2023. It's over. Here's the best of what came out in the last 12 months.
10: Vince Clarke: Songs of Silence
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Depeche Mode got all the glory in 2023 and deservedly so. They put out a great album that was mostly finished up coincidentally before the death of Fletch. However, former member and co-founder, Vince Clarke, also put out a synthpop album in 2023 and honestly, it was better.
That's not to take away from the brilliance of Depeche Mode's album. That last statement was just to emphasize how great of an album was created by the mastermind behind Yazoo and Erasure. Like DM's album it's a bit calmer and more subdued as I would expect but is more reflective and darker. This album sounds like something that mixes Vangelis with Underworld but comes out much more cinematic and atmospheric. It's a sci-fi soundtrack, looking for a movie.
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9: Soft Kill: Metta World Peace
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Soft Kill was one of those bands that consistently put out great darkwave albums for years, but there was always one big problem; They had a very crowded genre to compete with and needed to differentiate themselves. I tend to split darkwave into two styles: Rock and Tech. Some bands like Ritual Howls and Drab Majesty feel more on the indie rock style while others like Cold Cave and Boy Harsher feel more like darker techno. Soft Kill always fell into that former category. Then they released an album, Canary Yellow, that was features on our best of 2022 list. I thought gave up on darkwave and finally embraced full-on indie rock. I mean, this album was GOOOOD. They really had a knack for lighter sound. I assumed they would continue down this path. When I started listening to their new album, Metta World Peace, I heard them alternating back and forth a bit between that indie and darkwave aesthetic. Don't get me wrong. It sounded great, but it made me wonder if they were struggling for identity. Then about halfway through, they threw me for a curveball. Much like the 2022 album by Soft Moon (different band), Exister, they decided to really go off-the-charts experimental. Metta isn't quite as cohesive as Exister, but in a similar way they really embrace a wide range of styles. Metta even dabbled in gothic hip hop which blew my mind. At one point I swear I was listening to Lazerhawk featuring Lil Peep. The point is: some bands are starting to see the simple fact of the future: Darkwave is painting itself into a crowded corner and there are only two ways to get noticed: Either do it REALLY well (such as newcomer Harsh Symmetry) and really own it or start branching out and putting out some really well-crafted tracks that show you aren't a one trick pony. Soft Kill is a great band, and they just keep surprising me. Whatever they try, they succeed at and everything they create is worth consuming. |
8: Cosmetics: Baby
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Cosmetics takes the baton from Chromatics and runs with it, but bringing a more sinister vibe. Dark, dreamy synthpop is what this Vancouver-based synthpop band is all about, with an emphasis on DARK.
There are definitely elements of Chromatics, but also Suicide and Beach House. This album contains some covers and some tracks that are a bit derivative of previous synthpop tracks, but they fry in so much more of their own flavor they're practically original. This album reminds me of those winter break fever dreams of my college days when I was completely clueless of what my nights had in store during the cold, early winter. I was certainly up to something, but by the icy, mid-January I could barely remember, not for lack of significance but because of disorientation due to those early sunset, benzo-induced sunsets.
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7: Slowdive: everything is alive
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Old-school shoegaze came back with a vengeance in 2023. Blonde Redhead and Drop Nineteens had comeback albums alongside a new tidal wave of creations by the newer generation (which are JUST as good). One of the mainstays, Slowdive put out a new album and while it wasn't in the same ballpark as their masterpiece, Souvlaki, it didn't need to be because it was a different sport altogether.
"everything is alive" is much more chill than their previous work. That doesn't mean it isn't as heavy. Much like Vince Clarke's album earlier, it's a bit more droney and atmospheric. Take the already complex mix of optimism and gloominess that comes with shoegaze and throw in the burden of being well past the halfway marks in their lives, the heavy experiences of being well beyond adulthood add an extra heaviness to the sparkle that comes with normal shoegaze rock.
I don't know how else I can articulate the style of this album other than saying it really is the Euler's Disk of rock: Sparkly and pretty, but cognizant of its own ephemerality.
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6: Fever Ray: Radical Romantics
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Wow. Where do I start with this one? Karin Dreijer summoned their alter ego, Fever Ray, and enlisted their brother, the other half of The Knife, as well as Nine Inch Nails for collaborations which fill an album: a powder keg of rage and sadness that I can only imagine comes with the territory of dealing with the treatments of being nonbinary even in today's world. If you've heard Fever Ray or The Knife before, it's the same style, but even better and more emotional, less technical.
Even if the music isn't your thing, they win, HANDS DOWN, for having the CREEPIEST collection of videos this year. Do yourself a favor and give them a watch, at least "Even It Out". Anyone who has ever been bullied can empathize. Look for cameos from Trent and Atticus. Just make sure your parents, or your significant others, aren't around. They'll start to wonder about you
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5: Film School - Field
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The mid 2000's were peak indie. Film School were one of the gloomier bands of that time; not that the description really narrows it down. If you wonder what I mean, look up their song "Two Kinds". There were quite a few similar sounding sounds, but Film School, managed to stand out.
Melancholy-Indie was different 15+ years ago. It was much simpler. Taking cues from popular bands such as The Strokes, LCD Sound System, and The Shins, a lot of bands slowed down the aforementioned styles and added more Lush-like vocals to the point of being shoegaze without tipping over into the genre. But.. then.. they all quit. Not too many indie bands from the mid 2000's survived. There was an oversaturation of something excellent, much like Peruvian food at the time in most metropolitan markets.
Film School not only survived but kept refining that melancholy sound. Little by little. Bit by bit. The result was their most recent album: Field; A but dark, a bit jangle, a bit darkwave. It's a slow cooker of an album that kept adding little bits of the last decade and a half of subgenres to create a complex aroma that it fun to experience from start to finish.
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4: Public Memory - Elegiac Beat
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Public Memory was a band that was so rich and diverse, it was hard to pin down a genre: darkwave, chillwave, trip hop, IDM, downtempo etc.
That same ambiguity is likely what's kept them off of my "best of" lists the last few years. The music is great, but their lack of ability to pigeon-hole is not only their strength, but their weakness in that it's hard to suggest them to anyone looking for a complement style to something they already enjoy.
With their latest album, I think they finally broke through. An album that mixes chillwave and trip hop, they finally concentrated their style to the point where it's cohesive. it's definitely dark... and creepy... and reminiscent of early DJ Shadow.
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3: DJ Shadow Action Adventure
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This album got a lot of shit immediately upon its release because, well... it's weird. And I'm calling the critics out now: you're way too closed minded.
Shadow called it a deeply personal album and... yea there are one or two weird tracks that are hard to swallow, but holy shit if this isn't a trippy journey through... well... I don't know what to call it. It's a fantastic voyage, Every Shadow album is different and much like someone who recently dosec on MDMA, they're constantly comparing it to the benchmark that was their first sample; in this case... Entroducing. WTF. Am I drunk? Keep reading. I swear this wlll make sese. This album, like his previous few are NOT Entroducing. They never WILL BE. It's time to move on. This one is beautiful is its own way, even mope so than his previous The Mountain Will Fall. His previous, I felt, was him trying too hard to cling to the hipness of "hip hop". With this album, after 25+ years Josh David finally lets go an gives his "dont give a fuck this is what I like album" and it's all over the place insofar as genres and it's his best work SINCE Entroducing. Give it a listen. A full listen. From start to finish... especially the finish. And you won't be disappointed. |
2: cEvin Key: bRap And fOrth, Vol. 9 Splatter
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Skinny Puppy Finally called it quits in 2023. What a shame. They had their run.
cEvin, the engine behind Skinny Puppy, Download, The Tear Garden, Cyberaktif, and many other bands, put out an album of his older works which combines all the different styles he's been known for his entire career: goth, industrial, idm, trip hop, etc. When I listen to it and close my eyes, I get taken to a strange tropical goth island run by terminators. It isn't for everyone and geys kind of odd, but it deserves a good full listen by anyone ever even remotely interested in the Skinny Puppy mastermind's side projects. I can put it on repeat and never get bored.
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1: Magic Wands: Switched
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Wiki lists this band as Rock. Discogs lists them as "Alternative Rock" an "Dream Pop".
Fuck that. They're graduates of both Cleopatra and Metropolis Records. Get the idea? Yes, this is a remix album, and yes, I've only heard about them this year. I don't know where they came from and I'm not going to spoil this band by spending too much time googling them and regurgitating what I find.
I had a track from this album slip into my recommendations early this fall. I was blown away. I added a few more from the album. I couldn't get enough. I listened to the entire thing, and it was the best thing I've heard in the past 12 months bar none. I can't say much other than LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM... NOW. Start with DAYLIGHT - INSIDE MY HEAD REMIX and just go from there.
No elaborate description. No history. Just listen.
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Honorable Mentions:
Lead Into Gold: The Eternal Present (Industrial)
Drop Nineteens: Hard Light (Shoegaze)
The Bellwether Syndicate: Vestige & Vigil (Goth Rock, Metal)
Depeche Mode: Memento Mori (Synthpop)
Orbital: Optical Delusions (Techno/IDM)
High Vis: Society Exists/Stationhouse Demos - EP (Post-Punk)
Ritual Howls: Virtue Falters (Darkwave, Goth Rock)
Kareem Ali: GODSON OF HOUSE: RISE OF A BLACK PLANET (Tech House)
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