I love this time of year because, while not much new music is released, I get to browse through the KEXP DJs lists of their top albums of the year (you can vote here too), and I always discover no less than ten albums that inevitably become favorites for the beginning of next year. Maybe this list will help someone else discover something as well.
Here are my top 10 albums of 2023.
- Black Thought & El Michels Affair – Glorious Game
- Jungle – Volcano
- Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good!
- TRIBEZ. – Redbird
- Blu and Cashus King – The Blu(e) Tape
- Bombay Bicycle Club – My Big Day
- Easy Star All-Stars – Ziggy Stardub
- Rósín Murphy & DJ Koze – Hit Parade
- Janelle Monae – The Age of Pleasure
- STR4TA – STR4TASFEAR
Special nod to these albums that were made in years passed but became (more) available in 2023:
Finally, because I can’t help myself, if I were able to include 10 more albums from the year, they would be these
- Maribou State – Blackoak
- Y La Bamba – Lucha
- Black Milk – Everybody Good?
- Disclosure – Alchemy
- ford. – Guiding Hand
- Larry June – The Great Escape
- Nick Drake – The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake
- Jonah Yano – portrait of a dog
- The Blaze – Jungle
- Lol Torhurst X Budgie X Jacknife Lee – Los Angeles
You can find all of my favorite albums from the year (close to 100 in total) in my monthly favorite album posts.
For past year faves, check out 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.
Comments welcome!