The Top Ten Albums of 2023

I don't know what I was expecting from 2023 musically, but I can say I was thoroughly surprised, both by the comebacks of long dormant favorite artists and by relatively new faces delivering early career gems. Perhaps what surprised me most was how many albums knocked me out with their high quality and adventurousness. Last year I only felt confident enough to endorse a Top Five list, but this year pushed me to do a full Ten due to how great I found many projects. Let's end the musical year by celebrating these ten future classics.

Let's get started!

#10) So Much (for) Stardust - Fall Out Boy (44 minutes, Pop-Punk/Rock)

Twenty years into their career, a band like Fall Out Boy should have burnt out. Pop punk bands that traffic in teenage angst rarely age well, yet somehow Fall Out Boy have returned with this album and delivered their first project post-hiatus that truly hits the same frenzied heights of their older material. While most of their newer material had shed the tight song structures and quippy lyrics that they made their name with, instead dealing mostly in ill-fitting synth-pop and empty arena anthems, this album returns the band to their glory days delivering heavy, spirited rockers with their trademark wit and some of Patrick Stump's most acrobatic vocal work in years. The album both radiates the youthful energy that once made the band so enjoyable to listen to while also showing how the boys matured, with better ballads than they've ever done before. At its best, this album feels like Fall Out Boy never left. The surprise comeback of the year.

Essential Tracks: "Hold Me Like a Grudge" "So Much (for) Stardust" "What a Time to Be Alive" "Love from the Other Side"

#9) The Age of Pleasure - Janelle Monae (32 minutes, Afrobeat/Reggae)

Sometimes an album doesn't need to make a statement, be some grand artistic work of brilliant innovation, sometimes an album can just be a purely sensory experience, a breezy disc of summery vibes, that's exactly what Janelle Monae's fourth full album sets out to do. This feels remarkably different for Monae, who typically traffics in high concept sci-fi funk and lush, symphonic neo-soul, but here she settles for making a series of plush, groovy bangers that concern her sexual awakening, incorporating current trends in the Afrobeat and reggae textures. The album feels like one long song, with each piece effortlessly transitioning into the next, giving the project a loose, mixtape feel, and this record thrives when the stakes are low. Monae is uniquely empowered on this record, defiantly delivering charismatic lyrics about how much she loves herself and many paeans to sexual pleasure. Her expressions of queer joy are welcome and absolutely infectious. A real departure from what we might have expected from Janelle, but if you take it for what it is, a chill and sexy summer vibe, it's pure pleasure.

Essential Tracks: "Champagne Shit" "Lipstick Lover" "Float" "Water Slide"

#8) Memento Mori - Depeche Mode (50 minutes, Electronic/Alternative Rock)

Depeche Mode have more or less been coasting on their dark, seductive synth-pop sound for the past two decades, churning out an album every few years and while they never disappointed, they never surprised either. It seemed like the creative fire was gone from the group, but recently Gahan and Gore were revitalized by the death of their bandmate Andy Fletcher. Fueled by this tragedy, the duo delivered a set of songs that take the group's signature sound and turn them into deeply moving lamentations as a way of mourning their friend. The album cuts deep, reeks of emotional turmoil and desperation, especially in Dave Gahan's vocal performances which harken back to his best, most tortured work. The album isn't solely made up of dirges, in fact this flows a lot like a prime 80s or 90s DM record in terms of how they offset the bleaker songs with more uptempo synth-pop anthems, masking their chilling lyrics with bright melodies. Depeche Mode were never the darkest of the synth-pop bands, but this is a look at what they could have sounded like had they followed in the footsteps of a group like Joy Division, while still retaining their wholly original sound imbued with gospel and industrial textures. Depeche Mode hasn't sounded this good since the 1990s, and it's great to have one of alternative's best bands firing on all cylinders again.

Essential Tracks: "Ghosts Again" "Soul with Me" "Wagging Tongue" "Speak to Me"

#7) i/o - Peter Gabriel (2 hours and 16 minutes, Art-Rock)

Peter Gabriel's first album of original material in over twenty years was a long time coming, and after such a long break, he never lost a step, because this features some of the art-rocker's career best songwriting and arranging, resulting in an album that feels aged like fine wine, bursting with life experience and world weariness, each song feeling lived-in. Gabriel's brand of art rock has never stayed in one place for too long, and the brilliance of this album is that he takes lessons from all periods of his career, delivering both quiet, stirring ballads and bright, world-music influenced funky pop numbers. His voice has always had the qualities of a weathered, older man and finally he aged into that tone, with such richness that makes each song pop even more. His lyrics are as abstract and artsy as ever, but that poetry is second to the wildly engaging musical textures on display. Many of these songs hit over five minutes, yet they still breeze by due to their immaculate craft. Gabriel also caters the album to the listener's particular tastes by providing two distinct productions of each track, a Bright-Side Mix which lets the song explode with color and textures or a Dark-Side Mix which lets the songs breathe, with ample space, heavier bass and a more greyscale sound palette. Eventually, you can cobble together your own version made out of the best mixes from both packages, or listen to the full experience, but either way Gabriel shows that no matter how far beyond his commercial peak we are, his artistry may never fade. Some of the most engaging work to come from a rock veteran in many years.

Essential Tracks: "Olive Tree" "Panopticon" "Road to Joy" "This Is Home"

#6) Magic 3 - Nas (45 minutes, East Coast Hip-Hop)

Never have we seen a veteran rapper reach a second prime before until Nas has treated us to his unprecedentedly brilliant run of albums in collaboration with producer Hit Boy. Together the duo have delivered six excellent projects starting with "King's Disease" in 2019, and since then the pair haven't missed, with Nas's hard-hitting, thoughtful lyrics and effortlessly confident flows blending perfectly with Hit Boy's clean, innovative yet classic production style. Whereas the "King's Disease" trilogy found the duo showing off over more extravagant, grandiose production with Nas coming across as the undisputed king of rap, due to his unmatched confidence, the "Magic" trilogy is a lower-key affair giving Hit Boy a chance to flex some more subtle, soulful boom-bap beats and Nas gets a bit more thoughtful and confessional. This set caps off the trilogy brilliantly, with Nas delivering a tour-de-force lyrical performance, cementing his legend as one of the genre's premier writers. This is his show first and foremost, with only a single feature in the track list, but his flow never tires. After six straight projects, Nas and Hit might call it quits for a while, but when all is said and done, when the two come together they don't miss and this was no exception. Most rappers his age are past their prime, but Nas, he's still hitting new peaks thirty years into his career.

Essential Tracks: "Based on True Events Pts. 1 & 2" "Superhero Status" "Never Die" "No Tears"

#5) But Here We Are - Foo Fighters (48 minutes, Hard Rock/Alternative)

Foo Fighters had long since cemented their status as America's favorite dad-rock band, delivering solid projects of meat and potatoes rock, with big, arena-shaking guitars and shout along choruses, but after nearly thirty years the formula was starting to wither. It was assumed that Grohl was past his creative glory days and would coast on good will and the occasionally great riff for the rest of his career, but then tragedy struck, the band's drummer, Taylor Hawkins, unfortunately passed away, and that overwhelming grief led Grohl and the band to deliver their best album in over a decade, channeling their powerful, unresolved feelings into this heavy, charged set of songs. The out and out rockers are still in abundance, with Grohl's roaring voice coming to the fore, radiating anguish and giving the songs a weight his recent work severely lacked, but perhaps the most brilliant tracks are those that deviate from the heavy rock formula. The record closes with a trifecta of heartbreaking pieces, in the form of a quiet, wounded acoustic ballad, a lengthy fuzz-drenched acid rocker and a closing slab of brilliant shoe-gaze which shows that even so many decades into his rock career, Dave refuses to stop evolving. Sometimes it takes something truly devastating to invigorate a creative masterwork, but on this album, Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters delivered a fitting, raw eulogy to a modern rock legend.

Essential Tracks: "The Teacher" "Rest" "Hearing Voices" "Rescued"

#4) The Record - Boygenius (42 minutes, Indie-Rock/Singer-Songwriter)

Supergroups for the most part feel like a thing of the past, from when rock and roll dominated the world, but in 2023, we were gifted the full length debut of one of the most well-balanced and remarkably talented trios in the indie scene. This isn't the first time Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus have collaborated, creating both a stellar self-titled EP and performing a few tracks on each artists' recent solo records, but here we get their group's vision for a full project in terms of both their deeply emotive, sharp songwriting style and their ethereal, gorgeous three part harmonies. Like the best supergroups, each writer brings a distinct, unique voice to the proceedings with Julien delivering the album's harder edged indie rock songs, driven by her expert guitar work, Lucy delivering soft, warm, autumnal ballads with her honeyed voice and Phoebe delivering more of her classic melancholic, lyrically devastating mood pieces. The best moments are when all three come together blending both their voices and perspectives, with those few tracks becoming the pick of the bunch, turning in sun-bleached alternative folk gems that prove these writers are nearing the top of their game, both together and individually. Usually a group like this is less than the sum of its respective parts, but in the case of Boygenius, these three really do bring out the best in each other.

Essential Tracks: "Not Strong Enough" "Cool About It" "Emily I'm Sorry" "Satanist"

#3) Guts - Olivia Rodrigo (39 minutes, Pop-Punk)

Olivia Rodrigo burst onto the scene in 2021 with her instantly iconic debut "Sour", an era-defining break up album showing off both her beautiful voice and her songwriting chops, throwing the pop world on its head with the announcement of a new mega-star. While that album was loaded with quite a few melodramatic piano ballads, what made her so vital was the way she incorporated sounds that were either deemed passé or never really made their way into Gen-Z pop quite yet, and on this album she doubles down on that approach, delivering one of the most sharply crafted pop-rock albums in years. Rodrigo is indebted to her influences, especially on this album, where she incorporates elements of pop-punk and Riot Grrrl, but all under the umbrella of ridiculously hooky and energetic pop-rockers. The echoes of Courtney Love and Hayley Williams by no means overshadow her own talent, particularly with her lyrics with are the epitome of utterly teenage, wallowing in her own awkwardness and melodrama in a way that makes her totally distinct and often quite funny. The ballads haven't evolved much from her debut, but this album's strengths is those uptempo rock-inflected bangers that were only hinted at on "Sour". Rodrigo, armed with a sense of self-deprecating humor and a damn good record collection has proved on this sophomore outing that she's here to stay, and hopefully make the pop landscape a much cooler place.

Essential Tracks: "Love Is Embarrassing" "Bad Idea Right?" "Vampire" "Pretty Isn't Pretty"

#2) The Good Witch - Maisie Peters (47 minutes, Pop-Rock/Singer-Songwriter)

Maisie Peters is the world-dominating whip smart pop star we deserve, but honestly, I think she might be too good for us. Maisie's debut record "You Signed Up for This" was a wickedly sharp album made up of both beautifully wistful ballads and razor-sharp witty pop takedowns of lame-ass men in her life, and her sophomore effort takes everything good about that debut and doubles down on her delightfully quirky songwriting voice. Her subject matter has both deepened and widened out, with her writing gorgeous odes to her own maturity and experiences with romance that feel more grown up, as well as her love of being a touring musician, but she can still be effortlessly petty when she wants to, and in those moments she brings more joyous humor than ever before. The sheer specificity of these songs is what gives them such power, because nobody else could write couplets as distinctly witty, yet sometimes deeply sad as Maisie does on this album. The entire project sees her trying and failing to grow, falling back into old habits, but by the end of the record she realizes maybe it's not just her who needs growing, it's the world too. And I agree, if only for the fact that Maisie is smarter than your average pop star, it's time we grow up and realize that and embrace her with wide open arms. The best kept secret in pop right now.

Essential Tracks: "The Band and I" "Lost the Breakup" "Body Better" "You're Just a Boy (And I'm Kinda the Man)" "Wendy"

#1) This Is Why - Paramore (36 minutes, Post-Punk/Alternative)

Paramore is a band that has never stopped growing over their almost twenty year career, transforming from a world class pop-punk band to so much more, and on this record they transform once again, turning in a sharp, angular and ridiculously nuanced post-punk record, drawing from their influences like Bloc Party and turning them into something distinctly them in terms of its high quality hooks. The trio is utterly locked in, delivering relentless grooves that channel the tightly wound rhythms that are hallmarks of the genre with the rhythm section in particular being a real highlight of the record while Zac Farro's guitar delivers countless memorable riffs. Hayley Williams has always been a truly brilliant vocalist, but on this album she blends her riotous pop-punk roots with her more nuanced solo material to present some of her most ferocious, energetic vocal performances of her career while also delivering lyrics which are deeply confessional but with an artistically abstract bent that fits the music like a glove. This album is fearless, with Hayley processing everything from her pandemic home-body habits, the paralyzing nature of the 24 hour news cycle, toxic masculinity and her own fear of falling in love again after her traumatic divorce, yet it remains infectious and accessible the whole way through. This is Paramore's most mature outing yet, and it only makes me more excited to see them continue to mature, grow and challenge their fans with more brilliant material. A modern masterpiece of alternative music.

Essential Tracks: "Thick Skull" "Running Out of Time" "You First" "This Is Why" "Crave"

Thanks for going on this musical journey through 2023 with me to celebrate how excellent this year for music truly was.

Thus ends list season. Thanks for reading!