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| I finally figured out how to do one of these, even though it kinda spoils the results of the Top Ten below |
I've been doing a version of this short list every year since I can remember, but this year it feels particularly inessential. Used to be that I would just list every single album that I heard for the first time that year, split them between new albums (came out that year) and old albums (came out prior to that year), then just drop a Top Five or Top Ten for those old albums.
But these days, I'm filtering out all the older albums I heard via Record Club (they'll be ranked tomorrow) and all the older albums I heard via A Year of Blind Spots (they were ranked yesterday). Plus, I'm already writing a bit about older album throughout the course of the year via Song of the ___ and the "Something Old" sections of SO/SN/SB/SB. And then plus again, I received a lot of great recommendations for album through the Summer Song Challenge, which means that if I fall in love with one of those albums, then something has already been written about it on the blog by someone who isn't me. So at a certain point, it's like, why even do this?
The main answer is because it gives me something to write about in between Christmas and New Year's Day. The secondary reason is that listening to music and ranking music and writing about music brings me joy, and so I'm going to take those opportunities as often as I can. The tertiary reason is it helps me put a period on the sentence of a great year, and aids in a constant search for closure (all the while acknowledging that there is no real "closure" when it comes to a life of music listening).
So here's a quick Top Ten for you. I probably wrote about a lot of this already, or else other people have when they publicly made me aware of it on the blog last summer. If you're interested in reading more, then hit that search bar at the top left of your screen. Otherwise, I'm mainly just idling away the hours by making sure you are aware of some good music, just in case you were not previously aware.
Top Ten Non-2023 Albums That Were New to Me in 2023
10. The Good Earth by the Feelies
I'm told—by the album's title, by write-ups from the archives—that the Feelies' sophomore album is "more organic" and "more down-to-earth" than their debut. I don't know if I'm knowledgeable enough about how music works to be able to explain why that is true, but I listen to it, and can definitely feel that truth. It's a nice change of pace from the formula laid down by Crazy Rhythms. I don't know why, and I don't care that I don't know why.
9. Life on the Line by Eddie and the Hot Rods
When I'm bored, I'll scroll through websites like RateYourMusic, looking for albums that might be worth my time (I will often do this while listening to music). Apparently this is the fourth-best pub rock album of all time? I had never heard of Eddie and the Hot Rods, and I had never heard of "pub rock" (thanks also to Nick Lowe), but yeah, sure, this is the fourth-best of something alright. I like it.
I'm told—by the album's title, by write-ups from the archives—that the Feelies' sophomore album is "more organic" and "more down-to-earth" than their debut. I don't know if I'm knowledgeable enough about how music works to be able to explain why that is true, but I listen to it, and can definitely feel that truth. It's a nice change of pace from the formula laid down by Crazy Rhythms. I don't know why, and I don't care that I don't know why.
9. Life on the Line by Eddie and the Hot Rods
When I'm bored, I'll scroll through websites like RateYourMusic, looking for albums that might be worth my time (I will often do this while listening to music). Apparently this is the fourth-best pub rock album of all time? I had never heard of Eddie and the Hot Rods, and I had never heard of "pub rock" (thanks also to Nick Lowe), but yeah, sure, this is the fourth-best of something alright. I like it.
8. Diesel and Dust by Midnight Oil
Shoutout to Fisher for landing two albums on this list inspired by Summer Song Challenge picks. When the man was on, he was lights out. I had been familiar with Midnight Oil, but only a random album with a random song I heard on XPN like eight years ago. Diesel and Dust helped the reality of the situation sink in: the Aussies knew how to rock in the '80s.
7. Decipher by Gina Kaz
I guess there's a possibility that I'm overrating this album due to the wild circumstances under which it came to my attention (local children's musician has a secret piano rock album from two decades ago). At a certain point, I stop caring about overrating or underrating or whatever, and just enjoy the show that's performed for me. More Gina Kaz in 2024, please! It's been promised!
6. Original Pirate Material by the Streets
I barely know anything about American hip hop, let alone U.K. hip hop, but when I hear the latter phrase, I imagine exactly what the Streets presented to us here: basically some white dude doing the British version of slam poetry in a barely decipherable accent, and sounding like he's having the best time ever. Weird, but good weird.
5. Harmlessness by the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
"We set out to make up / All the mistakes of our parents and their friends." I don't want my kids to be able to claim this while getting into tWIaBP&IANLAtD. I am correcting past mistakes. I can see how huge this thing is now, and how essential.
4. Cosmic Thing by the B-52s
See, the Song Challenge was a beautiful fucking thing, because it was able to recontextualize so much music that I had previously mistaken as something less than. You hear "Love Shack" at enough First Holy Communion parties at the Rockledge Fire Hall and you start to think that it sucks. Your friend posts it on your blog and you're hit with the sudden realization that, holy shit, no, this is actually still a great song. And then you follow the bread crumbs and realize that this hit song is only the tip of the iceberg, and that there's a deep hole of new-wave perfection underneath.
3. Nite Flights by the Walker Brothers
Ditto what I said about the B-52s, except exchange "Rockledge Fire Hall" for "iconic music documentary." 30 Century Man did not convince me to listen to Scott Walker. It probably did the opposite. You're told for two hours that Scott Walker is a weirdo, and you start to believe it. Then five years later your told that this weirdo music is actually enjoyable, and you're given a song to prove it. And you realize that you completely misinterpreted what the documentary was trying to say. Weird is good. Sometimes, weird is fucking genius.
2. The Power and the Glory by Gentle Giant
But then the really funny thing about Song Challenge was that it didn't even take a sincere recommendation for me to find some great music. Not every prompt requires you to embed the best song ever. Some of them are asking for some specific function, even if that function is not necessarily "be a good song." So claimed Sam when he said that this Gentle Giant song fulfilled the weird time signature requirement "even though it sucked." That's the joke, and we didn't even know it at the time. It didn't suck. Gentle Giant is fucking amazing. The densest, dorkiest prog rock I've ever heard, and I'll never stop listening to it. You can't tell me what to do!!!!!
1. The Evil One by Roky Erikson and the Aliens
I still don't really know if this album is serious or not. If you took a gander at some of the subject matter (monsters, demon, extraterrestrials, and so on), you might guess that it's supposed to be silly, as if no one could possible sing about shit this deranged. At the same time, consider the fact that Roky Erickson had a legitimate mental health diagnosis of schizophrenia, and there's no doubt in my mind that when he sang about evil three-headed dogs, he was singing the truth as he saw it. The one thing that separates The Evil One from the rantings of a homeless person on the corner is that this also happens to be some of the gnarliest, most badass, hard-psych-punk rock you're ever likely to hear. I'm not the type of person who's ever going to believe in conspiracy theories involving Satan, but The Evil One gets me closer than I'll ever be for the rest of my life.
And a List of Non-2023 Songs That I Loved in 2023
Shoutout to Fisher for landing two albums on this list inspired by Summer Song Challenge picks. When the man was on, he was lights out. I had been familiar with Midnight Oil, but only a random album with a random song I heard on XPN like eight years ago. Diesel and Dust helped the reality of the situation sink in: the Aussies knew how to rock in the '80s.
7. Decipher by Gina Kaz
I guess there's a possibility that I'm overrating this album due to the wild circumstances under which it came to my attention (local children's musician has a secret piano rock album from two decades ago). At a certain point, I stop caring about overrating or underrating or whatever, and just enjoy the show that's performed for me. More Gina Kaz in 2024, please! It's been promised!
6. Original Pirate Material by the Streets
I barely know anything about American hip hop, let alone U.K. hip hop, but when I hear the latter phrase, I imagine exactly what the Streets presented to us here: basically some white dude doing the British version of slam poetry in a barely decipherable accent, and sounding like he's having the best time ever. Weird, but good weird.
5. Harmlessness by the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
"We set out to make up / All the mistakes of our parents and their friends." I don't want my kids to be able to claim this while getting into tWIaBP&IANLAtD. I am correcting past mistakes. I can see how huge this thing is now, and how essential.
4. Cosmic Thing by the B-52s
See, the Song Challenge was a beautiful fucking thing, because it was able to recontextualize so much music that I had previously mistaken as something less than. You hear "Love Shack" at enough First Holy Communion parties at the Rockledge Fire Hall and you start to think that it sucks. Your friend posts it on your blog and you're hit with the sudden realization that, holy shit, no, this is actually still a great song. And then you follow the bread crumbs and realize that this hit song is only the tip of the iceberg, and that there's a deep hole of new-wave perfection underneath.
3. Nite Flights by the Walker Brothers
Ditto what I said about the B-52s, except exchange "Rockledge Fire Hall" for "iconic music documentary." 30 Century Man did not convince me to listen to Scott Walker. It probably did the opposite. You're told for two hours that Scott Walker is a weirdo, and you start to believe it. Then five years later your told that this weirdo music is actually enjoyable, and you're given a song to prove it. And you realize that you completely misinterpreted what the documentary was trying to say. Weird is good. Sometimes, weird is fucking genius.
2. The Power and the Glory by Gentle Giant
But then the really funny thing about Song Challenge was that it didn't even take a sincere recommendation for me to find some great music. Not every prompt requires you to embed the best song ever. Some of them are asking for some specific function, even if that function is not necessarily "be a good song." So claimed Sam when he said that this Gentle Giant song fulfilled the weird time signature requirement "even though it sucked." That's the joke, and we didn't even know it at the time. It didn't suck. Gentle Giant is fucking amazing. The densest, dorkiest prog rock I've ever heard, and I'll never stop listening to it. You can't tell me what to do!!!!!
1. The Evil One by Roky Erikson and the Aliens
I still don't really know if this album is serious or not. If you took a gander at some of the subject matter (monsters, demon, extraterrestrials, and so on), you might guess that it's supposed to be silly, as if no one could possible sing about shit this deranged. At the same time, consider the fact that Roky Erickson had a legitimate mental health diagnosis of schizophrenia, and there's no doubt in my mind that when he sang about evil three-headed dogs, he was singing the truth as he saw it. The one thing that separates The Evil One from the rantings of a homeless person on the corner is that this also happens to be some of the gnarliest, most badass, hard-psych-punk rock you're ever likely to hear. I'm not the type of person who's ever going to believe in conspiracy theories involving Satan, but The Evil One gets me closer than I'll ever be for the rest of my life.
And a List of Non-2023 Songs That I Loved in 2023
- "The Decline" by NOFX
- "Goodbye Earl" by the Chicks
- "Hello? Goodbye!" by Lake Street Dive
- "I Can't Run" by In Endeavors
- "If You Can Smile" by Gothic Horizon
- "It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now" by Four Year Strong
- "Manthem" by the Bouncing Souls
- "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" by Ramones
- "Okkervil River Song" by Okkervil River
- "Rumble Pack" by Royal Coke
- "Shake It Off" by A Golden Era
Based on how this year went, and based on the fact that we have our Yearlong Song Challenge starting in four days, I'd guess that the "Best Non-2024 Music" list next year is going to be completely swallowed by Song Challenge recommendations as well. Not a bad thing.
1 comment:
Slam poetry, great way to describe The Streets. Yeah his rhythm can be so disjointed. But like you said it's usually catchy. "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living" is my exposure to him.
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