the top albums / songs of the midyear - 2023
If there is a year of music that has felt discombobulating for me, it’s 2023.
On the one hand, I think I know why that is - the mainstream charts are generally a mess and I don’t know how the hell I’m going to assemble any list of hits in December, but that shouldn’t throw me off that much that there’s damn near zero overlap with the mainstream and this list. And it’s not even that 2023 is a bad year for music like some have claimed - I’ve gone through my list and not only do I have one of the best records in years topping this, but there’s a far greater breadth of quality than, say, last year, and that’s with me covering fewer albums! And then there’s the factor that given the upcoming list of releases for the second half of the year, I have no faith that any of the positioning here will last, and that includes the very top - there’s going to be some really stiff competition.
No, what it might be is the very sharp juxtaposition between the completely expected and the totally unexpected, because there’s little to no overlap - this list is full of albums that are either exactly as great as I was hoping, or complete and utter surprises, curveballs that blew my mind. And it all came in odd places too - sure, there’s very little on this list that’s close to the mainstream even country has been having a banner year and there’s solid underground rap for support, but I was shocked how much R&B really stuck for me this year, and that’s not including the cavalcade of flat-out weird, genre-bending shit! Hell, there’s even more pop than I expected - if there’s a genre that’s really struggling here, it’s rock to fill in that gap, and even then I know I’m on the outside looking in because a lot of the critically acclaimed releases in that space just haven’t clicked for me as deeply. I dunno, even with a frankly stacked list of fantastic music, something feels missing and I’m not quite sure what it is - maybe the process of creating this list will disillusion me of that assessment, we’ll have to see, especially as I did have some painful cuts for the top 15 albums here, so let’s start with…
15. This is not something I think I’ve ever observed in any of my lists before, but I’ll do it now: there’s a lot of horny material on this list, not just in the albums but in songs as well from albums that just missed the cut! And it’s not just one sound either - you’ll hear examples, but it can span from the tastefully sensual to the more openly sexually charged, to… well, this.
15. ‘Dogsbody’ by Model/Actriz
Model/Actriz has been building buzz in the industrial dance underground for a bit if you’re in the know, but this was the debut that took them from Bandcamp and placed them on everybody’s map, full of cacophonous noise, pummeling grooves, and sweaty melodramatic debauchery, the kind that has you itching to flense yourself in a queer, carnal embrace amidst the filthiest of dive bars. It’s a wild, distinctly tactile experience that runs on pure, ragged momentum, but it wouldn’t have persisted for me if there wasn’t that vulnerable humanity at its core, where its theatricality feels tangibly real, especially in the harsh sunlight casting on those staggering out of the after-hours club. It’s the sort of fully formed debut that wins over critics in spades… and I was one of them - this is a pit worth hitting!
14. But okay, that’s a lot to open things up with, so why don’t we chill down, get something a bit more accessible… and one that I sure as hell didn’t see coming and making my list…
14. ‘Fountain Baby’ by Amaarae
There’s a part of me that wonders if I had been able to experience Amaarae’s full-length debut THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW in a club setting that I would have liked it more, instead of mid-November in 2020 when nothing was open. I personally don’t think so, because Fountain Baby is the sort of major-label backed sophomore project that takes the template of the debut and fixes the majority of what I didn’t like! The melodies are way more prominent and lush, which lead to more robust hooks, the percussion and grooves sound more refined and varied, basically reminding me of the best elements of mid-2000s M.I.A. And while I still don’t love Amaarae’s baby-voiced cooing, she shows more range here and that ramps up the creaking, sensual, globalized melodrama to something with as much glamour but a little more teeth. This dropped the same day as The Age Of Pleasure by Janelle Monae, which very nearly made this list, but this is the sultry sister album that flourishes in the night - find the space on the summer evening playlist, it’s worth it!
13. I think some people are going to be surprised that this made my list, mostly because I’m fairly certain the majority of people forgot this came out because like with most EPs, labels barely know how to promote them if they don’t have an obvious single. And yet despite all of that and wearing its influences pretty strongly… this is what I’ve been hoping Kelsea Ballerini would make, and it’s her best to date.
13. ‘Rolling Up The Welcome Mat’ by Kelsea Ballerini
There are breakup albums, and then there are divorce albums - as a critic you start noticing the difference when it comes to the detail, the framing, and just how unmoored the subject feels, especially for women in country music where getting married and settling down is part of your societal narrative and it leads to a more layered emotional untangling. And like Carly Pearce before her, Kelsea Ballerini gets this - she keeps it to a short six tracks - well, five and an interlude - and while you can tell some notes were pulled from Taylor Swift, this is the most refined and poignant Ballerini has ever been as a producer, songwriter, and performer. I find that a little weird to say or highlight - especially as I know Ballerini has seen my videos, ‘hey the trauma of your divorce made for your best project’ - but this is the realization of all of that potential I’ve seen since 2015; I just hope she comes out better on the other side.
But now for a selection of songs from albums that will not make this list, but deserve attention anyway - and we’re starting with a curveball here…
From Gloria, ‘Who We Love’ by Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran
From Come Get Your Wife, ‘Jersey Giant’ by Elle King
From Desire Pathway, ‘Beyond The Void’ by Screaming Females
From Gravel & Gold, ‘Walking Each Other Home’ by Dierks Bentley
From RAINBOW ROAD II, ‘PINK’ by 2nd In Command
And from The Valley Of Vision, ‘Lose You Again’ by Manchester Orchestra
Alright, that’s certainly a spread, let’s get back to the list with…
12. We’re going to stay in country for a bit, with the sort of project I never could have dreamed we would get. I mean, it’s indie country, and it always feels like a crapshoot in whether we get more records, especially when the buzz may have faded, but here it was more pronounced, the duo had broken up years ago, and while there had been rumours of a reunion, I wasn’t getting my hopes up to the point I literally forgot this was dropping being reminded the day of release. And thank God I remembered!
12. ‘Feel Good Country’ by Sundy Best
Sundy Best have always been such a unique act for me - the duo with bright upbeat harmonies and a lot of deeply felt optimism, the rattling cajon providing percussion, and normally you’d expect them to bring a riotous blast of positive energy, especially given the album’s title. But this is a more measured affair: a little more spiritual, grounded in a more mature and introspective outlook where the duo have had to go through some real shit in order to find themselves and each other again. It’s not just an album for a quick spurt of positivity, but one built to help you find security in yourself to feel happy and contentment, allow yourself that respite - hell, the deep cut ‘Bad Imagination’ basically guaranteed this was a lock on my list, it got me through a lot in 2023 so far. But Sundy Best is now back, and for this sort of comeback… man, it feels damn good.
11. Not gonna lie, it feels a bit weird putting this on my list - another artist who might actually see it here, it’s uncanny. But I can’t mince words: Rory pulled together some of the best R&B I’ve heard all year, and I’ve not been against putting compilations on these lists before, so….
11. ‘I Thought It’d Be Different’ by Rory
It’s funny, the most stark comparison I can make to I Thought It’d Be Different is Dave Cobb’s magnum opus compilation album Southern Family - more in approach than pure quality, where Rory manages to co-produce and cowrite a selection of songs that bring out the best of all his collaborators in spades. It helps that Rory’s taste in R&B is top-quality - those of you who know Emotional Oranges should already be familiar, and they open up this album - but he also has a taste for descriptive storytelling and emotive interplay between singers, and everyone is game for it! Ari Lennox and Pink Sweat$ in particular step up their game in a big way, Phonte, James Fauntleroy and DRAM deliver with the poise of seasoned veterans, and I would argue Conway The Machine and Jay Electronica deliver better verses here than on any of their recent projects! According to Rory himself these were not relationships forged from any Sony connection, and fair enough for the misspeak on my part in the review, but for a project that is all about the manifestation and exploration of relationship complexities, Rory’s album has long been worth the wait. This is some special shit, check it out!
10. In contrast, if we’re also looking for a mature but emotionally fraught exploration of relationships, but this time from a band we all know who can deliver…
10. ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’ by The National
So I’ll say it: I know that a lot of long-time fans of The National are cool on this because there is way less tangible indie rock and something closer to a modern indie pop sound, complete with big name collaborations like Phoebe Bridgers, Sufjan Stevens, and even Taylor Swift that don’t really manifest that strongly. It has the feel of an act softening their edges for accessibility, and if there is something that keeps this out of the top tier of The National’s best like Boxer, High Violet, or Trouble Will Find Me, it’s that. That said, call them elder statesmen in the genre but I still think this is The National’s best work in a decade - the pop shift allows the hooks to feel more immediate, the production is still immaculate, and while it’s not as heavy as this band can be, a song like ‘Tropic Morning News’ can still wreck me every time, arguably one of the best songs they’ve ever written. So yes, this album is at least partially getting on my list because that became one of my karaoke staples, but I refuse to apologize for that - this album is already underrated by critics and fans; I’m comfortable sticking around.
Alright, while I wait for the backlash to cool down, let’s sweep through another selection of songs from albums that didn’t quite make this list…
From North Georgia Rounder, ‘A Duffel, A Grip, and my D35’ by Pony Bradshaw
From Tear, ‘Train To Harlem’ by Korine
From Gettin’ Old, ‘Fast Car’ by Luke Combs
From Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, featuring Bleachers, ‘Margaret’ by Lana Del Rey
From Continue As A Guest, ‘Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies’ by The New Pornographers
And from FOREGROUND MUSIC, ‘VANITY MARCH’ by Ron Gallo
Always nice to see a few swerves here - now back to the list with…
9. …okay, this is absolutely not a swerve, and the sort of project where you won’t be remotely surprised he’s here or this high - when you’re this consistently excellent, you kind of expect it.
9. ‘Maps’ by billy woods & Kenny Segal
Look, I think Maps is an excellent album, it’s only grown on me throughout the course of the year - I was on the fence whether a play for a more spacious sound and accessibility would work for billy woods as consistently as his thorniest material. But backed by Kenny Segal, I’d argue it works in a slightly different way – billy woods isn’t pulling you into his world so much as his wry observations from the road highlight just how much his world isn’t so different than ours, especially in the increasingly weird, smoked out travelogue from tour where you almost don’t see the emotional gutpunch coming unless you read between the lines and catch the wistful glances and calls back home. And when you stack it to the brim with fantastic guest performances from ShrapKnel, Quelle Chris, Aesop Rock, Danny Brown, and even ELUCID being likable for me for once… I can’t quite put it among my favourites from billy woods, he’s set a very high bar, but the more time I’ve given this the more it works; as we journey through the rest of this year, it could well get there.
8. This is also a case where I wouldn’t call this a swerve – from his seminal album in 2021, I knew this was going to be an absolute wonder to behold. But you still have to follow it through, and while it seems like everyone is jumping onboard the bandwagon now… it’s not without good reason.
8. ‘Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?’ by McKinley Dixon
The best way I’ve found to consume a McKinley Dixon album is to let each layer wash over you, peel them back step by step. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? is another case where you can tell it was structured for accessibility – the bangers are more self-evident, it’s a much leaner album, it feels sharp as all hell with terrific contemporary jazz infused with swaggering southern grooves and McKinley Dixon’s frankly insane flow – but for all of its allusions to Toni Morrison and ascendant street level poetry, to me it feels most like a natural extension from For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her, an artistic coda building on many of the angelic symbolism but now with frightening immediacy in its introspection. This is the album where for as much as the world now wants to craft a pedestal for it, McKinley Dixon is going to deconstruct every angle of it with fearless abandon and an emotive complexity that’s so refreshing to hear. There’s a part of me that still puts For My Mama a grade ahead of this – there’s a sumptuous immensity to that project at its best that still has it as my favourite album of 2021 – but if you’re now joining the party with this, it’s a shot of greatness that deserves all of the attention!
7. Of all the albums on this list, I think if there’s one case where it feels like I’m making up for lost time or past mistakes, it’s here. I should have been on top of her work properly back in 2019, or perhaps even earlier with her old band. But hey, if you’re going to make a shimmering, forward-thinking slice of indie pop bangers and drop the album in mid-February… let’s make up for lost time and have them go off now.
7. ‘Desire I Want To Turn Into You’ by Caroline Polachek
In a just world, Caroline Polachek is the sort of songstress that dominates the charts… but like her peers in indie pop and hyperpop, even with the gorgeous plays for summer accessibility full of chirpy grooves, grandiose swell, and sly flirty deflections from fully pinning her down, it does feel like Polachek is destined to stack up acclaim without the crossover success that’s deserved, which has been the case for many of her genre-bending peers. That said, while Pang is probably a better album that I should have been covering in 2019, if there was a swing for crossover it’s probably come through here – it has the rich production texture for easy crossover, the lilting lyrical flair to win over an alternative audience but melodic hooks strong enough that if pitched to the mainstream they’d work, backed by Polachek’s voice which reminds me of Dido and Imogen Heap but with irrepressible power. I first took this album in while I was on vacation in Barbados where of course it worked… and thus summer, I don’t see that changing!
But hey, who wants a few more songs from albums that won’t quite make this list, starting with…
From High & Low, ‘Alaska’ by Caitlyn Smith
From A Kiss For The Whole World, ‘A Kiss For The Whole World x’ by Enter Shikari
From Exotico, ‘Slow Days’ by Temples
From The Restless, ‘Elegantly Wasted’ by Karen Jonas
From Subtract, featuring Luke Combs, ‘Life Goes On’ by Ed Sheeran
And from Rat Saw God, ‘Chosen To Deserve’ by Wednesday
Alright, we’re heading into the top tier of releases from 2023… don’t think you know the order of what’s coming, so let’s start with…
6. I’m comfortable calling this the most difficult album in this group’s catalog so far – yes, even compared to its chilly predecessor in early 2020. That was laying the deconstructive groundwork for this album’s meaty challenge to all listeners, one that’ll certainly leave the majority… shook.
6. ‘Shook’ by Algiers
There’s a part of me that wants to call this a ‘return to form’ for Algiers, but it’s not – this band has always been in top-tier form, this is simply a sharper organization of their challenging of systemic oppression and power structures that’s more complicated to digest than the post-punk / gospel fusions of their first two albums, now incorporating more glitch, electronica, sound collages, noise, spoken word, and hip-hop into their collaborative interrogation. What I really appreciate is that it’s not solely a deconstruction, but a recognition of the community that has to be rebuilt and assembled in the wake of it, where there is a revolutionary history that can be drawn upon for not just a reorganization of power, but of values. This is an album where I think the barrier of entry will throw audiences in both its structure, sound and flow – Algiers want you to put in the work, and that can dampen its populist appeal – but if you’ve done the reading, Shook is absolutely fantastic, and it goes so hard to bite back at that poisoned hand.
5. This album has only grown on me since I reviewed it – figures as a guy where I know I can give off this energy that it would only work for me even more.
5. ‘SCARING THE HOES’ by Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA
The truly funny thing with SCARING THE HOES is that we rapidly discovered that in the context of this album, hoes is a gender-neutral term and some actually like the experience of being scared – but I think Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA both knew that when they assembled some of the most raucous, off-the-wall experimental bangers you’ll hear this year. Yes, the production can feel slapdash and off-kilter, but it’s another case where the more effort you put in to catch every bar, the more riotously fun and funny it is, between every kooky sample, every extra brag from Danny Brown, and every time Peggy gets a little too flagrant with his sexual and political references. What I think I love about this album the most is its potential – it’s very clearly a volume one, where JPEGMAFIA self-imposed some limits on how he assembled these beats, and that only opens up further doors, and not just for them – I love that for redveil, the only guest here who holds his own, on his criminally underrated EP this year it feels like it could inhabit the same universe with his production and slice of bangers. Provocative, infectious, wildly creative, I want to go to the party that plays this openly – hell, I’d host that party!
4. But speaking of projects that only seemed to showcase potential and new horizons to be expanded and found…
4. ‘Gag Order’ by Kesha
This is the sort of album the diehard Animals – I include myself in that group – always knew Kesha could make, but also knew that her label situation was never stable enough to enable. But with a final settlement reached between Kesha and Dr. Luke where it seems like both have washed hands of the other, Kesha ends her deal with Kemosabe on her most experimental and challenging record to date, a painful introspective look into the emotional toll the past few years have taken that requires a systemic examination of art and spirit that leaves you feeling drained but renewed. It’s raw, it’s uncompromising, it’s defiantly uncommercial, the sort of project that didn’t sell but I don’t think anyone should care – I’d put money on Kesha getting another better record deal probably on a smaller label and we’ll probably see a lot more music from her that is even weirder – but when it has some of her best production to date courtesy of Rick Rubin’s oversight, and still has the bangers to go off, for those who care they can finally see what so many of us have always known. I hope whatever path forward for her is everything she deserves, she’s earned it.
And before we get to our top three… the last selection of songs from albums that didn’t quite make this list!
From But Here We Are, ‘Rescued’ by Foo Fighters
From Formal Growth In The Desert, ‘Polacrilex Kid’ by Protomartyr
From The Show, ‘Meltdown’ by Niall Horan
From The Age Of Pleasure, featuring Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, ‘Float’ by Janelle Monae
From Loose Cannon, ‘Loose Cannon’ by Jake Owen
And finally, from Arrival, ‘Type IV’ by Mesarthim
Alright, down to the home stretch of which I don’t think there’s any real surprises if you’ve been paying attention…
3. …he always seems to drop at precisely the right time. And man, in 2023, I needed this.
3. ‘The Weakness’ by Ruston Kelly
I brought up divorce albums in talking about Kelsea Ballerini, and while on the surface The Weakness might seem like that, Ruston Kelly is doing a lot more than just that here. By far his most fragmented and jagged album drawing the most from other genres to paint his emo country, Kelly is on his own healing mission that’s the hardest of all to conquer – Dying Star saw him struggle to accept peace and love, Shape & Destroy was living with it, The Weakness is the attempt to come out the other side stronger for its loss and replacement, where stoic eyes on the horizon burn with tears as you open up. And it’s not all harrowing grief either – Kelly has always had a low-key sense of humour and you see a wider lens on his emotional journey, where a cut like ‘Michael Keaton’ was exactly the playfully exasperated gutpunch I needed to get my shit together. We might not give in to the weakness with this, but experiencing it to come out the other side? Fuck, that’s worth it.
2. I’m frankly stunned this album is this high on my midyear list. If you had told me this was the case at any time in the past decade, I’d have called you crazy. But at the end of the day, I have to look at what I went back to the most, which until a few weeks ago topped my list…
2. ‘That! Feels Good!’ by Jessie Ware
This is everything I wanted Jessie Ware’s What Your Pleasure to be and so much more! Delving deeper into the campier sides of disco and house and R&B with impeccable production and her best ever melodic hooks, but also keeping the mature sensuality and subtle magnetism that’s been her greatest strength her entire career, a damn-near note perfect fusion in a tight package that I endlessly enjoyed, the sort of album that lives up to its title in spades! For those of you who want your pop with a little more flash and immediate pizzazz, I get why this might not resonate as sharply – even I know that this is a very obvious retro throwback to a sound and style for which I have a weakness – but when it’s done so well with the verve, variety, and flair that Jessie Ware can manifest… it’s too much fun for me to care! I’m frankly stunned this worked so damn well for me thus far this year, but I sure as shit am not complaining – some of the best pop I’ve heard in years… what could be better?
1. I mean… it’s not surprising. If you’ve watched my channel or seen any of my year-end lists for the past decade, it’s probably the most obvious pick. But sometimes the obvious pick is the right one – sometimes it’s exactly what is needed, sometimes it hits all the right notes and goes further than you’d ever expect. And in 2023… Jason Isbell has his magnum opus.
1. ‘Weathervanes’ by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Weathervanes feels like the sort of culmination of the past decade, but also a return to the familiar and a note where Isbell can cut loose beyond all expectations. Easily his most sonically diverse and colourful album in years, where his work behind the boards makes you wonder why it took so long for him to take over production, it shows him at a crossroads as a songwriter where his empathetic framing has been fully unlocked and feels more human than ever. So much of songwriting – hell, so much of writing and art – is built on the ego of thinking you can capture if not all the answers, enough to deliver catharsis; Isbell proves here that you can still get that catharsis while not having all the answers in spades, especially when you can’t know others as deeply as you think you know yourself. It’s vulnerable, it’s painfully insightful and heartbreaking but also deeply nuanced and powerful, it’s Jason Isbell not asserting himself as a titan of modern alt-country and singer-songwriter material – the assertion isn’t needed, he just is. It's one of the best albums I’ve heard in years, I honestly still struggle to pick favourites from it, it could be any song from it on any given day, but if by some miracle we happen to hear more like in 2023, we’d have a special year indeed. And while it’s extremely unlikely he’d get a crossover shot in the same way Zach Bryan has… hey, let a man dream, and let miracles happen – if the wind blows just right, we can get in that direction.