Deeper - "Tele"

Another record that slipped by me this year was Careful! by Chicago post-punks Deeper. If you like Echo and the Bunnymen, The Sound, and Chameleons, you will fall for Deeper's charms. "Tele" rides an angular bassline under clanking beats and sparkling keyboards.

The Masqs - "Locked Inside My Room"

The Masqs throw down some retro Nitzer Ebb-like EBM on the coldly seductive track "Locked Inside My Room."

 

Nuovo Testamento - "Heaven"

One of the best things about the end of the year is all the best of lists that turn me on to music I hadn't heard. One of those bands is the Los Angeles/Bologna-based trio Nuovo Testamento and their album Love Lines. It is like the perfect mix of early Madonna and Miami freestyle, a la Exposé. It's retro and nostalgic but with a modern update.

a.s.o. - "Understand"

Enigmatic, moody track from the trip-hop duo's self-titled record.  

HEALTH - "CRACK METAL"

If you want an industrial metal track in the vein of NIN's "March of the Pigs" then you will go nuts for the intense "CRACK METAL." It can be found on HEALTH's latest opus, RAT WARS. 

The Haxan Cloak - "N/Y"

The extremely unsettling new track from The Haxan Cloak (aka Bobby Krlic) begins with Morse code-like beacons over undulating beats, then quickly moves to jackhammer percussion and synth screams. 

Octo Octa - "Come Here, Let's Commune"

Octo Octa's "Come Here, Let's Commune" wistfully insinuates itself in your mind. Over eight and a half minutes, the song wraps you up in layers of otherworldly synths, echoing piano chords, and shuffling, break-beat-tinged drum programming. The track can be found on her excellent EP Dreams of a Dancefloor.

2023 Favorite Albums

Here are my top 50 albums of 2023:

1. Model/Actriz - Dogsbody

2. Slowdive - everything is alive

3. Blonde Redhead - Sit Down For Dinner

4. AHOHNI and the Johnsons - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross

5. Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!

6. Art School Girlfriend - Soft Landing

7. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin

8. Lana Del Rey - Did You Know There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

9. SZA - SOS

10. Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

11. Mandy, Indiana - i've seen a way

12. Truth Club - Running From The Chase

13. Depeche Mode - Memento Mori

14. Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12

15. James Blake - Playing Robots Into Heaven

16. Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time

17. Romy - Mid Air

18. Mareux - Lovers From The Past

19. PVRIS - EVERGREEN

20. The New Division - Modern Life

21. Icona Pop - Club Romantech

22. Foo Fighters - But Here We Are

23. Cupid & Psyche - Crush

24. Kelela - Raven

25. Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

26. Everything But The Girl - Fuse

27. Troye Sivan - Something To Give Each Other

28. †††(Crosses) - Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete

29. Pangaea - Changing Channels

30. Weval - Remember

31. Overmono - Good Lies

32. The Church - The Hypnogogue

33. Hotline TNT - Cartwheel

34. Drop Nineteens - Hard Light

35. bdrmm - I Don't Know

36. Tinashe - BB/ANG3L

37. Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS

38. feeble little horse - Girl With Fish

39. Sextile - Push

40. Odd Beholder - Feel Better

41. Adult Art Club - Adult Art Club

42. The WAEVE - The WAEVE

43. bar italia - The Twits

44. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World

45. MSPAINT - Post-American

46. Skrillex - Quest for Fire

47. Frost Children - Speed Run

48. Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine

49. Paramore - This Is Why

50. Helena Deland - Goodnight Summerland