Wow, this came around again quickly didn’t it? What’s happened this year? Is there much going on in the outside world?
Sadly – yes, but we’re not here to talk about the collapse of civilisation as we know it. As a music magazine, our duty around this time of year is to celebrate the delectable range of excellent albums that have been bestowed upon us over the last twelve months, and in a year where chaos has reigned supreme and fear seems to be at an all-time high, one solace we’ve had is being able to sink into the records we’ve accumulated below.
It’s our pleasure to bring you this once again for 2023, and in our tenth year as a publication it feels appropriate to not only present a slightly larger edition of our end-of-year roundup, but also to say that it’s probably the best and most varied list we’ve ever assembled. Representing artists from a broad range of genres and nationalities, there’s hopefully something for everyone to either agree or disagree with, and plenty to be discovered and cherished as well.
So – from Langkamer to Lankum and everything in-between, here are Wax Music’s top 60 albums of 2023…
60) Nihiloxica – Source of Denial
Seething and searing without even needing to say much, British-Ugandan industrial techno ensemble Nihiloxica not only managed to create one of the most instantly gripping records of the year in their second full-length Source of Denial, but one of the most emotionally intense offerings that punishes its listeners from the outset. Its themes of dealing with backwards immigration policies and border control are conveyed through warped samples of automated phonecalls with the Home Office, while some of the most aggressive group drumming you’ve ever heard soundtracks the robotic utterings of “in either peace or wartime have you ever been involved in war crimes?’ – it’s truly a harrowing listen and paints a frustrating picture of dealing with government bureaucracy. Reuben Cross
59) Paris Texas – Mid Air
A total cacophony of talent and experimentation, Mid Air is the best, and my favourite Paris Texas record to date. The underground duo from Los Angeles simultaneously call to arms whilst bearing their soul, leading the listener across rock, rap, emo and punk there little time to stop and breathe. The variety of the record is a stand out for me, where similarly to SCARING THE HOES (see further down) there is little consideration for what a rap or rock album should sound like, instead Paris Texas pull from all kinds of exciting influences, flexing their own tastes and genuinely sound like they had a good time making it. Rachel Mercer
58) Langkamer – The Noon and Midnight Manual
Rejoice! 2023 was, to this publication’s immense satisfaction, a Langkamer Album Year. Verily, Bristol’s hardest working alt-country and nu-Americana act graced us with their sophomore full length and lo – it was good. The Noon and Midnight Manual is brimming with all the constituent elements we’ve come to cherish here at Wax Towers. Delicious to the ears and nutritious for the soul, like cheesy beans on toast or the ratatouille central to the third act flashback sequence of the film of the same name, and full to bursting with the spidery guitar lines and lush drum production Langkamer have made their own. Contained within is an infectious yearning for the comfort of home finely balanced with the joy one can find from hard work and labours of love. This feeling runs through it like a pulsing central nervous system, and is best summarised in the self-deprecating epithet “it’s not much, but it’s honest work”. Ed Hambly
57) Eartheater – Powders
There’s a singular vision to Eartheater’s craft that demands admiration of all kinds. An experimentalist at heart and one of our time’s most impressive vocalists, Alexandra Drewchin’s work has always felt transformative, moving from tender intimacy to grand highs, flitting across impressive soundscapes of all colours along the way. Powders, the first in a pair of records, takes pure pop structure and imbues them with a crystalline edge that traps listeners into its refractive allure. With an instrumental palette akin to trip-hop and Björk-ian electronica behind her, her pure and ethereal voice carries the listener through a stunning album about the metamorphic power of love. Varun Govil
56) CLT DRP – Nothing Clever, Just Feelings
Nothing Clever, Just Feelings is the perfect title for an album that centres around female rage, pain and angst – a line that will feel familiar to women who were told they talk about their feelings too much. “You don’t give me understanding / I’m not always gonna be / A good woman or a good friend,” the band sings on the album’s title track, setting the mood for what is a brilliant and audacious album full of anger, which manages to sweep up the listener in its witticisms. As long as there’s still stuff for us to shout about, Nothing Clever, Just Feelings seems to say “you will be hearing from us”. Clara Bullock
55) Foyer Red – Yarn the Hours Away
The quirky Brooklyn 5-piece wowed many with debut EP Zigzag Wombat in 2021, but their debut album is an even more impressive and colourful collection of stories. It might all be organised chaos, but each song is vibrant on its own without needing to sit comfortably among the rest of the tracklist. ‘Toy Wagon’ shifts entirely at the halfway point, while opener ‘Plumbers Unite!’ comes off as art-punk at its cosiest with its sunny instrumentation. There’s unusual instrument choices abound in the omnichord, clarinet and vibraslap, but it sure does all add up to create one of the most charming debuts of the year. Rachel Mercer
54) Jen Cloher – I Am The River, The River Is Me
I don’t think it’s a stretch to compare what PJ Harvey is to her craft in the UK to what Jen Cloher is to theirs in Australia. Their quietly joyful fifth album arrived this year, one through which Cloher elucidates that endlessly complicated process of self-actualisation and how our trajectory through life inevitably focuses one eye on what’s been and gone and the other on what’s yet to come. The record is painted with Cloher’s familiar warm palette, again featuring the softly electrifying vocal production that places their voice right at the back of your neck. The record is an exercise in embracing identity, illustrated most clearly in the folding together of English and te reo Māori throughout – often on a phrase by phrase basis. To blur between languages like this in the quieter moments feels almost dreamlike, and in the more charged moments feels like Cloher has unlocked for themself another conduit for discharging the energy built up over her career to date. It’s the first time they’ve written and sung in this way but it works for them so perfectly that they may as well have always been doing it. Ed Hambly
53) A. Savage – Several Songs About Fire
As co-leader of distinguished indie rockers Parquet Courts, A. Savage has never failed to excel when it comes to penning intricate lyrics and crafting ingenious hooks, but it’s on his solo material where both of these are pushed to greater levels. Several Songs About Fire is a breakup of sorts, presenting a series of farewell letters to his New York home and relishing a new start in rural France. It’s as steeped in knotty prose as you’d expect from Savage, but it’s an instantly gratifying listen that sucks you into the world of a man whose dissolution with the big city came to a head and required a fresh start. As a result, his songwriting has never sounded fresher. Reuben Cross
52) Baby Rose – Through and Through
Baby Rose commands an incredible, distinctive voice that you just have to hear to appreciate. The Atlanta-based musician otherwise known as Jasmine Rose Wilson returns with Through and Through, her second full-length album following 2019 release To Myself and propelling her to prominence beyond the US. In a recent interview, she says of the record, “It’s all in – who I am, why I’m here, with what I have – with this blessing that I have, let’s give it all.” You can feel the no-holds-barred courage that’s gone into these songs, which range from the aching vulnerability of ‘Tell Me It’s Real’ to the breathy playfulness of ‘I Won’t Tell’ with rapper Smino. ‘Dance With Me’ sounds like a sultry, diamond-dusted, cocktail-bar croon, rent between sorrow and hope; meanwhile, ‘Fight Club’ (a collaboration with musical genius Georgia Anne Muldrow) is pacey, snappy, so cool it hurts. Fran Pope
51) CASISDEAD – Famous Last Words
CASISDEAD has been cultivating a rabid fanbase for about 15 years through his mixtapes, and has been lauded for his innovation and individuality, but while the artist himself remains something of a mystery as he preserves his personal life, the storytelling is unmatched. With 80s-inspired production paired with lyrics that tell a story of a bleak North London landscape, there’s plenty of captivating moments on the record. ‘Venom’ tells the story of a toxic relationship gone wrong, while ‘Pat Earrings’ still stands tall as one of his most hard-hitting tracks having been initially released in 2017. There’s plenty of worldbuilding on show from Cas, and all of it comes together to create a rich tapestry of drama, love and pain. Rachel Mercer
50) Wednesday – Rat Saw God
2023 really feels like the year that a wave of alt-country indie bands took over. Whether you want to call it Indie-twang, country-gaze or even shoe-graze, it’s clear that this genre’s flagship act is North Carolina’s Wednesday. On their fifth studio album, Rat Saw God, the American outfit seem to pick up on all of alt-rock’s best impulses and combine them into a moreish package. At times, they ooze a slacker care-freeness, but at others, huge guitars and roaring solos surround you with a dark intensity. At times, singer Karly Hartzman feels soft spoken and delicate, at others she screeches with a terrifying might. All across the spectrum, though, Rat Saw God leaves you in awe. Varun Govil
49) Squid – O Monolith
It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that Squid decided to turn their experimental streak up a notch on their second album, but to have produced something so daring without sacrificing too much of their signature qualities is another feat. On O Monolith, their forays into Tortoise-esque jazz rock and Can-worshipping abstractions are what shine through as their primary influences, but the band are crafty enough in the way they present their ideas to prevent it sounding derivative. As stunning as the record is, don’t get too attached to its sound, because they’re unlikely to ever make something in this vein again as they continue their fascinating evolution as a group. Reuben Cross
48) maya ongaku – Approach to Anima
The gentle-jazz crush of opening track ‘Approach’ ushers us into Maya Ongaku’s cool, verdant world. What unfolds across the slender eight-song album Approach to Anima is both refreshing and caressing, like forest air that leaves you breathing slower and deeper. maya ongaku are an instrumental electronic trio from Japan signed to Guruguru Brain, the label of legendary psych-folk-rockers Kikagaku Moyo. And while the two bands bear some musical-family resemblance (if you enjoy one, you’ll probably enjoy the other), maya ongaku’s distinctive sound is born of their music’s quiet strength, unhurried pace, and warm textures. Acoustic guitar is layered with percussive taps and scrapes, sax and flute, soft vocals and whistling, birdsong and water sounds. From its most playful, sunlit scenes to its dusky, almost eery moments, Approach to Anima is a soul-restoring album with a bright heart of serenity. Fran Pope
47) Getdown Services – Crisps
Getdown Services’ long awaited debut album does not take itself seriously – but is still filled to the brim with biting criticisms of the structures that define modern life. Reminiscent of Yard Act’s infamous sprechgesang, Getdown Services speak about everything from horrible landlords to the capitalist work grind, Jamie Oliver and, well, crisps. Still, there is an overarching silliness to the whole thing and while this could be confused with arrogance, the album shows that what’s at the heart of their music is a deep authenticity, a place for them to process their honest feelings. Similar to their live shows, at the core, the album is a space for the band to just be themselves. Clara Bullock
46) Robbie & Mona – Tusky
Known for their heady, surreal atmospheres of glistening synths and ethereal vocals, Robbie & Mona have doubled down on their intoxicating sound. This time round, the power duo embellish their sticky 808s with jazzy undertones, but retain their slick, inebriated aesthetic. Second album Tusky feels as if you have stumbled into the jazz lounge in purgatory, unsure of what world you have come from or where you will be taken next. But for now, you’ll be more than happy to take a seat and exist in here for as long as possible. Dan Webster
45) Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy
I first listened to Young Fathers after I saw some photos Pooneh Ghana took of them at SXSW after the release of their Mercury-winning album Dead. She wrote something along the lines ‘this is the best live band you will ever see’. I fell in love with the band, their discography, but the opportunity of a live show evaded me for another 9 years until their sold out Roundhouse headline performance for Heavy Heavy, which was possibly the closest thing to collective ecstasy I have ever seen. So much so that I went back for a generous second helping at Glastonbury. Ghana was not wrong. The record offers solace, a shoulder that understands that things are rather heavy at the moment. It is a record filled with fight and power as much as it is acceptance and love. The music, often soft and caressing, often anthemic, makes you question how power could be distributed amongst everyone differently, more justly, whilst keeping you a part of something bigger and better. Rachel Mercer
44) Genesis Owusu – Struggler
Storming over the horizon comes Genesis Owusu’s sophomore effort, Struggler, a vision in furious neon stuffed with some of the finest synth bass lines I think I’ve ever heard. Cataloguing the genre wheelhouse of someone already as relentlessly chameleonic as Owusu is probably a fool’s errand – the result is best described as a hyperactive process of inspired sonic chemistry. Genre isn’t so much merged with hyphens as broken down to constituent atoms and compounded as something new and trailblazing. There’s something truly hypnotic about the feeling of interacting with a work that has formed a universe around itself of such bottomless complexity – work that you can approach from infinite angles and still find mystery and enigma. Layered into the runtime of Struggler like the multicoloured strata of an ancient sedimentary cliff face is the story of the ‘Roach’, but it’s purposely obfuscated to the extent it feels mythical. Following the breadcrumbs of its fiction while also being submerged in its crimson depths is a rare joy. It’s not often this danceable, either. Ed Hambly
43) Deerhoof – Miracle-Level
In addition to death and taxes, there’s a guarantee to there being another classic album added to Deerhoof’s extensive catalogue once every couple of years or so. Now three decades deep into a storied career and still finding ways to cram more ideas into a single song than most manage in a whole career, Miracle-Level is the sound of Deerhoof in typical spellbinding form, and comes packed with their usual gamut of bonkers riffs, absurdist hijinks and subtly satirical lyrics. There’s no other band quite like them, and there never will be. Reuben Cross
42) Tirzah – trip9love…???
Even with the intimacy of Tirzah’s vocals, this is a chilly collection of songs, sometimes bleak yet deeply affecting. Looped and pacing around a cracked, haunted piano and a stripped-back trap beat, trip9love…? seems to feel out the boundaries of what we can live with, what we can bear. Love and loss, truth and loneliness, resilience and spiralling self-talk form the ribs of Tirzah’s strange record, co-created with long-term collaborator Mica Levi. The progression of tracks is a lesson in the possibilities of a starkly limited handful of sounds, and their lyrics often play out like an inner monologue, a preoccupied mind (as in ‘Stars‘’ “I can relate, I can relate, I succeed where I fall”). At other times, they unspool into the cryptic and disjointed, most notably on ‘Nightmare’. The only outright upbeat track is ‘2 D I C U V’, where distorted sounds hang loosely and are reminiscent of Arthur Russell’s warped and weird masterpieces. Altogether, the dreamlike trip9love…? is incredibly distinctive, spinning out its own curious shape against a grey haze. Fran Pope
41) ML Buch – Suntub
ML Buch’s glossy, uncanny world continues to expand on her second album Suntub. Its a world of chrome rivers, platinum floodplains and incessant sun. The golden wonderings of deep synths, chiming guitars and Buch’s omnipresent croon set build an environment you’d think only accessible through dreams. The interwoven guitars sing during the instrumental sections, helixing around the synthetic swelling drones. The sonic environment of Suntub is so tangible that each surreal embellishment acts almost as geography, coming and going like weather patterns. Climatic conditions can vary, but will always return to a scene of sun-bleached grasslands and glistening skies. Dan Webster
40) Mandy, Indiana – i’ve seen a way
With their debut album, Mandy, Indiana have proven themselves as one of our most exciting experimenters in recent times. Whether through their pounding drums echoing in cavernous spaces, or guitars that shriek out more like a battlefield than an instrument, maybe even their synth-heavy soundscapes rich in dissonance, the Manchester-based quartet create a pulsing unease. But it’s not unease for the sake of it. Combining all of those constituent parts leaves listeners dancing and lurching as if at the end of a night out, all while being galvanised by the heavily politicised French lyrics of frontperson Valentine Caulfield. Undoubtedly i’ve seen a way provokes and compels just like all vital art should. Varun Govil
39) 100 gecs – 10,000 gecs
Things only get weirder the longer they go on, as the inevitable product of some entropic tendency to the bizarre. How much weird stuff has happened to you this year? Heaps? Thought so. Thankfully, diligent students of idiosyncrasy 100 gecs are here to apply this wildly untested principle logarithmically, each record ten times more batshit than the one before (and helpfully indicated in their seemingly proprietary titling system). This year, we hit 10,000 gecs, and almost in celebration the record opens with the THX sting from cinemas in the 2000s, before taking us by the hand and carefully leading us through whatever utter insanity they’re ready to show us this time. It might sound totally mindless, and maybe it is, but when has that ever actually mattered? What’s a ‘gec’? Why have they sampled the TIE fighter laser sound effect? Why am I here? Frog on the floor? Where did he come from? Nobody knows. Ed Hambly
38) Liv.e – Girl In The Half Pearl
There was plenty to be excited about on Dallas-based singer Liv.e’s debut Couldn’t Wait To Tell You…, with its scattered take on piecing together vignettes of neo-soul, abstract hip-hop and R&B, but everything seemed to fall into place in sublime fashion on her follow-up, Girl in the Half Pearl. Psychedelic, sultry and squelchy in equal measures, the record feels like a surreal trip through love, loss and womanhood, and keeps every sharp turn exciting throughout its seventeen tracks. Whether on the heart-wrenching ‘Find Out’, the spaced-out ‘Heart Break Escape’ or the playful Bomberman 64-sampling ‘RESET!’, Liv.e is completely unbounded in her innovations and the ways in which she expresses herself, and it makes for an enthralling body of work. Reuben Cross
37) Island of Love – Island of Love
Rock music for fans of rock and roll, what more could you want! There’s always been a very pure charm to the four-piece that was once London’s hottest boy band. With a commitment to all of rock’s foundational principles – playing loud, ripping solos, boyish charm – the band have always been easy to adore and that’s particularly true for their debut self-titled album. The duelling guitars and adorably paired vocals of frontmen Karim Newble and Linus Munch carry eleven tracks inspired by love and heartbreak of all forms, all while perfecting a sound somewhere between Dinosaur Jr and The Ramones. Sadly, the band are no more but at least they left us with one of the best albums of the year on their way out. Varun Govil
36) Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn – The South’s Got Something To Say
Frankie Stew & Harvey Gunn inhabit a niche in UK hip-hop that has come more to the forefront since the likes of Loyle Carner and Rejjie Snow took off – a niche where artists are comfortable being honest and vulnerable, rapping about mental health and healthy relationships. On The South’s Got Something To Say, we see Frankie Stew rapping about family life over a sound that has clearly evolved and found itself, a reflection of the overall impression that Stew has settled into adult life. It is a satisfying album to listen to if you’ve been following along the duo’s journey from the start, when albums were littered with heartbreak songs and lyrics about depression. A happy ending for everyone. Clara Bullock
35) Quade – Nacre
This year saw the release of Nacre, the keenly awaited debut album from Bristol band Quade. Shifting between bursts of intensity and utter restraint, with a handful of rhythmic hooks along the way, the album picks up from previous releases ‘Spiral I & II’ and ‘The Balance’ to weave post-punk together with dark folk, alternative rock, and spoken word. Stand-out track ‘Of the Source’ seems to encapsulate the sheer range of Quade’s palette: a searingly beautiful and unsettling stretch of folk violin opens out into restless drums and grainy, almost vintage synth slides, building to a crescendo before the noise falls away. A pensive drift follows, like stepping into a wide-open space. Sampled speech, fragments of field recordings, woodland sounds, and blended folk and electronic instrumentation anchor the album in a kind of haunted British landscape and memory. Fran Pope
34) Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
After the first time accepting the invitation into the bruising bubblegum of Desire, I Want Yo Turn Into You, you will ask yourself why you had never been here before. The regal celebrations of begin from the first minute, as the listener is dragged through shuffling breakbeats, power-ballads and pristine latin pop. As one kaleidoscopic banger rolls into the next, Polachek’s dizzying vocals and lush instrumentals never relent, as the sound falls between woozy and club-ready. Caroline’s island is tropical, volcanic and crawling with celestial fantasies. Dan Webster
33) Cleo Sol – Gold
The second of two albums released in quick succession, Gold was Cleo Sol’s follow up to the equally brilliant Heaven released in late September. The two records exist independently of each other, but the latter of the two benefits from feeling overall tighter in songwriting and concept. ‘There Will Be No Crying’ is an instant classic with the feel of a SAULT track, and the record only gets better the deeper you go. While following a spiritual theme, it’s still a relatable and uplifting record to enter the winter months with, with the warming, honeyed tones of Sol’s voice being the star of the show. Some artists to prefer to stay shrouded in mystery, but when they’re focused on releasing incredible music with a refusal to divulge too much personal information, who could really mind? Rachel Mercer
32) Sleaford Mods – UK GRIM
The chaps. The fellas. Returning this year with UK GRIM, perhaps the clearest and most concentrated distillation of the inimitable and highly intoxicating potion offered by power duo Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn. I have to admit that it was only a few years ago that something finally descended into place in my brain with an audible click, like a marble running the length of a Rube Goldberg machine, and I suddenly ‘got’ Sleaford Mods – transitioning from apathy and antipathy to vociferous super-fandom basically overnight. Polemical, tender, caustic, compassionate – no-one else seems capable of striking this perfect balance of startling and disarming poetic insight with language bleaker than a multi-storey car-park in January and blunter than a granny’s butterknife. Ed Hambly
31) Code Orange – The Above
Code Orange have experienced somewhat of a transformation over the past few years, which has not always been welcomed by the band’s diehard fans. Those who came to love them for their industrial hardcore, angry vocals and general punk demeanour only for them to completely change their sound – and find critical acclaim with their 2020 album Underneath – have had a hard time grappling with these changes, but Code Orange have settled in this new sound, featuring power chords, grunge guitars and, of course, screaming. There’s still plenty of aggression on The Above, but Code Orange have managed to record a rounded record, including introspective tracks such as ‘Never Fall Apart’ or ‘Theatre of Cruelty’. If you’re looking for a hardcore album that is surprisingly reminiscent of both Radiohead and Linkin Park, look no further. Clara Bullock
30) Parannoul – After the Magic
Mysterious South Korean shoegaze artist Parannoul’s music wraps the listener in a blanket of melancholy, with its bed of shoegaze guitars and pillow of hazy vocals. At points this blistering concoction sounds as though it’ll break your headphones, and at other points like your ears are being cleansed of all they’ve heard before. Tracks are usually lengthy enough for these passages to flit at their own pace, whilst the melodies are strung together tightly enough to break through Parannoul’s dense walls of sound. Dan Webster
29) Alan Palomo – World of Hassle
There was always an underlying infatuation with 80s synthpop bubbling beneath the songs of Alan Palomo’s previous Neon Indian project, but on World of Hassle this love comes to the forefront and is embraced in the most unabashedly charming fashion. Far from feeling kitschy or pastiche, Palomo’s latest is a silky-smooth exploration of the bizarre characters that inhabit the nightlife of the cities he has found himself in. His approach to cinematic world-building in his music is unparalleled, and his wry sense of humour shines through more than ever. After such a lengthy hiatus, this is more than we could have ever asked for. Reuben Cross
28) yunè pinku – Babylon IX
Babylon IX is a real multifaceted jewel. yunè pinku developed her craft during lockdown, and her bedroom production approach comes through in her inward-looking narratives. Her debut full-length has it all: glistening club beats, refreshing depth and complexity, intriguing textures, nuanced lyrics that feel a far cry from the vacuous sentiment of some dance music. Highlights are ‘Sports’, which bubbles with an incontestably fantastic beat, and the gorgeous ‘Blush Cut’, one you could euphorically dance away to on a club terrace on a warm summer night without delving into its unsettling “Hit me where it hurts now, deep beneath the water (…) it still hurts to blush, still heals to cut.” Like Ela Minus, yunè pinku carves out these dim and cavernous worlds below the surface of a shimmering club sound. All the rhythmic and danceable goodness of glossy floor-fillers, but with a twist. Fran Pope
27) Grian Chatten – Chaos For The Fly
Grian Chatten has stepped confidently out of the mould of Irish darlings Fontaines DC to provide a collection of dark and self-effacing tracks. More intimate and idiosyncratic than much of his previous work, sequenced beats and swooning harmonies set a palpable atmosphere. Subtle additions of strings and piano guide what are the main drivers of these songs – the vocal melodies. Grian’s knack for sticky, sweeping melodies anchors the tracks, hammered home by tight accompanying vocals on many of the hooks. Chaos for the Fly demonstrates a talent for smart, personal songwriting and creative arrangements that you’d imagine Grian has been waiting to show off. Dan Webster
26) Noname – Sundial
In her most challenging project to date, Noname offers very little answers in her work but the questions she poses are vast and nuanced. It’s been a number of years since the last record, Room 25, and since then Noname’s political agenda has meant she has slightly slipped out of music industry view. She has been educating herself, establishing a literary and an intellectual audience with her Noname Book Club, which looks to educate black, indigenous and incarcerated individuals to mobilise their freedom and fight against white supremacy. This learning is apparent throughout the record, pushing against her new position of leader as she amalgamates the music fans with her book club members. This record questions what it means to be a black intellectual, what it means to be given a title as leader and messiah when you don’t feel adequate or learned enough, plus the reality that you cannot have politics in music without losing a few fans. Rachel Mercer
25) deathcrash – Less
The beauty of deathcrash is almost equally found in what is not there than what is: sparse, unhurried, but teeming with meaning. Recorded in the Outer Hebrides, the band were focused on the practice of creating the album as much as they were the output itself. This approach really can be heard in what the band have produced. Patient builds of conversational guitar lines and adhering drums set a atmosphere that is simultaneously subdued and charged. Yet, these passages are prone to decimation with hefty layers of distortion and the occasional pained cry. This dynamic is effective in creating tracks that carry a lot with relatively little. In this case, Less, certainly is more. Dan Webster
24) KMRU – Dissolution Grip
Kenyan-born KMRU is not quite what you’d expect from a Berlin-based electronic musician. His music constantly surprises and evolves into new shapes, defying expectations – and genre. Combining elements of techno, minimalism and drone, KMRU is always exploring new ways of integrating his field recordings into warm, immersive soundscapes. In fact, the field recordings of birds, helicopters and city noise are the only constant in an otherwise expansive oeuvre. Dissolution Grip verges on ambient at times, but is packed with drama. It is an album to listen to alone in your room with the curtains drawn – and no screens in sight. Clara Bullock
23) Jim Legxacy – HNPM
This record completely blew me away when I first heard it. Since then, this album has wedged itself into my musical heart and thrown open my horizons. Gently skittering trap beats, pop culture gems, scrunched samples, and Legxacy’s crisp and quavering delivery combine across HNPM’s spare 25 minutes. The album, made during a stretch when Legxacy was moving from friend’s place to friend’s place, picks up where previous album Citadel left off, only this time more glitchy and chopped, its cut and sped-up lines often making it hard to distinguish what he’s saying. The bits you do catch often allude to hard emotions packaged in nonchalance, off-hand but suggesting an ocean of feeling: “I know you don’t worry about me, I’m sorry, I worry about you.” ‘block hug’ is searing. ‘dj’ is lowkey heartbreaking (though its video is guaranteed to make you smile). And as for ‘hit it light it twist it’ – it gets me every time, and I can’t get it out of my head. Fran Pope
22) Danny Brown – Quaranta
Melancholy isn’t necessarily the first word that springs to mind when talking about Danny Brown, but on his latest album Quaranta, he’s certainly in less of a playful mood than on his previous outings. This change does appear to have served him well in this instant, as him reaching the age of 40 (the subject matter of the record) still allows him to be intimate and poignant, echoing the recent Andre 3000 quote about not wanting to spend his later years rapping about going for colonoscopies. There’s an embracing of the aging process, but also an addressing of the sadness behind it, with the closing one-two of ‘Hanami’ and ‘Bass Jam’ taking a look on his regrets and struggles with a hushed vocal tone and some of his most heartbreaking lyricism to date. Rachel Mercer
21) Andy Shauf – Norm
There are few artists as serenely multi-talented and singularly distinctive as Andy Shauf; fewer still that seem to get on with it as quietly as he. He reappeared this year with Norm, his first full-length since 2021’s Wilds (itself a partial offshoot of 2020’s The Neon Skyline; a record I became almost completely obsessed with when the world froze over that spring). The boundaries of characters and fictions, previously demarcated in thick lines, are fuzzed out here – we’re looking at silhouettes, and the extent to which they reflect something familiar is left to us to define. It all passes over you cooly and calmly, mournful and hazy in equal measure. As is to be expected, Norm is gorgeously produced, arrangement and mix and production frolicking hand in hand in perfect lockstep. It’s one of those records you can put on in the early afternoon, only to realise much later when those last few streaks of the sun’s colour have disappeared from the firmament that you’ve listened to it fourteen times consecutively. Ed Hambly
20) CHEWIE – Inarticulate
Irish punk band CHEWIE are a fan-favourite – having toured Ireland and the UK consistently over the past decade, they have managed to form a very loyal fanbase, sticking by them even through their name change from Chewing On Tinfoil three years ago. In true DIY form, CHEWIE are strongest when playing live, chatting to their audience and usually getting a little smashed. For those die-hard fans who go to every live show, Inarticulate is a great album to get nostalgic to. Classic DIY punk guitars and shouty vocals, it’s an album that comes from the heart – or as CHEWIE say themselves on ‘Amateur Artist’: “An amateur artist’s poor labour of love.” Clara Bullock
19) @ – Mind Palace Music
Mind Palace Music is sort of what it sounds like. From the first second, it feels as though ornamental doors have been flung open, inviting you to stand and stare in wonder at the grand ceilings. What’s most wonderful is this effect is achieved through what often feels like bedroom recordings. Dextrous vocals melodies and a wide variety of creative instrumentals create a buffet of low-fi delight, whether the listener is being lead through downtrodden acoustic cuts or glistening indie-folk. With so many ideas packed into just thirty minutes, Mind Palace Music is a beaming example of what can be achieved within three minutes a piece. Dan Webster
18) Mong Tong – Tao Fire 道火
As ‘Hanoi’ melds into ‘Ghost Island’, Trịnh Thị Ngọ – aka “Hanoi Hannah,” a Vietnamese radio presenter whose broadcasts during the Vietnam war were designed to demoralise American soldiers – pronounces in no uncertain terms: “GI, your government has betrayed you, they will not return for you. Defect, GI. It is a very good idea to leave a sinking ship.” Welcome to the voyage through the sounds, history, and folklore of Southeast Asia proposed by Taiwanese brothers Hom Yu and Jiun Chi in their latest release, Tao Fire 道火. With tracks melting seamlessly from one to the next, the album is best listened to from start to finish and in one sitting. Carving out their own idiosyncratic niche, Mong Tong draw on a dizzying array of instrumentation including gamelan music, bass, chimes, psyched-out guitar, synth, and tabla drumming. The result is a sometimes-maximalist production that veers just on the right side of chaos. Fran Pope
17) Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End
Indigo De Souza has never been afraid of exposing her vulnerability in song and we’re all better for it. On De Souza’s most moving album to date, All of This Will End drives an ideology of radical self-acceptance and tender love to its most powerful conclusions. From the bouncy indie-pop of ‘Smog’ and the grungy push of ‘Wasting Your Time’ to the heartbreaking country balladry of closer ‘Younger & Dumber’, the constant throughline of acknowledging all your constituent parts, good and bad, as well as the hurt and joy of those around us builds into a crucial manifesto for all of us learning to love ourselves. Varun Govil
16) PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying
What to say about PJ Harvey, the undisputed high priestess of the transatlantic 90s alt-rock zeitgeist, other than that there’s a clear reason she remains the unparalleled gatherer of Mercury Prizes? She’s back his year with the sumptuous and expansive I Inside The Old Year Dying, the first record released under her own name since 2016, and I’d say it was a “return to form” if that phrase didn’t imply a historic dip in quality of output. Overall the temperature is cool – the energy more emotional than kinetic and on average, with some exceptions, arrangements are sparser than they’ve been for years, with vocals wetted by large reverbs soaring above delicate fingerstyle electric guitar and quietly galloping percussion. Such is the calm that we’re very rarely treated to a full drum kit, and such is the contrast this creates that on the few occasions PJ opens the taps and gives us both barrels the album really scoops you up and takes flight. When it goes, it goes, and when it’s content to suspend itself in quiet contemplation, it keeps you there in the pocket. Ed Hambly
15) Mi Mye – my name’s wimp
While Wakefield’s most famous contribution to the musical canon may be The Cribs, their best kept secret, Mi Mye, is undoubtedly the city’s real shining achievement. Across nearly a decade and a half, the band, centred around songwriter Jamie Lockhart, endeared themselves to all around them. Best evidenced on their recent album, My name’s wimp, Mi Mye are masters of a confessional indie that radiates a needed familiarity and humbleness. With songs tackling simple but poignant feelings of seeing your ex’s new lad, the envy of seeing people around you succeed, and just simply talking about life with your best friends, the soul and heart of their songwriting makes your humanity feel seen. Once you fall in love with Mi Mye, it’s hard to let go of their music. Varun Govil
14) Fatoumata Diawara – London Ko
London Ko is Fatoumata Diawara’s merging-together of London and Bamako, and this third album is as colourful and bustling and varied as you’d expect from such a union. Based in France for several years now, the Malian songwriter, singer, and guitarist has been steadily gaining ground since her debut album Fatou in 2011. Where Fatou was folky and delicately uplifting, London Ko feels chunkier; Diawara’s voice is even clearer, even more versatile and unique. A rich array of collaborations (including Angie Stone, Yemi Alade, Damon Albarn, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and more) contributes to the diverse palette of this collection, which brings in Malian blues and folk, guitar shreds, funky basslines, and sublime choral scopes. Tucked away towards the end, the record’s standout track ‘Dambe’ even dips into brooding dub lines and electronic blips. Fran Pope
13) L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog
If you thought L’Rain had made the ultimate headfuck of a record in 2021’s Fatigue, then brace yourself for the ride of your life. I Killed Your Dog is not only more sonically audacious than its predecessor, but makes light work of tying together Taja Cheek’s myriad influences to create a bold record that explores her relationships with those around her. One listen isn’t enough to unpack all of the curiosities this album has to offer; there’s simply so much detail and raw emotion packed into this record that it’s staggering that one person could conceive something so beautifully intricate and multifaceted. This is, without doubt, L’Rain’s crowning glory to date, and deserves to be held in high esteem. Reuben Cross
12) Militarie Gun – Life Under The Gun
Starting off as a side project known almost exclusively to people in the hardcore scene, Militarie Gun’s debut album Life Under the Gun has transported them further into the mainstream. Ian Shelton, from Regional Justice Centre, started Militarie Gun to explore a more melodic side of punk, after years spent growling and shouting in hardcore bands. Life Under the Gun is rough around the edges, but it showcases the sound Shelton has arrived at: tight rhythms, lush guitar riffs and melodic vocals. The lyrics are simple but effective – “I’ve been feeling pretty down / So I get very high”, Shelton sings over and over on ‘Very High’. Overall, it feels like this album is only the start of what Militarie Gun can do. Clara Bullock
11) CMAT – Crazymad, For Me
I’m not sure I have ever ‘fan girl’d, but I think CMAT might be the first artist to send me into such a frenzy. I first heard her music in 2020 when an older Irish music journalist described her as ‘absolutely bat shit’, and I was captivated by her theatrical, witty delivery of often sad with an underlying dark humour. Born in Dublin, she has quickly established a fanatic fandom, myself and Robbie Williams included. It’s been a tremendous year, with a viral set at Glastonbury this year, Florence and the Machine support slots and the release of her second record Crazymad, For Me. The record is a look back at a past relationship of CMAT with an older man. Although a specific anecdotal time in her life, the themes transcend a toxic relationship: imposter syndrome , heartbreak and sorrow. The sign of a beautiful record is when it makes you feel an emotion that wasn’t for you; CMAT’s Irish charm does just this. A track I continually return to is ‘Rent’. The crescendo into a frenzied realisation that a relationship not only no longer makes sense, but has, in fact, has become a burden and a poor business agreement. She narrates the journey from lover to stranger with eloquence and wit –“I’m crazy but I’m never wrong”. Rachel Mercer
10) Lankum – False Lankum
Seasoned Dubliners Lankum are known for their steeped folk arrangements and timeless storytelling. False Lankum carries this spirit and lays it bare, with drones and tales for the ages. The often drawn-out, darker sections of the album churn hypnotically around quaint, contemplative moments. Lankum present mostly reinterpretations of traditional songs, managing to simultaneously pay homage the their heritage whilst repurposing them for a contemporary audience. The result is an album to soundtrack to the falling of an empire, capitulating entirely towards the end of the monster closing track. It does helps that the songs themselves have stood the test of time over generations of appreciation, however False Lankum has the remarkable quality of sounding hundreds of years old, and at the same time completely fresh. Dan Webster
9) Anita Velveeta – Western Amphibians
By day, I work in a warehouse packing and despatching vinyl records. In an effort to keep myself sane I made a pledge to listen to the record that caught my eye the most on a given day – the one that cut through the white noise and fog of packing and picking and filing. One fateful day, I came across a record with a frog wearing a cowboy hat. It was obviously the most distinctive record of that day, and upon an initial listen quickly became my most revered record of space year 2023. It was Anita Velveeta’s Western Amphibians, a completely break-neck tour-de-force of sonic defiance. Genre? What’s that? Nevermind, I don’t care. Examples include the opening three song run – we start with a delicate ballad led by acoustic guitar (and startlingly close to whatever is meant by the term ‘ambient country’) runs into a charming early-noughties psychedelic-rock track runs into what I can only describe as pop-punk from the far future. Later on sees mid-west emo, jungle, house, noise-rock and country woven into the fabric of this joyously anarchic, utterly chaotic, completely unique thirty-five minutes, undoubtedly made all the sweeter for me by the serendipity of its deliverance into my life. I feel like I owe this record my undying allegiance because it’s just so damn good, and thus, by virtue of all the gushing above, I hope to deliver it into your arms too. Ed Hambly
8) Fiddlehead – Death is Nothing to Us
Fiddlehead’s frontman Pat Flynn has been processing the loss of his father for a bit over a decade through his music, and Death is Nothing to Us seems almost like the conclusion in his journey towards acceptance. Without romanticising his grief, Flynn manages to write about loss and depression in an authentic way that anyone who has gone through it themselves will be able to relate to. “Twenty-one days, a few more years, another twelve steps and I’ll be fine,” Flynn sings on ‘Give It Time’. This album is original hardcore with a sensitive twist, Flynn opens himself up for his audience to see both the ugly and beautiful sides of grief. Singing his poetic lyrics over heavy drums and shoegaze guitars, he is feeling his way towards closure and finally finds it on the album’s closing track, ‘Going to Die’: “Peace and love to my father, I miss you everyday. But I’ve learned to hear you in the sound of the trees,” Flynn sings. Finally, he is ready to move on. Clara Bullock
7) SIPHO. – PRAYERS & PARANOIA
Still in his early twenties, Birmingham artist SIPHO. sounds like he’s seen it all. Weighty themes are channelled through cinematic production as the singer’s voice wheels up and down the stave, unbounded and raw. PRAYERS & PARANOIA, which picks up from previous albums in 2021 and 2017, draws together currents including pop, R&B, and electronic with dance beats and muscular, reverby guitar to create something that is none of them, all of them, and more. Its tracks are grandiose, rising to epic heights and plumbing murky depths, carried by SIPHO.’s stunningly elastic vocals. And the range of styles is no less impressive: ‘RUN FOR YOUR LIFE’ is a pristine, soaring duet with Shaé Universe; ‘ARMS’ fizzes with an early-2000s soul pop feel; and cornerstone track ‘SOBER’ layers breathless energy over a jungly layer of bass and broken beats, SIPHO.’s falsetto steeped in the song’s reckless bent. The tracklist doesn’t let up, and the album packs an enormous punch. Fran Pope
6) Geese – 3D Country
Every now and then, music always seems to have a ‘full circle’ moment where something that might be considered old hat becomes fashionable with younger generations. It’s difficult to say with hindsight whether it was inevitable that Americana-tinged prog rock was due a comeback, but by god have Geese managed this in style. On 3D Country, the New York quintet chose to ditch the art-punk style that permeated their debut album Projector and instead donned their wide-brimmed hats to bring us down to their rodeo from hell. The performances are manic but virtuosic, and the youthful nature of the band shines through in the way they fearlessly approach every style they attempt on the record. You’ll have a hard time finding another record this year that would have an equal amount of appeal to classic rock purists as it would to the youthful and hyperactive musical tastes of today, but that’s surely the beauty of what music can do. Reuben Cross
5) Slow Pulp – Yard
It doesn’t take a lot of words to accurately praise Slow Pulp’s sophomore effort. Simply put, Yard is some of the best indie songwriting we’ve seen in years, rich in fantastic choruses, emotional heft, and tender arrangements. In many ways, despite the deceiving nature of its twangy indie instrumentation, ‘Yard’ is a pop record through and through. Every one if its singles yearns to be sung in unison by a room full of indie kids, its emotions immediately ready to connect with everyone who’s concerned about their own self-identity. When half the songs of an album feel instantly familiar, like you’ve been waiting to belt their choruses all your life, you know you have a winner on your hands. It gets even better when you realise the other half is then just like a warm blanket on a winter’s day, purpose built to comfort. If it seems like I’m suggesting Slow Pulp have perfected indie-pop – I am. Varun Govil
4) Snõõper – Super Snõõper
It’s all very well wanting to indulge in emotionally-charged and thought-provoking music, but everyone needs to let loose sometimes and just have fun, right? If you ever find yourself in a funk with a need to unleash all your pent-up energy for around twenty minutes, Super Snõõper is the album for you. A delightfully odd punk powerhouse of a record, the Nashville group have come out of the gates swinging with their debut and made something that revels in its silliness by blasting out Devo-esque ditties about the lottery, keeping fit and insects at breakneck speeds. Snõõper don’t feel the need to make things appear polished, because the charm is in their scuzziness, and the unrelenting liveliness that they possess is a delight to behold. It seems weird to say, but they’ve achieved the impossible: they’ve made a no-nonsense album with all the nonsense sprinkled on top. Reuben Cross
3) Ethan P. Flynn – Abandon All Hope
With the sheer volume of songs Ethan P. Flynn is known to write, the selection process for this album must have been a challenge. Abandon All Hope is a no-holds-barred barrage of off-the-wall songwriting that sounds as vintage as it does totally fresh, from the raging euphoria of the title track to the expansive meanderings of the 17-minute penultimate epic ‘Crude Oil’. Recurring motifs and hook-after-hook colour the instrumentals that are themselves adorned with horns, strings and backing vocals. The album never sits still, with rapid shifts between passages and ideas propelling a whiplash never unwelcome. Aside from the masterful arrangements, Flynn’s lyricism is vulnerable and detailed, flitting between assertively deadpan and wildly confessional. All this culminates in an album of brutally honest and beautifully considered songwriting to rival anyone’s output this year. Dan Webster
2) JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown – SCARING THE HOES
SCARING THE HOES is an epic of two halves, a collaboration from Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA. The pendulum of the record swings perfectly between the two established individuals, but their coming together feels simultaneously exciting and natural. Production is watertight and captivating, and JPEGMAFIA does not hold back, splashing the record with everything from jazz to drum and bass.
The range is sensational. Stand out tracks – although this record really should be enjoyed start to finish as intended, include the ambitious and raucous fan favourite ‘Steppa Pig’, ‘Orange Juice Jones’ pays homage to the late R&B legend which somehow also samples Lady Gaga and gets away with it. Sampling is an important part of JPEGMAFIA’s art form, and this record has everything from Kelis to Nintendo.
The record is reminiscent of the first two Run the Jewels records for me, and both Brown and JPEGMAFIA embrace such a comparison. The record is a nod to their journey into the canon as two indiviuals who simultaneously push and pull with and against eachother. It is messy, colourful, chaotic, and I have very little clue what they’re saying most of the time, but I just haven’t been able to turn it off. Rachel Mercer
1) Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
All consuming and inescapable, grief and love are beautiful even when deeply painful. No one lives without experiencing them but it takes a special soul to truly capture the shapeshifting nature of the emotions. In that way, we’re lucky to have someone like Sufjan Stevens who – even after thirty years of cataloguing the highs and lows of life and death – finds fresh beauty in it all.
Inarguably his most devastating album yet, Javelin charts the end days of a relationship and all the bitterness, devotion and mourning that live in those moments. With every song rich in impressive instrumentation, flitting from tender acoustic folk to monumental electronic soundscapes (often on the same track), each with profound depths of sorrow and joy, a full listen of the album is almost overwhelming. Yet, the beauty to Stevens is that he’s not here to sit in misery but rather he gives us a needed acknowledgement that to have ever loved, to ever have had faith, is a gift that one must appreciate.
Combined with an accompanying 10 essays on love and an Instagram post dedicated to his now departed partner, it’s hard to appreciate Javelin without feeling truly transformed. The best art tries to mimic the forces of love that enter us and change us irreparably, and Sufjan Stevens succeeds. Varun Govil
Contributors
Reuben Cross // Rachel Mercer // Clara Bullock // Varun Govil // Ed Hambly // Fran Pope // Dan Webster
Dig into Wax Music’s top 60 albums of the year in the playlist below.