Another year done and gone, and what a great year for music. These are my top ten favorite albums of 2023, in alphabetical order by artist name . . . .
Baroness: Stone (Abraxan Hymns - 9/15/23)
Not so long prior to 2015’s Purple, Baroness’ excellent fourth album in a color-coded series that concluded this year, their tour bus flipped in Bath, England, resulting in both shattered bones and band lineup. Founder and frontman John Baizley remains as the sole original member of this Savannah, GA, sludge and progressive metal group. 2017’s Gold & Grey introduced fans to axe-shredder extraordinaire Gina Gleason, cementing a new and now consistent dynamic that pays dividends on Baroness’ latest LP, Stone. As its title implies, this one is rock solid with drums and bass locked in propulsive motorik tempo, Gleason’s soaring six-string leads, and Baizley’s bellowing howl rounding out the mix. Lyrics remain opaque – an uneasy blend of existential horror and pastoral tranquility – but Stone is arguably the group’s most confident and rewarding studio outing yet.
One could mistake Brent Cobb’s molasses drawl and unhurried disposition
for lethargy, but Southern Star is the Georgia native’s
fifth LP in seven years and among several stellar forays into studio
production. Self-produced and recorded at legendary Capricorn
Studios in Macon, GA, with lyrical input from friends and family (writing
credits include Cobb’s wife, father, and sister) Southern Star is a distillation of existential lyricism and sonic impulses Cobb
has honed for years – homespun wisdom delivered via laid back ditties and
funky jams. Despite his acknowledgement of life’s bittersweet
ironies, Cobb celebrates its simple joys, the sublime, the divine, and the
warmth of kith and kin. He even takes stock in a thriving
independent country music scene with “When Country Came Back to Town” – a
low-key anthem that namedrops at least thirty crucial genre
compatriots. Southern Star is my favorite album of
the year.
Dom & Roland: Against A Dark Background (Over/Shadow - 4/20/23)
Dom & Roland, Dominic Angus to his mum, is actually just one man albeit always nice enough to credit his Roland sampler. Hailing from London, England, he’s been a prolific producer and deejay since 1994 when he first signed with storied (but now defunct) breakbeat, jungle, and drum & bass label Moving Shadow. Against a Dark Background is Dom’s ninth studio album and the first full-length released by fledgling boutique label Over/Shadow, itself birthed from the ashes of Moving Shadow by two of its original founders. This is Dom’s most consistent long-player since his classic debut, Industry, from 1998. Whereas that one, with its technical precision and cold mechanics, could soundtrack a Bladerunner movie; this one, with its Wagnerian atmosphere and fearsome percussion, could soundtrack a Mad Max movie. One of the year’s best, from a genre legend.
Charles Wesley Godwin : Family Ties (Big Loud - 9/22/23)
It’s been a rare treat witnessing the rise of Charles Wesley Godwin
firsthand - from solo gigs in tiny dives with barely a dozen early
converts in attendance to sold out clubs hosting thousands in just a few
short years. Arenas can’t be far behind considering Godwin
channels the onstage energy and charisma of Springsteen and Brooks in
their prime. This native West Virginian’s third album, Family Ties, boasts more than a handful of arena-worthy anthems. Recorded
at Echo Mountain in Ashville, NC, with longtime producer and lead
guitarist, Al Torrence, this sprawling opus revisits lyrical themes close
to Godwin’s heart – family and home. He honors his father on
“Miner Imperfections”, his kids on “Gabriel” and “Dance in the Rain”, and
his wife – an ever-present muse across his entire catalogue – on “All
Again” and “Willing and Able”. There’s no doubt whatever comes
next will propel Godwin to even greater heights. Let’s
go!
Kvelertak: Endling (Rise - 9/8/23)
Hard rock and metal polyglots Kvelertak came onto the scene like a kick in the teeth back in 2010 with their self-titled debut. This Norwegian six-piece bucked trends by singing in their native language and by mixing black metal and punk with a generous dollop of classic rock. The group lost its original vocalist in 2018 prior to recording their fourth LP, Splid, which introduced newcomer Ivar Nikolaisen to the mic. Despite recording that album in Salem, MA, with longtime producer Kurt Ballou this time the band ensconced themselves in Bergen, Norway, toiling around the clock with three local producers running the boards in shifts. What resulted is the furious Endling, easily the group’s finest since their debut. Hard to tell what the group is screaming about but each cut on this record hits harder and more gleefully than the last – a rare and welcome dynamic in a genre that frequently opts out of the latter.
Nine Windows: Rule of Thirds (Nine Windows - 3/24/23)
Nine Windows is the pairing of drum & bass veteran DJ Trace and recent genre stalwart Kid Drama. Rule of Thirds is the duo’s debut long-player and it’s something of a concept album. Though DJ Trace is best known for his oppressive sonic aesthetic - employing stomping two-step drums and menacing “hoover” basslines like on landmark techstep opus Torque from 1997, this LP pays homage to the blissful sounds of mid-90’s atmospheric drum & bass – a style championed by the likes of LTJ Bukem. Dialing back the BPMs to a relatively placid 160, down from the genre’s typical 175, this collection of rollers offers ample breathing room, letting its syncopated rhythms, euphoric synthscapes, and warm 808s ebb and flow like waves on a beach. In a time when drum & bass pioneers and newcomers alike look back on the genre’s golden years for inspiration, Rule of Thirds offers an unexpected but welcome take.
Phoxjaw: notverynicecream (Hassle -5/6/23)
Like Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon, and Kvelertak before them, Phoxjaw are the kind of oddball rock outfit that defies categorization by cramming so many disparate subgenres into its repertoire, so deftly, that you wonder why nobody had tried it before nor done it quite so well. This is my favorite kind of rock band. Self-produced by the Bristol, England, five-piece notverynicecream is Phoxjaw’s sophomore LP – a kaleidoscopic explosion of metal, punk, noise-rock, progressive rock, dream pop, 80’s new wave, and more. With surreal lyricism, ranging in topic from supernatural ice-cream delivery to environmental catastrophe, screamed or crooned atop a whirlwind of careening guitars, throbbing bass, crashing drums, and honking synthesizers, notverynicecream is an aural rollercoaster ride both saccharine and nightmarish. This is my favorite kind of rock album - possibly the best I’ve heard in years.
Queens of the Stone Age: In Times New Roman (Matador - 6/16/23)
Queens of the Stone Age’s last full-length from 2017, Villains, was unusually pensive and sentimental. It felt like a career finale for a group that’d been through so much over its multi-decade history – interpersonal conflict, hospitalizations, death, and public scandal - but it turned out founder and front man Josh Homme had another bone to pick. Their latest, the self-produced In Times New Roman, is a feral, cacophonous affair. Lyrically, it’s Homme’s most spiteful and nihilistic collection of songs yet – inspired by a bitter divorce and disdain for a world backsliding into madness. With muscular riffage and swinging rhythms, among the band’s grooviest, In Times New Roman sounds frayed and raw. Even when Homme submits to the danse macabre, pleading for catharsis, there’s no genuine resolution. Like a snake eating its own tail, the album ends on a sinister reprise of its opening track – begging for another spin.
DJ Trax: Break From Reality (Over/Shadow - 7/28/23)
I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t previously aware of DJ Trax, from Essex, UK,
despite his long history in the British music underground. Part of Moving
Shadow’s earliest stable of breakbeat scientists, thirty years on and
multiple genres later, DJ Trax returns to jungle and drum & bass and
is among Over/Shadow’s premiere artists. Break from Reality is the nascent label’s third full-length and it’s no slapdash
collection of dancefloor filler. Each track here - drawing inspiration
from a wide range of genres from soul, to jazz, to Detroit techno - is
unique, memorable, and sequenced perfectly. There’s a distinct
musicality and care for detail to all of it that is so rare in a drum
& bass album these days. Epitomizing Over/Shadow’s
meticulous curatorial ethos, this is one of the genre’s most elegant LPs
in years.
The Wilder Blue: Super Natural (Hill Country Music - 11/21/23)
Founded and co-fronted by Texas music veterans Zane Williams and Paul Eason, boasting dulcet five-part harmonizing and blazing string-picking, this country-rock outfit released their third LP, Super Natural, this year and it arrived with a few surprises – foremost being production by Brent Cobb. Despite hitting the ground running in 2020 with their throwback sound fully formed, Cobb manages to nudge the band toward new sonic directions and funkier tempos like on its chooglin’ title track where Cobb provides guest vocals. Not to be outdone, country superstar Luke Combs sits in on a new version of the classic Steve Young-penned song “Seven Bridges Road”. Like Brent Cobb’s Southern Star, Super Natural is lyrically grounded in universal truths and imbued with a sense of humor and humility – balm for the soul in chaotic and cynical times. This one is a close competitor for my favorite album of the year.
2023 Runners Up & Honorable Mention here!
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