Sli'merre 2 by Young Nudy and Pi'erre Bourne

6.5 - A 10 for anybody who gets to spend their weekend nights hot box slow rolling, a 6.5 for middle-aged men committed to Friday family movie night. -Jt

Songs of a Lost World by The Cure

10 - A perfectly patient masterpiece delivered by a band that has aged like fine wine. -b

Scheduled Explosions by 2nd Grade

7.5 - My favorite part about this collection of fuzzed out, beachy, poppy, jangly tunes is that they are delivered in quick installments...LONG LIVE SHORT SONGS! -b

PRATTS & PAINS by Royel Otis

7.8 - Royel Otis clogged the eternal pit that I have inside of me that longs for youthy alt-rock with Cure Strokes - Jt

Charli xcx - Brad and it's completely different but also still brat

6.4 - I think complaining about how this release exemplifies the gross over-releasing of music to jump the charts is kinda brat… that said, the guests are pretty amazing, and having too much brat in my ears helped me push through some authoritativeness - Jt

Cutouts by The Smile

8.1 - Utter brilliance as usual: funky riffs, beautiful strings, dark, poetic lyricism and a complex pallet of sounds stirred together in a way that makes you wonder if we've been following along with the greatest musicians of our time. -b

A 2nd Shape by The Wolfgang Press

5.3 - I mean… the weirdness and 80s vibe feels right, but the whole thing has this odd sensuality to it and weird feeling sensuality isn’t really my thing - Jt

In Waves by Jamie xx

8.0 - Hit play for an automatic dance party or be inspired to revisit that weird time in the late 90s when I was into the breakbeat that was chunking itself into the pop music. - Jt

8.2 - In Waves utilizes fun little callbacks to different aspects of rave music and churns out dance bangers full of technicolor electronic matter. -b

Games of Power by Home Front

7.2 - I’ve been searching for a punk show to bring my 18 year old nephew to and seeing Home Front’s 80s electro party punk in a London basement seemed like the ideal (not at all realistic) situation. -Jt

What moved me most in a year that felt unfair, unlucky and overall ungood.

Best Album: Red Moon in Venus by Kali Uchis

My entire life was leading up to the moment where at the end of my Spotify wrapped, Kali's special message appeared like my personal ghost of Christmas past.

Best Track: Boyhood by The Japanese House

Boyhood was probably my most played song in 2023, and I remain committed to the theory that God's gift of melody has been bestowed upon The Japanese House.

Best Breakthrough: Caroline Polachek

I am as big a fan of Chairlift and Caroline's first solo album Pang as anyone, but there is no denying the absolute force that accompanied Desire, I Want to Turn Into You.

Best Comeback: DJ Shadow

While he hasn't technically been dormant, 2023's Action Adventure feels like a comeback for the man who we were all addicted to in the late 90s.

Best Trend: Billy Woods and/or anyone recording in Backwoodz Studioz releasing music seemingly every single week with zero misses.

Best Album: Panamá 77 by Daniel Villarreal

Ok, for the record, this album came out in 2022, but it was my default for 2023.

Best Track: It Must Change by ANOHNI

A song called, "It Must Change" seemed right.

Best Breakthrough: Lifeguard

I love them. Read my review for more reasons why.

Best Comeback: duh

Best Trend: The kids are shoegazing

While AT40 is going country (hopefully this ends soon), the kids on tiktok are blowing up shoegaze.

Voice Notes by Yazmin Lacey

So Far So Good by Meernaa

7.6 - Carly Bond’s smooth vocals propel you through a warm velvety quiet storm lit by a slow moving disco ball.

ANIMALS by Kassa Overall

7.8 - I feel like an experimental hip-hop album with a bunch of featured jazz musicians (that gets better with every listen) is long overdue and I really hope he brings all his guests on tour with him -Jt

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens

Part of what I love about Sufjan is that his albums make sense, and in a week of listening, I haven't figured out what he's talking about, but it sounds like a return to when he was writing about states and I wish he was telling me about MN history. - Jt

9.0 - I could go on and on about this, Sufjan's new record, and how it might be going this way or that, or is a certain type of musical growth in x and y ways, but at the end of the day, like all Sufjan records, the best way to sum it up in review is with that cry face emoji. -b