Scott’s Favorite Music in 2023

By Scott

The Tubs, Dead Meat (2023).

My favorite album of the year: a punchy, expertly crafted, nothing-wasted LP. Even though the echoes of Richard Thompson piqued my interest, I don’t want to diminish the Tubs by making a comparison. This is simply great stuff. I’ve played it all year and it still sounds fresh and exciting. 

Dead Moon, In the Graveyard (1988).

Last year, my taint-tickling colleague Null included all the Dead Moon albums (and book!) in his list. I’d never spent much time listening to them so decided to dive in and was immediately hooked. I bought the first half of their discography on vinyl (per Null’s instruction) and they became the soundtrack to most of my year. My Dead Moon education will continue into 2024!

Bruce Cockburn, O Sun O Moon (2023).

The great Cockburn is now in his late 70s, and this album numbers in the late 30s, as far as his studio albums go, but its strongest moments are as good as anything else he’s recorded over the decades. O Sun O Moon is full of mysticism, anger, despair, beauty, and, as always, some fine fucking guitar playing. 

Soilwork, Övergivenheten (2022).

Soilwork seems to have settled into a comfortable sound that blends some of the old, thrashy, melo-death attack of their earlier albums (which I love) with the unrepentant catchiness and pleasing riffiness of big, loud, hard rock. A good one to play at high volume, but full of musically intriguing ideas if you listen closely. 

Colter Wall, Little Songs (2023).

This was a big year of Colter Wall for me, but whenever I listened to his earlier stuff, I found myself amazed by how excellent his singing is on this latest album. Some people may prefer his grittier, earlier style, but I like the mellow baritone, and here, his singing shows a new level of elegance and control. Plus, the songs are good! 

Guerrilla Girls! She-Punks & Beyond 1975-2016.

An eclectic and enjoyable compilation that spans over forty years, from Patti Smith to newer bands. I sometimes find myself wishing it was heavier on straight-up punk rock but the variety is, I suppose, the point. 

Elder, Innate Passage (2022).

I spent time this year listening to Elder's earliest albums, which are very good as big slabs of stoner metal, but they made me appreciate how much the band has evolved. Innate Passage is really a stunning sonic journey, and if that sounds pretentious, the music demands it. This is life-affirming stuff in the way that only certain types of creative metal bands can be. 

Ray Wylie Hubbard, Co-Starring 1 and Co-Starring 2 (2020, 2022).

RWH will draw you in by being sort of fun and goofy, or by dropping all sorts of musical references, then knock you out with a perfect line or a stunning, brooding song. On these two albums, he’s accompanied by a handful of guest stars, from the truly star-level (Ringo, Willie) to lesser known artists, but the guests never get in the way, and the collaborations are never obtrusive. Calling them “co-stars” is too generous, and that’s all for the better: Hubbard’s personality is front and center on these solid albums, and his voice and words are the reasons you’d want to listen anyway. 

Amorphis, Halo (2022).

Like Soilwork, Amorphis has settled into a sound that blends the old and the new, a style that can be catchy and tuneful without pretending to be anything other than a metal band. Like their last several albums, Halo is pretty consistent overall while containing a lot of diverse elements within the songs themselves, like a stew packed with various tasty morsels: nourishing, hearty, and, yeah, kind of similar from bite to bite, but very satisfying.

Live concert: Meshuggah and In Flames. 

I’ve wanted to see In Flames for years, and although I haven’t been a big fan of their later albums, their earliest ones remain some of my all-time favorites. Seeing them was a thrill. But seeing Meshuggah...hard to describe. Do you enjoy staring into multi-colored strobe lights for 1.5 hours while being blasted by very loud, very confusing sounds? Then this is the band for you! The show can best be summed up by the reaction of the guy sitting in front of me, who every so often would grab both sides of his head and just scream at the top of his lungs. Over and over and over. 

Honorable mention: Cheekface. 

I don’t listen to a lot of bands like this, and sometimes I think their music is a little annoying, but seek out Cheekface for the best lyricist working today (sorry, Jason Isbell). The songs are full of deadpan non-sequiturs that will make you laugh, or at least kind of snort, and make you think. From the song, “When Life Hands You Problems”: “I am yelling ‘someone’s in here’ from the bathroom stall of life.” Aren't we all?