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Richard's Top 10 Releases Of 2023

Posted by Matthew Davies on

Another year, another horrible attempt at keeping up with everything. Admittedly I just end up finding old releases/bands and falling head over heels with 'em (big ones this year for me was Sibylle Baier, Mulatu Astatke and Pharoah Sanders). That said, there were some great stuff this year, and here's a playlist of the new releases (and singles!) I've been enjoying.

Shout outs to these releases that are also worth your time: The Caretaker Everywhere At The End Of Time (Stage 1) [Ambient]; Meg Baird Furling [Folk]; Thoom Fantasy For Danger [Pop/Electronica]; Colin Stetson When we were that what wept for the sea [Ambient/Jazz]; Cattle Decapitation Terrasite [Death Metal]; Khanate To Be Cruel [Drone/Doom Metal]; Lambrini Girls You're Welcome [Punk]; Loma Prieta Last [Skramz/Hardcore]; The Common Ulterior Abstract Ideas [Experimental Pop/Prog] Corinne Bailey Rae Black Rainbows [Pop/Indie]; Zack Stargaze Blobette? [Experimental]; Nihiloxica Source Of Denial [Electronica/Experimental]; Islet Soft Fascination [Psych Pop/Indie] and André 3000 New Blue Sun [Jazz/Ambient/Electronica]

10. FULL OF HELL & NOTHING - WHEN NO BIRDS SANG


Genre: Drone / Doom Metal / Shoegaze
BUY HERE!

It's fairly known that while I do love the likes of Thou, The Body, Full Of Hell, Uniform, etc. I usually find the collab albums cancel the best parts of both bands (with exception to Thou & Emma Ruth Rundle's "May Our Chambers Be Full", incredible). The mix of grind/noise merchants Full Of Hell and shoegazers Nothing works very, very well.

This is pretty much a droney shoegaze album with a heavy sound. It's akin to floating in a body of water, being slowly pushed or pulled by the waves, in an exciting yet cathartic way. Kinda gives me a similar feeling to Sunn O))) & Boris with their dream-laden jewel "Altar".

Favourite tracks: Spend the Grace, Rose Tinted World, Forever Well.

9. GEL - ONLY CONSTANT

Genre: Hardcore / Punk

I do find a problem in hardcore/punk that there's too many bands that sound identical to each other, especially with the current craze of beatdown hardcore. However, I feel Gel is one of the true exceptions and offer something a bit different.

Slightly defeating the point I'm making, but I get the same feeling from this album as I did with Trash Talk's "Eyes & Nines" or Ceremony's "Rohnert Park" (with a bit of Pissed Jeans "King of Jeans"). You have the anger, but also the earworm riffs and grooves. In a way, it is back to basics, but isn't that some of the best stuff?!

Favourite tracks: Honed Blade, Worn Down, Attainable.

8. EDWIN R. STEVENS - GOD ON ALL FOURS

Genre: Acoustic / Folk
BUY HERE!
This is my first time experiencing Edwin R. Stevens and what came through the lyrics was the last thing I expected - extremely dark and extremely funny, especially in contrast to some of the bright and even uplifting instrumentation.

Kinda has the same wit as Belle And Sebastian and The Magnetic Fields (personally). "The NHS got bought up by Richard fucking Branson, and my medication ran out."

Favourite tracks: Medication Ran Out, Only Child, Why Can't I Be the One I Want.

7. REMOTE VIEWING - MODERN ADDICTIONS

Genre: Sludge / Noise Rock

Backstory: Palehorse (from London) is a huge band for me, hearing them as a teenager really changed a lot of things (musically and socially/politically). After a fucking stunning last album, "Looking Wet In Public", they broke up in 2016.

Now we have the third album from the band to come out of that, essentially still Palehorse in spirit - although vocalist Nikolai left after this release, sadly. This is on par with the previous bludgeoner "Blood Loss", you can expect the same suffocating riffs/grooves and atmospheres these guys churn up... which is great if you're someone like me. Really fits that frustration with the daily grind.

Favourite tracks: Cleveland Balloonfest '86, Short Distance Runner, Watch Me for the Changes.

6. URFAUST - UNTERGANG

Genre: Black Metal / Doom Metal

The artwork is perfect because that's exactly how I felt finding out this album will be their last. Another year, another great band breaks up. Urfaust have been my favourite black (and doom) metal band ever since discovering 'em - actually up there as one of my favourite metal bands, full stop.

Here you get a balance of the black metal attack and the ritualistic drone-doom, again just haunting you for the entirety of each track. Perfect band.

Favourite songs: Vernichtung, Untergang, Leere.

5. LIL YACHTY - LETS START HERE.
Genre: I don't know... psych-indie?
Look, before anyone starts: I never imagined I'd love a Lil Yachty album, especially this much, but the world is full of surprises. Admittedly I think Yachty has flashes of greatness when it comes to hip hop, but this approach felt way more suited for him.
This has more in line with Tame Impala, Pond or MGMT than his hip hop contemporaries. It's just a great one to ride, almost like walking through rooms of multicolour with each holding a different setting to absorb.

Hate pRETTy though, that gets a skip every time. Jesus.

Favourite tracks: the ride-, sHouLd i B?, WE SAW THE SUN!, sAy sOMETHINg.

 4. BILLY NOMATES - CACTI

 
Genre: Indie / Alternative Pop
BUY HERE!
Because this came out so early in the year, I imagine it'll be unfairly left out of many end of year lists. The instant I heard it, I thought "Tor just keeps getting better". It feels like everything is expressed more clearly, it's more immersive. Sorta like getting to know someone, and finding out more about yourself after realising your similarities.

Admittedly I couldn't really get into the debut, really liked the "Emergency Telephone" EP and loved this. I can sit through this album without getting the itch to move onto something else - which is a rarity in general. Not one skippable track.

Favourite tracks: blue bones (deathwish), fawner, roundabout sadness.

3. YVES TUMOR - PRAISE A LORD WHO CHEWS BUT WHICH DOES NOT CONSUME; (OR SIMPLY, HOT BETWEEN WORLDS)

Genre: Alternative Rock / Post-Punk / Funk
This is a real latecomer - I have no idea why, but I didn't get it the first few listens (apart from instantly loving Purified by the Fire and Fear Evil Like Fire), I just didn't go back until a week or two before seeing them in Bristol, slightly getting into it... I'm an idiot.

Witnessing these tracks live, everything clicked into place and now picking favourite tracks feels like torture. It's genius. I've loved 'em since stumbling across "Safe In..." in '20 (I know that's when "Heaven..." came out) and they're such a shit-hot songwriter, I feel in awe every time I put an album on. This is another flawless set of gems in Yves Tumor's discography.

Favourite tracks: Purified by the Fire, God Is a Circle, Fear Evil Like Fire, Lovely Sewer.

2. OXBOW - LOVE'S HOLIDAY

Genre: Alternative Rock / Experimental Rock
Man... I will admit, I wasn't that touched by "The Thin Black Duke" but Oxbow came back (personally) so beautifully with this album. The band have flirted and indulged in many different sounds, approaches, never quite staying the same... to me the change here is the sense of reflection.
Sounds pretentious but I stand by it. The emotion through my favourite tracks almost feel like a glacial slow dance in the middle of a moshpit. Stunning.

Favourite tracks: Million Dollar Weekend, Lovely Murk, All Gone, The Night The Room Started Burning.

1. BILLY WOODS & KENNY SEGAL - MAPS

Genre: Hip Hop

Seems any year billy releases anything it ends up at the top of the list, no question. And it's really not favouritism - woods knocks it out the fucking park every time! There's so much to talk about here, which I sorta did in our Insta post when we got the album in (it sold out, you slept on it and I told you so!).

"Paper and pencil, I wrote the verse like hangman,
No need to ask who sent you, it was always just a question of when,
An ill wind in the trees, saplings bend,
That bird in the hand squeezed dead."

Favourite songs: Babylon by Bus, Soft Landing, Hangman, NYC Tapwater.

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