I hate ranking so just have a complete log of every 2023 album I have listened to (now up to something like 180), sorted into broad tiers, with short writeups for just the top few -- scroll to the bottom if you only care about that lol. I made a big push in listening in the last few weeks and got several recs from seeing other people's year end lists lol so this got quite long, but those that were already favorites held the top pretty steady.
Alphabetical within tiers because ranking is too hard (except in the smaller intermission segments). Genre tags mostly adapted from RYM.
?-Tier - Either meh, not really my thing; or, I apparently listened to these at some point but they didn't make much of an impression (border between this and C Tier is pretty fuzzy/overlapping tbh):
Arbor Labor Union - Yonder (post-punk)
Being Dead - When Horses Would Run (surf punk)
Belle and Sebastian - Late Developers (indie pop)
The Chemical Brothers - For That Beautiful Feeling (progressive house)
Circa Waves - Never Going Under (indie rock)
Daniel Pioro - Saint Boy (classical/chamber music)
Danny Arakaki - Tumble in Shade (art rock)
Delmer Darion - Tall Vision-of-the-Voyage (art pop)
George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya (chillwave/trip hop)
Giant Swan - Fantasy Food (techno)
Guided by Voices - La La Land (indie rock)
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good! (disco pop)
John Cale - Mercy (art pop)
July Talk - Remember Never Before (alt rock)
Jute Gyte - Undus mundus patet (avant-garde black metal)
Katie Von Schleicher - A Little Touch of Schleicher in the Night (indie pop/singer-songwriter)
Khai Dreams - Absolute Heartbreak (bedroom pop)
Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (art pop/singer-songwriter)
Meagre Martin - Gut Punch (indie rock)
Mentalt Syk - The Death of Cupid (slowcore/ambient)
Oliver Coates - Aftersun (dark ambient/film score)
Radiator Hospital - Can't Make Any Promises (indie pop)
Riverside - ID.Entity (prog rock)
Sincere Engineer - Cheap Grills (emo)
Space Camp - Gold Star (noise rock/art punk)
Thanks! I Hate It - Lovers Lane (emo)
C Tier - Enjoyed listening well enough but unlikely to revisit much if at all:
100 gecs - 10,000 gecs (hyperpop)
AJJ - Disposable Everything (folk punk)
Animal Collective - Isn't It Now? (psychedelic pop)
bar italia - Tracey Denim (slacker rock/post-punk)
bar italia - The Twits (slacker rock/post-punk)
Bayonne - Temporary Time (indietronica)
billy woods & Kenny Segal - Maps (hip hop)
Blank Banshee - 4D (IDM/vaportrap)
Bocce - Good for You (indie rock)
Celia - Complete In Box (indie pop/singer-songwriter)
Covet - Catharsis (math rock)
Duster - Remote Echoes (slowcore/slacker rock)
Fever Ray - Radical Romantics (art pop)
Frog Concert - Slumbering Sounds of the Frog Fellowship (comfy synth)
Frost Children - SPEED RUN (hyperpop)
Frost Children - Hearth Room (indie rock/emo pop)
The Go! Team - Get Up Sequences Part Two (psychedelic pop)
HMLTD - The Worm (art rock/avant-prog)
Jonah Yano - portrait of a dog (jazz pop/neo-soul)
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES (experimental hip hop)
Kara Jackson - Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (chamber folk/singer-songwriter)
Kelela - Raven (alternative R&B)
Kesha - Gag Order (art pop)
Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings (chamber folk/singer-songwriter)
L'Rain - I Killed Your Dog (neo-psych-soul)
Magazine Beach - Constant Springtime (midwest emo/pop punk)
Metaroom - OXIDIZED ARCHIVE (IDM)
The Murder Capital - Gigi's Recovery (post-punk)
Ohzora Kimishima - Eitai suru kemuri (indie pop)
The Orb - Prism (ambient dub)
Panopticon - The Rime of Memory (post-black metal)
Patricia Taxxon - TECHDOG 1-7 (yes it's seven albums that get progressively longer and it's like 12 hours total so i probably haven't actually finished at time of posting this lol but i know it gets ridiculously long as the last few develop from fast beep boop to slow ambient drone) (some of it is really gorgeous so far i do recommend actually) (idm/glitch/ambient)
Peter Gabriel - i/o (art pop)
Prewn - Through the Window (indie rock)
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - SAVED! (gospel horror/avant folk)
Rozi Plain - Prize (chamber pop)
Sadness / Forgotten - while you're still (blackgaze)
Sadness / Jymeria - Secret Green (shoegaze)
Sampha - Lahai (neo-soul)
Saya Gray - QWERTY (art pop/glitch pop)
shame - Food for Worms (post-punk)
Slaughter Beach, Dog - Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling (alt-country/folk rock)
Snooper - Super Snõõper (egg punk)
Son Lux - Alternate Forms (art pop)
Sparklehorse - Bird Machine (indie pop/folktronica/slowcore)
Spectral Lore - 11 Days (atmospheric black metal)
SPELLLING - SPELLLING & The Mystery School (art pop)
Sprain - The Lamb as Effigy (noise rock/post-hardcore/experimental post-rock)
Subsonic Eye - All Around You (indie rock/dream pop)
Swans - The Beggar (experimental/post-whatever/michael gira is making some sounds and maybe also dying idk)
Tanukichan - GIZMO (shoegaze/dream pop)
Tinariwen - Amatssou (tishoumaren)
We Are Scientists - Lobes (indie pop)
World's End Girlfriend - Resistance & the Blessing (experimental/glitch/post-rock)
Xiu Xiu - Ignore Grief (death industrial/darkwave)
Youth Lagoon - Heaven Is a Junkyard (dream pop)
- Intermission - EPs! Putting all the EPs in their own list (though several of the "albums" are basically EP-length -- I mostly went by how RYM and/or Spotify labeled them though they sometimes disagreed), ranking according to the album tiers:
Cosmo Sheldrake - Wild Wet World (ambient/field recording) (?-Tier)
Blackbird Raum - Come Into Your Power (folk punk) (?-Tier)
Tiny Voices - Make Up Your Place (midwest emo) (?-Tier)
Sadness - Compilation Four (shoegaze) (C Tier)
Trhä - av◊ëlajnt◊ë£ hinnem nihre (atmospheric black metal) (C Tier)
Jim Nopédie - Keep It Rolling (folktronica) (C Tier)
Tyler, The Creator - The Estate Sale (hip hop) (I assume this basically counts as an EP anyway) (C Tier)
hemlocke springs - going...going...GONE! (bedroom pop) (C Tier)
boygenius - the rest (indie rock) (C Tier)
Beach House - Become (dream pop) (B Tier)
Fortress Of The Pearl - Agony and Ecstasy (atmospheric black metal) (B tier)
Geese - 4D Country (art rock) (B Tier)
Manchester Orchestra - The Valley of Vision (art rock) (B Tier)
Tapir! - Act 2 (Their God) (indie folk) (B Tier)
Maruja - Knocknarea (art punk/jazz rock) (A Tier)
Adjy - June Songs Vol. 1 (art rock/baroque emo folk pop? idk how to describe) (A+ Tier, huge favorite)
--And as a bonus, I'm not tracking singles otherwise but just going to shout out the two new songs by Everything Everything since they're my current favorite band/most listened of the year. Cold Reactor and The Mad Stone are both bangers (I even got to experience one of the first few live performances of Cold Reactor before it was released!) and I'm very much looking forward to the 2024 album Mountainhead.
B Tier/General These Albums Are Good Tier -- Either likely intend to revisit or have revisited already; albums that made a strong impression/that I enjoyed which is most things lol. Aka I'm lazy and rate the majority of albums I listen to 3.5 stars so I'm just dumping a ton of albums here in a huge list without ranking more finely.
@ - Mind Palace Music (psychedelic folk)
Adam Bosarge - Structures Without Rooms (post-minimalism/experimental jazz)
Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions (hip hop)
André 3000 - New Blue Sun (ambient jazz)
Anita Velveeta - i saw the devil in portland oregon (emo/punk)
Asleep Country - Fake Opulent (sound collage/maximalist dadaism/literally just fucking bizarre)
awakebutstillinbed - Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a Passenger (midwest emo)
Beirut - Hadsel (chamber pop)
Blondshell - Blondshell (indie rock)
Brett Naucke - Cast a Double Shadow (ambient)
Bruiser and Bicycle - Holy Red Wagon (freak folk/neo-psychedelia)
The Bug Club - Rare Birds: Hour of Song (power pop/twee indie rock)
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (art pop)
Cherry Glazerr - I Don't Want You Anymore (grunge/synthpop)
Cicada - Seeking the Sources of Streams (neoclassical/chamber music)
Colin Stetson - When we were that what wept for the sea (post-minimalist jazz)
Darlingside - Everything Is Alive (indie folk)
Do Nothing - Snake Sideways (post-punk/art rock)
feeble little horse - Girl with Fish (indie pop/slacker rock)
Feist - Multitudes (folk pop/art pop/singer-songwriter)
Geese - 3D Country (art punk/alt-country)
Genesis Owusu - Struggler (post-punk/neo-soul)
Hana Stretton - Soon (ambient folk/singer-songwriter)
Hannah Jadagu - Aperture (bedroom pop/dream pop)
Jamila Woods - Water Made Us (neo-soul)
Jane Remover - Census Designated (shoegaze)
John Francis Flynn - Look Over the Wall, See the Sky (prog folk)
J. Wiegold - Norfolk Serpent (chamber folk)
Katie Dey - never falter hero girl (glitch pop/hyperpop)
Kinoteki - Dawn of the Final Hour (breakcore/jungle)
KNOWER - Knower Forever (jazz-funk)
Lanterns on the Lake - Versions of Us (indie rock)
Lauren Bousfield - Salesforce (glitch pop/breakcore)
The Lemon Twigs - Everything Harmony (soft rock/baroque pop/folk rock)
Mandy, Indiana - i've seen a way (post-industrial)
Marina Herlop - Nekkuja (folktronica/art pop)
Meitei - Kofū III (plunderphonics)
Mitski - The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We (indie folk/singer-songwriter)
Model/Actriz - Dogsbody (post-punk)
The Mountain Goats - Jenny From Thebes (indie rock)
Ohzora Kimishima - no public sounds (art pop/glitch pop)
on4word - In Rainbow Roads (vgm/electronic cover)
otay: onii - Dream Hacker (post-industrial/glitch pop/darkwave)
Palehound - Eye on the Bat (indie rock)
Samia - Honey (indie pop)
Slowdive - everything is alive (dream pop)
Slow Pulp - Yard (indie/slacker rock)
Sluice - Radial Gate (indie folk/americana)
Spanish Love Songs - No Joy (midwest emo)
Squid - O Monolith (art rock)
Susanne Sundfør - Blómi (chamber folk/singer-songwriter)
The Veils - ...And Out of the Void Came Love (indie rock)
Violet Cold - Multiverse (blackgaze)
Wednesday - Rat Saw God (indie rock)
yeule - Softscars (glitch pop/indietronica)
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (neo-psych/art pop)
-- Intermission 2 - Not new but new to me! Will put this in a spoiler bc it's long and tangential. A few standout favorites out of albums that I heard for the first time this year but that did not come out this year (oops a few turned into kind of a lot but I ended up including most things I gave at least 4 stars on rym) - ranked so the best is for last:
Spoiler: show
---Back to the main event:
A Tier - Very tough to rank but these are real standout albums that solidly impressed me and could be closer to A+ tier, but would have to fight for the remaining couple spots in the top ten:
Asian Glow & sonhos tomam conta - dreamglow (shoegaze/post-hardcore)
Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, the Water, the Sky (dream pop)
boygenius - the record (indie rock)
Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time (pop)
Chuquimamani-Condori - DJ E (sound collage/andean folk/deconstructed club)
Hozier - Unreal Unearth (indie folk/pop soul)
Indigo De Souza - All of This Will End (indie/slacker rock)
Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE (pop punk)
Kiltro - Underbelly (indie folk)
Lankum - False Lankum (avant-folk)
Liturgy - 93696 (avant-garde black metal)
Maria BC - Spike Field (chamber folk)
The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein (indie rock)
N NAO - L'eau et les rêves (ambient pop)
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS (pop)
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin (chamber folk)
This Is The Kit - Careful of Your Keepers (chamber folk)
Trhä - alëce iΩic (blackgaze)
Yes Yes A Thousand Times Yes - Supertinyinfinitedans (midwest emo)
A+ tier / personal favorites:
Black Country, New Road - Live At Bush Hall (art rock/baroque pop) - While their new stuff doesn't reach the perfection of Ants From Up There, I just can't not love anything these folks make. They're among the most talented and creative musicians of our time. From the Comus-reminiscent progressive folk of "The Boy" to the incredibly moving interplay of May Kershaw's lilting vocals and the instrumental build on "Turbines/Pigs", this is a collection of lovely material.
Harp - Albion (indie folk) - The former frontman of Midlake, Tim Smith, and his wife have created an album that rather blew me away with beauty. The soft arrangements of flute and other sounds alongside his gentle vocals are the kind of music that feels like coming home.
The National - Laugh Track (indie rock) - I've been a huge fan of the National for like 13 years so the double album drop this year was quite exciting. While I enjoyed FTPOF quite a bit and love plenty of its songs, it still sort of paled in comparison to their best material, but this one brought them back big time. "Space Invader" is one of the best tracks made this year, that shoegazey section with the thundering build of Bryan's drums just rules so hard.
Parannoul - After the Magic (shoegaze) - Just beautiful. Music that makes me ascend from the mortal plane.
underscores - Wallsocket (hyperpop) - You gotta do it gotta do it gotta do it like me! Girls like us are rotten to the core! Banger after banger with a compelling story/cast of characters.
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy (experimental art pop/neo-psych-soul) - This is one of those albums that comes along and just knocks you out of the water with its production, catchy rhythms, and cutting-edge uniqueness. The blend of genre and cultural influences on this record all comes together in a fun work of art.
S Tier, #1 Favorite, AOTY:
Home is Where - the whaler (5th wave emo) - this has gotten plenty of love in MU circles but elsewhere I rarely see it mentioned at all, an overlooked gem. Despite not having been much into emo music overall in the past (though I've enjoyed much of the midwest and "5th wave" I've heard), this one really really connected with me and is simply a work of art. It's got musically complex construction on the micro and macro levels. It's got the seamless loop to symbolically represent cyclical narrative. It's got the American fixation on 9/11 as a watershed moment of collective trauma. It's got the feeling of being roadkill on an Appalachian highway. It's got the strange but moving lyrics about life, death, weddings, racecar drivers, doing nothing, trans women being more powerful than god, and yes, hunting whales. It's got absurd, uncomfortable, and simply gross bodily metaphors relating to the transgender experience. It's got themes of cyclical tragedy and collective numbness but with a kernel of hope. It's got gorgeous instrumental bridges, catchy guitar licks, expressive and intense and varied vocals. Every detail of this album has embedded in my mind, and so this stands out above all my other abovementioned 2023 listening experiences.
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