutions– Oh the old school bass, synth, and drum machine sounds! It’s a very deliberate invocation, as the 80s IT-themed album cover, occasional appearance of video game sound effects, and shout-outs to everything from Salt N Pepper to Mr. T make clear. It’s not purely an exercise in nostalgia though- the flow and often even the mix feels very modern. Aesop Rock has produced some of my favorite hip hop of the past few years, and I’d add this to that list!
Ceci Bastida, Every Thing Taken Away– What I read about her was, “Since moving from Tijuana, Mexico, to the United States, the former Tijuana No! keyboardist and singer Ceci Bastida has released records and podcasts extending the Latinx punk tradition.” What I have to say is, this album is brilliant, nervy, electronic and rocking, with stripped-down beats, fun, and attitude!
Chase & Status, 2 Ruff, Vol. 1– Stuttering beats, glitchy sounds, dub on noisy overdrive. The metallic bass feels like looming dread, and the vocal’s autotuning actually works, it turns them into the urgent yet distorted voices of prophets. Distorted dread that you can dance to! This U.K. drum’n’bass/dubstep duo has apparently been kicking around since the early 00s, and I’m told this less polished and more like a mixtape that their usual albums. Well amen!
Christian Kjellvander, Hold Your Love Still– Moody and atmospheric guitar-driven music, replete with minor chords, and haunting old-time vocals with literate and philosophical lyrics. The musical and vocal range is limited, but this Swedish-born, Seattle-raised singer-songwriter with indie lo-fi roots is powerful.
CMAT, Crazymad, For Me– You know those Irish singer-songwriters with a wicked wit and playful inventiveness who are lush pop vocalists with a strong country flavor? Well, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, aka CMAT is one of those. Actually, I don’t know how many more of those there are, but she’s a damn good one, and I love it!
Danny Brown, Quaranta– Oh, I like the mix here! Muscular, surprising, full of glitches, stutters, computer samples. The flow and the lyrics are likewise delightful in having a knack for hooks, and being varied and interesting. Thank you Detroit rapper Danny Brown (and associated collaborators) for reminding me what fun hip hop can be.
Dhani Harrison, Innerstanding– Knowing he’s George Harrison’s son, I went in with a certain semi-conscious expectation, and ended up encountering something more daring and experimental. To be sure there are hints of the sunny hazy side of 60s and 70s rock here, but also aspects of electronic, experimental, shoegaze, and noise rock as well. He reminds me of one of my favorites from last year, Particle Kid (aka Willie Nelson’s son Micah), in the way he both enhances and subverts the musical legacy that he’s inherited.
Goat, Medicine– The opening starts with a suitably growling distorted guitar that sounds like a 70s psyche rock freakout. Track two has a bit of an ornate pop feel to it, backed up by EDM effects. The third track combines strains of all of these and pumps up the echo. And so it goes on from there! My sources tell me that Goat is a Swedish alternative and experimental fusion music group, released in the US on the Sub Pop label. I tell me sources I love this!
Guided by Voices, Nowhere To Go But Up– With Guided by Voices and their habit of releasing multiple albums a year, these annual reviews are a little like a visit to the optometrist- Is #1 better? Or #2? #1? Or #2? This one’s got bruising guitar with plenty of distortion and a feeling for chord progressions that are heavy but melodious. The lyrics are evocative as ever, and there isn’t a track here that lags. Update my prescription and get me new glasses doctor, I’m in!
Jockstrap, I<3UQTINVU– I<3UQTINVU (“I Love You Cutie, I Envy You”) is a remix compilation from this UK duo’s 2022 album I Love You Jennifer B. I found that album to be too polished and muted, but these reworkings are anything but. The glitchy beats and vocals, spare mix, and ability to go EDM, experimental, and rocking sometimes all at the same time really stand out. There are genuinely surprising moments throughout, and the sound is familiar enough to be accessible, but also challenging and a promise of new possibilities.
Joe Jackson, Mr. Joe Jackson Presents Max Champion in What a Racket!– The album is presented as the work of the fictional Max Champion, a turn of the century music man. As such, it’s thoroughly in early 20th century music hall style. This is what we call “high concept”. And, in the hands of someone less skillful than Joe Jackson, it might be extremely annoying. But what actually results here is a flawless set of songs that sound totally period but also feel contemporary and alive, and if the whole thing reads a bit like an album-length treatment of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, well apparently I needed that and didn’t even know!
Joell Ortiz/L’Orange, Signature– Produce L’Orange joins with Ortiz to re-interpret his 2021 album Autograph (hence Signature, get it?), in the process producing a new “old” album. New in that the reinterpretation stand son it’s own, “old” in the sense that they mine some classic sounds. I like the lurching offbeats, unusual and powerful mix, positive ownership of the lyrics, and the swagger and power of the flow.
Kurt Vile, Back to Moon Beach– You know I like about lackadaisical low-fi songs with an acoustic/country flavor, evocative but elliptical personal lyrics, and interesting distortion-laden production? Everything! A lot of these are about making music itself, which further recommends itself to me, and it includes a genuinely haunting ode to Tom Petty, and a ridiculously fun song about Santa. If the vocal and musical range is limited, the excellence and the strangeness keep it in contention.
Marnie Stern, The Comeback Kid– Blistering guitar work, booming power pop sound, 80s synth overtones, an exuberance and edge to the mix, and a unique vocal presence. All right, Marnie, all right! I also love the way she messes with us, like on the second track about the sound being hard to take, which keeps layering on sonic challenges as it goes. The title refers to her decade off of new releases, but you sure couldn’t prove it by how much virtuosity is on display here.
Mayer Hawthorne, For All Time– Classic grooves and electro drums and synths are apparently a great way to get my attention! Which is to say this is redolent of late 70s/early 80s R&B in a pleasing way. Mayer Hawthorne turns out to be the soul crooning alter-ego of former DJ/Beatmaker Andrew Cohen, and this is his sixth album in that guise. He is darned good at it!
Mndsgn, Snaxxx– A bright kaleidoscope of beats, quirky effects, and chopped samples, with a lighthearted wit- the second track warns against falling in the lava with the singer- and genuine soul chops and jazz accents along the way. Mndsgn (pronounce “Mind Sign”) is an LA-based producer and artist, and I love what his synths and samplers are doing here!
MJ Lenderman, And The Wind (Live and Loose!)– This live album from Asheville singer-songwriter Lenderman is full of distorted guitars, sometimes in a country vein, sometimes more like southern rock or even noise rock. This topped with a yearning drawled melancholy to the vocals, and a lyrical side featuring heartache, humor, and oddly poingant slices of life. Reminding me of Uncle Tupelo in their early days, Lenderman is a telent worth keeping an eye on!
Pink Navel & Kenny Segal, How to Capture Playful– The dense and quirky flow and lurching left-field mix here caught my attention up front. The intelligence of the geeky pop culture-obsessed lyrics and varied and unusual sample and mix choices kept me tuned in. This collaboration of innovative L.A. producer Kenny Segal and nerd culture aficionado and Massachusetts hip hop artist Pink Navel (aka Devin Bailey) is a delight!
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter, Saved!– Avant garde artist Kristin Hayter has shed her Lingua Ignota persona, and released a gospel inspired album on which she, by her own recounting, reaches, “new levels of unhinged, spiritually and sonically.” I mean, okay, I can get behind that! And in fact, it’s pretty amazing. The spiritual yearning is sincere, but the traditional vocal and piano arrangements of the songs are mutated through the influence of electronica, metal, and noisy distorted experimental music. The results are jarring, unsettling, and sometimes abrasive, but it never feels gimmicky, and the evocative and uncanny nature of the songs lends itself to the quest.
Roger Waters,The Dark Side of the Moon Redux – The natural objection here is the hubris of redoing a classic, but I admire musical hubris, and if anyone has a right to re-approach this material, it’s Roger Waters. The next issue is the inherent thorniness of covers (which, again, I love), but the good news here is this meets my criteria for “gold standard” of a cover- not a too-faithful reproduction (because what would we need that for since we have the original?), but also something that substantively engages with and honors the original in some form. Waters has produced a version of these songs that isn’t a novelty or a copy, but instead pulls out their original air of darkness even more sharply and comes from the point of view of a worn yet wise observer of life. In other words, he brings the perspective of an 80-year-old self to the music he made as a 30-year-old. The effect is truly compelling.
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, Dancing on the Edge– Spontaneous feeling stripped down Americana-flavored indie rock with articulate personal lyrics and transparent vocals. It has an often-upbeat feeling, but with an undertow of complexity and sadness. Louisville Singer-songwriter Davis has headed the band State Champion, started a music festival, and founded a DIY record label, and here on his first solo outing he proves yet again to be a dynamic voice worth listening to.
The Exbats, Song Machine– AllMusic says: “Father-daughter garage punk combo with a love of simple but hooky songs and witty tales of love and pop culture.” I am repeating that because I couldn’t say it better. And I love it! This could be my favorite underground bubblegum yet rocking & substantive band of any decade from the 80s to now!
The Serfs, Half Eaten by Dogs– The album has a hard rocking start, then electronic music effects and drum machines kick in on track two. It gets more electronic as it goes, throwing in influences from industrial and post-punk while staying loaded with echo and reverb. How am I not going to love this? This Cincinnati trio has something good going on!
Maybe
Chris Stapelton, Higher– Country? Yes. Rock? Yes. Blues? Also possibly yes. A reminder in a way of the eras when all those things could be the same, but not strictly a throwback sound, and a recall of how powerful American music can be.
Creation Rebel, Hostile Environment– After Prince Far I was murdered in his Jamaican home in 1983, Creation Rebel disbanded. Several decades later, U.K. dub impresario Adrian Sherwood invited three of the group’s members to join him for live dates, and they then worked on music together during the COVID-19 lockdown. The result, Hostile Environment, is the first Creation Rebel album in over 40 years. The newest sound in the world? No. But performed and produced by masters, and I like dub way too much to not love it!
DJ Ramon Sucesso, Sexta dos Crias– I kind of love this! It’s grating, lurching, but also delightful in it’s use of multiple aspects of hip hop, house, techno, and 2000s EDM styles. A little deliberately rought o get through, but this 21 year-old Brazilian DJ-producer’s album is confirming for me that I need to check out some more baille funk!
Duff McKagan, Lighthouse– Axl and Slash are such big presences that one could be forgiven for not remembering that everyone in Guns N’ Roses was banging. One of the first things I noticed listening to this is what a major contributor to their sound Duff was. But this isn’t purely a block of GNR nostalgia, there are studied lyrics-heavy acoustic sections here, reminders of 80s hard rock radio, and grunge (Jerry Cantrell even shows up on a track), and a polish that never sounds ingenuine.
Feeling Figures, Migration Magic– Crunchy and fuzzy guitars! Female vocalists! Punk and yet pop instincts! 10 songs in less than 30 minutes! It isn’t the most groundbreaking thing every, but you can’t fault a thing about how it’s done, and I likes it!
Maria Jose Llergo, Ultrabelleza– This is as perfect a set of EDM pop as one might wish for. There is the language issue (it’s almost entirely in Spanish) that I know is keeping me from getting the full impact, but the music, intelligence of the mix, and emotive power in the vocals of this Spanish singer needs no translation.
Poppy, Zig– Blistering stuttering electronic dance breaks? Check. Pop sad girl instincts with noise rock attitude? Check. Gothy darkness? Check! It may not be the most profound thing out there, but I like the noise the young kids are making in this space- it’s a pop that suits our era.
Slauson Malone 1, Excelsior– This outing from multidisciplinary artist Jasper Marsalis combines post-rock experimentation with modern abstract-fueled left-field hip hop. What results is experimental, challenging, and unusual! It’s not always an easy listen, but it is a worthwhile one.
Tele Novella, Poet’s Tooth– The beginning (and end) was a little muted, but by the second track it was sparkling. It reminds me in a way of The Velvet Underground and Nico as read through an Omnichord, with forays into cowboy ballad and English country madrigals along the way. All of which is to say, as was true of my 2021 list’s honorable mention from Tele Novella, Merlynn Belle, this is delightfully eclectic, charming, and not like anything else you will hear this year.
The Mountain Goats, Jenny From Thebes– I loved their album Bleed Out last year. Musically, vocally, and in terms of lyrical twists I’m still there with feeling good about this outing, and in fact a few songs here seem like overflow from that album. But the thematic unity here doesn’t seem quite as tight, which is keeping it off of the “yes” list.
Therion, Leviathan III– Look, I just can’t help it! Is the mix of orchestral chorus and paint-stripping technical metal a little overblown? Yes. Does it also keep pulling you in track after track? Yes. Swedish metal for the win!
Thy Slaughter, A. G. Cook & Easyfun, Soft Rock– The glitchy mix, degraded sound effect kaleidoscope, and over the top melodies amidst fragmented songs are kind of delightful. Even if this collaboration of artists from London-based record label/art collective PC Music doesn’t quite come together with an album’s coherence, it’s things like this that give me hope that pop music may find its way to a genuine “new” at some point. Or at least an “interesting”!
Van Morrison, Accentuate the Positive– Gadzooks, he’s done it! After a string of COVID conspiracy screed albums, his last album was a skiffle and covers-heavy outing that I really rather liked. But it still had a hint of COVID rant about it, and continued the bloated 1 1/2-2 hour length of those other albums (I liked them too when they weren’t as ranty, musically and vocally they were great). Here we have all covers, a one hour run length, and a relaxed master having fun with rock, country, & R&B standards. If it’s not revelatory, it works from start to finish.
Willie Nelson, Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)– You may think I’ve lost my mind! It’s not that common to get a live album that works as a fully satisfying album. It’s even rarer for me to sign off on something that clocks in at more than 3 hours. And, as a (largely) covers album, this even breaks the cardinal rule of having the same song appear more than once! Nevertheless, this live album of a concert at the Hollywood Bowl celebrating Willie’s 90th birthday is a delight from start to finish. It starts with a thick set of great covers by many obvious choices, with some brilliantly unobvious ones thrown in as well, and then a thirteen song set of Willie himself teaming up with various luminaries, ending in a rendition of Happy Birthday. I may be hallucinating, and it’s not something you could just throw on to listen to every day, but I think this is an essential piece of the legacy of an essential American musician.
And there you have it. Other than my hip hop 50th Anniversary series, the next time you hear from me will be to announce the 23 best albums of 2023!
I know what you’re thinking- we’re almost done with December and you’re only finishing your review of September. Aren’t you hosed? Well, you do have a point, but boldly onward we go on our quest to find the 23 best albums of 2023!
For those just joining, what happened so far: To familiarize myself with newer music after a new music drought of a decade or so, in 2021 I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my favorites based on their choices. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from the critics lists. And I started listening to new releases each month, eventually arriving at my picks for the 21 best albums of 2021. One good year deserves another, so I decided to do it again in 2022, listening to all the new releases and discovering the 22 best albums of 2022. And now I’m doing it again for 2023!
There are links to the 2020, 2021, and 2022 albums in the posts above, but if you’d like an all-in playlist for each year, I have that set up on Spotify:
Each month is divided into “yes” and “maybe” categories as follows:
Yes– This represents the albums that, upon first listen, could definitely be in the running for best of the year. That’s no guarantee for these intrepid albums- as of this review there are 109 “yeses”, and only 23 spots. Heads will roll!
Maybe– These albums have a lot to recommend them, but also some factor that gives me pause. I put them in their own category, because “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”. As of this post, there are 118 “maybe” albums, so more heads will roll!
Got it? Good. Now let’s get on with my top picks from 112 September new releases!
Alan Palomo, World of Hassle– Originally from Mexico, composer, producer, and songwriter Alan Palomo has apparently been making beautiful and catchy genre-bending music since the late 00s but has remained off my radar until now. The loss is mine! This lush, catchy, and smart amalgam of electro and 80s soul had me smiling and bopping my head along the whole time!
Corinne Bailey Rae, Black Rainbows– At times smokey R&B, at times on the experimental side of EDM, at times more like noise rock. At all times well done, and stronger for the mix. I have questions about the pacing, but the content is superb. As has been true since her debut, this English singer-songwriter remains the real deal!
Earl Sweatshirt /The Alchemist, Voir Dire– I so consistently enjoy the Alchemist’s work, and Earl Sweatshirt has also put out some of my more favorite hip-hop of the last few years. And indeed, what results here is nuanced, complex, and layered. I am sold on it!
Ed Sheeran, Autumn Variations– Ed Sheeran as a phenomenon is so international megastar pretty boy that I wanted to dislike this. But this album just so knows how to work pop tune chords that I can’t resist its charms!
Eli Escobar, The Beach Album– Nice classic hip hop and electronic sounds (think electro, house, early techno) and a smart varied mix. This album knows (as one track says) that it is “taking us back.” And leans into it full force, to excellent effect! Escobar is an Upper West Side kid who began playing records, throwing parties, and making beats as a late-’80s/early-’90s teen, his love for a familiarity with the evolving NY dance scene shows up here in the best kind of way.
Lydia Loveless, Nothing’s Going to Stand in My Way Again– A little bit country, a little bit indie rock, torchy, and plenty sassy! This Ohio native singer-songwriter musical influences put her right in the middle of a good space, and she inhabits the sound in a welcome way.
MJ Nebreda, Arepa Mixtape– MJ Nebreda is a Venezuelan-born, Miami-based artist, producer, and DJ. Her latest project, Arepa Mixtape, draws inspiration from reggaeton, dembow, and raptor house—an electronic genre hailing from Caracas. I may not be able to understand much lyrically, but the mix makes me feel bouncy and intrigued.
No-No Boy, Electric Empire– You may find other indie rock albums with peerless chamber pop melodic instincts. You may find other musical efforts that mix in aspects of Asian musical traditions with integrity and without appeal to novelty or fetishization. You may find other nuanced and thoughtful explorations of identity and history. But I would propose that you will rarely find all those things together and done at such a high level. No-No Boy is the project of Asian-American singer, songwriter, and scholar Julian Saporiti, and this is his third album. It was a slow burn, but it really got me.
Olivia Rodrigo, GUTS– I like Olivia Rodrigo for her knack for combining chart-worthy dance/pop hooks and rocking breaks, with lyrics that are somehow simultaneously bubblegum and yet acidly sharp and searing. There are a host of young female artists in this space now, but even among them she is a standout, and her plaintive and sometimes almost unearthly purity of voice adds another whole level to it. This is a worthy follow-up to her debut level, and an inspiring down payment on more to come.
Sarah Mary Chadwick, Messages to God– Her searing album Me and Ennui Are Friends, Baby was on my top 21 list for 2021. This outing has many of the same strengths of that album- spare musical arrangements, emotionally complex and literate lyrics, and a raw vulnerability that is equal parts bitterness and desperation. And she goes even further here- witness the amazing turn “Angry and Violent” does from unapologetic ugliness to self-doubt and a plea to stay, or the upbeat arrangements of certain songs (“Drinkin’ on a Tuesday” and “Shitty Town” for example) even as they paint a vivid picture of life’s ills. It feels funny to love this, in the sense of the kind of bleakness on display. But insisting on honestly making art to illuminate from within the pain transforms it.
Sextile, Push– Dance instincts, a stuttering electronic beat, and a punk heart. All Music Guide tells me this LA band is “Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Electronic, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival”. Whatever they are, I like it!
Sparklehorse, Bird Machine– When the family of Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous discovered his uncompleted fifth album in the archive of recordings he left behind after his death in 2010, they took some time to decide what to do with it. They decided to bring a producer to finish it, and the results bear out that decision- the perfect harmonies, bursts of noisy low fi rock and slower fuzzed-out patches, 60s pop instincts, and mix of effects recall the best of what Sparklehorse did. it is a fitting final testament to Linkous, and reminder of all that was lost through his suicide.
Stephen Marley, Old Soul– I remember when Ziggy Marley first came out and I thought he was okay, but maybe not a totally suitable vessel for all the Marleymania nostalgia he inspired. Then I heard Damian and thought he was the real deal. Stephen is on a whole other level though! The musical approaches here are varied, and the quality peerless. The album does certainly invoke the family legacy, but it feels honest and deep in its approach.
Subsonic Eye, All Around You– This is the fourth Singaporean band I’ve run into in these lists in the last few years, and I love them all! It feels very jangly 90s, with a propulsive melodic energy. There is apparently a scene there I need to check out!
Tha Retail Simps, Live on Cool Street– It starts like blistering punk with lo fi crackle that would sound in fine company in 1978 and ends not unlike psychedelic flavored garage rock a la 1969. In between, this Montreal band delivers good banging fun with every track.
Tirzah, trip9love…???– I like the stripped down EDM beats and lush layered synths behind the warm rich vocals and emotionally intelligent lyrics. This feels like a folk singer or even a torch singer who’s somehow ended up in an electronic production universe. This English singer-songwriter has in fact been plying iterations of electronic music for several albums now, and each feel like a fresh exploration.
Tyler Childers, Rustin in the Rain– You could be forgiven for thinking that you had fallen into some kind of country music historical review here, with hints of the outlaws, the Burrito Brothers, and the 70s and 80s Nashville Sound. But you’ll get hints along the way of a modern sensibility animating things- references to e-mail, tips of the hat to electronic music, a country ballad cast as an ode to a same sex partnership. Six albums in, this 32-year-old singer songwriter remains a vital sign that a country that embraces both the old and the new is possible.
Various Artists, A Song for Leon: A Tribute to Leon Russell– I do love a good various artists covers album, but it’s hard for one of these to totally succeed as an album. Among other things, there are the potential traps of too exactly reproducing the original, and wildly varying quality to overcome. All that said, this works! Leon Russell’s influence looms large over 70s music, combining soul, funk, country and rock influences. That very breadth comes in handy here- it powers great covers by obvious fellow travelers like Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Orville Peck. But it also supports surprising interpretations, like the Bootsy Collins/U.S. Girls collaboration, and a cover by the Pixies. Darned if this isn’t both a classic and contemporary listen!
Maybe
Helena Hauff, Fabric Presents Helena Hauff– Hauff is a Hamburg-based DJ and producer of stripped-down analog techno and electro. And dammit I love it! I’m a little leery due to the over an hour length, but this is the kind of dynamic interesting electronica that really gets me on board.
Jeff Rosenstock, Hellmode– It starts off with an anthemic punky power-pop query about whether love will outlast finding out the singer has fucked up. From there, sometimes it goes emo-earnest, sometimes punky overdrive, (and often snarky). It reminds me of a space somewhere between early Green Day, your 00s emo de jour, and Harvey Danger. Sometimes it’s a little too toward the emo side, but is so high energy and emotionally literate lyrically that I don’t mind it. I am told that he, “is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He is known for his former bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, as well as for his work as a solo artist and as a composer for Craig of the Creek. He is the founder of Quote Unquote Records, the first donation-based record label.” Well all right!
Kristin Hersh, Clear Pond Road– Not her sharpest album ever, but man can that woman write and raggedly sing a song that sinks its emotional hooks in!
Maxo, Debbie’s Son– This LA hip-hop artist has created a hazy echoy lurching soundscape that shows how much space is still left in hip-hop outside of its tropes and sonic straightjackets. It feels a little unfocused, which is what lands it on my “maybe” list, but the sounds and emotional and lyrical depth they back are well worth revisiting.
Octo Octa, Dreams of a Dancefloor EP– It’s an EP, but a practically album length one (albeit with only three songs), and from a New Hampshire DJ. So I had to check it out on behalf of my almost-home team! It is a little light for full album status, but as fine a set of electronic music as one might wish to find.
Pretenders, Relentless– The album opens with a bruising start almost at home in grunge. At other times it feels like an old blueswoman holding court. Or punk returning. Or 80s hard rock radio. But Chrissie Hynde’s voice is unmistakable, and her chords still chime like bells. It ends on an oddly muted note, but this darkly textured album commanded my attention.
Prewn, Through the Window– This seems constantly on the edge of being too narrow-band in sound, but also hits so many notes I like- anguished vocals, minor chords, feedback, distortion, and reverb. It can be difficult to penetrate to the dark heart of what is going on here, but the fact that there is a song about literally killing and frying every fish in the sea gives you some indication. I’m not entirely sure what Izzy Hagerup of Massachusetts is up to, but I dig it!
Saoirse, Fabric Presents Saoirse– I don’t know why Fabric insists on making their showcases for luminaries of club electronic music over an hour long. Presumably they don’t want us to feel shortchanged? So I’m not quite sure it works at this length, but I love the short sharp punch effects-laden mixes from this Irish-born DJ.
The Handsome Family, Hollow– Folk, Americana, sometimes something more indie, sometimes sounding straight-up primeval spooky. It felt a little lulled out at times, but also achingly authentic. This New Mexico by way of Chicago married duo knows their craft!
And there we are for September! Will I finish October-December in the next five days? No, no I will not. But I will continue post-haste!
The journey to find the 23 best albums of 2023 continues! That’s right, we’re listening to new albums as they come out each month and sorting the standouts into “yes” and “maybe”. Next up: June!
If you’re new here, this all started in 2021. In a quest to get familiar with newer music, I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my own favorites based on their choices. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from their lists. And I started off listening to new releases each month, eventually arriving at my picks for the 21 best albums of 2021. I had so much fun in the process that I decided to do it again in 2022, listening each month and discovering the 22 best albums of 2022.
There are links to the 2020, 2021, and 2022 albums in the posts, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist for each year, I’ve set that up on Spotify:
As for how those “yes” and “maybe” categories I mentioned above work, as I listen to the new releases for each month I sort the ones that particularly catch my attention into two categories:
Yes– This represents the albums that, upon first listen, could definitely be in running for best of the year.
Maybe– These albums have a lot to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I put them in their own category, because I’ve found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.
Now that we’ve got that established, let’s get on with my picks from the 121 June new releases I listened to!
Albert Hammond, Jr., Melodies on Hiatus– What with his work with the Strokes and all, Hammond is clearly a top rate guitarist, and this makes me aware of just how much the sound of that band owes to his rhythm guitar work. But this is not just a matter of a Strokesque album, though those flourishes are delightful. It’s the deft way he has with balancing melody and rocking guitar, and genuine melancholy yearning that leaves an impression.
Baxter Dury, I Thought I Was Better Than You– Dry wit and more than vaguely unsettling lyrics wrapped in sophisticated pop and laid-back detached spoken word vocals. You might think from all these descriptors that he’s English. You would be right! He is also, incidentally, the son of Ian Dury of Blockheads fame, and it is apparent that a great deal of the sardonic deadpan passed down to him.
Big Freedia, Central City– This album from New Orleans-based rapper Big Freedia is overflowing with humor, booming bawdy energy, and classic mix motifs. This is apparently a subgenre known as “bounce music”. And heaven knows this is a historical moment where exuberant energy from a gender nonconforming gay man who embraces femininity is extremely welcome.
Bob Dylan, Shadow Kingdom– We all had to figure out something to do during COVID. For his part, Bob Dylan put out a black and white film of a live-in-the-studio concert where he revisited songs from earlier in his career. Two years later he’s released an album version of that concert. Casting early Dylan into later-day Dylan with a slowed down and precise vocal phrasing and musical reworkings of his old standards is kind of a revelation. It makes you realize what he’s been doing since Time Out Of Mind, and both the links it has with his earlier work, and the phase shift involved.
Boris/Uniform, Bright New Disease– New York industrial noise-rock band Uniform toured with the also noisy and pan-genre Japanese trio Boris in 2019. The two groups then began recording music together. The result is unhinged in the best way- it has elements of noise rock, metal, hardcore, all delivered with an edge of madcap experimentalism.
Detwat, HiTech– I have learned that ghettotech is a fusion of electro, techno, ghetto house, and Miami bass that has arisen from Detroit’s club scene. I’ve also learned that I like this. It’s very fresh! It shows the verve of both good hip hop and electronic, with stuttering energy, humor, and a sophisticated mix.
Dream Wife, Social Lubrication– I was on the edge with this- at first it seemed punky, but not terribly originally so. And pleasantly featuring girl-power, but not overly notably. But then the lyrical bite kept coming, and the 80s and 90s alt influences got piled on top of the punk. This London-based band won me over!
Joanna Sternberg, I’ve Got Me– Quirky vocals, acoustic, with sharp dense emotionally internal lyrics and slightly off-kilter instrumentation. It’s often kind of sing-song, and deliberately artless, but vulnerable. All-in-all, this NYC-based singer, songwriter and visual artist is doing something delightful and that I want to hear more of!
Juan Wauters, Wandering Rebel– The lyrics here are at times wistful and at times tongue in cheek, the musical mix light and inventive, the whole thing shot through with his signature experimentalism, and winning multi-cultural mix. The formerly Queens-based artist has relocated to his native Uruguay, and both landscapes show through here.
Nat Myers, Yellow Peril– A Korean-American Blues musician, which is a story I like. But even better, it is as fine a genuine-feeling dynamic set of steel guitar traditional blues as you are going to find. It never felt less than fun and true for a single track.
Owl City, Coco Moon– I heard this was from an electronica collective, which put me a little on edge. But in fact, it turns out to be delightful! It is electronic , but in the way, for example, the Postal Service is electronic. And in fact, reminds me of the brighter and more quirky side of Ben Gibbard’s work. It’s somewhere between affecting storytelling and high-energy summer fluff, and unusually informed (for indie electronica) by the artists’ Christianity. Per Wikipedia: “Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young, who created the project while experimenting with music in his parents’ basement.” Three cheers for music that comes from parent’s basements!
Ruen Brothers, Ten Paces– An atmospheric indie rock with cowboy ballad flavorings, minor chords, and weird western themes. How am I not going to fall for this? I’m NOT not! Turns out on subsequent investigation that they are an English duo infatuated with American music a la rockabilly. Well, okay! Well done lads.
Speech Bebelle, Sunday Dinner on a Monday– This British hip-hop artist has an interesting voice, in both senses of the word, and a lush richly-produced mix backing her. I really appreciate her poetic flow, and the fact that it takes on social concerns and reveals internal emotional truths with equal fluency, organically joining the two.
Sweeping Promises, Good Living Is Coming for You– Such a bright clear classic new wave sound! They wouldn’t sound out of place on a circa 1983 double-bill with Missing Persons. Which is not to say there is anything inauthentic here, behind the slinky synthy excellence, there’s some genuine heft and personality to the vocals of lead singer Lira Mondal. Dagnabit, I think I love this Kansas by way of Austin by way of Boston by way of Arkansas band!
Teke::Teke, Hagata– Their album Shirushi made my 2021 Honorable Mention list, and this one is charming me in a similar fashion. Eclectic, alternately serrated and swinging, with an edge of dark frenzy and a hefty dash of mirthfulness. Yes, it is all in Japanese, no that doesn’t matter, the wealth of its sonic landscape is well worth the journey.
Witch, Zango– “On their first album in nearly 40 years, the Zamrock pioneers prove their malleable, genre-spanning style still sounds like the future.” So says Pitchfork, and I don’t disagree! It reminds of the sunny rock/soul crossover of the late 60s a la Sly Stone, the African polyrhythms informing new wave, good old fashioned crunchy 90s guitar rock, and other things besides. The musical approach is so fresh and alive I’ve got to consider it!
Maybe
Bobbie Nelson/Amanda Shires, Loving You– One of my 2022 top picks, Amanada Shires, with Willie Nelson’s sister covering country-flavored standards with associations with Willie Nelson. Well shucks! It isn’t the most original thing ever, but it is pretty darn nice.
Bombadil, In Color– What a sunny, multi-layered, weirdly fun world this invokes! Color me a fan of this eclectic neo-folk North Carolina band. Also, it’s surprisingly coherent given the way it was recorded in different locales during the pandemic, though there are some pacing issues.
Bully, Lucky For You– I feel like this fell straight out of the 90s! Crunching guitar rock, ragged vocals, a deliberately unkempt, in your face energy. There are glimmers of 00s dance, because she is of the generation that is pop-fusing that with 90s alt rock (witness guest track by Soccer Mommy). It’s derivative, but it’s a good derivation.
Cory Hanson, Western Cum– A little southern rock, a little country rock, gets into 70s classic rock riffs, and occasionally ventures into country hardcore territory. Sometimes reminiscent of Neil Young. All with a great deal of humor! It’s a mood, it’s an era, but it is a great evocation of it.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Weathervanes– I am such a sucker for what Jason Isbel does. On this album, he starts on a genuinely dark and spooky note musically and lyrically, then lightens up from there- mixing in his signature combination of country, 70s rock, Springsteen-reminiscent anthemic songs, and Dylan-reminiscent sketches. But even as the music grows more exuberant, the darkness and ache is never far away. It’s a little incoherent for its sprawl (with a run time of an hour), but that’s the only thing keeping it from “yes”.
Jenny Lewis, Joy’All– Comparing Jenny Lewis to the best of Jenny Lewis is maybe unfair to her, but that’s what you get for being great! On that front, her lyrics here are occasionally shallower, her vocals sometimes more washed out, and the music not always as sharp as her best. in other words, sometimes it is merely “good” instead of “really, really good”. But definitely good enough for a second listen!
Jess Williamson, Time Ain’t Accidental– A country folk excursion with hints of Jenny Lewis, Nanci Griffith, and others. The lyrics are richly visual, evocative of the musical space without being cliché, and her voice warmly invites you in. It has a fairly narrow musical and vocal range but bears repeated listening.
Kool Keith, Black Elvis 2– Sequel to the well-regarded 1999 solo album from this founding member of the Ultramagnetic MCs. And, indeed, it has a certain kind of 90s verve to it- hard metallic drive to the beats and the flow, clever lyrics, varied if not downright whacky samples. As if to prove the point, there’s even a guest spot from Ice-T. And there’s a track devoted to Marvel comics, so you know that’s going to reel me in.
Laura Cantrell, Just Like a Rose: The Anniversary Sessions– Well that is some lovely countrified electric Americana! Both musically and vocally it’s full of brightness and clarity, with lyrics and chord changes that have a feeling for authentically honoring country while bringing in pop rock energy. Cantrell has been recording in this vein since the late 90s, and this is her 6th solo album (raising a family and having to work for a living having taken a lot of her time). The musical and vocal range is rather narrow track to track, which is about the source of my “maybe”, but it shines with sincerity.
Louise Post, Sleepwalker– I like cooking with salt. Do you know what kind of salt I like best? Veruca Salt! So, in service to my evergreen love affair with 90s loud guitar alt rock female singers, I am always going to be interested in what Louise Post is up to. And she’s up to classic form here! Not to mention self-consciously looking back and reminiscing. As such, it sounds a little dated. As such, I can’t help but love it.
Lucinda Williams, Stories From a Rock ‘n’ Roll Heart– Lucinda Williams rocking out is going to be a pretty good combination to bring me on board with. And indeed, this album is full of fine moments. It lulls toward the second half, but even if It isn’t “great” Lucinda Williams, “good” Lucinda Williams is pretty great.
Metro Boomin, Metro Boomin Presents Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Soundtrack From and Inspired by the Motion Picture)– This soundtrack is led up by hip-hop and trap DJ/producer DJ Leland Tyler Wayne aka Metro Boomin, but loaded full of guest stars. The surprising news, to me, is how successful it is as an album. Perhaps because of the focus the film provides, perhaps because of a skilled producer with a clear vision, it feels “together”. And even uses auto-tune in a way that feels holistic to the songs and tone of the album without sacrificing dynamism and vitality. I’m not totally sold, but I can’t dismiss it as a possibility!
Pardoner, Peace-Loving People– A nice snotty jangly guitar sound that reminds me of a certain strain of American alt 80s and 90s alternative, with occasional dips into total hardcore, delivered via 14 songs in 28 minutes. Not the most original components ever, but I will say I liked it more as time went on. And wouldn’t you know they’re a San Francisco band?
Protomartyr, Formal Growth in the Desert– Solid post-punk, with an edge of industrial, and some weighty anger, as befits a band from Detroit. They remind me of many things from the 80s and 90s, and as such, it’s not a startlingly new or different sound. If you read Rage Against the Machine through Magazine, you might get something like this. But the feeling conveyed is genuine, urgent, and timely.
Son Volt, Day of the Doug– This tribute album to Tex-Mex musician Doug Sahm was conceived by Son Volt frontman Jay Farrar. What results is classic Son Volt, lent a little bit of focus by the theme. Not “different” from the countrified rock space they usually operate in, but very well done.
Special Friend, Wait Until The Flames Come Rushing In– Their 2021 album Ennemi Commun was on my semi-finals list. This has that same feeling for fuzzy guitar, pop melodies, and genuine emotion with quirky twee delivery. I won’t be mad at listening to it again!
The Baseball Project, Grand Salami Time– This starts off feeling like a lost album from the original American punk scene(s) somewhere between New York and LA. Not on the hard thrashy side, but on the more melodic, and conversant with 60s harmonies side- think Richard Hell, Television, X. Or the New York Dolls. More than a hint of garage psyche gets into it from there, a la the Nuggets collection. I am a little unsure due to the multiplicity of dated feels but darn it’s a good exemplar of its sounds!
The Dead Milkmen, Quaker City Quiet Pills– In a way, this could have been an album from them at any point in the 80s or 90s. But the snarky excellence and low-key brutality of their approach on songs like, “Grandpa’s Not Racist” is pretty damn timely. Dated? Timeless? Any which way, I have to consider it.
Youth Lagoon, Heaven is a Junkyard– This is musically and vocally extremely low-key, which had me on the fence. But also, haunting, and compelling in the melodic yet ragged spell it weaves. Youth Lagoon is the vehicle of Idaho-bred bedroom pop/neo psychedelia musician Trevor Powers, returning after a break since 2016. Welcome back!
And there you have it, June, coming to you before the end of August. We’ll keep working on the pipeline. Because you can’t quit when you’re halfway there!
All right, not quite before the end of June, but we’re getting May out in early July. We’re catching up to real time! But catching up on what, you ask? Well, we’re on a journey to find the 23 best albums of 2023 by listening to new albums as they come out each month and sorting them into “yes” and “maybe”. Join us!
Okay, you say. I’m intrigued. But how did this come about? In 2021, in a quest to get familiar with newer music, 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. And I started off listening to new releases each month, eventually finding the 21 best albums of 2021. I had so much fun in the process that I decided to do it again in 2022, listening each month and discovering the 22 best albums of 2022.
There are links to the 2021 and 2022 albums in the posts, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve set that up on Spotify:
Did I mention “yes” and “maybe” above? I did! As I listen to the new releases for each month, I sort the ones that are in contention for best of the year into two categories:
Yes– This 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 put them in their own category, because I’ve found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.
Got it? Good. Now let’s get on with my picks for the most promising albums from the 105 May new releases I listened to!
Alice Longyu Gao, Let’s Hope Heteros Fail, Learn and Retire– The title lets you know there’s a point of view, which is great. But even better is the mix of energetic, wacky, and experimental on display here as it combines electronic, sing-song, noise rock, and high-octane dance music. This Chinese-born American singer, songwriter, DJ, and performance artist has it going on! (Note this is not actually a May release, it’s from Pitchfork’s Spring list of “33 albums you might have missed”. As you know, we miss NOTHING.)
Arlo Parks, My Soft Machine– Her album Collapsed in Sunbeams was in my top 21 list for 2021. Compared to that, this album smoother in some ways due to a lusher more pop-oriented production. But lyrically it’s more directly personal and the vocals often have an uncloaked sense of vulnerability. So, its strengths are different, but she is no less powerful here for it.
Charlotte Cornfield, Could Have Done Anything– One of my picks for 2021 honorable mention was her album Highs in the Minuses, and it remains a sentimental favorite of mine. This has the same plain-spoken honesty of lyrics and vocals, warm presence, and music with an acoustic base but enough production polish and melody that moves it along nicely.
Dave Matthews Band, Walk Around the Moon– Nobody is more surprised than me to find myself liking this! After the freshness of his initial intro in the 90s Dave Matthews has been, well, very Dave Matthews. Reliably, dependably, relentlessly Dave Matthews. This, however, finds him in a darker and more pensive mood, and a musically rich one- there are hints of grunge, 60s psychedelic pop, and various other soundscapes along the way, and a less sunny, more interior dive than we have come to expect from him.
Foyer Red, Yarn the Hours Away– A weird nervy, jerky, rock, multi-layered, sing-songy, with gonzo synths. If more people were as inventive with pop rock as this Brooklyn band, it would be a grand world!
Galen Ayers/Paul Simonon, Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?– In a way, it is no surprise to have a member of the Clash on a musical venture that mixes up ska, Latin, and retro-rock influences. Former Clash bassist Simonon worked out these songs while riding out COVID in Spain. He has actually mostly been creating as a well-regarded painter in recent decades, but the experience of street playing got him interested in his first musical venture in five years. When he returned to London after the pandemic receded, he partnered with singer/songwriter Galen Ayers to bring his new songs out as this album. It legitimately delights, retaining the feeling of warmth and relaxed spontaneity from the set’s origin.
Kassa Overall, Animals– “Equally adept as a jazz drummer, rapper, and producer, Seattle’s Kassa Overall makes records whose approach to musical modernism is informed amply by beat consciousness.” That’s the description, and it’s a great mix! Wildly variable jazz, experimental electronic, left field hip hop all at once.
Kesha, Gag Order– Wow! I did not know a lot about Kesha beyond some vague sense she was dance-related. Which she is, but also raw, ragged, angry, powerful, spiritual, musically varied, and given to unusual production choices. Compelling all the way through!
Olivia Jean, Raving Ghost– Olivia Jean is the lead of the “garage goth” band the Black Belles and, somewhere incidentally along the way, Jack White’s newest wife. I mention those only because both factors, maybe, give you a clue to what her musical POV is. Swinging, retro, and vaguely sinister on the first track, slightly punky power pop new wave on the second, a metal feeling on the third. And later, there is the version of “Orinoco Flow” that turns it into a girl-group/punk number. It may all be a little formulaic, but damn it’s a good formula- Olivia Jean is a cool rocking righteous chick, and I am here for it!
Peter One, Come Back to Me– A good story: The U.S. debut at age 67 of a Nashville musician from Côte d’Ivoire who found fame in Africa as a folk musician in the 90s before emigrating to the U.S. in the 90s and doing just regular life for decades. Even better: It’s a lovely album that delivers an intriguing hybrid of acoustic Afro-pop, jazz, blues, and American folk. From these disparate parts comes a unique whole. And how often these days do you hear something that doesn’t sound like anything but itself?
Rosa Pistola, Cumbiaton Total– Well this was delightful! Such lively, varied, and over the top hip-hop and dance music glee. Per Bandcamp: “Cumbiaton Total is a headfirst dive into Mexico City’s raw and unique take on the reggaeton sound, and its rising recognition. Compiled by NTS with Rosa Pistola (a central figure at the heart of the scene), the release coincides with a mini-documentary that explores the community spirit around the scene, with interviews and footage of the artists that feature on the release.” It is entirely in Spanish, but so fun I don’t care that I can barely understand a single lyric. (Note this is not actually a May release, it’s from Pitchfork’s Spring list of “33 albums you might have missed”. As you know, we miss NOTHING.)
Seán Barna,An Evening at Macri Park– I really like this! Singer/songwriter Barna bases this cycle of songs around Macri Park, a local bar that is a historical anchor for the Queer community in Brooklyn. So, we’ve got that going in for concept, and then new wave/Bowiesque arty melodrama, vivid literary storytelling, and a strong feeling for 70s chords and melodies to top it off.
Maybe
Alex Lahey, The Answer Is Always Yes– This is snarky, a little nervy, with just the right edge of power pop 90s and noisier rock. It’s not the newest, freshest thing ever, and is designedly simple and straightforward musically. But darned if this Australian singer-songwriter isn’t doing a classic sound well!
bar italia, Tracy Denim– A guitar-driven post-punk sound, redolent of the Cure, Siouxsie, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Church, et al, but also with a hint of the 90s to come. The sound is in all wise a little dated and derivative, but darn is it sincere and well done.
billy woods & Kenny Segal, Maps– Billy Woods has made several albums that caught my attention in the last few years, but this collaboration with LA producer Segal takes that to a whole other level. It sounds and feels very DIY and is so delightfully varied in terms of the mix. The flow is a little more low key, and it sometimes feels a little incoherent because of it’s very variety, but I can’t fault it for that. Much.
Brandy Clark, Brandy Clark– It begins with a murder song, delivered so plain and simply vocally you can’t help but love it, and on the musical side it goes from spare to rocking. There are a variety of musical approaches and subject matter that follow, all informed by the same spare story-telling with just the right dose of pop refrains. It may play a little too conventionally sometimes, and pacing/speed is an issue, but for this strong songwriter I will give another listen.
Conway the Machine, Won’t He Do It– There’s a glower and a swagger to this, as well as a muscular mix. If the subject matter isn’t the freshest ever, the flow and personality are strong.
Cusp, You Can Do It All– The hushed opening gave me pause, but I liked the slightly-off guitar rhythm and phrasing of the second track. It goes from there to a fuzzy 90s kind of sound, but retains being slightly off kilter, mixed with sweet melodies. In parts familiar, in parts feeling fresh.
Graham Day & the Gaolers, Reflections in the Glass– Now that’s some good old-fashioned 60s garage rock! It’s not the most original sound in the world, but Graham’s been plying this trade, both in a variety of UK bands and solo, since the 80s, and as a result, it feels like an original example of it. Too fun and well done not to consider!
Immaterial Possession, Mercy of the Crane Folk– Nervy music, jangly and unnerving. There are hints of post-punk, the Doors, the medieval trippy bazaar side of psychedelia, and horror aspects of goth and industrial. It doesn’t sound totally coherent, sometimes the flow is a little off, but this Georgia quartet has something interesting going on!
Jonas Brothers, The Album– I semi-despise myself for even doing this, but I think it’s a gosh-darn maybe! The thing is, I listened through to the end, because each song had enough charm and 2020s peak pop perfection to keep me going. A little pre-packaged? Yes. But a package with a powerfully efficient design!
Masego, Masego– His mix of soul, house, hip-hop, and jazz is winning. It’s musically and vocally interesting, and if not lyrically profound, what’s going on fits the sunny mellow whole. I’m not sure it comes together as an album with enough energy to sustain it, but worth another listen. (Note this is not actually a May release, it’s from Pitchfork’s Spring list of “33 albums you might have missed”. As you know, we miss NOTHING.)
Panic Pocket, Mad Half Hour– This London duo lands somewhere between heavy crunching guitar and poppy melody, with multi-layered female-lead vocals, i.e. it could have come straight from the 90s. The references and concerns are thoroughly contemporary though, and tilt toward a welcome snarky feminism even if the lyrics are sometimes a little too on the nose.
Radiator Hospital, Can’t Make Any Promises– This Detroit by way of Michigan indie rock band is somewhere between 80s jangle rock, 90s lo-fi, and 00s garage. Not groundbreaking, but sounds I love and so very solidly done.
Rhoda Dakar, Version Girl– I know her from being a key figure in the 70s/80s U.K. ska scene, and singing one of the most harrowing songs I have ever heard, “The Boiler”. So, she’s coming in here with a lot of credibility, and this is a covers album, which always tickles my fancy. And indeed these are great versions, delivered in relaxed and easy ska.
Rodney Crowell, The Chicago Sessions– In 2020, Rodney Crowell happened to meet Jeff Tweedy of Wilco at a festival they were both playing at, and Tweedy suggested Crowell should come to Chicago sometime and record at Wilco’s rehearsal space and private studio there. The result is this album, and it’s a great example of fit between the sensibilities of artist and producer. If it’s not the newest sound in the world, darn is it a good one.
RP Boo, Legacy Volume 2– The spare excellence, stuttered pop culture sampling, and driving repetition of these DJ mixes reminds me of the 90s heyday of this kind of music. And indeed, Kavain Space, aka RP Boo, had gotten his start DJing in the Chicago house music scene of the 90s and was already legendary for developing the “footwork” style before he began finally publicly releasing his mixes in the 2010s. This sample collects mixes from the 00s, but it’s new to us. And excellent!
The Murlocs, Calm Ya Farm– An exuberant sound with country and southern rock flavors. Weirdly for the very American sound they are channeling, they’re from Melbourne. It’s not the most original formulation ever, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.
And there you have the May review, out in the first week of July! Can we get June out before the end of the month? Stay tuned…
Do you mostly listen to older music? Me too! In fact, I spent a lot of the new millennium so thoroughly backfilling on genre deep dives and missed gems of the 60s through 90s that I hit 2020 with very little familiarity with newer artists. What to do?
I set out to educate myself! In 2021 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. And I started off listening to new releases each month, eventually finding the 21 best albums of 2021. I had so much fun in the process that I decided to do it again in 2022, listening each month and discovering the 22 best albums of 2022.
There are links to the 2021 and 2022 albums in the posts, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve set that up in Spotify:
And now in 2023 I’m doing it again! I got a little behind in the beginning of the year, so I batched the “yes” and “maybe” albums of the first three months together:
Speaking of “yes” and “maybe”, this is how those categories work:
Yes– This 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 put them in their own category, because I’ve found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.
Now that we’ve got all that sorted it, let’s proceed with my picks for the most promising albums from 99 April new releases!
Black Thought/El Michels Affair, Glorious Game– The Roots founder Black Thought and producer El Michels Affair have teamed up well on this album, with Black Thought’s philosophical lyrics and authoritative flow marrying up with an innovative and sharp live/sampled mix from Michels. Add to this the dub and classic soul elements, experimental touches, and the import of the lyrics combine to make a thoroughly excellent package.
Esther Rose, Safe to Run– I was looking forward to this since her album How Many Times made my top 21 in 2021. And here again we have her delightfully sincere vocals, emotionally literate storytelling, and utterly authentic feeling for country, pop, rock, and their fit together. I’m not sure if I’m totally sold on the sequencing, but damn does every single individual song hold up.
Facs, Still Life in Decay– A spare, glowering, bruising set from this Chicago experimental trio. There are also layers of depth in the billowy darkness, a kind of emotional transformation even. It reminds me of the more metallic ends of post punk, of industrial, of the heavy break of a Nirvana song.
Kero Kero Bonito, Intro Bonito– High-energy mix, playing with fragments of electronic, classic video-game sound effects, dance, new wave, J-pop, and hip-hop. It is sweet, melodic, and so darn catchy that it works equally well whether the individual songs are in English or Japanese.
Natalie Merchant, Keep Your Courage– If Natalie Merchant can make a bad album, we have not yet discovered it. The songs here are serious and it ends on a somber note, but not unusually for her, and with much lush beauty, soaring emotion, and poetic turns of phrase along the way. About the only complaint I can lodge is that this could have come from her at almost any time in the last 30 years. Well…
Nourished by Time, Erotic Probiotic 2– I read before listening that Baltimore-raised singer-songwriter and producer Marcus Brown (aka Nourished by Time) “channels everything from ’90s alt-R&B to bedroom indie-pop and bubbly synthpop in the vein of ’80s Prince”. I would say that’s correct, though it doesn’t quite convey how delightful the meld is. What results is recognizably part of its various influences but doesn’t quite sound like anything else out there. More of this please!
Spencer Cullum, Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2– This Nashville-based English pedal-steel master has produced something redolent of the more acoustic side of psychedelic and prog, a la 70s AM radio sound, with pleasingly ornate yet whimsical musical touches a-plenty. It never sounds like it is taking itself too seriously, but without a moment’s lag in musical quality. All-in-all, a weird delight.
TERRY, Call Me Terry– Ringing jangly propulsive guitars, walls of synth sound, catchy refrains, delightfully artless vocal phrasing delivering artsy elliptical lyrics. Listening to this felt like I was in a great part of the alt 80s, yet also contemporary. Three cheers little Australian indie band!
TisaKorean, Let Me Update My Status– The energy, inventiveness, and sheer fun in the first two tracks here alone shows up most of the hip-hop albums so far this year. The multi-layered production makes it like an orchestra, but an orchestra of voice samples, bright synth music, and repeated tonal motifs that provide a structure that holds the whole thing together. I had a similar reaction to this Houston-based artist’s 2021 album mr.siLLyfLow, and if this is lower on the delightfully gonzo factor than that outing, it is higher on coherence.
Maybe
Bruiser and Bicycle, Holy Red Wagon– So much goes on in the first track alone in terms of high energy, quirky moments, and off-kilter arrangements. And there are at least two songs going on simultaneously in the second song. By the time the third track shifts from shoegaze to electronic to 70s folk to 90s guitar, you’re 22 minutes in. They are apparently a “freak folk” group. They are apparently from Albany, NY. By the end of it, I’m not sure what journey I’ve been on, and if it quite came together as an album, but I never once wanted to turn it off.
Indigo De Souza, All of This Will End– Oh these earnest young things who so effortlessly combine singer-songwriter vulnerability, dance music fun, and crunching 90s guitar rock! There is a whole crop of them out these days, and we are blessed for it. Though it didn’t quite make my 2021 list, this North Carolina singer’s album Any Shape You Take caught my eye for the same strengths of musical inventiveness and emotional rawness that are on display here. I’m not totally sold on the sequencing, but it’s got a chance!
Kara Jackson, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?– The power of the plain voice of this one-time National Youth Poet Laureate is what drives this album, but the stripped-down musical settings- spare piano backings, minimal instrumentation, make everything pop that much more. Her voice itself is a choral instrument, and the songs have poetry, but also stories, and know how to have melody and structure as well. And the variety of approaches is amazing, none of them feeling less than heartfelt. The whole thing is a slow burn, but more powerful for it. I’m not quite sure about the overall flow as an album, but it never let go of me.
Lael Neale, Star Eaters Delight– There are the chilly artsy edges, the arch intelligent lyrics, a driving directness to the musical approach. I can see why I like her, even if I’m not 100% sure that flow and sequence came together.
motifs, Remember a Stranger– I loved this album from Singaporean dream pop quintet motifs almost as much as I loved Air Guitar by the Singaporean band Sobs last year, for all the same reasons. The fact that it is so dreamy has me a little on the fence, but apparently there is a scene in Singapore I need to check out!
Poison Ruin, Harvest– Orchestral intros that give way to rocking menace, sometimes shambling metal, sometimes something more like hardcore (which the vocals are reminiscent of as well). It is a good deal more accessible and fun than so many a recent metal album. I don’t know that it’s great, but it’s certainly welcome!
Robbie Fulks, Bluegrass Vacation– Chicago singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks has a decades-long love of country music roots. That, and a basket-full of talented bluegrass musicians recording in Nashville has produced this delightful album. This is not “new,” but it certainly does ring true.
Teleman, Good Time/Hard Time– The parts are recognizable enough- synth pop, new wave, a little disco revival, a pinch of art/prog. But together they work in a way that, if it isn’t new and fresh, still sounds genuine and is engaging from end to end.
The National Honor Society, To All the Distance Between Us– The sound here is somewhere between a chiming 60s, a paisley jangly 80s, and a dreampop 90s. It isn’t the most original thing ever, but so solidly done. Surprisingly, given the UK-feeling influences, they are a Seattle band, and they’re doing it well- the album won’t let you down for a single track.
Wednesday, Rat Saw God– Oh I like this! Moody layers of guitar, alternating feedback-laden surges and quiet lulls, lead-vocalist Karly Hartzman singing with just the right tone of lackadaisical anguish. On the song “Bull Believer” they let it all go for 8 minutes, and then on “Get Shocked” they show they can pull it together into a two-minute package. Either way, there are worlds of feeling inside these songs. There are sequencing issues with the faster and slower moments, but that’s the only thing keeping this Asheville, North Carolina from “yes”.
And there we have the April review! Out before the end of June, so I think we’re catching up. There’s even a chance I’ll have May out too before month’s end, and if not, shortly thereafter…
I mean, it worked out so well in 2021 and 2022, how could I not do it again?
If you’re just joining us for the first time, a few years ago I set out to catch up on newer music. 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, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022.
There are links to the albums in the posts, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve now set that up in Spotify for the 2021 top 21 and the 2022 top 22.
And now I’m doing it again! Lots of life the last few months delayed things so I may be batching months together, like this Q1 update, until I catch up. Heck, I may decide to batch them together more in general! The other major change I’m making from the last two years is that I’ll just be listing the “yes” and “maybe” albums. I came to believe neither you or I needed lengthy lists of “no”s. If I’m missing something you think I should have picked, ask me about it!
Speaking of “yes” and “maybe”, those two categories work the same way they have in previous years:
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 243 new January-March releases!
100 gecs, 10,000 gecs– I do love me some hyperpop! This particular iteration from this St. Louis duo is equal parts bedroom pop synth, autotune, and thrashy guitar feedback excess, and is high energy, silly, and total sincere.
Angel Bat Dawid, Requiem for Jazz– Meant as a deliberate response to the “Jazz is Dead” line that has been kicking around since the 1959 film The Cry of Jazz, this extraordinary album by Chicago composer, clarinetist, and educator Dawid holds a literal requiem mass for the form that both celebrates it, and turns it inside out, both in service of what jazz has meant in the Black world, and what something new in its spirit could mean. It’s orchestral, experimental, dissonant, exuberant, and incantatory.
Ava Max, Diamonds and Dancefloors– I do appreciate good dance music, and this starts off on the right note in terms of energy, production, catchiness, and verve. There is, of course, the phenomenon of putting your strongest track first, and having things rapidly decline from there. But this keeps going at the same level track after track. Nothing overstays its welcome either- the longest track is 3:26. Ava Max is now my second-favorite Albanian-American musical powerhouse! (Sorry Ava, Action Bronson got there first.)
BabyBaby_Explores, Food Near Me, Weather Tomorrow– Musically quirky, distorted and dissonant, lyrically snarky, and vocally weird, without losing the through line of darkly inflected guitars and drums. This Providence Rhode Island trio is an exemplar of what post rock can do. I want more!
Benny Sings, Young Hearts– I really liked his 2021 album Music‘s feeling for relentlessly sunny and utterly sincere pop. That same delightful groove is on display here.
BIG|BRAVE, nature morte– This album rode the edge of being too abstract, but the industrial edges, vocal violence, and serrated dark emotion won me over. I like what this Montreal band is on to!
Debby Friday, Good Luck– This Nigeria-born, Canada-based artist has been known for rave-inspired dystopian sci-fi works. How could i not love that conceptually? And actually, it’s artistic, lurching, electronic, almost like a hardcore electronic dance music.
Doug Paisley, Say What You Like– A classic 70s sound redolent of Southern California singer-songwriters, with a little of the “80s comeback” production gloss of the same. Not the most original sound ever, but literate, heartfelt, and never strikes a false note.
Gee Tee, Goodnight Neanderthal– Turns out a nice old-fashioned LA-scene punk band right on the edge of their “maturing 80s alt” phase is still a good sound! And as befits it sounding “classic” for the space, it from Australia’s excellent contemporary punk scene. It isn’t super-original, but it’s such fast sunny fun that I can’t deny it!
Gina Birch, I Play My Bass Loud– This album from Raincoats co-founder Burch has got the dissonant sound of early post-punk, experiments with rhythm, intriguing work from her eponymous bass, and a familiar feminist edge. If it does sound of an era, well, she was one of the founders of that era, and everything here is still oh so relevant.
H. Hawkline, Milk For Flowers– Golden lazy pop that reminds, as do so many things these days, of the 70s, but also of twee and the more baroquely pop-minded singer-songwriter side of the alt 80s in the UK. Rich vocals, lyrical depth, sparkling musical flourishes, and even an honest to goodness emotional arc. This relatively young (38) Welsh singer-songwriter has got a lot going on!
Icecoldbishop, Generational Curse– There’s an edge of menace, and even desperation, to the flow and mix of this album. Add on top of that interesting and varied musical and vocal choices and lyrics that, not without humor, but also often with horror, meditatively delve into street life, drugs, and family loss. This L.A. rapper has put out about as good a hip-hop album as I’ve heard this year.
Jad Fair/Samuel Locke Ward, Happy Hearts– I found this to be nearly unclassifiable, in a good way. It comes across as almost a sing-song children’s album. Except awkward, adult, and sometimes dark. With a good feeling for sweet melody, and plain vocal delivery. It definitely shows that this comes from a wildly inventive place- Jad Fair, prolific ever since he started with his brother David as Half Japanese during the mid-’70s, went into overdrive during the 2020s. During this period, he was contacted by Samuel Locke Ward, a home taper from Iowa with a strong D.I.Y. aesthetic. Working remotely, they began making one song per week, leading to this album.
JPEGMafia & Danny Brown, Scaring the Hoes– This collaboration between innovative Detroit rapper Brown and Brooklyn-based JPEGMafia (aka Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks) is a dizzying breathless ride. The flow is blistering, the mix experimental and kaleidoscopic, and the fun they had in making it is manifest.
Kate Davis, Fishbowl– Oh the crunching guitars. The driving songs. The melodies! The crystal-clear vocals and emotionally literate lyrics. I do so enjoy what Kate Davis does.
King Tuff, Smalltown Stardust– This is great! Musically, it noticeably hearkens back to familiar sources: psychedelia, T Rex, 60s pop a la George Martin. Lyrically, it is weird, metaphysical, sometimes sweet, sometimes unsettling. And this Sub Pop artist has been a member of Ty Segal’s band and headed a stoner rock outfit is from Vermont too! Go home team!
Lana Del Ray, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd– The lush beauty that is a Lana Del Ray song, and the bite that is her lyrical sharpness and dark emotion under the sweetness (kind of like a tunnel under Ocean Blvd…) is in full form here. To this she’s added experimental touches (raucous speech samples from various sources that are just this side of opaque) whose energy makes everything that little touch extra unsettling. It’s not the most unified thing she’s ever put out, it’s not the most impactful, but that’s like evaluating different gradations of gold.
Lisa O’Neill, All of This Is Chance– Folk with a musically dark edge and vocal phrasing that’s both prickly and vulnerable. She reminds me in a way of Dylan in his younger days and how much he could charge a traditional number with new and urgent vital power.
Logic, College Park– The structure of this album is literally Logic and his friend taking a drive around College Park, Maryland, dropping in on people and places along the way to a show. So that gives us the frame, and then the muscular musical mix, strong beats, interesting and varied flow, and self-aware narration lend it depth. At more than an hour it is a tad on the long side, but structure, contents, and fun keep it going. His 2022 album Vinyl was one of my honorable mentions, and this is in contention as well.
Macklemore, Ben– As your contemporary pop superstar hip-hop goes, Macklemore is top of the crop. It’s heavily produced, but the production flourishes are earned, and in service of substantive lyrics and a winning persona. Even the ubiquitous guest star mania is well-deployed. This album means something and I would listen to it again, which in 2023 is not a given.
Maneskin, Rush– This is sleazy high-verve rock and roll of the kind rarely seen in the wild these days. As is so often the case when you do find it, a foreign band is doing it (Italian in this case). Are the lyrics always genius? No. Is the music often a bit obvious? Yes. Gloriously, exuberantly so!
Margo Price, Strays– Having picked her album That’s How Rumors Get Started as one of the best of 2020, I was listening carefully. I started off thinking this had too conventional a pop approach. Then her electric power, deeply stated lyrics, and powerful inventive and lush fusion of pop, rock, and country won me over anew. She really is a singular talent.
Melanie Martinez, PORTALS– Do you like your dance music hallucinatory, crackling with sharp wit, and at times more than vaguely terrifying? I do! Former The Voice contestant Martinez has gotten progressively further out there since a fairly standard pop debut, and I am here for it.
Morgan and the Organ Donors, M.O.D.s– Holy retro soundscapes! Driving, chiming guitars, cracking drums, harmonies. You will hear some 60s girl-group, some garage rock, some pop side of punk, some 80s jangle, some 90s riot grrrl. And it never sounds less than organically whole and fresh, which isn’t an accident. Morgan and the Organ Donors are a band made up of four friends who play a few shows a year at a bar they like in Olympia, Washington. Except the friends are Bikini Kill and Frumpies drummer Tobi Vail on drums, as well as two K Records artists, James Maeda of Spider & the Webs and Olivia Ness of C.O.C.O., on lead guitar and bass.
Mozart Estate, Pop-up! Ker-ching! And the Possibilities of Modern Shopping– Based on the name of the album alone I went in already half in love. What a delight then to hear a perfectly-delivered version of the most exuberant varieties of pub rock, early UK new wave, and UK 80s alt pop acts like Squeeze and The Beautiful South. It is in all wise a familiar sound, but so beautifully rendered that I cannot get mad at it!
Oddisee, To What End– Oddisee is the stage name of Brooklyn-based Sudanese-American hip-hop artist Amir Mohamed el Khalifa. The pure dynamism of what he puts out here musically, lyrically, and mixologically is extremely winning! It reminded me of certain veins of personal story heavy 2000s hip-hop (think Jay-Z or Kendrick Lamar), with some of the feelings and concerns of conscious hip-hop.
PACKS, Crispy Crunchy Nothing– Darn these kids with their sound bridging singer-songwriter folk and crunching 90s guitars, emotionally complex lyrics, and not so subtle bite. There are a lot of them out there, but the album from this version from Toronto indie rock band PACKS led by musician Madeline Link works from start to finish.
Quasi, Breaking the Balls of History– Janet Weiss did not take her summary dismissal from Sleater Kinney lying down, instead joining with her ex-husband to put out the first new Quasi album in ten years. Quasi has been a reliable interesting and challenging band since the 90s, and they’re still in the game here. By turns crunchy, shimmery and shoegazey, and kaleidoscopically weird, this is a delightful listen from start to finish.
quinnie, flounder– The yearning earnest vocals, literate and emotionally complex lyrics, mix of sweet vulnerability and raw snark, and playful production choices on this New Jersey indie-folk singer’s album are a nearly perfect combination. The subject matter is both timeless (romantic longing vs. reality, disillusionment, wrestling with the mysteries of self) and littered with contemporary social and technological references. I’m not sure how it will fare as a document post “now” but there is no doubt it’s an effective one for the moment.
RAYE, My 21st Century Blues– Sophisticated emotional R&B informed by hip hop, full of musical surges and a voice that is remarkable for precision of phrasing and versatility. The album also grapples with real life- abuse, relationships gone bad, emotional and physical bottoming out, in a way that feels authentic but is still pop music smooth.
Ron Gallo, Foreground Music– A blistering guitar open with echoing vocals is an effective way to worm your way into my heart. But he was already there thanks to his album PEACEMEAL being in my top 21 list for 2021. As for this album, is it extremely self-referential? Entirely tongue in cheek? So musically and lyrically fucking clever you don’t care which? Yes! And yet, though undeniably often whacky, it’s not all fun and games, there’s a heart of furious dissent. Is there a better contemporary protest song than the sharp and yet ultimately poignant, neo-psych “BIG TRUCK ENERGY” or a more anguished love song than “I LOVE SOMEONE BURIED DEEP INSIDE OF YOU”?
SKECH185, He Left Nothing for the Swim Back– NY-based hip-hop artist SKECH185’s fiery social and political truth-telling and producer Jeff Markey’s swirling, lurching sonic mix of sounds combine for a powerful package.
slowthai, UGLY– I liked this british hip hop artist’s 2021 album Tyron quite a bit. This album is just as skillfully done, but more coherent and more serious. It has a brooding weight and propulsive energy as he really gets inside to wrestle with life.
The C.I.A., Surgery Channel– You know, this sounds a bit like a surgery channel! It leans toward a nervy sharp-edged post-punk, with more than a hint of the rawer end of 90s alt bands like Babes in Toyland, but also some chilly electronic/synth work a la Kraftwerk. This turns out not to have been released by a national intelligence agency, but by musical auteur Ty Segall, his wife Denée Segall, and Emmett Kelly of Cairo Gang. I really like it, and I don’t even feel the need to be clandestine about it!
The Go! Team,Get Up Sequences, Pt. 2– Get Up Sequences, Pt. 1 was one of my honorable mentions for 2021, and Part 2 is entirely as charming. Imagine a high school AV team made an album exuberantly mixing electronic dance, international music, and hip-hop with liberal use of synthesizer. This gives you some sense of what this Brighton, UK six-piece band is up to, and it is glorious!
Thee Headcoats, Irregularis (The Great Hiatus)– Rollicking blues rock! With the classic name checks to prove it, bolstered by a determination to be, as one song here puts it “pretty original nevertheless”. Like the “Leader of the Pack” inspired “Leader of the Sect” or album-closer “The Kids Are All Square”… The album came about when Billy Childish’s friend and musical inspiration Don Craine of the Downliners Sect died in February 2022. Childish teamed up with his former bandmates from his ’90s group Thee Headcoats and Craine’s Downliners bandmate Keith Evans to record a memorial EP. They all enjoyed the experience enough that they decided to cut this reunion LP. I love what it does so much!
Tzusing, Green Hat– Malaysia-born, Shanghai- and Taipei-based DJ. You may be surprised to hear me say this given it’s almost entirely instrumental and 100% EDM, but this selection of sharp metallic dance music, surprising and energizing electronic effects, and an actual social point of view introduced through computerized voice memos is a win!
U2, Songs of Surrender– Regular readers will know that I like a good album concept. Even when the concept doesn’t totally work, I admire the ambition. This “new” album from U2 scores highly in that regard. The band presents new recordings of forty songs from throughout their career with a stripped-down acoustic approach, in four sets of ten chosen by each band member. As you might imagine, this ends up being a little long, as in, around two and three quarter hours. But it is worth it- the treatments and in some cases lyrical reworkings expose anew the power of the songs, and as a set it sounds very coherent. You may think me mad, but I think this works!
Wild Billy Childish & CTMF, Failure Not Success– The attitude and snark! The wordplay! The sure feel for decades of ass-kicking rock! Opening with a spot-on cover of “Love Comes in Spurts”! Yes, it’s his second entry on this post alone, but I’ll say the same thing I did when I put his 2021 album Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows on my honorable mention list for that year- How did I not hear of Billy Childish until now?!?!
Maybe
A Certain Ratio, 1982– For a band who has been kicking around since 1977, this Manchester post-punk outfit and early pioneer of the Factory Records scene sound surprisingly lively. Part of that is well-deployed contemporary vocal talent on some tracks. And part is that their mix of sounds- post-punk, dub, house, African- are very much a contemporary mix. Is it fresh enough? I don’t know. But it kept me listening!
Aly & AJ, With Love From– These two ladies know their way around pop song harmonies. It reminds me, in a way I like, of Wilson-Phillips. There is sunniness, emotion, and if it’s in a smooth package, well, that’s kind of the point.
Anna B Savage, in/FLUX– I’m not always sure about the tempo and pacing here, but the carefully chosen vocal phrasing, arch lyrics and modulated music combine to produce a powerful effect. This London artist is controlled and stylish while still being full of feeling.
Belle and Sebastian, Late Developers– I mean, there’s no such thing as a bad album from them, right? This one is more sonically varied than their entry from 2022 and, if that makes it fall a little short in coherence, it also keeps things interesting. It’s not the newest sound in the world for them, but it is a good sound!
Black Belt Eagle Scout, The Land, The Water, The Sky– Sometimes folky, delicate, and shimmery, sometimes a gorgeous shredding noise that would be familiar from, for example, Galaxie 500 or My Bloody Valentine. This Portland based artist is doing something interesting here, livened further by her tackling identity issues both Queer and Indigenous.
boygenius, the record– Indie supergroup of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker. There is an incredible synergy between their complimentary musical approaches, a whole here bolstered by its parts. The music, vocals, and lyrics are consistently rich and often surprising, and my only real complaint is the sequencing, where a few lulled out tracks keep it from fully gelling.
Bun B/Statik Selektah, Trillstatik 2– There’s a lightness, a sprightly feeling to much of the lyrical and musical mix of this collaboration between Texas hip-hop legend Bub B and East Coast producer Statik Selektah, but also depth in the sources and portraits of life. The vocal flow doesn’t always keep up but is also often quite affecting. And, considering the album was recorded live in one twelve-hour session, it has no business being as successful as it. But it is!
Butch Walker, Butch Walker as…Glenn– Walker started off heading a glam metal band in the 80s and has ventured over all kinds of territory since then. This album finds him engaged in a very specific kind of forgery- it presents the persona of “Glenn”, a burned-out musician playing a cheap and rowdy bar. You’ll hear hints of the 70s incarnations of Billy Joel, Springsteen, and Jackson Browne here, as well other similar voices. The concept sound is inherently a little derivative, but it feels fantastically sincere.
Cheater Slicks, Ill-fated Cusses– Echoing clangy guitars, a thick feedback-laden background, and vocals that are consciously artless. They’ve been kicking around the Boston music scene since the late 80s, and it turns out they can still bring it. It sounds like punk, it sounds like garage rock, it sounds like the snottier reaches of 80s hardcore. It sounds like I’m going to listen to it again!
Daisy Jones & The Six, Aurora– Soundtrack froma streaming show/debut album of the fictional Fleetwood Mac era band from the show. So, you know it’s a derivation. But it actually fails, to the extent it does, by not sounding enough of that era, and reading more modern, like an 80s alt or 90s indie band enamored of that sound. As such though, it’s good, if a tad eclectic (another reason it doesn’t ring true as an album), and the most authentic moments are genuinely amazing.
Deathcrash, Less– If this alternation between fuzzy feedback and faster thrashier music, and combination of aching earnestness and tongue way inside cheek feels familiar, it is no less welcome because of it.
Deerhoof, Miracle-Level– I love Deerhoof, but there are a few things here that further set it apart as their oeuvre goes. It’s their first all-Japanese album and recorded live as in a professional studio, another first for them. Perhaps because of that, it’s got tautness, clarity, and sometimes even a relaxed jam feeling on top of their usual off-kilter mix of sweet melody and noisy anarchy. It doesn’t feel as held-together as their best albums, but it is interesting all the way through.
Depeche Mode, Memento Mori– Death and loss loom large in Depeche Mode’s 15th album and first without founding member Andy Fletcher, who was often the intermediary between Martin Gore and Dave Gahan. It feels like a memorial, heavy and yet strangely melodic, while revisiting many eras of Depeche Mode. The mood is a little heavy, but, well, you can understand why.
Gnoomes, Ax Ox– I saw the band described as “Russian shoegaze-psychedelia-Krautrok-techno”. And indeed, it sounds like all of those. Abstract? More than a tad. But also weirdly listenable! If you were in the right club, you know the one, various parts of this sound like you could have heard it there at any point in the 70s, 80s or 90s.
Guided by Voices, La La Land– And here they are again! This old warhorse of an indie band put out multiple albums in 2021 and 2022, and their first for 2023 is in “classic” territory for them, a kind of Pink Floyd/Moody Blues side of psychedelia. It’s not the newest or freshest sound, but so well done I can’t help but say “maybe”!
Iris DeMent, Workin’ on a World– She’s been kicking around since the early 90s with her mix of country, folk, and gospel , and if it’s sometimes a little too on-the-nose lyrically, it’s also sincere, and is relaxed and confident in its retro musical and vocal stylings.
jonatan leandoer96, Sugar World– Based on the title and the extremely wholesome looking artist on the cover, I was afraid things would be a little too sugary, but in fact this ends up being a beautiful vocalist with solid pop sensibilities turning a variety of 80s alt rock musical approaches into pop gold. Not the deepest thing ever, but rather refreshing!
Lil Yachty, Let’s Start Here– I’ve liked some other things I heard from this Georgia-born hip-hop artist/producer, but this is a whole other level. Yes, it is heavily autotuned, but in this case the medium is part of the message. That is to say, the autotune is folded into layers of production, soul samples, and sometimes philosophical lyrical excursions in a way that supports the whole. It almost feels like a Pink Floyd approach to a hip hop album. Not entirely sure it comes together, but it is worth another listen. Or two!
MIKE, Beware of the Monkey– This wasn’t always distinct enough to break through on an individual track basis, but the metaphysical and socially conscious sampling and lyrics, warmness of the vocal flow, and depth and richness of the musical mix was very compelling. This Bronx-based hip hop artist originally from London has got something very interesting going on.
Paramore, This is Why– I do like me some Paramore! They know how to rock, they know how to be funky, they know how to be dancey, they know how to speed up and slow down within the same song. Not to mention the welcome lyrical bite. I will say there is a sense in which this could have been recorded any time in the last twenty years, and sounded right for its era, but it’s a good rendition.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Land of Sleeper– I mean, the name, right? And the description I read of the band is, “Standing at the nexus of doomy stoner metal, fuzz-blasted psych-rock, and bracing post-rock, Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs confront existential dread with creativity.” They live up to it! I haven’t been quite this happy with a batch of metal since the heyday of Mastodon, and if the vocals are a little hoarse/shouty, the music is primo.
R. Ring, War Poems, We Rested– I kept thinking how strongly this was hitting my “female-led 90s alt rock” weak spot, and then read that the band is a collaboration of Mike Montgomery of Ampline and Kim Deal’s sister Kelley (also of the Breeders and the Kelley Deal 6000). Well that explains it! It’s not the freshest thing in the world at this point, but I was a sucker for the sound in 1994, and I’m a sucker for it now.
Samia, Honey– A singer-songwriter with indie rock and electronic influences, her music has a kind of simplicity, but the incisive and emotive lyrics and vocals bring something extra to it. She’s recognizably of a school currently populated by the likes of Soccer Mommy and Olivia Rodrigo, and there are stretches that feel a little too hushed, but the wit and bite demand attention.
Shonen Knife, Our Best Place– Shonen Knife’s mix of girl group pop and Ramones-style punk sounded great and refreshing in the 80s. Their growing musical range while keeping sunny punky pop in the forefront sounded very timely in the 90s. They’ve continued to sound good in the 00s, the 10s, and now in the 20s. Even if these songs could fit in any of those decades, and be from any of their albums, it is impossible to dislike them or say they don’t work.
Sleaford Mods, UK Grim– I am on the fence about this the way I was about their last album. There’s the sameness and simplicity, but also the power in the simplicity, the propulsive poetic barrage, and the witty trenchant and literate rant attached.
The Men, New York City– With the band name, and the album name, you might expect getting a rocking outing that would fit in well with the garage rock revival of the early 00s. And you would get it! Not the most original thing ever, but joyful noise well delivered.
The Nude Party, Rides On– Early on it reads like imagining the Rolling Stones as a new band just starting out today, with a similar approach to musical inspirations, but American and with a good dose of country along with the blues. Eventually it reminds me of Dylan in his country phase. Either way, it’s not totally original, but this North Carolina band knows their space and is inhabiting it very well.
The Reds, Pinks & Purples, The Town That Cursed Your Name– I love the shimmery achy thing that they do here, an invocation of hazy summer days listening to the Cure in the alternative 80s. It’s suffused through with a lyrical nostalgia as well. It is rather same track to track, but a gorgeous sameness.
The Tubs, Dead Meat– The Tubs is kind of a super-group of London-area rock band members, and their collective experience shows here in this well-executed set of songs redolent of the poppier side of original UK punk (think the Buzzcocks, the Jam) and 80s jangle-pop.
Van Morrison, Moving On Skiffle– This dip into a skiffle sound is delightful! He sounds so relaxed and spontaneous, and it’s nice that he’s not putting out full-length COVID conspiracy rants anymore as on his last two albums. The hour and a half-length is really the only issue. I think there’s a 45-minute version of this album that would have been an automatic “yes”.
Vigro Deep, My House My Rules– South African musician/producer Vigro Deep put together this guest-star loaded album based on the “amipiano” genre that has emerged in the South African club scene. Weirdly, given my general electronica-skepticism, and an almost two-hour run time, the sounds were so fresh, interesting, and fun that I must call it a maybe!
Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World– You could make a case that they are the godfathers of indie rock, and here on their 17th album their sound, if not unfamiliar, is still challenging in its mix of charging clanging guitars, quieter moments, elliptical lyrics, fuzzy melodies, and dissonant touches. I’d be down for another 17 albums from them given this, though it did have some pacing concerns for me with a marked slowdown for a big block in the middle.
And this concludes your review of new releases from Q1 2023! I’ll try to get something new out for you before too long…
Are we still behind? Well, it now being 2023, one could reasonably say that. But we’ll get there, and to whit, here is the October (2022) edition of our quest for the 22 Best Albums of 2022!
If you need to review what we’ve gotten up to so far, you can find the previous editions here:
And, since you now have a whole new year’s worth of reading time, you can also check out the finale of my search for the 21 best albums of 2021, and the round-ups of my blog series reviewing the critic’s choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and 2020.
Before we go further with 2022, let’s do a quick overview of the three categories:
Yes– These are albums that could be in the running for the year’s best. As of October we have 143 yesses, so there’s going to be a bloody reckoning.
Maybe– These are the albums that definitely have something going for them, but also something that gives me pause. But because “maybes” sometimes linger and become “yeses”, we’ll give them another listen too. This category now has another 129 victims for bloody reckoning.
No– Being a “no” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re crap. You do sometimes end up there because you’re crap. But other times you can be fine, but not more than fine. Or interesting and ambitious, but not quite pulling it off. Getting to “yes” isn’t easy!
And now, with our categories established, let’s get underway with the review of 106 new October releases!
Avantasia, A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society– Between the descriptor “German metal supergroup whose works have often been compared to operas” and the album name, you may have some inkling that you’re in for something overwrought. And it is true in the most glorious of ways! It’s as if multiple strands of 80s metal- British New Wave, hair metal, European metal a la the Scorpions, a dash of Heart, got together to produce their very own rock opera. It’s as unapologetically over the top as it should be, and it makes my heart smile.
Betty Who, Big– On one level, this Australian-American singer-songwriter and musician has put out an album that is a straightforward 2020’s dance album. But her personality, the darker lyrical depth, the nods to 90s dance pop, and the sheer verve behind the songs take it to a whole other level.
Drugdealer, Hiding in Plain Sight– This project of Michael Collins, a veteran of LA-area psychedelic bands for the past 20 years, focuses on a soft rock sound that could have drifted straight up from Topanga Canyon in 1972. I say that not to be dismissive, it genuinely sounds not just like music from that era, but like great music from that era, so familiar it’s practically heartbreaking, but still fresh and breathing. Bravo!
Lee Fields, Sentimental Fool– Fields became a “sudden” success in his 40s with a classic soul sound and is now 71. He continues to be in great form here, with a sound recalling 60s and 70s R&B.
Tegan and Sara, Crybaby– The sure feeling for pop, the exposure of personal thoughts and feelings, the driving energy, the weirdness- all the best things about Tegan and Sara are here, with layered production and unusual musical and vocal choices bringing a twist to every track. It doesn’t feel totally together, but it more than makes up for it by being consistently compelling and interesting.
The Bobby Lees, Bellevue– You start with a picture of a woman in dirty coveralls sitting in a pig pen for the cover, and I’m pre-charmed. I might have expected something a little country-fried based on that, but what’s actually here is a muscular, rocking, feminist musical assault bringing to mind Babes in Toyland, L7, and early Hole. This Woodstock, New York band’s album is the kind of thing that grabs you by the throat with the first track and doesn’t let go from there. Amen!
The Reds, Pinks & Purples, They Only Wanted Your Soul– In addition to repeatedly using pictures from my old neighborhood in San Francisco for album covers, I love this brainchild of auteur Glenn Donaldson for its shimmery, fuzzy guitar soundscapes, which plot the exact right co-sine between distortion and sweet pop melody.
Todd Rundgren, Space Force– I like Todd Rundgren both for his own music and his work as a producer going back to the 70s, and also I like a good concept. This is an interesting one- he solicited other songwriters from a variety of genres for unfinished songs they’d abandoned, and he completed and recorded them. As befits the concept, it doesn’t exactly sound coherent or unified. But as befits Rundgren, there is a kind of unity in production approach, and a madcap genius behind it holding it all together.
Willow, coping mechanism– Her album LATELY I feel everything was one of my “honorable mention” listees of 2021, and this has the same kind of energy and challenge to it. If anything, it goes further, with the hard rock 90s edges and R&B ballad sensibilities even more organically blended and balanced, and the lyrics and vocals feeling even more personal.
Maybe
Bill Callahan, Ytilaer– There’s a quiet but driving, minor chord, dusty sketches of life quality to the goings on here. It’s mostly that, but sometimes also given over to quirky songs with a jazz jam feeling. And I more than once had the feeling that I was listening to the Doors if the Doors had done a Western soundtrack. Callahan was a pioneer of lo-fi indie rock in the late 80s with his band Smog and continues to be challenging today. If I’m not quite sure the parts here hold together, those parts were so good that I still want to listen to it again.
Dry Cleaning, Stumpwork– Their album New Long Leg was in my top 21 list for 2021. This has many of the same charms- the harsh and angular but also clever and interesting post-punk musical approach, and the dry wit of the spoken word vocals by lead singer Florence Shaw. I’m a little unsure simply because it’s so like its predecessor. But is being like a really good thing a sin?
Goat, Oh Death– This Swedish psychedelic band is known for fusing their psyche sound with world music, which you will hear here, but that undersells how weird it is. There are equal parts distorted garage rock, jazz solos, and African dance rhythms. It makes it a little hard to hold on to, but also perpetually fascinating track to track.
Kenny Mason, RUFFS– There’s something about this album’s mix of rock and hip-hop. That in itself is not a new thing, at all, but here it feels very integral- metallic rock and driving hip hop are both authentic musical languages to this Atlanta rapper, and it shows in his fusion of them.
Loyle Carner, Hugo– This UK hip-hop artist has produced an album that is thick with intelligence, personal material, socially significant tie-ins on race and identity, and a sophisticated musical mix. I’m a little unsure about whether there’s enough variety in the vocal flow and mix track to track, but it’s still compelling.
Meghan Trainor, Takin’ It Back– I started off thinking that, while I am forever grateful to Meghan Trainor for bringing booty back, I wasn’t sure I needed an entire new album. Then I rapidly began to succumb to all the charms of her big hit song from a few years ago- the energy and positivity, unafraid quality of being a little goony, and the musical approach of joining electronic dance with some of the dance forms of yesteryear. There are some moments where it slowed down for me, sometimes it leaned a little heavily on the autotune, but this album is undoubtedly fun.
Paul Heaton/Jacqui Abbott, N.K-Pop– This is a collaboration of the founding members of the Housemartins and the Beautiful South, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it sounds like that 80’s melody and hook-heavy, syrupy yet biting era/school of British pop. In a way almost a time capsule musically, but the lyrics here, both in topicality and in their point of view, recognize that this is more than 30 years later, and show some wisdom and weariness. I’m hedging because of how perfectly of its former era it sounds, and yet how contemporary it is in other ways.
Sloan, Steady– This got off to a nice no fuss no muss rocking start. It’s got a power-pop feeling as well, a pinch of 70s Beatles-inspired sounds, and more than a little on the glam side of bubble gum (or the bubble gum side of glam?). This is the 13th album from this Canadian group, and they have been doing this since 1993. It’s not the freshest approach in the world, but darned if I ever had a bad time with a single track.
Sobs, Air Guitar– This Singapore indie pop band’s album is the second time this year I have come across an Asia-based band delivering nearly perfect-sounding 90s alt rock, in this case in the rocking but still pop vein of say, Letters for Cleo or Liz Phair. It seems a little museum piece to give an unreserved “yes” to, but it’s also too damn much fun to ignore.
No
A.A. Williams, As the Moon Rests– It’s moody, it’s atmospheric, it’s not bad if you want something in the surging orchestral neo-goth space. But is it particularly more or better than other things in the surging orchestral neo-goth space?
Abraxas, Monte Carlo– There is something to be said for the minor chord atmospherics and dramatic vocals here, it reminds one of a certain surf/60s rock America with a gonzo edge. Eventually a little too low energy and same track to track though.
Adrian Sherwood, Dub No Frontiers– Veteran UK reggae producer Adrian Sherwood takes a cosmopolitan approach to dub here, and it would make a great mellow background soundtrack, but I don’t think it lingers the way a year’s best needs to.
a-ha, True North– It’s nice to hear a-ha back, and they’re very sophisticated in this outing, but it’s a little too low key and smoothly produced to really stand out.
Alvvays, Blue Rev– If you’re looking for a My Bloody Valentine shimmer of noise with a hint of jangle pop, look here.
Aoife Nessa Frances, Protector– This Dublin singer-songwriter produces a nice neo-folk swirl, but all a little too same track to track to really stand out.
Arches of Loaf, Reason in Decline– An American indie rock band that started out on the 90s, broke up, and then reformed, and it sounds like many eras of indie rock from the 90s forward. Not bad if you want a good indie-leaning guitar-based band, but a little too smooth and prefab.
Arctic Monkeys, The Car– They had one of my favorite albums of the 2010’s with AM, and I suppose I was expecting something similarly rocking here. Instead, they’re in a much croonier mood, really somewhat reminiscent of David Bowie on his ballad side. It’s not bad, but it’s also not arresting or distinct.
Ariel Zetina, Cyclorama– a beacon for the queer electronic underground. Playing trance-techno sets informed by her identity as a trans woman of Belizean descent. Some of that does show up in the music, and is fascinating when it does, but it tends a little too toward the abstract end of techno.
Armani Caesar, The Liz 2– There’s high concept her in this albums interest in divas, high feminism in the “pussy rap” vein, and some pounding music and lyrical incision. If it doesn’t quite all come together, well, ambition is a reward in itself.
Ashe, Rae– Singer songwriter in a musically smooth, lyrically arch vein a la a lot of others out there now. This is fine, but it doesn’t especially stand out from the pack.
Babehoven, Light Moving Time– There’s a vocal and musical beauty to this Hudson NY group, but the kind of folky kind of country gauziness of it all gets a little too gauzy to sustain.
Bandmanrill, Club Godfather– This debut mixtape from Newark, New Jersey rapper Bandmanrill is a fine hip-hop album. It’s too late in the year for albums that are merely fine.
Bibio, Bib10– A little art rock, a little neo-disco, a lot of mellow, more than a bit of no thanks.
billy woods, Church– I do like what billy woods does, as witness aethiopes ending up on my April “yes” list. Maybe it’s the comparison to that, to which this doesn’t quite measure up in coherence or originality, which did it in.
Bladee, Spiderr– I do love my Scandinavian artists (Swedish in this case), and this fun and goofy overdrive version of electronica was working for me for quite a while. It eventually blended into too much track-to-track sameness though.
Brian Eno, FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE– Brain Eno is one of those artists who I have enormous respect for, both for his Roxy Music and solo albums in the 70s, and his production work in the 80s, but I rarely succeed in actually liking his contemporary albums. That happened here- it’s all a little too abstract and hushed for me. Alas!
Broken Bells, Into the New– The experimental indie pop duo of the Shins’ James Mercer and Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse). I liked it when it sounded like the Shins. I still liked it, but didn’t as much think it stood out, when it had a kind of 80s pop side of prog rock sound.
Bush, The Art of Survival– I must begin by stipulating that I really liked the sound of this album. If it was 1996, I might have it in heavy rotation. But do we really need Bush to be perfectly recreating their 90s sound in 2022?
Carly Rae Jepsen, The Loneliest Time– She does a good brand of pop that combines dance music and some serious singer-songwriter skills, and she’s doing it well here, but better than a lot of other contemporaries?
Charlie Puth, Charlie– As autotuned young pretty boy pop goes, this is.
Charlotte dos Santos, Morfo– She has a beautiful voice and idiosyncratic vocal style, but it seems a little thin and over-produced musically.
Courtney Marie Andrews, Loose Future– She’s a fine singer-songwriter, with an acoustic country and folk-inflected sound, but it gets to be too track-to-track same in terms of vocals, music, and tempo.
Daphni, Cherry– Nice mid-tempo electronic music. It would be great to do the dishes to.
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn, Pigments– It’s mellow, it’s folktronic, its new agey, it’s a little bit jazz. Please save me.
Douglas McCombs, VMAK– An abstract instrumental three-song suite, and not without compelling features, but couldn’t quite lay my hands on it.
Dragonette, Twennies– The electronic dance music here had enough unusual and indie twist, and sheer verve of personality, to keep me invested for a while, but eventually didn’t sustain.
Dungen, En Är För Mycket och Tusen Aldrig Nog– I do like my Swedish collectives, and this album had some fun hi-energy electronic music with a rock edge but was eventually too in Swedish and too given to mellow meandering to work.
Esmerine, Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More– Opened with some fine moody instrumental piano music and, eh…
Field Medic, Grow Your Hair Long If You’re Wanting to See Something– Skillful playing in a n acoustic jangle pop vein and interesting introspective lyrics, but too same track-to-track vocally and musically.
Frankie Cosmos, Inner World Peace– Incidentally the daughter of Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline, Frankie Cosmos is Greta Simone Kline. She’s putting out some great dreamy, semi-twee pop here, and it’s very good, but eventually the vocal and musical and energy level balance tract to track is too often the same.
Gilla Band, Most Normal– This may have been a little too grating and experimental for me as noise pop goes.
Hagop Tchaparian, Bolts – This electronic music was a little too hushed and abstract-tending for me, but he is now my favorite British-Armenian artist.
Hermanos Gutiérrez, El Bueno y el Malo– This Swiss Ecuadorian musician is making some soulful and complex music, but the all-instrumental album and slower tempo made it hard for me to get my hooks in.
iLe, Nacarile– I do like a theremin and other psychedelic affects thrown in with my Spanish language ballads, but the foreign language and relative sameness in tone track to track kept it from settling in with me.
Indigo Sparkle, Hysteria– It’s a beautiful folk-flavored album and her voice is sublime, but it is very same track to track.
Joanne Shaw Taylor, Nobody’s Fool– There’s some good country/folk playing here, but the production feels a little too slick, and the track sameness sets in by and by.
Johanna Warren, Lessons for Mutants– A bit of a spooky ethereal singer, and not bad, but very in a similar flat vein.
Julia Reidy, World in World– The all-instrumental format made it hard for me to get ahold off, but there’s some good spooky discordant guitar here.
Junior Boys, Waiting Game- Well that was pretty ambient and abstract
Keiji Haino/Sumac, Into This Juvenile Apocalypse our Golden Blood to Pour Let Us Never– The philosophical and abstract title of the album and the tracks is borne out in the (mostly instrumental) music, although in a very noisy, metallic, and discordant kind of way.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava– A strangely poppy and sunny sound from these eclectic psyche masters, but eventually it got too jazz-jammy.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Changes– Even more jazz-jammy than the other album by them I listened to this month.
Lamb of God, Omens– I do appreciate some Lamb of God, but was this lambier or godier enough to stand out among their work and the best albums of the year?
Lucrecia Dalt, !Ay!– Per description I read: “Lucrecia Dalt’s ¡Ay! was inspired by the bolero, salsa, and merengue music she grew up hearing in Colombia as a child. The album follows a science fiction story line about an alien visitor named Preta who visits Earth and attempts to make sense of the human condition.” This certainly intrigued, but between an abstract bent and being all in Spanish, I had trouble connecting with it.
M.I.A., Mata– Arular and Kala are two of my favorite albums not just of the 00s, but of the whole damn last 25 years, which in this case is a double-edged sword. It had me going in rooting for this album, but it also has me going in with some steep reference points. I’m left feeling that, while there are many fine moments throughout, and it’s never bad, what’s here isn’t as coherent, arresting, or challenging as her best.
Macula Dog, Orange 2– A lurching off-kilter and often quite funny electronic album. Eventually a little too off-kilter to be consistently listenable for me, but interesting.
Martha, Please Don’t Take Me Back- Nice poppy punk, it would fit in well with nice poppy funk from most anytime the last twenty years or so.
Mavi, Laughing So Hard It Hurts– Definitely some literate self-exposure on this hip hop album, but the flow is a little too low key, as is the mix.
Meat Wave, Malign Hex– Shouty, punk-flavored, with an air of post-punk angularity. It’s fun enough but doesn’t really stand out from other similar examples of this sound.
Mightmare, Cruel Liars– Sarah Shook solo, her other album is one of my favorites of the year, and while this is extremely high quality, it doesn’t have quite the same spark of authenticity and personal power about it.
Molly Joyce, Perspective– Philosophical musings and interview sound snippets on disability, along with experimental music. It’s certainly interesting, definitely artistic, undoubtedly worthy, but I’m not sure it adds up to a repeatedly listenable album.
Natalia Lafourcade, De Todas Las Flores– A touching collection of ballads from this Mexican pop artist, on the theme of heartbreak. The sameness of tone and the language barrier kept me from “getting” it, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something there to get.
Nick Hakim, Cometa– This Brooklyn Musician is doing some decent work here, thick with mood, lo-fi musical surprises, and lyrics full of feeling. But it’s all a little too hazy and undifferentiated track to track to really grab hold of.
Open Mike Eagle, Component System with the Auto Reverse– Some good left-field rap with a lot of humor, but it never quite feels dynamic and captivating enough on a song-to-song basis.
Palm, Nicks and Grazes– There is an air of clashing and discordant to this electronic music, and traces of melody, which make it interesting. But it ends up being a little too clashy feeling for sustained listen.
Peel Dream Magazine, Pad– It’s a nice mellow grove with pleasant synth pop flourishes, but, eh…
Peter Buck/Luke Haines, All the Kids Are Super Bummed Out– Post-punk legend Haines had one of my semi-finalists last year, and Peter Buck, is of course Peter Buck of REM. So, it was some promising material. And, on about every other track, where what each of them is doing really gels, it’s sublime. The rest of the time, though, it’s a little muddy-sounding and unfocused.
Plains, I Walked With You a Ways– Together, Jess Williamson and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield are Plains. Waxahatchee’s Saint Cloud was one of my favorites of 2020, and I do like the country inflected genre. It’s well played, well sung, meaningfully lyrical but a little too same all the way through.
PVA, Blush– If you like your dance music metallic and vaguely terrifying, this is rather good. I do like those things, but it blends on a track-by-track basis after a while.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Return of the Dream Canteen– This is a great band. This is a great band stretching out and getting trippy. As such, there are many interesting moments here. But at 75 minutes, and without a coherent theme or structure, I’m not sure it adds up to a great album.
Rich Aucoin, Synthetic: Season One– I will grant this sounds very synthetic. It’s not bad as electronic music goes, sometimes more on the abstract/experiment than the dance side.
Robyn Hitchcock, Shufflemania– As a child of the alt 80s, I was required by law to like Robyn Hitchcock. It was a good law, and indeed many of his 60s pop influences with a dark twist charms are on display here. At moments it’s quite engaging, but it does tend toward too many songs in amore lugubrious vein in a row.
Scout Gillett, No Roof No Floor– A surging wall of feedback sound, dark minor chords, yearning vocals, a hint of country. It was compelling until it got a little too hushed (and jazzy) halfway through.
Shabason & Krgovich, At Scaramouche– A shimmery (and weirdly Christmassy) sound that did have interesting musical nuances but didn’t engage me.
Show Me the Body, Trouble the Water– I do appreciate the darkness and denseness of the sound here, like post-punk heard through a musical bazaar. It’s a little on the grating sound though, especially the vocals, which eventually cuts into listenability.
Simple Minds, Direction of the Heart– Good on Simple Minds for still making albums (this is their 19th), and there is a world-weariness about it that I appreciate, but it’s too deep into an 80s pop veteran afterburn sound.
Single Mothers, Everything You Need– Some nice punk yuds, better than most and with a genuine anguish on the vocal and lyrical front that’s a little unusual.
Skullcrusher, Quiet the Room– This sounds much less skull-crushing than I would have expected given, you know, the name. It is a darkly nuanced well-produced swirl, but a little ethereal for my tastes.
Sorry, Anywhere But Here– There’s a good sound here that reminds me of many strands of 80s and 90s alt, but while tracks jumped out at me, there was something uneven that kept it from being continuously more than the sum of its parts.
Sylvie, Sylvie– A very pleasant acoustic slightly country-flavored ramble, but at this point in the year, you need to be on fire to stand out against the best.
Taylor Swift, Midnights– The lady doesn’t make a bad album, and the best moments here are up to her best moments anywhere. It does have an unfortunate tendency to have some more “typical” current autotuned sounding tracks that don’t stand out, and some sequencing and pacing issues with too many slow moments too close together. I think there’s a shorter and rearranged version of this that would have been a “yes”, but as is, it’s a nice but not vital or standout addition to Taylormania.
The 1975, Being Funny in a Foreign Language– This is about as good as radio hit indie rock gets, and in fact consistently has some interesting production twists. As such, it’s not bad, but am I going to remember most of these tracks at this time next year?
The Claudettes, The Claudettes Go Out!– Sophisticated, smoky, literate, jazzy songs. While I can’t, I acknowledge that someone can.
The Cult, Under the Midnight Sun– I’ve been liking The Cult since their music first crossed my radar as an 80s alt youth when their second album started getting US College radio station airplay, and their 1987 third album, Electric, remains one of my favorites of that entire era. So, I was here to listen carefully, and indeed, I listened to the whole album, even after I knew I was probably a “no”. It’s good music, reflective of many periods of their career, and won’t disappoint fans, but as a whole doesn’t stand out from their best.
The Lightning Seeds, See You in the Stars– The Lightning Seeds were masters of a kind of sunny twee pop from the late 80’s forward, and they’re still doing it well here. There’s nothing wrong with it, in fact it’s very pleasant, but it sounds of its era.
The Orielles, Tableau– Ethereal, electronic, interesting, not un-fun, but doesn’t ultimately engage.
The Soft Pink Truth, Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This?– There’s some not bad electronic music here, but not sure if it adds up to a consistently engaging album.
Therion, Leviathan II– Their brand of symphonic metal meets choral vocal music is interesting, but I don’t know that I’d want to play it again and again.
Tove Lo, Dirt Femme– She’s Swedish, which I always like, and it’s pretty good as electronic dance music goes, but not year’s best good.
Town Mountain, Lines in the Levee– It’s some good country, better than most. Better than best of year though?
TSHA, Capricorn Sun– This London producer and DJ knows her way around a soundscape, and as result there is good R&B/dance music here. It sounds a little too thinly produced at the expense of power and vitality at times, and the various approaches (while interesting) don’t quite gel. Still, I’d keep an eye out on more from her.
Various Artists, Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen– Obviously, exquisite source material, and some very good covers here. Cohen fans wouldn’t go amiss by having this in their collection, even if it may not work at “year’s best” level as an album proper.
Wand, Spiders in the Rain– Double live album of 8 tracks recorded by psychedelic band while touring in 2019. This is actually a lot more accessible-sounding than that description might make you think! But it’s not quite over an hour’s worth of accessible.
Westside Gunn, 10– The haunting philosophical intro gives way to a 9albeit well-delivered) series of street-life focused songs that don’t back up that profundity at all. Maybe it’s my issue, but the disconnect there threw me.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again, 3800 Degrees– Apparently the artist’s fourth album of the year, and it moves pretty well, but the auto-tune is auto-tuned…
Zella Day, Sunday in Heaven– Not bad as torchy dance albums go, but at this point in the year, I need out of the ballparks for that category.
And there we are, finis on October! On to November and December!
Chris LaMay-West 