Best of 2023

While it’s been a great year for new music, it’s been a bad year for writing about new music. Still, I thought my Best Of list from last year worked so well I would do it again. Worked well in that I got no hate mail, which is pretty good for today’s world.

Pop/Rock Whatever

• Hadsel - Beirut
• The Bunker Sessions - Yo La Tengo
• Aging - Kevin Drew
• 4D Country - Geese
• Afternoon X - Vanishing Twin
• I Killed Your Dog - L’Rain
• Out And About - Lewsberg
• Javelin - Sufjan Stevens
• Nothing Lasts Forever - Teenage Fanclub
• Isn’t It Now? - Animal Collective
• Jump for Joy - Hiss Golden Messenger
• portrait of a dog - Jonah Yano
• KARPEH - Cautious Clay
• New Heart Designs - Turnstile & BADBADNOTGOOD
• I Am Not There Anymore - The Clientele
• Welshpool Frillies - Guided By Voices
• Cut Worms - Cut Worms
• Is It? - Ben Howard
• ATTA - Sigur Ros
• What Matters Most - Ben Folds
• An Inbuilt Fault - Westerman
• Sinking Ships - Alberta Cross
• First Two Pages of Frankenstein - The National
• the record - boygenius
• Angel Numbers - Hamish Hawk
• Dead Meat - The Tubs

Jazz Whatever

• Alive at the Village Vanguard - Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding
• One - Atlantic Road Trip
• In Solitude - SLUGis Ensemble
• A Lovesome Thing - Geri Allen & Kurt Rosenwinkel
• Resavoir - Resavoir
• Uncle John’s Band - John Scofield
• Stings - Kamaal Williams
• where we are - Joshua Redman
• Dynamic Maximum Tension - Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
• After Dark - Chris Hazelton
• Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War))
• Rollin’ - Erik Truffaz
• Days In The Desert - High Pulp
• Undercover (Live at the Village Vanguard) - Kurt Rosenwinkel
• The Omnichord Read Book - Meshell Ndegeocello
• Jazz Is Dead 18 - Tony Allen
• Everything Is Going to Be Ok - GoGo Penguin
• Variables - Alfa Mist

Country & Folk

• Iterations - Old Fire
• Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2 - Spencer Cullum
• False Lankum - Lamkum
• Radial Gate - Sluice

And there you go. Once again, no discipline, no thought, just what I remember and ratings throughout the year.

So what was my favorite? Hadsel from Beirut, Rollin’ from Erik Truffaz, portrait of a dog from Jonah Yano, Uncle John’s Band from John Scofield, Aging from Kevin Drew, Stings from Kamaal Williams, and Angel Numbers from Hamish Hawk would all get votes, but my favorite albums tend to change from day to day. Except Steely Dan. Steely Dan is always on the list.

Peace.