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.

Review

Barbaric - official visualiser

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

Review 

I Will Love You

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. 

Love In The Upside Down

It's Over If We Run Out Of Love

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.

Open The Door, See What You Find (Live on Later)

We're Gonna Get Their In The End

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. 

Get Him Back

Vampire (Live Lounge)

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. 

Galloping Seas

Shadows On The Hillside

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

Eyes of Others - the album

I really fell for Eyes of Others  after the release of single New Hair, New Me earlier in the year and I've fallen deeper after listening to their eponymous debut album, out now on Heavenly Recordings.

'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!

Dub groove bass lines underpin much of the 10 songs over 41-minutes. The beats that go along with the bass are inventive and all kinds of melodic, crazy, psychedelic and gorgeous stuff is layered over the top.

Once, Twice, Thrice sets the tone; blissful, balearic and cool, the kind of tune you can imagine listening to at sunset ... or maybe sunrise. 

VIDEO

Safehouse has a psychedelic dub feel to it, with Caribbean effects introduced to hypnotic effect towards the end. I'd love to hear this live, I can imagine it going for ages.

At the end Bryden whispers;

I used to be handsome, I used to be good looking

Now I clean the table, once I've done the cooking

Another hypnotic bass line carries Escalation and there is so much space that allows Bryden to bring in melodica, synth effects and to sing a beautiful catchy and dreamy melody. 

At Home I am a Leader has a space dub feel to it, but there is a catchy little synth riff going on, Bryden's vocals are deep at times, hanging sweetly at others.

 I fell for New Hair New Me instantly when It came out as a single in March. It's warm, gooey, dreamy and catchy pop music. Everything hangs on a loose funky bass; beats, handclaps, ukulele drifts in and out, a dreamy synth riff, vocals that are sleepily whispered at times, addictively melodic in a playful sing-song-y way at others. 

Sometimes the lyrics are easy to make out, other times they are blurred in the perfect way. The groove, feel and melody are more important.

VIDEO

So yeah, I mentioned that post pub, couldn't get in the club vibe earlier. With Ego Hit Bryden creates something that wouldn't sound out of place at somewhere like Optimo. It's super dreamy again, the synths sound sublime, the bass and beats are super cool and Bryden sounds like he has been recorded sleeping and dreaming. Rather gorgeous and trippy.

Mother Father is more dreamy gorgeousness while Jargon Jones and Jones is built around a hypnotic little keyboard riff and has a dub-space feel it that Bryden has perfected.

Don't want to stay in, I want to out

Don't want to stay in, want to shake it all about

If Bryden was going out, then you'd imagine he'd want to go to a club playing something like Come Inside with its layers of grooves, beats, psychedelic effects and vocals that range from dreamy harmonies to deep voiced speech. I love the way the song just takes off on one at 2 minutes 42 and then drops to percussion and Bryden before going off on a groove again. 

Closing with Big Companies, Large Tentacles, with some kind of I Feel Love synth bass groove going on, Eyes of Others takes you deep into the heart of his trip. Don't hold on, let yourself go as it veers off into psychedelic acid techno territory. You won't want it to end, but sadly it does. Again, I can imagine this being extended and being beautifully wild when played live. The video is trippy as f**k!

VIDEO

I tried to love myself

So I could love you

There is a joyful and refreshing playfulness throughout the album with grooves, riffs, melodies, vocals, synth sounds, effects and beats. Bryden has been in and out of bands for almost two decades, but he has conjured up quite the debut album!

And if you like the album, why not snap up a super cool Eyes of Others t-shirt from the brilliant We Are 1 of 100.

cdd

Introducing - Eyes of Others

 

Photo by Christopher Espinosa Fernadez

New Hair New Me by Eyes of Others is the best new song I've heard in ages. I fell for it instantly. It's warm, gooey, dreamy and catchy pop music. When I fall for a song in this way, I play it on repeat ... for days. 

Even though I've had New Hair New Me on a loop, playing half a dozen times in a row on at least three occasions, the beautiful thing about this song is that I still find so much in it. I love how fresh it continues to feel, I keep going back for more.

John Bryden (AKA Eyes of Others) leaves loads of space in this single. Everything hangs on a loose funky bass; beats, handclaps, ukulele drifts in and out, a dreamy synth riff, vocals that are sleepily whispered at times, addictively melodic in a playful sing-song-y way at others. 

Sometimes the lyrics are easy to make out, other times they are blurred in the perfect way, the groove, feel and melody being more important.

The accompanying video also has loads of space. Bryden wanders round snow filled landscapes in Norway, down roads, on frozen lakes, wading through drifts, diving headfirst into deep snow, having fun making snow angels and clutching on to his beloved synth.

The single is out now and Eyes of Others self titled album will be out on Heavenly Recordings on May 19th.

Read on for an interview with John.

Bandcamp

Twitter

EF - I've only just discovered Eyes of Others, but you have been releasing music sporadically (in the form of singles and EP's) under this guise since 2017. You're now ready to release an album, did you have a plan? Or have things just got to this stage pretty naturally?

Now that I think about it, I’ve been making music for about 20 years and only now is my debut album about to be released….so really I’m disgusted with myself and my poor planning.

Where have I been all my life?

EF - I love the way you describe your sound as 'post-pub, couldn't get in the club music' - there is a real dreamy quality to New Hair New Me. Did you find that sound from late nights? Did you/do you have a favourite pub/club?

Hmmm it’s hard to trace where exactly a sound comes from but there’s probably some truth in that as I’ve had a few late nights in my time.

But I don’t drink anymore. I just stay home and eat biscuits so I think some sort of home-biscuit-isolation aesthetic permeates the track too.

My favourite pub is the Regent Bar in Abbyhill, Edinburgh. It’s pretty chilled and friendly.

Earlier on in the life of Eyes of Others you were remixed by the late great Andrew Weatherall. Did you learn anything from the way he remixed I See You In The Shrubs? Did that, or any other remixes, give you any new ideas on how to approach creating music?

Yeah for sure. I remember listening to it for the first time and thinking it was a total curve ball. It was like trying to learn a new language, re many listens. 

Once I got to grips with it I was in awe. I  took a lot from Weatherall’s approach with regards to my own music - not to sit still and don’t just give people what you think they want. 

His remix gave me something I didn’t know I wanted. That’s what it’s all about for me really, when something comes along and just shatters what you think you know and opens doors to other worlds.

EF - Do you play everything on your singles to date and forthcoming album? Do you have a favourite instrument?

In the main I played most of the instruments on the record. And there’s some drum programming there too. Stuart Evans (formerly of Green Door Studio Glasgow, now operating at Green Door West - west as in California) mixed and co-produced the record. So he helped tighten up a lot of the demos with some of his own playing.

For me playing an instrument feels like a car that continually won’t start, so Stuart helped massively there. I should perhaps focus and practice more but I do enjoy jumping around various instruments - just picking up whatever and trying to get a tune out of it in that moment because it feels right for the track.

I got an old harmonium recently. I am terrible at it. It’s my favourite.

EF - Will you have a band for live dates? And can we expect some more to be announced?

At the moment there’s two of us playing live. There’s are more dates to be announced but we have the following:

03 March - The Social London

11 March - YES, Manchester (supporting H. Hawkline)

13 March - Hug and Pint, Glasgow (supporting H. Hawkline) 

30 April - Sounds from the Other City, Salford

27 May - Sea Change Weekender, Totnes

9-11 June, Kite Festival, Oxfordshire 

EF - Lastly, what music are you enjoying at present?

I’ve been listening to these tracks a lot; Tom Waits’ Dog Door, Nelly Furtado’s All Good Things Come to an End, and Shu-de’s Aian Dudal.

Thanks to John for taking the time to answer my questions. Check the single, it's sublime. I'll blog on the album when it comes out.