Trophy Eyes for sure!! Like did people miss that album or something? Trophy Eyes was my AOTY. Citizen was also high on my list.
Closure in Moscow - Soft Hell and Blink 182 One More Time are the two standout records this year for me Really surprised nobody has Soft Hell on their lists, it is a brilliant record, Christoper is my favorite vocalist of the genre
Well-deserved for FOB. Great album that shot near the top of my list. A few pleasant surprises here: Zulu, Chris Farren, Sigur Ros... Deserved for Menzingers. Lyrically, it's one of their strongest album. Trophy Eyes was good but not THAT good, (imo!) It's not the first time EPs make the list. Don't understand the hype for GUTS. "get him back" is cringe. Aside from Sufjan Stevens... there use to be more crossovers on the lists. I would have expected Wednesday or Lana Del Rey or Caroline Polachek. Where is Boygenius?? As always, I LOVE these features.
Speaking personally, I really, really disliked that Wednesday album and thought the Boygenius record was weaker than everything those three people have previously made, together or apart. So, that's why those albums weren't on my list! Can't speak for anyone else. But those albums are also on just about every other EOTY list that's come out in the past two months. Do you really need to see them here?
Agreed. The Boygenius record is good, but I didn't think it was far and above the best album to come out this year by any means. I also didn't get the universal love for Mitski's latest album...I couldn't really get into that one, and I enjoyed all her previous work.
Glad to hear it! Mitski is an artist I just have never gotten into, period. New album was no exception. She's fine, but I don't really "get" what people think is so great about her. He's a little more "country" than Zach Bryan, but I kept wishing people who were digging that Zach Bryan album would check his record out, too. Such an emotionally wrenching and heartfelt album, but so incredibly moving. Definitely one that leaves an impact every time I listen.
Over 221 hours worth of albums and EP’s on my 2023 new music list. It’s so hard to whittle down, but I tried. Here’s my favorites of the year: Top 10 Albums: 1. PAERISH 2. Dad Hats 3. Koyo 4. Dead Lakes 5. MSPAINT 6. Movements 7. Joey Valence & Brae 8. Meliorist 9. Sincerely 10. Polterguise Top 5 EP: 1. Least 2. Spiritbox 3. Midtown 4. Down and Out 5. In Good Nature Honorable Mentions: - Initiate - 100 gecs - Superlove - fish narc - Public Theatre - Dwellings - slackrr - latewaves - No Home - Metro Boomin’ (Spider-Man soundtrack)
I can only speak for myself, since this is a list made from 8 people, but this was on my honorable mentions list. Since my list is mostly a reflection of my favorite albums, and the albums I spent the most time with, an album that I enjoyed, but had a very hard time listening to usually is at a disadvantage. It's a very good album with two flaws, the first is some of the harder moments feel copy/pasted in from other songs, and that messes with the flow for me, the second is I have a very very hard time listening to songs about suicide in any form. So I never wanted to reach for the album because it was almost guaranteed to put me in a bad headspace. My honorable mentions was the only place I saw it on any of the staff lists. Also on my honorable mentions, but didn't make any other staff list. Feels like a consensus indie music blog fave (along with Boygenius) from the other lists I've perused. Both good albums, for sure, but neither elevated for me into the next block by the end of the year.
Very cool. Check out their whole discography. It’s all so good. But each album gets better. Also, SP singer managers a band called Dayseeker which is also really great. Not as heavy but really cool.
Just listened to the first track on the Redshift Blues album and bought the cassette. It’s really good.
That's basically what I'm referring to. And I didn't like that Wednesday album at all. But there were plenty things from the pop/indie world that I was just perplexed to see absent in favor of latter day efforts from Foo Fighters and re-recorded Thrice LPs. Hell, even in the context of pop punk...did no one hear that Youth Fountain album?
I liked the Foo Fighter album and the Thrice re-record more than those. It's not really much more than that. Two of my favorite bands released albums I loved, it would make sense those are high on a list. And I really disliked that Youth Fountain album. See the above post about songs about suicide. I turned it off around: I let go, and now I’m alone Is this how it all ends with a barrel in my mouth again? Is this my only exit?Don't need any of that in my life at this point.
Also, let's not act like that's just any "latter day effort" from Foo Fighters. That thing is brutal and beautiful and incredibly cathartic. I'll take it any day over a lukewarm Boygenius record.
Yes, and I don't want to derail this discussion too much since it's supposed to be a positive discussion and celebration of things we liked, but if you look at the thread for his 2021 album, or the Accountability thread, you'll see why. Also, notice that there's no thread for his 2023 album on this site.
No, but the album is great and definitely one of my favorites last year. I was so excited when it dropped.