11 Singles and EPs
11. Nia Archives - Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall EP
More of the same and still very good. Also partial to the 'Bad Gyal' single from later this year.
10. Su Yu - I Want An Earth EP
Four nice new-agey ambient pieces, dependably gives you a sense of waking up in a ryokan in the middle of nowhere.
9. Blawan - Dismantled Into Juice EP
Mainly for the bloopy sad android centrepiece 'You Can Build Me'.
8. Carré - Tilted / Fainting
Classic dubstep business. 'Fainting' a little speedier but still has a swing to it.
7. Portway - Dropshipping / Lithium Souls
Grime inflected techno – for those nostalgic for the stuff on Night Slugs Volume One.
6. Mattr - A-Break / Corps
Sort of a more polished IDMesque version of what Skee Mask puts out. Quite lovely.
5. NOT_MDK - Hi-Tech Soul EP
Shout to Joe Muggs for the recommend – he described it as Omni Trio meets El-B which for me is like two batsignals in the sky. What's good about this how it threads the connections between 2-step garage and drum 'n' bass, in hindsight such an obvious thing to do.
4. Sully & Tim Reaper - 'Windswept (Sully Fader Mix)'
Shout to Shawn Reynaldo for the recommend. Bananas drum 'n' bass – like a hundred frictionless bouncy balls let loose in a sealed room (with you in it). Sully is the genre's most innovative producer at the moment – the 'Extant' single from this month is another barnstormer.
3. Raphael Roginski - 'Electron'
Shout to Philip Sherbourne for this one – there's an album but only this single is available on streaming. It's... folk maybe? World music? Intricately hand-picked guitar that sounds like it has emerged from the deep mists of time.
2. snow ellet - 'Whiskey and Soda Pop' / 'Elevator' / 'Playing Dead'
Shout to Michael Brooks for this one. Power pop with a slight punk pop feel – snow ellet's voice has a tinge of Tom Delonge whine if your ears are tuned to that sort of thing. The songwriting here feels like a level up from what has come before, and might have something to do with Sarah Tudzin being behind the boards. Excited for what's next.
1. Kwengface, Joy Orbison & Overmono - 'Freedom 2'
Favourite song of the year. Joy Orbison and Overmono don't actually do that much to the original, which has a 2-step flavour but goes in an 8-bar grime direction to create emphasis. The remixers just reverse that decision and keep the energy up throughout. I have found drill too scary to really engage with, and Kwengface doesn't really deviate from the genre's themes (pull quote: "this gang gang shit's exciting / I love drug money, big guns and violence"). He just has so much charisma that you can breeze through the content of what he's actually saying. Yet another reminder that 2-step garage can go alongside the steam engine and parliamentary democracy as one of the greatest things the UK has ever invented.
19 Albums
19. PinkPantheress - Heaven Knows
This branches out a little bit from the material that put PinkPantheress on the map, and confirms that she is just an excellent songwriter in whatever mode she is operating in. Slightly confused about how massive the Ice Spice collab is, but it's a good song and in keeping with the feel of the rest of the record.
18. Imaginary Softwoods - The Notional Pastures Of Imaginary Softwoods
Consistently excellent ambient project from one of the Emeralds guys.
17. Cousin - HomeSoon
Another Philip Sherbourne recommend. This is very pleasant to have in the background but is actually teeming with detail, inspired by the idea of walking in a forest and communing with all the plants and creatures in it. Only 5 tracks but it's 30 mins long so goes in the albums list.
16. Victoria Monét - JAGUAR II
Ariana Grande songwriter striking out on her own. At its best when it sounds the least like contemporary R&B. 'On My Mama' is fine, but the luxurious Stevie Wonderesque ballad 'How Does It Make You Feel' is reeeaal gooood. The cut with Earth, Wind and Fire is also a standout. Relatedly – Ariana Grande has never been better than when channelling Mariah and Whitney on her debut album.
15. Otik - Cosmosis
Rooted in drum 'n' bass sonics but ranging across dubstep, ambient and techno, with every element polished to a glistening sheen. I've excised the spoken word bits, the rest is lush.
14. Heinali - Kyiv Eternal
A tribute to a city and a people under threat. This project uses field recordings of Kyiv and wraps them up in classical compositions with the aim of preserving in memory what is unique and special about a place. Powerful, beautiful and suffused with the hope that pulls you through the darkest moments.
13. gum.mp3 & Dazegxd - Girls Love Jungle
Jungle with all the ruff stuff rubbed out. I'm sure girls love the ruff stuff too, but all I can say is I'm down for the very syrupy pretty breakbeats you get on here.
12. feeble little horse - Girl With Fish
Super-hyped band puts out two perfect records and then breaks up is a career arc I have a lot of respect for. This strikes the right balance between being weird and being catchy. The sound of indie rock in 2023.
11. Hot Mulligan - Why Would I Watch
The sound of pop punk in 2023. Shout to Ian Cohen for the recommend. A level-up from the band's previous material, perhaps because all the tropes of the genre are thrown in the blender and exciting new song shapes are created. The vocalists' approach to scream-singing almost every line can be a deal-breaker for some. I think it captures the letting-it-all-out attitude the band has. Everything goes into the songs, no matter how embarrasing and self-compromising. These dudes rock, but I do also hope they are ok.
10. Wednesday - Rat Saw God
I have a hard time with the two biggest songs on here. 'Chosen To Deserve' is quite repetative and gets a bit dull for me. And while I'm sure the nine-minute 'Bull Believer' goes off live, I don't really have the patience for it on record. Take those two cuts out and you get a lot of quieter, meandering, alt-country type rock propping up the rip-roaring 'Bath County' which is the actual standout on the album.
9. Andrea - Due In Color
So the standout song on this album is called 'Remote Working' and it basically sums up the point of this album. It's like a better sequenced and higher quality 'deep focus' playlist for when you're wfh and powering through the to-do list. A more propulsive Four Tet, if you will. All of this is damning with faint praise, so apologies to Andrea, but that's what I use this record for and it does a great job at it.
8. Tinashe - BB/ANG3L
Is seven tracks even an album? I think the format suits Tinashe, whose previous projects have a tendency to sprawl with the highlights getting a bit lost in the process. Lead single 'Talk To Me Nice' is unusual and good. The other heaters on here are towards the end. 'Gravity' is basically Tinashe on a Burial beat and sounds incredible. 'Tightrope' has her jump on a drum 'n' bass track, beating PinkPantheress at her own game. One of my favourite things she's put out.
7. Liquid Mike - s/t
Short and sharp, in-and-out power pop that does the business. Good hooks, noisy guitars, all the songs under two and a half minutes. Summer bbq music. Shout out Eli Enis for this one.
6. Aus - Everis
Shout out to Loraine James for this one. Her Whenever The Weather project last year was a favourite, and she put Aus on a playlist of inspirations. I have an irrational bias for ambient music made by Japanese people, perhaps because I automatically expect it to sound like Hiroshi Yoshimura, which is obviously stupid. Aus isn't that – there's some jazz and classical elements to his music. It's understated, but has a sense of craftsmanship that is very impressive.
5. Pony - Velveteen
If you miss what Charly Bliss where doing on their debut album, this will more than tide you over. No bad songs on this record, and quite a few solid bangers. This is unkind, but Pony basically aims for the same thing beabadoobee is aiming for, and they actually hit the mark.
4. yeule - softscars
Quite a lot was made of the pop punk influences on this record. They are most evident in the opening track, but that is actually the weakest song for me. For the most part this is just beautiful, melancholic, expertly put together dream pop, and quite a breezy listen.
3. Hotline TNT - Cartwheel
Supremely listenable shoegaze album with HUGE! RIFFS! Always feels good when you put it on. Some tracks remeniscent of chillwave – this can serve a similar vibe-setting purpose in all honesty.
2. Jim Wallis feat. Henry Senior Jr - In Huge Gesturing Loops
What if pedal steel but ambiet is an excellent question answered by this Jim Wallis record. Shout out Neil Kulkarni for this one. Ambient music by its nature belongs in the background and it's often hard to differentiate one ambient thing from another. This felt more impactful simply because as soon as you put it on, it immediately sets the mood to meditative and you can feel the weight of the day lifting. Music is magical like that.
1. Magazine Beach - Constant Springtime
Ian Cohen saying "I need that emo shit in my life" on an IndieCast discussing Mitski has stayed with me all year. Never related harder to a clip of audio. Basically and at this point – me too, man. Magazine Beach were this year's Pool Kids for me, although they're not yet at the level of buzz where they're taking pictures with Paramore. Struggle to find much online about these guys beyond what they themselves put out (their Instagram caption game is very good I must say), so it was really good to see them included in Cohen's 2023 emo round-up, which suggests they've found an audience. Shout out to Brooklyn Vegan for putting them on another list of emo bands to check out in 2023 earlier this year, which got them on my radar.
This album was released in the spring and it's a grower. On the first spin it just sounds like well made variations of emo that you've probably heard before. Maybe that's enough for me, and this band serves it in just the kind of flavour I like – gang vocals, unconventional song structures, hyper-specific lyrical concerns. That and I do find the youthful ambition of their stated goal to rethink the album format charming and admirable. Why not reuse the same hook in two consecutive songs? Why not end on a nine-minute epic which is just a bunch of different songs squashed together, as if Magazine Beach can just keep firing out new tunes forever. The seasonal imagery may be an obvious structuring device, but there's a power to it. A lot of the songs are about death and dead ends – but spring follows winter. The lyrics are full of dread but the melodies are full of hope. We're never waking up again sounds ominous, but the vocal is triumphant, and creates its own sense of community. I hope this band finds theirs.
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