Sunday, 10 December 2023

Albums of the year 2023

2023 was a very good year for music!

As always, I'm sure other end of year lists will lead me to discovering music released in 2023 that passed me by at the time. However, at the time of writing, here are my 10 favourite albums from 2023 with 15 more bubbling under.

Three of my favourite albums find artists in their 50's pouring their hearts out about love, loss and moving  forward, while others by David Holmes and Eyes of Others set controls for the heart of the sun to burn as brightly and vividly as they possibly can, 

Melodies, hooks, storytelling and invention are spread throughout. Whether through pure euphoric pop, or dreamy melancholia. There are glorious grooves, gorgeous guitars, sublime synths and brilliant beats.

Enjoy. 

2023 Albums of the year

The Ballad of Darren by Blur


What is it like to suffer a major break-up in your 50's? Damon Albarn makes it sound heartbreaking, yet beautiful as he pours his heart our across the album. There is reflection, memories, realisation, thoughts of good times, confession (the frank I fucked up starts St. Charles Square ...) and pure heartfelt honesty.

The singles The Narcissist and Barbaric are fantastic, then album cuts like Russian Strings and Goodbye Albert are utterly gorgeous. Albarn is an exceptional talent, in the enviable position of doing whatever he likes with Blur, Gorillaz, solo and in collobaration.


Nothing Lasts Forever by Teenage Fanclub


Nothing Lasts Forever, the 12th Teenage Fanclub album, is a beautiful album containing 10 songs of love, life, loss, hope and light. If Everything Arcade was reflective, then this new album is looking forward, with Norman heading Back to the Light.

Have your tissues ready for Raymond's beautiful I Will Love You that closes the album. The slow burning, near 2-minute, intro is beautifully dreamy, leading to McGinley singing about how his love will last through all that is wrong in the world. Until the end of time. Norman's harmonies on the chorus are gorgeous.

This is Teenage Fanclub at their best - heartfelt emotion, love and hope in the face of racisim, bigotry, pollution, capitalism ... the grim reality of modern day life. Love can help. Love can win


Blind on a Galloping Horse by David Holmes featuring Raven Violet


David Holmes takes us on a beautiful journey on his latest album. Over 14 songs, Holmes creates wonderful sounds; dreamy, dubby, clubby, psychedelic, electro with gorgeous melodic riffs and layers. Raven Violet adds super cool vocals. Love In the Upside Down immediately became one of my favourite songs of the year. 


Sugar Honey by Carla J Easton


My sister has written and released 7 albums since the 2016 release of her debut album Homemade Lemonade. Sugar Honey is her 4th solo album and Carla has also released 2 albums with TeenCanteen and last years Poster Paints LP.

That's pretty prolific by any artist's standards, particularly one who is DIY. Sugar Honey was funded by a fanclub crowdfunder and I'm positive that everyone who generously signed up will be super happy with the results on display.

Self-produced, there is a lovely feel to the whole album with layers of melodic vocals and heartfelt lyrics delivered with bite, humour and soul. The title track talks of feeling scared while walking home at night, You Made Us is a beautiful love letter to Glasgow, One Week is a song about how love can quickly go wrong and Sleepyhead is a gorgeous dreamy lullaby

You Made Us

Sleepyhead

Heavy Heavy by Young Fathers

Young Fathers Heavy Heavy explodes into action with the opening track Rice. The bass is heavy ... heavy, the beats are tribal, the melodies flow and there is a gospel choir.

I Saw has a powerful urgency, the bass is reminiscent of Massive Attack, the groove allowing so much to go on over the top of it. There is a lot going on and it's f**king magical. The layers, the production, the hooks and harmonies. 

Heavy Heavy is 10 songs in under 33-minutes. It delivers so much but leaves you wanting more.

Review

I Saw (live at Glastonbury)

Eyes of Others by Eyes of Others

'Post pub, couldn't get in the club music' is how John Bryden describes his Eyes of Others project and on this evidence I wouldn't mind going back to his place!

Eyes of Others debut album is a joyful, refreshing, delightful and playful melting pot of electronica, dreamy psychedelic melodies, grooves, riffs, humour, synth sounds, effects, beats, lyrics and melodies.

Review

New Hair, New Me 

Brothers and Sisters by Steve Mason

Steve Mason keeps on keepin' on, creating psychedelic and political grooves to move you - on your feet and in your soul. Mason has a natural sing-song voice that comes out on songs like I'm On My Way and he also has an uncanny ability to find a melody and groove, often creating dreamy mantra like chants in the process.
Mason and his band veer from Stones-y, Gospel vibes (check the London Gospel Choir on All Over Again) to the modern day blues title track where Mason pines for nights out, dancing, dealers and DJ's, urging brothers and sisters to pump up the volume.

The People Say

Brothers and Sisters

Council Skies by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds


After 3 High Flying Birds albums in 6-years, Noel Gallagher took 6-years to release his 4th. Recorded in his own Lone Star Studio, there is a lovely relaxed and dreamy vibe spread throughout the album. Interviews around release had Noel in typically great form, highlighting how he didn't have to clock watch. 

Like Albarn and Blake, Gallagher has also recently gone through a break up in his mid-50's and Noel talked of Council Skies as being like 'Going back to the beginning. Daydreaming, looking up at the sky and wondering about what life could be ...'

Noel, from the very early days of Oasis, has talked of his love for Burt Bacharach and I think that shines on this album. It's his strongest post-Oasis collection of songs. Noel's voice still has that aching, soulful and melodic quality. But on these songs, backed by sublime string arrangements and melancholic horns, it really comes out.

Gallagher can still write a sky scraping chorus, like he does on Open The Door, See What You Find, but also beautiful daydream songs like Trying To Find A World That's Been And Gone.


Guts by Olivia Rodrigo


My daughters got me into Olivia Rodrigo this year through sensational modern pop songs like Get Him Back and Vampire. Rodrigo is only 20-years old and is clearly a precocious talent with a delightful and exceptional ability to use swear words!

Rodrigo can fly from talking through verses to huge pop choruses with enough hooks to floor Rocky in seconds. Her lyrics are clever, observational and confessional like diary entries with hints of a Taylor Swift influence, but Rodrigo is an absolute star in her own right. 


Salvage Enterprise by The Polyphonic Spree


Released in mid-November, this album caught me at just the right time. I'd had a particularly full on day at work and set out for an evening walk with my headphones on, ready to be transported into the world of Tim DeLaughter and his incredible band. The music in my head was like a warm hug. The lyrics were full of warmth and empathy. There is hope out there, through all the despair. 

DeLaughter wears his heart and soul on his sleeve. You can see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice. He feels it, he means it. 


Bubbling under

The Record by Boygenius

Everything Harmony by The Lemon Twigs

Parallel Lights by Andrew Wasylyk

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens

I Don't Know by bdrmm

Happy Ending by Hifi Sean & David McAlmont

Consciousology by Dot Allison

Hit Parade by Roisin Murphy

For That Beautiful Feeling by The Chemical Brothers

Sea Of Mirrors - The Coral

Tear The Place Up by The Allergies

LaVette! by Betty LaVette

Come Around and Love Me by Jalen Ngonda

Late Developers by Belle and Sebastian

Turn The Car Around by Gaz Coombes


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