Has this year’s been started yet?
At any rate:
These New South Whales — TNSW
Came out last year, but managed to miss it. Kinda power pop with postpunk urgency. Maybe a bit yourcodenameis:milo? Annoyingly not on bandcamp. Someone with Spotify may link. Here’s Changes:
Some stand-outs so far…
Cluster - Grosses Wasser
Must have picked up on this one from the 1979 HGWTY thread. I only knew Zuckerzeit and Sowiesoso until this.
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
I only started listening to them a couple of years ago, but started with the two albums that surround this one. “Princes” was featured in a Music League playlist so I jumped in.
These HGWTY and listening club threads have given me cause to discover / finally get round to listening to heaps of albums. Elastica’s second album was a big one for me last year.
Oort Smog - Smeared Pulse Transfers (2019 - despite the date on the Spotify link)
Sax and drum duo with a short album of brief but intense avant-garde jazz pieces with proggy time signatures. Exhilarating stuff.
Discovered Death’s Dynamic Shroud thanks to the Dig That Treasure show on Resonance FM.
Darklife is a masterpiece, sample-heavy electro-pop I suppose.
FFO: VHS Head, Jackson & His Computer Band, PC Music
BABii - Screamer (for fans of Charli XCX, hyperpop, dance)
I mentioned hyper pop above but it’s got a really chill vibe - the hooks are catchy but they are more subtle/less forced and that’s really satisfying. Not entirely unlike Grimes - Visions, but with more of a garage influence. There’s loads going on in these tracks and they get better and better on repeat listens. A second mix of it went up in January 2023* which has made it more substantial too - pretty rare that a pop album is improved by being made longer so that speaks to the strength of the music here. Great stuff.
*The original version came out last summer so I didn’t really discover this for the first time in 23 and I’m cheating here - but it’s brilliant and I’ve been meaning to post about it for ages!
This from flinch
So up my street, I’m amazed I’d not heard it before
Listening to this now, am very impressed.
Think they’ve just signed to O___o? and given my love of Dawuna and it popping up from Boomkat it took my interest. Looks like it has been out self released since September but it’s fucking beautiful just been sat outside listening to it in the garden.
it’s not on spotify but this guinean kora record is doing it for me atm
Following my very late discovery of Siouxsie & The Banshees a few years back, The Creatures have just clicked with me in the last week. Reckon Feast and Boomerang would do infinitely better if released by a new act in 2023.
Album of the year not released in 2023 has been Caustic Window by Caustic Window (aka Mr Richard D James, aka Aphex Twin). Can’t believe he shelved this!
Also Billy Woods clicked with me properly so been going back and getting into Aethiopes, Hiding Places, Paraffin and Haram.
I’m due for a Haram revisit, was my top album of 2021. But with everything he and The Alchemist have released since, and checking out older albums I never heard, there hasn’t been time.
That’ll be Disintegration for me
I got really into Steely Dan this year. Specifically Aja. An extremely I Have Turned Forty moment for me
Not any specific albums, but this year is the year I got into Pixies and The Breeders.
Also hakushi hasegawa. Specifically…
Japanese. Bit poppy, bit jazzy, bit electronicy. A bit of a headfuck in a great way. Recently signed to Brainfeeder. Thank you FlyLo.
Gonna shock everyone here but Marquee Moon is a good album.
For further info, I was always aware of its status but had never really listened. Saw them perform it live at Primavera and thought it was incredibly dull so never checked it out. Listened to a podcast on it earlier this year though and have been obsessed since then!
Nothing to wild this year.
Wednesday - Twins Plagues
Nova Twins - Supernova
Deeper dives into the back catalogues of Tyler Childers, Depeche Mode, Talking Heads
Ty Segall - Twins
would round out a Twins trio nicely
Faith No More - Angel Dust
I’ve never really listened to an album by them, but i had 2 ideas of what they might sound like: grunge-adjacent, or later a kind of sleazy funk lounge act.
This album however is completely off the wall in the best way possible. Uncategorisable