2023 AOTY So Far

Last year's thread proved popular as a means to share favorites (known and unsung alike) through to EOY voting season, so I figured it was worth another go. This time I've created a google doc to keep track of the "AOTY So Far" lists I've come across; happy to add to it -- if there are non-genre-specific lists you think are worthwhile, please post them here.

Thus far I've seen lists from Exclaim, Pitchfork, Spin, and Treble. I've combined those with lists I was already keeping of Allmusic's Editor's Choice albums that received at least 4.5 stars, anything on AOTY or Metacritic with at least an 85 (updated as of today), and anything Pitchfork and Paste have given at least an 8.0/80. Below are the albums that check at least 2 of those boxes (Artist - Album - Count) -- see the doc for the full list. Admittedly somewhat arbitrary, but I think a decent representation of what's been getting acclaim so far this year...

Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good! - 8
Wednesday - Rat Saw God - 8
billy woods / Kenny Segal - Maps - 6
Boygenius - The Record - 6
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - 6
Kelela - Raven - 6
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World - 6
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) - 6
Fever Ray - Radical Romantics - 5
Paramore - This is Why - 5
Water from Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed - 5
Feist - Multitudes - 4
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes - 4
Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - 4
Liturgy - 93696 - 4
Model/Actriz - Dogsbody - 4
Yaeji - With a Hammer - 4
100 gecs - 10,000 gecs - 3
Arooj Aftab/Vijay Iyer/Shahzad Ismaily - Love in Exile - 3
Cecile McLorin Salvant - Melusine - 3
Depeche Mode - Memento Mori - 3
Foo Fighters - But Here We Are - 3
Kali Malone - Does Spring Hide Its Joy - 3
Kara Jackson - Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? - 3
Lankum - False Lankum - 3
Liv.e - Girl in the Half Pearl - 3
Mandy, Indiana - I've Seen a Way - 3
Angel Bat Dawid - Requiem for Jazz - 2
Avalon Emerson - & the Charm - 2
BIG|BRAVE - nature morte - 2
Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, The Water, The Sky - 2
Brian Dunne - Loser on the Ropes - 2
Bully - Lucky For You - 2
Debby Friday - Good Luck - 2
Durand Jones - Wait Til I Get Over - 2
ICECOLDBISHOP - Generational Curse - 2
Iris DeMent - Workin' on a World - 2
James Yorkston / Nina Persson / The Second Hand Orchestra - The Great White Sea Eagle - 2
Kali Uchis - Red Moon in Venus - 2
Kate NV - WOW - 2
Lonnie Holley - Oh Me Oh My - 2
Maxo - Even God Has a Sense of Humor - 2
Mega Bog - End of Everything - 2
Nickel Creek - Celebrants - 2
Nourished By Time - Erotic Probiotic 2 - 2
Parannoul - After the Magic - 2
Protomartyr - Formal Growth in the Desert - 2
Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12 - 2
Susanne Sundfor - Blomi - 2
The Lemon Twigs - Everything Harmony - 2
Tujiko Noriko - Crepuscule I & II - 2
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V - 2
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy - 2

The Tubs' Dead Meat

Theres about 6 jousting for position tbh

Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
Billy Woods - Maps
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Oozing Wound - We Cater For Cowards
Mark Barrott - Johatsu
bar italia - Tracey Denim

I'll make a proper list when I'm more with it, but Avalon Emerson fans should also check out the Nabihah Iqbal album imo

The Tubs - Dead Meat

This year's not yielded a whole lot that's made go whoa as of yet, but there's a few records that have really captured my attention and are highly likely to make my list (this is an ordered list btw)

Rắn Cạp Đuôi - *1
Billy Woods - Maps
Kelela - Raven
Weval - Remember
Snow Ghosts - The Fell
Heavy Heavy - Young Fathers
Andrea - Due in Color
Overmono - Good Lies

Laurel Canyon - S/T
Billy Woods - Maps
Kassa Overall - Animals
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
The Tubs - Dead Meat
Algiers - Shook
Lisa O'Neill - All Of This Is Chance
Ben Howard - Is It?

Laurel Canyon - S/T
Billy Woods - Maps
Kassa Overall - Animals
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
The Tubs - Dead Meat
Algiers - Shook
Lisa O'Neill - All Of This Is Chance
Ben Howard - Is It?

oops soz

Ooh ooh also the YLT

Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe - The Rite of Spring: Spectre D’un Songe

the Stravinsky estate wouldn't let SC do improvised interpretations of his work but it is still fucking fantastic!

rob OTM I was gonna mention the Iqbal album on the Real Lies thread as there's some overlap there (not that surprising given 'Zone 1 To 6000')

Is it just me, or is this a very poetically rich crop of AOTY titles? e.g.

Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
Everything Harmony
Everyone's Crushed

Love in Exile
Maps
The Land, the Water, the Sky
This is Why

WOW
This Stupid World
But Here We Are
Scaring the Hoes
With a Hammer

Even God Has a Sense of Humor
Rat Saw God
Heavy Heavy

Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

Lucky for You
I've Seen a Way

Raven
Wait Til I Get Over

All of This is Chance
Is It?

Have thought of a bunch of other albums I should have mentioned, will save most for the end of year final list but Durand Jones' solo LP Wait Till I Get Over is fantastic, and feels really overlooked in the press thus far

Of things not already mentioned (many of which I like):

William Tyler and the Impossible Truth — Secret Stratosphere
Rose City Band — Garden Party

in the art-pop corner:

Fire-Toolz - I am upset because I see something that is not there (this is my AOTYSF)
Katie Gately - Fawn/Brute
Algiers - Shook

in the avant-black-metal corner:

Kostnateni - Upal
Liturgy - 93696
Victory Over The Sun - Dance, You Monster, To My Soft Song
Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis
Dodheimsgard - Black Medium Current

in the hip-hop corner YES IM GONNA LISTEN TO THE NEW BILLY WOODS SOON also koenig apparently that's good too anyway

RXKNephew - Till I'm Dead

in the gecs corner

Alice Longyu Gao - Let's Hope Heteros Fail, Learn, And Retire

William Tyler and the Impossible Truth — Secret Stratosphere
Rose City Band — Garden Party

Thanks for the heads up on these; the William Tyler has a Kraftwerk cover!

The one I keep going back to is Katie Gately. Other than that I've really liked the Rian Treanor/Ocen James album and I gave the new Depeche Mode a surprisingly high amount of listens.

some great albums on here that i haven't seen mentioned yet, incl. fireworks, bigxthaplug, boldy james & richgains, and zulu

https://www.stereogum.com/2225527/best-albums-of-2023-first-half/lists/album-list/

a few of mine already mentioned, adding: James Holden - Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities

Albums not mentioned that might be AOTY for me:

The Necks - Travel
Holly Waxwing - The New Pastoral
Coen - Slop, Drop & Roll (Maloca)
Kendrick Scott - Corridors
Mark Giuliana - Mischief

Also: Indigo de Souza - All of This Will End

There have been lots of amazing dance EPs too. And although it's too unassuming for 'AOTY', I sure have listened to Mac DeMarco's 'Five Easy Hot Dogs' a lot.

niontay - dontay's inferno, there's a great album

A few that haven't been mentioned:

Eddie Chacon - Sundown
Meg Baird - Furling
Swami Sound - Back in the Day
Jim Legxacy - Homeless N*gga Pop Music
Westerman - An Inbuilt Fault
Khanate - To Be Cruel

o yeah I need to hear the Jim Legxacy

I need to listen to a lot of the albums in here.

So far my favorite albums are the Avalon Emerson and Eddie Chacon.

A few I’ve enjoyed a lot, in no particular order.

EBTG - Fuse
Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer
Sparks - The Girl is Crying in her Latte
Belle & Sebastian - Late Developers
Billy NoMates- Cacti
The Orb - Prism
Rodney Crowell - Ready to Move On
New Pornographers - Last and Beautiful
Lucinda Chua - Yian

chua and ebtg are high up on my list as well

some great albums on here that i haven't seen mentioned yet, incl. fireworks, bigxthaplug, boldy james & richgains, and zulu

https://www.stereogum.com/2225527/best-albums-of-2023-first-half/lists/album-list/

― ludicrously capacious bag (voodoo chili), Tuesday, June 6, 2023 11:16 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Thanks, I'll work on getting this added to the doc.

Delightfully surprised at how much love the new Feist album is getting on these lists. It is wonderful.

this the tubs record rules, thx ilm

yes, I am loving this

B Cool Aid - Leather Boulevard

top 3 probably Melati ESP, EBTG, and NBT (Nourished By Time)

Xiao Yun - Purple Garden
(it's a reissue, and not sure it's really aoty material, but I'm digging it for the time being...)

the William Tyler has a Kraftwerk cover!

Yeah I love that.

With everyone doing this after 5 months of the year, it should pretty clearly include December. Pitchfork rightly listed SZA (Dec 9) - no others?

The 2022 End of Year music lists thread

^ no SZA here.

my answer is easily Polachek, but thanks for the handy homework references!

i haven't been keeping up with stuff very well this year but it feels like a weaker than average year so far idk

everyone needs to hear the jim legxacy though

jim legxacy album is truly great, still think the best songs on it came out in 2022 tho

Updated the spreadsheet with BSF lists from The Guardian, Vulture, and Stereogum plus everything that's been mentioned so far here in an "ILM" column.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lzSEKqspuhsXRiJx_klRxL6PRIFsSJK3F4qo0Nw_sK8/edit?usp=sharing

The new consensus (Artist - Album - Count of Lists/Mentions):

billy woods / Kenny Segal - Maps - 10
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good! - 10
Kelela - Raven - 10
Wednesday - Rat Saw God - 10
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World - 10
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - 9
Boygenius - The Record - 8
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) - 8
Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - 7
Paramore - This is Why - 7
Yaeji - With a Hammer - 7
Feist - Multitudes - 6
Fever Ray - Radical Romantics - 6
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes - 6
Water from Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed - 6

best of all it's basically a concept album about how awesome one of my favourite parts of London is xp

have yet to be mentioned:

john cale - mercy (board seems cool on this one but i revisited it last week and it made me feel like i was trapped in gelatin, rules so much)
pile - all fiction (ppl ignore this incredibly creative and cool rock record at their peril)
the mars volta - que dios te maldiga mi corazon
krallice - porous resonance abyss
maara - the ancient truth
fall out boy - so much (for) stardust
narrow head - moments of clarity
kesha - gag order

I haven’t heard much new music lately but I’m with you on mercy it’s his best in 20 years for me (I was gonna say I’ve been pretty cold on stuff he’s done since hobosapiens, which I adore, but I forgot the reworked mfans & the circus live album)

the mars volta - que dios te maldiga mi corazon

forgot to mention this but it will easily be top 5 for me this year

An album I'm enjoying start to finish: En Attendant Ana - Principia. Indie with echoes of Stereolab, Broadcast, and motorik.
https://enattendantana.bandcamp.com/album/principia

Another mention for Lisa O'Neill who I love, but also...

Dina Ögon, Oas - random Spotify discovery from earlier in the year, really coming into its own now summer is beginning. Immaculate, smooth, baroque jazzpop from Stockholm, just the right side of too cute.

Hamish Hawk, Angel Numbers - terrific Scottish sophistipop which has grown on me a lot since my initial disappointment.

Langendorf Utd, Yeahno Yowouw Land - gorgeous Ethiopiquey jazz from Swedish saxophonist who's played with James Yorkston etc.

David Brewis, The Soft Struggles - makes a strong case for Sunderland as the new Canterbury scene, lovely, wistful, astralweeksy chamberfolk.

Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay - sublime, duelling, twangling acoustic guitars from Yorkshire and Wales.

Felicita, Spalarkle - moreish, wonky hyperpop. Occasionally like Virginia Astley signed to PC Music.

Dina Ögon, Oas

this one was good, twisty turny, immaculately produced lounge pop

out of the traps, first it's Uncut's EOY 2023 list ...time for someone to start a new thread.

Uncut's 75 Best Albums of 2023
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2098-uncuts-75-best-albums-of-2023/

obvious clue
Number 1 is an Irish band starting with L

more

Number 10 Welsh man in his 80s

Number 12 legendary 90 shoegazer band

Number 29 Basildon's finest

Number 59 legendary US art pop band that were formed in the 60s

Listening to the Rezzett album now. This is pretty great! Any other rec's for bobbins or hard dance album out this year?

That Uncut list is... weird, but happy to see Yo La Tengo so high and the Jim Ghedi/Toby Hay love.

brooklynvegan with a summary list of the Uncut list

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/uncuts-top-75-albums-of-2023/

I still need to check out the MM/KM (Kassem Mosse) record. I like the other Rezzett album from this year (Meant Like This) even more than the live one, all on Trilogy Tapes.

Here's some other dance music to check out:

Judgitzu - Sator Arepo (Nyege Nyege)
Rhyw - Mister Melt EP
Cocktail Party Effect - Fixing the Roof EP (Nervous Horizon)
Barker - Unfixed EP
Metrist - Pollen pt. III (Timedance)

Also so much other great stuff on those labels, Principe, etc.

I've enjoyed the two Wallace EPs from this year xps

What is the rush with these things? Do they really get more traffic if they publish on 11/9 instead of later on?

Well Uncut is still mostly a print mag, so presumably they have to gather their list in time for printing and it inevitably gets leaked, so they don't bother to protect it.

no leak, magazine on sale today in the UK.

Ahh, thanks. Usually takes awhile to show up here so I wasn't aware it was out today.

I thought it might be similar to when the Decibel list used to get leaked, to the point that they just started embracing it and leaking it themselves before the issue hits stands.

Uncut Magazine, new issue details

The new @uncutmagazine is in shops and available here: https://t.co/vLnk39eaom. @bobdylan! Review Of 2023! @thebeatles! @PJHarveyUK! @PaulSimonMusic! @TheKinks! @shirleyeCollins! @therealjohncale! @arooj_aftab! The Necks! @dinosaurjr! @CorinneBRae! @forsternet! Best Of 2023 CD! pic.twitter.com/lPkNS9QhrQ

— Uncut Magazine (@uncutmagazine) November 9, 2023

Rhyw - Mister Melt EP

100% co-sign on this

I need to check that out, I've enjoyed a bunch of previous stuff from Rhyw

x-post - I presume it's the December issue but I'd also imagine that advertisers like a best of list now, in time for Christmas (I'd imagine there's a spike in sales, to varying degrees, from appearing on the list).

Looks like Mojo's list is out: https://www.brooklynvegan.com/mojos-top-75-albums-of-2023/

ILM favourites The Tubs at #40

Sorry, didn't see this thread but ILM has had a dedicated thread since it began:

The 2023 End of Year music lists thread

Album I did the art for is Mojo's #18 as well their Electronic(a) Album Of the Year.

Tried hearing the Lankum album and after 5 or so tracks I realized this is 100% not my thing.

the greatest jam astronauts in the world are back

https://sunwatchers.bandcamp.com/album/music-is-victory-over-time

I have only listened to it once, this morning, but Claire M Singer's Saor knocked me completely over today. Incredible patient slow organic ambient.

AZ - Truth Be Told (produced by Buckwild)

Ted Gioia:

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-best-recordings-of-2023-honorable

Fuck wrong thread

Finally getting to the Sabrina the Teenage DJ album, it's so good. Strong candidate for my albums list.

first discovery from recent year-end lists (specifically the crack mag list) that's totally kicked my ass: the purelink album

I loved the S/T Purelink EP from last year (especially the unofficial cover of “Take Care”) but haven’t listened to the new album yet.

I'm finding it difficult to keep in my head, let alone order into a hierarchy, all the good new music I've heard this year, so this is very provisional/incomplete, but here's an off the cuff top ten:

Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
Amaarae - Fountain Baby
Sarina Bellaouel - Al Hadr
Flesh and The Dream - Choose Mortality
Julie Byne - The Greater Wings
Kesha - Gag Order
Tinashe - BB/ANG3L
Baaba Maal - Being
Bullant - Late Life Circ
Sarathy Korwar - KAL (Real World)

― Tim F, Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:39 (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was surprised to discover that several of these (Sabrina Bellaouel, Bullant, Sarathy Korwar) have not been mentioned anywhere on ILM other than in the above post. In that spirit (and while I continue to defer actually finalising any proper best of list), here are a few of my other favourite unmentioned/unloved albums of 2023:

Sam Goku - The Things We See When We Look Closer
Popular Music - Minor Works
Faizal Mostrixx - Mutations
Ao - Ao Mar
Shafiq Husayn - So Gold
Thomas Azier - The Inventory of Our Desire
Hinako Omori - stillness, softness...
Thom Gill - Eat The Wind
Lance Gurisik - Cull Portal
Melati ESP - hipernatural
Minihi - Stasis Loops

thom gill album is nice, kind of a slower/gentler cousin to fievel is glauque. love his beverly glenn copeland remix from a couple years ago

thanks for the recs tim, so far thom gill and shafiq husayn are very nice.

Thom is a wizard--I also highly recommend Bernice, the band he's in from here in Toronto where Robin Dann is the singer-songwriter and he's mainly on keys instead of guitar.

Also relating to him, when I heard the new Blake Mills/Chris Weisman collab (a personal EOY highlight), BM's vocal style on it immediately made me think of TG fwiw

my AOTY so far that i haven't seen mentioned often or at all:

V/A - Gespensterland
Andrew Osterhoudt - Out Together
Froid Dub - Deep Blue Bass
Philipp Otterbach - The Dahlem Diaries
Girls Chat Room - Sleep Mask
Headman - DeTurning
The Creative Technology Consortium - Panoramic Coloursound
Jon Iverson meets Prins Emanuel, Golden Ivy & Inre Kretsen Grupp
Troth - Forget the Curse
Holy Tongue - Deliverance and Spirtual Warfare
De Ambassade - The Fool
Kaukolampi - Inside the Sphere
Randolph & Mortimer - The Incomplete Truth
DJ Bone - FURTHER
Blotter Trax - Superconducter
Jonny Nash - Point of Entry
Golden Hallway Music - Rules & Chance Vol. 3
Fantastic Twins - Two is Not a Number
Paul St. Hilaire - Tikiman Vol. 1
E.L.I. - Built to Thrill
Actress - LXXXVIII
The Other Others - s/t
MATRiXXMAN - Dust World
XIII - Permanent Rain

first discovery from recent year-end lists (specifically the crack mag list) that's totally kicked my ass: the purelink album

― ivy., Tuesday, December 5, 2023 8:10 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

seconded

xp Nice list, Karl. Lots of titles new to me. Thanks!

yes thanks Karl, always enjoy your picks. That Randolph & Mortimer album rules, doesn’t it? Great industrial/ebm/skinny puppy type stuff.

Clearly I've got some more listening to do before declaring my Real AOTY, but here's my Uproxx ballot:

*write-in
*Algiers/Shook (Deluxe)

Bob Dylan/Shadow Kingdom

*Daniel Villarreal/Lados B

Jaimie Branch/Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((world war))

Jlin/Perspective

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog/Connection

Meshell Ndegeocello/The Omnichord Real Book

PJ Harvey/I Inside The Old Year

*Sunwatchers/Music Is Victory Over Time

Willie Nelson/I Don't Know A Thing About Love: The Songs of Harlan Howard

No songs, didn't have time.

xp <3 sawdust & brimstead. yes that album is a ripper!

jonny nash album is spectacular

Too early to make lists imo, Trilogy Tapes alone will probably release five more records this year.

haha otm

Catching up on stuff and the Hotline TNT and Ratboys albums are the blasts of energetic rock brilliance I didn't know I needed at this moment.

Girls Chat Room - Sleep Mask

lmao this is a gem

Really enjoying Sally Anne Morgan's album, which I've seen in lower reaches of some lists. Droney Appalachian folk-rock. Ripley Johnson guests on a cover of "Diamond Joe," whole thing is really nice.

xp yes! i mean 'look at these friennnnnndddsss, there's nothin like em nowhere!' a few weeks ago i had the privelege of djing an all day hardcore/metal show and telling my friend standing next to me i'm about to hit these fools with a track called 'tv turkey'

the self-titled album by Dead Pioneers, nothing else this year came close for me

Totally agree Chris, both albums are spectacular but, for me, The Window is on another level. I first came across it from listening to Wednesday and immediately loved it, whereas i just can get with that Wednesday record at all.

I also prefer The Window to the Wednesday album. More melodic and closer to, say, Waxahatchee.

Nom your AOTY noms over on the EOY noms thread: ILM's 2023 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / NOMINATIONS THREAD

the country album of the year is the kelsea ballerini ep