In 2023, we saw the first full batch of albums created after Covid restrictions were lifted and musicians were able to tour and collaborate while creating their music. This is potentially one of the reasons that is was such a great year for musicians.

Music lists from past years: 2015/2016/2017/2018/2019/2020/2021/2022

Best Songs

Runner Ups:

• Bioluminescence, Goth Babe
• Raindance, Jon Batiste
• Miami, Caroline Rose

10. Olympus, Blondshell – Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum is an exciting new artist with lots of potential, with Olympus she created a song with a great slow boil.

9. Diving, Bombay Bicycle Club – The bouncing piano, the flute, and the light guitar touches all create a beautiful floating feeling, perfect for a song about growing up and experiencing the world.

8. Sad Disco, flipturn – I didn’t know them, but they surprised me with a great live performance this summer, their creative instrumentation earned them a spot on this list.

7. NYE, Local Natives – This band does not get enough credit for consistently putting out great music for the past 13 years. Guest vocals from Suki Waterhouse really add a new exciting element on this song.

6. Blurry, Petite Noir – I’m a fan of Sampha, so I don’t like what “Sampha the Great” implies with her name. Regardless, Sampha the Great deserves credit for jumping into the middle of this track and busting it wide open.

Top 5 Songs:

5. In Transit, Neil Gaiman and FourPlay

Gaiman performs powerful spoken-word poetry over the dynamic string quartet. He tells the story of Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, the UK physicist who proved Einstein’s theory of relativity just months after World War I ended, helping the scientific community overcome the hatred many still had towards Germany. Gaiman’s words are haunting as he describes Eddington’s isolation as he was unable to embrace his homosexuality. The quartet then explodes and the notes bend, representing how humans, like everything else, bend in the forces of the universe.

4. Bug Like an Angel, Mitski

Mitski is always great, but this song especially blew me away. It was a good idea to bring in the massive chorus, but it was brilliant to use them so sparingly so the effect is impactful each time. 

Did you go and make promises you can’t keep?

Well, when ya break them, they break you right back

Amateur mistake, you can take it from me

3. Tormenta, Gorillaz / Barbaric, Blur

Damian Albright is 35 years into his career and he has proven that he is still a supremely talented songwriter putting out some great songs with his two primary bands. In the Gorillaz track Tormenta there is a standout feature by Bad Bunny. Albright has always taken advantage of features with Gorillaz to create the sound that the song needs, this track is another great example. The Blur song Barbaric is very different with a compelling composition and lyrics built on the losses and experiences based on Albright and his bandmate’s decades of living. 

2. When a Plant is Dying, Squirrel Flower

What starts as a lament on climate change and the difficulties finding your way in life opens up with a driving guitar solo, unlocking the rage behind the sorrow. 

When a plant is dying, it throws down seeds for growing

Not saying you’re dying, but I saw you throw them down

1. Thick Skull, Paramore/Julien Baker

The lyrics depict someone desperately trying to break the cycle of falling into destructive relationships. The original Paramore song is really good, but Julien Baker’s passionate vocals sell the desperation taking the song to the next level. On Baker’s version the members of Paramore create the sometimes unsettling and sometimes driving sound to perfectly complement her vocals. I wonder what else Baker has been up to… [heavy foreshadowing].

Best Albums:

Runner Ups:

• Unreal Unearth, Hozier
• Slugs of Love, Little Dragon
• And I Have Been, Benjamin Clementine

5. Volcano, Jungle

This album has a compelling sound seemingly inspired by 70s soul combined with modern pop and R&B. More importantly, the album kicks. It flows smoothly between the tracks, making it an album that perfectly accompanies nearly every activity. Standout tracks are spread out across the album including Candle Flame, Dominoes, Back On 74, Problemz, and Pretty Little Thing. They also employ interesting audio tricks that might make you wonder if your speakers are messed up the first time you listen. 

4. The Window, Ratboys

This band has been making good music for a while, but I think bringing in Chris Walla to produce helped them reach a new level. I love the diversity between the sounds throughout the album. My favorite track Morning Zoo seems like it wasn’t written by the same band with a jangly guitar and country influences. Another fantastic track The Window is based on Julia Steiner’s grandpa having to watch her grandmother die from Covid from the other side of a window due to visiting restrictions. But in the song “the window” comes to represent all the things that separate us in relationships.

3. My Soft Machine, Arlo Parks

The smooth-voiced London-based musician’s new album features irresistible grooves and catchy choruses. She uses her fantastic song crafting to express a longing for the innocence of youth before diving into the difficult emotions involved in adult relationships. It seems I’m in the minority, but I think this album represents growth over her previous work. While I love the mood that the album sets the album could have been even better if there were more surprises such as the dynamic electric guitar she unleashes in the song Devotion.

2. Heavy Heavy, Young Fathers

Early in the year the Scottish group put out their best album yet, I’ve been listening to it for 11 months, but it still feels like there is plenty to unpack. Since they won the 2014 Mercury Prize with the breakout song GET UP, I’ve been a fan. But it feels like everything found its stride with Heavy Heavy. Their compelling sound doesn’t fit into any conventional genre, which can make it difficult for the group to find an audience. In a Guardian interview they stated, “our music is hip-hop without the rules, just like it’s rock without the guitars.” If you can dig past the chaos, the songs represent a call to fight for humanity: “Survivors on a sinking ship, Let’s stay together, not give in.”

1. The album, boygenius

I stated my excitement for the formation of the Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus super-group back in 2018, but they have achieved more than I thought possible. A band founded in friendship and respect instead of ego, who knew that would work so well? Instead of there being a Baker song followed by a Bridgers song, each song has the fingerprints of the three artists intertwined. The album has tenderness, the album rocks, the album has clever lyrics, the album has multiple layers of meanings that are not immediately understood, but most importantly the album is fantastic music. After listening to it for months, I finally started to realize that Not Strong Enough isn’t about a relationship, but instead about the band’s place in the music world. I’m not sure if recency bias is a factor, but after quickly comparing this album against great albums from the past few years, this could be my favorite album since 2015.