2023 End of The Year Content Explosion
I could write a big rambling introduction about what 2023 was for me, but then I’d have to really think long and hard. I’d rather just get to the point and recap my year with a series of easily digestible lists…
10 Albums That Most Consumed My Year
- Andy Shauf – Norm [Anti]
- ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross [Secretly Canadian]
- Blonde Redhead – Sit Down for Dinner [section1]
- Cut Worms – Cut Worms [Jagjaguwar]
- Dave Scanlon – Taste Like Labor [Whatever’s Clever]
- Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings [Ghostly]
- Lankum – False Lankum [Rough Trade]
- Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My [Jagjaguwar]
- The Veldt – Illuminated 1989 [5BC]
- Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy [Ninja Tune]
20 Songs That Consistently Found Themselves Stuck On Repeat
- Algiers – “Bite Back”
- Andy Shauf – “Norm”
- Anjimile – “Animal”
- ANOHNI and the Johnsons – “Scapegoat”
- Blonde Redhead – “Snowman”
- Cut Worms – “Ballad of the Texas King”
- Damien Jurado – “Look at Us, We’re Walking”
- Dave Scanlon – “Fearful People”
- Hotline TNT – “I Thought You’d Change”
- Julie Byrne – “Summer Glass”
- Kara Jackson – “Why does the earth give us people to love?”
- Lonnie Holley – “Oh Me, Oh My”
- Luluc – “Diamonds”
- Man on Man – “Gloryhole”
- Popular Music – “Sad Songs”
- Quasi – “Doomscrollers”
- Rainwater – “Dream”
- Sleaford Mods w/ Perry Farrell – “So Trendy”
- Sufjan Stevens – “Goodbye Evergreen”
- Young Fathers – “Sink or Swim”
An Extensive Playlist Compiling My Favorite Songs of 2023
A Random Number of Additional Albums That Came Out In 2023 That I Drew Great Pleasure From and Feel Particularly Inspired To Mention
- Algiers – Shook [Matador]
- B.C. Camplight – The Last Rotation of Earth [Bella Union]
- Billy Woods & Kenny Segal – Maps [Fat Possum]
- D.A. Stern – Don’t Take Your Heartache Out On The World [self-released]
- Damien Jurado – Passing the Giraffes [Maraqopa]
- Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet – Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog [Cantaloupe]
- Home Is Where – The Whaler [Wax Bodega]
- Hooray For Earth – Fantasy Something [xohfe]
- Hotline TNT – Cartwheel [Third Man]
- Immy Owusu – LO-LIFE! [Hopestreet]
- Indigo De Souza – All Of This Will End [Saddle Creek]
- Jaimie Branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) [International Anthem]
- Judson Claiborne – Live Active Culture, Vol. 1 [self-released]
- Kara Jackson – Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? [September Recordings]
- Katie Gately – Fawn / Brute [Houndstooth]
- Luluc – Diamonds [Community Music Group]
- M83 – Fantasy [Mute]
- Man On Man – Provincetown [Polyvinyl]
- Mary Lattimore – Goodbye, Hotel Arkada [Ghostly]
- Meg Baird – Furling [Drag City]
- Noname – Sundial [AWAL]
- Not – Light Headed [Self-Released]
- Open Mike Eagle – Another Triumph of Ghetto Engineering [Auto Reverse]
- ØXN – CYRM [Claddagh]
- Popular Music – Minor Works of Popular Music [Sanitarium Sound Services]
- Quasi – Breaking the Balls of History [Sub Pop]
- Rainwater – Wave [Furious Hooves]
- R. Ring – War Poems, We Rested [ Don Giovanni
- Slowdive – Everything Is Alive [Dead Oceans]
- Sufjan Stevens – Javelin [Asthmatic Kitty]
- Tall Tall Trees – Stick to the Mystical I [Joyful Noise]
- Wednesday – Rat Saw God [Dead Oceans]
- Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World [Matador]
- Zoos of Berlin – Busy With People [Don’t Look About]
Reissues & Other Releases from the Past That Became Obsessions During 2023
- Chris Bell – I Am The Cosmos [Omnivore]
- Family Dynamics – Service [Self-Released]
- Ibrahim Hesnawi – The Father of Libyan Reggae [Habibi Funk]
- Kiki Gyan – 24 Hours In A Disco (1978-82) [Soundway]
- McGruff’s Smart Kids
- Mort Garson – Journey To The Moon and Beyond [Sacred Bones]
- Pedro the Lion – Control [Epitaph]
- Psychic TV – Force The Hand of Chance [Warner UK]
- The Replacements – Tim [Sire]
20 Live Performances From 2023 That Left Lasting Impressions
- Weyes Blood @ The Orange Peel 2/24/23
- Bill Callahan @ The Grey Eagle 2/26/23
- Secret Shame @ The Orange Peel 2/28/23
- The Beths @ The Orange Peel 3/6/23
- They Might Be Giants @ The Orange Peel 3/10/23
- Pedro The Lion @ The Grey Eagle 4/25/23
- Destroyer (solo) @ The Grey Eagle 5/5/23
- Future Islands @ The Orange Peel 5/6/23
- Maria Bamford @ The Orange Peel 5/10/23
- Hari Kondabolu @ The Orange Peel 5/17/23
- Indigo De Souza @ The Orange Peel 6/4/23
- Dehd @ The Grey Eagle 6/13/23
- Jupiter & Okwess @ The Grey Eagle 6/28/23
- Man On Man @ Static Age Loft 7/20/23
- Orbiting Human Circus @ Citizen Vinyl 9/16/23
- Nick Cave @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 9/19/23
- Broken Social Scene @ The Orange Peel 9/24/23
- Dave Hill @ Fleetwood’s 11/14/23
- Sunn O))) @ The Orange Peel 12/3/23
- Nesting Doll @ The Odd 12/6/23
Holy Crap! Did I Really Talk To That Person?
Interviews with…
Comedians
Musicians
20 Photos Captured With My Camera In 2023
Some of the Visual Entertainment from 2023 That I Most Enjoyed
Comedy Specials
- Hari Kondabolu – Vacation Baby
- Joe Pera – Slow & Steady
- Maria Bamford – Local Act
- Neal Brennan – Blocks
- Todd Barry – Domestic Shorthair
TV & Film
- Asteroid City
- Barry
- The Bear
- Beef
- Carol & The End of the World
- Cunk On Earth
- The Holdovers
- How To with John Wilson
- I’m A Virgo
- I Think You Should Leave
- Jury Duty
- Our Flag Means Death
- The Last Of Us
- Succession
- Telemarketers
- Theater Camp
- What We Do In The Shadows