Random Rules Playlist 019: A Completely Honest Year-End List

A look back at my favorite music of 2023

There’s some obvious pros and cons to waiting til the actual end of the year to put together your year-end list. A big pro is that you have the bonus listening time of most of the month of December to sift through the mountain of releases you may have missed. The biggest con is that everyone else has already published their lists, so it can be a challenge to offer anything new to the average reader if they’ve paid attention at all to general year end coverage. As others have pointed out, this year there was really no consensus pick for Album of the Year, and overall the year-end lists were more all over the place and splintered than possibly ever before, which I see as a good thing for music overall.

I have divided up my lists into several sub-categories that felt appropriate for this year in an effort to make this the most honest year-end list I could. I wanted to start with highlighting 15 of my favorite releases that didn’t get as much attention (note: plenty of these got some decent press, none of them have huge streaming numbers). I’ve also included a list of my picks for the best of the consensus releases of the year, followed by a list of albums from notable artists that you might not have even realized were out (and certainly did not end up on very many high profile year-end lists). Two new categories I’ve never included before are the best instrumental albums, including ambient, post-rock, guitar noodling and beyond, and best post-punk revival albums from a subgenre that shows no signs of slowing down. Closing it all out are my picks for reissues and TV shows.

I should also note that, in order to avoid any conflicts of interest, I will be leaving out any releases that I was professionally involved with, on the press or mgmt side (for a full playlist of stuff I worked in 2023, click HERE).

Without further ado, I present my most honest look back at the music of 2023:

TOP 15 ALBUMS THAT DESERVE A BIGGER AUDIENCE

(These albums have been added to the Spotify playlist in full)

1. Rozi Plain - Prize (Memphis Industries)

2. En Attendant Ana - Principia (Trouble In Mind)

3. Fust - Genevieve (Dear Life)

4. Snõõper - Super Snõõper (Third Man)

5. Melenas - Ahora (Trouble In Mind)

6. Truth Club - Running From The Chase (Double Double Whammy)

7. Vumbi Dekula - Congo Guitar (Hive Mind / Sing A Song Fighter)

8. Gnoomes - Ax Ox (Rocket)

9. Assiko Golden Band De Grand Yoff - Magg Tekki (Mississippi)

10. Sundae Painters - Sundae Painters (Leather Jacket)

11. Lewsberg - Out and About (12XU)

12. The Smashing Times - This Sporting Life (Perennial)

13. Sumos - Surfacing (Meritorito)

14. Foyer Red - Yarn The Hours Away (Carpark)

15. Wurld Series - The Giant’s Lawn (Meritorito)

TOP 20 CONSENSUS ALBUMS FROM EVERYONE ELSE’S YEAR-END LISTS THAT ARE ACTUALLY GOOD

1. Wednesday - Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)

2. Joanna Sternberg - I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)

3. Fever Ray - Radical Romantics (Rabid / Mute)

4. billy woods & kenny segal - Maps (Backwoodz Studioz)

5. Anohni and The Johnsons - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Secretly Canadian)

6. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World (Matador)

7. boygenius - The Record / The Rest (Interscope)

8. Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings (Ghostly)

9. Slowdive - Everything Is Alive (Dead Oceans)

10. Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You (Perpetual Novice)

11. Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Fat Possum)

12. Ratboys - The Window (Topshelf)

13. Parannoul - After The Magic (POCLANOS)

14. L’Rain - I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)

15. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty)

16. Sweeping Promises - Good Living Is Coming For You (Feel It)

17. Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)

18. Girl Ray - Prestige (Moshi Moshi)

19. The Tubs - Dead Meat (Trouble In Mind)

20. Hotline TNT - Cartwheel (Third Man)

ALBUMS FROM NOTABLE ARTISTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED, BUT WERE ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD

These albums kinda came and went, without much fanfare this year (and were not on very many year-end lists) but still deserve a listen. You might even be a fan of these artists and not even be aware that they put out a record this year. One of these artists released one of my favorite shoegaze albums of the 90s and then disappeared for 30 years, and their new album is pretty good.

1. Sigur Rós - ÁTTA (Von Dur Ltd. / BMG)

2. Belle and Sebastian - Late Developers (Matador)

3. Rufus Wainwright - Folkocracy (BMG)

4. Shabazz Palaces - Robed In Rareness (Sub Pop)

5. Bonnie Prince Billy - Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (Drag City)

6. Drop Nineteens - Hard Light (Wharf Cat)

7. Altin Gün - Aşk (ATO)

8. Teenage Fanclub - Nothing Lasts Forever (Merge)

9. Kool Keith / Real Bad Man - Serpent (Self-Released)

10. Blonde Redhead - Sit Down for Dinner (section1)

11. The Wedding Present - 24 Songs (Scopitones)

12. Feist - Multitudes (Polydor)

13. Blur - The Ballad Of Darren (Parlophone)

14. The New Pornographers - Continue as a Guest (Merge)

15. Christine & The Queens - Paranoïa, Angels, True Love (Because Music)

16. Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)

17. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V (Jagjaguwar)

18. Westerman - An Inbuilt Fault (Partisan / PIAS)

19. Deerhoof - Miracle-Level (Joyful Noise)

20. The Clientele - I Am Not There Anymore (Merge)

TOP 15 INSTRUMENTAL ALBUMS

1. Lord & Sharp - Kiwi (Aural Canyon)

2. Gia Margaret - Romantic Piano (Jagjaguwar)

3. Setting - Shone a Rainbow Light On (Paradise of Bachelors)

4. Bill Orcutt - Jump On It (Palilalia)

5. Andre 3000 - New Blue Sun (Epic)

6. Mareena + JakoJako - Atlas der Gedanken (edition edition)

7. North Americans - Long Cool World (Third Man)

8. Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)

9. Matmos - Return To Archive (Smithsonian Folkways)

10. Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada (Ghostly)

11. Hania Rani - Ghosts (Gondwana)

12. Hayden Pedigo - The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored (Mexican Summer)

13. Bondo - Print Selections (Quindi)

14. Oval - Romantiq (Thrill Jockey)

15. Daniel Bachman - When The Roses Come Again (Three Lobed)

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ONGOING POST-PUNK REVIVAL

There are so many bands working in this space right now that I decided to just give them their own category, I’m sure there’s a few that I missed but these were my faves:

1. Stuck - Freak Frequency (Born Yesterday)

2. Famous Mammals - Instant Pop Expressionism Now! (Siltbreeze)

3. Bar Italia - Tracey Denim (Matador)

4. Model/Actriz - Dogsbody (True Panther)

5. The Drin - Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom (Feel It)

6. Cuticles - Major Works (Siltbreeze)

7. The Bug Club - Rare Birds: Hour of Song (We Are Busy Bodies)

8. Telehealth - Content Oscillator (Very Famous)

9. The Serfs - Half Eaten By Dogs (Trouble In Mind)

10. shame - Food For Worms (Dead Oceans)

TOP TEN REISSUES / ARCHIVAL RELEASES

1. The Particles - 1980s Bubblegum (Chapter Music)

2. Roger Bekono - Roger Bekono (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

3. Arthur Russell - Picture of Bunny Rabbit (Audika)

4. Leon Keïta - Leon Keïta (Analog Africa)

5. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - These Things Remain Unassigned (Singles, Compilation Tracks, Rarities & Unreleased Recordings) (Bulbous Monocle)

6. Rikki Ililonga - Zambia (Now Again)

7. Pharoah Sanders - Pharoah (Luaka Bop)

8. Dolly Mixture - BBC Radio Sessions (Sealed)

9. Various Artists - Yo! Boombox (Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro And Disco Rap 1979-83) (Soul Jazz)

10. Hiroshi Yoshimura - Surround (Temporal Drift)

FAVORITE TV SHOWS I WATCHED IN 2023

(in no particular order)

BARRY
The Righteous Gemstones
The Curse
Jury Duty
Poker Face
BEEF
Succession
A Murder At The End of The World
Telemarketers
The Bear
Somebody Somewhere
How To With John Wilson
I’m A Virgo
Shrinking
Platonic