2023 AOTY So Far

yes, I am loving this

B Cool Aid - Leather Boulevard

top 3 probably Melati ESP, EBTG, and NBT (Nourished By Time)

Xiao Yun - Purple Garden
(it's a reissue, and not sure it's really aoty material, but I'm digging it for the time being...)

the William Tyler has a Kraftwerk cover!

Yeah I love that.

With everyone doing this after 5 months of the year, it should pretty clearly include December. Pitchfork rightly listed SZA (Dec 9) - no others?

The 2022 End of Year music lists thread

^ no SZA here.

my answer is easily Polachek, but thanks for the handy homework references!

i haven't been keeping up with stuff very well this year but it feels like a weaker than average year so far idk

everyone needs to hear the jim legxacy though

jim legxacy album is truly great, still think the best songs on it came out in 2022 tho

Updated the spreadsheet with BSF lists from The Guardian, Vulture, and Stereogum plus everything that's been mentioned so far here in an "ILM" column.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lzSEKqspuhsXRiJx_klRxL6PRIFsSJK3F4qo0Nw_sK8/edit?usp=sharing

The new consensus (Artist - Album - Count of Lists/Mentions):

billy woods / Kenny Segal - Maps - 10
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good! - 10
Kelela - Raven - 10
Wednesday - Rat Saw God - 10
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World - 10
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - 9
Boygenius - The Record - 8
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) - 8
Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - 7
Paramore - This is Why - 7
Yaeji - With a Hammer - 7
Feist - Multitudes - 6
Fever Ray - Radical Romantics - 6
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes - 6
Water from Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed - 6

best of all it's basically a concept album about how awesome one of my favourite parts of London is xp

have yet to be mentioned:

john cale - mercy (board seems cool on this one but i revisited it last week and it made me feel like i was trapped in gelatin, rules so much)
pile - all fiction (ppl ignore this incredibly creative and cool rock record at their peril)
the mars volta - que dios te maldiga mi corazon
krallice - porous resonance abyss
maara - the ancient truth
fall out boy - so much (for) stardust
narrow head - moments of clarity
kesha - gag order

I haven’t heard much new music lately but I’m with you on mercy it’s his best in 20 years for me (I was gonna say I’ve been pretty cold on stuff he’s done since hobosapiens, which I adore, but I forgot the reworked mfans & the circus live album)

the mars volta - que dios te maldiga mi corazon

forgot to mention this but it will easily be top 5 for me this year

An album I'm enjoying start to finish: En Attendant Ana - Principia. Indie with echoes of Stereolab, Broadcast, and motorik.
https://enattendantana.bandcamp.com/album/principia

Another mention for Lisa O'Neill who I love, but also...

Dina Ögon, Oas - random Spotify discovery from earlier in the year, really coming into its own now summer is beginning. Immaculate, smooth, baroque jazzpop from Stockholm, just the right side of too cute.

Hamish Hawk, Angel Numbers - terrific Scottish sophistipop which has grown on me a lot since my initial disappointment.

Langendorf Utd, Yeahno Yowouw Land - gorgeous Ethiopiquey jazz from Swedish saxophonist who's played with James Yorkston etc.

David Brewis, The Soft Struggles - makes a strong case for Sunderland as the new Canterbury scene, lovely, wistful, astralweeksy chamberfolk.

Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay - sublime, duelling, twangling acoustic guitars from Yorkshire and Wales.

Felicita, Spalarkle - moreish, wonky hyperpop. Occasionally like Virginia Astley signed to PC Music.

Dina Ögon, Oas

this one was good, twisty turny, immaculately produced lounge pop

Haven't seen anyone mention...

Yaeji - With a Hammer -- inventive, diverse electronic album with Korean and English female vocals, some drum n bass, some techno, some club
Kara Jackson - Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? -- was very impressed with this but have to revisit. Don't know anything that sounds quite like it, but heard a bit of Leonhard Cohen and maybe Fiona Apple in it. Stark folk rock with poetic, blunt lyrics.

Stereogum's list from yesterday has Yaeji at #12 fwiw
https://www.stereogum.com/2225527/best-albums-of-2023-first-half/lists/album-list/

I liked all her previous releases but was bored with it. Maybe I'll give it another spin.

oh sorry I guess you meant mentions here. Her count of list placements above isn't bad.

Man, not sure what it is, but I haven't been able to reconnect with Yaeji the way I did with her first couple EPs. New one is nice imo, but that's about it.

I love "raingurl" but the album is a bit of a snooze.

Man, not sure what it is, but I haven't been able to reconnect with Yaeji the way I did with her first couple EPs.

Maybe Nick Sylvester's production is actually good and underrated

Interesting because I have had the opposite experience with her music -- didn't see what all the fuss was about with the EPs but really enjoyed the album.

Also think the spreadsheet was locked. Would appreciate if one of you can verify it's working now.

Can't quite remember what albums came out this year but have definitely enjoying...

Abracadabra - Shapes & Colors
Water From Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed

that water from your eyes album is really good yes

At the moment:

Tanith - Voyage (mystical and proggy 70s-ish hard rock - great vibes)
Aindulmedir - Star Lore (dark and wintry ambient synth)
Deerhoof - Miracle-Level

My five favourites so far

Blawan - Dismantled Into Juice (EP)
Galen Tipton - Brain Scratch
Avey Tare - 7s
Depeche Mode - Momento Mori
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord

Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay - sublime, duelling, twangling acoustic guitars from Yorkshire and Wales

Nice to see mention of this record. One of my top picks for the year so far alongside:

Alberto Lizarralde - "Haizeyxe"
Annelies Monsere - Mares
Marlene Ribeiro - Toquei no Sol
Waclaw Zimpel - Train Spotter

avalon emerson, eddie chacon, and billy woods

don't blame anyone for checking out on Kool Keith's spotty output years ago but "Serpent" produced by Real Bad Man is really great

avalon emerson, eddie chacon, and billy woods

― LaMDA barry-stanners (||||||||)

Are you me? Those might also be my current top 3

Avalon Emerson & the Charm - s/t
Decisive Pink - Ticket To Fame
Kali Malone - Does Spring Hide Its Joy
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!
Everything But The Girl - Fuse
MSPAINT - Post-American
Susanne Sundfør - Blómi

& some NZ releases:
Grecco Romank - Wet Exit (industrial/EBM with opera and rave flourishes, best live act in NZ right now)
Maxine Funke - River Said (first half is lysergic folk, while the second half splits the difference between Arthur Russell & Alistair Galbraith)
Guardian Singles - Feed Me To The Doves (propulsive post-punk owing more to the Pacific Northwest than Flying Nun; cute Priit Pärn-esque rotoscoped music video)
Jonathan Bree - Pre-Code Hollywood (slinky Scott Walker moves with Nile Rodgers cameoing)

My favourites so far:

Avalon Emerson – & the Charm
Caroline Polachek - Desire...
Tiny Ruins - Ceremony
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord....
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!
James Holden – Imagine This is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities

cosign the Decisive Pink album. lovely.

and the Bar Italia album.

yeah I just heard that bar Italia really great stuff, late period blonde redhead vibes sometimes

and Feeble Little Horse! my favorite discovery of this mid-year thing we all do.

Maxine Funke - River Said (first half is lysergic folk, while the second half splits the difference between Arthur Russell & Alistair Galbraith)

Ooh, I loved her previous record, a discovery from a previous ILM poll

oh, also:
Mui Zyu - Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century

This thread is due for an update, or ILM has been completely derailed and gotten a stiff neck from looking backwards and downwards.

I'm discovering the Canto Ostinato 4-piano piece from Simeon ten Holt through Erik Hall's version with a piano / Rhodes piano / Hammond organ. At best it's like minimal classic prog, at worst it's an entrancing music box, actually scratch that, it's just a mesmerizing piece.

still The Tubs

Id add these to my shortlist above:

Lankum - False Lankum
The Clientele - I am not there anymore
Nabihah Iqbal - DREAMER

probably norm by andy shauf for me. pretty much a perfect album. hopefully the new sparklehorse record tomorrow will knock it off its perch

Mine will def be:
The Japanese House - In The End It Always Does

Followed by:
feeble little horse - Girl with Fish
Blake Mills w/ Chris Weisman - Jelly Road
Westerman - An Inbuilt Fault
Natural Information Society w/ Ari Brown - Since Time Is Gravity
George Winstone w/ Ben Monder - Odysseus
David Lord - Forest Standards, Vol. 3
Thomas Bangalter - Mythologies
Rezzett - Meant Like This
Chris Speed Trio - Despite Obstacles
Trickster - Live In Brooklyn
Sam Weinberg Trio w/ Chris Lightcap & Tom Rainey - Implicatures
John Edwards/Andrew Lisle/Dirk Serries/Colin Webster - Out Of Nowhere
VoidCeremony - Threads Of Unknowing
Incantation - Unholy Deification
Conjureth - The Parasitic Chambers
Ulthar - Anthronomicon
Moufang/Czamanski - Recreational Kraut
Nondi_ - Flood City Trax
Tim Hecker - No Highs
Tirzah - trip9love...???

Reissues/archival releases:
No-Neck Blues Band - Niente Piu Canzoni
Rick White - Eric's Trip Demos (92-95)
Arthur Russell - Picture Of Bunny Rabbit
Sam Gendel - Pass If Music
Nana Vasconcelos/Nelson Angelo/Novelli - Nana, Nelson Angelo, Novelli

Jute Gyte and Tirzah simuldrop has def shaken up my standings, Fire-Toolz still on top tho

This has really been a difficult year for me, there are a handful of albums I enjoy, but nothing truly great. I think I need to find some new genre to get obsessed with.

tirzah
amaarae
pj harvey
meshell ndegeocello
laura groves
avalon emerson
kelela
jessy lanza
ratboys
julie byrne
zach bryan

Some recent albums deserving of love

Modern Cosmology - What Will You Grow Now?
Alison Goldfrapp - The Love Invention
Belbury Poly - The Path
Blank Banshee - 4D
George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya
Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)

Currently leaning:
Flesh and the Dream - Choose Mortality

some i haven't seen here yet:

beatings are in the body - st
being dead - when horses would run
ben howard - is it?
asher gamedze - turbulence and pulse
philippe brach - les gens qu'on aime
bernice - cruisin'
jana horn - the window is the dream

first discovery from recent year-end lists (specifically the crack mag list) that's totally kicked my ass: the purelink album

― ivy., Tuesday, December 5, 2023 8:10 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

seconded

xp Nice list, Karl. Lots of titles new to me. Thanks!

yes thanks Karl, always enjoy your picks. That Randolph & Mortimer album rules, doesn’t it? Great industrial/ebm/skinny puppy type stuff.

Clearly I've got some more listening to do before declaring my Real AOTY, but here's my Uproxx ballot:

*write-in
*Algiers/Shook (Deluxe)

Bob Dylan/Shadow Kingdom

*Daniel Villarreal/Lados B

Jaimie Branch/Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((world war))

Jlin/Perspective

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog/Connection

Meshell Ndegeocello/The Omnichord Real Book

PJ Harvey/I Inside The Old Year

*Sunwatchers/Music Is Victory Over Time

Willie Nelson/I Don't Know A Thing About Love: The Songs of Harlan Howard

No songs, didn't have time.

xp <3 sawdust & brimstead. yes that album is a ripper!

jonny nash album is spectacular

Too early to make lists imo, Trilogy Tapes alone will probably release five more records this year.

haha otm

Catching up on stuff and the Hotline TNT and Ratboys albums are the blasts of energetic rock brilliance I didn't know I needed at this moment.

Girls Chat Room - Sleep Mask

lmao this is a gem

Really enjoying Sally Anne Morgan's album, which I've seen in lower reaches of some lists. Droney Appalachian folk-rock. Ripley Johnson guests on a cover of "Diamond Joe," whole thing is really nice.

xp yes! i mean 'look at these friennnnnndddsss, there's nothin like em nowhere!' a few weeks ago i had the privelege of djing an all day hardcore/metal show and telling my friend standing next to me i'm about to hit these fools with a track called 'tv turkey'

the self-titled album by Dead Pioneers, nothing else this year came close for me

Totally agree Chris, both albums are spectacular but, for me, The Window is on another level. I first came across it from listening to Wednesday and immediately loved it, whereas i just can get with that Wednesday record at all.

I also prefer The Window to the Wednesday album. More melodic and closer to, say, Waxahatchee.

Nom your AOTY noms over on the EOY noms thread: ILM's 2023 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / NOMINATIONS THREAD

the country album of the year is the kelsea ballerini ep