coffeejoshy

[coffeejoshy]

And finally rounding out the end of year lists, these are the 16 albums that I loved the most this year but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to rank.

#music reviews #new music #2023 music #aoty #reverend kristin michael hayter #lingua ignota #colin stetson #when we were that what wept for the sea #allegra krieger #mitski #kara jackson #julie byrne #sufjan stevens #simeon ten holt #erik hall #billy woods #kenny segal #model/actriz #caroline polachek #wednesday #black country new road #nickel creek #grouptherapy. #blue lake

[coffeejoshy]

Some tracks that didn’t quite make the cut (but honestly were pretty interchangeable for #50-#40).

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #lady moon #jaimie branch #jason ajemian #angie mcmahon #mannequin pussy #sampha #aja monet #the last dinner party #men i trust

[coffeejoshy]

Jessie Ware makes the funkiest, horniest glam-pop, and it’s always just so much fun.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #pop #glam pop #disco pop #jessie ware #that! feels good! #freedomisasoundandpleasureisaright #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

Truly an incredible album, and a harbinger of bigger things to come - this stunning chamber folk album from Jackson is inventive, witty, hilarious and tragic, and really quite moving.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #chamber folk #folk #poetry #singer songwriter #kara jackson #why does the earth give us people to love #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

This track keeps getting better the more I listen to it; Adrianne’s desperate outburst of frustration is the most entrancing, pure expression of a love most furious, both terrified and terrifying.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #folk rock #folk #americana folk #alt rock #big thief #adrianne lenker #vampire empire #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

The most visceral, intimately captivating performance of the year; this song feels like Cole Haden is grabbing my head with both hands and snarling into my ears, and all awhile the bass throbs like a pulse frightened into its fight-or-flight response. It’s a noise-punk cabaret that is unsettling and yet somehow impossible to look away from.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #post rock #noise punk #punk #alt music #model/actriz #cole haden #dogsbody #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

The quintessential alt-hip hop of 2023. Hearing that Peggy and Danny’s team-up was happening created some of the most hype for any release this year, and the two batshit-crazy weirdos delivered HARD.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #hiphop #alt hip hop #scaring the hoes #danny brown #jpegmafia #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

In a track that feels like its own self-contained, magical snow-globe, Mitski takes us alongside her on a reflective midnight stroll, before her world is violently up-ended by the cacophonous finale, the snow-globe’s landscape obscured by a blizzard of snow and noise.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #americana folk #chamber folk #mitski #the land is inhospitable and so are we #the deal #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

Lau Noah’s timeless songwriting does a lot with its little.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #folk #guitar music #Catalan artists #jacob collier #lau noah #nico #jim croce #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

A devastatingly beautiful single from Sufjan.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #indie folk #sufjan stevens #javelin #will anybody ever love me #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

Hands down one of the coolest openings to a track on this list, and also one of the best opening tracks more broadly - this album is incredibly dear to me, and the chorus always manages to improve my mood. Phenomenal track.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #alt rock #art rock #black country new road #tyler hyde #live at bush hall #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

What a kooky, inane and captivating addendum to her triumphant album release earlier this year - Dang is Caroline at her purest, a cherry on top of an impossibly good cake.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #alt pop #art pop #caroline polachek #dang #desire I want to turn into you #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

Mesmerising polyphonic soundscapes from the sax legend Colin Stetson.

(Full disclosure, totally still the format of this review from one of Pitchfork’s best albums article, I just liked the concept a lot)

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #ambient #jazz #saxophone #trance #colin stetson #the lighthouse #when we were that what wept for the sea #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

The apocalypse never seemed so horny.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #alt rock #post punk #dad rock #geese #new york bands #cowboy nudes #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

Otherworldly beats from El-P, absurdist poetry from Billy and Elucid - this is surely the quintessential alt-hip-hop single of the year (with one notable exception (more on that later))

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #hiphop #alt hip hop #underground rap #new york rap #armand hammer #billy woods #elucid #el p #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

Some of the most enjoyable power-pop I’ve heard in a long time; CMAT is absolutely one to watch.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #pop #country pop #power pop #irish artists #cmat #Spotify

[coffeejoshy]

If this were a list ranking best opening tracks of the year, the BLACK seminole might just have taken it. Sonically it represents a huge left turn for Yachty, and it also happens be really enjoyable.

Playlist:

#music reviews #new music #soty #2023 music #hiphop #psych rock #alt rock #electro funk #lil yachty #the black seminole #Spotify