My 2023 Completely Subjective Top Albums List

Every year I peruse the internet to read “best of” lists. I used to make my own once upon a time. Most of the time, the lists are populated by whatever pop music is polluting the airwaves, or streamwaves as it were. I have no beef with the Taylor Swifts and Olivia Rodrigos of the world, however, as I have always argued, their music does not really have staying power. This is because it is the product of mass production for mass consumption poised to be replaced by another product. It’s also just not very good.¹

Another thing these lists are typically populated with are ultra obscure bands. Sometimes these bands are good discoveries for me, but the majority of the time the new record entitled “Centipede Staircase” by the not-so-critically-acclaimed indie band, Landscape Coffee Table²—is one to be missed. Mostly people just trying to show off. I don’t really need to listen to another indie band doing their best impression of The Smiths. Those selections are reserved for smarmy people that yell at more clouds than me.

That is why I call this a completely subjective list—because these are things that I like, I would reckon that the vast majority of them are objectively good, but the enjoyment a music is a subjective endeavor. In lieu of doing a numerical ranking, I am going to do it in tiers. Here’s a playlist of my “can’t miss” tracks from all of the albums mentioned here.

One Sentence Honorable Mentions

Bob Dylan—Shadow Kingdom: Bob’s pandemic concert film released to the masses.

Rancid—Tomorrow Never Comes: The punk rock stalwarts of my youth continue churning out moon stompers, etc.

Public Image Ltd—End of World: Very old post-punk rockers still releasing great albums all these years later.

Gregory Alan Isakov—Appaloosa Bones: If I drove through a desert every day, this would be my soundtrack.

Courtney Barnett—End of the Day: Not her usual fare, but pretty good nonetheless.

Tyler Childers—Rustin’ in the Rain: Childers continues to try and show everyone that he is not, in fact, Sturgill Simpson.

The Gaslight Anthem—History Books: I think they only got back together so they could finally record a song with The Boss.

Kurt Vile—Back to Moon Beach: Vintage Vile verisimilitude.

Decent Releases

Records in this tier are decent, maybe stream it, I wouldn’t buy it, or I didn’t buy it. You may discover something new here—and you may even like it more than I do.

The Hives—The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons

It has been over 10 years since The Hives last released an album. I am happy to report that they released this album which does exactly the same thing as every other album by The Hives. In your face garage rock, no frills, and at this point, an exercise in nostalgia for those of us that lived the early to mid 2000s garage rock revival. Cant Miss Tracks: “Bogus Operandi” and “Rigor Mortis Radio”

Damian Lewis—Mission Creep

Lewis is best known for his portrayal of Bobby Axelrod, Nicholas Brody, and Maj. Winters, to name a few. As talented as he is as an actor, he can also spin some decent and pretty standard folk-rock. I was extremely skeptical of his ability to make music, actor crossing over to musician does not always work as well as musician crossing over into actor in my humble opinion. You’ll enjoy tapping your foot to these tracks whilst waiting for your drink at Starbucks. Cant Miss Tracks: “Down on the Bowery”

Chris Stills—Where Love is Found

I never knew much about Chris Stills until I caught him playing Robin to Ryan Adams’ Batman on the doomed Ryan Adams & The Cardinals reformation tour this past summer. Don’t get me wrong, I went to a show in the second leg of the tour in Reading and it was 3 hours of excellent music, but Adams’ illness and mercurial personality caused the entire third leg, and any potential future Cardinals projects, to be cancelled. Anyway, I was very impressed with Stills’ guitar work and vocals. He released this EP shortly after the tour, and it is all piano-based rock. It’s a definite hidden gem. Cant Miss Tracks: “Say My Last Goodbye” and “Where Love is Found”

Portugal. The Man—Chris Black Changed My Life

No band of my generation has had a more interesting career arc than Portugal. The Man. Born from post-hardcore “scene” music, they then made decent indie rock. I even got to meet them at Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh while I was in college. Then something happened. They started to move towards this pop-rock/art rock thing. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I lost some interest in the band as a whole when that change occurred.³ Cant Miss Tracks: “Dummy”

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets—Fronzoli

This LP is just ok. Not as good as some of their previous efforts. It has some strong parts, but at the end of the day it seems like a bit of a mess. Almost rushed. If you’re a fan, this is a cant miss, but if you are just getting into obscure psych-rock—there is a mountain of other albums to start with. Cant Miss Tracks: “Nootmare (K.I.L.L.I.n.G)[Meow!] and “Sierra Nevada”

Greta Van Fleet—Starcatcher

Everyone’s favorite Led Zeppelin tribute band released yet another Led Zeppelin tribute album. I never really had a problem with their Zep cosplay like some do, I can respect their dedication to rock n roll in an era where pop and pop rock reigns supreme. Starcatcher is an effort that is a bit more on the raw side. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t like it quite as much as their earlier albums. Cant Miss Tracks: “Meeting the Master” and “Falling Sky”

Rodney Crowell—The Chicago Sessions

Y’all can thank Jeff Tweedy for this album being on this list. Crowell’s back catalog is good, he was never one of my favorites, but anyone who cites Townes as a songwriting influence is ok in my book. This Tweedy-produced LP shows that Crowell doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, just a good all-around listen with no agenda. Cant Miss Tracks: “Everything At Once”

The Baseball Project—Grand Salami Time!

I don’t think I need to exactly sell to anyone a band and a record that is all baseball-themed power pop. The Scott McCaughey/Peter Buck led project continue their hitting streak with fifteen tracks that bring one closer to America’s pastime. Cant Miss Tracks: “Grand Salami Time” and “Disco Demolition”

Jenny Lewis—Joy Y’all

A great follow up to her 2019 effort, On The Line, this album really truly does spark joy. It was released at the beginning of summer and to me no record reflects sitting on your patio, drink in hand, more than this one does. Cant Miss Tracks: “Puppy and a Truck” and “Cherry Baby”

Better But Not Best

This tier contains albums that I listened to a lot, but not as much as the cream of the crop. Maybe I bought it on vinyl, maybe its in a cart somewhere, or maybe I added it my Discogs wantlist.

The Nude Party—Rides On

New West Records sends me 1-2 emails a week of new releases and reissues. I haven’t hit unsubscribe yet, because I sometimes get some good stuff! One email came through that featured The Nude Party. First off, the name stood out to me. Second, the video for Ride On is a parody of a spaghetti western, which drew me in. Third, the music is great, they meld together some indie, some Americana, and some garage rock. Cant Miss Tracks: “Ride On” and “Somebody Tryin’ to Hoodoo Me”

Mac DeMarco—One Wayne G

Do you have time to listen to 532 minutes of music? If so, I have the record for you. 199 tracks of pure “jizz jazz” as described by the artist himself. Most of the songs are sketches or demos, but a good portion are finished tracks. It makes for excellent background music to read, study, or work to. The album itself is purposefully unwieldy and meant to represent five years of tireless writing and recording. This was not DeMarco’s only 2023 release, he put out Five Easy Hot Dogs in January which is a wholly instrumental effort. Cant Miss Tracks: “20190704” and “20191009 I Like Her”

Chris Stapleton—Higher

Stapleton made a lot of “best of” lists this year—and for good reason. Higher is a well-balanced country-rock record. Like most of his work, he isn’t pigeonholed into just straight country or -shudder- bro country. There is a bluesy and rock element to his music and on this LP that is prevalent. Cant Miss Tracks: “White Horse” and “Think I’m In Love With You”

The Arcs—Electrophonic Chronic

A Dan Auerbach side project delivers an extremely soulful and heady listen that makes for great chill mood music. This record took awhile to grow on me, but after I gave it three or four spins, I was hooked. It is a welcome change from the repetitive nature of more recent works by The Black Keys and truly shows Auerbach’s musical versatility. Cant Miss Tracks: "Heaven is a Place” and “Eyez”

The Mars Volta—Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón

This is an all acoustic version of their 2022 self-titled release. I gotta say, The Mars Volta does folk-rock right. The self-titled album was more of a latin-jazz fusion—pretty much on the nose for them. This all acoustic effort changes the arrangements and reimagines the entire album. In a good way. Cant Miss Tracks: “Blank Condolences-acoustic”

Osees—Intercepted Message

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard weren’t the only band to delve into synth-heavy music in 2023—more on that later on. Osees managed to encapsulate garage rock synth with some smatterings of new wave and punk thrown in for good measure. John Dwyer is one of the hardest workin’ musicians out there, and with this latest effort his Swiss army knife-like abilities really show. Cant Miss Tracks: “Goon” and “Stunner”

Zach Bryan—Boys of Faith

After dropping his excellent self-titled LP on us, Zach Bryan was not done in 2023. He released this five-track EP that features Bon Iver and Noah Kahan. I have no strong opinion on Kahan as of now, I know he is starting to gain some steam. I will say that he lends some great talent to the song he collaborated on for this EP. This one is a strong follow up companion to his 2023 self-titled release—more on that one later. Cant Miss Tracks: “Sarah’s Place” feat. Noah Kahan

The Brian Jonestown Massacre—The Future Is Your Past

Of the records in this tier, this is the one I was the most on the fence about. It is certainly a strong enough effort to be in the top tier. Ultimately I decided to put it here since I personally am a newer fan of this band. This latest LP spins some really good psych-rock reminiscent of the late 60s. Who knows what the future holds for this band though, front man Anton Newcombe got into a fight with his lead guitarist at a show in November. Yikes. Cant Miss Tracks: “Your Mind is My Cafe” and “Do Rainbows Have Ends”

S Tier—The Cream of the Crop

These are what I consider to be can’t miss records released in 2023. You should go to wherever they sell physical music and buy these records, stream if you must, but just know that $0.003 per stream is peanuts and Santa is watching.

Son Volt—Day of the Doug

I love Doug Sahm, so when I saw that Son Volt was releasing an album of Doug Sahm covers for Record Store Day, I had to have it. As most people know, I am team Wilco and always have been. However, I like some of the work Jay Farrar and Son Volt have released. This LP is one of their best in awhile in my opinion, maybe since Honky Tonk. Anyway, this is a no skips kinda scenario and really is a fresh and respectful take on Sahm’s music. Cant Miss Tracks: “Float Away”, “Sometimes You’ve Got to Stop Chasing Rainbows”, and “Juan Mendoza”

The Murlocs—Calm Ya Farm

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s secret weapon, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, has another band and woo boy are they awesome. The Murlocs also features Cook Craig from KGLW. A bit of a different sound, which is not a bad thing. I would describe their 2023 LP as a cross between Paul Butterfield and The Byrds. If I felt like breaking my own rules, I’d put this album in its own tier. Cant Miss Tracks: “Initiative”, “Undone and Unashamed”, and “Common Sense Civilian”

Daniel Donato—Reflector

Donato is a hard-working guitarist from Nashville that has been around for a bit, but has really entered the musical community as a signpost at the intersection of Grateful Dead and Willie Nelson. On Reflector, he shreds his heart out and lays down vocals with conviction. When I say no skips, I mean no skips. Cant Miss Tracks: “Lose Your Mind” and “Gotta Get Southbound”

Wilco—Cousin

Cousin is a classic Wilco album in the sense that the songwriting is there, the sound is there, and the touches of eccentricity are peppered throughout. The main difference is that Wilco went with an outside producer and ceded some of the control of the studio process. The result is a focused and excellent product that is an instant classic. Cant Miss Tracks: “Evicted” and “Pittsburgh”

Ghost—Phantomime

Ghost usually releases a decent EP on the heels of each full length studio release. Phantomime continues that tradition, but this one is more than decent. The highlight is the cover of Genesis’ “Jesus He Knows Me,” which is a song that was made for a band like Ghost. It even feels like it could have been written by Tobias Forge. The other real highlight is the cover of Iron Maiden’s “Phantom of the Opera.” Cant Miss Tracks: “Jesus He Knows Me” and “Phantom of the Opera”

Zach Bryan—S/T

I wrote about this LP not long after it was released. I could not stop listening to it. Zach Bryan is a great songwriter—I would say on par with Jason Isbell, but without the smarmy self-righteousness. What makes this record very strong is the songwriting combined with the assortment of featured artists. Let’s hope we get to hear more from Bryan in the years to come. Cant Miss Tracks: “Ticking”, “Fear and Friday’s,” and “Hey Driver” feat. The War and Treaty

Jason Isbell—Weathervanes

I have had difficulty liking Jason Isbell at the same level I used to like him for a couple of years now. Sure he was a trainwreck with the Drive-By Truckers, but he was still a hell of a performer. His solo efforts have all been either legendary, Southeastern, or just run of the mill good, Something More Than Free. On Weathervanes, I feel like he has had a kind of “return to form” in that he didn’t churn out another record with Dave Cobb’s fingerprints all over it. No disrespect to Cobb, but after Southeastern, you can tell he tried to replicate the same record over and over—Weathervanes noticeably puts an end to that. Cant Miss Tracks: “Save the World,” “This Ain’t It,” and “King of Oklahoma”

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard—PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

Put aside the extremely awesome album title for one second—ok—KGLW’s 24th studio album is their second foray into a thrash metal sound. It is a spiritual successor to 2019’s Infest the Rats Nest. Where it belongs in the Gizzverse as a whole is a conversation best left for another time. This album is one blistering track after another and contains some of the best drumming you’ll ever hear. The boys keep churning out great music and refuse to be pigeonholed into a “type.” The one vinyl exclusive track, “Dawn of the Eternal Night” is a monologue read by frequent KGLW collaborator, Leah Senior. It is nearly 15 minutes of what can only be described as Gizzverse lore. There’s environmental collapse, witchcraft, a cat named Beowulf, and a pet Gila Monster transformed into a dragon by those practicing the witchcraft—it has got it all. Cant Miss Tracks: “Gila Monster,” “Converge,” and “Motor Spirit”

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard—The Silver Cord

A few months after PetroDragonic Apocalypse came The Silver Cord. The thematic elements are the same, except this album is purely electronic. It is an ode to Kraftwerk and other similarly situated electronic bands. I acquired the “Capybara Baby” standard edition vinyl and “Shadow on the Moon” extended edition vinyl. There are several secret tracks on the standard edition after locked grooves—can’t find that on Spotify. While I was instantly hooked on PetroDragonic Apocalypse, this one took me a few spins to really get into it, but now it has been on almost constant rotation. Cant Miss Tracks: “Set (Extended Mix)” and “Swan Song (Extended Mix)

1. This is one of my “old man yells at cloud” things.

2. Not a real band, obviously, but you get the idea.

3. This is not a “they sold out” soliloquy, I just personally lost interest in their newer sound.