The Music I Loved In 2023
A year-end list that rejects the idea that time is linear
A thought that continually popped into my head throughout 2023 is "I love being alive." One of the great joys of the past year has been re-discovering my love of music. I spent much of 2022 altogether avoiding music. I was not listening to it, I was not attending many shows, I was not paying attention to new releases or digging through the internet to uncover older ones. I had all but given up writing about music and, frankly, writing in general. So it has been tremendously fulfilling to dive back into music and writing and writing about music. Here are some of the things I listened to in 2023 that reminded me that life is wonderful.
Spotify users: the world is organized for your convenience so just this once you'll have to use your keyboard to find these songs. No complaining!
Non-2023 Favs:
MJ Lenderman - Boat Songs
My favorite album of 2023 is an album of 2022. I was vaguely aware of this release at the time through the osmosis of scrolling past mentions of it on Twitter. It was not until April of this year when I finally decided that the alt-country record with PC Music-esque cover art was intriguing enough to try. “Hangover Game" is incredible; I was in love immediately. The rest of the album kinda passed through one ear and out the other. I didn't think much of it, but “Hangover Game” had burrowed itself into my brain and as I listened to it on repeat, I figured it was worth giving the album another chance. After all, the guy who made “Hangover Game" made all the other songs too so surely some of those have to be pretty good. Yep, they are. Nearly every song on the album has been my second favorite at some point this summer. The Goldilocks 33 minute runtime allows for all sorts of repeated listening and the varied sounds and structures graft themselves to your brain in different ways depending on mood and scene. This is a great album to listen to in the car, down in the basement unit you're subletting, at your job you're about to quit, outside the ramen place you're going to miss, on the train to Seattle, on the drive back from Walla Walla, on the streets of Los Angeles, with your friends who you won't see for a while, a bottle of wine to the face.
Weyes Blood - And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
I think we are one album away from Weyes Blood becoming my absolute favorite artist. Yes, I talk on here quite regularly on mentally abolishing the idea of an absolute favorite anything. There are too many albums, restaurants, parks, bars, beaches, cities, movies to choose just one. However, there are not too many baseball players.
But as I was saying, Weyes Blood is incredible. It is quite possible this record is even better than Titanic Rising—astounding. She is able to conjure magic out of the atmosphere and put it into our ears. No, there is no "Movies" on this record, but "Grapevine" comes pretty close and the rest of the supporting cast is sublime. Hearts Aglow continues to grow on me even after so many listens — incredible work of art.
George Harrison - “Wah-Wah”
Part of growing up is re-realizing that The Beatles are really good. Dove into some of their solo work and side one of All Things Must Pass is a perfect album. Side two not so much unfortunately but we got side one so who am I to complain about a double album not quite proving itself worthy of two pieces of vinyl? “Wah-Wah” chemically infected my brain for a few weeks when I moved to Los Angeles. I was listening to it all the time. I spent a 40 minute drive to a job interview listening to it on repeat which in retrospect is not a good idea as job interviewers are generally not looking for someone who has just voluntarily put themselves into a manic mindset, but guess what? It worked! I got the job so actually if you’re looking for work right now just pop on “Wah-Wah” for the better part of an hour and you’ll be gainfully employed in no time. Unlimited PTO for your boy; we are so up.
Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4
Had been meaning to listen to hear this for years but didn’t because I don’t know why. I was in Clinton Street Records (my favorite record store I’ve ever been to and while that sounds like a highly bestowed honor I really actually do not like record stores they give me anxiety which I know is wimp-brained but that’s just the way my mind decides to roll! I hate rifling through records it activates a physically uncomfortable response for some reason. I will have to ask my next therapist about that. The record store is in Portland, Oregon by the way and though I have not been to all that many record stores, no other can match their selection. Lots of deep cuts for the music perverts like moi.) and I came across this record so I bought it blind which I never do because if the album ends up not being good then it just sits on my shelf mocking me for spending $30. This, however, more than delivered! I listened to it the first time on headphones (didn’t have my turntable set up in the room I was subletting) while I tried Sri Lankan food for the first time. One of my favorite individual hours of the year — double barreled discovery.
Arthur Russell - World of Echo
Arthur Russell! What a discovery for me in 2023. Well, half discovery. This record had been sitting in my notes app list of albums to try for a while. The list is quite long and the longer a name festers in there, the more imposing it becomes. Sprain's The Lamb as Effigy has been fixed atop the list since before it was released but who has the time for a 97 minute post-rock record? There are three and a half hour DJ mixes to devour! This list is gonna be a mess \ I love it \ I'm doing a great job.
But World of Echo. What a revelation. Nothing I've heard sounds like this. You gotta give this a try.
Daft Punk - Homework
I am coming around to the idea that this is my favorite Daft Punk album. I like it more than Discovery now and I might even like it more than Alive 2007 which is sacrilegious to me, personally, but it might truly be the case! They are just burning so fucking hard on here I love how growly it is. “Indo Silver Club” is the best track they’ve ever made. God this album is perfect.
Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
Since I went to college, almost every year I rediscover an artist my dad loves on my own terms. I grew up hearing Tom Petty in my dad’s Ford (1994?) Explorer but it was not until this year that I listened to him solo style. This record is so fucking good! I mean obviously kicking things off with “Free Fallin’” and “I Won’t Back Down” is unreal stuff but there are so many other great tracks! “Love Is a Long Road” banger; “Yer So Bad” awesome; “Zombie Zoo” killer closer. My favorite moment is on “A Mind with a Heart of Its Own.” Please admire this verse that sounds straight out of an RXKNephew song:
“I’ve been to St. Louis too, I've been all around the world
I've been over to your house
And you've been over sometimes to my house
I've slept in your tree house
My middle name is Earl”
“My middle name is Earl” is one of the very most perfect non-sequiturs in music history. Petty’s other albums range from ok to not so good unfortunately but Miss Petty snapped and tore and wig with this one, to be sure.
2023 Favs:
CCL - Honcho Campout Mix Series
Mix of the year? Mix of the year. Mix of the fucking year! Wow!! Unreal track selection, hairpin-turn blends, hilariously raucous crowd noise mixed in, loud. You can't ask much more.
How many other DJs are bringing a USB with System of a Down, Missy Elliott, Rosalia, Arthur Russell, Kelis, and Mazzy Star to a festival closing set? And how many are unloading the entire clip? I would posit zero. Can any other DJ drop into Air's "Sexy Boy" as nastily as CCL did here? Don't think so! A ludicrous set from one of the very most exciting selectors in the world.
(PS: Is the country's best festival hiding in Pittsburgh? After hearing this and many other Campout mixes it's hard to think otherwise. Might have to go find out for myself this summer.)
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
I was scared to listen to this album because the hype for guitar forward indie rock lately has not delivered in my opinion. First go at it was a hungover morning and five seconds in I had to dip out because I thought this was going to be a Deafheaven style metal adjacent type beat and that was not in the cards for my headache-having head that little morning. But sometime later I soldiered on and whooo let's gooooo. Guitar music album of the year for Mister Ryan. In an earlier Substack post I said that lead singer Karly Hartzman has James Harden flow and I stand by that. My favorite song has switched around a bunch which is a testament to a great album and not an indictment on my attachment issues. "TV In the Gas Pump" has held the belt for a while now even though it's not really like anything else on the album which you would think would be damning to the rest of the tunes but no siree. It's just great stuff! Like if The Strokes were still making good music and had grown up in North Carolina instead of the fancy schools in New York that Epstein taught at.
Pangaea - Changing Channels
My favorite 2023 album of 2023. Any album with "Installation" is going to automatically be goated. Head and shoulders song of the year for me and Pangaea doesn't let off the gas. A rare, rare incredible full length LP from a European producer. What's up with those European producers? They wait twelve million years to release an actual album and then the album sucks. What gives? Why do Americans have this all figured out? Is it because our public transportation is bad? Does that make us produce more and better dance LPs? Truth is it's more financially viable to be a touring DJ in Europe than the US so they just galivant around I BEE THAH spinning tunes for the most annoying pill heads in the Northern Hemisphere. Not a bad gig if you can get it I presume. The song "If" on here is tremendous stuff as are the other tunes but the song "If" in particular. Ciao!
MoMa Ready - HEADLOCK
The opposite of a recluse European producer, MoMa Ready made the best album of his many, many albumed career and it's called HEADLOCK and I'm writing about it right now. I truly do not know how he is able to pump out so much quality at such a high frequency but let this be a lesson to you all — it can be done! Endlessly repayable and an especially choice selection for late night drives, HEADLOCK is the synthesis of everything that makes MoMa so thrilling to follow. MoMa Ready is the blueprint and if you aren't on board by now there's plenty of room to hop on.
Avalon Emerson - Dekmantel Festival 2023
Perhaps my favorite DJ in the world. I've seen her live so many times and in fact will be seeing her next weekend which I cannot wait for. Always a fantastic track selection, always tons of moments that make you stomp and smile, always a journey, always a very sweet but not saccharine ending. We love Avalon Emerson.
Hannah Diamond - Perfect Picture
It's fitting that the unsung engine behind PC Music is the one to tie the bow on the label's incredible run. Her music is manicured to a near tipping point that should make it sound repulsive but she threads the needle. So clean, so comforting, so nice.
Four Tet - Live at Alexandria Palace London, 24th May 2023
I'll be honest, I don't have a ton more to say about Four Tet's live shows that I haven't already said. His newest release, recorded in the same building as his last legendary live recording, does not quite reach the same heights, but two hours of Hebden is always gonna deliver some transcendent moments. Those transcendent moments? Not gonna describe them for you, you pick them yourself.
OSSX - UNRELEASED MIX VOL. 2
The crew once again dominated dance floors this year and their output can best be condensed into this here mix of at the time unreleased and now (almost?) entirely released tracks from the broader OSSX extended universe. The first time I listened to this I felt like I was having a caffeine overdose but in the good way that doesn't have you formulating a cost / benefit analysis of getting in an ambulance. Check em out!
Universal Harmonies & Frequencies - TUNE IN
The official "Who?" selection on the list. I had never heard of Universal Harmonies & Frequencies because A) they had not existed prior to this year B) it is not available on major streamers and only like five other people have purchased this on Bandcamp C) the only press they got was this profile in The Quietus that chronicles the story of how they're never making music again. The most unique 2023 release I heard and a tremendous blend of techno and jazz and as annoying as that crossroads may sound to you I assure you you haven't heard anything like this this year or in recent years or possibly ever. Don't like how I doubled up on "you you" and "this this" in the same sentence but nobody is editing this and actually I've decided it's good to me.
Kush Jones, Acemo, MoMa Ready, DJ Swisha - Nowadays 11_22_23
These guys are literally the primary reason I sometimes wish I lived in New York. The Mount Rushmore of NYC's incredible dance scene on the decks together for nearly seven hours. Can't really draw up a better event. So, so, so, so much fun. I listened to this twice in the course of three days which I have never done with a mix this long. Something for everyone in here except losers. Nothing in here for losers unfortunately but if you've read this far you're a winner in my book so give this a spin. Play it on the soundsystem at your job.
Minor Science - 064
"Workahol" is the one that made year-end lists but I think "Casheine" is even better. I will give it to "Workahol" though: I didn't expect one of the best dance vocal hooks of the year to be a chopped up "if you wanna love me you gotta wear a condom." At least, that's what I think it's saying. Safe sex banger of the year for sure.
Avalon Emerson - & The Charm
Avalon did fall prey to the aforementioned European producer album phenomenon but is one of the very, very few to have actually nailed the left turn on the long awaited debut. No, it's not quite the "wait they can sing sing?!?" reveal that James Blake pulled but this is a phenomenal indie pop record! I love, love, love "Karaoke Song" and everything else on the record is well worth your time too.
Sampha - Lahai
The long awaited follow up arrived to not much attention? At least, I didn't see many talking about what I had thought was one of the most highly anticipated records of the past few years. Sampha was so huge a few years ago and in the wake of his debut it seemed like everyone was clamoring for the sophomore effort but I've talked to Sampha fans who didn't even know this came out! Horrible marketing work by the label especially considering this album is so very good. Really incredible vocals as always with some delicious, slithery production that ties it all together.
OSSX - NO SLEEP EP
Won't go into detail as I've already talked about them but this was my favorite standard release from the OSSX crew this year. "DON'T LINGER" was a staple in sets this year for a reason.
MPU420 - BPM1
What a wonderful addition to the Ilian Tape team. Surgical electro that I couldn't stop coming back to. Need more from MPU420.
Lektor Scopes - LS CUSTOMS
If you find yourself on an aux and you put on "TOTE IT" at least one person will demand you tell them who the song is by. 100% hit rate on ID requests in my experience. Banger.
Lychee - Honcho Campout Mix Series
I was having an absolute ball listening to this while cooking dinner and when they dropped Levon Vincent's "Late Night Jam" I really lost my mind. Obsessed. A lot of times these longer mixes tend to tail off towards the end but Lychee doesn't not let up. The last half hour is truly incredible.
bar italia - tracey denim
I listened to this album more than almost any other as this served as a warm blanket during a particularly tough week for me. I cannot for the life of me tell you a single track name on here as I've only listened to it in full and never bothered to pick favorite songs. It all blends together but in a good way.
Anz - Spring/Summer Dubs 2023
Anz's annual dubs series is appointment listening. The Frank Ocean edit is my favorite but this entire thing hits as always.
Regal86 - La Onda
This is THE record to close out a road trip. An hour on nonstop skyscraper bpms from one of my favorite artist discoveries of the year.
MJ Lenderman - And the Wind (Live and Loose!)
Already wrote a lot about MJ so I'll keep it brief but the extended versions of "Knockin" "You Are Every Girl To Me" and "Rudolph" are fucking immaculate.
HAAi - DJ-Kicks
Gave this a whirl on whim while driving back from Big Bear last month. Really good daytime driving selection. Shoutout to HAAi for introducing me to Jaco - “Show Some Love (Rhythm Invention Remix)” what a tune.
Mandy, Indiana - i’ve seen a way
Really exciting band; can’t wait to hear more from them.
Hudson Mohawke & Nikki Nair - Set the Roof EP
The Hudson Mohawke revival paired with the rocket ship that is Nikki Nair gave us some incredible music this year. “Set the Roof” is my second favorite song of the year and was a consensus weapon among touring DJs. Couldn’t not hear this track wherever you were. And I never got sick of it! What a testament. And in the shadow of “Set the Roof” the rest of this extended EP is really good too.
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
Years ago, a friend of mine said that my opinion that Endless is better than Channel Orange was a "Ryan Moloney-ass opinion" and sure that's fair enough! But also he said it with the tone that I developed it on purpose to be annoying. Not true! I do not get in the lab to come up with annoying, contrarian opinions — I'm just like that sometimes.
Yes, I’m serious. Not since Carly Rae Jepsen’s EMOTION have I had to so thoroughly explain why I like an album to my extremely unconvinced friends who think I’m doing a bit. While I was early on Carly I was late to Olivia, whose NPR Tiny Desk convinced me to give her a fair try. SOUR is mostly mid (except for “Good 4 U” which is one of the best songs of the young decade) but GUTS is really good! Not gonna type them all out but tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 9 are all certified hits. I would love to see her in concert but due to demographic concerns I don’t think I can attend without being proactively pepper-sprayed and put on a watchlist. Life is so hard for 28 year old cis white males sometimes.
Jim Legxacy - homeless ***** pop music
Took me three tries for this record to click but my goodness it’s clicking now. This dude is going supernova so start listening now because pretty soon you won’t have a choice. You’ll be able to say you started listening to Legxacy before he even had a Wikipedia page! How does he not have a Wikipedia page already??? He produced “Sprinter”!!
A.s.o - a.s.o
I have never cared about trip-hop. I have not cared about it so much that I just had to Google what the genre was called because I could not for the life of me recall it. But nevertheless this album is really good sunset music and even though I love this I cannot be bothered to give Massive Attack another try. Gonna start saying A.s.o. invented trip hop to piss off British people.
Skee Mask - reflejo 235
The man. Skee Mask is simply the man. It’s fun to hear him lean into his housier proclivities here. Such a talented and versatile producer and DJ.
MoMa Ready - DRILLCAST084
His third appearance on this list and for good reason. This mix shreds.
Kush Jones & DJ Swisha - (Respectfully) EP
Title track is one of my favorite songs of the year.
LSDXOXO - Delusions of Grandeur (D.O.G.)
The raunchiest in the game right now.
1morning - Modus Operandi
Hard to pick a favorite off here. Settles into a grove and maintains from start to finish.
bastiengoat - HARMONY
Track 1 sold me on bastiengoat. I am team bastiengoat.
Objekt - FOLD, London 14.04.23
Really need to see Objekt spin one of these days. Nobody else does it like him.
Blake Mills - Jelly Road
Shoutout to my friend Andres for recommending this one. Really delightful twang. “Press My Luck” is majestic stuff.
DJ Swisha - Crazy If True
Essential additions to your USB.
Other stuff I liked but don’t feel like writing about at the moment:
Russell E.L. Butler - Call Me G
Traumprinz - extra life
DJ Swisha & AceMo - Expert Level
HiTech - DETWAT
Fennec - Nice Work, Vol. 1 EP
Aphex Twin - Blackbox Life Recorder
Nikki Nair & Sam Blinga - The Brislanta EP
Seven Davis Jr. - savedbythebell
Bored Lord - Name It
Regal86 - Street Customs
Acid Arab - Trois
Shit Robot - 5 Songs
Addison Groove - Eh Wut EP
Kanyon - Nowadays 8.5
Dance Maniacs - Built Like That
Darkside - Live at Spiral House
Joanna Sternberg - I’ve Got Me
Thy Slaughter - Soft Rock
Thank you for reading (or at least scrolling) this far! I am making an effort this year to write about music more so I will be doing that here and other places as well. I love showing people music; it’s so fun.