A mildly spicy 2023
Good day and happy new year. 2023 was not a year which found me exploring new releases to any great extent due to finding more pleasure plundering the musical vaults of decades past. Nonetheless, here are my thoughts on 20 albums from this year. I have heard more, but these are releases I’ve heard enough to justify a fair assessment. Hopefully a few people can find something new to enjoy here. |
| 20 |  | Ajeno
Ajeno
Genre: instrumental sludge
Rating: 2
Instrumental music is rarely interesting unless it succeeds in providing a certain energy, atmosphere or emotion that transports the listener to another place in their mind as they listen. Ajeno has none of this. Dull riffs and boring drum patterns repeat monotonously in verse/chorus patterns sounding like the vocalist jumped ship before recording and the rest of the band proceeded to release the album without their contributions. Nothing more than the foundations of an album. |
| 19 |  | Explosions in the Sky
End
Genre: post-rock
Rating: 2.2
For my sins, I gave these guys the courtesy of a discog run earlier this year. Easily the blandest post-rock band I have ever heard. By once again focusing almost exclusively on attempting to project uplifting, artificially sweetened sounds, EITS have produced another album devoid of atmosphere, emotion, tension or anything else that makes post-rock an intriguing genre. Barren and boring as fuck. |
| 18 |  | Queens of the Stone Age
In Times New Roman...
Genre: hard rock/stoner
Rating: 2.8
QOTSA always know how to competently combine hard rocking riffs with stoney grooves. With Joshua Homme sprinkling of signature sleaze, their music is always instantly recognisable with “In Times New Roman” being no exception. Despite being undeniably solid, nothing really sticks with me and I’m left feeling a bit cold, just as I was after hearing the preceding two albums upon release. Give me the 00s QOTSA back. |
| 17 |  | Coffin Mulch
Spectral Intercession
Genre: death metal
Rating: 3
Buzzing chainsaw riffs tear through the brain which are initially empowering but are so unwaveringly similar throughout the album that stagnation sets in rapidly. Sloppy and uninteresting mid-placed drumming does nothing to help. Coffin Mulch have the skeleton of a decent death metal album here but sadly, the finished product is too homogenous and grows very stale, very soon. |
| 16 |  | Boogsmear
Boogsmear
Genre: alternative rock torn apart
Rating: 3
This alternative rock project is hell-bent on squeezing as many rock-based genres into one album as humanly possible. The band crams elements of alternative rock, grunge, power pop, progressive rock, psychedelia, shoegaze, and heavy metal into a single block of music which is every bit as bat-shite crazy as the levitating cephalopods adorning the album’s artwork. The plentiful variety on offer comes at the expense of quality as Boosgmear abruptly switch between genres whenever they see fit creating a wholly disjointed experience. A fun listen but once is enough. Imagine Pinkerton on a bad trip. |
| 15 |  | blink-182
One More Time...
Genre: pop punk/alternative rock
Rating: 3.2
Ahh, my old favourite band from back in the days of guzzling Monster and attempting to skate in the pissing rain. One More Time is obviously a million miles away from being flawless but has been a very enjoyable and nostalgia fuelled listening experience for me this year even if I had my reservations on the first few listens. Although there are some awful tracks here, I conclude myself pleasantly surprised. I enjoy the overall album way more than any of the post-Neighbourhoods guff. Realistically speaking, it’s as good as any old fan could have hoped for and the boys have managed to avoid a likely disaster. |
| 14 |  | Aedact
Nez
Genre: IDM/ambient
Rating: 3.5
Aedact is an Italian producer I stumbled upon while trawling the depths of Bandcamp and the best description I can provide for Nez is that it sound like Autechre were asked to provide the score to a David Attenborough documentary. Mutilated rhythms and dissected beats from the sonic base while the accompanying psychedelic pops and zings reflect the movements of insect colonies sped up by a factor of 10. Closing track “Nezen” comprises enduring ambient pulses and drones which bring a submarine atmosphere to the affair. Creepy and otherworldly, Nez is worth a shot for the IDM and ambient fans. |
| 13 |  | Nightmarer
Deformity Adrift
Genre: death metal
Rating: 3.5
Spidery dissonance and growls akin to Immolation/Ulcerate and deep chuggery a la Gojira are interwoven into an interesting half-hour feast of extreme metal that boasts great musicianship, a catastrophically heavy atmosphere and a refreshing approach to tempo and structure. By providing slow, chugging breakdowns here and there, the more punishing segments full of blast-beats and brutal riffing become more effective than if they were present as continuous onslaught. This is as heavy as fuck. |
| 12 |  | Motorpsycho
Yay!
Genre: psychedelic folk/progressive folk
Rating: 3.6
I got into Motorpsycho in 2019 when hearing the phenomenal “The All is One” and being blown away by its wonderful fusion of intense progressive rock and heavy psychedelic jams. A quick scan through the discography not only highlighted the diverse sonic palate on offer but how well the band can pull off any musical style they try. “Yay!” shows Motorpsycho stepping back from the progressive nature that dominated its immediate predecessors and delving back into the light-hearted folky psych that was prevalent in the band’s earlier work. Less Sabbath fuzz and more Canterbury scene nonchalance. Great chill-out material. |
| 11 |  | Faex Optim
Crystal Pleasures
Genre: IDM/techno/house
Rating: 3.7
Taking influences from house and minimal techno and blending it into the creepy IDM which dominates his previous material, “Crystal Pleasures” sees Faex Optim begin to crawl out of the land of BoC worship and offer up a more stripped-down and beats-driven experience, injecting some euphoria into the mix alongside the usual mysterious nostalgia. Donate half an hour of your time and you’ll be rewarded with some well-rounded, refreshing electronic delights which leave the mind, body and palate cleansed. |
| 10 |  | Andrea
Due In Color
Genre: ambient/breakbeat
Rating: 3.8
Lush sheets of ambience weave together over stimulating breakbeat which manages to sound relatively restrained while still delivering a huge sound. Highly restorative, this album is the epitome of clean. You even feel clean after listening to it. The sound of sparkling tiles and gleaming, minty-fresh glaciers. The sounds I imagine would be great to accompany you on a detox weekend at a luxury spa retreat. |
| 9 |  | Lifeguard
Dressed in Trenches
Genre: indie rock/noise rock/post-hardcore
Rating: 3.8
Great little EP by a trio of Chicago teenagers who quite obviously have a passion for the American indie rock, noise rock and post-hardcore movements from the late 80s into the 90s. Melody and atonality co-exist harmoniously as jagged rhythms jump about all over the place erratically. A short and sweet listen very deserved of the attention of those who like their rock music simultaneously noisy and melodic. |
| 8 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of...
Genre: psych/thrash
Rating: 3.9
The ridiculously prolific King Gizzard have somehow successfully reused and recycled the same handful of riffs and rhythms into 24 full-length albums, taking them a little over a decade to do so. While I generally am a fan of their work, I will admit that they are a band who can easily irritate. However tiresome their incessant releasing can become, they hit the bullseye roughly every 3—5 releases and thankfully, their second foray into thrash metal is one such occasion. |
| 7 |  | Oozing Wound
We Cater To Cowards
Genre: noise rock/sludge
Rating: 3.9
Slow, towering riffs, mucky sludge grooves, ear-splitting leads and cord-shredding vocals are the order of the day with Oozing Wound’s latest offering. By serving this mix up under a veil of powerful yet murky production that allows the unrelenting drums to dominate, Oozing Wound provide a distinct sense of unease, making for an anxiety-inducing experience. This is what noise rock should be all about - pure filth. |
| 6 |  | Anachronism
Meanders
Genre: technical death metal
Rating: 4
Dissonant death metal is becoming an increasingly crowded affair these days. Thankfully, some bands exist who produce material with enough of their spin on it that they stand out strong against the pack. With Meanders, Anachronism balance the dissonance and brutality with conservative use of melody, thick chuggery and a sprinkling of psychedelia without compromising the heaviness of the overall album. It’s disso death cleverly nuanced, diversified and highly recommended. |
| 5 |  | Weval
Remember
Genre: house/downtempo/indietronica
Rating: 4
A clever combination of dreamy trip hop, funky basslines, and infectious rhythms make for an interesting piece of indietronica from the Dutch duo. Trippy, spaced-out soundscapes wash over you while gentle beats aid in keeping things uplifting. Hazy vocals combine with the lush tones of analogue synthesisers to produce a vintage, retrospective atmosphere, perfect for meditation. Electronic yet organic. |
| 4 |  | Nothingness
Supraliminal
Genre: death metal
Rating: 4
Nothingness resurrect the death metal buzzsaw but unlike Coffin Mulch (see number 17), the Minnesota based quintet play with such confidence and show sufficient stylistic nuance to give them relevance in today’s metal scene. Lurching tempo changes continually catch the listener off-guard while harmonising twin leads ebb and flow against atonal riffs as if in liquid state. The jewel in the crown here is how the band have managed to create something that sounds more complex than it is – a fairly simple but top-notch old school death metal album. |
| 3 |  | The Chemical Brothers
For That Beautiful Feeling
Genre: big beat/progressive house
Rating: 4.1
The 10th full-length from big beat pioneers The Chemical Brothers proves that they can still deliver block rockin’ beats in high volumes. Packed full of banging beats, warm psychedelic hooks, funky breakdowns and trippy vocals, the duo certainly wants listeners to feel like the album title suggests and will have you yearning for long summers, cheap festivals and whatever illicit substances you may or may not have consumed there. A time-travelling experience that IMHO is brothers’ best this side of the millennium. |
| 2 |  | Moshimoshi
Green LP
Genre: emo/math rock/post-hardcore/screamo
Rating: 4.4
Helsinki-based Moshimoshi came bursting onto the emo/indie scene in the spring of this year with a wonderfully fresh, energetic and well-crafted debut. The combination of crunching emo chords, precision math rock leads and jazz-inspired drumming is a glorious throwback to the heydays of Midwest emo, post-hardcore and screamo. Retaining its replay value very well throughout the year, it has been in regular rotation and will likely stay there for many moons to come. A confident sounding debut that makes me hungry for what the band can deliver next. |
| 1 |  | Stimming
Elderberry
Genre: deep house/minimal techno
Rating: 4.5
With an addictive mix of deep house and minimal techno, Hamburg-based, pigeon-loving producer Martin Stimming has me very smitten with “Elderberry”. It may be recency bias after only becoming acquainted with the album in the past month but the slick grooves, mesmerising beats, absorbing rhythms, minimal use of melody and the fact the bass is deeper than the fucking Mariana Trench all contribute to this being my AOTY. A captivating release and a prime example of the kind of material that is spearheading my ongoing migration to the electronic arts. |
|
