OG Brad's Top 10 (+55 More)
2023 was a year when music again dominated the headlines. Or at least it did if, like most Americans, you define “music” as “sounds and related actions and emotions created by Taylor Swift.” There were other stories related to music, of course: Young Thug going on trial, with his lyrics coming into play as evidence (certainly not the first such case but Lord let it be the last); Beyonce setting the record for most Grammys ever; U2 becoming even more of an old guy cliché than we are at 3A6OG by opening the Sphere in Vegas; The Cure following the Swifites and trying again to take on Ticketmaster; the further eroding of the touring industry with venues now taking cuts of merch; Tupac’s murder case taking a step forward (finally) with an arrest; and, in the most shocking of all, Hall suing Oates. But mostly it was Taylor’s tour earnings (this article has some insane data) and romance that dominated the headlines (surely you don’t need me to give you a link for a story or video about Taylor and Travis) and every other article related to music (and, sigh, football).
Taylor, however, will have to cry on Travis’ shoulder pad for not making this 6OG list (and the same is true for every other artist listed above).
Taylor was not beaten out by an obvious choice, though. Unlike a few recent years for me, there was not an album that dominated 2023 for me. A few stayed strong all year, but there was no Black Thought and Danger Mouse (or even Porridge Radio) from 2022 (though Black Thought is back again, proving that we’re not the only OGs getting better with age) or Sault’s two “Untitled” records from 2020.
In fact, the two albums I might say are the ones I enjoyed most all year were re-issues and compilations of songs not made in 2023:
Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts by Everyone Asked About You – Re-issue of a collection of records by a Little Known (at least to me) Little Rock emo band from the late 1990s/early 2000s by the incomparable reissue label Numero Group, which is on an expansive process of emo re-issues. This one is just captivating from start to finish, and since I happened to click on it, I have not un-clicked for fear of losing my connection to a time when indie rock sounded utterly limitless.
Illusion of Choice Compilation from Girlsville Records – This compilation is a benefit record that includes a bunch of my favorite indie artists of the last few years: Sweeping Promises, UV-TV, Star Party, etc., as well as amazing tracks from bands I didn’t know before, like this burst of joy and energy from a band called Friendzy that could double as an Ex-Hex B-side.
But of the albums from 2023 edition, here is where I landed:
1. Island of Love – Island of Love – This album may not be as thoroughly cohesive as “Rat Saw God” below, but the standout tracks stand out so much more that I just can’t deny it was my favorite of the year. When you hear that my favorite song of the year was “I’ve Got a Secret” by a band called Island of Love, you likely think I’ve given into the “O” in “OG” and turned to yacht rock. But this song, my friend, is garage rock at its garage-iest, and it’s just thrilling; so much so that the band itself can’t decide when the song is over (it seems to me to have about 5 ending points, and they just decide to keep rocking). My review covered it in depth, but the album is a journey through the last 40 years of guitar rock, and it’s an island I could live on any day, with or without a yacht.
2. Rat Saw God – Wednesday – This was my #1 album in my mid-year post, and it probably still could be. This is the best collective of rock musicians in the US right now, in my view (and many others’ views as well), and they just keep getting better and more interesting. But Brian got there first, and if I’m honest, in the last 6 months, I just turned to Island of Love a bit more often.
3. Albat Alawi Op. 99 – El Khat – With the instant and global access we have to music these days, it’s rare to say, “I’ve never heard anything quite like this,” but that was true from the first I stumbled on to this Yemeni Jewish act when tuning into KEXP. The son of Yemenite Jewish immigrants to Israel, the classically-trained Eyal el-Wahab has created something entirely new and entrancing from the old Western and Eastern traditions that themselves might put you to sleep. Named for the tobacco-like drug that Yemenis chew, this act has produced an album that will never let you rest or let you leave its haze. (I know, this record came out in 2022, but given the way it expanded across the US in 2023, I am taking an editor’s privilege and including it anyway).
4. Maps – Billy Woods and Kenny Segal/We Buy Diabetic Test Strips – Armand Hammer – I wrote about a 2019 record by Billy Woods and Kenny Segal earlier this year and focused on what makes it “underground” in a world where such a concept is hard to fathom. But on both records he issued this year, one with producer Kenny Segal and the other one with his collaborator MC Elucid (together as Armand Hammer), Billy Woods not only showed why his lyrics and atmosphere are truly “underground,” but he brings along so many others for features who are there with him: ShrapKnel, Quelle Chris, Danny Brown, Moor Mother, Pink Siifu, Aesop Rock, and even the singer from hardcore act Soul Glo.
5. Rare Birds: Hour of Song – The Bug Club – OG Marc wrote about this recently, and for me, this was just an album that made me smile. Turn on tracks like “Marriage,” “Fully Clothed,” or “We Can’t All Play Saxophones,” and you will be smiling, too (if you’re not, well, be like Butthead told Pavement, and try harder). The lyrics are wry, the music infectious, the poems/snippets in between oddly worth it, and you can just tell this is a record that this band loved making every second of the way. And it showed when they played live.
6. Poet’s Tooth – Tele Novella – I wrote about this album recently, and like many albums on the list, it creates a sonic world unto itself (in this case, of the American West, very much including Texas).
7. Glorious Game – El Michels Affair & Black Thought – In a year that produced a lot of very good, but maybe not legendary, hip-hop records, Black Thought showed that his bars continue to rise above the rest. Combine those bars with the musicianship of the El Michels Affair, which has been putting out what they call “cinematic soul” for nearly two decades, and these veteran acts coming together proved inspiring to other OGs.
8. Dimanche a Bamako -- Bounaly – I usually dislike guitar jam records, but somehow when Malians make them, I can find my way inside. This album was recorded live at a wedding in Bamako (you can hear the crowd quite clearly throughout) and blends traditional Malian music with the desert blues of the Tuareg in the north of the country, and you will be transported with every lick. You can almost feel the sweat on your brow, and the musicians’ brows, with each note.
9. Keturah – Keturah – This record from Malawian singer was one that never became my favorite, but also never went away. It’s a lovely blend of styles and genres from across the continents of Africa and North and South America. It doesn’t burst out at you like some of the others on this list, but it never leaves you once you turn it on.
10. Birthday Girl – Birthday Girl – Maybe a sentimental choice, but this record from DC high schoolers (but not just any high schoolers – second generation Canty and MacKaye (Alec, not Ian) kids, among others) is remarkably wise and layered, both lyrically and musically, for anyone to have made as a debut, let alone teenagers. You might hear “MacKaye” and “Canty” and think Fugazi or Rites of Spring or similar DC sounds form the 80s and 90s, but this is a record that channels The Evens and 90s acts like Bettie Serveert and The Spinanes superbly. I found myself turning back to it over and over, and I can’t wait to see them live in March opening for another DC legend, Mary Timony.
There you have it – my Top 10 on December 27. But at any given point in the year, most of these below could have ended up on my top 10, so hopefully you find 1, 2, 10, or 45 you also love, even if for just a few days (not reviewing or describing all of them but adding some notes or links here and there). Last year, I had 55, so what the heck, let’s try it again with 55 (but don’t forget the two compilations/re-issues at the top). Here’s to another great year of music in 2024:
Hip-hop:
Abbot Jackson/Swizzy/Red Amandala – 3WizeMen
Abstract Sekai – The Evolution of Consciousness (incredible trip-hop from Zambia; for fans of Yugen Blakrok)
Anteek Recipes – EP (if you need a dose of old school hip-hop, this is it; #6 at mid-year)
Art Melody – Artemesia (powerful hip-hop, bordering on trip-hop at times, from Burkina Faso)
Danny Brown – Quaranta (one of the most interesting MCs in the game tones it down a bit, but it all works; his best verse of the year, though, has to be “Year Zero” on the Billy Woods record)
Defprez – It’s Always a Time Like This (Another reason why Chicago is my favorite hip-hop scene)
McKinley Dixon – Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (Yes, this record is named for 3 Toni Morrison novels, and it channels her words and feel beautifully; makes you feel like every record should open with a reading by Hanif Abdurraqib)
Kassa Overall – Animals (#9 on my mid-year list)
Noname – Sundial (She may live in LA now, but she’s always a Chicago MC)
Oddisee – To What End (DC hip-hop checking in)
Real Bad Man & Blue – Bad News
Video Dave – Articulated TexTiles (my earlier review here)
Indie/Punk/Shoegaze/Alt-Country, i.e. Rock:
Blues Lawyer – All in Good Time (not a blues band; good punk from Oakland)
Buddie – Agitator (representing the great scene in Vancouver these days)
Cable Ties (representing the world’s greatest scene these days – Melbourne, AUS – I wrote about their last record here)
Margo Cilker — Valley of Heart’s Delight
Crooks & Nannies – Real Life
Diners -- Domino
dust – et cetera, etc (representing the great scene in Newcastle, AUS these days)
feeble little horse – Girl with Fish (representing the even greater scene in Pittsburgh – yes, Pittsburgh -- these days)
Florry – The Holey Bible (and maybe the best scene in the US – Philadelphia)
Half Dream – Will I Still Bloom?
Half Stack – Sitting Pretty
Hot Wax – A Thousand Times
Cory Hanson – Western Cum (Brian wrote this up perfectly)
Hotline TNT -- Cartwheel
Itchy & The Nits – Itchy & The Nits (Sydney this time, and it sounds exactly like a record with this title should)
Melenas - Ahora
The Men – New York City
M(h)aol – Attachment Styles (was way up at #4 in my mid-year list; also reviewed earlier here)
Motorbike – Motorbike (Cincinnati’s noisy scene checks in)
OK Cool – fawn (Chicago’s indie rock scene is also booming)
Pardoner – Peace Loving People (#5 on my mid-year list)
Queensburgh: Split release from another pair of great Pittsburgh bands, Baked and the Zells
Rosegold – These Hazy Frames
Screaming Females – Desire Pathway (Sniff, sniff – RIP to one of the 2000s most underrated and underappreciated bands)
Silver Car Crash – Shattered Shine (Pittsburgh, again)
Soft Covers – Soft Serve (Melbourne, again; this time, channeling K Records)
Squirrel Flower – Tomorrow’s Fire (formerly bedroom act from Chicago plugs in, beautifully)
Stuck – Freak Frequency (Chicago, again)
Subsonic Eye – All Around You (Singapore’s indie rock scene makes an appearance)
Sweeping Promises – Good Living is Coming for You
The Toads – In the Wilderness (Melbourne, again)
The Tubs – Dead Meat (Brian also wrote this one up perfectly)
TV Star – Hallucinate Me (Seattle checks in)
Wimps – City Lights (And Seattle checks in again)
Vagabon – Sorry I Haven’t Called
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World
R&B/Soul/African:
Tell Everybody – 21st Century Juke Joint Blues from Easy Eye Sound (the first track alone makes the whole record)
The Allergies – Tear the Place Up (Need to dance? Turn this funk/soul record on, and you will not be disappointed)
Carrtoons – Saturday Night
Cleo Sol – Gold (also released an album called Heaven; since we didn’t get new music from Sault in 2023, these releases from the wife of producer/Sault instigator Inflo, and a frequent Sault vocalist, is the next best thing)
Jalen Ngonda – Come Around and Love Me (A modern-day take on Marvin Gaye, down to the album cover – see my earlier review here)
Alogte Oho and His Sounds of Joy – O Yinne! (Ghanaian greatness)
ONIPA – Off the Grid (Ghanaian band by way of London that is an amazing amalgam of sounds)
Orchestra Gold – Medicine (I wrote about this remarkable Malian-sounding album produced in Oakland earlier here)
Jamila Woods – Water Made Us