MMM Staff Picks: Tom Williams’ Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2023
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Although lacking in many high-profile releases, 2023 demonstrated no shortage of fantastic releases – with promising new stars emerging, genre constraints being pushed, and veteran artists releasing some of their best music to date. Such was the array of great music that it was a struggle to contain this list to just 10 albums. Therefore, I begin with some honorable mentions that just missed the cut but are still worthy of listeners’ time.
Lucero – ‘Should’ve Learned by Now’ (For fans of: Jason Isbell and Drive-By Truckers)
#10. Rachel Baiman – ‘Common Nation of Sorrow’
Just as people responded to the political crises of the early 20th century and 1960s with radical folk music, so too has Rachel Baiman in response to our current apocalyptic landscape. Common Nation of Sorrow – which offers a polished 21st-century update on timeless bluegrass traditions – sparks revolutionary spirit (“Some Strange Notion”), tells harrowing tales of financial desperation (“Bad Debt”), and deconstructs the myth of the self-made billionaire (“Self Made Man”). Few albums met the moment in 2023 like this one.
#9. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter – ‘Saved!’
After a series of terrifyingly loud, industrial-inspired albums, the artist formerly known as Lingua Ignota looked to Gospel music to kick off her new album under a new moniker. Although, all the elements of Hayter’s music that you first fell in love with are still here – that spine-chilling wail, dark evocative imagery, and plenty of sonic jump scares. Weaved through it all is a story of healing – although the music never sounds particularly peaceful.
#8. Roisin Murphy – ‘Hit Parade’
It’s a shame that Roisin Murphy’s newest album, Hit Parade, was overshadowed by controversy because it feels as though her entire career was leading up to the release of this joyous and experimental set of tunes. Hit Parade alternates between chest-thumping melodic numbers like “Fader” and songs like “The Universe” and “CooCool,” which provide a blueprint for a wilder, weirder future for pop music.
#7. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – ‘Weathervanes’
On his newest album with his band, Jason Isbell leans into a raucous classic-rock sound. The story-telling on the album is some of Isbell’s most compelling to date. “King of Oklahoma” is a stadium-sized heartbreaker that culminates in one crushing line: “Nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore.” Elsewhere, “Cast Iron Skillet” finds Isbell at his most desolate, while “Miles” charts the journey of father and daughter, as he watches her innocence fade and prepares for her to go her own way in life.
#6. Caroline Polachek – ‘Desire, I Want To Turn Into You’
Like Kate Bush in the ’70s and ’80s, and Fiona Apple in the ’90s, Caroline Polachek seems to be this decade’s most talented, left-field pop artist – constantly pushing the genre’s constraints into weirder and more thrilling territory. Her sophomore LP moves from the sung-speak, maximalist opener “Welcome To My Island” to the joyfully mysterious “Bunny Is A Rider” to the Flamenco-inspired “Sunset,” and finally to the rich, luxurious closer “Billions.” Amazingly, it all comes together to make a cohesive LP.
#5. Sarah Mary Chadwick – ‘Messages To God’
After beginning as the lead singer of punk/alt-rock outfit Batrider in the early 2000s (if unaware: check out their excellent “Number One”), Sarah Mary Chadwick spent the 2010s solidifying herself as one of our most affecting, devastatingly sad, confessional singer-songwriters. Her sorrows reached their apex with 2021’s Me and Ennui… – a barebones piano album written in the aftermath of her own suicide attempt which followed the deaths of her father and a close friend. 2023’s Messages To God has its fair share of tragedy (see: “Shitty Town,” “Someone Else’s Baby,” and “Don’t Tell Me…”). But it also sees Chadwick step away from the brink and offer some of her most uplifting and inspiring work to date, like “Drinkin’ on a Tuesday” – an ode to the little moments of bliss we can find in an otherwise cruel world.
#4. Jessie Ware – ‘That! Feels Good!’
Three years after the disco-excellence of What’s Your Pleasure?, Jessie Ware continued her homage to the genre with That! Feels Good! – this time replacing the tasteful restraint of her previous LP with a no-holds-barred, high-camp celebration that infuses elements of funk. With songs as infectious and joyous as “Begin Again” and “Free Yourself,” how could you not feel good listening to this album?
#3. Wednesday – ‘Rat Saw God’
This year’s indie-rock breakthrough act was North Carolina’s Wednesday, whose excellent Rat Saw God offered a revitalizing take on indie-rock. Moving from infectious fuzzy lo-fi (“Hot Rotten Grass Smell”), an epic country love song (“Chosen to Deserve”), and one massive song that has to be heard to be believed (“Bull Believer”), this is an album that fans of indie-rock and alt-country cannot miss.
#2. Lana Del Rey – ‘Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’
Having firmly established herself as one of America’s greatest living songwriters with 2019’s Norman F*cking Rockwell, Del Rey delivered her most untamed and unapologetically singular album this year. Moving from devastating and spare confessions (“Kintsugi” and “Fingertips”), moody and ethereal ballads (“Grandfather”), and trip-hop excellence (“A&W” and “Fishtail”), Ocean Blvd showed Del Rey reaching a new creative peak.
#1. Jamie Branch – ‘Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))’
Did any LP released in 2023 feel as undeniably like a classic as Jaimie Branch’s posthumous, final addition to the Fly or Die series? This free jazz masterpiece is a singular work from a singular talent – moving effortlessly between electro-gospel, folk-country, calypso, and jazz-punk. That the LP sounds so vital and lively only makes Branch’s untimely passing more tragic. Far from feeling like a curtain call, Fly or Die Fly feels like it should have marked the arrival of a true generational great.
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