The 2023 End of Year music lists thread

they deserve it all, but still. i feel like they have zero profile in the u.s., didn't realize they were topping best of lists across the pond

mojo having blur at #1 is a 00s rolling stone-level pick

I actually liked that Blur record the one time I listened to it but haven't really gone back to it. Number one though?

Rough Trade UK Albums of the Year

https://blog.roughtrade.com/gb/uk-albums-of-the-year-2023/

Number 1
Nation of Language - Strange Disciple

I guess I should listen to this Blur album, huh?

Rough Trade UK Albums of the Year 2023

summary format of the Top 100

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2102-rough-trade-uks-albums-of-the-year-2023/

Didn't know I needed more Wilco in my life, will give it a chance I guess.

Nice to see a rare appearance from Susanne Sundfør in the Mojo list.

I love Dexys but that new album is shocking and shouldn't be anywhere near any of these lists.

38. Gaz Coombes – Turn The Car Around

That's nothing, he's number one on Radio X's list!

https://www.radiox.co.uk/features/x-lists/best-albums-2023/

These are always the early bird dinner special lists. They like to get it over with so they can relax.

glad to see clientele place

can't help but think rating that aftab/iyer/ismaily is for people who missed vulture prince

before you think to yourself 'ooh I should reevaluate this album by comeback dinosaur x' please consider that most of these lists are written by extremely old and boring people

the blur album is wank

37. Sleaford Mods – UK GRIM
38. Gaz Coombes – Turn The Car Around

lock thread!

beautiful

Decibel's list:

40 Dødheimsgard, Black Medium Current, Peaceville
39 Kommodus, Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall, GoatowaRex
38 Street Tombs, Reclusive Decay, Carbonized
37 Obituary, Dying of Everything, Relapse
36 Fires in the Distance, Air Not Meant for Us, Prosthetic
35 Witching, Incendium, Translation Loss
34 Circle of Ouroborus, Lumi Vaientaa Kysymykset, His Wounds
33 Cattle Decapitation, Terrasite, Metal Blade
32 Final Gasp, Mourning Moon, Relapse
31 Spirit Adrift, Ghost at the Gallows, Century Media
30 Krigsgrav, Fires in the Fall, Wise Blood
29 Will Haven, VII, Minus Head
28 Smoulder, Violent Creed of Vengeance, Cruz del Sur
27 Kruelty, Untopia, Profound Lore
26 Night Demon, Outsider, Century Media
25 Incantation, Unholy Deification, Relapse
24 Filth Is Eternal, Find Out, MNRK
23 Cannibal Corpse, Chaos Horrific, Metal Blade
22 Great Falls, Objects Without Pain, Neurot
21 Krieg, Ruiner, Profound Lore
20 Rid of Me, Access to the Lonely, Knife Hits
19 Mizmor, Prosaic, Profound Lore
18 Autopsy, Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts, Peaceville
17 Cruciamentum, Obsidian Refractions, Profound Lore
16 Tribunal, The Weight of Remembrance, 20 Buck Spin
15 The Night Eternal, Fatale, Ván
14 Enslaved, Heimdal, Nuclear Blast
13 Gel, Only Constant, Convulse
12 Enforced, War Remains, Century Media
11 Blackbraid, Blackbraid II, Self-released
10 The Keening, Little Bird, Relapse
9 Thantifaxath, Hive Mind Narcosis, Dark Descent
8 Frozen Soul, Glacial Domination, Century Media
7 Lamp of Murmuur, Saturnian Bloodstorm, Argento
6 Panopticon, The Rime of Memory, Bindrune
5 Godthrymm, Distrortions, Profound Lore
4 Jesus Piece, …So Unknown, Century Media
3 Wayfarer, American Gothic, Profound Lore
2 Tomb Mold, The Enduring Spirit, 20 Buck Spin
1 Horrendous, Ontological Mysterium, Season of Mist

Fun fact: four of those were on the top 10 list I submitted to The Wire!

Uncut 31. Baaba Maal – Being

Yay

Uproxx just sent out their email to music critics to submit their ballots by November 28. They have a list of included artists but you can write in an act not already on their list

Phillip dot cosores at uproxx dot com is in charge

So glad the Horrendous album won that, it's just so wonderful. I can hear bits of Voivod, Lightning-era Metallica, early Opeth, Yes... to name a few. It's totally unpredictable, little ECM vibe bass tons will just pop in for 20 seconds, little flourishes of mellotron fading in and out. Just hits on so many things i love, I can hear a hundred influences in it but it still sounds totally cohesive. Also maybe the best rhythm sections in heavy music right now? I can hear the Bass on this entire metal record!!(!)!

also doesn't outstay its welcome, 37 minutes and none of it wasted.

PopMatters' Best Metal Albums of 2023 includes one of my releases, Diego Caicedo's Seis Amorfismos!

paste's top 50 albums of the year: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/50-best-albums-of-2023

Bbc6, bleep and glide also released lists

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/lists.php

And here’s the aggregate so far

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2023/

aoty aggregate

Let’s try that again I think the / breaks it

idk really have much idea what will be the consensus picks this year, it's felt like a pretty light year for big critical consensus albums albums. sufjan (very deservedly) and caroline polachek will end up being way up there. boygenius too i guess. the olivia rodrigo album is good but i expect it will end up overrated in these lists. the uk press seems to really love lankum?

Sufjan seems to be a good bet for a consensus pick. Jessie Ware maybe?

I didn’t even know Sufjan still made music lmfao

I was thinking Lana Del Rey would be high in the consensus but it’s not that high atm

Oh wait it’s at #8 on the aggregate it will surely climb a few places

Spotify Wrapped has dropped in the UK.

BBC Radio 6 Music announces its Albums of the Year
https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2023/6-music-albums-of-the-year

BBC Radio 6 Music announces its Albums of the Year
Over the next five weeks Matt Everitt’s weekly New Album Fix show will be an Albums of the Year special

New Album Fix: Albums of the Year - Episode 1

On BBC Sounds now and broadcast on Friday 1 December, 3am-4am

the record by boygenius (selected by Chris Hawkins)
Ladders by The Loving Paupers (Don Letts)
UK Grim by Sleaford Mods (Iggy Pop)
Gentle Confrontation by Loraine James (Mary Anne Hobbs and SHERELLE)
New Album Fix: Albums of the Year - Episode 2

On BBC Sounds from Monday 4 December and broadcast on Friday 8 December, 3am-4am

The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We by Mitski (selected by Lauren Laverne)
The Last Rotation of Earth by BC Camplight (Marc Riley)
In the End It Always Does by The Japanese House (Nathan Shepherd)
Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities by James Holden (Tom Ravenscroft)
Nails by Benefits (Tom Robinson)
New Album Fix: Albums of the Year - Episode 3

On BBC Sounds from Monday 11 December and broadcast on Friday 15 December, 3am-4am

Slugs of Love by Little Dragon (AFRODEUTSCHE)
Rare Birds: Hour of Song by The Bug Club (Cerys Matthews)
Silver by Say She She (Huey Morgan)
Appaloosa Bones by Gregory Alan Isakov (Mark Radcliffe)
New Album Fix: Albums of the Year - Episode 4

On BBC Sounds from Monday 18 December and broadcast on Friday 22 December, 4am-5am

I've Got Me by Joanna Sternberg (Deb Grant)
All Of This Is Chance by Lisa O'Neill (Gideon Coe)
Bunny by Willie J Healey (Guy Garvey)
Javelin by Sufjan Stevens (Huw Stephens)
Black Classical Music by Yussef Dayes (Jamz Supernova)
New Album Fix: Albums of the Year - Episode 5

On BBC Sounds from Monday 25 December and broadcast on Friday 29 December, 4am-5am

Good Living Is Coming For You by Sweeping Promises (Amy Lamé)
Angels & Queens by Gabriels (Craig Charles)
Protect Your Light by Irreversible Entanglements (Gilles Peterson)
Chaos For The Fly by Grian Chatten (Steve Lamacq)
Sea of Mirrors by The Coral (Stuart Maconie)

popmatters THE 10 BEST GLOBAL MUSIC ALBUMS OF 2023
https://www.popmatters.com/the-10-best-global-music-albums-of-2023

1. WITCH – Zango (Desert Daze Sound)

Jessie Ware maybe?

it was pretty forgettable in the end so i hope not

popmatters - THE 20 BEST POP ALBUMS OF 2023
https://www.popmatters.com/the-20-best-pop-albums-of-2023/2
popmatters - THE 20 BEST POP ALBUMS OF 2023 AOTY Summary
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2114-popmatters-20-best-pop-albums-of-2023/

Number 1: Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!

the olivia rodrigo album is good but i expect it will end up overrated in these lists.

overrated in comparison to how *you* feel about the album, it should be noted.

Spotify Wrapped 2023: team behind much-anticipated music moment share their story
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2023/11/29/spotify-wrapped-2023-team-behind-much-anticipated-music-moment-share-their-story

Another first for this year is the ‘Sound Town’ feature. “We know that listening habits are shared in really surprising ways across communities around the world,” explains Emily Galloway, head of personalization design at the streaming platform. “To celebrate that, we are bringing you Sound Town, which matches you to a city and is based on your listening and shared artists affinity.” This means that users can go check out a new place that they might not have considered visiting before and meet like-minded people.

Loud And Quiet Albums of the Year 2023
https://www.loudandquiet.com/short/loud-and-quiet-albums-of-the-year-2023/

overrated in comparison to how *you* feel about the album, it should be noted.

it's pretty common these days for pop albums which are merely good, solid, decent, etc. to be received by the critical consensus as instant classics. but at least their standards there are higher than they often still are with indie rock lol

Guts is currently #50 in the aggregate list (1 top 25; 2 other); not looking like much danger of it being "overrated."

it's pretty common these days for pop albums which are merely good, solid, decent, etc. to be received by the critical consensus as instant classics. but at least their standards there are higher than they often still are with indie rock lol

who says Guts is "merely good, solid, decent"?

“It” referring to “gyac as Valued Poster,” not to gyac herself.

Spotify Wrapped 2023: team behind much-anticipated music moment share their story
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2023/11/29/spotify-wrapped-2023-team-behind-much-anticipated-music-moment-share-their-story🕸

Another first for this year is the ‘Sound Town’ feature. “We know that listening habits are shared in really surprising ways across communities around the world,” explains Emily Galloway, head of personalization design at the streaming platform. “To celebrate that, we are bringing you Sound Town, which matches you to a city and is based on your listening and shared artists affinity.” This means that users can go check out a new place that they might not have considered visiting before and meet like-minded people.

Weird, I also got Burlington

turns out if you listen to more than two milwaukee rap mixtapes your sound town becomes milwaukee

Canadian music website Exclaim

Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2023
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/exclaim_50_best_albums_of_2023

AOTY Summary
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2120-exclaims-50-best-albums-of-2023/

1. Caroline Polachek
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

the aggregate is turning out how one would suspect-- Polachek, Sufjan, LDR, boygenius, GUTS, PJ Harvey, Mitski in top 10.

not sure what Lankum is

Huh, I got Burlington too.

Everyone should listen to Lankum. The Loud & Quiet blurb is a good primer:

Although they’ve been around in one form or another for 20 years now, Dublin’s Lankum have been developing their own version of traditional folk music in its current form since their 2017 album, Between The Earth And Sky, when they started to push ancient songs into new places by accentuating the droning elements of the music by adding heavy sounds more synonymous with metal and hardcore. In our end of year cover feature with the group, singer Radie Peat noted how their following album, 2019’s The Livelong Day, perhaps took things too far, making it too bleak for her to listen to. False Lankum has been a recalibration, and the band have rightfully been rewarded for hitting a sweet spot between noise and dread and space and peace. It’s a record that is worlds deep, and if 2023 has had anything going for it, it’s the fact that an album so dense and uncompromising has provided a band like this with their breakout year after two decades of musical exploration. False Lankum looked like being our album of the year as soon as it was released, and it is.

sorry writers but stores lists usually >>> mag lists

i could (and prob will) come up with 100 albums from this year that i would enthusiastically recommend. doesn’t mean they’re all 10/10 or whatever, but hey, i love listening to and sharing new music

you're such a real one vc

imo it is the sacred duty of ilm posters to listen to like, at least 50 new albums every year at a bare minimum

my listening habits were weird this year, i've listened to & enjoyed more new albums than ever but i have less clear favourites than usual so now i'm still trying to narrow down my shortlist of like 60 albums that i quite liked

imo it is the sacred duty of ilm posters to listen to like, at least 50 new albums every year at a bare minimum

Some of us work for a living.

…

It’s ok if you don’t enjoy it anymore but don’t pull the adult card

Hahaha. Fair. I wasn't meant to be quite so grumpy! Just bemoaning the days when I could actually pay proper close attention and manage a list of 30/40 albums.

i'm old enough to admit that i didn't even know that yo la tengo had a new album until i saw some of these lists last week. the only time i ever hear about them now is when they do endless VU covers with other old people in december every year. mazel tov! i did my gen x duty by watching youtubes of my neighbor lou barlow do neil young songs live with other old people in brooklyn. i liked the guy from the roots!

but mostly i don't care what year it is listening-wise. i'll get to it all eventually. i do try to keep up with metal. there is so much of it. i made a YT playlist of Decibel's top 40 this year and i just ended up listening to that Horrendous album over and over.

honestly don't know what people get out of yo la tengo at this late date. my eyes glaze over when i see stuff like that on a list. i guess its comfort food for people. like the Stones

But isn’t Boomkat programmed beats music also comfort food at this point in time [ ducks head]

There's no way I could come up with a list of 100 albums that I was really excited about that came out in one year, unless maybe I spent all my time listening to new music. To be honest, I usually struggle to come up with 10, unless it's a really strong year, which so far, this one doesn't seem to be. Because I'm lazy, I usually wait until the crush of EOY lists to come out to start looking for new releases. I think as of about a month ago, there were maybe 5 albums from this year I was excited about. As of now, maybe it's up to 10.

imo it is the sacred duty of ilm posters to listen to like, at least 50 new albums every year at a bare minimum

Probably the only list to feature Sam Smith and Donald Trump.

https://variety.com/lists/worst-songs-2023/mind-your-business-will-i-am-and-britney-spears/

“ but mostly i don't care what year it is listening-wise. i'll get to it all eventually.”

This is me with books and movies and TV (and eventually, music)

"But isn’t Boomkat programmed beats music also comfort food at this point in time [ ducks head]"

their year-end list is super-eclectic. its all over the place and has plenty of challenging stuff on it. my version of comfort food tends to be metal but if i had to pick a yo la tengo-adjacent album off of their top 100 that i would consider comfort food it would be the arnold dreyblatt album on drag city. it pushes all my old nyc nowave/minimal buttons in a way that they like to be pushed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st29rgG0i7E

Maura Johnson’s Top 10 albums (in Time) were posted above, but I think we missed her Top 10 songs (#1: “bad idea, right?”)

https://www.time.com/6548823/best-latin-songs-albums-2023/

Another critic in Time lists fave Latin pop, dance, and rock

Norman Records - Best Albums of 2023
https://www.normanrecords.com/features/best-albums/best-albums-2023/

Crack Magazine - Staff Lists 2023
https://crackmagazine.net/article/list-article/staff-lists-crack-magazine-2023/

The Crack Magazine team rewind and reflect on the year gone by. Unravelling a tapestry of moments and memories from 2023, we delve into the releases that struck a chord, the memes that made us smile, and everything in between.

long time music blogger, Dan Paton presents:

2023 In Music: New Music Top 100
https://inleaguewithpaton.blogspot.com/2023/12/2023-in-music-new-music-top-100.html?m=1

Dan is active on twitter/x, particularly each Friday with his threads on new releases

Dan Paton
https://twitter.com/DanPatonMusic

Passion of the Weiss - Best Albums of 2023

https://www.passionweiss.com/2023/12/28/pow-best-albums-2023/
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2242-passion-of-the-weisss-best-albums-of-2023/

Under the Radar’s Top 100 Albums of 2023
https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/under_the_radars_top_100_albums_of_2023

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2232-under-the-radars-top-100-albums-of-2023/

Barack Obama’s Top Songs of 2023: Beyoncé, Big Thief, Mitski, and More
https://pitchfork.com/news/barack-obamas-top-songs-of-2023-beyonce-big-thief-mitski-and-more/

Karol G & Shakira: “TQG”
Zach Bryan: “I Remember Everything” [ft. Kacey Musgraves]
Dave & Central Cee: “Sprinter”
6lack: “Since I Have a Lover”
Megan Thee Stallion: “Cobra”
Blondshell - “Joiner”
Alé Araya: “Midnight Gospel” [ft. Joseph Chilliams]
Beyoncé: “America Has a Problem” [ft. Kendrick Lamar]
Tyla: “Water”
Allison Russell: “The Returner”
Davido: “Unavailable” [ft. Musa Keys]
Mitski - “My Love Mine All Mine”
Burna Boy: “Sittin’ on Top of the World” [ft. 21 Savage]
Big Thief - “Vampire Empire”
Indigo De Souza - Younger & Dumber”
Stormzy: “Toxic Trait” [ft. Fredo]
John Summit & Hayla: “Where You Are”
Yng Lvcas & Peso Pluma - “La Bebe (Remix)”
Victoria Monét - “On My Mama”
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - “Cast Iron Skillet”
Brent Faiyaz - “WY@”
Asake & Olamide - “Amapiano”
Teddy Swims - “Lose Control”
Rita Wilson & Keith Urban - “Crazy Love”
Gabe Lee - “Drink The River”
Lenny Kravitz: “Road to Freedom (From the Netflix Film ‘Rustin’)”
Jon Batiste - “It Never Went Away”
Tems - “Me & U”

post-punk.com - Best of 2023
https://post-punk.com/post-punk-com-the-best-of-2023/

post- punk, darkwave / synth pop etc

various individual lists

plus a Collective Spotify playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6llUjwhzmk026ZnodSpYtv?si=mjd8_1ApSv2IARtTSCKbpg&pi=e-GzVND1SWQUqZ

Obama shoulda put “Vampire Empire (Colbert version),” just to troll the band

Rolling Stone - The 40 Best Afropop Songs of 2023
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/the-40-best-afropop-songs-of-2023-1234929225/wurld-shake-1234933054/

Spotify playlist link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3DNU9WHzRl4SgABfAhyBC5?si=Pu7_Jj3fTm-VRNw64XoENQ&pi=e-WHDV2wsTTTKx

do publicists pitch the Obama list? they must, right?

Obama shoulda put “Vampire Empire (Colbert version),” just to troll the band

― In my Ram’s Horn era (morrisp)

Or “Dang (Colbert version)”

I know AOTY exists now but I have always looked forward to and considered Rob Mitchum's aggregation to be the better of the two because he only includes multi-voter lists. I am also just fond of the data table view.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mlSJ5DU0RKccuNBfAgsiw-_xUApis7zC3ZjJofXyZB4/edit#gid=1927558368

It is remarkable that not one of the 44 lists ranked Javelin #1. I doubt that's ever happened before to an overall #1.

Also always enjoy perusing his "Sleepers" tab, which basically has albums that were very highly ranked on only a small number of lists. Has two of my favorites in the top ten: ML Buch & Durand Jones. Not familiar with a lot of the others.

Wilco recommends:

https://twitter.com/Wilco/status/1742251939931254830

Hmmm, they just deleted it. Not my fault.

now that the year is actually over, it's time to vote in the ILM EOY poll: ILM's 2023 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING THREAD

The Francis Davis Jazz Critics poll also has breakout categories including a Latin Jazz one

https://hullworks.net/jazzpoll/23/?fbclid=IwAR2WelVCzdqenojITWPqaDagJuEFt15y7ZhEJYOp9Bgxj2AMu7ZBJLNb0DY

https://hullworks.net/jazzpoll/23/totals-latin.php

forgot to add this terrible list that I add every year and it annoys us all.

https://tomvictorwords.medium.com/what-your-favourite-album-of-2023-says-about-you-6481acac9054

these are so low effort and I don't even get most of the references so why do they still piss me off

I know. It just seems like a collection of really lame local jokes.

i respect that they're now at the point where most of those are just totally inscrutable

"boygenius is for fake indie girls who like kelly clarkson" is the most comprehensible one and I still don't really get it - which part is the punchline?

still I clicked and read the whole thing despite knowing how shit it would be so they win

Feel like it's trying to be too clever, or maybe it hits much more for gen z readers and I'm just not exactly hip enough to fully get most of it.

https://accidentalevolution.wordpress.com/2024/01/05/150-best-albums-of-2023/

Chuck Eddy 150 fave albums of 2023 plus a long essay . His list has a fair amount of jazz and his self described most ever albums from African based artists. Eddy is into artists from the Nyege Nyege label much more than popular afropop/ afrobeats btw

Noz's list of his fave rap went up a day or two ago, for the goons/high BPM people (and lurkers)

https://noz.agency/rap23.html

The Finest Kiss

https://finestkiss.wordpress.com/2024/01/02/2023-albums/