Favorite albums of 2023

OK, I’m super late on doing this, but it’s still 2024 and I haven’t been lapped yet so I think I’m still good (under my own arbitrary rule system). Anyway, here they are.

1. Mitski – This Land is Inhospitable And So Are We.
I liked this album. But relative to the other albums on this list, I think it’s way up here b/c of my relief that I like this album, after not really liking the last one. This album really sounds like the winter of 23/24 for me. I’m your man; The Deal; The Frost.
2. Margaret Glaspy – Echo the Diamond.
Margaret Glaspy’s career feels really Cleveland. As in, people don’t give it [Cleveland] as much thought as it deserves. But laughable things do happen to it. For Cleveland, it’s their river burning, or the balloon disaster, the Browns, or Ten Cent Beer Night. For Glaspy, it was an album released immediately before the pandemic, where stylistically, she went the complete opposite direction of her debut album (possibly my favorite album of 2016). The meta-situation happened in her last performance here in Cleveland (10/3/2023), at the Grog Shop. For whatever reason, some mischievous god made it such that Margo Price was playing at Beachland Ballroom on the same night (and some other lesser-known but still notable band at another venue somewhere in the Cleveland area; so lesser-known that i can’t recall who they were), effectively bisecting the originally small-market indie-music concertgoers. And anyone looking for a fun atmosphere would go to Margo Price [probably most people], while people really looking for raw artistry (but all very serious!) would go to Glaspy [probably few people]. Well, I was at the Grog Shop, and it was like half empty. Which felt wrong, since it was a really great show. But also made sense.
Much like Mitski’s album, I was really happy to see Margaret Glaspy turn it back around to the type of music that I really enjoy. Just lots of solid songs on here. Female Brain; Hammer and the Nail; I Didn’t Think So.
3. Troye Sivan – Something to Give Each Other
Gotta sprinkle in some samplings of the alt side of modern pop. There was a time when Troye Sivan, and that underlying synth horn riff, was everywhere. One of your girls; Can’t Go Back; What’s the Time where you are.
4. Paramore – This is Why
I think I had recently listened to the Switched On Pop podcast episode talking about Olivia Rodrigo giving the person from Paramore writing credits on “Good for you” b/c they didn’t want to bother with any possibility of litigation from the fact that it sounds kind of like a song called “Misery business”. But anyway, I’m pretty sure the spotify algorithm gave me a song off their previous album “After Laughter”, and that was already turning into the sound of the 22/23 winter. Well, this album then came out and was pretty well acclaimed on the music review aggregator websites, and became a hit for me as well. And now I know that Hayley Williams is the person from Paramore I mentioned above. You First; Figure 8.
I think this was another spotify algorithm -sparked interest. But the youthfully irreverent energy is one I miss from when I was first really getting into music. This band gave me a jolt of that. Their song titles are one of the extensions of that vibe. Noah Fence; Self-Destruct.

    Well, some favorite songs now that I’m already thinking about / looking at the 2023 yearly fav songs playlist.

    James Blake – Big Hammer It just sounds great
    Mitski – The Deal I like that it tells a story
    Miya Folick – Cartoon Clouds Sounds like being in an air conditioned car in a hot summer, or being in a warmly heated car in the middle of a cold winter.
    Origami Angels – Doctor Whomst Super catchy IMO