It's that time of year where we start to reflect, and because everything must be ranked and quantified (and I just want to be able to remember this stuff later), here are my Top Five albums and top songs of 2023, in no particular order. (Because culling the list to five was hard enough!)
The Lucky One, Cory Wong
This album is start-to-finish fantastic. Funky, melodic, complex, and gorgeous. The stuff with guest vocals, the stuff without vocals, all of it. Some of my favorite guitar work in a hot minute too. Cory Wong is at max right now, and we're all the beneficiaries of his creativity and fun.
Standout tracks: "Acceptance," "Hiding on the Moon (feat. O.A.R.)," "Call Me Wild (Feat. Dodie)"
City of God, Leeland
At my core, I'm a worship leader and Church musician, and this album really satisfies me in all relevant areas. Genuine, well-written, and musically interesting--and apparently live-in-studio, which I didn't realize until finding the video.
Standout tracks: "Still Mighty," "City of God," "Heart & Flesh"
Loser on the Ropes, Brian Dunne
JP sent me a message one day in the spring and said, "Hey I heard this guy opening at one of the 15 concerts I was at this week, I think you'll like him." I love it when he does that. Because he is always right. Brian Dunne's music makes for some pretty direct comparisons, but that shouldn't stop us from being able to acknowledge that this album is imminently listenable.
Wrestling Is Real, People Are Fake, Mega Ran
Mega Ran stays creating great, interesting, niche hip-hop. His Live '95 album from 2021 is one of my favorite hip-hop albums ever, a tribute to '90s basketball culture and the video games and references it produced, with some sprinkles of pro wrestling love. On Wrestling is Real, People are Fake, grappling takes center stage and Mega Ran goes way inside. The more you love pro wrestling, the more you'll love this record.
Standout Tracks: "Wrestling Is Real," "AUTHORS of PAIN," "People Are Fake"
Featherbrained Wealth Motel, Dave Barnes
Yes, yes, we love Dave. We all do. But that alone doesn't put an album on this list; no sir. This album is so lovingly crafted that it 100% works on two totally different levels: as both a cracking lettre d'amour to the Fab Four, and a Dave Barnes songwriter's classic. Dare you to get these songs unstuck.
Standout Tracks: "Hayley With a Heart," "Miss Deconstruction," "Remember When (You Wanted Everything You've Got Right Now)"
HONORABLE MENTION (Limited to only 1):
Live in London, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: the best way to experience music is live. It's so much easier to fall in love with an artist by seeing or hearing them live. Kingfish deserves your love. And this album may win him a third GRAMMY in four years. The blues is alive, and Kingfish is its new pulse.
SONG OF THE YEAR: "Loser on the Ropes," Brian Dunne
This song transfixes me. There may be no more powerful statement one can make in this age than to look into whatever he or she is facing and say, "I'm not scared of you." Everything about this song is great, the lyric is just fantastic, and what it makes me feel I can't really explain. Transcendent.
SINGLE OF THE YEAR: "Blood and Sugar," Boys Like Girls
Different from Song of the Year in that this is the best packaged, most instantly burned-in-my-brain earworm I've heard this year. As a single from Martin Johnson and company, this plays back into what made The Night Game's 2021 album Dog Years fantastic, but adding back the edge and loud guitars of Boys Like Girls. It's perfect.
So there you have it, kids: My albums of the year. What are your thoughts? Who did I miss? Who is the Florida State Football of this year's crop? I welcome your hidden gems and hate mail with open eyeballs.
Rob
