I’ve been writing year end music reviews for a little over 15 years. I typically include a top 10 or top 25 list of my favorite albums from that year. I’ve mostly stuck with that format with a few exceptions here and there. This year I decided to do something a little different. I wanted to include some additional thoughts on music from the year and include music that didn’t necessarily come out this year. I’ll present it in different sections ending with my favorite new albums with a little less focus on the ranking or limiting myself to 10 or 25 albums. If that’s what you’re here for, feel free to scroll to the end. My hope is for this to be the beginning of something new for this blog. Music is something I think about almost all the time and yet I don’t spend enough time sharing those thoughts. Ultimately, this is something I’ve always done primarily for myself and that will continue to be the case, but I hope if any of this is interesting to you, you’ll stick along for the ride. I have lots of ideas for the coming year!
2003 – 20 years later
Leading into 2023 I knew a couple of my all time favorite albums would be turning 20. Then as the year kicked off and I started to look into it more it became apparent that many beloved albums to me had come out in 2003. Here are the highlights:
Thrice – The Artist in the Ambulance
Switchfoot – The Beautiful Letdown
Further Seems Forever – How to Start a Fire
Blink-182 – Untitled
Copeland – Beneath the Medicine Tree
Third Eye Blind – Out of the Vein
Beloved – Failure On
Eisley – Marvelous Things EP
MxPx – Before Everything & After
Dashboard Confessional – A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
Relient K – Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right, but Three Do
AFI – Sing the Sorrow
Postal Service – Give Up
Each of these albums was highly influential to me at the time and would help define my musical taste for years to come. Many of these albums still hold up today and are ones I revisit often.
Who’s Version?
I want to spend a little extra time on two of these albums as they were both re-recorded for their respective 20th anniversaries and are albums by two of my favorite bands.
The first is The Artist in the Ambulance in which Thrice re-released this year as The Artist in the Ambulance – Revisited. Thrice has been very vocal over the years about not liking the mix of the original album and have often thrown around the idea of re-mixing it at some point. Instead they decided to re-record the entire album highlighting the evolution of these great songs after 20 years of growing as musicians and playing these songs live. The result is phenomenal. The original album is great and will always stand on its own, but this new version gives the songs new life and a richness missing from the original mix. Interestingly the album also still fits well thematically in the time we’re living in. The lyrics explore many interesting political and social themes. Back in 2003 these themes really struck me at a formative time in which my world view was evolving. Now 20 years later I see these same themes at play in our world politics and our country’s foreign policies. There’s a timelessness there I think, but perhaps things don’t change as much as we think.
The next is Switchfoot’s The Beautiful Letdown. The band took a page from Taylor Swift’s book and re-recorded their seminal album titling it, The Beautiful Letdown – (Our Version). Similar to The Artist and the Ambulance, The Beautiful Letdown came at a formative time in which I was coming into my own as an adult and in particular growing in my Christian faith. The Beautiful Letdown was my soundtrack to that growth. The original sounds a bit dated these days, but Switchfoot’s (Our Version) shakes the dust off a bit staying pretty true to the original while giving it new life. Listening with fresh ears this year took me back to that time in my life and wondering if I’m still living the way Switchfoot encourages.
Live Music
I don’t make it to nearly as many live shows as I used to in my younger years, so when I do go to shows I make sure I make it count. This year I went to the Jimmy Eat World, Manchester Orchestra co-headlining tour at the Armory in Minneapolis and it did not disappoint. These are two of my favorite bands who are both great live in very different ways. Jimmy Eat World have perfectly honed their craft for nearly 30 years resulting in a performance that sounded not unlike how the songs sound on their albums. The set list featured a good selection of songs from each of their albums and the band’s stage presence was full of energy making for a great experience.
Manchester Orchestra on the other hand is a different beast altogether. I fell in love with them after seeing them live around 16 years ago. This particular occasion was the 9th time I’ve seen them live. For me they are the greatest live band and they proved it at this show. Unlike Jimmy Eat World, Manchester Orchestra takes their songs and makes them into something new on the stage. The musicianship and energy is unmatched and truly a sight to behold.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the show opener The Middle Kids. I’d never heard them before and they completely won me over with their performance and catchy songs. I made a mental note to check out their music which brings me to the next section.
New to me albums
The Middle Kids’ album Today We’re the Greatest came out in 2021 and became one of my favorite albums of 2023. If you picked out songs randomly you might think this was a folk band on one song or an indie rock band on the other. In the context of the album it’s all stitched together with catchy hooks and thoughtful lyrics. Front-woman Hannah Joy has incredible vocal range, most notably a beautiful falsetto she uses to great effect. I can’t wait for their next album out early next year.
Another album from 2021 I got into this year was The Cold in Every Shelter by I Feel Fine. They are a second wave emo band that reminds me a lot of one of my favorite emo bands from back in the day, Anathallo. Pretty much every song is sung with gang vocals which I’ve never heard a band do before. Great pacing and dynamics from front to back and the emo guitar licks are spot on.
Old Music New
Prior to Bon Iver, Justin Vernon was in a band called DeYarmond Edison which also featured members who would go on to form the bands Megafaun and Field Report. This year they released a massive comprehensive box set of their work titled Epoch. Their music leans more on the folk side of things, but you can hear glimpses of what would become Bon Iver. It was also at a time prior to Vernon finding his signature falsetto. But what I love the most about these songs is the lyrics. Vernon’s lyrics in Bon Iver tend to be fairly nonsensical, but in DeYarmond Edison he was much more vulnerable in his writing. If you’ve never dove into DeYarmond Edison’s music before this is a great opportunity to do so.
I was a big fan of the Goo Goo Dolls in high school and college and while I don’t listen to them a lot these days they will always be one of those very nostalgic bands for me. I was reminded of that fact when the Goo Goo Dolls released their first ever live album, Live at The Academy, New York City, 1995. The performance is from what I’d consider to be the band’s glory days. This was pre ‘Iris’ when they were still very much in their hard rocking days. It was fun hearing live versions of all their great songs from this era and brought be back to when I first discovered the Goo Goo Dolls who where the first rock band I feel in love with.
Taylor Swift
Most of what I could say about Taylor Swift you probably already know, but I figured I couldn’t leave her off of an in depth review of music in 2023. Taylor Swift has been my top one or two artists on Spotify the past three years, not necessarily because I’m a super fan, but I think because of the sheer volume of music she releases. This year was no different. Swift didn’t release an new original music, but she did release two of her re-recorded ‘Taylor’s Version’ albums.
The first was Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). I wasn’t a Taylor Swift fan back when she originally released Speak Now so the songs were mostly new to me. It’s not my favorite Taylor era but it was fun to hear these songs for the first time, especially classics like ‘Dear John.’
The next up was 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and unlike Speak Now, 1989 was the album that got me into Taylor Swift and is still my favorite of her’s. That being said this has probably been my least favorite Taylor’s Version so far. It’s fully enjoyable but lacks the spark of the original which is just so good and still stands on it’s own. The biggest redeeming quality of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the vault tracks which are all fantastic. It’s amazing that Swift’s b-sides are just as good as most artist’s a-sides.
My Favorite Albums of the Year
blink-182 – One More Time… [ALBUM OF THE YEAR]
In his wonderful comprehensive review of blink-182’s One More Time… Jason Tate of Chorus.fm had this to say, “To explain the impact blink-182 had on a generation, one needs to understand that I didn’t just want to listen to blink-182. I wanted to be blink-182. I was a kid in search of an identity, and what I found was as much music as it was a lifestyle.” There’s not many things I could relate to more than that. Blink-182 not only made music I loved, but I saw in them something I longed for in my own life. I was a rule following kid who cared way too much about what other people thought. I didn’t ever quite fit in anywhere and was never able to find the kinds of friendships I really wanted. Then along comes these three guys from San Diego making music I couldn’t get enough of and they didn’t care what people thought, they were just friends having fun. It didn’t take much and I was hooked and the more I got into them the deeper I went. Behind the goofy pop punk exterior it was clear from their lyrics the members of blink-182 had been through some pain and trauma in their lives. They tapped into my own pain in ways I hadn’t experienced before. It was so cathartic to know others had experience and felt the same things I did.
A lot has happened in the 25 some odd years since I first discovered and fell hard for blink-182 and their music. I’m 42 years old now and I’ve grown throughout the ups and downs of life. Does this band that spoke so deeply into my young self still have relevance to me in mid-life? As it turns out the core members of blink-182, Mark Hoppus, Tom Delonge, and Travis Barker have grown up too. Both personally and as a band they’ve been through a lot. Band turmoil, break ups, broken friendships, a plane crash, divorce, and mostly recently a grim cancer diagnosis. In fact it was Mark Hoppus’s brush with cancer that was the catalyst for bringing the core members of this band back together, first as friends and then as band members. They got their chance to do it all again one more time, a chance not all of us get and it’s not lost on them. One More Time finds these three friends examining their lives up until this point and reflecting on all they’ve been through and learned. I’ve referred to it as punk rock for 40+, which sounds cheesy and yet once again they’ve so deeply tapped into the pains, regrets, and struggles I’ve reflected on in my own life. It’s not all heavy though, blink-182 offers a call to learn from the past and move onto something better for whatever time left we have in this life. They’ve also not let go of their goofy crass sense of humor which certainly cuts the tension throughout. The music encapsulates the evolution of blink-182’s signature pop punk sound with a spark of renewed energy.
One More Time begins with the song ‘Anthem Part 3.’ ‘Part 1’ appears on their breakout album Enema of the State and is filled with youthful rebellion. ‘Anthem Part 2’ from Take Off Your Pants and Jacket expresses feelings of teen angst. And finally we get to ‘Part 3…’ a song, an anthem if you will, of wisdom that only comes with age and the realization that things can be different this time around. “This time, I won’t be complacent / The dreams I gave up and wasted / A new high, a new ride and I’m on fire / My old shit ends here tonight.”
Jon Batiste – World Radio Music
At the beginning of the documentary American Symphony Jon Batiste has this to say about music, “What we love about music is not that it sounds good. What we love about music is that it sounds inevitable. It’s playing the thing that we all know is unfolding. Whether we want to accept it or not. And it’s there always. You just need to harness it. Be open to it.” As a fan of music I find this to be true. It often seems that music is all around me and it finds me just at the right time and hits me in just the right ways. I think this is also true about Batiste’s music. I’ve been following him for a number of years and something new and special seems to pour out of him with each new release. World Radio Music is no exception. The concept for the album centers around an intergalactic DJ named Billy Bob Bo Bob. He brings the listener on a journey in which he plays inspiring music from earth and sends it across the galaxies. Batiste works within this concept to take his musical talents and weaves in the musical styles of artists from around the world, much like the composer of a symphony. The result is a pop music masterpiece exploding with sound, beauty, and joy. As Batiste says in the liner notes, this is not a world music album, it’s a pop album with world music as the springboard. If this album did somehow manage to reach other worlds it would be a great representation of the musical talents of planet earth.
Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
Sufjan Stevens puts out a lot of music and I typically enjoy most of it, but the albums of his I tend to like the most are the ones that find him at his most emotional and vulnerable. He wrote Age of Adz while dealing with a mysterious illness and Carrie and Lowell was centered around the time leading up to the death of his mother who was estranged most of his life. Interestingly, Stevens is publicly a deeply private person, but after the release of Javelin he revealed that his long time partner had passed away yearly this year. It’s hard to know for sure, but it seems Javelin was written about this deep loss in Stevens’ life. It’s another one of Stevens’ emotionally moving and beautiful works. Javelin is fairly sparse musically with glimpses of Stevens’ earlier more folk leaning tunes. However, he occasionally taps into his experimental side providing nice dynamic shifts.
Boygenius – The Record
The Record is the first full length for super group boygenius made up of Phoebe Bridges, Lucy Dacus, and Julian Baker. Separately they all make pretty chill melancholy music, but when they come together the result is indie rock magic. The Record is upbeat and catchy. You can really hear the chemistry between these three amazing song writers and it honestly sounds like they’re having a lot of fun. There’s certainly still some sadness on The Record –if that’s your thing– making for a nice emotionally balanced experience.
Zach Bryan – Zach Bryan
Country music was the first genre of music I really got into in my early adolescence. While it still informs my musical taste to some degree I’ve mostly lost interest over the years. I find country music often lacks musical depth and honesty. Zach Bryan’s self titled album on the other hand is just the opposite. My wife Rachel started playing me Bryan’s song called ‘Hey Driver’ and I was immediately intrigued by the distinct country sound mixed with vulnerable lyrics. I started listening to the whole album and was blown away. Bryan is a great songwriter who wears his heart on his sleeve. He also captures what’s unique about country music without dumbing it down. He blends tangential genres together such as americana, folk, and rock and even starts the album off with a spoken word piece which contains maybe my favorite lyrics of the year, “I’ve ridden in fear, although, I was afraid every single time / I’ve learned that every waking moment is enough and еxcess never lеads to better things / it only piles and piles atop the things that are already abundantly in front of you / like breathing and chasing and slow dancing and love making, fighting and laughing.” Even if you think you don’t like country music I recommend giving Zach Bryan a try, you might be surprised.
Manchester Orchestra – The Valley of Vision
Manchester Orchestra have really embraced the cinematic over the course of their past few albums and their EP The Valley of Vision takes it step further with an accompanied film. They’ve dialed back their rock sound considerably leaving space for more ambient and ethereal musical movements much like a film score. The band also experimented with some modern pop production which is unexpected but works well with the overall sound of the EP.
Propaganda – The Possibility
The Possibility is the the fourth and final chapter of Propaganda’s Terraform series of EPs which also has an accompanying book (I’d highly recommend the book btw!). The idea of Terraform is to imagine what we would do if we could remake our world and remake ourselves. The Possibility looks at all the ways things could be different if we really did set out to do things differently. Produced by Kings Kaleidoscope’s Chad Gardner who brings a bombastic pop sound which blends nicely with Prop’s rapping. Propaganda is not just a rapper but a poet and it comes through in his exceptional writing on The Possibility. I’ll leave you this from the title track, “The future is yours / It’s up to you to keep it / The world’s exactly the product of how you leave it / Letting go of the person you wish to be / And embracing innate greatness / Imagine the possibility.”
Paramore – This Is Why
I’m really loving this post pop punk era of Paramore. I wasn’t a fan until their previous album After Laughter in which they experimented with an 80s synth pop sound. On This Is Why they try their hand at post punk with influences such as Talking Heads and Bloc Party and they pull it off amazingly well.
Slow Pulp – Yard
Slow Pulp’s Yard was a great find this year. It’s full of both charm and emotion. It gets moody at times without being overly morose. There’s a youthful energy and yet I don’t feel out of place listening to it as a 42 year old. It doesn’t hurt that I’m hearing influences like Weezer, Goo Goo Dolls and some nice early 2000s indie and emo vibes.
Jamila Woods – Water Made Us
If you drew a venn diagram Jamila Woods would fall at the intersection of hip-hop, R&B, soul, pop, and poetry. When you add to that her incredible vocals it always makes for something special and Water Made Us is exactly that. On the album Woods’ explores all the ins and outs of love in romantic relationships. A typical album about love or heartbreak can come across as cliche. Woods’ on the other hand takes a deep dive, looking not just at the big external expressions of love, but pulling apart the little things, the mundane and day to day things that are in many ways the real building blocks to relationships. Water Made Us is filled with Woods’ clever word play such that every listen reveals something new.
Koyo – Would You Miss It?
I have a small group of hardcore bands that I still listen to, unfortunately none of them put out albums this year. Then I stumbled upon Koyo and their album Would You Miss It? scratched that hardcore itch for me. They would fit right in with the hardcore/punk/emo scene of the early 2000s, which is a sound and era I’ll always love. Koyo isn’t just a throw back band though, they have a unique flavor all their own and it’s going to be fun to see them develop as a band in the coming years.
KC Rae – I Think I’m Gonna Die
KC Rae (Cacie Dalager) of Now, Now is not a prolific songwriter but when she does puts out music she makes it count. On her first solo effort, I Think I’m Gonna Die she proves she can make a great album all on her own. Her delicate vocals over synth pop music perfectly conveys themes of self reflection and nostalgia.
Margaret Glaspy – Echo the Diamond
If you wanted to make an argument that rock is alive and well and that music today is dripping with 90s influence, then look no further than Margaret Glaspy. Glaspy is an excellent guitar player. Her riffs on Echo the Diamond mixed with local legend Dave King’s drumming makes for a raucous punk inspired first half of the album while the second half has a more chill jazzy vibe.
MxPx – Find A Way Home
It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed an MxPx album as much as Find A Way Home. I’m honestly not sure what it is. It sounds like classic MxPx; fast, fun, three piece pop punk and somehow sounds right at home in 2023.
Dessa – Bury the Lede
With Dessa you never quite know what you’re going to get. She might sing over a beat or rap over a guitar riff. She does all that and more on Bury the Lede. Dessa is also a master wordsmith and I love what she does with the moon metaphor on the super catchy ‘Blush.’ “I’m a moon for you / Give you just the good side / Save you all the best lines / Sometimes I wish that I was / Immune to you / Could see you and go right by / Pull myself away from your high tide.”
Citizens – I Can’t Find The Edges of You
Citizens have somehow unlocked a key which allows them to make explicitly worshipful music without it sounding like worship music. Musically, I Can’t Find The Edges of You stands up to any indie rock album out there, but the lyrics are beautiful written words of worship. It’s the perfect companion to any one at any point in their Christian faith.
Meg Meyers – TZIA
Myers’ latest album TZIA is a continuation of her grunge influenced electro-pop built around a sci-fi/utopian theme. She channels the likes of Sinead O’Conner and Dolores O’Ridordan with her vocal style and lyrical content making for a unique and thought provoking listen.
Laura Veirs – Phone Orphans
As with any art sometimes less is more and that is certainly the case with Laura Veirs’ Phone Orphans. It is an acoustic album which Veirs recorded using the voice memo app on her phone. It is unpolished and lovely.
reckless abandon 