It’s time for our annual music wrap-up! I spent dozens, perhaps hundreds of hours relistening to songs I liked in 2023 and narrowed things down to two lists. One, above, is 16 hours of the best of the best of the year. The below list is over 600 (!) songs— and it’s still whittled down from thousands of great cuts across the 4,000+ I listened to in the past year.
Hit shuffle or listen to each in “order” (mostly in reverse chronological order from release date, not sorted/ranked by any means.)
Best hiphop/R&B: RAYE., Little Simz, Jose James, Noname, Cautious Clay, Brandee Younger.
Best pop/dance: Hannah Jadagu, Devon Gilfillian, Birdy, Ellie Goulding, Christine and the Queens, Arlo Parks, Tanukichan, ANOHNI.
Best rock albums: Yo La Tengo, Daniel Donato, Tall Tall Trees, The Coral, Ben Harper, Generationals.
Best indie/shoegaze/mellow rock: Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Nabihah Iqbal, Becca Mancari, Slowdive, Girl Ray, motifs, deary, Drop Nineteens, The Serfs, Blonde Redhead, Lydia Loveless, Luluc, Mapache, Raye Zaragoza, Miya Folick, Moby.
Best punk/hard rock: Population II, Be Your Own Pet, Genesis Owusu, Thee Headcoats.
Best jazz/classical/instrumental: Yussef Dayes, m83, El Ten Eleven.
Best gospel/spiritual/world: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Keturah, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Ali Farka Toure.
Best country: Stephen Wilson, Jr., Jason Isbell, Jessi Colter, Turnpike Troubadours, Morgan Wade,
Best bluegrass/Americana: Joy Oladokun, Dori Freeman, Margo Cilker, Willie Nelson (two great records!), Margo Price, Allison Russell, Nickel Creek.
Best of the rest: Just Like Heaven - A Tribute to the Cure, Lankum, Sunny War.
The best reissues, live albums, and archival sets of the year: Joni Mitchell (not on Spotify), The Dream Syndicate, Drive-By Truckers, Aretha Franklin (her best live album ever, or at least as good as Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings), New Order, DeYarmond Edison, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Easy Eye Sound’s blues compilation, Frank Zappa, The Who, Prince (Diamonds and Pearls could have easily been multiple, separate records), the Wattstax comp, and the Stax Records demos comp.
Best 2023 albums overall: Joy Oladokun, Little Simz, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Hannah Jadagu, Dori Freeman, Devon Gilfillian, Birdy, Nabihah Iqbal, Becca Mancari, Slowdive, Girl Ray, motifs, Youssef Dayes, and Margo Cilker.
“I wasn’t prepared for the life I had,” Howard says. “I’d never had money. I never had access. No one ever gave a fuck about me publicly.” Her touring schedule meant she lost touch with her home, “because I was never there. I felt so alone.” By the time a new album was due, the constant pressure and relentless touring had left her in a deep depression. [The Guardian]
Have you heard of Bob Dylan core? [NSS Magazine]
Film
Best movies: The Dozen Best: Poor Things, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Dungeons & Dragons, Past Lives, You Hurt My Feelings, Anatomy of a Fall, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, The Holdovers, Are You There God?…, You Are So Not Invited…, Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse. Most underrated: Priscilla, Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Most overrated: Napoleon, The Killer, Killers of the Flower Moon. (*Note: I have missed a few, including American Fiction.)
Books
You can still preorder mine.