The 2023 End of Year music lists thread

Boomkat is literally a store

Boomkat feels like an old school record store in that sense, it's a business but it's highly curated and they have a pov. Like they're constantly doing the High Fidelity "watch me sell this record" thing.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8Lk7-UkV9BI/S6ULFiZ6mFI/AAAAAAAABwY/4-cjuffET-E/s400/high-fidelity-beta-band-3.jpg

Watch me sell four $40 splatter vinyls of George Clanton's 'Ooh Rap I Ya'

There is no way that's too cynical a view.

Websites are sending artists little "best of 2023" graphics to share on social these days, aren't they? Or has that been happening for years?

I mean I know boomkat is a store but those look like actual good records that are being recommended and not albums that have been on the bin for months and they need to get rid of.

I suppose that behind some of those 100 records there’s selections that benefit them in some ways - but there also seems to be genuine push for albums their staff loved.

I am glad Pitchfork also did additional lists with blurbs like the Latin one they did—

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-music-latin-spanish-artists-2023/

(my record popped up on a few other guest lists including Purelink's, life goal achieved to have made a Boomkat-friendly record tbh)

https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2023/2384
https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2023/2298

that said I look forward to the top 77 and usually the best stuff is found in the lower reaches

― corrs unplugged, Thursday, December 21, 2023 2:20 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

to be clear, me too, in part because it's the product of many people. i also think it makes sense for publications to publish a top 50 or 100, because they are organizations composed of many people. i was only speaking of my own ability to hear and process music over the course of the year. one brand-new record every 3.5 days is way too much.

This isn't rocket science, gang. When print magazines had to depend on ad revenue, they had the freedom to do top 20 lists and call it a day.

Now that revenue is based on gaming Facebook and Google, they have to try every trick in the book
--Creating as many chances as humanly possible for artists/publicists to share on social media
--Dropping lists in November to beat the rush
--Creating a facade of authority by commissioning a bunch of blurbs no one reads
--Putting it all in unwieldy multi-page formats

Brooklynvegan
Indie Basement: Top 40 Albums of 2023
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/indie-basement-top-40-albums-of-2023/

Basically this is the combined canon aesthetics of 90s NME, Melody Maker, Alternative Press magazine and 00s onwards 21st century Pitchfork.

Aimed at Gen X

Top 40 Albums Listed

Number 1
Girl Ray - Prestige (Moshi Moshi)

plus a further 100 Albums listed

And here’s a 130-song Best of 2023 playlist featuring songs from all 40 albums plus 90 more songs for a nearly nine-hour survey of the year via Indie Basement,

Spotify link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xOn9JERqTYFAovabdjV97?si=9E2u4MsPRG6Q9xxeyv3aew&pi=e-bAJBomOqRISl

But boomkat is not a print magazine that depends on ad revenue.

ha, this is rather timely.

top 100 lists are for part time slacker lightweights, make way for:

Consequence 200 Best Songs of 2023
https://consequence.net/2023/12/200-best-songs-of-2023-list/


the only published list that includes:
Slipknot, The Beatles, Chat Pile, Ice Spice, Dolly Parton, Chappel Roan, Baroness, Kylie, Judas Priest, Mick Jenkins, Chelsea Wolfe, Tems, Ihsahn, Burna Boy

Number 1 Mitski - My Love Mine All Mine

Spotify playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4wO5FsxL2pS28qvIka1uSA?si=hMsxy7IgTt6ZNLPlXw-pAA&pi=e-fsjhYs2WQU68

good to see The Beatles getting some love on these lists, finally

Songs and Albums are a whole different beast, though! 200 songs is like 16/20 albums.

Man I still truly don't listen to many songs divorced from albums, never got into playlist mode on that level. Moreso with dance music, but I'm still usually listening to an EP or whatever.

Good point Moka, however if that was applied to ILM yearly poll tracks voting it would need to be significantly increased.

Something that I advocated for during the last decade re: improving the nominations and voting methodology, that unfortunately was not actioned.

In recent years I have provided nomina
tions, but not voted due to the limited restrictive voting allocations.

In December you start with your personal faves, then you listen to further suggestions i.e Expanding your listening experiences and then comes the reductive and restricted ILM poll voting system - it's just not fit for purpose. It's stuck in a stale methodology that's 15 to 20 years out of date.

I chalked up 179 different music genres according to 2023 Spotify wrapped. Listening to multiple genres each day is how I enjoy listening to music. More voting allocations particularly for tracks is required.

that’s funny, that isn’t the way i listen to or enjoy music at all

I'm finding I get less out of these lists every year. I listen through these lists and find myself thinking, "yeah, I respect the craft and all, but how does anybody actually love this? Most of it is in one ear and out the other. I'm old, though. These lists aren't meant to appeal to me.

I love music

Am I remembering wrong or did P4K used to have much longer song and album lists at the end of the year?

Meaning, the authoritative lists. (Before they added the genre lists)

On another note: I’m finding some great stuff via the eoy charts by artists on Boomkat, there’s so much though. If anyone has any particular favorite lists please share because I doubt I’ll go through each one.

Grizzly Butts (Soon to be Mystificationzine) The Top 75 Albums of the Year

https://mystificationzine.com/2023/12/21/the-top-75-albums-of-the-year-2023/

Test Pressing 2023 Round Up
https://www.testpressing.org/magazine/its-the-test-pressing-2023-round-up

individual lists from Balearic / Electronic DJs

ACL 2023 ~ The Top 20 Albums of the Year

https://acloserlisten.com/2023/12/22/acl-2023-the-top-20-albums-of-the-year/

electronic and experimental music

Test Pressing 2023 Round Up
https://www.testpressing.org/magazine/its-the-test-pressing-2023-round-up

individual lists from Balearic / Electronic DJs

― djmartian

Ah love this format of individual, concise lists. Just 5 items: Top 3 singles, top album and top reissue/old album discovery. Not as overwhelming as the boomkat lists.

that boomkat list is definitely my kinda list. stuff i've never heard. or heard of. and so much of it looks interesting. so much to dig into. too much really. and then with all those guest lists...oof. no wonder i stay away from most year-end things. i got enough on my plate! cool that my pal jake meginsky made boomkat's list. his stuff is so good. and he lives right around the corner from me. ilxor and friend-of-jake and fellow percussionist Tarfumes should be on there too! his new album is so cool.
i 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. definitely not my idea of comfort food. a kinder and gentler sonic youth for the end of the world? i guess i'm just not ready to go gentle into the bad night. too much great death metal to listen to. (and i would probably like that doomsday irish folk album on everyone's lists if i hadn't been listening to doomsday folk metal for the last 30 years. and swans for the last 40+ years...but they do the folk thing good! i will give them that. and you definitely need a gimmick if you want young hepcats to listen to trad folk in 2023. and i will definitely listen to that laurel halo on everyone's lists when i need help getting to sleep or when i'm getting a root canal.)

ylt never really fell off and have always been pretty good at worst (definitely comfort food though, yeah) but the new one is genuinely up with their very best from the 90s - i prefer it to i can hear the heart beating as one

I thought I had all the Yo La Tengo albums I would ever need but This Stupid World was top shelf; brought me back into the fold. And they bring it as hard as ever live.

that's cool. i've never been a fan even though i'm an east coast indie gen xer in good standing. when i saw it on lists you will forgive me for thinking it was once again a nostalgia vote for the tattered amerindie flag. (and when i listened to snippets i just thought "okay thats them doing what they do...got it." having said that i have no doubt they could still write more listenable/tuneful songs now than any member of SY...)

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