No bones about it, 2023 was a freewheeling and unpredictable year for music. It was a year of hard left turns, reunions, unlikely collaborations, and several releases that were better than they had any right to be. This year's list is as expansive as it's ever been, yet I'm sure there are omissions. This was also an abnormally strong year for jazz; in fact, I'd argue my favorite album of the year was technically a jazz recording. Let's dig in:
BEST ROCK/POP ALBUMS
1. Guts, Olivia Rodrigo. After recording one of the more impressive pop debuts in recent
memory (2021’s Sour, also a high finisher on my annual list) Rodrigo continues to straddle
the line between adolescence and adulthood, yet emerges as an even stronger songwriter.
Her not-quite-sophomoric sophomore effort leans more toward the vicious punk-pop of “Good
4 U” than the reflective balladry of “Driver’s License.” Rather than keep hitting mid-2000s
nostalgia in the stomach, Rodrigo builds something familiar yet new.
2. Javelin, Sufjan Stevens. Spiritual themes are nothing new in Stevens’ oeuvre. Love and
heartbreak are not unfamiliar topics in music. Put together, however, Stevens creates his
most idyllic and engagingly ethereal work in a good while. Nine of the ten songs are Stevens’
own (the album closer is a Neil Young cover) and Sufjan plays every instrument except on
one track; Stevens’ DIY, unaccompanied approach to songcraft is an intriguing bookend to
his 2003 breakthrough Michigan, but the drama feels organic and less pretentious.
3. 10,000 gecs, 100 gecs. A gloriously cacophonous prank of an album. Two savants make
top-tier hyperpop, veering and jutting around for 27 unpredictable minutes, spoofing
everything from ska to doo-wop. It’s a feast for the ears, in the sense that one appreciates
filet mignon and White Castle on the same plate.
4. Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, Caroline Polachek 5. Let's Start Here, Lil Yachty 6. The Record, Boygenius 7. Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Lana Del Rey 8. Leaving, Fran 9. The First Two Pages of Frankenstein, The National 10. Food For Worms, Shame 11. Stereo Mind Game, Daughter 12. Norm, Andy Shauf 13. The Age of Pleasure, Janelle Monae 14. Scaring the Hoes, JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown 15. Unreal Unearth, Hozier 16. Sundial, Noname 17. Red Moon in Venus, Kali Uchis 18. Water Made Us, Jamila Woods 19. The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, Mitski 20. Playing Robots Into Heaven, James Blake
Honorable Mention: Cousin, Wilco.
Best Album, Senior Division: The Rolling Stones’ anti-nostalgic Hackney Diamonds
Second Best Album, Senior Division: Paul Simon’s Old Testament pivot, Seven Psalms
Third Best Album, Senior Division: Bob Dylan (Taylor’s Version), aka Shadow Kingdom
Best Song, Senior Division: The Beatles’ AI-assisted “Now and Then”
Worst… Everything, Senior Division: Roger Waters’ mumbly, unnecessary re-recording of Dark Side of the Moon
BEST JAZZ ALBUMS
Fly or Die III (world war), Jaimie Branch. A posthumous release (Branch died suddenly in 2022, when this was in post-production), the third album from her Fly of Die ensemble wasn’t necessarily intended to cap a trilogy. What a way to go out, though: everything about this album is vibrant and teeming with life. Branch lets her punk-jazz freak flag fly, seamlessly inserting some psychedelic accents. I finished listening in exhilaration, which soon turned to melancholy, as III only teased at what a Fly or Die IV would’ve sounded like.
Mélusine, Cecile McLorin Salvant
Triogram, Triogram
Your Mother Should Know, Brad Mehldau
Brand New Life, Brandee Younger
Solo, Benny Green
In Real Time, Artemis
Book of Queens, Krasno/Moore Project
After Dark, Chris Hazelton
New Blue Sun, Andre 3000
Best Jazz Reissue: Evenings at the Village Gate, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy
BEST SINGLES
"The Drop," Sports Team
"Evergreen," Mount Joy
"brrr," Kim Petras
"Nothing's Free," Angel Olson
"This Is Why," Paramore
"Wings of Time," Tame Impala
"No More Lies," Thundercat feat. Tame Impala
"Ring of Past," Men I Trust
"Slipstream," Django Django
"Mermaid Vampire," Susto
"One Like You," LP
"Forgiving Ties," Deer Tick
"Nothing Matters," The Last Dinner Party
“Angelcover,” The New Pornographers
“Sometimes,” Mannequin Pussy
BEST VIDEOS
“VOID,” Melanie Martinez. Surreal, gross, WTF… unforgettable.
"Back On 74," Jungle. Sometimes a great video doesn't need a complex premise. This British duo has a history of making clips with insane choreography, and this time they really outdid themselves.
"What They Call Us," Fever Ray. This reminds me of some of my old temp jobs.
"Make Way," Protomartyr. I mean, it's science, right?
"Free Yourself," Jessie Ware. Madonna might have faded into sad irrelevance, but the artists she influenced have carried the torch and then some.
Honorable Mentions: "Feel Good," by Slowthai (Surprise!) and "Anything To Be With You," by Carly Rae Jepsen (It's hard for me to say no to any clip that was shot in Chicago at 3 AM).
Your thoughts?
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