Best of, Shmest of, Favorite music of 2023
These are the records I listened to the most this year
TBH, I’ve always struggled with the idea of “best” of lists. Books, music, movies, tv shows, all of em.
Linda Holmes, writing for Pop Culture Happy Hour, once had this to say about lists:
“One of the reasons I don't make very many best-of lists is that they seem to accentuate the worst aspects of discourse about culture. The entire "How can this be on your list and not that?" sequence that repeats itself endlessly over and over at this time of year is based on the assumption that if my list would differ from your list, then I naturally conclude that your list is flawed in a way that requires an explanation. It signifies a search for a default setting, where we arrive at a set of accepted principles about what is good and what is bad, such that we can demand that dissenters explain themselves.”
New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum, in “I Hate Top Ten Lists” had this to say:
“Part of my problem is the false authority of it. As anyone who has descended into the Top Ten sausage factory knows very well, book critics haven’t read all of the books and music critics haven’t heard all of the music. Movie critics are usually on top of things, and TV critics certainly try to keep up, but damn, there’s a lot of TV. My deepest shame is that I once wrote a Top Ten list that didn’t include “Breaking Bad,” because I hadn’t yet caught up, but at least I didn’t fake it, and believe me, it was tempting.”
Outside of what anyone might consider personal taste (“I like it!” or “This album sucks!”) some of the best list makers (IMO) over the years have basically said, “this might not be to your particular liking, but here’s critically why I believe it pushes the boundaries of creativity, and why you should listen it.” I get that. I also get the idea of a shared consensus amongst critics, often victims of group think so bad that one would think some of these lists were crafted by publicists paid for by music industry super PACs.
I guess I should be writing “consumer guide” styled blurbs to go along with each of these albums so that I can convince you that my personal taste is something that you should care about. But I won’t bore you. And I’m also so past my own sense of self-importance that anyone would really care about the words I write anyway. Whatever. Fan first over here.
So here’s the list, in alpha order, followed by a playlist. Listening to the music will do much more justice than any words could be written to describe it’s importance. After all, one person’s treasure is another person’s trash. And v.v.
Enjoy. Or not.
Amaarae - Fountain Baby
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile
Andre 3000 - New Blue Sun
Arvo Pärt - Tractus
Asake - Work Of Art
Lakecia Benjamin - Phoenix
Black Pumas - Chronicles of A Diamond
Blondshell - Blondshell
Blur - The Ballad of Darren
boy genius - The Record
Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan
Bully - Lucky For You
Daneshevskaya - Long Is The Tunnel
Davido - Timeless
Everything But The Girl - Fuse
feeble little horse - Girl With Fish
Florry - The Holey Bible
Devon Gilfillian - Love You Anyway
Mette Henriette - Drifting
Jason Isbell - Weathervanes
Kara Jackson - Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love
Kelela - Raven
Jung Kook - Golden
Lankum - False Lankum
Sofia Kourtesis _ Madres
Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We
Janelle Monae - The Age of Pleasure
Paramore - This Is Why
Peso Pluma - Genesis
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Margo Price - Strays
Fuerza Regida - Pa las Baby’s Y Belikeada
Lana Del Rey - Did you know there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
Allison Russell - The Returner
Say She She - Silver
Jordyn Shellhart - Primrose
Nina Simone - You’ve Got To Learn (live)
Wadada Leo Smith, Orange Wave Electric - Fire Illuminations
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
Turnstile, BADBADNOTGOOD - New Heart Designs (EP)
Kali Uchis - Red Moon In Venus
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Stephen Wilson, Jr - søn of dad
Jess Williamson - Time Ain’t Accidental
Witch - Zango
Billy Woods, Kenny Segal - Maps