Gene's 2023 list yadda yadda
so after much deliberation and postponing, i've finally strung together some loosely accurate year-end whatever. behold, if you care |
| 1 |  | Hammock
Love in the Void
I guess I'll start with a few of my least favourite ones. I don't purposefully seek out bad music, but sometimes it does pass by my ears. So this lowest tier list is not particularly bombastic, nor is it ranked. Just a bunch of baddies that made me maddies:
Hammock's big new release might actually be my least favourite of the year. Something about its maddeningly long-winded tedium got under my skin and really annoyed my fragile patience more than most other boring-by-design albums this year. |
| 2 |  | Heirloom (USA-NC)
ROMANTICIZE
I feel bad for putting somebody's apparent passion project in this lot, as it seems like the band is just pouring their heart and soul into a style they love and believe in. It just so happens to be a trite blandness of some metalcore mishmash forced through their own prism of disorganised, boring song-writing and ill-inspired production choices. |
| 3 |  | Where The Waves Are Born
Sundered
A similar situation as Heirloom, where a band is passionate about a particularly outdated brand of metalcore and make minimal effort to at least add a semblance of character to it. At least this is a short EP only. |
| 4 |  | The Album Leaf
Future Falling
Lacking a general sound concept or tangible defining musical through line has somehow become a defining trait of its own when it comes to Album Leaf. Vague collage and sporadic atmospheric bursts are what makes up the bulk of the album. |
| 5 |  | Tanlines
The Big Mess
Among the things I feel bad hating is Tanlines, a project made of stay-at-home dads trying to entertain their kids with easy-going indie pop. It's so easy, it's primitive. There is a frustrating lack of musical curiosity all around the album. It slogs along mid-tempo, devoid of personality or tangible silver lining in form of either a catchy tune here or there, or simply pleasant atmosphere. Any miniscule positive detail is mostly accidental and withers away byx second listen. |
| 6 |  | Zohastre
ABRACADABRA
More among the crowd of risktakers, whose risks went nowhere. Zohastre's musical pull is in their weirdness and roughness of sound. On a pocket change budget they string together challenging albums and that is worth the respect. That said, their experiments in this case churned out something nearly unlistenable, boring and directionless the whole way through. You can see that the main pattern for my least favourite albums is boredom. |
| 7 |  | Yakuza
Sutra
No less irritating, but for its inherent lack of risk is the avant-prog-metal band Yakuza's newest, which sees the band descend into some mind-numbing repetition of very few production and instrumental tricks they have decided to employ on this hour-long album. |
| 8 |  | Avenged Sevenfold
Life Is But a Dream...
I fall among the circlejerk of LiBaD... haters, but even at its most hated, the hater cannot in good conscience deny the album's great risks. I find it highly admirable the lengths the band took to reinvent themselves, to rebrand their sound, to push a boundary. I also find it almost frustrating on their behalf (all the more so given that to them this is a definite success) how spectacularly awful it turned out and nearly every risk and idea turned up rotten and simply irritating to have to sit through. |
| 9 |  | The National
First Two Pages of Frankenstein
The National being what they are is somehow the least surprising turn of events, if one can consider this a turn at all. What with this being a rather obvious trajectory from captivating slow burn to meandering slow burn. |
| 10 |  | The Front Bottoms
You Are Who You Hang Out With
Really, in the same realm as The National. The Front Bottoms have carved a hole and stuck their heads in it. Every song bordering somewhere between dreadfully boring and dishearteningly obnoxious is a feat worth admiration, as well as something that feels almost intentional. |
| 11 |  | Leo Wolf
Shapeshifter
____________________________________________________________________________________
fave albs to be added below
a bunch of HMs:
Leo Wulf - Shapeshifter
Dozer - Drifting in the Endless Void
The True Faith - Go to Ground
Uhr - Salathiel Harms
DZ Deathrays - R.I.F.F.
The Frights - Gallows Humour
Lost Girls - Selvutsletter
Mutual Benefit - Growing at the Edges
Pleaser - Pleaser
Matthew Halsall - An Ever Changing View
Strange Ranger - Pure Music
Incendiary - Change The Way You Think About Pain
Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium |
| 12 |  | Spogelse
SPØGELSE
90.
dirty, musty, grungy, bassy
"Graves for Graves" |
| 13 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of...
89.
everyone's favourite most annoying band made everyone's favourite most annoying album
"Dragon" |
| 14 |  | Dodheimsgard
Black Medium Current
88.
aliens having tough times
"Tankespinnerens Smerte" |
| 15 |  | Bell Witch
Future's Shadow I: The Clandestine Gate
87.
medieval warlocks having rad times
"uuuuhhhhhhhh..." |
| 16 |  | Heart Attack Man
Freak Of Nature
86.
dumb fun with a smart core
"Late to the Orgy" |
| 17 |  | Hez
Panamaniacs
85.
lo-fi crusty punk in a language that makes everything sound somehow punkier
"Punks De Fin De Semana" |
| 18 |  | Gia Margaret
Romantic Piano
84.
Gia's general paperthin quaintness just got even quainter, paperer and thinner
"La langue de l'amitié" |
| 19 |  | Circuit Circuit
Body Songs
83.
who make bass sound like the devil escaping modular prison
"Null" |
| 20 |  | Jeromes Dream
The Gray In Between
82.
this dream is a nightmare and the subject is all of your past mistakes
"On Holiday with Infinity" |
| 21 |  | Dead Neanderthals
Specters
81.
post-complexity, dunking a barrel of Riley-ian minimalism into a canister of noise
"Banishment" |
| 22 |  | Mandy, Indiana
I've Seen a Way
80.
all vibes, but the vibes are getting lost in a labyrinthian brutalist structure
"Peach Fuzz" |
| 23 |  | MSPAINT
Post-American
79.
no garage for your garage rock, so you're rehearsing long-distance online
"Hardwired" |
| 24 |  | Oxbow
Love's Holiday
78.
further descent into patience and giving your local ageing alt record store managers the feels
"Lovely Murk" |
| 25 |  | Witch (ZMB)
Zango
77.
tangentially teaching snobs a whole new area of music to pretend they know about
"Malango" |
| 26 |  | Kalia Vandever
We Fell In Turn
76.
whatever the actually functional version of white noise machines are, this is it for me
"Mirrored Solitude" |
| 27 |  | Screaming Females
Desire Pathway
75.
"we make this look easy"
"Ornament" |
| 28 |  | Beirut
Hadsel
74.
digging around indecisively for years having finally paid off
"Spillhaugen" |
| 29 |  | Ukandanz
Kemekem
73.
add a good amount of [i]d u d e w h a t[/i] to jazz prog and also some prettiness
"Lebesh kabashen" |
| 30 |  | Shame (UK)
Food For Worms
72.
sudden style switch having paid off
"The Fall of Paul" |
| 31 |  | Bella Boo
DreamySpaceyBlue
71.
multidisciplinary quirky dream
"4ever" |
| 32 |  | Exit North
Anyway, Still
70.
ambient and alt-rock go hand in hand... but only here
"A Battle Cried" |
| 33 |  | Soda Blonde
Dream Big
69.
mature and cute at the same time
"WWDWD" |
| 34 |  | The Belair Lip Bombs
Lush Life
68.
Bandcamp find, Sputnikmusic bump, AOTY entry, throwback indie galore
"Walking Away" |
| 35 |  | The Bathers
Sirenesque
67.
acquired taste vocals set to the most beautiful sophisti arrangement you'll hear all year
"Garlands" |
| 36 |  | Mort Garson
Journey to the Moon and Beyond
66.
tasteful posthumous homage and unearthed recordings
"Western Dragon (Pt 2)" |
| 37 |  | Kinoteki
Dawn of the Final Hour
65.
the LordePotsiest rec
"My Broken Heart" |
| 38 |  | E_DEATH
Forgotten Realms
64.
the glitch and futurism Grimes wishes she had and Yeule has abandoned
"Any Excuse to Stay Awake With U" |
| 39 |  | Agriculture
Agriculture
63.
certainly a grower and a beast at the same time
"Look, Pt. 2" |
| 40 |  | Depeche Mode
Memento Mori
62.
no business being this good
"Ghosts Again" |
| 41 |  | Algiers
Shook
61.
terminally industrial fusion with gospel, but the worship is of personal freedoms and tech
"I Can't Stand It" |
| 42 |  | Sulphur Aeon
Seven Crowns and Seven Seals
60.
brutal onslaught and stubbornness is the only way of keeping Lovecraftian metal original
"The Yearning Abyss Devours Us" |
| 43 |  | The Go! Team
Get Up Sequences Part Two
59.
inspirational music for sitcom delinquents
"Whammy-O" |
| 44 |  | Liturgy
93696
58.
screw your meditation, i'm transcending straight to the ạ̸̧̛̖̜͖̮̫̣̝̪̩̤͍͇̮̫̪̜͓̖͓̄͂͐͊̓̉̐̓̀͊̂̋̀͜͝ą̶̧̠̯̤͖̱̃̆̔͑̏̾́̆̏̐͆̾͐̾͒̈́̃̆̀͛̒̍̕͘̚͝͝͝á̷͍͊͛̔͐̾́̾͘̚͠͝ą̴̢̧̛̳̫̞͍̠̠̗̞͚̩̳̠͕̳͓̬̭͉̥̘͖̫̭͍͓͇̫̪͇̘͉̬̜̐̄́͌͆̾̓̍̇̀̾̑̊̋͐́̿͐̄̋̓̕͝ă̶̡̢̡̫̰͎͙̼͕͕̹̻̪͙̥͎̩̖̘͉͍̖̞̫͕̭̤̱̘̟̪̦͈̗͎̤̻̖̠̑̆̈́̐͐͒̀̅̆͋̋̏̐̍̋̈́̕͜͝ͅa̷͈͇̘͔̫̦͋̂̔̆à̶̡̨̨̛̱͚̣̟̺͎̼̞̤̠̞͕̱̞̱̤͕̯̮̫̫̦̥͙̮̰̏̊̈́̐̍́̓͛̊̋̋̔̾̿̈́̐̊̓͗͒̽̃̆̎͒̿̔̇̃͊̏̐̀͂̚̕̚͜͠͝͠͝ạ̷̧͇̩͍̘̟͕̗̝͇̰̝̰̦͍̯͔̱̼̿́͆͒͛͐́̀̋̇̈͊͛̉̈̈͒̓̌͒́̚̚͠͠a̸̢̢̧̡̢̡͓̬̗͎̪̲̠̥͍̯̗͎̺̝̘̝̘̺̤̖̜͚̼̪͙͈͍̼̽̑̌̈́͋͗̀̓͑̈̑̈̔̽̃̋̄̍͛͘͜͠͠͝ä̶̢̛̬̱̩͙͓̠̞͍̫͍͔̗̜́̊͊͛͠-th dimension
"Djennaration" |
| 45 |  | Eyes (DK)
Congratulations
57.
uplifting violence
"dull BOY" |
| 46 |  | Model/Actriz
Dogsbody
56.
tis the one you might love seeing here, or hate.
"Slate" |
| 47 |  | Timber Timbre
Lovage
55.
terminal positivity and gentle cuteness
"Holy Motors" |
| 48 |  | Shapednoise
Absurd Matter
54.
terminator orgy
"Poetry" |
| 49 |  | Wednesday
Rat Saw God
53.
these youths are already all rusty and jaded
"Bath County" |
| 50 |  | Stuck
Freak Frequency
52.
showing the other kids how it's done
"Break the Arc" |
| 51 |  | Art School Girlfriend
Soft Landing
51.
minimal pop for minimal people
"Blue Sky" |
| 52 |  | Molly Burch
Daydreamer
50.
all modern indie pop trends in a burrito, but the other fillings are a nostalgia for at least 40 years of pop and disco development
"Bed" |
| 53 |  | Thomas Azier
The Inventory of Our Desire
49.
sophisti pop for those who haven't got a clue wtf is going on
"Invisible" |
| 54 |  | Fatoumata Diawara
London Ko
48.
Fatoumata made it her mission to make the most vibrant, sunny, and fun tunes to brighten your day
"Nsera" |
| 55 |  | Ryuichi Sakamoto
12
47.
a grand farewell album and a thank you to and from Ryuichi
"20220302" |
| 56 |  | Lawrence English & Lea Bertucci
Chthonic
46.
like drowning in a flooded cave (but like you're into it)
"Geology of Fire" |
| 57 |  | Aesop Rock
Integrated Tech Solutions
45.
Aesop develops a fun concept just cause he can and drops it whenever he feels like it just cause he can
"Aggressive Steven" |
| 58 |  | Faced Out (USA-MO)
Faced Out
44.
needs polish, but if we're out here hyping Maruja and BCNR and Black Midi and the like, we might as well hype actual underdogs
"Call It Response (Negative Home) Pt. 2" |
| 59 |  | PJ Harvey
I Inside the Old Year Dying
43.
age is wisdom, music is relative
"The Nether-edge" |
| 60 |  | Fucked Up
One Day
42.
Titus Andronicus hate them. Find out their trick to making actually epic concept punk albums...
"Broken Little Boys" |
| 61 |  | Big|Brave
nature morte
41.
hazy doom, blooming gloom
"The Fable of Subjugation" |
| 62 |  | JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown
Scaring the Hoes
40.
scary good
"Garbage Pale Kids" |
| 63 |  | ostraca
Disaster
39.
ethereal beauty sometimes hides in the ugliest of veneers
"Whilom" |
| 64 |  | George Clanton
Ooh Rap I Ya
38.
Clanton like three things: changing up his image, watching/hearing water flow, being shrouded in haze/vapour
"F.U.M.L." |
| 65 |  | Lauren Bousfield
Salesforce
37.
wrap your head around this one. then warp
"Debtors Prison Click Here Disney Needs To See This" |
| 66 |  | The Veils
...And Out of the Void Came Love
36.
full throttle, but towards the haziest crevices of ambient pop
"Epoch" (funny that the only energetic song on the album is my song of choice, but that's how the horses ran) |
| 67 |  | Weval
Remember
35.
that kid smashing metallic cannisters at your estate made it far in life
"Don't Lose Time" |
| 68 |  | Outer Heaven
Infinite Psychic Depths
34.
they hate whatever you (as physical humanity) love and depend on
"Rotting Stone/D.M.T." |
| 69 |  | Carnivorous Bells
Room Above All
33.
no wave quickie, prickly and mean-spirited
"The Written Word" |
| 70 |  | Godcaster
Godcaster
32.
the art kids are mad and back for vengeance
"Draw Breath Cry Out" |
| 71 |  | Young Fathers
Heavy Heavy
31.
YF finally figured out the right amount of p u r e v i b e s set onto the right amount of p u r e b a n g e r s
"Geronimo" |
| 72 |  | Monika Roscher Bigband
Witchy Activities and the Maple Death
30.
pop music in somebody's neo-noir cybernetic nightmare, all jazz tho
"Creatures of Dawn" |
| 73 |  | Ulthar
Helionomicon
29. + Anthronomicon
did yall forget about this already? two albums of surprisingly vivid and constantly vicious tuneful and creative death metal
"Coagulation of Forms" and "Helionomicon" |
| 74 |  | Loma Prieta
Last
28.
so good it makes you pray it ain't actually last
"Symbios" |
| 75 |  | Tina Moon
MY ARMS.
27.
no business being here at all, and you're probably gonna hate it
"虎視眈々" |
| 76 |  | Elzhi and Oh No
Heavy Vibrato
26.
these two just made an easy quickie with punching bars and slick production. who does that, who just makes a one-off on a day-off and puts most other projects to shame like that?
"RIP" |
| 77 |  | Svalbard
The Weight of the Mask
25.
Svalbard's solidified style, finally approaching apex
"November" |
| 78 |  | boygenius
the record
24.
three rarely interesting people made one rarely uninteresting record
"Satanist" |
| 79 |  | Zulu
A New Tomorrow
23.
grind for black liberation
"52 Fatal Strikes" |
| 80 |  | The Hold Steady
The Price Of Progress
22.
old age full of young mistakes
"Carlos is Crying" |
| 81 |  | Billy Woods and Kenny Segal
Maps
21.
spitefully biting, attempting to agitate the man in the high tower, but too clever to reach him
"Waiting Around" |
| 82 |  | Gazelle Twin
Black Dog
20.
computers doing psychedelics
"Fear Keeps Us Alive" |
| 83 |  | Leaving Laurel
When the Quiet Comes
19.
disfigured ambient
"better days will come" |
| 84 |  | ICECOLDBISHOP
GENERATIONAL CURSE
18.
horrorcore, but the horror is based purely in the bleakness of reality
"Out the Window" |
| 85 |  | Ana Frango Eletrico
Me Chama de Gato Que Eu Sou Sua
17.
overarranged and underappreciated
"Camelo Azul" |
| 86 |  | Squid
O Monolith
16.
fatal blow to those yapping whiningly about the windmill scene and the eggpunk descending from it
"The Blades" |
| 87 |  | Girl Ray
Prestige
15.
these girls just want to have fun
"Tell Me" |
| 88 |  | Victory Over The Sun
Dance You Monster To My Soft Song!
14.
idiosyncratic metal with lavishly positive spin
"Madeline Becoming Judy" |
| 89 |  | Laurel Halo
Atlas
13.
hearing end credits music from deep under the water's surface
"Late Night Drive" |
| 90 |  | Anohni and the Johnsons
My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross
12.
desperation appreciation blues
"Rest" |
| 91 |  | Geese
3D Country
11.
Orville Peck's marginally straighter counterpart
"3D Country" |
| 92 |  | Yeule
softscars
10.
cyborg in love... with self-empowerment
"dazies" |
| 93 |  | Matt Elliott
The End of Days
9.
Matt went out one autumn morn to lie down in the bog and die of hypothermia
"Flowers for Bea" |
| 94 |  | Glen Hansard
All That Was East Is West Of Me Now
8.
noted gloom Glen Hansard does notable gloom with a little more oomph than you'd expect
"Down on Our Knees" |
| 95 |  | Mick Jenkins
The Patience
7.
damn, Mick is out for blood
"2004" |
| 96 |  | The HIRS Collective
We're Still Here
6.
a statement of presence, both in metaphorical sense, and in the sense of "look at all that presence on our features list"
"Last Kind Meets Last Priest" |
| 97 |  | Protomartyr
Formal Growth in the Desert
5.
i am glad Joe Casey finally does not hate himself, gives hope to the rest of us
"Rain Garden" |
| 98 |  | Kara Jackson
Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
4.
poet goes to a dark place, keeps her hopes up, musically also
"free" |
| 99 |  | Sprain
The Lamb As Effigy
3.
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/19/6a/c1/196ac1736062d1fb09e56000b7fa0601.jpg
"Margin of Error" |
| 100 |  | McKinley Dixon
Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
2.
perhaps the most heartfelt and hard-hitting record you'll hear from 2023, despite being filled with only the smoothest, most luscious instrumentals
"Dedicated to Tar Feather" |
| 101 |  | Gezan with Million Wish Collective
Anochi
1.
revolution is upon us, but most likely not, we're just gonna sit this one out from behind our screens, as the world just kinda falls apart continuously
"INTERSECTION" |
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