Author Archives for Andrew McNally

0.0 – Worst New News

Well, I’m gutted. Surely everyone who stumbles on this has heard, but in case you haven’t – Pitchfork is being “folded into GQ.” It’s a nice way of saying that one of the internet’s most premiere and long-running music blogs is being liquified and dumped down the sink. The staff is gone. And the timing really couldn’t be worse.

Pitchfork was a necessary evil in the music world. You can, and should, lambast the earliest days of Pitchfork, but once they were established, they became a proper thorn in the side of the industry. Pitchfork was a rare outlet that had both a wide reach and an ability to say no to arena artists. How often have you been perusing Wikipedia for some shit U2 album and seen that Pitchfork were the only ones that gave it a middling review? In the earliest days, it was done out of spite and ego, sure. But with those rough few years removed, Pitchfork will be remembered as a site that told it like it was.

The site offered constructive criticism in a way no other outlet really does. Pitchfork were forward-thinkers, offering advice to artists on how to build on the album actively being reviewed. They also thought in the past, helping listeners to understand why they may or may not like an album, and what the context is, always done with a deep knowledge of the backstory. Pitchfork offered the rare service of teaching you something about an artist you didn’t already know, even if you disagreed with the review. And that’s what proper music criticism is.

Even after the purchase by Conde Nast, when claims of “poptimism” became ubiquitous with P4k, the site still offered a ton of value. They covered metal, they gave insight into muddied artist histories, they still weren’t afraid to bash the walls out of another crapped-out Ed Sheeran release. The biggest thing they ever taught me was not to give credence to an artist just because they’re a name. This blog and this writer loves to celebrate music – I don’t really like to write negative reviews! I find I enjoy most music. But let’s look at my least favorite albums from 2023 – Mac Demarco, Metallica, Maneskin, Miley Cyrus. These albums from big-name artists all got mostly positive coverage, but not from P4k. I believe strongly in speaking positively about music, but I am vehemently against poptimism – which is effectively giving positive coverage to big-name artists because negative coverage might hurt their feelings. Poptimism is also, naturally, a concept that disregards artists that aren’t headlining festivals because why would anyone ever listen to them? It’s as algorithmic as a human can develop.

Vulture – excuse me, venture capitalists are a plague amongst American society. Just recently, they knifed and bled out Jezebel. Sports Illustrated, one of the most important magazines in American history, is gutted in favor of libel-inducing AI. I have already had so many friends laid off because a VC bought a popular blog just to fold it. David Zaslav will have animators work tirelessly on a movie that everyone is hyped for only to toss it in the bin as a tax writeoff. Jim Spanfeller, the G/O owner, is making it his personal mission to lay off every employee until his company has 0 writers, 0 clicks, and $0. These men deserve an ending more cruel and more unceremonious than Saddam Hussein. These people are actively destroying the internet and all that we love about it, so they can save a few hundred on taxes. It’s despicable. And they’ve now come to Pitchfork with, well,

There may be feuds in music, but there’s none in music criticism. I am far from the first person unaffiliated with Pitchfork to woe its likely demise. One of their main competitors, Consequence of Sound, published a touching piece on how necessary the site was. The best I can do is to mimic others, but it’s something that needs to be mimicked regardless.

It was always my dream to write to Pitchfork. When the site was peaking (in my opinion!) in the mid-2010’s, I used to read every review. There was nothing more exciting to me than listening to an earth-shattering new album, going to Pitchfork, and seeing the bright red circle with “8.7 – BNM” in it. I found so much new music there, and taught myself a lot of about music writing. Since “Hollywood screenwriter” will probably never play out, I thought Pitchfork would be a more modest dream goal. I even had an introductory post thought up, I just never knew how to get my foot in the door. Now screenwriter is looking more likely after all.

So what’s next for P4k? I have no idea. That’s GQ’s problem to figure out. Maybe they’ll keep it running as is – horribly unlikely though. Most likely, each edition of GQ will have one paragraph on page 45 giving a perfect 10.0 to the new Selena Gomez album with no $10 adjectives. Maybe it’ll be AI-generated.

Pitchfork was at times a villain. But if it has to go, it deserved a much more honorable death than this.

100 Best Albums of 2023: 25-1

Jump to: Songs | 100-76 | 75-51 | 50-26

I hope you’ve been doing a drumroll for four days, because it’s time: here’s my 25 perfectly ordered, objectively correct favorite albums of 2023. This has been a year of pleasant surprises, massive disappointments, and huge handful of wonderful discoveries. There are a couple big name artists on this list, and probably few surprises, but this final edition is mostly under-the-radar albums that I found myself returning over and over again. Happy new year’s folks, and here’s to another great year of music in 2024.

#25. Fucked Up – One Day

This album is suspiciously basic. Fucked Up have made careers out of universe-spanning, deeply complex and dense conceptual albums. Their last release was actually a four-disc, four-song “album” that was part of their ongoing Year of the ____ series. This album is back to basics hardcore, something they haven’t done in over a decade. It also proves that they can still put out one of the most brutal and blisteringly-intense albums of the year even with their ambition reined in 1000%. This album isn’t as good as, say, Dose Your Dreams or David Comes to Life, but its placement is a testament to how unbelievably good those heady, lengthy albums really are. The run this band has been on is unprecedented.

RIYL: Converge, Titus Andronicus, feeling angry every moment you’re awake

#24. Throat Locust – Dragged Through Glass

I’ve been going back and forth on the inclusion of this one, as it is just a 3-track demo EP. But if we’re calling it an EP, then it’s eligible for the list. There’s also little to say other than “it’s good ass death metal.” This is very standard death metal, with immaculate production and a confidence of a band that’s been doing it for decades. And they’re named after my favorite TAD song to boot. Metalheads, get this on your radar now. You heard it here first!

RIYL: Cannibal Corpse, Bolt Thrower, you know, death metal

#23. boygenius – the record

The first boygenius EP was near perfection, taking three of the brightest and best indie talents and tossing them all together. The full-length, initially a surprise but now a wildly popular release, only builds on it. There’s more diversity in the songs here, as some songs like “Satanist” and “$20” are closer to rock than you’d expect. Others, like “Not Strong Enough,” sound exactly like you’d expect a Julian Baker/Phoebe Bridgers/Lucy Dacus song to sound like. Soft, sensitive and sad. What makes boygenius work so well is that they clearly came together as friends first and musicians second. The interplay between the members is more natural than most supergroups. This could still be a one-off, but I hope we get more from the Traveling She’llburys. 

RIYL: Big Thief, Snail Mail, either being or loving a sad girl

#22. Noname – Sundial

For some reason Noname seems to have dropped off the radar. This came out in August but I only noticed in November. The reason could be, of course, her utter refusal to play by the rules of the industry. The rap icon has always worn her heart on her sleeve, unabashedly political and earnest in a way even the “political” musicians shy away from. In one key song here, she connects the dots on how superstars contribute to the country’s insultingly overinflated defense budget, namechecking Kendrick and Beyonce (and herself) for playing Coachella. On top of the refreshingly honest politics, there’s just great rhythms and raps here. These songs are quick, full and fun. It’s a short but intense rap record from someone choosing to stand alone.

RIYL: Flatbush Zombies, Clipping., getting nauseated at whatever the hell “hologram Tupac” was

#21. Black Country, New Road – Live At Bush Hall

Under normal circumstances, I would never consider a live album for a year end list, as they are collections of previous material, usually at least somewhat the artist’s best. But Black Country are never ones for normal circumstances. After dropping their first two albums in quick succession, their singer dipped. Rather than break up or hold tryouts for a replacement, they brought in a handful of guest singers and recorded a live album of entirely new material. And because this is Black Country, these songs are everything from smooth and jazzy to manic and unpredictable. The band loves to stretch themselves in every direction, ostensibly under the “alternative” banner but touching many different points. The use of multiple singers and a live setting lends a particular vibrancy to these tracks. On the DL, I didn’t care for their second album – and this one is a marked improvement! There’s something for everyone here.

RIYL: black midi, the Hold Steady, going to a classy party you’re dreading but having a surprisingly good time

#20. feeble little horse – Girl with Fish

This is the exact byproduct when you take 90’s fuzzed out alternative and channel it through today’s DIY bedroom movement. At only 26 minutes, this album looks slight. But jump in and you get a number of intricately-layered, crunchy and introspective alternative songs. They may be brief, but they are not underdeveloped. There is a painful earnestness to the vocals and lyrics of this record, which can often get buried (intentionally?) under the ceaseless distorted guitars. If you’re a sucker for 90’s grunge-adjacent sad rock, like me, then grab this one right away.

RIYL: Pavement, Hotline TNT, reading your old journal entries

#19. Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

The British funk scene is strong right now, all things considered, and the biggest standout of 2023 was Young Fathers. The group has always embraced their funky ways, but “Heavy Heavy” is a downright party. It’s a short album, and the tracks don’t stick around too long, which only adds to the ambiance. Songs come and go, occasionally feeling incomplete, like wandering through a party listening to parts of conversations. But one thing is for sure: it’s impossible to not have fun listening to this.

RIYL: Sudan Archives, Four Tet, making friends with everyone at the party (i don’t know what this one is like)

#18. Boris/Uniform – Brand New Disease

The collaborative album from Boris and Uniform brings exactly what you would expect and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of things you wouldn’t. Japanese noise institution Boris have frequently left their comfort zone, releasing straightforward rock or even jazzier albums. But NY noise upstarts Uniform – who have graced my lists before – generally stay in one noisy, angry lane. This album is bookended by harsh, bitter and grinding songs that you wouldn’t want to play at a party. But in the album’s middle is some more meandering, introspective tunes. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting it. The whole end result is a well-rounded album that doesn’t feel constrained to the walls of noise music, but takes time to revel in them gleefully nonetheless.

RIYL: The Body, Melt Banana, thinking about an interaction that made you angry and getting angry about it again

#17. Genesis Owusu – STRUGGLER

Oh man I love this one. I had the lucky opportunity to cover Genesis twice this year and let me say, this man puts on one of the most thrilling live shows you’ll ever see. The tracks on STRUGGLER are very funky, very synthy, very jazzy and still shaped around conventional rock songs. Everything feels very simple, and yet it is a mindmeld of genre fusion. And it is done completely effortlessly. For a man with very little experience under his belt, Owusu has supreme confidence in the power of his tunes. That this is also a concept album – about still finding reasons to love and cherish in the midst of an apocalypse – only adds to the strength. I have said it before: get this man on your radar.

RIYL: Talking Heads, Parliament, dancing as the bombs fall

#16. The Hirs Collective – We’re Still Here

The metal band that made their name doing albums full of 90-100 songs that are all <1:30 made a bold decision: do something a little more normal. The album clocks in at 31 minutes, less than half the length of some of their bolder works, but features their strongest production and most well-written songs to date. The band ropes in elements of grindcore and black metal into a ceaseless aural pounding. As always, they’re joined by huge name guests, like Melt Banana, Shirley Manson and Soul Glo, among others. How hard does this band go? They did a two-month tour behind the album and didn’t take a single night off.

RIYL: G.L.O.S.S., The Locust, slamdancing until you get so sweaty that your mohawk collapses

#15. 100 Gecs – 10,000 gecs

Listening to the first 100 gecs album was a humbling experience, because it was the first time I felt too old for an album. I didn’t entirely “get” it, and thought it was wildly hit-and-miss. For whatever reason though, their sophomore album clicked. From ska songs about frogs to genuine nu-metal, this album revels in everything that is uncool, thus making it cool again. These two kids have firm control over the zeitgeist, bringing old influences into brand-new hyperpop madness. Find me an album released this year more unique than this.

RIYL: Fire-Toolz, Machine Girl, every song on every machine at an arcade playing at the same time

#14. Oozing Wound – We Cater to Cowards

Oozing Wound have long been one of my favorite metal bands, with a distinct blend of rough thrash and tongue-in-cheek, pessimistic vocals. Well, this album is different, as the band takes more of a grunge approach. The tracks are slower and even rougher, with less of a focus on vocals/lyrics. And I’m a massive grunge-head, so I think I like this one *even more* than their previous albums. The new direction blindsided me, but once I adjusted I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

RIYL: Soundgarden, TAD, committing vehicular manslaughter

#13. JPEGMAFIA/Danny Brown – Scaring the Hoes

Peggy and Danny have always been masters of the same thing – rap that exists on the fringe of the mainstream, balancing the precision of radio sweetness with the ambition of pure avant-garde, and both men have allowed their solo work to swing in both directions. On their collaborative album, they simply both do what they do best: wild raps with huge beats, over the top comedy and intensely catchy rhythms. There’s a certain sense of derangement here, comedically apocalyptic. It’s fun as hell. It was only a matter of time before these two linked up, and it produced some of the finest work of both men. Check out the bonus EP they put out, which is just as great as the album. 

RIYL: Run the Jewels, Denzel Curry, the Alfred Molina scene from Boogie Nights

#12. Pile – All Fiction

I’m all in on bands messing around with genres and experimenting, but sometimes you just need some good old-fashioned rock, too. Pile does get sympathy points for being a Boston group, but their newest earns a high spot solely on songwriting. This album is full of dense and conceptual alt-rock, often lingering towards post-hardcore rather than indie. The band favors complexity over melody, which makes for a general lack of earworms, but a tremendous amount of curiosity. This is a rare mix that demands immediate replays – and not because the songs are stuck in your head. Tremendously original stuff.

RIYL: Pissed Jeans, Big Ups, knowing that you have better music taste than someone else

#11. Mandy, Indiana – i’ve seen a way

There seems to be a growing trend in music to blend genres beyond the normal definitions. Now this has always happened, of course, but there are always new avenues to explore. Mandy, Indiana – hailing from Europe – are a moody but fun group that tosses elements of dark synth and noise rock into indie. The final concoction is one of the best debut albums of the year, and one of the most eclectic albums in general. Recorded in a cave, you’ve got noisy guitars, foreboding synths and lyrics all in French. And yet it’s groovy. I can’t figure it out, maybe you can. I found them on indie radio, but I also didn’t bat an eye when one of their songs was remixed by Clipping. It’s all over the place, in serenely unpredictable chaos. 

RIYL: Sonic Youth, Savages, the general feeling of confusion

#10. Jeff Rosenstock – HELLMODE

My favorite musician, so it’s almost guaranteed he’d rank highly here. Rosenstock made his name doing immature, lonely and inebriated ska-punk songs, so with each passing year, he finds his muses further and further away. This is his prettiest record, with a number of songs softer and/or poppier than fans are used to. This is maturity, and while his lifelong themes of jealousy, loneliness and occasional fun are still present, they’re now more nuanced and diluted. But it’s also still distinctly punk – 90-second bruiser “Head” is one of the wildest songs he’s ever done. Rosenstock may have changed a lot over the years, but he’ll never be different. Perfect sound, whatever.

RIYL: Against Me!, PUP, hangovers

#9. Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

This one got super hyped, and for good reason. Polachek took her decent previous albums and elevated every single good element, giving us an unexpected classic on impact. Polachek has been pivotal in the mainstream development of hyperpop, and this may be the first album to successfully dilute hyperpop to a broader audience while still keeping it interesting. Really, it’s just a fantastic pop album, one that bangs start to finish. It’s all bangers, all songs that are fun and wildly unique. It rocks. Chances are, you know that already.

RIYL: SOPHIE, FKA Twigs, basement raves

#8. Margo Price – Strays

With a release date of January 13th, this is the earliest entry on the list, and it sat at #1 for quite a while. Of course, a country album was always going to be a longshot to be the chart-topper here at PGMR, but I do love a good one when I hear it. Price fine-tuned every track on this album so they are all distinct and memorable songs, and most of them are bangers; there’s no getting bogged down in repetitive weepers here. Throw in some guest spots from decidedly non-country artists (Lucius, Sharon Van Etten, and Mike Campbell, guitarist for Tom Petty), and you’ve got an absolutely delightful stew of songs that really sneak up on you. The album doesn’t feel memorable at first, until you realize your feet have been tapping the whole time, and you toss it on repeat.

RIYL: Nikki Lane, Jason Isbell, havin’ a cold one on a hot night

#7. Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good!

With an album title like this, you kinda know what you’re getting into. Jessie Ware’s fifth album doesn’t reinvent the wheel, because it doesn’t need to. It’s the biggest party of the year, an album chock-full of disco-pop bangers crafted solely to make you, well, feel good. If you gave these songs to a different artist, you could very well end up with overly-produced plastic slop. But with Ware, we’re gifted by her outstanding vocals and healthy touches of soul music. These songs feel startlingly original and earnest within the confines of a genre that often disavows that. It’s simply the most fun album released all year.

RIYL: Lady Gaga, Rina Sawayama, playing that funky music, white boy

#6. Bully – Lucky For You

After the year opened with a string of disappointing albums from artists I adore, I was delighted that Alicia Bognanno released her best album yet. This compact album follows in the ways of her previous three albums, of indie rock heavily influenced by grunge and, more specifically, grunge-adjacent 90’s icons like Dino Jr. and Pavement. These songs, largely inspired by the passing of Bognanno’s dog, are despondent and jealous, and her snarl has never sounded better. Crisp production matches her best songwriting yet. A late-album pinch hit by Soccer Mommy is great, but it’s not needed – the whole album is already a distorted, melodic and depressive home run. It’s gonna make you feel like shit, but it’s so catchy that you won’t even care.

RIYL: Screaming Females, Hole, obsessively checking your ex’s social media to see that yes, they’re still doing better than you 

#5. Kelela – Raven

Something about me, possibly evident from this list, is that I always tend towards the bangers. Nine times out of ten, I’ll choose the louder and faster songs, whether that’s hardcore or bubblegum pop. Well, this is that tenth time. The R&B singer’s sophomore album is so minimalist and so fluid that it serves as one long 62 minute song cut into fifteen tracks. The album rarely moves at anything louder than a whisper, resulting in something that’s both calming and haunting at the same time, somehow. And even though there is fundamentally very little going on here, it grabs you from the opening moments and doesn’t let go. The album never wavers or falters, staying remarkably consistent across all fifteen songs. It is smooth and addictive, with positive lyrics about inclusivity within the dance music scene. It’s soft and feel-good, admittedly a nice antidote to many albums on this list.

RIYL: The Fugees, FKA Twigs, sitting inside and watching the rain

#4. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

Yeah, yeah, more Gizz. I’m fully initiated into the cult of Gizz. This album is about as ridiculous as the title implies, and they aren’t doing any favors to the naysaying crowd that for some reason thinks this band is to be taken seriously. This album – their second true metal album after Infest the Rat’s Nest – covers an extremely familiar Gizz topic: the apocalypse. In this one, the world is destroyed, and the survivors begin to praise a new god, in the form of a Gila Monster. Unlike their first metal album, which mind you was also about the apocalypse, this one is dense and slow. They’ve ditched the thrash influences that permeated both their previous metal album and some of the psych albums in favor of an old school hard rock album. It sounds similar to last year’s good-not-great album Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, in that everything feels very dense and murky. There’s a full production to this. It’s the opposite of Rat’s Nest, which wasn’t even recorded with the full band. It isn’t exactly the newest ground they’re treading in this one, but there isn’t another Gizz album like it, either.

RIYL: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, cool little lizards

#3. Model/Actriz – Dogsbody

Bands often come out of the gate hot, but this is one hell of a debut album. This band occupies the same sort of paranoid noise hellspace that Daughters vacated (because there is no jail that Alexis Marshall is worthy of being buried under). These are songs that have a certain paranoia to them, but one drawn through patient melodies. It’s not really post-hardcore, but it’s even less anything else. It’s extremely noisy and crazy while remaining even-tempoed, like the anxiety of realizing you’re bombing at an important job interview. This music is straight up stressful. Fun for the whole family!

RIYL: Daughters, black midi, accidentally perjuring yourself in a court of law

#2. Liturgy – 93696

If you’ve ever seen movies like Come and See or Ikiru or even Requiem For A Dream then you’ve probably described them as “absolutely incredible and I never wanna watch it again.” Well that same logic applies here. Liturgy, a paradoxically religious black metal band, have dropped some classic albums during their run; but the last couple have been weak, and I didn’t think they had the juice left. Well, 93696 proves otherwise, taking everything they’ve done in their career from heady and complex metal to maximalist harsh noise, and throwing it all into one 82-minute long album. It’s too much for one listen – it is two discs – as it is just too heavy, too daunting. I haven’t relistened to this one yet, and I may never. But my brain, which often forgets songs and albums the second they end, remembers this one start to finish. Thank you for reading this list, this is the single heaviest album on it.

RIYL: Deafheaven, Thou, suffering from religious trauma

#1. Wednesday – Rat Saw God

Instant classic. You may have seen my songs list, where this band took up three spots – and the guitarist took another with a solo track. This album is proving as a worthy breakthrough for the North Carolina group, which defies all classifications while remaining grounded in a grim reality. The band was already making waves in the indie underworld for their blending of country, americana and grunge into something resembling early Wilco, Drive-by Truckers, or – strictly contextually – Neil Young. Songs like “Chosen to Deserve” have a lot of country flair, while “Bull Believer” is straight grunge, the heaviest song the band has recorded to date. Lyrically, singer Karly Hartzman explores all of the lonely alleyways of America; these are songs of teenage alcoholism, domestic disturbances, loveless marriages and days spent just passing the time. There’s a specific type of American loneliness that runs rampant on this album, something that isn’t necessarily sad but just exists. It’s more flyover state, but all Americans feel it. Ten years from now, we’ll be holding this in the same regard that we hold Sonic Youth in now. 

RIYL: Neko Case, Drive-By Truckers, visiting your hometown and realizing all your childhood friends are in jail 

Thank you for reading this or, at least, thank you for scrolling to the bottom. As always, there were tons of other records I wanted to write about but didn’t have the space. Just to highlight a couple, those are: Dryad – The Abyssal Pain, an awe-inspiring metal album that blends tons of subgenres into one; The Armed – Perfect Saviors, a once-pop-metal band turned indie in an album that’s suspiciously conventional; Purling Hiss – Drag on Girard, one that initially made the list but didn’t stick in my brain enough – think a rougher Dino Jr.; The Croaks – Croakus Pokus, a wickedly fun local band that mixes all types of folk from folk-punk to straight medieval music; Death Valley Girls – Islands in the Sky, a punk group I absolutely adore that is reluctantly growing up and moving towards indie – maybe their weakest album, and still almost made the cut.

My wrists hurt. See you next year!

100 Best Albums of 2023: 50-26

Tired of this yet? I am! For previous coverage, check out: Songs | 100-76 | 75-51 | 25-1

We continue on with my expertly planned-out, lab-tested top 100 albums of 2023. No reason to say any more here, so let’s dig in.

#50. Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS

Gatekeepers be damned, this kid rocks. Rodrigo has an obvious affinity for rock and alternative bands of years passed, and incorporates them into her pop music in ways that her peers haven’t even attempted to do. I mean, she’s got the Breeders opening for her next year. The Breeders! Anyways, this album is full of appropriately youthful energy, full of high school tales and music that is both digestible, bouncy pop and punchy rock elements. She also corrects the one flaw I had in her debut – too many slow tunes. This album is a more consistent collection, a rare sophomore album that stays in the same lane as a debut while improving on it steadily.

RIYL: Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, i mean chances are you know this one already

#49. Susanne Sundfør – Blómi 

Easily, and I mean easily, one of my favorite artists, the Norwegian singer-songwriter is constantly reimagining things. Her first two solo albums are ho-hum singer-songwriter stuff, but every album since then has had a unique, fascinating identity. Her newest is in some ways a continuation of the sparse, acoustic guitar-vocals-piano of her last record Music For People in Trouble, but where that album had a creeping ominous aura, this one feels warm and nostalgic. That may be due in part to fewer songs in English, as well as a “back to basics” feel that feels refreshing after a journey through a bunch of other influences. Her music is often complex and difficult, but this record is still very approachable. That she isn’t on the radar of Americans is criminal.

RIYL: Marissa Nadler, Angel Olsen, pulling the covers back over your head

#48. Everything But the Girl – Fuse

I went into this one as an outsider. The softer side of new wave (i.e. Tears for Fears) is something I have only very recently learned to appreciate, so I didn’t have the highest hopes for this. It’s their first album in 24 years! Instead, I absolutely ate it up. This is a collection of dance songs for a sophisticated audience, a reminder for professional adults to go out and have some damn fun. It is difficult to make dance music that doesn’t sound at least a bit plastic, but these songs are emotional and raw, not to mention immaculately produced. With mixes of electronic and acoustic, it is a diverse set, all brought together by earnestness, crisp mastering and raw vocals. 

RIYL: Tears For Fears, Massive Attack, stretching before you dance

#47. Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Data Doom

Many of the artists on this list I have a deep knowledge on. This is not one of those artists. I know practically nothing about this group, but I saw them mentioned alongside plenty of bands I love. It’s easy to say that this band is name-brand Oh Sees. But, Dwyer & gang are one of my favorite bands, and their sole release this year was super underwhelming, so there was a hole to be filled. This is incredibly fun psych-rock, designed purely to stimulate and clear the seats of butts. When I say “psych-rock,” don’t think prolonged, meandering Jerry Garcia jams. These are brief songs jampacked with energy, rawness and a million little ideas. A pure blast.

RIYL: Thee Oh Sees, early Tame Impala, two hits of acid

#46. Billy Woods/Kenny Segal – Maps

Billy Woods was one of my favorite finds of 2022, releasing two albums I adored, and he keeps the train rolling here. His sole album is a travelog, chronicling the intense touring schedule he underwent “post”-COVID. Segal provides production across the album, and both men keep things simple and serene. Woods is a natural raconteur, and the stories he weaves across the album are so innately interesting and revealing. Woods might be one of the most undersung talents in the rap scene, hopefully this one proves to be the breakthrough. 

RIYL: Ghais Guevara, R.A.P. Ferreira, telling your friends you were listening to the hot new artist five years ago

#45. Lana Del Rabies – Strega Beata

Yeah yeah, the name is a throwaway pun, but it lets you into the music too. LDR – this LDR, the primary one is coming later – is a harsh noise artist, chunneling in the exact opposite of Lana Del Rey in every possible way. This specific album, though, is a much lighter approach, incorporating hefty amounts of ambient. The fishhook divide between harsh noise and ambient is one that has been explored countless times, but rarely as effectively as here. This is sheer catharsis, at the hands of both extreme noise and the absence of. Very limited audience on this one, but those that stumble on it should appreciate it.

RIYL: Pharmakon, Uboa, that one particular Deafheaven album where they pissed people off by doing ambient music

#44. Paris Texas – MID AIR

Just some good ass rap. When you name yourselves after one of the most notoriously despondent films, you’re already setting yourself apart from your peers. Paris Texas makes very thrilling and bombastic music, avoiding both the cliches of conventional hip-hop and the noisiness of experimental rap. Their debut album sees a hefty load of songs that are occasionally difficult, but always fun. For bonus points, check out the tongue-in-cheek late addition “Lana Del Rey,” named as such because Lana put a song on her album called “Paris Texas.”

RIYL: OutKast, Injury Reserve, your car’s speakers

#43. Slowdive – everything is alive

There are a hundred million different timelines where we aren’t getting new Slowdive albums, so we should take anything from the shoegaze legends as a blessing. The fact that their reunion albums are this good, especially when the shoegaze reunion albums are usually awful? Unbelievable. Everything about this release is soft, even for them. Even the title is lowercase. This album is a gentle touch, a spring breeze, a bunny hopping through a field. Some songs have rhythm and percussion, some are just aura, but all are full, affirming and warm. It’s a nice antidote to much of the hostility on this list.

RIYL: Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Twins, opening the windows for some spring air

#42. James Blake – Playing Robots Into Heaven

After a solid debut and a sophomore album I adored, the English alt-electronic artist James Blake went on a run of albums that were at worst total duds and at best decent but forgettable. Luckily, that streak is over, as his newest recaptures the energy that made his early music so palpable. This album is all over the place – cohesion is the biggest drawback – but Blake is clearly playing with competing aspirations. Nearly everything works, from the moodier, slower songs that we’ve become used to, to the wall-to-wall electro-bangers of years past. If you’re into dance music, then rest assured: James Blake is back. 

RIYL: Hot Chip, Jamie XX, crying in da club

#41. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean – Obsession Destruction

From my home city and named after a Thou song, this band already had points in their favor for me. But the album is that good, too. I’m not a big doom metal guy, but I appreciate good doom when I hear it, and this is some of the best of the year. With titles like “Ten Thousand Years of Unending Failure” you know you’re going to get some sludgy, heavy and morose stuff. The riffs are incredible, the songs are extended without ever growing tedious, and there’s just enough non-doom influence to spice up every song. If doom is your thing, you may have missed this one – rectify that.

RIYL: Sleep, Thou, the misery of continued existence

#40. Arlo Parks – My Soft Machine

I had lofty expectations for the Arlo Parks sophomore album. Her debut Collapsed in Sunbeams was arguably my favorite album of 2021. This one doesn’t quiiiite live up, but it’s still remarkable. Parks somewhat trades in the jazzy and loose elements of her debut in favor of more standard pop instrumentation and songwriting, to no diminished effect. There’s still plenty to pull apart here, mostly surrounding her consistently heartfelt and earnest lyrics. Her voice is as strong as ever. Her music remains an enigmatic mix of alternative and R&B that sounds totally natural. This one goes down real smooth.

RIYL: Sudan Archives, SAULT, morning snuggles

#39. Yaeji – With A Hammer

Yaeji first popped up on my radar way back in 2018 with an introductory single, but I didn’t keep much of a tab on her until she rocketed back into the limelight with her debut album. The title and accompanying image make a grand statement, that the multi-genre pop singer isn’t here to play. Like many of the best pop singers out there now, she’s reinterpreting the genre to be diverse tunes that aren’t factory-assembled chintzy radio bangers. These are songs with incredible amounts of depth, influence and unpredictability. It isn’t really hyperpop, but more along the lines of a very mature and patient type of pop like we’ve seen out of Rina Sawayama. It’s super unique stuff.

RIYL: Rina Sawayama, Toro Y Moi, hooks upon hooks upon hooks

#38. Lifeguard – Dressed in Trenches

Another one that snuck past debatability! I normally do not include EP’s but there were too many excellent ones this year. Unlike some headier entries on this list, this is just 18 minutes of rippage. These kids (yes, children) know how to write a damn good rock song, or five. “Alarm” features one of the simplest but most effective riffs you’ll hear all year, coupled with one of the catchiest choruses. The other four songs mostly follow this path, with some slower deviations. This group has the energy of literal teenagers with the confidence of musicians much older. 

RIYL: Superchunk, Sleater-Kinney, moshing in dry heat at a festival

#37. Pacing – Real poetry is always about plants and birds and trees and the animals and milk and honey breathing in the pink but real life is behind a screen

I don’t know anything about this artist. I don’t know how they ended up on my listen-to queue, whether it was a recommendation from someone or they’re friends with a friend, or what. What I do know is that it caught me completely off-guard. I’m hit and miss on lo-fi bedroom stuff, but this was a collection of songs that were mostly fun, occasionally dramatic, and 100% earnest. These quick ditties are full of earworm melodies, jokes, honest reflections, and uncomfortable truths. Every song wins. Genuinely loved this.

RIYL: Kimya Dawson, claire rousay, still spinning the Juno soundtrack

#36. Ada Rook – Rookie’s Bustle

Alright so I listened to this one early in the year and I don’t remember it fondly, but it’s a great Ada Rook so I can tell how it goes anyways – a blend of particularly forceful and strained screamo mixed with synths and a healthy touch of pop music. Rook is part of Black Dresses, hyperpop extraordinaires, and their solo music pushes the intense elements even further. Rook is my favorite screamer in music right now, and this mini-album is chock full of it. Heavy and emotional stuff.

RIYL: Uboa, Pharmakon, the hottest and most deranged goth girl you’ve ever seen

#35. Burner – It All Returns to Nothing

I’ve mentioned it elsewhere on this list, but there is a current trend in making the most abrasive and dense music possible. Burner might have cracked the code completely. This album, which exists on the fringes of noise and metal, is 34 minutes of relentless chaos designed to shun away even the most ardent noise fan. It is a pure spectacle, and the fact that these are well-constructed songs takes a backseat. But they are, as otherwise this would be a pointless exercise in noise. I’m rambling. Check this out if you like the heaviest of heavy.

RIYL: Nails, Full of Hell, folk horror

#34. Lana Del Rey – Did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean boulevard

I’m an unabashed Lana fan, but I always take her new releases with a grain of salt. Her catalog has been so inconsistent over the years; thankfully, this is a top 3 Lana album. Despite the daunting length, every song feels important. We also get Lana at her most diverse – we have trap on A&M, we get Jon Batiste, we get a Father John Misty collab that’s the most 50’s song either artist has ever done. It’s a winding collection of inspired tunes. It’s not quite the best album Lana has done, but it’s easily the best album Lana has done. But surely you’ve already got an opinion on this one.

RIYL: Adele, Ethel Cain, being a housewife in the 1950’s

#33. Sightless Pit – Lockstep Bloodwar

The band/album names may insinuate something heavy. The members of Sightless Pit – Dylan Walker of Full of Hell and Lee Buford of the Body – insinuate something disgustingly heavy. And for the most part, it is. Members of two of the heaviest and most unpredictable bands in all of music come together for their second official collaboration. Two kings of sheer noise bring a natural melding of their music. But they bring other influences too – across this album, there’s all sorts of trap, jazz and ambient influences mixed into the normal abrasive chaos. Everyone from melodic ambient upstart claire rousay to rap legend Gangsta Boo make appearances. The album brings everything you’d expect, and everything you wouldn’t, from the men involved.

RIYL: Lingua Ignota, Nothing, just any kind of music you don’t hear on the radio

#32. Foo Fighters – But Here We Are

I’m not much of a big Foo guy. I think they’ve got a pair of great albums, and a career of weak ones that have 2-4 great songs. On the whole, low batting average. But sometimes a tragedy can bring out the best in a group, even when it’s the biggest rock band in the world. The Fighters haven’t sounded this energized in decades, and haven’t sounded this despondent ever. It’s obvious the band looked inward, trashed their template and wrote from the heart. These songs are earnest, difficult and affirming, declarations from a band that is choosing to soldier on without Taylor Hawkins. These songs also, of course, rip total ass. 

RIYL: Queens of the Stone Age, the Smashing Pumpkins, did you really need to read this one?

#31. Portrayal of Guilt – Devil Music

Upstarts Portrayal of Guilt had already established themselves as one of the most ambitious and unique bands in modern metal before this album, which boasts one of the most intriguing concepts of the year. Side A of this album is five standard POG songs, aka short and abrasive noise jams that stray away from anything melodic or familiar and thrust the listener into a world of unknown. Side B consists of the same songs, performed with a string section instead of the normal band. The whole album is only 31 minutes, and frankly both sides could’ve had more juice. The concept just flat out works and provides for one of the single most unique releases of the year.

RIYL: Full of Hell, the Body, dreams that start out scary but get weirdly normal

#30. GEL: Only Constant

There is a new (?) blend of punk out there, with bands pushing the ‘hardcore’ label to the extreme levels and producing something that sounds like thrash metal’s dirtbag cousin. The divide between hardcore punk and noise music has never been more blurry, and GEL is just one of a few examples of it on this list. This album – all 16 minutes of it – is blistering, bruising hardcore specifically designed to pummel your senses in a convention hall basement. This band seems to have rockets strapped to their backs, so if you see their names crop up on a festival bill or as an opening act, get there in time. 

RIYL: Mannequin Pussy, Knocked Loose, music venues that are fire hazards

#29. Yves Tumor – Praise A Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)

The multi-genre music athlete Yves Tumor follows the trend he hinted at in his previous LP, ditching the abrasive and complex synths in favor of sultry guitar tracks. There is a lot of uncharted territory here for Sean to explore, and they touch most of it. A whiplash of tracks sends the listener through indie, experimental and hard rock tunes, all wrapped together in seductive production and appropriately religious lyrics. Fans of their older work will eat this one up, even with a general change-up in instrumentation. The one drawback of this album, it seems to be lacking in staying power; it was hotly discussed upon its release in March and is barely registering a blip these days. Still, it’s a powerful release.

RIYL: Lenny Kravitz, Miguel, fornicating

#28. The Men – New York City

No reason to spend a lot of time on this one – it’s just some exceptional garage rock. The Men sometimes like to drift off into other territories, so it’s refreshing to hear them pivot back to their punky, noisy roots. This album is super back-to-basics, even in its title; a simple declaration from one of the premier NYC bands. Rock on.

RIYL: Cloud Nothings, Ty Segall, getting the band back together

#27. Perennial – The Leaves of Autumn Symmetry

This EP doesn’t even crack 8 minutes but it’s some of the most fun you’ll have with headphones on. I’m pals with them so of course I had to include them. The five songs here show the band at their most chaotic, quick little fireballs of dance-punk. You don’t need more than 8 minutes here because you’ll be out of breath by the end.

RIYL: The Hives, The Fratellis, adderall

#26. Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World

I’ll hold my hands up and say I went into this album knowing little about YLT. There’s a handful of legacy indie bands – YLT, GBV, New Pornographers, Belle & Sebastian, etc – who have lengthy catalogs that I’ve just never tackled. Well I’m halfway through theirs now, because I loved this album. Patient, mature, and still refreshingly energetic, this album represents a legacy band still at their highest ambitions. I’ve listened to a number of YLT albums now, and I still think the opening track here (“Sinatra Drive Breakdown”) is my favorite. Yo La Tengo has the confidence to be ambitious, and the experience to know where to stop. Legacy bands aren’t supposed to be this good.

RIYL: Wilco, Belle & Sebastian, taking your son to the music festival

Before we jump into the final section, I should point out that there are so many albums from 2023 I still haven’t gotten to. Nicki Minaj and DJ Shadow dropped albums late in the year I didn’t have time for. Drake, Kim Petras, Metric, Sofia Kourtesis and Blackbraid all released albums I simply haven’t gotten to. I haven’t finished the Andre flute album yet. I missed new ones from Marnie Stern and Radiator Hospital until it was too late. Bell Witch, the Drums, Chris Stapleton, and who can forget Smokey Robinson’s “GASMS”? My apologies to the artists and their 99 albums still on my listen-to list. I won’t adjust this list, but if your favorite is missing – it’s possible I simply haven’t gotten to it yet!

Check back tomorrow for the big finale! You can expect: a metal band turned grunge, hyperpop, a death metal demo, a raucous rap collab album, multiple indie debuts, hardcore legends, and something that I normally disqualify from a best of list – a live album.

100 Best Albums of 2023: 75-51

Jump to: Songs | 100-76 | 50-26 | 25-1

Hello and welcome to day two of counting down a needlessly high amount of records! Catch up on the first 25 records if you haven’t already. Otherwise, let’s roll.

#75. Scowl – Psychic Dance Routine

Scowl sounds practically identical to the band Gouge Away – which is fine by me, as the latter band left a void by taking a hiatus (though they themselves returned with a new song this year). This is aggressive and abrasive hardcore, but without sacrificing melody. Despite only being 10 minutes long, this EP leaves room for experimentation and temptation within brutal hardcore. This group does not have a proper full-length out yet; when they do, the throne is theirs to take.

RIYL: Gouge Away, Birds In Row, getting your nose broken

#74. Ratboys – The Window

To call Ratboys “exciting” is a slight stretch, but it is cool how the band makes songs that are so familiar and digestible and yet don’t really follow any proper genre conventions. They’re ostensibly an indie band, but they’ve always infused their songs with enough raw energy to be punk (and have toured with proper punk bands). Their new album tosses in more roots rock elements, too, which only complicates things. And yet the songs are so smooth, so catchy, and mostly extremely fun. Good for the whole family!

RIYL: PUP, Beach Bunny, rocking out but safely

#73. Antony and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross

ANOHNI makes beautiful music, this is not news to anyone familiar with her work. Her heartbreaking lyrics are always matched by her unique, lounge throwback crooning voice. She reunited her old band and their first album in 13 years is a dreary, soulful affair. The experimental indie vibes of ANOHNI’s solo albums are mostly gone, replaced by more straightforward soul. It suits her voice well, which was fit for 50’s sounding ballads. With a photo of Marsha P. Johnson on the album’s cover, you know we’re not getting any less political.

RIYL: Perfume Genius, Zola Jesus

#72. Carly Rae Jepsen – The Loveliest Time

Another banger album from the best pop singer on the scene now. Ever since the days of E*MO*TION, the best pop album of the last decade, Jepsen has had a brilliant niche for herself. Her music is straightforward pop, and her vocals are breezy and smooth in a way that hints at a youthful innocence. But her lyrics always give nuance – usually in the form of mixed emotions or counterintuitive responses to social situations. It’s just as true here, as Jepsen acts a barely-veiled raconteur for human complexity. As always, this is a two parter – this album is a sequel to 2022’s The Loneliest Time. We gotta love someone who always gives us some extra.

RIYL: Tove Lo, Jessie J, solo dance parties

#71. Dream Wife – Social Lubrication

Yeah okay, you only name your album something like Social Lubrication in certain spaces. Dream Wife are a chaotically fun band, who fuse punk and pop together in a way that is distinctly not pop-punk, but two forces working against each other. Toss in some indie elements too, and you’ve got a super unique blend. The band’s bluntly feminist lyrics are a plus, often as tongue-in-cheek as they are serious. I mean the lead single is “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician).” Thrilling, unique and urgent – this is the future of punk. 

RIYL: Hinds, The Menstrual Cramps, fucking up an abuser

#70. Kenny Mason – 6

Rappers have been blending rock into their music for decades now, but few do it in the way Kenny Mason does. Across his brief album 6, he uses rock influences sparingly. Sometimes, it’s straight rap, sometimes there’s hints, other times it goes full on shoegaze. Unpredictability is the key player here, leaving the listener guessing as to where Mason might go next. The flares of horror influence give this album a proper morose mood, too. Rock influences are used to deepen the grim tone, not to make bangers. And yet, it’s exciting.

RIYL: clipping., Brockhampton, pretending not to like nu-metal but secretly enjoying it

#69. Danny Brown – Quaranta

After the raucous insanity of his classic album Atrocity Exhibition, I found his more centralized follow-up album to be disappointing. After a few years away, Brown bounced back big, dropping two albums in 2023. The first was a collaborative album with JPEGMAFIA – more on that later – and the second is an album that works to recapture some of the old, wild magic. Brown is newly sober, and that change permeates this record. Quaranta follows the same darkly funny, manic rapping from years past, but leveled out a bit. It’s a more mature side of Danny, which he seeks out while still being one of the most exciting musicians in the country.

RIYL: Run the Jewels, Vince Staples, limbering up for the pit

#68. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter – SAVED!

You may know Kristin Hayter more as Lingua Ignota, a now finished noise project where she matched her operatic vocals with harsh screaming and disturbing lyrics of self-hatred and religious paranoia. She’s now operating under this moniker, delving further into the religious aspects of the music. This album has plenty of fire and brimstone moments, but it ultimately lies closer to a Southern gothic sound than a noise one – think Ethel Cain or, I guess, Flannery O’Connor. The result is music that is more accessible than the stuff with Lingua Ignota, but would still send people screaming. 

RIYL: Ethel Cain, Xiu Xiu, demonic possession

#67. AJJ – Disposable Everything

For a number of reasons, I’ve taken myself off the AJJ train over the last decade. But, an opportunity to cover one of their shows came up, and I figured I might as well for old times sake. Turns out, it was in support of their best album in a long, long time. The band had struggled for a while to meld their older songs, which were hyper-fast folk-punk with shocking lyrics, with a more mature sound. They finally nailed it here, as they embrace some of their older ways (short songs, raw lyrics) with more nuanced melodies and discussion topics. It’s quick, diverse, adult, and all still distinctly AJJ.

RIYL: Defiance Ohio, Mountain Goats, finally taking a shower

#66. Nickel Creek – Celebrants

I don’t think anyone expected a new Nickel Creek album in 2023. Their first album in 9 years was released with little announcement and little fanfare. The bluegrass legends came firing back with a damn near perfect bluegrass release. I don’t really go for music like this much, but threw it on just as something new to listen to. It’s a hefty album, and yet every track feels vital, as if the band has secretly been saving all of these songs up for the last decade. This album is just naturally fun, with insanely talented musicians confidently steering it. 

RIYL: Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson, doing square dances? idk anything about this way of life sorry

#65. Anjimile – The King

A formerly local artist, Anjimile’s music has always been emotional and raw. Their newest triples down on it, analyzing life as a black nonbinary artist in America (hint: it’s not great!). It’s a beautiful and impactful folk record, with some of the most powerful songs of the year. That it’s also an intricate release musically makes the album that much better. These songs are bleak, and they sound bleak, but they also sound a lot fuller than you may expect from such morose folk. 

RIYL: Vagabon, Bartees Strange

#64. Kali Uchis – Red Moon In Venus

This is just good ass R&B! I’d never really listened to Uchis prior to this, so it was a pleasant surprise. She blends English- and Spanish-language lyrics together in a super-fun neosoul record, a perfect summer soundtrack. Everything here feels refreshing, and the fifteen tracks ensure that no idea sticks around too long. Not much else to say: it’s fun as hell.

RIYL: SZA, Frank Ocean, block parties

#63. Nation of Language – Strange Disciple

I discovered this band by chance just after I had a moment where the music of Tears For Fears finally ‘clicked’ for me. Having the poppier side of new wave, which I had always maligned, finally make sense to me opened up a world of new music. These folks do exactly that, and they’re very good songwriters. Their synthy-indie pop could get boring quickly, but they put care into making every song unique and excellent. These tracks are smooth, rhythmic and built with just a touch of tenderness. I anticipate getting even more into them in the future.

RIYL: Tears For Fears, Erasure, putting your hair up in a way that’s going to look very dumb in a few years

#62. Feist – Multitudes

There were a handful of welcome returns this year, few more welcome than indie goddess Feist. Her first album in six years doesn’t see any real change from her previous albums, and why should it? The Feist template of nuanced and mature folk-rock songs with pretty rhythms, haunting vocals and complex emotions is still running strong. She hasn’t missed a beat, as Multitudes is another notch in an excellent catalog. 

RIYL: Cat Power, Sharon Van Etten, getting one drink at a show and taking the next day off work

#61. Janelle Monáe – The Age of Pleasure

I mean, it’s Janelle. What do I need to say here? This is far from her best work, and it’s still among the best albums of the year. Smooth, breezy and sultry, there’s fewer distinct bangers here and more of a prolonged vibe. And that vibe is, well, coital. There’s only two tracks over 3 minutes, highlighting just how flowing and digestible this album is, like a sweaty summer day. The fact that people were expecting grand political statements by Janelle’s return to music is incredibly funny, as we instead got a rousing sex playlist.

RIYL: Prince, Tinashe, [redacted]

#60. Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My

You may or may not know the name Lonnie Holley as a visual artist with a career spanning back decades. At a spry 73 years old, he’s released his third piece of audio art, and that’s exactly what it is. This is abstract, experimental music, full of songs that couple a political angriness with a religious wholesomeness. It’s a complete persona, the positive and negative. A lot of experimental music falls victim to an ironic repetitiveness, but this album will always keep you guessing. There are some heavy assists, too: Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten and Michael Stipe all show up, among others. 

RIYL: Kara Jackson, William Basinski, achieving a complete and total clarity about the world

#59. Blondshell – Blondshell

Feels a little weird to call this a debut given that Blondshell, aka Sabrina Teitelbaum, had previously released pop music under a different moniker. But those songs went nowhere, and she’s done a hard reboot with a set of fuzzy, guitar-based indie. Many albums on this list try to reinvent the wheel; Blondshell revels in the already-established. These are just great, punchy indie tunes that hearken back to a 90’s sound. Poppy, noisy, and innately rhythmic, this is indie rock at its finest. 

RIYL: Momma, Snail Mail, pleasantly liking some of the songs your teen kid is playing

#58. Lil Uzi Vert – Pink Tape

What a victory lap. Uzi is one of the last stars of the cursed mumble rap scene, but he’s on top of the world. And this album sees him throwing all of his ambitions and excesses at the wall and seeing what sticks. There’s no idea too ridiculous – in fact, the two best songs are a song that samples Shinsuke Nakamura’s entrance music, and a full cover of “Chop Suey!” At 87 minutes, I will concede that it could’ve been edited down a lot, but a vast majority of the songs here are fun bangers that don’t overstay their welcome. It may be a slog to get through – but it’s rewarding.

RIYL: Young Thug, Playboi Carti, the party of the century

#57. Spanish Love Songs – No Joy

This band has a natural knack for writing grown-up, despondent tunes that feel like a much-matured version of pop-punk. These songs are a little too indie to be punk, a little too prickly to be indie, and way too adult to be pop-punk. They owe more to the irreverent raconteurs in the Hold Steady than anything else, yet most often get namedropped alongside bands like the Menzingers. It’s a patient and engaging album. The characters across the songs feel earnest and real. There’s simply a lot to relate to here.

RIYL: The Menzingers, the Gaslight Anthem, having the stark realization that you’ve lived enough to relate to Springsteen lyrics

#56. Geld – Currency // Castration

I’ve written about it earlier in the list and I’ll write about it again later, so let’s keep this brief – hardcore bands are currently pushing themselves to the absolute limit. This quick release (22 minutes) stands firmly on the trifold border of hardcore punk, thrash metal and harsh noise. It’s a limited audience record, but for those who find it, it’s wildly great.

RIYL: Knocked Loose, Mammoth Grinder, listen I’m running out of hardcore jokes here. Uhh uhh smashing a PBR can against your head

#55. Depeche Mode – Memento Mori

There isn’t much I can say about MM that I haven’t already said in my Depeche Chronicles series from earlier this year. This collection was born out of tragedy, of the loss of Andy Fletcher. And although some of these songs were already in progress when he passed, his ghost haunts the album. The two remaining members face their own mortality up and down, with a number of diverse and intricate tunes that nonetheless revel in the morose. It’s one of their better albums! And while they may face their own mortality, they didn’t let it get to them – embarking at their age on a massive, arena tour.

RIYL: Gary Numan, The Cure, calculating how much you’ve spent on black eyeliner in the last 35 years

#54. LURK – Natural Causes

There’s a lot of punk on this list, and most of it is similar in the way the groups push the boundaries of labels and sheer sonic terror. LURK, though, is closer to traditional hardcore punk. I only found this band because a coworker’s group played a gig with them, but I’ve spun this one a couple times now. It’s just an EP, so nice and brief, but the band packs a lot into it. Some songs are noisy and abrasive, some are focused more on melody. Despite only being 20 minutes, it’s a diverse effort within the realms of punk. Really left me wanting more.

RIYL: Rise Against, Knocked Loose, idk i’m totally out of hardcore jokes here 

#53. PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying

PJ Harvey remains unpredictable. She’s one of the few artists with a perfect batting record when it comes to albums, but it’s fair to say that her previous work, 2016’s Hope Six Demolition Project, was one of her weaker efforts. This album, she’s decided to take things back to medieval times. Not actually, but the album is based on an epic poem and is littered with biblical and Shakespearean references, and the near-constant minimalist feel gives it more of a chamber aura. It isn’t like anything Harvey has done before, chalked up at least a bit to the improvisation on the album. It’s not her most accessible work, and it took me a few tracks to vibe with it. But there’s a mesmerizing core to this album, even in the moments where there is very little happening.

RIYL: Nick Cave, Patti Smith, reading a book in the woods

#52. Kesha – Gag Order

Kesha’s initial turn towards earnestness still felt a bit forced, even in spite of the implosions happening within her career and personal life. Now, these years later, she’s never sounded more sincere. This album is brutally emotional, and sees Kesha offer her best-ever vocals and her most vulnerable lyrics. It’s also probably her most diverse album musically, refusing to pigeonhole her into one sound. Kesha – or Ke$ha, even – had always been as much a character as an artist. That character is finally, fully, shed. This is a deeply and darkly human album, and easily her most impressive work to date.

RIYL: Britney, Christina, gonna be honest it feels very wrong to do a joke response to this one

#51. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – The Silver Cord

Immediately upon release, this record – the band’s 25th (!!) – proved to be one of their most divisive among fans. A lot of the band’s guitar purist fans don’t like the electronic/krautrock direction the Aussies have decided to go in. And that’s fine, the sheer point of Gizz is that you’re not going to like everything they do (for me, it’s the boogie stuff). I was expecting to be bored, honestly, but this one is pure fun. The band channels Kraftwerk into some songs that are both metrical and exciting, particularly the urgent songs “Set” and “Gilgamesh.” There’s a ton of lyrics about ancient gods and what not – it’s still Gizz after all. And of course, there’s the album’s gimmick – the record comes in two versions, one running about 30 minutes and one running about 90 minutes, where every song is “extended,” stretching past 10 minutes. The extended “Theia” goes 21 minutes. Both versions are excellent, and work together to service all electronic fans. 

RIYL: Kraftwerk, Can, when Dylan went electric 

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow we soldier on with entries 50-26. The albums will only get better (or worse, this is all personal tastes). Up tomorrow, we’ve got some local metal, shoegaze legends, electronica legends, one of the biggest albums of 2023, a band with a song called “Lana Del Rey,” an artist who parodies Lana Del Rey, and Lana Del Rey Stay tuned!

100 Best Albums of 2023: 100-76

Jump to: Songs | 75-51 | 50-26 | 25-1

I apologize in advance because I went sicko mode this year. But looking down at the list of albums & songs this year, how could I not. 2023, just like nearly every year, delivered an incredible amount of excellent music, with hundreds of albums not getting the national coverage they deserve. So I had to go to the extreme and talk about 100 albums.

The year started off cold. There were a number of albums from both big-name veterans and personal favorites that disappointed. New releases from Miley Cyrus and Metallica were dead on impact. Damon Albarn went 0-2 with a disappointing Gorillaz album and a disappointing Blur album. The Dirty Nil, a band I’ve previously called the best band in music, released one of the worst albums of the year. It was a dire start which, thankfully, was a red herring for the rest of the year. Because when things started to tick up, they really ticked up.

I really wanted to write about so many more albums than what’s already here. My final tally was 346 new releases, with another 100 still on my list. I also manipulated the list a bit, which originally included Bad Bunny and Peter Gabriel towards the bottom – but do they really need more coverage? I am already sacrificing tons of under-the-bubble groups. You know whether or not you like Bad Bunny & Peter Gabriel.

From experimental bedroom pop, to French indie, to a dozen hardcore albums, bluegrass, new wave, indie veterans, bubblegum pop, religious black metal and a handful of the loudest noise records ever produced – it’s all here.

#100. HEALTH – RAT WARS

One of the very last albums I listened to (somehow I missed the release) sneaks in at the bottom. Ever since I saw HEALTH for the first time in 2019, they’ve been one of my favorite bands. They’re still chasing the highs of their best album, but this industrial-heavy album comes damn close. This is heavy, pounding music, always offset by the distant, high vocals. There is more of a sweaty club vibe on this one which really aids the slower tracks. Rarely does a band capture the 80’s industrial intensity as consistently and successfully as HEALTH does.

RIYL: Nine Inch Nails, Author & Punisher, getting into a fight at the sex club

#99. Slaughter Beach, Dog – Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling

The trajectory into slightly Americana-based indie is simply not what I would’ve predicted for Jake Ewald. When Modern Baseball split – the pop-punk group beloved by all, even me who does not like pop-punk – Ewald ramped up his side project. Now a decade later, he’s doing folksy indie, and this album is his best SB,D work yet. These are songs with rich characters and storied histories, with love and tenderness inserted each time. While these songs are not upbeat, there is a consistent engaging quality to them, one that nags at the listener. This is Ewald’s best songwriting to date! 

RIYL: Real Estate, Grizzly Bear, finding your old ripped CBGB’s shirts a decade later

#98. The Beaches – Blame My Ex

I dropped the ball on this one. In advance of Boston Calling, I received a dozen interview requests from the Beaches’ PR person. I passed, not having the time or knowledge of the group. Well now they’re big! And rightfully so. The band’s sophomore album is a spunky, catchy indie-punk record filled with snarl. These songs are built around melodies, but they come straight from the heart. The amount of energy and earnestness across this record is apparent immediately, especially on the aptly-named opener “Blame Brett.” They have hooks for days.

RIYL: Beach Bunny, Clairo, knowing your break-up will end in a defamatory radio hit

#97. Suzie True – Sentimental Scum

This is the first of a handful of blisteringly fun, feminine indie-punk records on this list. Suzie True does fast and heavy songs, loud enough to be punk and catchy enough to be indie, all wrapped up in compact records. The overly girly imagery of the group matches with the old-school punk riffs in just the right way to piss off some old gatekeepers. Listen closely for what I believe is an uncredited Sean Bonnette on vocals (from AJJ – more on them later). Fast, fun, angsty, loud – perfect for 2023. 

RIYL: Teenage Halloween, Oceanator, reading your old diary

#96. Speedy Ortiz – Rabbit Rabbit

Rabbit Rabbit. It’s what Sadie Depuis tweets on the first day of every month. A new start, a new beginning. The first Speedy Ortiz album in five years (following an excellent Sadie solo release) is kind of more of the same, kind of not. A great indie-punk album, it’s got some of the fiery energy of old Ortiz tunes, with a lot of maturity and patience thrown in. This is maybe the most well-rounded Speedy album yet, and they’ve always had a handle on complete packages. I was not anticipating another Speedy Ortiz release, so this was a delightful surprise.

RIYL: Hop Along, Charly Bliss, getting too old for street punk shows

#95. Deerhoof – Miracle-Level

I will not claim to be remotely knowledgeable about the experimental group Deerhoof or their approximately 100 albums. But I know fun experimental indie when I hear it, and that’s exactly what they provide on Miracle-Level. It’s unpredictable stuff, often manic, but without the abrasive unpleasantness of a lot of experimental rock stuff. This is their first album to be sung entirely in Japanese, further removing it from any curious normie audiences. But it’s a celebratory album, a joy in a scary world.

RIYL: Xiu Xiu, Battles, getting hypnotized 

#94. Chris Farren – Doom Singer

Chris Farren the person is a hysterical and respectful guy I’ve always loved, especially as a lifelong friend of Jeff Rosenstock (more on him later). Chris Farren the musician has never really done it for me, his brand of smooth pop-punk/indie has chronically been a bit soft for my taste. So imagine my surprise when his newest – which doesn’t really deviate from the formula! – grabbed me. It’s a high-energy and just fun indie-punk record. Farren’s voice is always smooth and his production clean, resulting in a brisk listen and a nice antidote to much of the depressive music on this list. It’s fun!

RIYL: Chumped, Lemuria, living in Brooklyn baby

#93. Wilco – Cousin

Wilco might be considered one of the premier dad bands, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t still have the juice. Wilco’s 13th album sees them hand off the production reins for once, to test themselves. We’re in a creative boom for Wilco, too – following last year’s excellent country double-album Cruel Country, we’re now getting the most experimental Wilco album in over a decade. Now it’s nothing like Yankee Hotel of course, but these songs pack a lot of little punches. There are a lot of intricate details here, aided by Cate le Bon on production. Wilco could easily be producing “another Wilco album” but they’re still finding ways to stay fresh, instead. 

RIYL: Arcade Fire, Spoon, being the cool uncle

#92. Body Void – Atrocity Machine

Finally music that really answers the question, what would body horror sound like? In a list filled with abrasive and off-putting metal, this is one of the most intense records. It also purposely refuses alignment with any specific metal subgenre, incorporating elements of doom metal, black metal and industrial. While the songs are lengthy, they’re also completely unpredictable. There’s something for nearly all metal fans in here (except power metal, thankfully). Add in body horror lyrical concepts and you’ve got yourself one of the wildest metal releases of 2023. 

RIYL: Full of Hell, Primitive Man, scaring your neighbors

#91. Joanna Sternberg – I’ve Got Me

Folk music should always be honest and vulnerable. Sternberg’s sophomore album, written during COVID, as they pulled away from substances and from a manipulative music industry, is chock full of it. This is a painful record, with heartfelt grief sessions peppered in frequently. But don’t think it’s a sob session, because many of these songs are fun, too. Complex emotions with layered lyrics and uppity acoustic guitar make for a well-rounded folk record. There’s never any certainty to what the next song holds. And what’s more like life than that?

RIYL: Julie Byrne, Cassandra Jenkins, having a breakthrough at therapy

#90. Agriculture – Agriculture

One of the last albums I listened to in prep for this list, this one left me blindsided. I’ve never heard something like this. This is black metal, but with roots tied in experimental music. It is beyond heavy and extreme, with raging guitars and screamed vocals, all meshing together in lieu of a sense of melody. Sometimes. Other times, it’s got steel guitar and harmonies. It’s totally unpredictable and thrilling, something wholly new even in the black metal world. I mean, the band is called Agriculture. Black metal bands are normally named like Sancti Stigmata or Festering Gushes or something. Anyways, this is sick as hell.

RIYL: Vile Creature, Mizmor, black metal that pisses off Nazis 

#89. Capra – Errors

You’ll notice a trend on this list – boundary-pushing hardcore. There were a great number of hardcore albums this year that pushed out of genre barriers, usually in the form of sheer intensity. Capra is a little more standard, but they’re still very unique. Errors is a fiercely intense hardcore punk record, one that comes with some variations and some scant outside influences. It sounds closer to Gouge Away, with songs that balance volume and heaviness with leveled tempos and mature rhythms. And all of this comes with rough, rough vocals that give the group a lot of credibility. 

RIYL: Ithaca, Gouge Away, slamdancing in a 100-degree church basement 

#88. Cattle Decapitation – Terrasite

Cattle Decap has been a band for a very long time and I’ve always considered them one of many interchangeable, not particularly interesting death metal-adjacent groups. But when I heard a single on the radio, it caught my attention. These are some of the most well-written metal jams of the year, all crafted with a graceful touch and ceaseless brutality. Not to mention, the production is immaculate. This goes beyond death metal into deathgrind territory, but the nomenclature doesn’t matter. What does matter is riffs, headbangers, and songs called “Scourge of the Offspring,” and this one delivers on all fronts.

RIYL: Cannibal Corpse, Aborted, earplugs

#87. Alex Lahey – The Answer is Always Yes

There’s a couple albums on this list that blend indie and punk, which is Lahey’s specialty. These songs are a little too energized to be indie, but a little too patient to be punk. Really, this album – more so than similar ones on the list – are the advancement of the more memorable emo bands of the mid-10’s. These songs are emotional, but often affirming, and mix rhythmic melodies with just enough oomph to be bangers. There were a few great emo-punk albums on this list – this one should not get lost in the shuffle. This is a special collection of songs that are both fun and deeply personal.

RIYL: Camp Cope, Swearin’, smiling through the pain

#86. Squitch – Tumbledown Mountain

RIP Squitch long live Squitch. The final offering from one of the best local indie bands is a delightful and emotional journey. Despite the opening track “Not The End,” this is definitively the final album, and the band is going out on top with their best record. The guitar-based songs here are both catchy and complex, drawing on strong vocals, dense production and heart-on-sleeve emotions. It might be the end, but there’s still time to get Squitch on your radars.

RIYL: Puppy Problems, Real Estate, a little cry in a comfy bed

#85. Worriers – Trust Your Gut & Warm Blanket

Similar to Squitch, Worriers have always occupied a space in indie that hints at punk edges but never truly explores them. While classified as punk, Worriers – mostly the solo project of Lauren Denitzio – craft intricate and vulnerable singer-songwriter tunes. Much of the lyrical material here is derived from small interactions, misunderstandings, and hurt feelings, and not any grand, vague scopes, which helps give these songs a raw earnesty. It was a busy year for Denitzio, releasing two great albums. “Gut” is a bit edgier than the very low-key “Blanket,” but they play off of each other very well.

RIYL: The Menzingers, the Gaslight Anthem, sneaking liquor into a poetry reading

#84. Be Your Own Pet – Mommy

One of my favorite bands, and it’s a marvel they reunited. They split up in 2008 as quietly as they had lived, a garage punk that was always bubbling a little too under the radar to make an impact. But they’re back – at the request of Jack White! – and they haven’t missed a beat. I was concerned that they would be too mature these days, and while these songs don’t necessarily have the same unfiltered chaotic energy of the band’s debut, there is still a healthy amount of inappropriate and loud stuff. I mean, look at the title and cover, not to mention lead single “Worship the Whip.” This borders on the ledge between indie and punk, but it’s meant purely for the latter’s crowd. Long live Be Your Own Pet.

RIYL: Ty Segall, Heavens to Betsy, crashing a wedding for fun

#83. Russkaja – Turbo Polka Party

This is easily the biggest guilty pleasure on this list. It’s the only one that I’ll reckon isn’t “good” but it is fun. A Russian group that blends polka and ska into punk and metal, something that’s loud and laughable. There’s a healthy mix of genuine cultural appreciation via traditional Russian music, and tongue-in-cheek songs about the somewhat ridiculous mix of genres. This is the type of thing I would’ve loved in high school. The band mixes a lot of “uncool” genres, and to double down on that, there’s a genuine cover of “Last Christmas” towards the end (and the album came out in February).

RIYL: Alestorm, Korpiklaani, Weird Al if he had an attitude

#82. Orbit Culture – Descent & The Forgotten

Many of the acts on this list are artists who experiment around and toss genre templates out the window. But in order to appreciate music like this, there has to be a base love of the bands that can do basic templates well. Orbit Culture, a death metal group out of Sweden, play standard death metal songs, they just do them ridiculously well. These songs are heavy and brutal, direct, and all the while insanely catchy. Descent is a proper studio album, while The Forgotten is a follow-up EP with a couple of longer songs. There isn’t a bad track across the two releases, a serious breakout year for the band. If you like your music to be a quick punch to the brain – these guys are for you.

RIYL: Suffocation, Machine Head, throwing your voice out trying to growl along

#81. The Mountain Goats – Jenny From Thebes

After releasing approximately 1001 records that didn’t really have themes, John Darnielle et co. have begun to do conceptual albums. And this album takes on the toughest concept yet – a full album about Jenny, a character who has existed on the fringes of Darnielle’s lyrics dating back to 2003. Whether you’re invested in the intricacies of Darnielle’s lyrics or you just appreciate their gleefully depressive music, then you’ll love this back-to-basics album. This one sounds like it came out in 2004, in Goats lore. The songs are lean and simple, yet super catchy and always tinged with paranoia, American loneliness, and outright depression. The indie-folk legends never left, but in a way, they’re back.

RIYL: Neutral Milk Hotel, the Decembrists, crying in a hotel room alone

#80. Ragana – Desolation’s Flower

Black metal for the sake of black metal can be excellent on its own. But black metal with a message can be powerful. Ragana have always held this to be true, and their new record is downright stunning. A queer duo, Ragana bring antifascist politics to a genre that is historically, well, fascist. This record is visceral, complex and angry, with lengthy and relentless metal songs. But the band puts on the brakes frequently, knowing the power of somber bridges and interludes. In fact, a lot of this album rests, and it makes the metal songs all the more powerful. Think this is the only queer black metal album on the list? Think again.

RIYL: Mount Eerie, Thou, the film “The VVitch” 

#79. Year of the Knife – No Love Lost

Grindcore albums shouldn’t be long. This one is 9 songs and 20 minutes, a blissfully short blast of sonic warfare. I know little about this band, only discovering this one on a metal station shortly before I began writing these entries – but on this mini-album, the group is joined by insane heavy-hitters like Full of Hell and Sangusiugabogg, two bands who both narrowly missed this same list. This is super intense, super abrasive and super quick stuff. Not for the faint of heart, but also not the same song 9 times over. There’s care put into separating these songs, even the ones that are under a minute. Brutal, brutal things are afoot.

RIYL: Nails, The Locust, getting 13 songs into your 15 minute set

#78. Dreamwell – In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You

Hardcore often gets more interesting when bands don’t stick to a rote one-two-one-two formula. Dreamwell, a group from my neck of the woods, don’t so much follow a new path as they do take the hardcore formula and set it on fire. They are a deeply original and thrilling group, channeling the best days of Fucked Up (more on them later). The band explores so many territories that it no longer feels like hardcore, but Keziah Staska’s consistent growled vocals always bring things back home. 

RIYL: Converge, Deafheaven, trying to get your friends into metal

#77. Squirrel Flower – Tomorrow’s Fire

Another local artist, at least formerly so. Squirrel Flower has always made great guitar-based bedroom indie, but this is her finest work yet. Ella Williams is always one to keep things honest, and this record is emotions on full display. It’s still the indie rock that fans expect, but things are a little bit darker, a little bit heavier. Many tracks move away from the folksy influences and into a heavier rock atmosphere. And some don’t – diversity is a strength here. But everything here is unexpectedly grimier than before. Straightforward, but dense and cathartic, it’s a great set of old-school indie rock tunes.

RIYL: Indigo de Souza, Cat Power, pretending you’re Gen X

#76. Palehound – Eye On The Bat

Normally, indie groups that come out of the gate with high-energy, fun tunes eventually settle down into midtempo stuff. But Palehound is only getting more fun. The rest of the album never quite hits the high of the raucous title track, but the whole journey is a blast. El Kempner is always one to wear their heart on their sleeve, and does so here. These songs are earnest and emotional, mostly chronicling the unsteady nature of the last couple years. And yet, it’s an absolute blast to listen to. 

RIYL: Adult Mom, Jay Som, early-00’s goofy indie bands with names like “Structural Integrity in Istanbul”

Thank you for reading! My hope is that you, dear reader, find at least something you’ll like and may have missed. Check back tomorrow for entries 75-51. What can you expect? Some new wave legends, a bit of bubblegum pop, back-to-back folk albums, back-to-back moody rap, and a pop singer getting more honest than ever before.

35 Songs I Loved This Year

Jump to: Fav albums 100-76 | 75-51 | 50-26 | 25-1

Hello and welcome to another edition of excessively long year-end coverage courtesy of me, someone who has had too much time on their hands lately. 2023 was a great year for music, yet again. My Spotify playlist where I dump all new songs I like is up to 563 (!!) tunes as of the time of writing. And while a condensed version of songs I loved is at 77 entries, I decided to cap it at 35 for my own sanity. I have a lot of album posts coming up.

These are 35 songs, from 30 artists, that I really enjoyed. I didn’t put a great deal of thought into these since there were so many to choose from, and I’ve left this list alphabetical. Also, I should note, much of the new music I discovered this year was thanks to the Sirius indie station I listened to on my commutes, so both my songs and albums lists are heavily indie-skewed this year.

100 Gecs – “Frog on the Floor”

I mean how else could this start? One of Gen Z’s most shining bands is out here reflecting their generation in shedding away any sort of musical norms. Is this a pop band dropping a ska song in the middle of the album? Yes. Is this just a song about a frog? Yes. Is it catchy as hell? Yes. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t one of my most-played songs this year, despite really sounding like a children’s song. Hell it’s basically made by children. 

KEY FROG PUN: I heard he was telling croaks at the party.

Arlo Parks – “Devotion”

The sophomore Arlo Parks album was excellent, but it did see the alt-R&B singer move away from jazzy indie in favor of more rote pop beats. So it makes this song – which starts off as a sultry coital anthem before doing a hard reset into straight rock – all the more out of place. Catch a Deftones namedrop early as a hint of what’s to come. Loud and catchy R&B rock; it’s simple, yet unique.

KEY NAMEDROP: Shaking to Deftones, glitter in my bones

Big Thief – “Vampire Empire”

Even in a year where indie titans Big Thief have only released two songs, they make the list. The Best Band In Music is known primarily for disastrously sad songs, so this seemingly genuine love ode feels extra suspicious. But whether there’s a flipside to this one or not, it’s one of the band’s most inventive tracks yet, with some of Adrienne Lenker’s best-ever vocals. 

KEY LYRIC: I wanted to be your woman, I wanted to be your man / I wanted to be the one that you could understand

Bully – “Days Move Slow” & “Lose You”

There’s a few instances on this list where I couldn’t narrow it down to one song per artist, and they always relate anyways (except one instance). Alicia Bognanno’s grunge-flavored indie has always been filled with a certain sense of ennui, but on her best-yet album, it comes with a purpose. The album is dedicated to Alicia’s late dog, Mezzi, and these two tracks about the impermanence of life – and the impermanence of grief – represent some genuine and complex emotion. Some assistance from Soccer Mommy bolsters the latter track, but they’re equally great.

KEY GOOD BOY: RIP Mezzi, the best boy

Cherry Glazerr – “Ready For You”

Cherry Glazerr have always been an indie group of the guns-a-blazing type, edging closer to straight rock than anything else. The second single off their new album is their best track yet, with heavy melodies and Clementine Creevy’s best-ever vocals. Her powerful vocal rhythm dominates this song and adds a hefty layer of confidence into the lyrics. Although the lyrics are actually quite vulnerable, they sound vaguely threatening under the guitars and vocals. Side note: catch this band live if you have the opportunity.

KEY I’M THE JOKER: Wish I could meet you with my eyes / I’m sick inside my twisted mind

Clark D – “It’s a Stickup!”

I didn’t listen to much rap this year, just wasn’t in the mood really! But this song by local rapper Clark D fell into my lap at the end of the year and hot damn is it one of the most fun tracks of 2023. An absolutely manic and tongue-in-cheek track with the highest possible energy. It’s a banger to the max, and doesn’t even stretch to 2:30. Add in a wild verse from kei and you’ve got a monster song. He cleaned up at the Boston Music Awards and proved that this song translates very, very well to a live setting.

KEY SCREAM IT: BITCH YOU GETTIN’ ROBBED

Death Cab For Cutie – “An Arrow in the Wall”

It’s been 15 years since I said “hey I really like this new Death Cab song,” and naturally this is the one that sounds the least like Death Cab. The Postal Service tour must have had a positive effect on Ben Gibbard’s primary indie group, as they trade in their guitars for a gloomy, minimalist beat. There’s a sense of foreboding in this that is totally foreign to DCFC, and it’s a welcome change.

KEY LYRIC: This machine was built to be broken

Faye Webster – “But Not Kiss”

Faye Webster exists in the same tragic indie-folk sad girl scene as, say, Phoebe Bridgers, but she’s always had a comical innocence to her music. That’s stripped away on this cold, baroque tune centered on a pounding, two-chord piano line and a simple but powerful “yeah yeah” in the chorus. It’s simple, but good luck getting it out of your head.

KEY LYRIC: I want to sleep in your arms………..but not kiss

feeble little horse – “Steamroller”

I’ve obviously been listening to mainly indie here this year, but there aren’t many indie bands like this anymore. These young upstarts are channeling the likes of Dino Jr. and Pixies in the way they layer their stuff under fountains of distortion. Underneath all the peels is a paranoid and apologetic tune about personal space, but it’s okay if you never make it that deep. Just enjoy the experience.

KEY RELATABLE PARANOIA: I’m the only one who sees me naked

Genesis Owusu – “Leaving the Light”

This list isn’t ordered at all (hopefully you’ve figured that out by now), but if it was, this would be #1. This absolute banger is my favorite song of the year, as it stands. It isn’t a particularly unique or wheel re-inventing song, but it is a paranoid dancehall banger. Owusu’s album STRUGGLER, which will be found on my albums list, is an album that is about a paradoxical concept – humans surviving an apocalypse. The song’s lyrics are simultaneously paranoid and prideful, and the music is blood-pumping synthy funk. It’s extremely easy to overlook the fact that the song is intended to be violent and depressing! The biggest party of the year is, in fact, the apocalypse.

KEY EARNED BOAST: Crush me with your holy hell, I feel no damage

The Hives – “The Bomb”

God bless the Hives. Their first album in 11 years sees the dance-punk legends stretching out a bit, crafting some songs that aren’t quite as high-energy as before. Logical – they’re in their mid-40’s now, even if Pelle Almqvist did split himself open and soldier on recently. But the Hives blueprint still works. “The Bomb” is a barely-two-minute track with a BPM of 1000 and the most ridiculous lyrics of the year. There isn’t a point to songs like this, it’s just extremely high-energy, goofy fun. And if the Hives can still do it this well, then they’re never going to lose it.

KEY PELLE ALMQVIST: What do you wanna do? Get down! What don’t you wanna do? Get up! What don’t you wanna not don’t do? Not get down! What don’t you wanna not don’t wanna not do? Not get up! 

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – “Deathwish”

I’m a big fan of everything Isbell has done, but there’s something specific that permeates all of my favorite tracks of his – vocal melodies. This song, the first track off his country band’s “Weathervanes” album, starts immediately with a lengthy but simple and effective vocal rhythm. It’s something that runs through the course of the whole song, very repetitive but never tiring. Isbell’s songs are often lyrically despondent, but not necessarily sad songs – this one feels downtrodden immediately, which only adds to the effectiveness. This is downright hopelessness.

KEY EXTREMELY RELATABLE OPENING LINE TO YOUR ALBUM: Have you ever loved a woman with a deathwish? 

Jenny Lewis – “Psychos”

I love dirtbag Jenny Lewis. Twenty years ago, she was singing youthful and introspective indie ballads about love and loneliness. Now, she recognizes that her era has passed, and is singing offhand country-folk songs like this one with vaguely problematic lyrics like a cool aunt. To be clear, the lyrics of this song are not good, but the 11pm-on-a-weeknight-in-a-bar vibe of this song is excellent. And, her voice has improved significantly since the Rilo Kiley days. I hate to say it, but she’s a lot cooler now than before. 

KEY RELATABLE NONSENSE: This shit is crazy town

Jungle – “Back on ‘74”

I get that I have a broader spectrum of music than most people, but one of my hardest beliefs around music is that I can’t trust anyone who doesn’t like funk. The band’s latest hit, their biggest in both America and their native UK, is a smooth and sultry vocal song ripped out of the 70’s. The nostalgic lyrics touch on past innocence and lost opportunities, but it’s more than acceptable to shut the thoughts out and just enjoy the fluid melodies. This is a banger, after all. I believe this song has gotten big on The Tik Tok website, so here’s to a whole new generation getting into soul music. Oh, and if you’re only going to watch one video on this list, make it this one.

KEY CRY-DANCE: Never gonna cry anymore, where did it all go?

JW Francis – “Swooning”

Some of the artists on this list are ones I’m extremely knowledgeable on. This is not one of them. I know absolutely nothing about this guy, but I do know that this is one of the most well-constructed songs of the year. At its core, it is a simple indie song about struggling to find the words to tell someone you’ve fallen for them deeply. But there is a lot going on – a rumbling guitar rhythm backs a sweet synth, there’s a guitar freakout, there’s a riff that mimics a butterfly, and there’s a late-song octave change. For people who like to analyze individual elements of songs, this one is a goldmine. Really fun stuff.

KEY LYRIC THAT REFLECTS THE MUSIC: Oh my, I’m swooning / I think we hit the right chord, new tuning

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – “Gila Monster”

The second proper Gizz metal album is unlike the first, which was loose thrash. This album is dense, slow and heavy. But much like “Infest the Rat’s Nest,” it centers on an apocalypse and the animals that take over afterwards. In this one, we’re praising the new king, a Gila Monster, whose adorable face graces the album cover. This one is raw and catchy, bolstered by Ambrose taking over for vocals at the bridge and pumping things into a new gear. 

KEY SCREAMABLE CHORUS: Gila! Gila! Gila!    Gila! Monster!

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – “Set”

I couldn’t keep these together. The second Gizz album of 2023, “The Silver Cord,” is an electronics one, cashing in their Kraftwerk tickets. Like “Gila” this one is just fun as hell. And like “Gila,” it kicks into high gear off a bridge where Ambrose loses his mind. There’s five different things going on at once musically, which doesn’t even address the cryptic lyrics about ancient Egypt. Everything here is manic. I didn’t think I would like electronic Gizz this much, but I was wrong.

KEY NONSENSE: Eighty years of conflict, crocodile dog birth, Lucifer inverted, slender usurper, piece of work

Lifeguard – “Alarm”

My, where did this one come from? One of the most rousing rock songs of the year comes out of these upstarts, literal children who are channeling the best days of Pixies and Bikini Kill. The song is intensity above all, but it remains extremely catchy too. It’s an absolute bruiser, and it makes the band sound both as youthful as they are, and far more experienced than it. Although I’ve heard this one on indie rock radio, I’d hesitantly call it punk.

KEY VAGUE BUT SCREAMABLE CHORUS: Switch! Switch! Trip or take me!

Lil Uzi Vert – “Nakamura”

Almost no one has a better entrance theme in the world of professional wrestling than Shinsuke Nakamura, so much so that he had to add Japanese lyrics to it to try and quell American audiences from singing it throughout his matches. It was also begging to be sampled. Well Uzi was of course the man to do it. That wildly memorable violin line serves as the foundation of this song, with Uzi rapping over it. This was an easy slam-dunk for any artist, and a shoo-in for this list.

KEY GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn from NXT Takeover: Dallas

Little Dragon – “Slugs of Love”

There isn’t much to say about this one other than it’s just one of the most fun bangers of the year. There’s a sax hit just seconds into the song that lets you know it’s gonna be a fun one. The music is fast and funky, the vocals are upbeat, and the lyrics are chaotically funny and sexual. Try getting this one out of your head.

KEY NO THANKS: Have a feast at the table / slugs of love 

M83 – “Amnesia”

Easily one of my favorite songs of the year; I absolutely did not think that Anthony Gonzalez had songs like this one left him. The slow synth build-up feels ominous, building to one of the biggest cinematic choruses you’ll ever hear. It’s Kaela Sinclair’s short but powerful lines during the chorus that really make this one stand out. The song sounds like a late night drive through a crowded but sleepy city on a warm night. It’s got a fullness to it that feels free and warm, even with a touch of dread thrown in. It might be the best song of 2023.

KEY PHRASE I’VE BEEN SHOUTING IN MY CAR: Four minutes with you

Mandy, Indiana – “Pinking Shears”

One of the best new bands of 2023 is also one of the most confounding. Quite possibly the shortest song on this list, this Mandy, Indiana track mixes mechanical percussion, heavy synths and buried vocals into one burst of sound that is very catchy while still dense and wholly unique. Oh, and it’s all in French. The end result isn’t really classifiable, and it sounded out of place on indie rock radio. It isn’t quite my favorite song of the year, but it might be the new one I’ve listened to the most times.

PHRASE CLÉ: Je suis fatiguée, tu sais parce que je suis fatiguée

MJ Lenderman – “Rudolph”

It wasn’t enough for the band Wednesday to drop an all-timer album on us, the guitarist had to drop this excellent solo track too. A crisis of faith plagues the speaker, professing his love to someone from within the walls of a seminary. Throw in some self-doubt, Rudolph the Reindeer and a Pixar reference, and you get a rollicking spellbinder. As with his other solo songs, this is an americana-grunge tune, with rough guitar and loose vocals.

KEY LYRIC: I wouldn’t be in the seminary if I could be with you. 

Model/Actriz – “Donkey Show”

The opening track from my favorite debut album of 2023 is a manic mess. The group starts hauntingly soft, with just a little synth line that sounds like a bug crawling around, until the rest of the band kicks in heavily. The song wastes no time in getting intense – singer Cole Haden sounds like a man who has just realized he is in deep trouble. On the first few listens of this song, I thought “wow this is heavy.” After a few more, I thought, “this is also….groovy.” It’s not like anything I’ve heard before. The song sounds comparable to “City Song” by Daughters, but it swaps out 50% of the paranoia in favor of funk. You can absolutely dance to this, but it might only happen in the nightclub from Blade. 

KEY TROUBLING VAGUENESS: All night, me and my wretched device

The New Pornographers – “Really Really Light”

There’s hardly anything new about the pornographers, who admittedly wear out the formula a bit on their ninth album. But the opening track is an absolute delight of breezy indie. The lyrics are both poetic and empty, singing about nothingness. The fading guitar lick that runs the song sounds like wind entering your car windows on an empty Midwestern highway. There’s a certain listlessness to this song, like everything about it exists only to kill time, but it’s a pleasant feeling. A distinct balance that only a band this deep into the game can pull off. 

KEY BOREDOM: We sit around and talk about the weather / My heart just like a feather / really, really light

Orbit Culture – “Vultures Of North” & “Descent”

Sometimes you just need some good death metal. Orbit Culture’s newest album is a victory lap and a breakthrough, with a bunch of great songs that do a lot with a little. These two songs feature rhythms that are, quite frankly, very simple! But they’re super fun and incredibly catchy while still being heavy and brooding. The growled vocals are top notch and the production is stellar. The metalheads probably have this band on radar already, but here’s a note in case you don’t.

KEY BROODING: The descent into madness is all I see, and it’s all I’ve seen

Palehound – “Eye on the Bat”

How much fun can one song be? Local legends Palehound hit an absolute home run (pun intended) on their latest album’s title track. The song kicks off with a fun and complex acoustic guitar line, with bright and cheery vocals and one quick slide guitar hit thrown in too. Although the song is ostensibly about how grueling a tour can be, the lyrics cherry-pick some nostalgic moments too. This feels like a song we’ll still be listening to in a decade. Spin it a couple times:

KEY SAME: Black Sabbath as the sun goes down ‘cause I like heavy metal / We’re the only people for miles around and we’re headbanging to Paranoid.

The Rolling Stones & Lady Gaga – “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that the new Stones album is anything really worth listening to, but you’re doing yourself a disservice if you skip this one. This 7+ minute track is possibly the best Stones song since…the 80’s? Gaga brings the best out of the Stones, who face down mortality on this apocalyptic track. Her background vocals provide a moving aura that earnestly feels akin to “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” There is also a vulnerability here that we don’t see from Mick much, though it’s still wrapped in ego too. 

KEY LYRIC: No, I’m not goin’ to Hell, in some dusty motel / And I’m not goin’ down in the dirt.

Sleep Token – “The Summoning”

One of the first new songs I heard in 2023 ended up being one of the best, a heady and highly conceptual song that acts as metal, but dissuades any real classification. A simple and pounding riff comes and goes as huge choruses rise and fall, as the song meanders between radio rock and straight metal. The whole thing has this aura that there’s a great bridge coming, but where it ends up going is unpredictable – an extended ambient segment followed by a poppy, jazzy coda. The song messes around with genres and expectations, with supreme confidence.

KEY RADICAL TONAL SHIFT: Oh, and my love, did I mistake you for a sign from God?

Slowdive – “Alife”

This is aural Xanax. We should be so thankful that Slowdive reunited back in ~2015 because the niche they left behind had been imitated by countless bands, but never perfected. While many of their shoegaze contemporaries like My Bloody Valentine and Ride often searched for bliss and clarity in sheer volume, Slowdive did it in minimalism. “Alife” recaptures the stunning and cathartic aura of their original 90’s work. Everything is so slight that it feels improvised, but it’s all so polished that it could’ve only been done by perfectionists.

KEY LYRIC: Two lives are hard lives with you. 

Slow Pulp – “Cramps”

Slow Pulp is an indie-pop group that would usually not get mistaken for doing anything heavy or edgy, but the first single off their newest album is just that. The song, which yes is about period cramps, comes complete with fuzzy guitar and full-to-the-brim vocals. It’s an extremely fun song, reminiscent of a more 90’s indie pedalboard sound, and helps the band expand their sound some. It’s a simple song, but I spun it a whole bunch this year.

KEY I AM NEVER JEALOUS OF PEOPLE WITH PERIODS: I play out the same scene, bleeding on my new sheets / I wanna bake out on the concrete

Wednesday – “Bull Believer,” “Chosen to Deserve,” “Quarry”

One of these things is not like the others! I couldn’t help but include three songs by the Band of the Year in here. For those unfamiliar, Wednesday deliver a brand of americana-infused indie with a healthy amount of heavy guitar, in a total package that feels similar to Neil Young on paper, though not in practice. “Chosen to Deserve” and “Quarry” are country-fried indie tunes that tell tales of American loneliness; the former is a first-person tale of two bored people forcing a relationship, the latter is a walk down a poor street deep in the suburbs. “Bull Believer,” meanwhile, is a 8+ minute dose of heavy grunge that culminates in minutes of screaming. You simply won’t believe it’s from the same album. 

KEY STORYTELLING TIME: Somebody called the cops on Mandy and her boyfriend / When they busted in they found that her house was a front for a mob thing / Pulled guns and cocaine from the drywall wrapped in newspaper / We gathered in the tall grass and watched unblinking as they cuffed ’em and hauled ’em away

There were of course many, many other songs I wanted to write about for this list. Real quick, here’s five that just missed the cut: 26Fix – “Stonekiller” (electronic/indie), Full Body 2 – “wonder limit” (shoegaze/hyperpop), The Kills – “New York” (guitar indie), Nation of Language – “Sole Obsession” (electronic/indie/new wave), Slaughter to Prevail – “Viking” (deathcore)

Check back in tomorrow when I start my official countdown of *cough* my 100 favorite albums of 2023!

The Depeche Chronicles

Happy Halloween! Here’s an intro paragraph I wrote months ago:

Hello welcome to THE DEPECHE CHRONICLES, a title that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. This is entry number four in an ongoing series where I force myself to sit down and actually listen to the catalogue from an artist I claim to love, or one that I simply should know more about. You can click through for the first three entries: Zola Jesus | David Bowie | The Replacements. For this project, I am planning on listening to and writing about all 15 studio albums, including the ones I’m already familiar with. Why did I choose Depeche Mode? Easy – I’m seeing them on Halloween night (!) and, well, I just haven’t heard nine or so of these albums.

This was originally going to be a multi-part series but I neglected it and now I’m scrambling to get it up hours before Halloween. Shall we get started?

SPEAK & SPELL (1981)

I’ve always wondered if their debut would follow suit of “I Just Can’t Get Enough” and, well, it does! This first album seems like a massive red herring compared to the band that would follow. It’s not exactly fair to call this album “jolly” when the second track is called “I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead” but the music is far bouncier and new wave-y than what would follow. I had forgotten, quite frankly, that Vince Clarke wrote these tunes before he spun off into Erasure and let Dave Gahan get weird with it.

I mostly found this album…bewildering. There’s a lot of strange choices, like taking the dense, catchy and incredible opener “New Life” and following it up with the short, midtempo “I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead” that halts the album in its tracks immediately. Also, for a band that has spent decades being deathly serious, there’s an instrumental filler tracker called “Big Muff.” It has the exact same effect as Alice in Chains having an early track called “Fat Girls” (which is real, btw).

The bookends of this album are great – the hits “New Life” and “I Just Can’t Get Enough.” What comes in between is a handful of songs that sound pretty similar to those two hits. It’s not bad by any means, but it is repetitive. Side B starter “Photographic” is bolstered by a strong beat and some very subtle chaos. The back half of Side A – “Boys Say Go!,” “Nodisco,” and “What’s Your Name?” are all very pleasant songs as well, though they were not necessarily ones that demanded my attention.

This is a very new wave album, almost to the point of parody. I’m mostly surprised that something so fully synth-poppy existed this early in the 80’s. I wrote in my Replacements piece about bands struggling to adapt to changes, and with an album like this in ’81, it’s easy to see why so many classic rock bands couldn’t adjust. This is a moderately fun debut, but there’s a hard reset coming and I think it’s for the better – this sound is barely sustainable across one album. I’m looking forward to seeing how the band really solidifies themselves, because I know absolutely nothing about the next couple releases.

Grade: 6.5/10

Favorite non-hit track: “Photographic”

A BROKEN FRAME (1982)

Sheesh. This one’s pretty rough. The group – now a trio with their chief songwriter departing – have dug themselves a wide trench and jumped in. There’s very little to say about this one, it’s just boring.

The songwriting isn’t that bad. There are enough ideas happening here to make a lot of the tracks unique, although many of them are pretty barebones. Redundancy is actually something that plagues later DM albums so it’s nice to see it isn’t a case here. Plus, having Gahan and Gore share lead vocals on “Shouldn’t Have Done That” gives that song a special feeling, a late album treat. “Nothing To Fear” is a neat instrumental, not riveting or anything but also unique against the album’s other tracks. Otherwise, the good tracks here are just some very Depeche-y songs, like “Leave in Silence,” “See You” and
“The Sun & The Rainfall.”

Those songs are decent, but there’s no real standouts here. The songwriting is a bit minimal, often moving on just one idea until it runs out of gas. More critically, the production is hollow. There’s a lot of dead air, with Gore sounding distant and the synths not sounding full enough. It feels like a trial run – in a way, it was – for a band that had already had a major hit. The production really kills whatever beauty this album could’ve had, and reduces it into just a passable, forgettable synth album. Skip it.

Grade: 4/10

Fav non-hit track: “Shouldn’t Have Done That”

CONSTRUCTION TIME AGAIN (1983)

When I jumped into this project, I truly didn’t know what to expect from the 80’s hit valley albums, but I expected a number of releases like Frame. Luckily, this one overdelivered! It’s far from a great album, but it’s also a tall step up from the utter tediousness of their sophomore record.

There’s a lot of fun ideas on this album, and the best tracks are the ones that feel wholly unique. Opener “Love, In Itself” is a dark and moody to kick the album off, an omen of better Depeche albums down the line. It’s a tortured song of needing more than love, complete with minor key synths that hit hard. The follow-up, “More Than A Party,” is bouncier but stands as the highest energy Depeche song to date (in fairness, not much competition). It’s a great song that shows a side of the band they often ignore. “The Landscape is Changing” shows some inspiration taken from industrial music, which was operating on the sidelines of the same synth-pop movement. Again, it’s something the band clearly can do, but rarely does. So that’s a nice, unexpected late-album banger.

The middle of the album does sag, though. “Everything Counts” and “Two Minute Warning” are simply songs that exist, and I could not find an opinion to elicit at all. Same goes for “Told You So” and “And Then” at the album’s end. “Pipeline” worked on paper, as the band took a very Asian-influenced rhythm and fed it through synths, but the song doesn’t exist much beyond it and it stretches on for far too long. There’s still considerable downtime on this album.

I won’t say this is a great album, it’s fine, just one with some great songs. I’m glad I listened to it. This is the true birth of the band that would go on to sustained greatness – the first two albums are scratched experiments. I’m excited on what the next few albums hold, while apprehensive. We’re in a serious hit drought, still albums away from Violator. But! Onwards I will go.

Grade: 6/10

Fav non-hit track: “More Than A Party”

SOME GREAT REWARD (1984)

Well, hm. I’ve gotta respect the work ethic here – they haven’t missed a year yet. But after the more adventurous and diverse Construction, this feels like a bit of a backpedal. Frustrating, and disappointing. This is another Depeche album where there’s simply not much going on, it feels like mostly downtime. That’s no good!

Okay so I’m not gonna go back and edit my mistakes, I’ll own up to it – I thought we were in a low period for hits, but I didn’t think about “People Are People.” At track 3, it’s the first interesting song here. “Something to Do” has a tantric rhythm, but it’s got nothing lyrics, and on the whole it’s a bit dull. “Lie To Me” left no impression on me whatsoever! The rest of the first side of the album followed in this manner – songs I simply didn’t care about one way or another. “It Doesn’t Matter” didn’t matter, and “Stories of Old” felt a bit empty despite some fun music.

Side B fared better! “Somebody” was a nice, and surprising, piano ballad. For a band that has always relied on synths, the switch to real piano was a shock. That’s followed by “Master & Servant,” another industrial-tinged flare, with far more interesting lyrics than any song prior. These two back-to-back really helped to save the album from being dismal. “Blasphemous Rumors” closes things out, a minor classic that was better than I remembered.

There are some standout tracks, but it feels like a regression. The music is back to sounding repetitive and midtempo, and the lyrics are pretty forgettable across the board. It’s a pleasant album, and the band is starting to gel more on the “who does what” front, but it just isn’t that interesting. A shame. Oh well.

Grade: 4.5/10

Fav non-hit track: “Master & Servant”

BLACK CELEBRATION (1986)

Finally, we’re getting into some real meat & bones Depeche Mode. This is the first album so far where it’s really felt a full album of inspired stuff that’s distinctly Depeche. The album has its faults – mostly strange ones – but it’s a vast improvement over Reward, too.

Let’s talk about the opening track. The title track really caught me off-guard! So far, the albums have had somewhat weak openers that lead into a better track, but this one starts off hot. In fact, “Black Celebration” is the best song on the album. It’s got a very complicated, puzzling central rhythm and good vocals that produce a song that sounds vaguely threatening. It taps into the torturous well that many of the best Depeche songs pull from, one of the first great ones so far. The two following songs – “Fly on the Windscreen” and “A Question of Lust” follow suit, but to diminishing returns. Still, it’s the template of better Depeche to come, and it feels like the first time it’s been solidified.

“A Question of Time” starts off the back half with a real moody and intriguing vibe, a great rebound after the first half trails off. Late-album track “World Full of Nothing” is also very strong, a soft and absent piano ballad that sounds pretty bleak. “But Not Tonight,” which is just a bonus song on extended editions, finishes off the album with a bouncy, catchy rhythm, the kind that is largely missing from the back half.

There’s still general downtime on this album. Both halves have songs that simply didn’t register an impression on me, and it was really disappointing how quickly the first side tapered off after a great start. Also, there were bizarre issues in the mixing; some songs were just too quiet? Everything in “New Dress” sounded hushed in a way that was unintentional, like it was a lo-fi production. Everything got lost in the mix. It was odd. This happened on a few tracks, but it was the most noticeable on “Dress.”

Still! I really enjoyed this album. Even the lesser tracks offered something fun, and the band is really, truly, taking shape. We’re ramping up to Violator, and it’s making me hopeful for the albums that come in between. This is a solid record with some real standout tracks, it’ll be worth a revisit!

Grade: 7/10

Fav non-hit track: “Black Celebration”

MUSIC FOR THE MASSES (1987)

Celebration felt like a template for the Depeche Mode albums to come, and this is a mostly fun minimalistic supplemental piece. This doesn’t feel quite as “Depeche” as the albums bookending it, but it still sees the band maturing and solidifying their base sound. For me, this one didn’t hit quite as hard as the ravenously positive retro reviews, but it’s still very solid.

The album opens with hit “Never Let Me Down Again,” which is a great song and not at all a good album opener. It sets the tone of the album, but doesn’t have either enough oomph or nuance to feel like a proper intro. Still, it’s an excellent song! The follow-up, “The Things You Said,” might be more indicative of the album – pleasant, minimalistic and vaguely ambient. It’s lighter than previous Depeche songs, which mostly aren’t super loud or heavy to start with. Most of Masses plays with this minimalistic sound. It’s nice that they can pull it off, given that that isn’t a trait common among synth bands (and knowing the album that’s looming). “Sacred” sees this style coupled with the band’s standard religious lyrics in a winning effort. On the back half, “To Have and To Hold” works minimalistically, as well.

The album’s three biggest divergences all work incredibly well, too – the very fun and bouncy “Behind the Wheel,” the piano ballad “Nothing” and the unique instrumental “Pimpf.” These tracks manage to expand the band’s sound on an album that otherwise defines it.

As always, the album isn’t perfect. There are a few down spots. “I Want You Now” has a strong vocal performance and a layered melody, but it doesn’t sustain the interest. And “Little 15” is straight up dull. However, these were the only two songs that really stuck out to me negatively, which is the best batting average of any album yet.

Another high point is the production – it’s been shaky to outright bad on other albums, but everything sounds great here. The mixing is strong on these songs, especially the more layered ones. But even on the minimalistic tunes, there’s care put into the softness and richness of each contributor. The band is really settling into their midtempo groove – basically every song is midtempo – as they’re really starting to congeal more than ever. It’s easy to see why this album is beloved by some, it’s got a number of individual great songs on it. The best tracks either sound exactly like Depeche, or very different. This was the moment the band was really taken seriously – pretty comical, since Violator is just around the corner.

Grade: 7.5/10

Fav non-hit track: “Behind the Wheel”

VIOLATOR (1990)

I mean, what is there to say about Violator that hasn’t already been said by people more qualified than me? It’s an all-timer album! It also is definitely not a first-time listen for me, but it’s been so long that it felt like one.

This is the big one for a reason. Their songwriting has improved, and their concept of what they can do with an album has greatly improved. I mentioned before that the band struggled with opening tracks and sequencing – well those issues are erased here. The album is sequenced perfectly, and explores what to do with downtime on an album. “World In My Eyes” is a great opener, a standard but solid Depeche song, and one that lulls the listener into false expectations. “Sweetest Perfection” follows the same trend, though both songs make it obvious that this album is better produced than any previous Depeche effort. But when those two songs give way to “Personal Jesus,” something hits. “Jesus” is of course a massive hit on its own, but it sounds pummeling on the album. The band hadn’t put a song like that out in years, far funkier and confident than listeners at the time were used to.

When talking about sequencing, we’ve gotta look at the transition between “Waiting For The Night” and “Enjoy the Silence.” The former is a minimalistic tune, hypnotic but barely present, and one that ends on the same rhythm that “Silence” starts on. It allows the latter tune to hit so hard refreshingly hard that it sounds energizing, even though it’s a song I’ve heard a thousand times. Likewise, the band explores free space at the end of “Silence,” cut out from the radio version. There are a few hidden interludes on this album that really work well in separating songs and ideas.

Everything on this album just works well. There’s still space to say I loved the closing track, “Clean,” which reminded me greatly of Pink Floyd’s “One Of These Days.” Also, I listened to the extended version, so I picked up some neat instrumental tracks after the record. “Kaleid” was the most interesting one of these, something that sounds more akin to today’s electronic than 80’s Depeche Mode. All in all, this one rocks, but did you not already know that?

Grade: 9/10

Fav non-hit track: “Clean”

SONGS OF FAITH & DEVOTION (1993)

Alright folks, if you’re reading all of these posts in order than it all comes together at once, but it’s actually been about a month since I spun Violator, so apologies if this gets inconsistent or loose or anything. It’s been a busy month – we moved, then my gf had surgery, and work has been crazy. And, for whatever reason, I just haven’t been in a Depeche Mood. But we’re back, where I had left off right in the middle of their peak.

I’m not sure this album hit for me the way it seemed to hit most upon its release. I’ve always known this one to be one of their bigger, better albums, and for good reason. It expands on their creative peak of Violator, and even if the actual songwriting isn’t quite as exemplary, it really solidifies the sound that the band has become known for since that album. This is a gloomy, depressing album, and one highlighted by religious imagery. There have been hints (or full-blown excursions) into that territory before, but never as deep or consistent as here. I mean, look at the album title. They didn’t make it subtle.

Okay, first off, I loved the opening track. “I Feel You” has a respectably high number of spins on Spotify, especially as one that I don’t think I was already familiar with. It’s a departure – somewhat – from the electronics-based sound the band is known for. It’s more of a rock song, with live guitar and drums and a complex time signature. It feels like the opposite of Radiohead dropping the synth-based Kid A, a surprise given how immensely popular the previous album was. It was also the lead single, a changing of the guards song. To be quite honest, the rest of the top side of this album didn’t really grab me! You can maybe chalk that up to a pre-coffee listen at work, but the next few songs felt a bit like “more of the same,” to me.

Side B mostly all worked for me, thankfully. I really dug the later single “In Your Room,” a patient and gloomy song that really grabs that dark-synth, goth vibe that they excel at. Gary Numan apparently credits this album with helping him get heavier, and it’s easy to see why in this song. (Side note: Numan has put out some incredible albums in the last decade). “Get Right With Me” is a livelier song, at least in comparison, thanks to a bouncy vocal rhythm. It’s a very textured song; so far, Depeche has done much better with layered songs rather than barebones ones. “One Caress” is a string section-backed ballad, one that comes as a surprise after the rock/electronic songs prior, but one that fits right in with the tone. It’s a great piece of gloomy art, and couples nicely with “I Feel You” in showing how the band can be comfortable in uncomfortable territory. The closer “Higher Love” is another solid ballad, with a great vocal performance. It’s not the finest song on the record, but one that acts as a great closer.

All in all, I did really enjoy this album. I owe it – especially the first half – a pretty immediate re-listen. I think it could become a personal favorite. Consider a grade on this one to be temporary, as it could easily be elevated. The band is on a hot streak, and this album is extremely important in formulating the sound and aura that all of the future albums would strive for. Although the biggest album is behind us, this is the one that FEELS the most like Depeche Mode.

Grade: 7.5/10

Fav non-hit track: going back and forth here because “I Feel You” was very much a hit, but one that I didn’t already know, and maybe my favorite first-time hear so far. I’ll toss in “One Caress” too, not a single at all.

ULTRA (1997)

So, the point of these projects is that I listen to a band’s catalog in a condensed amount of time, so I can track how a band progresses, and to get better at listening to full catalogs. But I needed a break! So I’m actually writing this one months after Faith & Devotion. It was an unfortunate place to take a break, as this album was such a near-disaster that it really comes in at a left angle on the listener.

Depeche Mode is in turmoil. Alan Wilder is gone and Dave Gahan has both overdosed and attempted suicide since the last album. It looks like a lot of people assumed the band was finished – and justifiably so. But instead, we get this dense and puzzling album. Knowing the backstory, the whole album feels darkly mystical and downright uncomfortable, as if Gahan is going to disappear halfway through. The sense of dread that fills it is, almost unfortunately, something that could’ve helped their rough early albums. The blackened cover and the maximalism-implying title give this one a real sense of doom.

As for the actual album, it’s often great but somewhat frustrating. The opening track – with the apropos title “Barrel Of A Gun” – is a dark and funky tune that sounds gleefully miserable. The specific tone of the song is difficult to pinpoint, which is something that truly works well. I mean, what’s more goth than this? The immediate follow-up is a left turn, “The Love Thieves,” a much more toned-down and moodier piece. It’s nearly as effective as the opener.  The album continues on this inconsistent trend throughout.

Some tracks stand out more than others. “It’s No Good” is another funky jam and an early highlight. “Useless” is a real solid tune, borderline industrial and richly textured with multiple overlapping rhythms. Late-album track “Freestate” is maybe the most ‘classic’ Depeche song on the album, midtempo and brooding but still catchy, and the song’s placement towards the end after a lot of experimentation is a nice touch.

The album’s biggest drawback is length. The thing is an hour long, and it includes a few instrumental ditties that just don’t serve much of a purpose. It is, at times, a slog. Some songs like “Home” and “The Bottom Line” just don’t hit very hard, and make it apparent that the album could’ve used a touch more editing. Some tracks, namely “Sister of Night” and “Insight,” are mostly great – but overstay their welcome. Truthfully, the album could’ve been trimmed.

With some cutting, this could’ve been a classic in the highest regard. It’s still a downright great Depeche album, their most haunting album to date (and probably overall). It isn’t really one that demands a number of relistens, due to its nature, but it will be a great one to come back to once and a while. And speaking of coming back, I’m excited to come back to this project, as it’s suddenly less than a week before I’m seeing Depeche Mode live!

Grade: 7.5/10

Fav non-hit track: “Useless,” which was released as a single but clearly didn’t make waves – it’s one of the lesser-played tracks, at least on Spotify.

EXCITER (2001)

I often find that when I have days when I am feeling particularly bad – be it sickness, anger, or poor mental health – I often follow it up with a day where I feel great. This album feels like the second day. After the sludge of darkness of Ultra, we get a release that’s much more atmospheric and euphoric. I’ve talked a lot in these posts about the importance of cover art, and just compare the two albums. Ultra has a cover of all black and gritty font. The Exciter cover? A lovely agave leaf. It’s pleasant to look at. And, it’s pleasant to listen to.

Full disclosure, I listened to this a week or so ago, possibly longer, so it really isn’t as fresh in my memory as I would like. I would love to relisten now – but I don’t have much time! It’s still in my brain, anyways. Onwards: I’m surprised by many of the middling grades assigned to this album. Scores for this one are pretty all over the place, and while I felt it wasn’t up to the standards of the last couple releases, it’s still a very strong and unique album.

As stated, this one is a lot more ambient than anything before it. I can see that being a letdown for folks expecting more dense muddiness, but it complements Ultra well. The album’s opener, “Dream On,” is a cheery pop tune with, shockingly, acoustic guitar. It’s the first in a series of songs that feature instruments, influences and textures not normal for Depeche Mode. “The Sweetest Condition” is a nice, breezy tune that mixes an urgent vocal performance with patient music. “The Dead of Night” has more of a droning rhythm, heavier in nature but still funky. “Freelove,” is a soulful and mature track that is very heavy on the blustery mood. The last one I really enjoyed, “I Feel Love,” is another optimistic one, a house music influence on a winding pop tune. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s nice to hear them having fun.

However, this one suffers the same major problem that Ultra does; there’s unnecessary downtime. It is not as egregious here, because the ambient nature leads to less jarring transitions, but it still feels like there are moments where you’re waiting for a bigger song to come along. This has been kind of a running issue through their catalog, one that hasn’t been amended by increased success. The songs I noted as the great ones are quite literally tracks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. The ones in between are less interludes and more puffier songs that don’t really work all that well. When the album hits, it’s great, but it couldn’t be spottier by design. Still, I think this is one of the more unique entries, and I think it’s one I may actually find myself coming back to often.

Grade: 7/10

Fav non-hit track: “I Feel Loved”

PLAYING THE ANGEL (2005)

Four years later. A tumultuous 90’s saw the band grab their biggest hits and best albums, while spiraling out of control behind the scenes. Ultra was the low, Exciter is the rebound. Now, in 2005, we’re settling into normalcy. But that sounds like an insult – this album is anything but complacent! I was expecting something steadier and less experimental, and this album is just that, but it’s an absolute blast. Quite frankly, I loved it.

Let’s talk about “Precious.” I was 15 when it came out, and I was only listening to guitar rock. Just starting to come into my own, I was chowing down the indie on VH1 at the time – Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, etc. I was just starting to get into punk and metal, too. I was hearing this song a lot, and I felt couldn’t land anywhere on it. I felt like it was something I wasn’t supposed to like, because it wasn’t what I already liked. Long story short, the song was instrumental (uh, no pun intended), in me learning I did not need to pigeonhole myself into liking any specific kind of music. To this day, I see the song for exactly what it is: an absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking piece of music.

This album starts off hot. “A Pain That I’m Used To” is a blaring opener, and just sounds cool. It’s a sonic shift after the ambient mix of Exciter. The second track, “John the Revelator” is centered around Dave Gahan’s vocals, one of his best vocal performances yet (if not the best). And, to complement that, “The Sinner In Me” features some very fun synth work that stands at the crossroad of funk and industrial, with little in the way of vocals. Both songs prove that Depeche Mode has overcome the murk and mire of the 90’s. Elsewhere, “Nothing’s Impossible” has a lot of groovy stuff going on despite a moderate tempo, and “Lilian” has a nice hook, although it is very much a late-album track in spirit.

Perhaps the biggest joy of the album is that it feels like they put the same amount of genuine effort into crafting every song, as opposed to bolstering the album with lesser tracks, like the previous two releases. This may be due to Gahan taking over some lyric writing for the first time. Still, there are some lesser tracks; “I Want It All” is an engaging ballad but it stretches on too long, and “Macro” just misses in general. “Damaged People” has some fantastic lyrics, but the final product is only a fair one.

My I’ve gone long. I really really enjoyed this one, suffice it to say it may be my favorite so far, besides Violator, of course. Genuine surprise – I thought I was settling into a run of C+ releases. What a delight.

Grade: 8/10

Fav non-hit track: This is tricky, as “Precious” was the only song I knew going in. But if I am to stick to non-singles, then “The Sinner In Me.”

SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE (2009)

Okay, see, this is more of what I was expecting from this era. This one won’t go long because my immediate thoughts are that I just don’t have much to say here. Universe is full of mostly midtempo meanderings, something that feels tame and stopgap. Not bad by any means, but very template. We haven’t gotten an album like this since the 80’s.

Let’s dig in. One thing I’ve noticed so far, with both individual songs and full albums, is that the band likes to run overlong. The opening track, “In Chains” starts with silence and then a curious softness, like a grand awakening. It’s a cool and subtle opening, until the song just falls into midtempo complacency. By the end, it gets kinda dull. At nearly seven minutes, it could’ve been saved. Follow-up “Hole to Feed” is a bouncier song, but it doesn’t amount to much. Again, we see an album that sacrifices the opening tracks to build to a different one. “Wrong” is a classic, I’ve loved it since the day the album dropped. But hearing that funky, heavy rhythm and the urgent vocals really highlights how pointless the first two songs felt.

There’s some fun stuff right after. “Fragile Tension” is a very fun ditty that sounds like a much younger band. And “Little Soul” is a great, spacey song that sounds like something Depeche would’ve recorded twenty years earlier. “Peace,” similarly, is a very spacey song. It drags in tempo, but the soundscape more than makes up for it. “Miles Away / Truth Is” has an exceptional vocal performance, probably the best one on the record.

That’s about it though. The album’s other tracks are mostly just mildly interesting songs that exist. None of them are bad, but few of them are great. It’s sad to see such a sharp downturn in quality, especially after such a long run. But I also expected it, in a way. We’re approaching a run of albums I’ve heard before and I’m not incredibly pumped to revisit them. But I will!

Grade: 6/10

Fav non-hit track: “Fragile Tension”

DELTA MACHINE (2013)

Quite frankly, I’m not sure if this is a first time listen or not. By 2013, I was already a long ways into “liking the Depeche Mode hits” and, a few years later, I picked up a discarded CD version of this release on the side of the road. But I don’t think I ever actually listened to it. Either way, this to me exemplifies what I think of when I think Depeche Mode – a lot of midtempo songs full of synth and almost uncomfortable amounts of sex and religion. I came into this one with low expectations, thanks to a perceived notion that I may have listened to it and disliked it. Hey I listen to a lot of music, I can’t be expected to remember what I have and have not heard. Either way, it surpassed the expectations, but not by much.

This one has a great opener! “Welcome to My World” feels similar to the opening track of Universe, in that it recognizes the importance of an auspicious beginning. It’s a confident song, and features a lot of morphing and tempo changes, something mostly foreign to Depeche Mode. The follow-up, “Angel,” is just a good Depeche Mode ditty. Nothing more – what you picture with the phrase “good Depeche Mode song.” There were great tracks peppered through this one. “My Little Universe” is a great and more experimental one, a song that feels both bouncy and minimalist. The even better “Soft Touch / Raw Nerve” has the same energy, with a beat that somehow blends minimalism and industrial. “Soothe My Soul” is the album’s best track, very fun energy with powerful lyrics and harmonization (!) between Gahan and Gore. The song feels akin to a religious awakening, fitting that it comes at the end of an album chock full of religious analogies.

Too much, maybe. The album’s lyrics are not really up to par, honestly. They feel vague, and when they do get religious, it’s too persistent. “Angel” transitions right into “Heaven.” And there’s just too many midtempo ballads. “Secret to the End,” “Broken” and “Alone” are all interchangeable snoozers. “Slow” is a great ballad, but it comes at the album’s midpoint, when we’ve already gotten a few similar-but-worse tracks that bog it down. The album really needs two or so more songs with energy. It just gets kind of drab, which is exactly what I feared this album would be.

In the end, it’s an improvement over the general boredom of Universe. The songs here feel fuller, except for two brilliantly minimalist songs. There’s too much downtime, but the highs of this album are excellent – well above the ones of the previous album. It was a mixed experience. I won’t be coming back to this one anytime soon; however I have grabbed a couple songs off of it, that are just DM all-timers. Ah well. The finish line is near.

Grade: 6.5/10

Fav non-hit track: I don’t think I knew any of these songs coming in, and the best is “Soothe” but for the sake of not picking a single, it’s “Soft Touch / Raw Nerve.”

SPIRIT (2017)

By this point, I know I’ve listened to this album. I was already into my “listen to all new music” mode that I’m still very much in, so I spun this one. But I don’t remember it much. Besides, with the album’s background, how could I not? Depeche Mode have always avoided politics, but for this album, they dive head in. The state of politics both American and British was beyond dire, and the band specifically felt the pressure when that fascist should-be-murdered-in-the-street bitchboy Dick Spencer called DM the band of the alt-right. The band was pretty hurt by this, releasing two statements condemning Spencer and the alt-right and releasing a very leftist inspired video for “Where’s the Revolution?” Boy I bet they enjoyed watching him get punched.

Anyways, let’s dig into it. The opener here is great, “Going Backwards,” a depressing tune with great vocals and a nice beat. It sets up the album nicely, as Depeche are channeling politics into their music without sacrificing any of the misery. “The Worst Crime” is pretty similar, a downtrodden song that isn’t really a ballad. It also has – shockingly – a guitar line as the primary focus. This is an entirely different side of DM. The follow-up, “Scum,” is the closest thing to a straight rock song that the Mode has ever done. At points on this album, they really feel a new energy, a new anger. From a politics perspective, “Poorman” is the most direct song on the album, with blatant anti-corporate and pro-worker lyrics. It’s very cool to see a band at this stage in their career chime in with this kind of stuff. Genuinely, it’s refreshing. And “Where’s the Revolution,” the single, is of course a classic DM song. We’re still waiting.

This is not the most consistent album, unfortunately. When the band strays away from politics, it gets weaker. “You Move” is a fine Depeche Mode song, but it follows the two political, rock-adjacent songs. It is classic synths-and-sexy-lyrics, which feels like a backpedal. Other tracks like “Cover Me” and “So Much Love” are just time-fillers. “Poison Heart” is a very full song sonically and very interesting from a music perspective, but suffers from lackluster lyrics. “No More Time” is a fun one, but one that didn’t leave much of an impression on me.

Overall, this was a very interesting experiment for the band. Some people have criticized their political lyrics for being too blunt, but why? When you’re dealing with politics, no need to be poetic. No one has levied that criticism at Pennywise before. They were already expanding their horizon! The album is ultimately a bit unfocused sometimes, however, and it gets bogged down in inconsistencies. Still, I enjoyed it, especially at this later stage in their career. One day left before the show, one album left to spin.

Grade: 7/10

Fav non-hit track: “The Worst Crime”

MEMENTO MORI (2023)

And see, this is why I do these experiments. I spun this one twice when it first came out, and both times I reluctantly dismissed it as repetitive midtempo noodling. Now I have a fresher, deepened mind on all things Depeche, and it’s allowed me to see this album for what it really is. And it’s a gorgeous one.

Death surrounds this album. It was already surrounding this album during the songwriting phase, as many songs focus on mortality, but that became tenfold truer when Andy Fletcher passed away in 2022. Allegedly, he had neither contributed to nor heard any of the early versions of the songs when he passed, so this was recorded truly as a duo. The opener, “My Cosmos Is Mine,” is easily the most haunting song the band has ever done. It sounds like it was recorded in the depths of Hell, like something we weren’t meant to hear. The follow-up, “Wagging Tongue,” is equally grim, with the repeated line about watching another angel die. “Don’t Say You Love Me” is a pure goth ballad, one that sounds a bit old school for them. “Before We Drown” is a late-album song that’s also haunting with some cool synth stuff, albeit not as good as previous tracks. And the closer – “Speak To Me” – is a true Depeche song for the ages. It is an incredibly moving song, a powerful death ballad, and one that makes me wonder how I missed it the first two times. Even for Depeche, this is a doom and gloom release.

But it isn’t all that way! Lead single “Ghosts Again” may not be an uplifting track, but it does sound like one, with a very bouncy beat that sounds like 80’s Depeche. “People Are Good” is also a simple but unexpectedly optimistic song, one that’s necessary so the album doesn’t get too downtrodden. On a much softer note, “My Favorite Stranger” is a nice and bouncy one, though it is a bit on the uninspired side.

There are some weak spots on the album. “Soul With Me,” Martin Gore’s only lead vocal track on the album, was just too corny for me. “Always You” is one that completely lost me, a dull ballad stashed away towards the bottom. And while I enjoyed “Caroline’s Monkey,” I couldn’t put my finger down on what exactly the band was going for.

The real power of this album lies in the vocals. Song after song, we get the best harmonies and the best lead vocal performances from Dave Gahan that we’ve gotten in years. Practically every track has impeccable vocals, it truly is astonishing. “Never Let Me Go” might be the best vocal performance of the bunch, but it’s truly too hard to say. All in all, on a third listen, I loved this one. Now I get it.

Grade: 8/10

Fav track: Since this is one is new the slate is clean for song choice! I think it’s “My Cosmos Is Mine.”

And that’s a wrap! There’s a way to write 5,000+ words on Depeche Mode. I really enjoyed this project, it’s been a blast to dig into these albums after years of saying I should. I found a lot of great cuts and some excellent albums to revisit. And I feel prepped to see them tomorrow. Gonna cry when they play “Precious.” If you like this, check out some other entries! I’m going to try and do one more this year, haven’t picked the artist yet though.

Stay tuned, homeboys.

The Replacements Chronicles

It’s been a long few months since I’ve posted here – I really intended to use this blog more this year, but real life stuff keeps getting in the way! But I’m here with another edition of my new Chronicles series, where I burn through a band or artist’s studio catalog, specifically an artist that I should have a deeper knowledge on. You can check out my previous posts, Zola Jesus, and David Bowie. Truthfully, I finished this one months ago and just haven’t gotten around to uploading it. Whoops! My bad. But with the new release of the remixed Let It Be, it felt like the perfect time to upload. I haven’t included that here, but I’m excited to find some time to dive into it.

Unlike Zola & Bowie, I really do not know much of anything about this group. I remember checking them out many years ago and being turned off for some reason. Now I am older, wiser, and ready to explore something I’ve been putting off. I’ll be listening to all seven of their studio albums and chronicling my thoughts along the way. This will be a one-time entry, so all seven albums are below. Join me!

SORRY MA, FORGOT TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH (1981)

Okay so off the bat, I’m noticing the track lengths here. I think the reason I was initially turned off from the group was that they were heralded to me as a “punk” band so I was expecting the punk I was into at the time – Rancid, the Damned, the Stooges. It wasn’t that.

Well, this is actually along those lines and clearly where I should’ve started. This album does an expert job at melding pop and punk in the exact definition of power-pop. It’s got the punk energy and the punk snarl, but without sacrificing melody and licks. My immediate comparison was the Buzzcocks, though they leaned a bit more heavily into the “-pop” side of it. This album is full of bruisers, and a lot of them are excellent. The 1-2-3 opening punch of “Takin’ A Ride,” “Careless” and “Customer” really sets the tone for the band, with the latter song the best of the three. You’ve also got the two odes – “Somethin to Du,” the obvious ode to fellow punk group Husker Du, and “Johnny’s Gonna Die,” a more somber and serious song about the heroin-riddled Johnny Thunders. The best track is the comical “I Hate Music,” which satirizes the inherent paradox of the punk scene from the inside.

There is probably a little too much going on in this debut, even for one that isn’t particularly long. Some songs simply aren’t as melodic and memorable as the others, and the great ones are scattered throughout so it’s a real cherry-pick situation. The album feels a little maximalist, which is ironic given the short song lengths and barebones music. But, some songs could’ve definitely been cut.

It’s a fantastic album. It feels so definitive of the 80’s punk scene and the pop-driven bands who were rebelling against the hardcore factions. Power-pop like this simply doesn’t exist anymore, so all of these records feel like relics. Loved it, I’m hooked immediately. Can’t wait to check out the next six.

Grade: 7.5/10

Fav track: “I Hate Music”

HOOTENANNY (1983)

What a wild ride this one is. Almost immediately, the Replacements break the shackles of defined genre with this diverse, loose record. There’s a lot to love on this one, and the playful experimentation and gritty bitterness of the band is already coming out.

Some of the better tracks are punk bruisers that feel like a hangover off their debut. “Run It” is the shortest and loudest of them, a rambunctious track that feels like it’s about to go off the rails. Late-album bangers “You Lose” and “Hayday” are proper fight-starters, too, with only the latter stretching over two minutes. But there’s a lot of more midtempo stuff, too. One highlight is “Within Your Reach,” a more maturely written song that sounds closer to the Talking Heads side of new wave than anything. There’s also “Take Me Down to the Hospital” and closer “Treatment Plan,” two low-key songs that are closer to ditties than anything else.

Not everything worked for me. “Willpower” was straight up boring, and “Buck Hill” was another ditty that just felt like a filler retread of “Hospital.” In an album this short, there was still some unnecessary downtime. “Color Me Impressed” and “Lovelines” are both tracks that left no impression on me – literally, as my notes for both read just “?”.

There’s two absolutely bewildering tracks that were more confusing and exciting than anything else. The opening title track sees all of the band members switch instruments – poorly. It’s the kind of a thing a more restrained band would put at the end of the album. But the Replacements aren’t that band, and they both opened the album up with it, and named it after the song. Also there’s “Mr. Whirly,” a song credited to “mostly stolen,” which it is. It’s under two minutes, and is built on interpretations of other songs like “The Twist” and “Strawberry Fields Forever,” among others. I’m not sure it works as a taunt, but it’s fun. It got me more excited for the upcoming album “Let It Be.”

Great album, it kept me guessing top-to-bottom, even if it wasn’t 100% successful. I’m really wondering how I was put off from this group for so long. I’m excited to keep on going.

Grade: 8/10

Fav track: “Within Your Reach”

LET IT BE (1984)

I like to read reviews of albums when I do listen-throughs like this. I knew this was a renowned album, but I didn’t realize just how renowned it is. This represents a more mature Replacements, swapping out garage jams for longer and more toned-down songs and, in doing so, producing a certified indie classic.

I’ll be honest here and say I wasn’t hooked at first. The classic opener “I Will Dare” and the follow-up “Favorite Thing” didn’t really grab me in any way. I’m not really sure why, maybe because I didn’t quite know what to expect. Regardless, I was hooked after that. “We’re Comin Out” may have been more of a throwback punk jam, but it roped me in and the rest of the album held me tight. The disdainful ennui of “Unsatisfied,” the straight-forward rock of “Sixteen Blue” and the powerful ballad “Androgynous” all signal a genuine turning point for the group. “Androgynous” is easily the best and most important song they’ve done so far, with serious and prescient lyrics and real shades of Bowie rhythms on the vocal front (though maybe I’ve got Bowie on the mind from both his own flirtations with androgyny and, well, all of my Bowie posts).

The album isn’t devoid of energy and wit, though. I mean, there’s a song called “Gary’s Got A Boner.” The album is also titled Let It Be, with no songs by that name – an obvious bait. There’s also the aforementioned punk track “We’re Comin Out,” and a experimental garage tune called “Seen Your Video” that gives some vital energy to the album’s back half.

Still, the most impressive things about this album are the patient songwriting and the ballads. It’s a total 180 from the first two records, where energy and snark were the driving factors. The band wanted to sound more mature, and it’s a complete success. This may well be one of the best albums of the 80’s. I find myself struggling to criticize even a single song. Perfect.

Grade: 9.5/10

Fav track: “Androgynous”

TIM (1985)

Another Replacements album, another heralded piece of art from the 80’s. Critics seem to be just as hot on this one as they were with Let It Be, but I wasn’t feeling Tim as much. Pardon my phrasing.

This album was certainly interesting on paper, because it was as diverse as the previous outing while also managing to make everything feel cohesive, instead of a manic collection. My two personal favorite songs on the album – “Bastards of Young” and “Here Comes A Regular” – could not have been further apart. The former is the most raucous song on the album, a ripper that doesn’t align with their garage rock past, but falls somewhere near it. Closer “Regular” is a somber and metrical ballad, which sounds all the more striking when most of the preceding album was loose and rough. It’s got a catchy, repetitive hook that didn’t necessarily grab me at first but wore me down until I was super into it.

The rest of the album is fine to great, but the individual songs didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Like Let It Be, this one took some time to get going for me. The two songs I loved are on the back half, though “I’ll Buy” and “Swingin Party” were great as well. Even now, shortly after I finished listening to it, I couldn’t tell you much about most of the album’s songs. I think I owe this one an immediate revisit, because clearly something didn’t quite click for me.

Still, this is a great album, and it’s another logical step forward for the Replacements. They’re still maturing their sound, deepening their lyrics and cutting away some of the roughness. It’s rare to see such a hot streak to open a career, and I’m wondering if that gets maintained across the whole run (which I’m now over halfway into). I know very little about the upcoming albums, so let’s see!

Grade: 7.5/10

Fav track: “Here Comes A Regular”

PLEASED TO MEET ME (1987)

Okay so, if you’re reading this, then you’re doing it all in one chunk. But I should mention that there’s actually been a multi-week break in between Tim and now, which is antithetical to the project itself. Life got in the way! A lot of things are suddenly in shambles right now! But that is also fitting, given the general concept of this album. The Replacements are down to a three-piece, and shifting even further away from their punk origins. The album’s cover and title reflect this, in a one-two meta joke that also feels less snarky than their older jokes.

This album basically goes chronological – the opening three tracks, “I.O.U.,” “Alex Chilton” and “I Don’t Know,” are all fast-paced punkish bangers. But it calms down after that, and the forward-looking lyrics of “I Don’t Know” reflect that. The few songs that follow are all (a little too) similar, in their midtempo post-punk nature. There’s a lot of tracks that could get mistaken for indie these days. The songs are generally more serious than before, mostly drained of their humor and energy. Side A is all great, but it does fade out a bit as it goes on.

Side B sees the band diving further into unexplored genres and ideas. The classic closer “Can’t Hardly Wait” is a smooth, jazzy tune with early ska undertones and smoother production than any other track they’ve ever put out. “Shooting Dirty Pool” is a song that both sounds and takes place in a dark, carpeted lounge. And “Red Red Wine” comes close to pop ballad, ironically sounding similar to Peter Gabriel’s “Red Rain” (and this time, I don’t think it’s a joke).

The concept of this one really worked for me a lot. I greatly enjoyed this one, a true meeting of the punk and alt minds, and a stepping stone that feels like it was meant to happen behind the scenes. This is, also, the exact album I expected to hear at some point in this project, when I jumped in knowing very little about this group. Excellent.

Grade: 8/10

Fav song: “I Don’t Know”

DON’T TELL A SOUL (1989)

Again, there’s a logical progression we took to get to this album. This album continues down a path of self-serious reinvention. It is the most mature, serious and introspective album from them yet – by far. This album is a collection of jangly, adult songs.

As I often do with albums of midtempo alternative like this one, I’m struggling to really come up with much to say about it. Everything on this album works, but it’s not really a “for me” record. Naturally, my two favorites were the two most energetic songs – “They’re Blind” and “I Won’t,” although I will concede that the latter is really kind of a filler song.

It’s an immensely pleasurable listen, and it really doesn’t have any down moments, but it’s also definitely my least favorite so far. For me, the enjoyment in this record is more the path we took to get to the record rather than the record itself. What started out as a bratty, snarky punk group quickly found their cement in maturity and patience. And the fact that a more mature version of the group can put out a record this consistently solid without sacrificing any morals or soul is remarkable. It’s a trajectory that many have tried and few have passed.

This record is a must-listen for any 80’s alternative fans. I suspect it’ll grow on me with more listens, but that’s not the point here – immediate reactions only. So basically, I don’t know: it’s good!

Grade: 7/10

Fav song: “They’re Blind”

ALL SHOOK DOWN (1990)

Alas, this almost entirely fulfilling project ends not with a triumph but with a whimper. This last Replacements album is barely such, devised originally as a Paul Westerberg solo project. It’s messy and clunky, devoid of all charm and humor. Worst of all, it’s the only Replacements album that doesn’t have any sort of flow to it. It is, in my opinion, just bad.

But not entirely! The album did produce two modest hits in “Merry Go Round” and “Attitude,” and they’re both fine songs. There were also two late-album tracks, “Happy Town” and “My Little Problem,” that clung to me in the way that the older Replacements tracks did. So it’s not like this album is a wash or anything – but four out of thirteen tracks is a low batting average.

The Replacements coming to a halt in the 90’s feels similar to classic rock bands struggling to adjust to the 80’s. The album’s atrocious cover is a gray photo of two dogs while the album title is upside down and the band name is written twice – once forwards and once backwards. It’s an aggressively 90’s album cover, similar to Yourself Or Someone Like You, Cracked Rear View, and Stunt. Like the album, it feels unfocused and obligatory. There was a changing of the guards sonically, and this signaled the end of the Replacements.

There’s nothing wrong with this album, it’s just pretty boring. Everyone that plays on it feels lost and there’s little for a listener to really grab onto. It should’ve stayed a solo album rather than the label forcing their hand at a cash grab, because it does diminish the band’s legacy. Not a terrible album, but not a fitting end.

Still, this project has been far more fruitful than I could’ve possible imagined. I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like anything I heard – and I loved so much of it. Consider me hooked. I did a full 180. Their style didn’t really click with me until I just sat down and consumed what they had to offer. I will definitely be revisiting most of these albums on a regular basis now. Hooray!

Grade: 4.5/10

Fav song: “My Little Problem”

Thanks for reading, if anyone did! Up next is another long venture, and a band I’ll finally be seeing come Halloween night: DEPECHE MODE.

The Bowie Chronicles, Part 5

Well folks, we’ve done it. We’ve hit the end, er, we will in a few hundred words. I’ve listened to every studio album Bowie put out during his original run, and it’s been…..an experience. It was as enlightening as I had hoped, but maybe not quite as good as I had wished. A lot of these albums weren’t the best! But we still have a few more to get through before the finish line. Back at it.

BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE (1993)

It wouldn’t be the whirlwind of the Bowie catalog without another total reinvention. This feels like Bowie’s most adventurous album to date, a breezy and atmospheric art-pop album with forays into soul, jazz and electronic. The album was born out of excitement and tragedy, with Bowie’s marriage to Iman and the LA police riots, two things that occurred in the same week. The album is reflective of that, and I can feel it in the genre blend. Although all of these songs are fun and smooth, there is definitely a melding of influences. The added influence of the king Nile Rodgers behind the scenes only helps this.

It’s a bit of a confounding record, to be honest. Each track feels both complex and innately digestible, so the product all feels like manufactured soul. But there’s an earnestness to it too, with Bowie shedding yet another persona. You can listen to this either as forgettable background music or as a complex and curious work that ranks among Bowie’s more underrated albums. I suppose I, even more confusingly, took it both ways. It isn’t super cohesive – although I would argue it is more cohesive than the most slanderous of reviews claim – but it does seem to have an identity. There’s no standout track, not one I would grab for my general collection, but as a whole it’s a passable, fun listen.

As is the case with some previous albums, the low point for me was a cover – this time of Cream’s “I Feel Free,” arguably my personal favorite Cream song. It’s a pretty lifeless song, ironically, and a bad example of a “lyrics only” cover. It loses the spirit! There’s some other low points, though the album really does just flow as a whole. “Looking For Lester” is a fun jazzy jam for a while, until it belabors the point and you realize it’s very rehearsed. And the opening track “The Wedding” works for a bit but overstays its welcome.

As an experimental and dedicated record, I think this mostly works. It shakes the stink of “obligation” off form the 80’s pop records, this sounds like an album Bowie made for himself. It’s never really great but it has few low points too. I would maybe revisit this at some point, but I’d have to be in the right mood. I don’t know!

Grade: 7/10

Fav non-hit track: Well like the two Tin Machine records, this didn’t really provide a hit. I’ll say the dreamy “You’ve Been Around”

OUTSIDE (1995)

Man I don’t know what to make of this one. I had no clue coming into this that Bowie had done a massive concept album like this. I can see he was originally planning on this being a minimum 5-album project that was never seen out. It’s wild to think this is just sitting in his catalog with no real attention positive or negative.

I was listening to it while I was working (as with every other album on this list) so I really couldn’t pay devout attention to the narrative themes or characters, and that aspect was certainly lost on me. With only the music to go on, this was a slog and a half. Bowie was inspired by “outsider music” but I don’t really see that present here. It’s mostly slower songs and interludes that become mostly interchangeable with each other after time. It’s Bowie’s longest – by a considerable amount – and that length comes into play. It’s bloated and, simply, boring.

There’s a few interesting tracks, of course. “The Heart’s Filthy Lesson” is a particularly fun one, and the surprising “Hallo Spaceboy” sees Bowie tread into more of an industrial territory. This album preceded the doomed tour with Nine Inch Nails, but this song acts as the precursor. It’s the loudest and best song on the album, and the most left-field one. But both of those songs are on the album’s front half, and the back half is long.

This is another reactionary-against-pop album, with Bowie in full control of his ambitions. I can never fault him or the album for that. If this had been realized as a full universe, it could be a classic! But as an abandoned project, it exists as a weird artifact, an outsider album for even Bowie, and one that leaves me more dumbfounded than anything. On another listen, especially a closer one, I might learn to love it. But really, I found it monotonous. Bewildering, skippable work.

Grace: 4/10

Fav non-hit track: “Hallo Spaceboy”

EARTHLING (1997)

This one I know I’ve listened to at least some, because “I’m Afraid of Americans” has always been one of my favorite Bowie tracks and I was intrigued by the Nine Inch Nails pairing. But I really didn’t remember any of it! I super enjoyed it, it’s Bowie just exploring new territory because he wants to, again. But gone are the dreamier elements of his past few albums in favor of pseudo-industrial rock. It’s very metrical and often very heavy, probably the most abrasive music in Bowie’s catalog. But it’s not without melody, too.

It’s far from perfect, it really relies on the heavier, more booming songs – and they’re a little too and far between. The album’s more filler tracks don’t really hit with any sort of urgency or importance. They’re pleasant, but it’s clear the album is centered on a few songs and not a whole.

Thankfully, some of the best tracks are on the longer side – some of the longer ones in his catalog. The pounding opener “Little Wonder” hits six minutes, and the equally-good “Dead Man Walking” stretches past seven. And, unlike some of the other Bowie singles I love, “Americans” really sounds great in the context of the album. Absolute banger.

So: this is a great one, I feel it’s due for a reappropriation. I don’t think people are super keen on it, but there’s a lot of good stuff to dig through. Even some “lesser” songs like “Seven Years in Tibet” and “Battle For Britain (The Letter)” hit, at least as enjoyable songs. I liked it as much as I expected to!

Grade: 7.5/10

Favorite non-hit track: “Little Wonder”

HOURS… (1999)

I’ve mentioned this before, but Bowie has always been keenly aware of how an album cover can reflect its contents. Earthling see him downing a flashy suit from behind, with bright colors seemingly added in digitally. The cover to this album is…dreadful. His name is written in no specific font or size, and the image of one Bowie cradling another looks religious – the intention, but not in the correct way. It looks like the cover for a Christian rock album.

It’s pretty dull. After a few albums of “for me” experimentation, Bowie treads back into the light of radio-friendly music, this time in the form of adult contemporary rock. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the album, it just all feels similar. There are 10 tracks; one is an interlude, one is a banger, and eight of them are mostly interchangeable ballads. On their own, they sound fine, but as a collection, it just doesn’t add up to anything particularly inspiring.

The opener “Thursday’s Child” was the only song I knew going on, and it really is a fine and pleasant ballad. Seemingly the most popular track (on Spotify) is mid-album ballad “Seven,” which really is the best one in the collection. It’s one of the better Bowie ballads, at least of the back half. I urge folks to check that one out. My personal pick was, naturally, the sole banger: “The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell.” It’s a fun tune, a nice antidote to the first few downer songs.

Those three songs aren’t really enough to save the album. It’s a release searching for an identity. It’s kinda spacey, a bit, but not enough to feel like Bowie. It simply exists. It’s one I’ve been dreading, and it really just wasn’t much of a listen.

Grade: 5.5/10

Fav non-hit track: “The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell”

HEATHEN (2002)

On paper, this album is intertwined with Hours… due to the fact that they’re both art-pop albums that embrace vaguely religious themes. But this is one is far better, and delightfully so. I had higher hopes for this one, but I really was surprised – it’s one of his more underrated albums! I mean, the reviews were all pretty positive, but its an album that’s just not talked about much anymore.

In practice, the album really is similar to Hours… as well – mostly ballads with some fun stuff thrown in. But the ballads feel stronger somehow. I’m not sure if it is inspiration of production, but the songs just sound fuller. And in this case, the “fun stuff” is covers of songs by Neil Young and Pixies. There’s also some delightful bops like “Afraid” and “I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship,” the latter of which is unsurprisingly Bowie’s spaciest song in years. Early album cuts “Slip Away” and “Slow Burn” are extremely satisfying ballads, with Bowie relying more and more and his simple vocal power.

I’m being totally gushy – it’s not a perfect album or anything. The back half is fun and playful, but it isn’t anything super memorable. Songs like “A Better Future” and “Everyone Says ‘Hi’” are very digestible little jams that justify their presence but don’t exactly stick around in your brain. Nothing wrong with that! It’s an improvement over most of the last decade’s worth of album back-halves. But still, it only makes an album that’s “pretty good!”

It’s a shame that I’m so close to the end, because if Bowie had kept up with a sound like this, we could’ve potentially had a nice late-career run. But, touring was growing on him, and he was moving increasingly reclusive. Heathen is a fun album, though, and should be cherished as a little late-career gift (until the two late-late-career gifts). Really folks, it’s worth it!

Grade: 7.5/10

Fav non-hit track: “Slip Away”

REALITY (2003)

And friends, this is the end. And we end in a very similar way that we started: with a decent, mostly unnoteworthy rock album. Reality is a fun, playful rock album similar to the ones Bowie was putting out before he really got into his groove. It’s fascinating to think this is how he ended his original run, a run that I always assumed ended a few years after this album’s release. Now, I wonder if this was a planned goodbye.

This album has some solid bangers and ballads, though it’s got some filler time too. Real talk: I accidentally let this album sit for a week, so I’m not remembering it as well as most of these post-mortem reviews. But still, the good tracks are fresh in my brain. It’s an up-and-down album, but considering how bad some of the nadir albums have been, it still feels refreshingly jubilant. Bowie has one of his better late-career vocal performances on the disarming “Looking For Water,” a downtrodden song that’s still pulsing and catchy. “Reality” is a great bruiser, and would fit in with his early classic rock hits. “Try Some, Buy Some” hinges on a corny rhyme, but it grows into a powerful ballad about Bowie’s own addiction issues – and running with the theme he used in “Space Oddity” and “Ashes to Ashes.” A lot of the other tracks are at least enjoyable, if not as memorable as these three standouts.

Unlike the 90’s run of Bowie albums, he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel here. It’s just a showcase for what he did best during his heyday. It’s a fittingly hit-and-miss finale for a hit-and-miss catalog. I’m skipping over The Next Day and Blackstar because I already know those albums extremely well, and I love them both. So for the purpose of this exercise, Reality is the end. Quite frankly, this whole Bowie project was not as rewarding as I had hoped it would be! But it served it’s purpose – I’ve finally contextualized the decades of Bowie songs I’ve loved into a (somewhat) cohesive catalog from a (not at all) cohesive musician. While there was a lot of sludge, I definitely love and appreciate Bowie more than I already did. This has been fun! Even with the putrid 80’s albums!

Grade: 7/10

Fav non-hit track: “Looking For Water”

My next long project is going to be Depeche Mode – I’ll be seeing them on Halloween – but up next is a short one from a band I know little about: The Replacements.

The Bowie Chronicles, Part 4

Ugh, again, I apologize for how late this is – this whole Bowie project was supposed to take a month at most, but I haven’t had the time to actually make these posts. I’ve been listening and writing! But everything is on fire right now and I have neglected this blog. Not only am I done with Bowie, I’m done with the next artist and four albums deep into the next artist, so expect a flurry of these. Ok? Where did we leave off. Oh right, the 80’s. Not a pleasant time for Bowie. Let’s dance jump in.

LET’S DANCE (1983)

I knew going in that this would be an interesting one to write about, since Side A of this album kicks off with three huge hits – including my favorite Bowie track – so naturally I was going to like it. And yeah, hearing them back-to-back-to-back didn’t exactly provide any kind of insight or unique listening experience. The fourth song, “Without You,” didn’t exactly demand or grab my attention, a crashing back down to Earth. What else is there to say about this?

Side B was varied, though it ultimately proved that the album was the top-heavy release that I was expecting. Side A mostly eschews the moderately-uncharacteristic lengthy tracks in favor of more standard pop akin to Scary Monsters. It’s mostly pretty boring, though I really liked “Ricochet.” Also, “Cat People” is a minor classic for a reason. “Shake It” proved to be a decent final track and one that made me realize that Bowie has never really put much focus on closing tracks, something I always find fundamental to albums.

I’m a little surprised at how little I have to say about this one. I always kinda figured this was a key Bowie album based on the triple-punch openers (pun intended). Yet, it just exists, and it feels clear to me why Bowie himself didn’t like this period. It’s also worrying for me, because I know the next few albums are going to be much worse. Oh well. Let’s dive in.

Grade: 6/10

Favorite non-hit track: “Ricochet”

TONIGHT (1984)

Yep. This isn’t exactly great. For the first time since the beginning of his career, Bowie sounds consumed by, rather than predicting, the state of music. This feels very 80’s in a not complimentary way, a collection of cheesy ballads and synthy noodling. It isn’t bad, at all, it’s just…there.

There are some highs! The opening track “Loving The Alien” is one of Bowie’s best vocal performances to date. It’s a ballad – not a great way to open an album to be honest – that strips away theatrics in favor of performance. It’s a crooning song, something that I feel like is associated with Bowie but rarely actually present. There’s a handful of these tracks across the album, but none as good as this. Also, I really enjoyed “Neighborhood Threat,” which kicks off the back half with the first dose of adrenaline on the album. It’s a genuinely fun song, and seems to have fallen into obscurity within a catalog that hasn’t.

But that’s about it. Six of the album’s nine tracks are forgettable pop fluff, reflective of the times and not ideal relics. It’s clear Bowie was running out of juice. The album’s penultimate song “I Keep Forgettin’” is actively bad, a hokey and cringey song that sounds closer to music made for toddlers than anything else. The fact that it’s also the album’s shortest song is both a relief and an insight into how little ambition there was across recording. There’s nothing remarkable about this album, and diehards may get something to glean from it, but there is very little going on. It’s dull.

I’m going to say that this is the worst one yet, but I know that title is largely reserved for the next album. I’m about to hit a weekend, so I get to treat myself Monday morning.

Grade: 4.5/10

Favorite non-hit track: “Neighborhood Threat”

NEVER LET ME DOWN (1987)

For the record, I was listening to the version on Spotify listed merely as “2018 Remaster” and I cannot tell if it’s the full-album remix or a slight reworking of the original, due to the platform’s continued and nonsensical war on an audiophile’s reliance on accurate data. Anywho. This album is fine. It’s pretty universally regarded as the worst Bowie album, by critics, biographers and the man himself. I don’t think I would go that far, but I also had my expectations set low because of the reviews. The album was supposed to be a return to rock-and-roll Bowie and by that metric, it’s an abject failure. The record mimics the art-pop of Tonight, a collection of quirky and complex pop tracks that sound closer to livelier Kate Bush or MJ than anything else.

For the most part, the record feels kind of lifeless. It’s not uninspired, like some earlier Bowie, but there isn’t really a whole lot going on, no real statement or character work. Each song individually is fine but the album as a whole feels lackluster. It’s clearly a mess, and unlike some of Bowie’s early slapdash albums, there’s no real excuse. He had the time and energy to do something more but the well ran dry. Every song feels like it borders on being fun and danceable but never quite gets there, more of the disposable pop music he had satirized a decade prior.

That’s the album as a whole. As stated, the quality isn’t due to effort, and there are some good tracks. “Zeroes” and “Glass Spider,” both centering the album’s midpoint, grabbed my attention and didn’t let go. There’s enough cool stuff going on in those songs to make them worthwhile listens. Also “New York’s In Love” is hokey, but it features the best guitar work on a Bowie album in a long while. These songs are all fine, but to call them the best on the album is not complimentary to the rest of the songs.

I don’t think this is the worst Bowie album yet, I’m keeping that with the previous entry. But there is a brutal irony to the album’s title, as Bowie has let us down again. Up next is the Tin Machine duo, something I personally am very excited for as it seems like “me” music – but I will tamper my expectations.

Grade: 5.5/10

Favorite non-hit track: “Zeroes”

TIN MACHINE (1989)

It’s really funny that people had such strong reactions to this one in any direction. There’s really very little to say about it! A lot of reviews seem to liken it to alternative or even proto-grunge, but to me it’s more of a throwback to bluesy classic rock, released right around the time that “classic rock” became a solidified period of music. It doesn’t really fit the “hard rock” label and it doesn’t really try to, a lot of these reviews are head-scratchers. The album is definitely focused more on volume and vibes than melody, a lot of these songs intentionally eschew any earworm qualities. It’s a proper about-face for a man who was miserable in the pop music he was making.

However, this also means that there’s just very little to grab on to! This album is almost entirely forgettable, the second it’s over. The opener, “Heaven’s In Here,” is a solid rock track and a nice mission statement. The album’s best song is easily “Under the God,” a scathing satirical screed that has the most energy of any song on the album, and feels the most inspired. Otherwise, these are all just pleasantly enjoyable, disposable songs.

I was looking forward to this one despite the bad reviews because it might be something up my alley. It was, but it certainly isn’t an album that left any impression on me. It’s not one that I regret listening to, but I will not be paying a revisit. It’s fine! Time to wash the 80’s stink off of all of this.

Grade: 6/10

Fav non-hit track: “Under the God”

TIN MACHINE II (1991)

I never would’ve guessed that a Bowie album would be so tough to track down! This album is out-of-print and not available on Spotify. Luckily, it’s all up on YouTube, but it is wild that there’s an album so discarded that’s not even in print, less than a decade removed from his commercial peak.

Anyways, this one is a little better than the first iteration, and I’m surprised it’s been so thoroughly retconned. These songs are much more melodic, a marriage of rock and pop made after the whiplash affairs through both. There’s more energy here, and the band feels more locked in. I’m realizing now that Tin Machine exists mostly as a reactionary statement to pop-Bowie, with the man proving he can still hang in the rock crowd. But this album exists because the band simply wants it to – which is a much better incentive for an album.

To say it’s better isn’t entirely complimentary, because the first one really is forgettable. This is not a classic or totally worthy album, but it is solid. There are some good rock earworms, and a lot of sustained momentum through the album’s slightly-too-long runtime. Songs like the opener “Baby Universal,” “A Big Hurt” and “If There Is Something” are just great, energetic rock tunes. They can’t hang with Bowie’s best, of course, but they’re fun and they help this album a ton. Also, “Sorry” is a great, forgotten ballad; Bowie’s vocals on it are astonishing.

Otherwise, this is standard fare pop-rock stuff. Like the first Tin Machine album, this is a little too long when the quality isn’t stellar. A little less would’ve been a little more. But, it’s an improvement over the first, and it makes me a bit sad that the group didn’t live through the proper grunge era. This is a fine album, even if tough to find, but we’re still well in the wake of Bowie’s peak. Back to solo Bowie next. And one more post to wrap everything up.

Grade: 7/10

Fav non-hit track: “If There Is Something”

Thank you to anyone who is borthering these silly little musings on the worst David Bowie albums! This is part of an ongoing series where I’m deep diving into catalogs by artists I either love but don’t know as well as I should, or artists that are just big blind spots. You can check out the previous Bowie entries Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 as well as the foundational post, Zola Jesus.