Songs for Cineastes: 2023 Edition

Click here for the 2022 edition.

Every year, I listen to less new music, but I still listen to a lot. I've never wanted to become one of those former music writers/disc jockeys/music retail workers who stops listening to new music altogether. I'll never be that old. Music trends come and go, people age, they have kids (in some cases), their jobs take over their lives, they gravitate to other things instead. I get it, but I can't relate. 

It has become more challenging for me to keep up, but that's on me. It's not on music, aging, or ever-changing technologies. It's largely that I've become more easily distracted--a tendency exacerbated by social media--and I listen to more podcasts (time I used to spend listening to new music), but I still listen to and write about music, both new and old. I just spend more time watching, reading, and writing about film. 

I definitely see fewer shows, though, to the extent that I saw exactly one this year: the Gories at Freakout Festival. They were great, of course. Sometimes, that's all you need; one really good show, rather than dozens of mediocre ones. Granted, I'm sure I missed a lot of good shows I didn't even know about. With fewer sources for local listings--and fewer show-going companions--that's bound to happen. 

Top 10 

1. Meshell Ndegeocello - The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note) 

2. En Attendant Ana - Principia (Trouble in Mind) 

3. Sleaford Mods - UK Grim (Rough Trade) 

4. Wreckless Eric - Leisureland (Tapete Records) 

5. Meg Baird - Furling (Drag City) 

6. Lewsberg - Out and About (12XU) 

7. The Necks - Travel (Northern Spy) 

8. Kate NV - Wow (RVNG Intl.) 

9. André 3000 - New Blue Sun (Epic) 

10. Nia Archives - Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall EP 

      (Hijinx/Island) 

Note: A show I missed: Meshell Ndegeocello. I only found out about it afterward. For what it's worth, I've seen her in person at the Pop Conference, but I've never seen her play live.  

Runners-up 

11. Anohni - My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross 

      (Secretly Canadian) 

12. Melenas - Ahora (Trouble in Mind) 

13. FACS - Still Life in Decay (Trouble in Mind) 

14. Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - Remezcla EP (Sonic Cathedral) 

15. Rocket 808 - House of Jackpots (12XU) 

16. Barbara Manning - Charm of Yesterday…Convenience of 

      Tomorrow (Ba Da Bing) 

17. Jamila Woods - Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar) 

18. Fay Victor - Blackity Black Black Is Beautiful (Northern Spy) 

19. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World (Matador) 

20. Everything but the Girl - Fuse (Buzzin' Fly/Virgin) 

21. Guided by Voices - Welshpool (GBV Inc.) 

22. Various Artists - I Killed The Monster: The Songs of Daniel 

       Johnston (Shimmy Disc) 

23. Martin Frawley - The Wannabe (Trouble in Mind) 

24. Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good (EMI/Universal) 

25. Lupo Cittá - Lupo Cittá (12XU) 

26. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse!/Verve) 

27. Lankum - False Lankum (Rough Trade) 

28. Gina Birch - I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man) 

29. Matthew Shipp - The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp (Mahakala Music) 

30. Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert 

       (Domino) 

31. Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure 

       (Wondaland/Bad Boy/Atlantic) 

32. Various Artists - Synthetic Bird Song (Mappa) 

33. Be Your Own Pet - Mommy (Third Man) 

34. Olivia Rodrigo - Guts (Geffen) 

35. Wimps - City Lights (Youth Riot) 

36. Immaterial Possession - Siren's Tunnel (Fire) 

37. Kerry Charles - I Think of You (Grind Select) 

38. Best Fern - Earth Then Air (Backwards Music) 

39. Joel Styzens - Resonance (Relax Your Ears) 

40. Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada (Ghostly International)

41. Doom Flower - 

       Limestone Ritual 

       (Record Label)  

42. PJ Harvey - 

I Inside the Old World Dying (Partisan)  

43. Omar Ahmad - Inheritance (AKP Recordings) 

44. DJ Shadow - Action Adventure (Reconstruction/Mass Appeal) 

45. Cloudland Canyon - 

       Cloudland Canyon (Medical Records)   

46. Field of Fear - Lost (Whited Sepulchre)  

47. Gabriel Birnbaum - Entitled Nightwater | 

       All the Dead Do is Dream (Western Vinyl)    

48. Joel Styzens - Resonance (self-released)

Songs 

1. SZA - "Kill Bill" 

2. Little Simz - "Gorilla" 

3. Melenas - "Bang"

4. Lol Tolhurst, Budgie, and Jacknife Lee - "Los Angeles"

5. M83 - "Oceans Niagara" 

6. Janelle Monáe - "Float" 

7. Everything But the Girl - "Nothing Left to Lose" 

8. DJ Shadow - "Nobody Speak" feat. Run the Jewels 

9. Caroline Polacheck - "Welcome to My Island" 

10. Allison Russell - "Springtime" 

Reissues & Collections 

1. Mike Cooper - Life and Death in Paradise +  Milan: 

    Live Acoustic 2018 (Paradise of Bachelors) 

2. Sonic Youth - Live in Brooklyn 2011 (Goofin'/Silver Current)

3. Lady Lamb - In the Mammoth Nothing of the Night 

     [box set] (Ba Da Bing) 

4. Peggy Lee - I'm a Woman: 60th Anniversary Expanded Edition 

     (Capitol/UME)

5. Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra - Nancy & Lee Again 

     (Light in the Attic)

Endnote: For Rock and Roll Globe, I wrote about two 2023 albums, six 1973 albums, and one 2023 music documentary. You can find all nine here. Images: Charlie Gross / The Guardian (Meshell Ndegeocello), Dusted (En Attendant Ana), and RE:VIVE (Lankum).