The Best Albums of 2023

Below is a list of my 100 favorite (sans jazz, that list comes later) albums of 2023. Accompanying the top 10 are blurbs, some old writing with slight tweaking, some entirely new. If you read me enough to know the difference, thank you for your support.

1. Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS

   I was shocked by how taken I was with GUTS (pause) after only a couple of plays. I was very resistant to SOUR initially. Maybe the slow ones seemed too melodramatic — who knows now. It took me past the end of 2021 to hear what others heard in it and now it’s my #4 album of that year. I’ve been let myself down by own anticipation before, but then I kept putting GUTS back on during a month with five Fridays and a couple dozen albums I still needed to revisit. I just wanted to hear the entrance of the second guitar on “All-American Bitch,” the scratch vocals at 1:23 on “Bad Idea Right?,” “BLOOODsucker,” all of “Get Him Back!,” and the cathartic bellow that brings home “Pretty Isn’t Pretty” again. It’s hard to think of any solo artist who has debuted with (not one, but) two albums as surefire as SOUR and GUTS (Marshall Crenshaw? Kanye West?). I’m not sure I would go so far to call it a masterpiece, but I know, for some, the urge to compulsively replay an album will lead to that determination. Regardless, I don’t think anyone has made a more perfect pop record so far this decade (unless your name is Beyoncé).

2. Zach Bryan

   At least once a year I must endure the egoshock of hating (and in this case, finding it downright fraudulent) an album and then eventually realizing I was insanely wrong. It’s hard to see what exactly repelled me on my first listen, only that my first aural impression of Bryan’s music strongly resembled other beloved vacuous music peddled to me by coworkers and acquaintances; growing up in the Midwest. The difference of Zach Bryan is not just above average lyricism, but his understanding and perfection of the Depressed/Limboed Man Driving on Country Roads After Dark, Hurdling Towards the Void aesthetic, in sound and concept. His decision to differentiate his songs with an odd instrumental choice for backing here and an unconventional recording location there gives this album the extra character that make Zach Bryan sublime.

3. Speedy Ortiz: Rabbit Rabbit

   Although the A’s, B’s, C’s, and D’s of Sarah Dupuis’ songform seemed too disjunct to be listenable at first, I was shocked just how hummable the songs on Speedy Ortiz’s Rabbit Rabbit are. Some days my head is filled with the A of “Emergency & Me,” other days it’s “Kim Cattrall", then it’s just arpeggio from “Who’s Afraid of the Bath,” and then I’m back to the B of “Emergency & Me.” I wont claim I’ve tried to make sense of the lyrics, but doesn’t mean I don’t sing along to “where the cars cut you off from the right lane!” When the songs are less fun, it’s comforting to be mesmerized by their thick and inscrutable texture. As I listen to each stem, sinking into the sound, I feel fully enveloped, swaddled, around the 5th or 6th layer of guitars.

4. Wednesday: Rat Saw God

   Now you get to say “I told you so” again. I’m not sure what I didn’t get about this during my first few passes, because it makes so much sense to me know. It pairs great with MJ Lenderman’s excellent live album from this year, which I think let me realize just how great the guitars are on this album. The first two songs can be a long and abrasive gatekeeper to the rest of the album (this is also one of the most interestingly sequenced albums of the year) so maybe start at track 3. The lyrics, the tempo changes, the build-ups, the feedback! I get mesmerized just by the opening of “I Got Shocked” every time. Being able to see the distorted pop through the fuzz (which is no easier than on the excellent “Chose to Deserve”) will hopefully open you up to wailing and the screeching to. So, pop a couple ibuprofen and press play.

5. Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain

   Tyler Childers is the best living writer of love songs in country music. Don’t believe me? Just play “In Your Love.” Tyler Childers is the best male singer in country music of his generation. Don’t believe me? Just play his version of “Help Me Make it Through the Night” or “Space and Time.” Tyler Childers is also the funniest and most endearing male songwriter in modern country music. Don’t believe me? Play the rest of this wonderful album. Sincerely, the subject of “Phone Calls and Emails.”

6. JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown: SCARING THE HOES

   My most played album of the year. Last April, I wrote “after 7 or so spins, there are still songs that possess me to move like a Pentecostal and songs that feel lost in their referentialism.” That’s still true, but now the lesser songs just seem like interesting interludes in-between headbangs. This is probably JPEGMAFIA’s best rapping, but it surely isn’t Danny Brown’s. Considering where he sits among contemporary rappers, it’s still some of this year’s best. That hardly matters when the production is this inventive and evokative. The beginning of “Kingdom Hearts Key” still makes me feel like levitating. I also wrote “when I finished listening to it for the 7th time, I thought about how cathartic it had been and (hopefully) will continue to be blasting it in my car, by myself and with friends, until the buzz of the subwoofers flings the lug nuts off.” It’s still cathartic.

7. boygenius: the record

   Another album that took me forever to warm to. I’ve noticed people on Twitter (I’m not calling it that) love to hate this album. Take that for what you will. Last week, this would have not been in my top 10. Now, I realize the A-side of the record may be the most exciting side of music released all year. I think if you take all of their lyrics as deadly serious, it would be hard to enjoy listening to this album without cramping half the muscles in your face, but if you can interpret the right lyrics as half-serious, like their threats of violence or jabs at Leonard Cohen, then the expert songcraft and nearly Roches-worthy harmonies becomes more apparent.

8. Robert Forster: The Candle and the Flame

   This album seemed almost amateurish at first. I wasn’t sure what the former Go-Between was trying to do with The Candle and the Flame. Some have interpreted it as an album of songs written for his wife who had cancer (she is in remission now, thankfully), but only “She’s a Fighter” was written after her diagnosis. Really, its an album about and made with the people he surrounds himself with, repeating loving affirmations to one another. This album opened up to me one late night driving, on an empty state road, home, alone from the hospital. “The Roads” came on, and it conveyed so beautiful how nurturing and loving something cold and industrial can still be, and how much that gray matter shapes our lives.

9. Buck 65: Super Dope

   Top 3 moments from Super Dope:

   3) Hearing the fully formed beat of “Evil God” with the brass and jeers in all their glory.

   2) The opening 10 seconds of “Mono No Aware.” Layin’ in the cut-

   1) “Train Music”: Shoud’ve went to math class, jackass.

10. Danny Brown: Quaranta

    Quaranta proves a perfect counterpart to Brown’s last anniversary album, XXX: his willingness to reflect and self-critique (paired with his incredible beat selection) makes every listen rewarding and, more importantly, soothing. He’s not letting loose in the way that made XXX such an exciting breakthrough, but I find this album even more listenable because of how nice it is just to hear him speak. Danny Brown continues to be my favorite contemporary rapper. If you need to reflect on crippling regrets or some devastating news, Brown will give you the courage to accept you’ve gotta boss up and shakedown.

11. Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know

12. CMAT: If My Wife New I’d Be Dead (‘22)

13. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs

14. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno: The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89

15. Iris DeMent: Workin’ on a World

16. corook: serious person (part 1)

17. Victoria Monét: JAGUAR II

18. Gina Birch: I Play My Bass Loud

19. Water From Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed 

20. Lori McKenna: 1988

21. A Savage: Several Songs About Fire

22. Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids

23. Withered Hand: How to Love

24. Machine Girl: Neon White Soundtrack, Pt. 1 (the Wicked Heart) (‘22)

25. The Feelies: Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of the Velvet Underground

26. Brennen Leigh: Ain’t Through Honkey Tonkin’ Yet

27. Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You

28. Hemlocke Springs: going…going…GONE!

29. MJ Lenderman: And the Wind (Live and Loose!)

30. Grupo Frontera: El Comienzo

31. Bombino: Sahel

32. bar italia: Tracey Denim

33. Doja Cat: Scarlet

34. Nia Archives: Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall

35. PinkPantheress: Heaven Knows

36. CMAT: Crazymad, for Me

37. corook: serious person (part 2)

38. Morgan Wade: Psychopath

39. Quasi: Breaking the Balls of History

40. Dlala Thukzin: Permanent Music 3

41. Janelle Monáe: The Age of Pleasure

42. Tracy Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody

43. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent

44. Billy Woods: Maps

45. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound

46. Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet: Songs & Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog

47. Adriana Calcanhotto: Errante

48. Lucinda Williams: Stories from a Rock N Roll Heart

49. Low Cut Connie: ART DEALERS

50. Bailey Zimmerman: Religiously

51. Assiko Golden Band De Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki

52. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The III Wise Men

53. Megan Moroney: Lucky

54. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These Either

55. Bounaly: Dimanche à Bamako

56. Brandy Clark

57. Ice Spice: Like..?

58. DJ Shadow: Action Adventure

59. Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy

60. Emperor X: Suggested Improvements to Transportation Infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor

61. Rodney Crowell: The Chicago Sessions

62. Baaba Maal: Being

63. Ahl Nana: L’orchestre National Mauritanien

64. Lil Wayne: Tha Fix Before The VI

65. Piconema: East African Hits on the Colombian Coast

66. Stephen Ulrich: Music from This American Life

67. Elle King: Come Get Your Wife

68. Grrrl Gang: Spunky!

69. Tamara Stewart: Woman

70. Alex Anwandter: El Diablo en El Cuerpo

71. Jad Fair & Samuel Locke Ward: Happy Hearts

72. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love (The Songs of Harlan Howard)

73. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me

74. Azuka Moweta and His Anioma Brothers Band of Africa: Nwanne Bu Ife

75. Kelsea Ballerini: Rolling Up the Welcome Mat

76. Noname: Sundial

77. Allison Russell: The Returner

78. L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog

79. The Handsome Family: Hollow

80. Be Your Own Pet: Mommy

81. City Girls: RAW

82. Algiers: Shook

83. Bonnie Montgomery: River

84. NewJeans: Get Up

85. Ratboys: The Window

86. Okwy Osadebe and Highlife Soundmakers International: Igbo Amaka

87. Blockhead: The Aux

88. Tyvek: Overground

89. Filipe Catto: Belezas São Coisas Acesas por Dentro

90. Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday 2

91. Thomas Anderson: The Debris Field (lo-fi flotsam and ragged recriminations, 2000-2021)

92. Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My

93. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit: Weathervanes

94. Robbie Fulks: Bluegrass Vacation

95. Snõõper: Super Snõõper

96. Jeff Rosenstock: Hellmode

97. Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel

98. Wiki & Tony Seltzer: 14k Figaro

99. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book

100. Lil Uzi Vert: Pink Tape

Also… my Expert Witness ballot.

ALBUMS:

1. Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS (18)

2. Zach Bryan (15)

3. Speedy Ortiz: Rabbit Rabbit (13)

4. Wednesday: Rat Saw God (11)

5. Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain (9)

6. JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown: SCARING THE HOES (9)

7. boygenius: the record (8)

8. Robert Forster: The Candle and the Flame (7)

9. Buck 65: Super Dope (5)

10. Danny Brown: Quaranta (5)

SINGLES:

PinkPantheress & Ice Spice: “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2”

*Tamara Stewart: “The Orphan”

corook: “if i were a fish”

Olivia Rodrigo: “Pretty Isn’t Pretty”

100 gecs: “Hollywood Baby”

Hamell on Trial: “Jelly”

Tyler Childers: “In Your Love”

Sho Madjozi: “Chale”

PinkPantheress: “Angel”

The New Pornographers: “Cat and Mouse with the Light”

EPS:

1. corook: serious person (part 1) (4)

2. Nia Archives: Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall (2)

3. Hemlocke Springs: going…going…GONE! (2)

4. corook: serious person (part 2) (1)

5. Ice Spice: Like..? (1)

LIVE (going back a couple years):

Wussy/Wussy Duo

Todd Snider

Low Cut Connie

Pavement

Tune-Yards

Liz Phair

Lizzo