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Due to a number of factors, 2023 largely sucked on a broad level. The silver lining is that it was the type of year that reinforced how important music can be, as a tool for both transcendence and commiseration. Skimming the year-end lists that ran before ours, it feels like every publication’s staff reached pretty different conclusions about what the most moving albums to emerge from this year were. From Midwife and Vyva Melinkolya’s gauzy slowcore to Bill Orcutt’s experimental Americana to McKinley Dickson’s left-field hip hop, these 50 albums (and a few honorable mentions) moved Merry-Go-Round’s team most in 2023. — Music Editor, Ted Davis
Honorable Mentions:
George Clanton – OOH RAP I YA
DAIISTAR – GOOD TIME
Katie Dey – NEVER FALTER HERO GIRL
Godcaster – S/T
Hotline TNT – CARTWHEEL
Ki Oni – A LEISURELY SWIM TO EVERLASTING
Origami Angel – THE BRIGHTEST DAYS
Lana Del Rey – DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE’S A TUNNEL UNDER OCEAN BLVD?
Star 99 – BITCH UNLIMITED
Westerman – AN INBUILT FAULT
50. Bewilder – FROM THE EYRIE
Genre: Indie Rock
Nostalgia is the form and function of so much music these days. From the “future nostalgia” of ‘70s disco and ‘80s synthpop on the radio, to the proliferation of alternative rock bands draping their guitars in fuzz and flannel, to the power pop moment, to forward-thinking groups, like 100 gecs, looking to the most maligned music of the past three decades to inspire LP2—everyone is cherry-picking scenes and sounds from yesterday to recontextualize into the fabric of the culture now.
Bewilder is no different, but on their full-length FROM THE EYRIE, they’re gunning for a spot in two different legacies. Where their previous EPs borrowed from the more contemplative emo of late-‘90s touchstones like AMERICAN FOOTBALL and ENDSERENADING, they’ve dialed back the math influence on their debut LP, instead imagining a world where the indie tentpole groups of the early 2000s existed in the same realm as those three-letter bands. FROM THE EYRIE is every bit as indebted to the FUNERALs and YOU FORGOT IT IN PEOPLEs of the world as it is to the CLARITYs—a record that in synthesizing its influences ends up as something new. But FROM THE EYRIE is just as much an album about memory; single “Twin Lakes” recounts a story of vocalist George Brooks meeting a pawn shop owner recounting how he met his ex-wife, and opener “Heavy Sweater” finds him cataloging the things he has to remember the friends he’s lost touch with. In the album’s final moments, he thinks back to a fight with his lover and asks if there’s any way to “soften what I said that night I laid beside you.” In the end, FROM THE EYRIE looks to the past but insists on moving past it. [Zac Djamoos]
49. Youth Lagoon – HEAVEN IS A JUNKYARD
Genre: Dream Pop
When Trevor Powers called Youth Lagoon quits in 2016, it didn’t come as a massive surprise. The Idaho oddball came up in tandem with the 2010s blog boom, churning out hazy, nostalgic songs that straddled chillwave and dream pop. While the project’s early records have definitely stood the test of time, it was easy to understand why Powers might want to set his sights on new sonic horizons. This year, though, he brought Youth Lagoon back, and I couldn’t be more grateful he did. On HEAVEN IS A JUNKYARD, mysterious arrangements cloaked in effects cultivate a muted, dusty atmosphere. Squeaky synths, resonant pianos, and oblique lyrics make the whole thing feel like a secret heirloom, waiting to be unearthed from an unassuming drawer. [Ted Davis]
48. PACKS – CRISPY CRUNCHY NOTHING
Genre: Indie Rock
It’s easy to say that with PACKS, Toronto’s Madeline Link is yet another indie musician obsessed with ’90s alt-rock. It’s a label she readily accepts on the excellent CRISPY CRUNCHY NOTHING: she wants to be Liz Phair and Superchunk at the same time. The rub, then, is that Link not only does a damn fine job, but the 14-song LP shows that she’s so much more than her influences. Be it her sharp, poetry-like lyrics, the general air of grace and intensity, and/or the thespian-like commitment across the record, Link injects a chutzpah and sense of wonder that counters and contextualizes all that rough rock noise and attitude. In that way, CRISPY CRUNCHY NOTHING doesn’t suffer from nostalgia fatigue like some records, and Link shines as a beacon for how you celebrate the past with fresh joy and vigor. [Chris Coplan]
47. Swim Camp – STEEL COUNTRY
Genre: Lo-Fi Rock
As Swim Camp, Philadelphia musician (and elite poster) Tom Morris crafts hazy rock, which stays true to his hometown’s sonic roots. He came up adjacent to a boom of Alex G imposters, but Morris’s latest full-length, STEEL COUNTRY, reaffirms the strength of his honest songwriting. Across 14 tracks, soaring arrangements mask country-tinged riffs and downtrodden vocals. The record plays like contemporary indie rock, sure. But it flaunts a confidence that makes it easy to imagine Swim Camp headlining big stages sooner rather than later. [Ted Davis]
46. Midwife and Vyva Melinkolya – ORBWEAVING
Genre: Slowcore, Ambient
Through a soft haze of disintegrating guitars, sound sorceresses Midwife and Vyva Melinkolya flicker vividly in the ambient gulches of shoegaze. The pair fit together like the eldritch and the occult, and while the two have previously contributed to each others’ solo material, ORBWEAVING marks their first full release as a duo. As a label, The Flenser excels in exploring the darkness, but it is still unique for an act of theirs to do so with this much grace. At the album’s most sparse, it is textured enough to feel savory. At its most dense, it’s undisturbed enough to drift off to—so long as you don’t fear a Benadryl dream creeping in through the corners of your subconscious. At times, ORBWEAVING glows dimly as fireflies stuck in a spider web on a cool summer night. But with the kick of a distortion pedal, the web catches aflame, and moths simmer and pop in the fire. [Jaden Amjadi]
45. Spiritual Cramp – S/T
Genre: Punk Rock
If nothing else, Spiritual Cramp’s self-titled album is just damn good punk rock. The production is top-notch, the balance of genres (from post-punk tones to hardcore) works brilliantly, and there’s just so many layers of emotion baked right in. But, as someone old enough to remember the halcyon days of mid-2000s blogs, SPIRITUAL CRAMP felt like a recall to the best parts of that “era.” Like, the way an album landed seemingly from nowhere, and how it transcended scenes and ideologies to excite and engage the masses. A record as much as it is a cultural artifact—this device for demonstrating the power of punk rock to unite people around that which matters most (namely community and transformative art). Listen to it for whatever reasons seem apt; either way, it’s going to move you on a fundamental level. [Chris Coplan]
44. Omar Ahmad – INHERITANCE
Genre: Ambient, Experimental
Celebrating the weight of his Palestinian heritage, Omar Ahmad’s INHERITANCE doesn’t neatly fit into one category, utilizing field recordings and vocal samples as he explores the responsibilities and struggles of intergenerational trauma. It’s some of the heaviest and prettiest experimentation of the year, Ahmad’s music directly informed by the centuries of conflict in Palestine and the richness of Palestinian culture, mixing modern electronica with the music of his family lineage. With the further acceleration of violence towards Palestinians in recent months, Ahmad’s vital documentation of Palestinian history and art makes INHERITANCE one of 2023’s most beautiful, urgent, and necessary albums. [Lurien Zitterkopf]
43. Blue Lake – SUN ARCS
Genre: Ambient, Instrumental Folk
Blue Lake is the moniker of one Jason Dungan, a Texas-born man with a self-built, hybrid 48-string zither and a dream. Retreating to the forests of his adopted home of Sweden for a week, Dungan emerged with SUN ARCS, a project of a singular vision, clarity, and energy that sounds like nothing else you’ll hear this year, effortlessly summoning visions of nature and pulling on memories buried so deep within the human psyche they seem almost ancestral. Wielding not just his zither but also a mixture of other strings, woodwinds, and percussion, Dungan’s instrumental compositions weave in, out, and around the margins of traditional song structures, at times falling into a sort of alchemic and hypnotic American folk rhythm, at other times dissolving into a breeze of ambient textures that evoke twinkling wind chimes and stale raindrops falling on still water from the leaves of neighboring trees. Meditative, serene, and carefully measured, 2023 may not offer a single other release that rivals SUN ARCS in sheer transcendent beauty, and certainly nothing as effective for letting go and leaving oneself behind for a short while. [Jacob Martin]
42. Nation of Language – STRANGE DISCIPLE
Genre: New Wave, Post-Punk
Nation of Language has been a group worth following over the last seven years. STRANGE DISCIPLE is only their third full-length, but the band stays busy between album cycles by putting out solid singles that live entirely on their own. Not only has the Brooklyn trio figured out how to perfectly emulate a random assortment of ‘80s new wave bands, like Pet Shop Boys and Erasure, but they also manage to add a modern touch to their brand of marvelous synthpop production. [Jack Probst]
41. @ – MIND PALACE MUSIC
Genre: Freak Folk, Experimental Pop
@ might be in the running for the “most challenging-to-search band name of the year award,” but the East Coast duo’s music is absolutely worth the effort it takes to find them on streaming platforms. I felt compelled to check out the Carpark reissue of the band’s 2021 debut, MIND PALACE MUSIC, after seeing it compared to Animal Collective’s SUNG TONGS. While it definitely calls to mind that wintry weirdo favorite, it flaunts a digitized twang that is as contemporary as the band’s name. Citing artists like Laurie Spiegel and Vashti Bunyan as major sources of inspiration, MIND PALACE MUSIC is the type of record that will inevitably be traded between uber-cool college radio kids in hushed tones for years to come. [Ted Davis]
40. GracieHorse – LA SHIT
Genre: Alt-Country
Like the best alt-country artists, GracieHorse sound a bit tired, a bit depressed, and a touch angry. Prine, Earle, Williams, Welch, Van Zandt—there is a throughline of the best sun-dried, downtrodden poetry having a bit of a sneering edge to it. And LA SHIT runs hot. Hell, Gracie Jackson in general seems like she runs hot. The album ranges from intense, two-step country tunes to sparse, bluesy rock cuts; it’s a sprawling genre examination of every popularized alt-country sound of the last two decades by way of the unforgiving and often lonely Los Angeles sprawl. The best songs find a scorned Jackson fed up with taking her licks, heatedly dropping lines like “A genie could curse you with the luck of a horseshoe / Well, I wouldn’t want that blood on my hands,” or lamenting “If you’re gonna walk that straight line son, it’s only gonna hurt.” It’s the best country record of the year, and one of the best Los Angeles outlaw albums of all time. [CJ Simonson]
39. Gabbo – CORN
Genre: Experimental Pop
Earlier this year, I wrote that Gabbo’s full-length debut, CORN, juxtaposes catharsis with the monotony of lived experience. The album is colored by an often ambivalent portrait of the day-to-day for a DIY musician which is frequently paired with acute moments of self-reflection.
“Two friends came to the show I played at Comet Ping Pong / It’s easy to admit that I had really done something wrong”
Upon first listen, it’s the barbed verses and swelling moments of catharsis that captivate so wholly on CORN. However, at no moment do these visceral and seething lyrics seem spiteful. Rather, the anger expressed on CORN feels closer to a friend venting to you in confidence. On album closer “Big,” Gabbo sings hesitantly, “I’m seeing the whole garden now.” As much as this record might read at first as a sort of musical exorcism, its most triumphant moments involve looking at the bigger picture. CORN is, at its core, an album about growth. And it so effectively allows the listener to grow with it. Each subsequent track pulls you further from the chaos of heartbreak, until you’re left with a glowing, distant, and tenuous view of a larger world beyond.
“My crooked form crumbling back to the earth again / Anticipating the glow, I see no end”
38. Anita Velveeta – I SAW THE DEVIL IN PORTLAND OREGON
Genre: Indie Rock, Punk
In 2023, the name “Anita Velveeta” was spoken in hushed tones across the music industry following the release of three excellent and widely varying albums—WESTERN AMPHIBIANS, NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NIGHTCORE and, of course, I SAW THE DEVIL IN PORTLAND OREGON. Some of my industry associates have dubbed 2023 “The Year of Anita Velveeta,” and while any of these albums would fit snugly on a year-end list, it is her most recent that finds the Minneapolis DIY artist rolling out her most focused work to date. The album is a unifying call for trans liberation centering on community and militant compassion, and the riffs make me want to drink three-to-five Miller High Lifes. Just take a listen to tracks like the life-affirming “clocky girl summer” or the rallying “TERFS WILL NOT GET INTO HEAVEN” for some of the most community-oriented rippers of the year. And then, listen to “marionette,” where Anita just can’t help herself from chopping up a Chief Keef sample over a riff that sounds like a hundred brain cells dying at once. Personally, I’m raising my light beer to many more Years of Anita Velveeta! [Jaden Amjadi]
37. Ghost of Vroom – GHOST OF VROOM 3
Genre: Left-Field Hip Hop
GHOST OF VROOM 3 is the newest release from former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty and longtime collaborator cellist Andrew “Scrap” Livingston. The first few Ghost of Vroom studio and live releases were experiments in improvisation, with the group having yet to realize their sound fully. Produced by the legendary Mario Caldato Jr., best known as the man behind some of the Beastie Boys’ best records, 3 brings Doughty back to his roots, leaving with us the most Soul Coughing-sounding record he’s released since the band broke up in 2000. The beats are bombastic, the samples are uber-groovy, and Doughty’s unmistakable vocals guide you through an intricate soundscape, with each track bridged by improvised interludes that add to the record’s seamless flow from start to finish. The highlight of the record, the chilled-out “Yesterday in California,” is one of the best songs Doughty has written in his entire career. [Jack Probst]
36. Kelela – RAVEN
Genre: Pop, Jungle, Electronic
Few albums this year were as meditative and sumptuous as RAVEN, Kelela’s sophomore album. It took the warped R&B of her debut and reworked it into atmospheric breakbeat-pop and futuristic ambient. Over an hour, she expertly dips in and out of those two styles with flashes of rap, dancehall, and dub along the way, celebrating queer Black womanhood through velvety electronics that leave you breathless. RAVEN’s seductive melodies and production make it impossibly gorgeous at times, a constant tension-and-release cycle that resulted in one of 2023’s most potent and impactful listens. [Lurien Zitterkopf]
35. The Lemon Twigs – EVERYTHING IS HARMONY
Genre: Rock
There are countless different qualities or elements that can make music great, from mood to texture to timbre, and everything in between. Every different kind of music comes with a unique set of goals and eclectic ways of achieving them. Despite all of this, there is simply no substitute for the simplest and most essential of musical pleasures: a sticky, infectious melody. The Lemon Twigs understand this and live by it on EVERYTHING HARMONY, a record of sparkling ‘60s and ‘70s-style soft rock, power pop, and jangle that feature some of the year’s most immaculate songcraft and the best vocal harmonies this side of the British Invasion. The brothers D’Addario channel all of the classic AM radio greats, from Simon and Garfunkel to Bread to Badfinger, resulting in an addictive sugar rush of a record that never seems to lose its luster no matter how much you replay it. Is it a somewhat campy pastiche of a bygone era that ended 20 years before this band’s members were even born? Yes. Is it also one of the most timelessly hooky and straightforwardly enjoyable listens of 2023? Absolutely. [Jacob Martin]
34. The Ooz – SUB HUMAN
Genre: Post-Punk, Shoegaze
SUB HUMAN is exactly why I spend hours each and every month digging my way through Bandcamp. North Macedonia’s The Ooz uploaded this small-but-mighty collection with little fanfare—a veritable treasure trove of dark, brooding post-punk waiting to be unearthed. And that same air of mystery and intensity informs these five tracks, each one rolling and shifting into the next, like a series of encounters with some backwoods mythological creature. It roars and thrashes, consuming listeners’ hearts and ears, and then mostly stomps back into the tree line. There’s some shards of what you might have heard before, but The Ooz present their take with a blend of grace and heft that feels truly novel. You don’t find a singularly compelling gem like this all the time, and that’s sort of the point. [Chris Coplan]
33. Strange Ranger – PURE MUSIC
Genre: Indie Rock, Synthpop
It’s a shame this EOTY blurb now acts as an obituary. By most accounts, Strange Ranger had a sterling (if largely underappreciated) run over the last 14-ish years. It would be bold to say PURE MUSIC was, perhaps, their best album in that run—a work that built on 2021’s multilayered mixtape NO LIGHT IN HEAVEN (especially standout oddity “Needing You”) and fused neon, technicolor pop with plunderphonic jaggedness, baggy aesthetics, and a sinister Midwest rock tone. These ideas all colliding into a neo-psychedelic masterpiece that clicks right as the band are breaking up is a shame; few artists could offer such a surreal, cyberpunk-meets-’90s-BDSM-twinged single as “She’s On Fire,” at once one of the most dazzling, slow-motion club songs of the decade and also a full-on rocker that should’ve played in the background of JOHNNY MNEMONIC, and then follow it up with a fuzzy, freefalling goth tune (“Way Out”) and a quivering, J-Pop-influenced radio cut (“Wide Awake”). Such is PURE MUSIC, which exists far away from 2019’s galloping, lush guitar opus REMEMBERING THE ROCKETS, or Sioux Falls’ underheard noise rock brilliance ROT FOREVER. We can only hope this is a see you soon and not a full-on goodbye, but leaving us with PURE MUSIC is a parting gift we won’t soon forget. [CJ Simonson]
32. JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown – SCARING THE HOES
Genre: Art Rap
The big line, repeated ad nauseam, about SCARING THE HOES—the new collaboration between JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown–-is that they’re two of the most unique and iconoclastic rappers going. That’s true, but that isn’t what makes SCARING THE HOES such a home run. Peggy and Danny are singular figures in today’s rap landscape, no doubt, but for completely different reasons. Danny Brown, known more for his darkly humorous bars and distinctive squawk than his abrasiveness, slots in perfectly over JPEGMAFIA’s crazed, abrasive beats. It’s easy for a collaboration like this to feel gimmicky, but there’s such obvious chemistry here that SCARING THE HOES feels like a veteran group’s third LP. If this album proves anything, it’s that they’re not just two of the strangest rappers of their generation, they’re two of the best. And it doesn’t look like they’ll stop scaring the hoes anytime soon. [Zac Djamoos]
31. Titanic – VIDRIO
Genre: Jazz
VIDRIO is the first studio effort from cellist/vocalist Mabe Fratti and her frequent live collaborator, multi instrumentalist Hector Tosta (aka I. la Católica). The eclectic mix of jazz, chamber pop, and experimental ambience results in an enjoyable ride that always manages to be groovy, even when it gets atonal. Album opener “Anónima ” builds slowly upon a hypnotic cello rhythm before Fratti’s Björk-esque vocals join in over sparse piano and cymbals. By the time drummer Gibran Andrade’s full beat drops, the track would sound right at home on a Dirty Projectors record. Tracks like “Circulo Perfecto” and “En Paralelo” see Fratti’s powerful vocals stealing the spotlight over more reserved musical arrangements. The album’s crowning achievement is the nearly eight-minute “Cielo Falso.” Built on a piano riff that sounds plucked out of a Peanuts holiday special, it works its way into a soft-pop groove that holds your attention for the entirety of its run time. Fratti dropped several collaborative releases this year and shows no sign of slowing down. Let’s hope Titanic stays in her regular rotation of collaborators. [Jake Mazon]
30. Danny Brown – QUARANTA
Genre: Rap
2023 has been quite the year for Danny Brown. In a decade-plus of career highlights and whirlwind viral moments befitting his often cartoonish, Roger Rabbit-esque delivery, these last 12 months still managed to stand out. March saw Brown release the abrasive, in-your-face collab record SCARING THE HOES (see #32) with fellow enfant terrible JPEGMAFIA, which allowed him to indulge in his more rhyme and production-leaning impulses. Almost immediately after, he checked into rehab, then toured with Peggy sober over the summer before finally releasing his long-anticipated new solo album, QUARANTA.
Always keenly aware of personal mythologizing across his discography, QUARANTA serves multiple functions; Italian for 40, the album is the promised spiritual successor to XXX, the breakthrough mixtape/album that saw Brown surveying his landscape as a hedonistic, 30-year-old XXL Freshman. Danny turned 40 in quarantine, and apparently this album has been in the can and stuck in label purgatory for about as long. It’s also his last release for Warp and a straight-up breakup record. Danny spends most of the album—especially the introspective, diaristic back half—rapping in a defeated, muted style to absolutely devastating results. The passage of time and facing the last decade looms over the whole album, from Brown taking potshots at the gentrification of Detroit and beyond on “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation,” or the full-on man in the mirror interrogation “Hanami.” All the while, production assists from XXX contributors Quelle Chris, Paul White, and Skywlkr, alongside the likes of The Alchemist and Kassa Overall, keep Danny’s taste for beats in check. In a tumultuous year befitting a rollercoaster career, over the course of two albums and one EP, Danny Brown has firmly solidified his place as one of the premiere rap talents of the decade. Freshly sober and establishing himself in Austin, Brown remains an elder statesman to watch. [Luke Phillips]
29. yeule – SOFTSCARS
Genre: Electronic Rock, Experimental Pop
SOFTSCARS reimagines ‘90s alternative through the lens of modern day electronic, yeule’s digital world a conduit for grungy, surreal shoegazing. What leaves it so effective is how beautifully yeule makes it their own, the perfect digital edges of their previous albums replaced with blurry guitar walls and chaotic structures, confronting their own grief by making music like the bands who inspired them. SOFTSCARS’ cathartic crescendos and comedowns make incredible use of yeule’s nostalgia-heavy instrumental palette, exploring the depths of their emotions with songs that allow to scream every word, furious and sorrowful and intimate in one headspinningly creative album. [Lurien Zitterkopf]
28. Joanna Sternberg – I’VE GOT ME
Genre: Freak Folk
An incredibly strong and self-assured sophomore effort from the New York City-based songwriter and composer Joanna Sternberg, I’VE GOT ME is as sparse and melancholic as it is an intimate and cozy listen. That’s on the strength of Sternberg’s songwriting, which anachronistically draws from both centuries-old Tin Pan Alley songwriting and even older folk traditions. (Sternberg comes from a family of Yiddish theater people, and it shows.) Over the course of 12 tracks, ghosts of the Great American Songbook haunt the album’s arrangements. Sternberg gigged for years as a jazz bassist, and plays every instrument on this album—guitar, bass, drums, piano, cello, and violin included—lending a homespun quality that simultaneously recalls Paul McCartney, Judee Sill, Laura Nyro, Liz Phair, and Neil Young. Behind the boards is guitar hero Matt Sweeney, who wisely offers a hands-off, no-frills, fly-on-the-wall approach that makes you feel like you’re experiencing a performance for an audience of one. It’s all held together by Sternberg’s plaintive, quivering voice (perhaps the most outsider art aspect of the entire endeavor), which is rendered robust and soulful—a tasteful production choice. [Luke Phillips]
27. feeble little horse – GIRL WITH FISH
Genre: Shoegaze, Fuzz Rock
Pittsburgh quartet feeble little horse weaved a sonic tapestry on GIRL WITH FISH, fusing together the experimental whimsy of Deerhoof with the introspective caterwauling of Xiu Xiu. They’re loud, screechy, and harsh, which I say with the most profound respect and admiration. The album’s charm lies in its poetic storytelling and the delicate balance between melancholy and hope that comes from vocalist/bassist Lydia Slocum. Her vocal delivery is reminiscent of ’90s alt-rock greats That Dog and The Breeders, but Slocum takes us on a captivating journey through the vivid landscapes of emotion and musical imagination. GIRL WITH FISH is the most inventive album from Saddle Creek since PENDANT’s 2022 album HARP. [Jack Probst]
26. Jessie Ware – THAT! FEELS GOOD!
Genre: Dance Pop
Jessie Ware’s career arc over the last decade should be studied in a lab. Her ascent from buzzy, sophisti-pop-twinged singer-songwriter to full-blown diva, whose status as a gay icon grows by the day, is remarkable—especially for those who heard DEVOTION in 2012 and the subsequent slump that came afterwards. THAT! FEELS GOOD! is a rare, earned moment of post-lockdown catharsis; while plenty of emerging artists saw a stall-out with the industry shutting down due to COVID, few albums were as emotionally stymied as 2020’s WHAT’S YOUR PLEASURE?, a record that should have been toured the world over for years, played joyously at festivals and loudly in clubs. THAT! FEELS GOOD!, both in name and in music, is a declaration of freedom meant to reverberate through your body—an explosion of some of the best mainstream disco in years, a fusion of electronic, dance, and soul music built to unite people. Back in 2020, longtime MGRM contributor Adam Cash wrote that “WHAT’S YOUR PLEASURE? really hits because it’s so easy to get lost in its textures, whether you’re dancing in your bedroom or stoned off your gourd on the couch.” Three years later, it’s nice to write that Ware’s music made it off of the couch and out of the bedroom. [CJ Simonson]
25. Yo La Tengo – THIS STUPID WORLD
Genre: Indie Rock, Soft Rock
Always on the move, Yo La Tengo’s 17th album in 40 years isn’t too different from their previous releases. Anchored in the ‘90s college rock they helped define, but freshly exploring indie folk, post-rock, and noise pop, THIS STUPID WORLD’s diverse sound makes a sublime soundtrack to staring down the darkness, the urgent and raw sound of these nine songs resulting in some of the most welcoming music of their career. All these years later, Yo La Tengo are still exploring new ideas, their solidification in the indie rock canon letting THIS STUPID WORLD be absolutely at peace with itself. [Lurien Zitterkopf]
24. L’Rain – I KILLED YOUR DOG
Genre: Avant-Pop
In the very title of L’Rain’s third album, I KILLED YOUR DOG, is a provocation of knotty emotional curation. Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist and creative nucleus Taja Cheek dives deeper into the sounds and themes of her previous work while unpacking even more layers of sonics and internalized feelings as she deals with the yin-yang of life’s contradictions. She’s funny and melancholic, impish but subdued, the record blooming while Cheek wilts. Continuing her slipstream, collage-like approach to songwriting and album sequencing, Cheek wrestles with these conflicting ideas and the thoughts she holds in her head—treating the end of a relationship as if it’s the Apocalypse; being marginalized in the indie scene despite the rich Black folk and rock music tradition; the hyper-commercial application of experimental synthesizers. In her lush soundscapes, musique concrete techniques and samples give way to hallucinatory, hypnagogic swirls of guitars, synths, and horns. On Soccer Mommy’s 2018 anthem “Your Dog,” Sophie Allison rejected Iggy Pop’s original notion. In 2023, Taja Cheek is the National Lampoon, threatening to blow Mr. Cheeseface’s brains out. [Luke Phillips]
23. Nourished by Time – EROTIC PROBIOTIC 2
Genre: Avant-R&B, Dance
I don’t mind saying it: it wasn’t until MGRM contributor Dom Lepore made it a Bandcamp Pick that I felt compelled to return to Nourished By Time’s EROTIC PROBIOTIC 2 for the first time since release. Suddenly, it all unlocked for me. Recorded in a Baltimore basement, the freewheeling flourishes play out in appropriately confined space, mixing dark, groovy dance moments with warbly bedroom pop detours and an ‘80s and early-‘90s R&B sheen. Essentially an old school mixtape, where the whole project begins and ends is unclear as it’s playing out; stylish, smoothed-out new jack swing rhythms blend into dreary new wave drum machines, all under the guise of outsider art pop. It’s a treat from front to back—not since The Weeknd’s HOUSE OF BALLOONS have I felt so overjoyed to see a relatively word-of-mouth record get passed around into the mainstream. [CJ Simonson]
22. 100 gecs – 10000 GECS
Genre: Hyperpop
What could possibly Gec harder than 1,000 gecs, you ask? The answer has arrived in the form of more gecs than previously thought possible.
If there were any indie purists out there ripping their hair out saying that 100 gecs got soft after signing to Atlantic in 2020, take a deep breath and listen again. I’d argue they kept all the best aspects of their sound from 1000 and leaned in (10x) harder for their follow up. Still weird. Still catchy. Still noisy. Still Hardcore Malibu Barbie. It’s fair enough if my opinion is invalid—pre-2023, I, like others, enjoyed 100 gecs largely ironically, and only because someone else queued up “Ringtone” over the living room bluetooth. But that changed with 10000 GECS. I became a Hyperpop Fan—and a Gec Stan. (My corporate ass even put their album release date on my Teams calendar, and I went to their LA show, looking like a solid normie in a crowd of Gecheads.) If you’re doubling down that 10000 may not be as out-there (though there are arguments it is) or as creatively bonkers (again, let’s have a discussion) as 1000, you can’t deny it’s cleaner, poppier, and potentially more approachable for the normcore, soft-rock, Boygenius simps like me, just enough to get us into the fold. And for that, I’m grateful. If you’re someone who hasn’t listened to 100 gecs yet, start here and work your way backward, preferably with a Whiskey Red Bull in hand. Yes Gec! [Devyn McHugh]
21. McKinley Dixon – BELOVED! PARADISE! JAZZ!?
Genre: Left-Field Hip Hop
Richmond rapper McKinley Dixon’s music has always been about community, first and foremost—whether that’s his local scene in Richmond, Virginia, some of the voices from which (Angelica Garcia, Ms. Jaylin Brown) are heard throughout his latest record; his family who he attempts to reassure on tracks like “Live! From The Kitchen Table!” and “Tyler Forever”; or the multigenerational lineage of Black writers and artists who’ve inspired him, from contemporaries like Boston singer-songwriter Anjimile (featured on “Dedicated To Tar Feather”) to Toni Morrison, whose trilogy of novels serve as the album’s title. In just under half-an-hour, Dixon weaves a cosmic constellation of collective rage, grief, and triumph. [Grace Robins-Somerville]
20. Avalon Emerson – & THE CHARM
Genre: Dream Pop
Avalon Emerson’s latest sounds absolutely nothing like her previous music, and that’s ultimately a good thing. After years spent traveling across the world performing innovative DJ sets, pandemic lockdowns turned Emerson towards exploring pop song structures. The end result of that study, & THE CHARM, is a cool-headed and subtly gorgeous album that reveals her mastery of indie pop fundamentals, which she sprinkles with breakbeats and chamber strings. Between dance reveries and dream pop comedowns, & THE CHARM gently guides you through Emerson’s internal dialogue, navigating spiritual fatigue through the prettiest music she’s released yet. It’s simple, but Emerson’s quiet synthpop is exactly what this year needed. [Lurien Zitterkopf]
19. Truth Club – RUNNING FROM THE CHASE
Genre: Fuzz Rock
Truth Club is a bit post-hardcore, a bit grunge, and a bit of whatever slowcore these TikTokers are calling “shoegaze.” On the Raleigh, North Carolina band’s sophomore album, RUNNING FROM THE CHASE, they explore a brisk blend of loud and quiet, noisy and soft—heady songwriting that pushes the act’s musical template far beyond their 2019 debut, the lighter NOT AN EXIT. The percussive, explosive nature of each song forces an unprecedented urgency throughout RUNNING FROM THE CHASE, from the oscillating acoustics of “77x” to the off-kilter build of standout “Break the Stones.” Like Pile’s DRIPPING or Stove’s ‘S FAVORITE FRIEND, the emotions can run hot and the piercing noise can run cold, a deft synthesis of idiosyncratic rhythms and huge rock moments that hit you instantly. Feel your soul leave your body during “Blue Eternal” and enjoy the awakening. [CJ Simonson]
18. Andy Shauf – NORM
Genre: Chamber Rock
Andy Shauf didn’t want to make another concept album this time, but something about the way his brain works simply won’t allow him to refrain from connecting the dots. Everyone’s favorite clarinet-wielding Canadian returned in 2023 with NORM, a collection of gentle, delicate songs that nonetheless conceal a monstrously dark and thought-provoking underbelly. What began as an attempt to just write songs unrelated from each other ultimately became a chimera of perspective-shifting storytelling, dissecting themes of love, obsession, faith, self-control, and the nature of observation and the observer, told through the eyes of a religious stalker and the God he worships who slowly becomes aware of the sinister nature of his loyal follower’s behavior. Shauf is a modern-day auteur who performs every single instrument and vocal on the album by himself, giving him a rare degree of exact control over every detail of every song. As a result, each track feels precisely calibrated, intently focused while leaving certain key details just out of frame, vocal performances cracking, chords lilting into barely perceptible dissonance. NORM is a profoundly rewarding listening experience, well-suited for casual easy listening but revealing untold secrets on repeated, close listens, a sly and subtle demonstration of lasting depth and deception. [Jacob Martin]
17. Mitski – THE LAND IS INHOSPITABLE AND SO ARE WE
Genre: Singer-Songwriter
Mitski opened 2018’s BE THE COWBOY with a love song about—of all things—her job. The same year, in an essay titled “Centripetal Force,” she calls music the greatest love of her life—a love that is transcendently rewarding but also, at times, self-destructive and torturous. (As Mitski fan and fellow regular on 2023 best-of lists, Kara Jackson, remarks, “Isn’t that just love? / A will to destruct?”) Since her crossover into relative mainstream fame, Mitski’s tumultuous devotion to her craft remains as strong as ever, as she belts with leading lady conviction, “Please don’t take this job from me.” And as she reminds us just a few songs later, for better or worse, her love is the one thing that will always be hers and hers alone. [Grace Robins-Somerville]
16. Greg Mendez – S/T
Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Indie Rock
Firstname Lastname singer-songwriter? Come on man. Sounds like Elliot Smith? Yeah, sure buddy. Oh, the album’s self-titled? Great, that’ll sell! Whispery vocals? Yeah, y’know, those are hard to come by nowadays.
Those are the words chirped by almost every “discerning” industry-adjacent person before they listened to Greg Mendez. Not a single one of those sentiments was repeated after the fact. It’s been a pleasure this year to watch Mendez’s uniquely seasoned and evocative stream-of-consciousness songwriting so thoroughly captivate the indie community. Westside Records’ Bruce Eder once described Leonard Cohen as “able to command the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure.” In 2023, there was only one artist whose nonchalant vocals and poetic turns of phrase commanded the scene’s attention that fervently: his name was Mendez (no relation). [Zach Troyanovsky]
15. ANOHNI and The Johnsons – MY BACK WAS A BRIDGE FOR YOU TO CROSS
Genre: Art Rock
This feels somewhat embarrassing to admit, but I completely slept on ANOHNI and the Johnsons back in the mid-2000s, a moment when they were on every critic’s best of list. Instead, I fell for ANOHNI’s heavenly voice on the first Hercules and Love Affair record. My fondness for that disco-soaked dance record kept her in the back of my mind, and in a particularly depressing time last summer, I decided to give MY BACK WAS A BRIDGE FOR YOU TO CROSS a spin. It turns out, whew, it’s absolutely devastating, a haunting exploration of love, loss, and resilience that I wasn’t expecting to love as much as I do. ANOHNI’s voice hasn’t aged a day; the songs are soulful, powerful, and heart-wrenching in all the right ways. [Jack Probst]
14. Parannoul – AFTER THE MAGIC
Genre: Shoegaze, Noise Pop
Peering at the outlines of an hour-long, meticulously arranged shoegaze epic like AFTER THE MAGIC, “restraint” may not be the first word summoned to mind. And yet, while it is the beautiful intensity of 2021’s TO SEE THE NEXT PART OF THE DREAM that made it a favorite of online music fans, it is the quiet emphasis on melody that will make this album remembered just as fondly. With the enlisted help of other scene icons such as Asian Glow and Della Zyr, AFTER THE MAGIC feels like a celebration of the Korean shoegaze scene and the love it’s found all throughout the world. In light of internet music trends, it’s so refreshing to hear an artist who envisions the future of shoegaze as more than an accessory to youthful ennui. Parannoul foresees a future of hope and despair with clarity, and greets it with excitement. [Jaden Amjadi]
13. Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS
Genre: Pop Punk
Two years after Olivia Rodrigo pogoed her way onto the national pop scene with her debut SOUR comes its sequel, GUTS. Reuniting with chief collaborator Dan Nigro (aka That Guy from As Tall As Lions), GUTS follows classic sophomore album tropes to their logical endpoint—creating a bigger, badder, better record out of the same general winning formula that initially endeared Ms. Olivia to generations of teenboppers and geriatric millennials alike. The rock songs are spunkier, the ballads have more bite (both lyrically and literally in the case of lead single “Vampire”), and a prevailing post-breakup ANGST pervades the record that creates an easy emotional thruway for most listeners to go from first-pumping to forlornly nodding along from song-to-song. Frankly, most hooky, guitar-based indie bands should be embarrassed by how much Olivia upstages most of her peers on this album. Leaning into the herky-jerk, anxious new wave inclinations of the best tracks on her first album, GUTS bears the influence of Blondie, Elastica, and Olivia’s soon-to-be tourmates The Breeders. In a Top 40 landscape that couldn’t be more siloed off and allergic to loud rock music, it’s genuinely thrilling to hear pop songs with distorted guitars and big choruses again. Olivia Rodrigo is opening up this pit. [Luke Phillips]
12. Diners – DOMINO
Genre: Power Pop
For the last decade, Blue Broderick has been weaving together spindly. shaggy indie rock albums with seeming ease, bouncing between impressive indie labels like Lauren, Asian Man, and Bar/None. On DOMINO—Diners’ sixth album, and return to Bar/None—things feel like they’ve fully unlocked for the DIY troubadour. Produced by power pop maestro and rock provocateur Mo Troper, Diner’s latest is immediate, a peudo-singles collection of bendy, hooky rock songs that simultaneously build out Troper’s growing sonic universe and blow out Broderick’s snappy, radio-ready songwriting. Tracks like “The Power” or “Someday I’ll Go Surfing” deserve to thrust Diners into the broader mainstream; to that end, both tracks sonically reveal DOMINO to be Broderick’s most Los Angeles album to date, a groovy road ready record fitting for the SoCal adage that you can go surfing in the morning and snowboarding in the afternoon. At a breezy 24 minutes, its pop swiftness is a rare gift. [CJ Simonson]
11. Indigo De Souza – ALL OF THIS WILL END
Genre: Rock
On her third album, ALL OF THIS WILL END, Indigo De Souza is preoccupied with impermanence. It’s right there in the title, and that anxiety permeates nearly every song: “I don’t feel at home in this house anymore,” “I’m not my body,” “I’m not sure what would help if or if there’s anything.” But despite that fixation, ALL OF THIS WILL END doesn’t feel like the end of anything—it feels like the first time De Souza has begun to tap her full potential. Where 2021’s ANY SHAPE YOU TAKE refined her colorful indie rock, ALL OF THIS WILL END pushes the boundaries of her sound, from the sludgiest, heaviest material she’s ever released (“Always”) to the brightest dance-pop of her career in single “Smog,” one of the best songs of the year. On the hook of that song she cries out, “I come alive in the nighttime,” and despite any fear of death, it’s the most confident she’s ever sounded. [Zac Djamoos]
10. Bill Orcutt – JUMP ON IT
Genre: Instrumental Folk, Experimental
Harry Pussy co-founder Bill Orcutt has spent recent years exploring the outer limits of plugged-in riffing on excellent albums like MUSIC FOR FOUR GUITARS and MADE OUT OF SOUND. This year’s JUMP ON IT presented a sharp pivot, with Orcutt stripping things down to just acoustic guitar. Billed as a companion to his 2013 collection of deconstructed Americana standards HISTORY OF EVERY ONE, the record uses contemplative, organic tones to paint meandering-yet-unpredictable soundscapes. At times, it calls to mind John Fahey and Robbie Basho. But whenever things seem to hit a plateau of familiarity, Orcutt finds ways to weave his signature strain of chaos into the fold, masterfully breaking the spell by harkening back to his roots as a noisy improviser. If Orcutt’s last few records felt designed for high brow, art-y venues, this one is better suited for a walk around some remote Midwestern lake at dawn. [Ted Davis]
9. boygenius – THE RECORD
Genre: Singer-Songwriter
I loved THE RECORD. Before anyone asks, yes, I am bisexual. And yes, I do have it on good authority that Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus are “A Thing,” and it is on my 2024 predictions list that Phoebe Bridgers is going to get jealous and break them up, tarnishing the boygenius name, putting future collaborations on hold until their stunning comeback/world tour in 2031. Not that I’ve thought much about it.
Femqueer identity aside, we have been living in a golden era of music the last decade because of these three women. I know how much Phoebe hates being called “mellow,” but there is something to say for the calming nature of boygenius’s harmonies and instrumentation, even as they dish out canonically devastating lyrics. It’s as if the three of them, strong and stoic, are taking our hands, leading us through the carnage of these horrific end times. The sheer impact of the album has been incomparable, just as there have been few comparable artists who can meet each of the individual talents that make up boygenius. Lifted by the powers of Dacus and Bridgers, THE RECORD reveals some of Baker’s best songwriting to date; “$20” and “Satanist” are the most welcomed, defined, stand-out tracks on the project as a whole (and I’m counting follow-up EP THE REST when I say that). The good news is that, regardless of the boygenius member that stands out to you most on this album, we’re all right. We’re all correct. Who can choose between the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit? I certainly can’t. It’s not up to us to judge God’s Trinity—all we can do is listen to her. [Devyn McHugh]
8. Slow Pulp – YARD
Genre: Indie Pop
In the age of users changing the speed of songs on TikTok, it feels worth mentioning that Slow Pulp is not slang for pitched-down versions of Jarvis Cocker tunes. Instead, they’re one of the best indie groups of the last five years, continuing the long tradition of songwriters retreating to a cabin in Wisconsin to write the next critically acclaimed indie album. But Slow Pulp is no Bon Iver, either. Sure, there are similar themes of isolation, but fuzzed-out guitars and catchy choruses soundtrack them. The band’s intricate arrangements and singer-songwriter Emily Massey’s passionate vocals create a hypnotic atmosphere of ethereal melodies that effortlessly shift between dreamy shoegaze and indie rock grit. [Jack Probst]
7. Bully – LUCKY FOR YOU
Genre: Rock, Grunge
No other album in 2023 delivered hooks the way Bully’s LUCKY FOR YOU did; every song on here would be a hit in another life. It’s funny, then, that the very best of those hooks finds Alicia Bognanno asking, “Will you be there when I make it home? / How will I know?” It’s the album in microcosm—a towering, radio-worthy rumination on loss. And LUCKY FOR YOU is, ultimately, an album about loss (the lead single was called “Lose You,” after all). But it isn’t a breakup record. LUCKY FOR YOU tackles all various facets of loss, from the passing of Bognanno’s beloved Husky-Shepherd mix Mezzi (explored poignantly on anthemic single “Days Move Slow”), to the loss of a crutch in “All I Do”’s commitment to sobriety, to the loss of faith in the institutions that shape our society in the closing pair of “Ms. America” and “All This Noise.” In the midst of all this loss, though, Bognanno finds reasons to keep going: “There’s flowers on your grave that grow,” and just like those flowers, she’s come out stronger on the other side. [Zac Djamoos]
6. Militarie Gun – LIFE UNDER THE GUN
Genre: Hardcore
In case you haven’t gotten the memo yet, post-punk is old news. As much as moody, sneering derision and simmering, opaque songwriting might have made sense during the Trump administration, the post-pandemic era calls for something else entirely: caring deeply for your fellow man as loudly as humanly possible. Enter hardcore, and with it Militarie Gun, a crew of West Coast scene veterans merging the raw physicality and earnestness of a deafening DIY house show with the hooks and sensibilities of the most arena-sized ‘90s alt and Britpop bands you can imagine. At no point on LIFE UNDER THE GUN is this band ever trying to fool you—as far as debut full-length LPs go, this is one designed to hurl its band’s ethos into your ears like bricks through a plate glass window, and it’s a genuine thrill to go along for the ride, living and dying by every “OOH OOH” that Ian Shelton wrings from his diaphragm. There’s something about Militarie Gun that just feels essentially of the moment, steeped in sincerity and searching for answers in an increasingly socially stratified world. LIFE UNDER THE GUN sends a clear message to all those bands out there still trafficking in too-cool apathy or feigned detachment from the people and places around them: leave that shit in the 2010s. [Jacob Martin]
5. Caroline Polachek – DESIRE, I WANT TO TURN INTO YOU
Genre: Pop
It was appropriate for Caroline Polachek to drop her sophomore album on Valentine’s Day. The all-consuming romance of DESIRE, I WANT TO TURN INTO YOU sets its sights on the endless possibilities of new love. Between bagpipe-infused folktronica, flamenco pop, and children’s choirs, Polachek’s all-or-nothing approach to pop yields incredible results, unbounded as she turns to anything and everything to express her love, her sea glass vocals and expressionistic lyrics the embodiment of obsessing over a relationship so much you lose sight of everything else. DESIRE, I WANT TO TURN INTO YOU does exactly what its title promises—what more could you want? [Lurien Zitterkopf]
4. awakebutstillinbed – CHAOS TAKES THE WHEEL AND I AM A PASSENGER
Genre: Emo
It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since awakebutstillinbed burst onto the scene, guns blazing, with their amazing debut. We loved them then, so it’s no surprise that we love them now. CHAOS TAKES THE WHEEL AND I AM A PASSENGER is a massive record, taking everything the band introduced on their debut and fine-tuning or pushing it even further. There’s loud, blistering guitars, beautifully clean-picked interludes, barely whispered verses, and choruses screamed until Shannon Taylor’s voice nearly reaches its breaking point. It checks all of the boxes of whatever emo revival, fifth wave emo, punk, or extremo labels that the people of the internet apply to them—whatever you want to call what they do, they do it very well.
The songs are powerful, and the lyrics are what really make them standout. “chaos” is an incredibly human record about growing up that often finds Taylor torn between accepting the impermanence of everything and rebelling against the coldness of such a notion. Where past efforts dug their heels deep into a desperate sense of hopelessness and defeat, CHAOS finds Taylor taking on life with a wider lens. There are moments of zen (“road”), personal growth (“far,” ”airport”) and hopeful self-reflection (“streamline”) that were few and far between, or completely non-existent, on the band’s first full-length. Taylor recently took to Twitter to address fans comparing the two LPs, and that while she gets that the “incessant self-hatred and negativity” was relatable to people, as the person who actually writes the songs, she doesn’t ever want to “need” to make a record like that again. And let’s be clear here: CHAOS is not a sunny stroll through Candyland. If you really want to fuck up your day, get to work seven minutes early and listen to “enough” in your car before you clock in. There is still plenty of self-doubt, grief, guilt, and fear built into these songs because they will always be part of the human condition, and awakebutstillinbed’s ability to share their experiences with that human condition is what makes them such a special band. The good and the bad, the highs and the lows are all presented here, side by side. Where once Taylor found catharsis in songs that focused solely on the negative, the songs on CHAOS provide an alternative path to relief where things might not always be great, but there’s a belief that they can and will get better. That’s a form of progress and growth that I would wish for anyone. [Jake Mazon]
3. Ratboys – THE WINDOW
Genre: Post-Country
Both those with passing familiarity and those who were day one diehards heard “Black Earth, WI” and knew whatever came next from Chicago’s favorite ‘boys was going to be a bit different. A nine-minute guitar pilgrimage, both sonically immediate yet remarkably fresh, reset expectations—it’s not that THE WINDOW was ultimately that different from 2020’s PRINTER’S DEVIL, which cemented them as a broad indie darling and favorite among rockism purists and an attentive online DIY crowd. But Chris Walla coming aboard as producer, a lengthy, jammy first single, and several years post-lockdown cementing themselves nationally as one of the best live shows in music (just ask Bernie Sanders), led to not just easily their best and most complete work, but a shot to be on your mom’s radar—SiriusXMU, CBS Saturday Morning, Billboard’s Indie Artist of the Month, the world is opening up to Ratboys in a rare way. It’s a borderline-mainstream crossover no one could’ve anticipated but everyone has been rooting for. THE WINDOW is filled with genuinely beautiful earworms (“It’s Alive,” “The Window”) and emotional rockers (“Crossed That Line” “Empty”), and opens a big door to what will come next from the ascending Ratboys. [CJ Simonson]
2. billy woods and Kenny Segal – MAPS
Genre: Left-Field Hip Hop
Enigmatic rap veteran billy woods was unavoidable in 2023. Not only did he drop his second collab record with producer Kenny Segal, but he put out yet another album with ELUCID as their recurring duo Armand Hammer. On top of that, he executive produced and cut multiple verses on the new Blockhead album, and popped up with highlight guest appearances on new records by Noname, Algiers, Aesop Rock, and others. Despite the prodigious output, his return to the well with Segal reaffirms their partnership as the best MC-DJ team-up since Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Segal’s tonally flexible and impressionistic beats the perfect complement for the unpredictable flows and dense wordplay of woods. MAPS serves as a travelogue of sorts, where woods breaks down his itinerant touring lifestyle with a typical literary bent and sardonic deadpan delivery, blowing through bar lines with careless dismissal, refusing to reach a rhyme until his point is fully and properly illustrated. He is simply one of the premier wordsmiths of the modern day, deservedly ascending the ranks of the hip hop ecosystem with a style entirely immune to replication and ideally suited to dissecting our new world for what it is. [Jacob Martin]
1. Wednesday – RAT SAW GOD
Genre: Countrygaze
Over two decades ago, Drive-By Truckers coined the term “the duality of the Southern thing” to describe their holistic, warts-and-all look at Southern culture and history from those who had lived it: “Proud of the glory / Stare down the shame.” As spiritual successors to the Truckers’ literary dirtbag Southern Rock throne, Wednesday offer a similarly dualistic take, summed up by the album title, RAT SAW GOD. Divinity can be found in the most unlikely places—abandoned buildings, gas stations, burned-down cotton fields, in the arms of someone who you can tell all your dumbest, grossest, most embarrassing stories to, knowing that it’ll only make them love you more. Through clouds of hot and heavy shoegaze distortion, riffs that could kill, and a gently guiding pedal steel, Wednesday are finding ways to spin yarns into a tangled web of personal, regional, and musical history. All hail the rat bastard rock gods. [Grace Robins-Somerville]
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