#jeremydutcher — Public Fediverse posts

This year sucked (understatement of ever), but at least the music didn’t. Here are the albums released in 2023 that I loved (along with a couple from other years that deserved mention). I hope you find something to enjoy and play out the rest of the year.

Outside of my personal Top 5, I just couldn’t rank all these in a regular, boring list, so I’ve grouped them according to theme or some shared quality that made sense to me. While the bolded ones are my Top 5, in order (with two tied for 5th), there are 10 categories, so we can just say these 40ish albums are my Top 10. There are no rules.

If you’re the sort that only wants metal (or, perhaps, wants anything but), I’ve put an asterisk beside any albums that are metal, for easy scanning in addition to the genre notes. I’ve also included links to the Bandcamp, when available – if you do purchase on Bandcamp, make sure to download the files before that platform goes poof!!!

Happy listening, and, ef you, 2023.

TOP ALBUMS OF 2023

1: Most intense albums of the year

Rye – Всё* (atmospheric black metal/blackgaze) / Jeremy Dutcher – Motewolonuwok (neo-Indigenous/neoclassical) / ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (pop soul/art pop) / Sufjan Stevens – Javelin (indie)

(Honorable mention: Sinéad O’Connor – The Lion and The Cobra, because it took me until 2023 to hear it in full, wtf, and it was my 2nd most listened to album of the year.)

These all pretty much have a theme of “I don’t want you to be dead” (lyric from the ANOHNI album), starting with the first 2023 album I heard and fell in love with, then going to my absolute top and most listened-to album (probably ~200+ listens since October), then ending with the last 2023 albums I heard and fell completely in love with. Not only are the Jeremy Dutcher and ANOHNI albums my Top 2 of the year, but they’ve made my Top Albums of Ever list as well – they’re both life-changing. Sinéad too, for that matter (RIP).

2: Most chill albums of the year

Acid King – Beyond Vision* (stoner metal/doom) / Midwife & Vyva Melinkolya – Orbweaving (shoegaze) / Sigur Rós – ÁTTA (postrock) / Zoon – Bekka Ma’iingan (moccasin gaze)

Need to chill out a bit after that start, in order of my hearing them. Acid King and Sigur Rós are my most listened-to albums of the year after Jeremy Dutcher and Sinéad. Zoon (and their genre label “moccasin gaze”, i.e., Indigenous shoegaze) is new to me this year and was a pleasant surprise, being the opener for the Jeremy Dutcher show I luckily was able to safely attend (first concert since the pandemic began). Best way to describe Zoon’s music is sound waves washing over you.

3: Pure fun

Blackbraid – Blackbraid II* (Indigenous black metal) / Marthe – Further In Evil* (black metal/crust punk) / Árstíðir lífsins – Hermalausaz* (pagan black metal) / Mizmor – Prosaic* (black metal/blackened doom) / Jalen Ngonda – Come Around And Love Me (soul)

This originally was just a group of welcome follow-ups from black metal bands on past lists (and yes, Mizmor can do fun/fun-adjacent!), but then I heard the Jalen Ngonda album and had to make this just a category of fun. The Árstíðir lífsins release is technically an EP with 2 songs, but at 43 minutes, it qualifies in my books as an album.

Also check out the Marthe/The Lord collab EP (see EP category below), and watch out for the full length from Marzia’s (a.k.a. Marthe’s) other band, Horror Vacui, in 2024!

4: Longest albums of the year

Bell Witch – Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate* (doom) / André 3000 – New Blue Sun (ambient/new age/soul jazz) / Eremit – Wearer of Numerous Forms* (doom)

(Honorable mention: Dolly Parton – Rockstar)

And when I say long, I mean Bell Witch’s is a single 83-minute song, André 3000’s is 88 minutes of instrumental jazz in the vein of Alice Coltrane, and Eremit’s is 2+ hours of dooooooom. Dolly deserves an honorable mention somewhere on this list because she’s Dolly F’ing Parton, and she fits right in here with her 2+ hour-long rock n’ roll karaoke project.

Who knows where you’ll end up after finishing these. Definitely a long way from home, perhaps hell, perhaps ordained as a Reverend.

5: Most hell(fire and brimstone)ish albums of the year

R.A. Sánchez – L’ottava Sfera* (doom jazz/funeral jazz) / Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter – SAVED! (experimental) / Khanate – To Be Cruel* (doom/drone metal)

Some may find the first and last hard to listen to. “Hell” is mentioned in the descriptions and reviews of both. But to me, no album is harder to listen to than Kristin Hayter’s (a.k.a. Lingua Ignota’s) new project, from this or any other year. It sounds like a literal hell to me, while the other two are comfy, cozy, relaxing. So, if you like one of these albums, you might like one or both of the others here. But, a warning – if you had a not-so-rosy experience with charismatic/Pentecostal Xianity, you may want to stay away from SAVED! all together, it might be, umm, triggering.

Also, for the Kristin Hayter you might be more familiar/comfortable with, see the live Lingua Ignota album, also out this year.

6: Angriest albums of the year

Ragana – Desolation’s Flower* (blackened doom/blackened screamo) / BIG|BRAVE – nature morte* (postmetal) / Ushangvagush – Pestmo’qon* (Indigenous black metal)

After listening to SAVED! (or, just thinking about it), I have big feelings, which can be expressed with some anger. Here’s some anger. Ragana is pretty much tied with Blackbraid and Marthe for my top 5 spot, it’s just so so good.

7: Peter, Paul, and Not Mary

Peter Gabriel – i/o (rock) / Paul Simon – Seven Psalms (folk) / Blind Guardian – The God Machine* (power metal)

Albums that for some reason I didn’t think I’d love, and I didn’t the first time around, but then I kept listening to them, over and over, and then asked myself why I ever thought I wouldn’t like them or assumed any of these artists were past their expiry date/my fanship. I even complained for a few days on Mastodon about how there’s too many good songs on the Peter Gabriel album (i.e., all of them). Paul Simon’s was recommended by Mike Scheidt of YOB, and is a really lovely meditative/cyclical piece. Blind Guardian’s was released in September 2022 but I didn’t listen to it until after the 2022 list season AND it was my most-listened to album of 2022 this year because it really has no business being this good, so it makes the list. Again, no rules.

8: Experimental eclectic awesomeness

jaimie branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (free jazz) / Ky – Power Is The Pharmacy (experimental noise) / ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT – “Darling The Dawn” (experimental art rock) / Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (blues/soul/folk) / Sanam – Aykathani Malakon صنم – أيقظني ملاكٌ (postfolk/postrock/free jazz/krautrock)

Thank goodness for AOTY lists, otherwise I’d have no idea that there was a posthumous release from jaimie branch (RIP), and I would’ve ever heard of the utterly amazing Sanam. Ky is the solo Laurie Anderson-esque project of the singer from Lungbutter, featuring collabs with a member of BIG|BRAVE. AH_ML is a power duo of Ariel Engle from Broken Social Scene and Efrim Manuel Menuck from GSY!BE, Silver Mt. Zion, etc. I was very happy to be reaquainted with Lonnie Holley’s work after his last album got buried in my Bandcamp wishlist, and this one is an absolute stunner; in particular, the title track with Michael Stipe on guest vocals has been on repeat in my head since hearing it.

9: Prettiest albums of the year

vvilderness – Path* (atmospheric black metal) / Jo Quail – Invocation and Supplication (neoclassical) / ARCHE – Transitions* (funeral doom) / Marina Herlop – Nekkuja (experimental/avant garde electronic)

Any release from vvilderness is always welcome. The Jo Quail is technically two 3-song cycles, but they were released together and essentially form an album. The ARCHE came out December 2022 after list season, so it qualifies here. Marina Herlop is a late addition and completely new to me; this album is like a cross between Aurora and Björk’s Utopia, but sung in Catalan.

10: The Nottingham Twang

Maȟpíya Lúta – Wowahwala* (Indigenous black metal) / SQÜRL – Silver Haze (experimental/drone) / Mong Tong – Tao Fire 道火 (experimental/electronic) / Donny McCaslin – I Want More (electronic jazz)

Okay, I’m not really sure how to name this category – think Americana/Dead Man soundtrack goes travelling and picks up some synths along the way, maybe a saxophone? It makes sense to me, anyway, if listened to in the above order. I initially wanted to put SQÜRL with Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon because Jim Jarmusch is still kicking ass like them at 70, and then I wanted to put it in category 8, but the Dead Man vibes I get from the first album decided it for me.

If you like the Mong Tong, perhaps also check out Japan Blues – Japan Blues Meets The Dengie Hundred.

Top (sorry you’re not long enough so I won’t say anything further about you) EPs of the year

Ufomammut – Crookhead* (psychedelic metal) / Marthe/The Lord – The Eye of Destiny* (drone metal) / Wolves In The Throne Room – Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge* (atmospheric black metal)

Moar albums

I’ve been adding some more albums to my Discogs list as I find them via other people’s AOTY lists (but haven’t spent enough time with them to include here), so check it out if you want more. And please feel free to leave a comment with your top album(s) of the year!

Title quote: “Marrow” from Clearing the Path to Ascend

https://musingsofbuffyleigh.wordpress.com/2023/12/27/needing-to-feel-something-true/

#AcidKing #ANOHNI #Blackbraid #JeremyDutcher #Marthe #SigurRós #TopAlbumsOf2023

Time for the latest #Shfl update, featuring @burningambulance, #AndyBeta and myself, my reviews being of #JeremyDutcher and #DebbyFriday #music https://news.theshfl.com/p/shfl-update-1012

I believe I mentioned the excellent #Elisapie album #Inuktitut the other week. May I also recommend #JeremyDutcher's new album #Motewolonuwok? It is easy to just let it and his voice take you away and you can. But the deeper waters are all the more vivid in their power. Perhaps especially now. #music https://jeremydutcher1.bandcamp.com/album/motewolonuwok

@heathen Ooo, I love these sort of posts! I keep a list throughout the year for potential Albums of the Year, and I already have 33 albums on there (!). But going through it, I just realized there's only a select few I still actually have on repeat:

#AcidKing - Beyond Vision
#SigurRos - Átta
#Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
#PaulSimon - Seven Psalms

Honorable mention because it hasn't yet been released (but I've had the singles released so far on repeat):

#JeremyDutcher - Motewolonuwok

@heathen Ooo, I love these sort of posts! I keep a list throughout the year for potential Albums of the Year, and I already have 33 albums on there (!). But going through it, I just realized there's only a select few I still actually have on repeat:

#AcidKing - Beyond Vision
#SigurRos - Átta
#Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
#PaulSimon - Seven Psalms

Honorable mention because it hasn't yet been released (but I've had the singles released so far on repeat):

#JeremyDutcher - Motewolonuwok

@heathen Ooo, I love these sort of posts! I keep a list throughout the year for potential Albums of the Year, and I already have 33 albums on there (!). But going through it, I just realized there's only a select few I still actually have on repeat:

#AcidKing - Beyond Vision
#SigurRos - Átta
#Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
#PaulSimon - Seven Psalms

Honorable mention because it hasn't yet been released (but I've had the singles released so far on repeat):

#JeremyDutcher - Motewolonuwok

@heathen Ooo, I love these sort of posts! I keep a list throughout the year for potential Albums of the Year, and I already have 33 albums on there (!). But going through it, I just realized there's only a select few I still actually have on repeat:

#AcidKing - Beyond Vision
#SigurRos - Átta
#Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
#PaulSimon - Seven Psalms

Honorable mention because it hasn't yet been released (but I've had the singles released so far on repeat):

#JeremyDutcher - Motewolonuwok

@heathen Ooo, I love these sort of posts! I keep a list throughout the year for potential Albums of the Year, and I already have 33 albums on there (!). But going through it, I just realized there's only a select few I still actually have on repeat:

#AcidKing - Beyond Vision
#SigurRos - Átta
#Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
#PaulSimon - Seven Psalms

Honorable mention because it hasn't yet been released (but I've had the singles released so far on repeat):

#JeremyDutcher - Motewolonuwok