Definitely not a short list.

  • Doja Cat: Scarlet
  • Say She She: Silver
  • The Streets: The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light
  • CMAT: Crazymad, For Me
  • Jorja Smith: Falling Or Flying
  • Holly Humberstone: Paint My Bedroom Black
  • Ren: Sick Boi
  • Dream Wife: Social Lubrication
  • Lucia & The Best Boys: Burning Castles
  • Cleo Sol: Gold
  • boygenius: the record - any other year a shoe-in, but don’t need this depressing shit this year
  • Matt Maltese: Driving Just To Drive
  • Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
  • Cleo Sol: Heaven
  • Joey Valence & Brae: PUNK TACTICS - so good, but also perhaps for a new generation, not me. Would be so fun in a club… ach, youth…
  • Hot Milk: A Call To The Void
  • The Chemical Brothers: For That Beautiful Feeling
  • Coach Party: KILLJOY
  • Blur: The Ballad of Darren
  • Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure
  • Olivia Dean: Messy
  • Ezra Williams: Supernumeraries
  • SBTRKT: THE RAT ROAD
  • Christine and the Queens: Paranoia, Angels, True Love
  • Che Lingo: Coming Up for Air
  • Sleaford Mods: UK GRIM
  • Lottery Winners: Anxiety Replacement Therapy
  • Overmono: Good Lies
  • Billie Marten: Drop Cherries
  • Caroline Rose: The Art of Forgetting
  • Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard?
  • Ailbhe Reddy: Endless Affair
  • Jadu Heart: Derealised
  • M83: Fantasy
  • Kali Uchas: Red Moon In Venus
  • Yasmin Lacey: Voice Notes
  • Brix Smith: Valley of the Dolls
  • Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy
  • Lisa O’Neill: All Of This is Chance - how did this end up on my radar?
  • RAYE: My 21st Century Blues
  • RAYE: My 21st Century Symphony (Live at the Royal Albert Hall) - Really quite a superb compliment to the album
  • Caroline Polacheck: Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
  • Paramore: This is Why
  • Samia: Honey
  • The Waeve: The Waeve
  • The Reytons: What’s Rock and roll

For whatever reason* I have been in a funk and decided against my semi-regular posts where I mention anything I’ve been listening to recently. Until this post, where it’s all built up.

I had a recent opportunity where I could forgo having to watch telly for a few days and just listen to music instead. I took it. I listened to about fifty albums in total, the majority of them being the albums listed above, released this year. I had listened to most of above already throughout the course of the year, but it was good to listen again, if only because sometimes it takes a few listens to an album to appreciate it (Young Fathers for me).

There has been a ridiculous amount of albums out this year (at least on my radar). And I know there’s many more I’ve missed.

And yet, for whatever reason, I don’t think any of these here are “it”; Normally I just base it on a feeling rather than me having to think about it and decide.

A lot here have really good standout tracks, but then I’m not so fussed about the rest of the album.

There’s some here I thought really would be contenders. Ezra Williams, Coach Party, and Lucia (especially) it feels like I’ve been anticipating for ages. And they are really good albums. And I’ve listened to them a lot. But that “feeling” isn’t there.

I’m not going to comment on them all individually, but lots of these have tracks that have made it onto my 2023 favourites playlist.

I am posting this after a Friday when a whole new batch of albums have dropped. Maybe it’ll be one of those?

* - Oh yeah… human beings doubling down on destroying the shit out of each other instead of helping each other