My Favorite Music of 2023
Lana Del Rey, Blonde Redhead & Deena Abdelwahed
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Confession. I am only a photographer because I have zero musical talent. When I was 7, I wanted to learn to play the piano, but the music teacher told my mom that I was tone deaf, or, to translate verbatim from Russian, “a bear stepped on her ear.” Instead, I went to the Ukrainian national dance/ballet school for the next four years, a poor substitute for my desire to play an instrument.
My mom loved music. I grew up on a Beatles diet sprinkled with Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. When I was 15, she introduced me to Pulp. At the same time, I also discovered Nirvana and Snoop Dog, both of whom my mom hated, and I had to take my listening underground. In 10th grade, I got my first guitar, which I would sneak out to school, and secretly learned to play 3.5 Nirvana songs. I earned my first $1 by playing About a Girl with my girlfriend in front of the Queens Mall. Then came Radiohead, and my love of music turned into a life-long obsession.
LastFM, a music platform that records every track I play, shows that I listened to 23,000 tracks this year. Out of those, a few stood out as favorites, and I want to share those with you now, along with my Spotify playlist.
🎶 Best of 2023 playlist on Spotify 🎶
Blonde Redhead. Sit Down for Dinner. ALBUM
The band I’ve seen the most in concert, making it seven times this fall. After a worrying hiatus, Blonde Redhead returned this year with a warm glow of an album. All the harsh edges of the former shoegazers have been smoothed out, but an undercurrent of anxiety still remains. Unlike their past glory albums (Misery, 23) that reduce me to ashes with their disquieting beauty and require my full attention, Sit Down for Dinner is the only Blonde Redhead album that works equally well in the background and as focused listening.
James Blake. Playing Robots into Heaven. ALBUM
After toying with mainstream(ish) pop, Blake is finally back to his signature electro-soul, dance roots with the best album since Overgrown. Asking to Break is an epic opening gambit, a serrated, delightful foreplay of a track, and my favorite. I’m usually disappointed when the opener of the album is also the highlight, but the rest of the album is such a joy ride that all is forgiven.
Debby Friday. So Hard to Tell from Good Luck. TRACK
A lush art-pop discovery of the year from a Nigerian-born, Toronto-based artist. It stings the heart and makes me wish I was in high school and in love, writing in my diary and listening to this on repeat.
Yussef Dayes. Black Classical Music. ALBUM
Jazz is a difficult proposition for me. I am sadly immune to both Coltrane and Miles (except his darker Get Up With It period), but sometimes a jazz record breaks through my textural barricade and hits the spot, Black Classical Music being one of those. The drumming has something to do with it. Yussef is a virtuoso drummer and composer from London, and his restless, gorgeous sound permeates every track, making me happy and forcing me to reconsider my relationship with jazz.
Lana Del Rey. A&W from Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. TRACK
LastFM tells me I have listened to this 7-minute track 50 times this year, making it my most-listened-to song of 2023. This is Lana at her most raw, most humorous, and most brutal. No one else has the gall to croon, “It's not about havin' someone to love me anymore / This is the experience of bein' an American whore” only to follow it up by a whimsical rap verse, “Jimmy only love me when he wanna get high / Your mom called, I told her you're fucking up big time.” The rest of the album is good, even great in splashes, but all of it is overshadowed by this monster of a track.
Deena Abdelwahed. Jbal Rrsas. ALBUM
Thanks to Deena, I discovered a new universe of acoustic pleasure — dark techno beats and subterranean basslines, infused with traditional Arabic music. Relentless percussion, apocalyptic female vocals, and seductive curlicues of Egyptian and Tunisian folk music. Not for the faint of heart.
Bryan Ferry. The Only Face, Piano and Vocal ’93. TRACK
I never particularly cared for this song from Ferry’s 1994 album, Mamouna, but the piano/vocal outtake released this year blew my mind. It is stripped down of all the fat, freeing Ferry’s voice from the lounge vibe of its original, bongo-friendly arrangement and revealing it to be chilling, heartbreaking, and so, so beautiful.
Niecy Blues. Exit Stimulation. ALBUM
70% of my listening is ambient/experimental music, especially when I sit down to write (for writing purposes, my favorites being Gas and Pop Ambient series), But only a small fraction of those albums break through into the foreground and demand attention. Exit Stimulation is one of them. Shadowy gospel, trip-hop ghosts, and echoes of R&B undulate through the album, making each listen more mysterious than the last.
The Necks. Travel. ALBUM
My second favorite album of the year to write (as well as fly to) happens to be an avant-jazz record from a prolific Australian trio (this is the 19th). I am scared to contemplate how two jazz records ended up on my end-of-year list, but not including The Necks would have been a mistake. Travel is a foreboding, meandering, and deliciously chaotic album without a horizon. Even though it runs for more than an hour, when it’s over, the most logical thing to do is to get lost in it all over again.
My best of the year, art-pop forward Spotify playlist
Best of 2023 playlist on Spotify
A couple of my favorite music writers are on Substack.
Phillip Sherburne. Futurism Restated I’ve been following Phillip’s music essays and reviews for years on Pitchfork, and was elated that he started a newsletter here. I turn to it every week for new — mostly electronic/experimental — music.
Shawn Reynaldo. First Floor If you want to keep current on the electronic/dance music landscape, this is a comprehensive newsletter about the best dance releases (that are NOT EDM).
Sam Valenti IV. Herb Sundays Sunday playlists curated by musicians of varied genres, from funk & soul to indie rock to ambient and dance. Look forward to it every weekend.
Music That Inspired Me In 2022 Last year’s list.
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Thanks so much for the nod! Love to see Deena Abdelwahed and Niecy Blues (and the Necks!) on your list, and I LOVE that picture of your teenage bedroom.
Thanks for sharing your Spotify playlist! Listening to it now.