BEST OF 2023: Water From Your Eyes, Nourished By Time, Sweeping Promises, Debby Friday, Bar Italia, Mandy Indiana, SZA, Yaeji, PPJ & more
Goodbye, horrible year!
Goodbye, horrible year!
I started this substack to have a deeper appreciation of the music I liked this year and it helped to think about and contextualize the music you listen to in the era of algorithm-driven playlists. If that means having a music blog even though it’s not 2005 anymore, so be it.
That being said, one high point was all the music I got to see, listen to and be a small part of. And this year I found a lot of new music I really liked, which I present to you.
Here’s the list in playlist form, and not in any particular order:
Water From Your Eyes “Barley”
Everyone’s Crushed is certainly my album of the year. Their cut-and-paste approach to sounds and lyrics in songs like these feels as fresh as anything I’ve listened to. I got to see them up close & personal when they came to LA and played on The Best Show, which was a highlight. If you wanna weird out your next karaoke party, put this on and sing and dance like Rachel Brown.
Nourished By Time “Daddy”
And now, my most-listened-to song of the year, according to my last.fm at least. Somehow I only got into Nourished By Time (nom de guerre of Marcus Brown) this year and digging through these albums has been a treat.
**ACTUALLY this is my real most-listened-to song of the year:
ANGELA BASSETT DID THE THING
Also, ask me about my Barry Keoghan story sometime. A 2023 highlight.
Sweeping Promises “Eraser”
Here’s my favorite band. Since 2020 (or before if you count their previous bands like Dee-Parts and Mini Dresses), this band has put out three killer albums and provided me with two of my favorite live shows I’ve seen AP (after pandemic). Also got to have them on The Best Show which was icing on the cake, and I gotta say—they’re so nice!
Debby Friday “So Hard To Tell”
Not a fluke:
Sometimes you hear a song (this once) only once (yesterday morning) and you think, well this is gonna be my song of the summer. I listened to this once, took a shower, made some food, and “ooh so hard to tell” was BURNED INTO MY BRAIN FOR THE ENTIRE DAY.
I am now infecting you with the same earworm.
Debby self-describes as a “zillennial anti-heroine” and just sampling a few of the older records, I bounced from noise punk to hip-hop to dub to house sometimes all at the same time.
SZA “Kill Bill”
The end-of-year reflection on songs usually cements what my favorite pop song of the year, and this SZA song is my most listened to.
Mandy Indiana “Pinking Shears”
It just sounds NEW in a way music hasn’t sounded to my jaded millennial ears. This is one of those songs I heard five seconds of and was immediately like, “Well, I love this.”
Bar Italia “Nurse!”
HELLLLLOOOOO “NURSE!”
Björk / Rosalía: “Oral”
I was like “yes, Bjork is making songs that sound like this again” and then my friend said, “nah it’s old” but it’s still nice.
NewJeans “Cool With You”
Yep, I’m recommending K-pop. It was inevitable! But this one has sincerely been on repeat because it’s basically a song by Erika De Casier, one of my favorite musicians of the past few years. She’s been working with NewJeans and that article is an interesting read.
PPJ “Bicha”
I want to hear this song with the biggest subwoofers making the bass so loud my toes vibrate.
Yaeji “easy breezy”
I think Yaeji is one of the best, as evidenced by my multiple posts about her very good songs. Here she’s riding (with her dog Jiji) around Brooklyn in a new video that kinda has a Shibuya-kei bossa nova vibe to it.
Somehow I missed my real-life friend Chandler in this video. Hi!
KNOWER “The Abyss”
My friend Kate called this song “Brett-core”
Corinne Bailey Rae “New York Transit Queen”
Yes, that is the same Corinne Bailey Rae who you know from that “Girls, put your records oooon” song that you heard in restaurants or shopping malls in 2006. I like that song too! But it’s very VH1 Morning Music Countdown. This new one is definitely not that and it fucking rules.
cumgirl8 “Cicciolina”
Cicciolina (meaning "little chubby one"), was the stage name of Ilona Staller, a model, musician and radio DJ (her radio show was naturally called “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” ), but would be most well-known for being an adult film actor. I am not familiar with her work because I’m saving those types of films for my wedding night.
Art Feynman “Therapy at 3pm”
This song is helpful to me because this is also the same time I have therapy.
Paris Texas “tenTHIRTYseven”
Their album features guest spots from the likes of both JPEGMAFIA and MacDemarco and it sounds like it.
Jessica Winter & Jonathan Snipes “Finish Line”
This song borrows the Y2K sound but not in the “I like the girls that do DRUGS!” kinda way. Instead it’s that pre-9/11 Eurodance practically 90’s, “la la la la la, it’s all around the world” kinda way.
a.s.o. “Rain Down”
This was also the year I finally listened to Tricky and it shows.
Kelela “Raven”
It’s a great spooky, atmospheric R&B track which I guess is a hyper-specific genre that I listen to a lot.
Madeline Goldstein “Seed of Doubt”
Another musician I like that I somehow conjured onto The Best Show!
Mary Jane Dunphe “Opening of a Field”
Mary Jane Dunphe I realized is the nexus of a lot of things I like.
Nabihah Iqbal “The World Couldn’t See Us”
I first caught via her show on NTS, an always interesting listen, with a melange of genres from “classical Indian” to “Palestinian reggae.” She was an early collaborator with Sophie, and even contributed vocals to the legendary “Lemonade.”
Vasily Richter “Lost in Herself”
I first heard Vasily Richter’s music on Darren’s WFMU show, on an episode highlighting Ukrainian musicians. I thought I’d find some cool new sounds but instead found something so unbelievably up my alley I’m shocked I haven’t heard of it. It’s like a Slavic Mike Krol.
Mac Krol “For Some Other Reason”
Mike Krol had recorded a bunch of songs at San Francisco’s Tiny Telephone but they didn’t work with his voice, and wound up on a hard drive for years until Mike emailed them to Mac, and Mac Krol was born.
Check out Mike Krol’s ON REPEAT guest list here!
Olivia Rodrigo “bad idea right?”
Look, I’m an adult man. I have my limits to how much stuff like this I can stomach. But, I also think you should like what you like—but here I am providing caveats for recommending this song, which I have listened to every day for a month or so (by choice).
I listened to it a lot more after that.
Real Estate “Water Underground”
Edmond Hawkins, former director of The Special and now-director of SNL, and a million other great things, directed this video for Real Estate, the pride of Ridgewood, New Jersey. They recruited the pride of Wellsville, Pete & Pete (aka Danny Tamberelli and Mike Maronna) for this video. They manage to capture the warm vibes of that show both visually and with the warm sounds that Real Estate is known for. It’s just a video made by a bunch of great Jersey dudes of different stripes.
Marci “KITY”
Somehow I overlooked a new single from Marci, who is one of my favorites. This is her disco-leaning solo stuff, you might also know her band TOPS.
Then I talked a lot about the place this video was filmed and quote Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory by Edward Soja. I was on one that day.
L’Rain “Pet Rock”
L’Rain had my one of my favorite albums of last year with Fatigue, and the brand new I Killed Your Dog is just another late-contender for my favorite album of 2023 that I’m just getting around to. Not bad for a self-described dog killer. Thankfully one cannot kill a Pet Rock, so this song is a bit more of an ethical listen than the album’s title track.
Don’t worry, if you listen to the album, she is the dog.
Lifeguard “Alarm”
I caught Lifeguard’s recent show at Genghis Cohen (I had the pork dumplings, too) and they blew me away (so did the dumplings).
Cel Ray “Clock Me Out”
Supposedly this band is from Chicago, and not from Australia. I refuse to believe this fully. I feel like someone in the band is from Melbourne or something. Nobody in the band is named Daz or Lachlan or Amyl or anything either.
Es “Swallowed Whole”
Another great record from this London “mutant synth-punk” band
Amaarae “Counterfeit”
The beat is lifted from the Neptunes-produced Clipse hit, “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)” but takes a hard left turn from there. Apparently, one of Amaarae’s biggest influences Kelis, which I get even though her name is almost Amerie.
Little Simz “Gorilla”
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
jev. “lonrworld”
The smallest sunglasses imaginable.
Raghd “Easy Go!”
Some nice chill vocals over some breakbeat YA-YA-YA-YAH.
Implaccable & Black D “D Bla m’a accueilli a PSO”
This song samples “Lady” by the other Y2K french house duo, Modjo, aka the perfect “oh that song!” That song samples this Chic song, “Soup For One”!
Pink Pantheress & Ice Spice “Boy’s A Liar”
Come on
DJ Crazy Times & Ms. Biljana Electronica “Planet of the Bass”
Another one to put on at the next karaoke party.
