{"id":10121,"date":"2023-12-22T20:12:27","date_gmt":"2023-12-23T01:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=10121"},"modified":"2023-12-22T20:57:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-23T01:57:12","slug":"top-100-songs-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/22\/top-100-songs-of-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 100 songs of 2023."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This year\u2019s top 100 was more of a struggle than most years, although by the end of the process I was still about a dozen songs over the limit; I just had to go back over a number of my monthly playlists and revisit some tracks and albums I\u2019d missed before I could reach that point. I\u2019m pretty happy with the outcome, though, and I think the top of the list is strong even if 2023 wasn\u2019t a peak year for great new songs. You can see my previous years\u2019 song rankings here: <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/22\/top-100-songs-of-2022\/\">2022<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/23\/top-100-songs-of-2021\/\">2021<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/24\/top-100-songs-of-2020\/\">2020<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/13\/top-100-songs-of-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2019<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/20\/top-100-songs-of-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2018<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/19\/top-100-songs-of-2017\/\"><strong>2017<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2gPBItT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2016<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/1NzuUp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2015<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/1zKgTAN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2014<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/19zpudz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2013<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/XM4Txp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2012<\/strong><\/a>. I posted <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/20\/top-23-albums-of-2023\/\">my ranking of the top 23 albums of 2023<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you can\u2019t see the Spotify widget below, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/55hTqfrIuxj6UHWnKqqgNe?si=656041079a6149a6\">access it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Klaw&amp;apos;s top 100 songs of 2023\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/55hTqfrIuxj6UHWnKqqgNe?si=bfa61bf63e484078&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>100. Griff \u2013 Vertigo.<\/strong> Pure pop greatness from Griff, who just doesn\u2019t miss whether she\u2019s going for sunnier sounds (like this track) or melancholy ballads (like her song way farther up this list).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>99. Del Water Gap \u2013 Quilt of Steam.<\/strong> I am now old enough that my daughter is telling me about artists that end up on my playlists; I hadn\u2019t heard of Del Water Gap, who has been releasing music on his own for over a decade and put out his second album for Mom + Pop Records this fall, until she mentioned him to me, after which Spotify served me this track on my Release Radar. Sometimes the algorithm works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>98. Ghost of Vroom \u2013 Still Getting It Done.<\/strong> Mike Doughty\u2019s latest project is the closest thing he\u2019s done to Soul Coughing since the seminal drum-n-bass group called it quits after <em>El Oso<\/em>, driven by his sung\/rapped lyrics and music that\u2019s a little more ornate (and funky) than SC\u2019s but still driven by percussion and heavy bass lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>97. Beck &amp; Phoenix \u2013 Odyssey.<\/strong> These two artists released a one-off collaboration to kick off their joint summer tour, and while I don\u2019t think Beck exactly extended himself here, it\u2019s similar to Phoenix\u2019s musical revival on last year\u2019s <em>Alpha Zulu<\/em>, and bouncy like a good summer hit should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>96. bdrmm \u2013 It\u2019s Just a Bit of Blood.<\/strong> These guys were about three years ahead of schedule for the shoegaze revival, ending up lumped in more with avant garde noisemakers black midi than with their true brethren. Their second album, <em>I Don\u2019t Know<\/em>, came out this year and was similar to their first one but a little more upbeat, perhaps with more major keys than its predecessor offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>95. Etta Marcus \u2013 Smile for the Camera.<\/strong> A sultry sophisti-pop track from this 22-year-old London singer\u2019s EP <em>A Heart-Shaped Bruise<\/em>. I\u2019d recommend this to fans of boygenius but if you like your singers to really sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>94. Bully \u2013 Days Move Slow.<\/strong> The best song you\u2019ll ever hear about a dog\u2019s death. Bully\u2019s album made a lot of top ten lists, but I find her nasal vocals hard to take for more than a song at a time. This had by far the best guitar hook on the record and I think justifies some of the musical comparisons and Nirvana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>93. Queens of the Stone Age \u2013 Paper Machete.<\/strong> The top track from <em>In Times New Roman\u2026<\/em> has a heavy guitar riff appropriate to Josh Homme\u2019s oeuvre, although I found the album as a whole kind of lacking in the rougher edge that characterized a lot of his earlier work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>92. Killing Joke \u2013 Full Spectrum Dominance.<\/strong> Jaz Coleman &amp; company have undergone many iterations over their 44-year history, but their final act appeared to be their industrial-metal phase and their incredible swan song LP, 2015\u2019s <em>Pylon<\/em>. They\u2019re not quite done, however, and have returned with the occasional one-off single, including this one, which certainly would have fit well on <em>Pylon<\/em>, ahead of their 2023 tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>91. Brooke Combe \u2013 Black is the New Gold.<\/strong> The title track from this Scottish soul singer\u2019s newest album packs some clever turns of phrase and a driving bass line, along with a little flute interpolation that calls back to the genre\u2019s 1970s heyday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>90. SENSES \u2013 Drifting.<\/strong> This Coventry four-piece first promised their debut album <em>Little Pictures Without Sound<\/em> in 2021, after over a decade working together, but the pandemic and other factors delayed its release until April of this year. This is the album\u2019s strongest track, sitting somewhere between the Oasis end of Britpop and the spacier sound of Doves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>89. The Lottery Winners \u2013 Worry. <\/strong>I didn\u2019t love their sophomore album <em>Anxiety Replacement Therapy<\/em> as much as I did their debut, which was absolutely packed with hooks and full of general cheer. This track had the most in common with their first album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>88. Seablite \u2013 Melancholy Molly.<\/strong> I was a big fan of Lush in their 1990s heyday and enjoyed member Emma Anderson\u2019s solo debut album this year, so Seablite\u2019s music is catnip to me. I also love that they call themselves \u201codd pop.\u201d It is poppy, and they\u2019d have every reason to jump on the shoegaze bandwagon, but they appear to have chosen their own path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>87. The Kills \u2013 New York.<\/strong> <em>God Games <\/em>marked this duo\u2019s first album and first original material in seven years, although it was hit or miss for an album that in theory they\u2019d had several years to work on. They\u2019ll never top \u201cSour Cherry\u201d for me, but if you liked \u201cDoing It to Death,\u201d this track is in that vein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>86. Everything Everything \u2013 The Mad Stone.<\/strong> I preferred this to \u201cCold Reactor\u201d of the two singles EE has released so far ahead of their upcoming album <em>Mountainhead<\/em>, although both have elements of the band\u2019s manic art-rock style, including Jonathan Higgs\u2019 rapid-fire singing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>85. Folly Group \u2013 Big Ground.<\/strong> Speaking of Everything Everything, this track from Folly Group, whose debut album <em>Down There! <\/em>is due out on January 12<sup>th<\/sup>, reminds me quite a bit of early EE, mixed with a little early post-punk in the chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>84. Screaming Females \u2013 Brass Bell.<\/strong> Screaming Females announced their dissolution earlier this month, about nine months after they released their eighth and presumably final album, <em>Desire Pathway<\/em>. I don\u2019t know their discography well at all, so I can only say this is a pretty great showcase of singer\/guitarist Marissa Paternoster\u2019s voice and guitar skills, enough that I\u2019ll be watching to see if she releases another solo album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>83. Courting \u2013 Throw.<\/strong> I can\u2019t place that opening riff, but it reminds me of some other track I liked from maybe 20-25 years ago; the rest of the song is like a smarter, snarkier emo track, and the whole song has a great bounce to it. <em>New Last Name <\/em>comes out January 26<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>82. swim school \u2013 delirious. <\/strong>\u201cswim school\u201d is not an SEO-friendly band name, but this song rocks very hard, bordering on metal, with singer Alice Johnson\u2019s voice a perfect foil for the crushing guitars. They put out a four-song EP this year and ended up opening for the Amazons, a British band known for giant guitar riffs, to close out 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>81. Public Image Ltd. \u2013 End of the World.<\/strong> PIL\u2019s return this year wasn\u2019t a surprise in and of itself, but the content was \u2013 first a touching song, \u201cHawaii,\u201d about founder John Lydon\u2019s wife, who at that point was dying of Alzheimer\u2019s disease and passed away a few weeks after the song\u2019s release; and then this banger, with a swirling guitar riff and Lydon\u2019s voice as potent and angry as ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>80. SPRINTS \u2013 Adore Adore Adore.<\/strong> I\u2019ve been on the bandwagon for these Irish punks for a few years now, and we\u2019re finally getting their debut album, <em>Letter to Self<\/em>, on January 5<sup>th<\/sup>, including this track, \u201cUp and Comer,\u201d and \u201cShadow of a Doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>79. Ratboys \u2013 Making Noise for the Ones You Love.<\/strong> Many people whose taste in music I respect, including Blake Murphy of Sportsnet\/The FAN 590, love Ratboys; I think most of their songs sound like Waxahatchee singing over a shoegaze band and it doesn\u2019t work for either. The combination does work on this track, in part because of how singer Julia Sterner sings between the verse and chorus. (I had a similar but more pronounced objection to Wednesday, whose singer sounds like she\u2019s whining and deliberately goes off key so often I have never made it through the entire album.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>78. The Mysterines \u2013 Begin Again.<\/strong> I loved the early singles from Lia Metcalfe\u2019s band, but their debut album, <em>Reeling<\/em>, didn\u2019t include any of their best songs, so I felt a little let down by the LP. This song, their only new material in 2023, shows off her deep, smoky voice, and has a slow burn to the melody, so while it doesn\u2019t quite rock like their pre-<em>Reeling<\/em> offerings it\u2019s pretty compelling. Also, this track is part of a sort of Easter egg on the top 100, if you\u2019re paying attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>77. Arlo Parks \u2013 Impurities. <\/strong><em>My Soft Machine<\/em> may be the moment that Parks broke out into mainstream success, at least in Europe, as she turned just slightly in the direction of electro-pop without losing her voice or the sparse approach of her debut album. I loved just about everything on the album, but there were two tracks that stood above the rest for their melodies. This was one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>76. Dexys \u2013 I\u2019m Going to Get Free.<\/strong> It was a good year for \u201880s bands coming back around; PIL appeared above, Simply Red put out a solid album, Depeche Mode issued their <em>Memento Mori<\/em> to eulogize the late Andy Fletcher, and Dexys returned with <em>The Feminine Divine<\/em>, seven years after singer Kevin Rowland appeared to say he was retiring from music. This track brings back the sound of Philadelphia soul with big brass lines and a giant, catchy beat, while Rowland\u2019s voice is still as distinctive as it was on \u201cCome On Eileen\u201d some 41 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>75. Bartees Strange \u2013 Tisched Off. <\/strong>Strange issued two tracks as part of a singles series from Sub Pop, with this indignant rocker, ranting about posers in the industry, the better of the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>74. Noname \u2013 Namesake.<\/strong> Picking any tracks off <em>Sundial<\/em>, my #2 album of 2023, for a singles list was difficult because the album as a whole is such an immersive listen, but I did have two that stood apart enough that I might listen to them on their own (rather than doing the entire album straight through).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>73. CHVRCHES \u2013 Over. <\/strong>The Scottish trio released this one-off single to commemorate their signing with Island Records and, in their words, to serve as a bridge between 2021\u2019s <em>Screen Violence<\/em> and whatever comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>72. Corinne Bailey Rae \u2013 New York Transit Queen. <\/strong>Rae\u2019s genre-hopping on <em>Black Rainbows <\/em>extended to garage-rock here, bordering on punk, in a song with very little in the way of lyrics beyond Rae chanting the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>71. Fucked Up \u2013 Cicada.<\/strong> The rest of Fucked Up\u2019s latest album, <em>One Day<\/em>, is much more in their typical vein of hardcore punk, but my God does this sound like a lost track from H\u00fcsker D\u00fc\u2019s <em>Warehouse: Songs and Stories<\/em>. This is part two of four for that Easter egg I mentioned above. I won\u2019t tag the last two, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>70. Bombino \u2013 Alwane. I<\/strong> admit to having no idea who Bombino was until I heard this track on one of NPR Music\u2019s weekly new music playlists, but that\u2019s on me, as the Nigerien (as in, from Niger) singer\/guitarist was the subject of a 2010 documentary called <em>Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion<\/em>. He\u2019s also the first artist from Niger to receive a Grammy nomination (Best World Music Album, for 2018\u2019s <em>Deran<\/em>). This track is from his latest album, <em>Sahel<\/em>, a tribute to the region where he grew up and, on this track, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/09\/27\/1201956929\/bombinos-new-album-is-out-how-does-his-music-reflect-his-region-of-africa\">to friends he\u2019s lost in the area\u2019s many armed conflicts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>69. Creeper \u2013 Sacred Blasphemy.<\/strong> The first track I heard off <em>Sanguivore <\/em>is bombastic, theatrical, and throws back to the earliest stages of glam rock (think M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce\u2019s <em>Too Fast for Love<\/em>). Needless to say, it\u2019s right in my wheelhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>68. Sampha \u2013 Suspended.<\/strong> Sampha\u2019s voice really soars on this track off <em>Lahai<\/em>, one of the year\u2019s best albums, as he sings about becoming a father over a light piano backing, with some staccato call-and-response to the verses that add texture and a little complexity to the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>67. Black Honey \u2013 Cut the Cord. <\/strong>Black Honey\u2019s third album <em>A Fistful of Peaches <\/em>was a departure for the Brighton indie-rockers, with some harder-edged songs (notably the 2022 single \u201cCharlie Bronson\u201d), but fewer of the big melodies than they had on their first two albums. \u201cCut the Cord\u201d was never released as a single, but it was among the 2-3 best tracks on the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>66. Jungle feat. Erick the Architect \u2013 Candle Flame.<\/strong> Jungle\u2019s <em>Volcano<\/em> was my least favorite album from the English soul-revival duo yet, between the lack of interesting melodies and some experiments that didn\u2019t pay off. Erick the Architect\u2019s verses here are the best stuff on the album, and outside of the slightly annoying falsetto in the chorus, Jungle mostly stays out of his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>65. boygenius \u2013 Satanist.<\/strong> I\u2019m not a huge fan of the solo output of any of the three talented women in boygenius, primarily because of their singing style, which is more undersinging \u2013 they just don\u2019t let it rip very often \u2013 and their tendency towards melancholy rhythms. This was by far the strongest track for me from their newest record, called <em>the record<\/em>, which netted them five Grammy nominations (two for the album, three for specific songs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>64. Cloud Nothings \u2013 Final Summer. <\/strong>Dylan Baldi &amp; company signed to the punk label Pure Noise and released this new single in November, which \u2026 sounds just like Cloud Nothings, with a big hook to open it up and a tempo that makes you want to get behind the wheel and hit the gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>63. DMA\u2019s \u2013 Everybody\u2019s Saying Thursday\u2019s the Weekend. <\/strong>After their first two albums earned them comparisons to Oasis (which Noel Gallagher shat on, but Liam later endorsed), DMA\u2019s shifted to a more electronic sound on their third album, then veered back towards the middle of the two genres on this year\u2019s <em>How Many Dreams?<\/em>, failing to hit on either cylinder. They\u2019ll never get back to the heights of \u201cFor Now\u201d or \u201cToo Soon,\u201d I fear, but this sunnier track gets somewhat close with a hook and guitar work worthy of the Britpop comps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>62. The Japanese House \u2013 Sad to Breathe.<\/strong> Amber Mary Bain\u2019s album <em>In the End It Always Does <\/em>was one of the year\u2019s best, with two songs from it that blew me away back when they came out as singles in the spring. This one starts out like a mournful piano ballad about a lost love, then jumps from first to fourth gear around the 1:15 mark (I think that costs you several Heat cards) with an electronic percussion line and guitar that completely changes the texture of the vocal melody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>61. Blondshell \u2013 Salad.<\/strong> Another acclaimed album that just didn\u2019t do it for me, as I don\u2019t think Sabrina Teitelbaum\u2019s melodies or voice are strong enough to support some decent rock hooks and thoughtful lyrics. This track has the album\u2019s best riff and it plays perfectly against the angry lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>60. Peace \u2013 Happy Cars.<\/strong> Peace self-released their latest album, <em>Utopia<\/em>, in the spring via a password-protected website, then issued it on vinyl in November. This single is the only track available via streaming sites right now; to hear the rest you have to purchase it, which the brothers Koisser told <em>NME <\/em>was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/peace-announce-official-wider-release-of-new-album-utopia-preorder-3509167\">career suicide<\/a>\u201d according to their mates. I don\u2019t know what to think of that \u2013 isn\u2019t streaming killing the industry slowly anyway? Anyway, I love the melody here and have had this song in my head on and off for a month now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>59. Protomartyr \u2013 For Tomorrow. <\/strong><em>Formal Growth in the Desert<\/em> was one of my favorite albums of 2023 and is an excellent distillation of what post-punk sounds like in its current incarnation, similar to Ceremony and more recent Thrice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>58. Yard Act \u2013 Dream Job.<\/strong> Yard Act released three singles this year, with a new album due out in March, and there\u2019s some evolution in their sound already from their 2022 debut <em>The Overload<\/em>, with more musical elements and some electronic\/dance ingredients as well. I also liked \u201cThe Trench Coat Museum,\u201d but it\u2019s eight minutes long and even I felt like it wore out its welcome by the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>57. STONE \u2013 I Gotta Feeling.<\/strong> \u201cShout out to the writers of Peaky Blinders\/You inspired a new age of wankers.\u201d There\u2019s a lot of punk to STONE\u2019s lyrics and spoken-sung vocals, but musically they\u2019re somewhere between alternative rock and hard rock, showing some of that range on their latest EP <em>punkadonk2<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>56. Slow Pulp \u2013 Cramps. <\/strong>Slow Pulp can rock a bit, harkening back to mid-90s alternative rock, and when they do I\u2019m a big fan. Their album as a whole was a little disappointing, as so many of the songs were quiet and slow \u2026 I don\u2019t know what I expected, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>55. Deeper \u2013 Glare.<\/strong> The best track from <em>Careful! <\/em>still has that late \u201870s post-punk vibe, but it\u2019s brighter and catcher, with a real earworm in the main guitar line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>54. Siracuse \u2013 Saviour.<\/strong> I compared this track to peak Charlatans when I put it on a playlist in April, and I think that holds, even to some extent to the sound of the vocalist, while the opening guitar riff still gets stuck in my head every time I listen to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>53. Brad \u2013 Hey Now What\u2019s the Problem.<\/strong> Brad\u2019s final album, <em>In the Moment That You\u2019re Born<\/em>, seems to have landed almost unnoticed this year, which is a shame because it\u2019s both a fitting coda to the band\u2019s unusual and diverse catalog, and a tribute to singer Shawn Smith, who died in 2019. The remaining band members, including Pearl Jam\u2019s Stone Gossard, completed tracks where Smith had recorded his vocals, including this funk-rock track that recalls Smith\u2019s work with Pigeonhed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>52. BLOXX \u2013 Modern Day.<\/strong> The title track from BLOXX\u2019s August EP is the best thing they\u2019ve done since their debut album, 2020\u2019s <em>Lie Out Loud<\/em>, another great pop-punk track with a solid harmony in the chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>51. Drums \u2013 Isolette.<\/strong> Annoyingly catchy, but with a serious undercurrent \u2013 the entire album, <em>Jonny<\/em>, represents Jonathan Pierce\u2019s efforts to reckon with his upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian church, abuse he suffered, and being gay in a community that wouldn\u2019t accept him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>50. milk. \u2013 I Think I Lost My Number Can I Have Yours?<\/strong> This Irish pop band put out a few EPs this year, culminating in a seven-track release called <em>3, the EP<\/em>, that included everything they\u2019d released in 2023, led by this lilting pop gem that recalls some \u201870s soft-rock icons like 10cc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>49. Altin G\u00fcn \u2013 Rakiya Su Katamam. One<\/strong> of my two favorite tracks from this Anatolian rock band\u2019s album <em>Ask<\/em>, along with \u201cSu Siziyor;\u201d this one gets the nod for the top 100 because of that swirling guitar riff that pops back up throughout the song in slightly different forms. Altin G\u00fcn\u2019s blend of psychedelia and traditional Turkish music sounds like nothing else I\u2019ve heard, and they have a great sense of melody on top of that to put the Turkish lyrics (which I don\u2019t understand) in my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>48. Squid \u2013 Swing (In a Dream).<\/strong> Squid\u2019s experimental sound generally leaves me cold, even though I respect the ambition and risk-taking; <em>O Monolith<\/em>, their second album, saw them rein in the sound just enough to introduce some more traditional sense of melodies, particularly on this track, which has a strong hook in the chorus but sees Ollie Judge finish his vocal lines with a little upturn at the end to keep the listener off balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>47. Nabihah Iqbal \u2013 This World Couldn\u2019t See Us.<\/strong> I don\u2019t use the subgenre term \u201ccold wave\u201d very often, but it sure fits here \u2013 Iqbal\u2019s album <em>DREAMER<\/em> spans many genres, but this track, my favorite from the LP, has that detached lyrical style and electronic music that feels dark and gloomy, fitting the themes in her lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>46. Pynch \u2013 Tin Foil.<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m saving up for the apocalypse\/Cause there are gonna be deals\u201d remains my favorite line of the year from any song. This London indie-pop quartet put out their debut album <em>Howling at a Concrete Moon<\/em> in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>45. Hotline TNT \u2013 I Thought You\u2019d Change. <\/strong>As much as Hotline TNT earns the shoegaze tag with their production and heavily distorted guitars, you can still discern specific guitar lines on most of their tracks, and here they\u2019re quite pronounced in a way that feels pretty timeless \u2013 these are guitar sounds you\u2019d hear in many rock genres in almost any era of music from the 1970s onward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>44. Sundara Karma \u2013 Wishing Well.<\/strong> I need to listen to this band\u2019s latest album, <em>Better Luck Next Time<\/em>, as I have always liked their brand of guitar-driven indie pop, which reminds me in several ways of early U2. I love the way this track builds to the big guitar distortion in the chorus, which recalls My Bloody Valentine\u2019s \u201cI Only Said\u201d (my favorite song by MBV and one of the few of theirs that I like).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>43. Belle &amp; Sebastian \u2013 I Don\u2019t Know What You See in Me.<\/strong> Belle &amp; Sebastian aren\u2019t a pop band, and they don\u2019t often veer into poppy territory, but there are few bands in the world who do pop better than these Scots do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>42. Pastel \u2013 Your Day.<\/strong> Credit to MLB.com\u2019s Matthew Leach for posting about this song and introducing it to me. It\u2019s very Big Pink, a little Britpop, muscular throughout yet still deeply melodic at its core. It\u2019s the only track they released this year, unfortunately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>41. Geese \u2013 Cowboy Nudes.<\/strong> Geese\u2019s <em>3D Country <\/em>isn\u2019t an album of singles, but more of a complete experience that bounces across an absurd number of genres and styles. If there\u2019s a \u2018hit\u2019 of sorts here, it\u2019s this song, which has a proper hook in the chorus on top of the experimentation beneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>40. White Reaper \u2013 Fog Machine.<\/strong> Is this \u201cDetroit Rock City?\u201d Maybe a little \u201cThe Boys Are Back?\u201d It\u2019s very \u201870s, a little less Maiden\/M\u00f6torhead than the rest of <em>Asking for a Ride<\/em>, so it stands a little more on its own. I really need to see these guys live at some point because it seems impossible that they don\u2019t put on a raucous show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>39. Momma \u2013 Bang Bang.<\/strong> Momma\u2019s one original track this year is, uh, a banger, although I think last year\u2019s \u201cSpeeding 72\u201d was a little better. They seem like the direct descendants of Veruca Salt, with a little Breeders thrown in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>38. The Libertines \u2013 Run Run Run.<\/strong> I\u2019m always surprised when the Libertines return because, well, I suppose that\u2019s obvious if you\u2019ve followed the band at all for the last twenty-odd years. They\u2019ve put out two singles ahead of their upcoming fourth album, their first in nine years and just their second since 2004, including this and \u201cThe Night of the Hunter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>37. Kid Kapichi \u2013 Let\u2019s Get to Work.<\/strong> One of three new tracks from Kid Kapichi this year, along with \u201c999\u201d and the oddball \u201cTamagotchi,\u201d which features some rapping that\u2019s on the border of cringe for me but still has a banger of a chorus. They\u2019ve become one of my favorite active bands over the last three years, a sort of working-class successor to the Arctic Monkeys for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>36. Caroline Polachek \u2013 Blood and Butter.<\/strong> I liked quite a bit of Polachek\u2019s work with Chairlift, including \u201cCh-Ching\u201d and \u201cI Belong In Your Arms,\u201d but her solo work has been too weird for me, almost anti-pop in some ways, which often doesn\u2019t do justice to her incredible voice. This is my favorite solo track from her so far, though, with several hooks in the vocals and the music to bring me back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>35. Corinne Bailey Rae \u2013 Erasure.<\/strong> If you saw CBR\u2019s career detour into garage-punk that bordered on hardcore coming, well, hats off to you. I\u2019ll be over here calling Paul Goldschmidt a platoon bat. <em>Black Rainbows<\/em> is a real tour de force, and \u201cErasure\u201d shows her vocal range and gift for theatrics as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>34. English Teacher \u2013 The World\u2019s Biggest Paving Slab.<\/strong> That guitar line is just killer, and then you get to the wry, witty lyrics. English Teacher put out three songs in 2023, two of them strong (this and \u201cNearly Daffodils\u201d), which I assume is a harbinger of an LP next year now that they\u2019ve signed to Island Records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>33. Genesis Owusu \u2013 Stay Blessed. <\/strong>Eddie Murphy had a routine in <em>Delirious<\/em> where he referred to Teddy Pendergrass\u2019s vocal style, mimicking him shout-singing \u201cYOU GOT, YOU GOT, YOU GOT WHAT I NEED!\u201d and saying he would \u201cscare the (women) into liking him.\u201d Owusu kind of sings like that, except here you feel his rage, and it is very effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>32. Yves Tumor \u2013 Lovely Sewer.<\/strong> A great case of where critical acclaim led me to reassess an album; Yves Tumor has always been so hard to pin down musically that I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever gotten a good handle on his previous albums, but <em>Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume<\/em> grabbed me on a second (and third) listen. Even as he\u2019s playing with genres and textures, there\u2019s a foundation to most of his songs that compels you to keep going \u2026 and then he drops the drum machine for a brief piano interlude to throw you off the scene once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>31. Slowdive \u2013 alife.<\/strong> Not the last Slowdive song on this ranking. I have become a bigger Slowdive fan in their comeback phase than I was in their original heyday around <em>Souvlaki<\/em> (a great album I appreciate more in hindsight).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>30. Baby Queen \u2013 We Can Be Anything.<\/strong> Baby Queen\u2019s album was a letdown after this strong lead single that recalls the avant-pop of Grimes\u2019 <em>Art Angels <\/em>period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>29. The Joy Formidable \u2013 Share My Heat. <\/strong>That drum\/bass opening gives you some indication of the pulse of the song, and then at the 45-second mark, the guitar riff arrives to knock you out of your seat. I gave you the radio edit here, not the 15-minute version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>28. Daughter \u2013 Swim Back.<\/strong> Daughter\u2019s previous album was the soundtrack to the video game <em>After the Storm<\/em>, and you can hear some of that atmospheric influence here on this track off <em>Stereo Mind Game<\/em> in the layered synth lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>27. The Last Dinner Party \u2013 Sinner.<\/strong> I couldn\u2019t get on board with the praise for TLDP\u2019s debut album, although it\u2019s not about the excessive hype around the band \u2013 I don\u2019t think their songs sound very finished, or their melodies polished. This is by far the best song on the album, and even in the chorus you can hear some of the cracks in the foundation. My glass-half-full side says they\u2019ll produce something better with more time and experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>26. Creeper \u2013 Teenage Sacrifice.<\/strong> They\u2019re so gleefully over the top that it sells me, even though it sounds like Suede mashed up with Dokken doing a concept album about a modern-day vampire. \u201cCan you live without your life?\u201d is a funny one-liner, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>25. Temples \u2013 Cicada.<\/strong> Temples will never leave the 1970s and I\u2019m fine with that. The new album was less consistent than its predecessor, although this track with its spiraling synth hook is as good as anything they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>24. U.S. Girls \u2013 Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo).<\/strong> My friend Tim Grierson had U.S. Girls\u2019 <em>Bless This Mess<\/em> as one of his top albums of the year, so I gave it a fresh listen earlier this month and while the album as a whole doesn\u2019t work for me \u2013 I don\u2019t think Meghan Remy can do slower material half as well as she does dance tracks \u2013 if the whole LP had been made out of (waves hands) this it would have made my top ten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>23. The Hives \u2013 Bogus Operandi.<\/strong> This is how you announce a comeback: With giant guitars and huge riffs bursting at the seams with bravado and testosterone. This track is right up there with peak Hives tracks like \u201cHate to Say I Told You So\u201d and \u201cWalk Idiot Walk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>22. Speedy Ortiz \u2013 Ranch vs. Ranch. <\/strong>I like Speedy Ortiz for about three songs per album, which was true again for <em>Rabbit Rabbit<\/em> with this track, \u201cScabs,\u201d and \u201cYou S02.\u201d Sadie Dupuis\u2019s songs always try to strike a balance between melody and their signature dissonant sound, thriving on the contrast when she gets that balance right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>21. Girl Ray \u2013 Everybody\u2019s Saying That.<\/strong> Girl Ray\u2019s album <em>Prestige <\/em>is a fun romp of disco\/funk tracks that\u2019s a little one-note, highlighted by this track and \u201cTell Me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>20. Jorja Smith \u2013 Little Things. <\/strong>I love how this track starts out like it\u2019s going to be a scat jazz song, then shifts into a jazzy R&amp;B track without losing any of its energy. We had to wait a long time for her second album but it was well worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>19. Weakened Friends \u2013 Awkward.<\/strong> I wrote previously that I thought this might be a Sleater-Kinney track; the vocals here are obviously inspired by Corin Tucker, but it has a generally brighter vibe than S-K\u2019s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>18. flowerovlove \u2013 Next Best Exit.<\/strong> I think the 18-year-old flowerovlove is the youngest artist on the top 100 this year, and she\u2019s already done some modeling for Gucci in addition to releasing an EP and a handful of strong singles, including this one, \u201cCoffee Shop,\u201d and the newest \u201cGirl Like Me,\u201d all of them warm, sophisticated electro-pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>17. Noname feat. Common and Ayoni \u2013 Oblivion. <\/strong><em>Sundial<\/em> is strong just about from start to finish on the power of Noname\u2019s skills and incisive, brilliant lyrics, with this track the best on the album because of the beat and because Common isn\u2019t hawking a free iPhone from T-mobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>16. Grian Chatten \u2013 Fairlies.<\/strong> The lead singer of Fontaines D.C. surprised us all with his mostly acoustic, quiet solo album, highlighted by this trick with cynical lyrics over a shuffling Irish jig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>15. Griff \u2013 Astronaut.<\/strong> \u201cYou said that you needed space\/Go on then, astronaut.\u201d This gorgeous collaboration with Coldplay\u2019s Chris Martin is Griff\u2019s most intimate song yet, and I don\u2019t know how it hasn\u2019t become a huge viral hit already. It\u2019s better than \u201cDrivers License.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>14. Sampha \u2013 Spirit 2.0.<\/strong> Sampha\u2019s second album, <em>Lahai<\/em>, is track after track of simple yet inventive music behind Sampha\u2019s vocal acrobatics. This is my favorite song from the album, thanks to the contrast between the frenetic electro-beat and his softer vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>13. Charly Bliss \u2013 You Don\u2019t Even Know Me Anymore.<\/strong> We got two new tracks from this Brooklyn power-pop band in 2023, their first new music since 2019\u2019s <em>Young Enough<\/em>, and this is one of the best things they\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>12. Slowdive \u2013 the slab.<\/strong> <em>Everything Is Alive <\/em>has been a triumph for these O.G. shoegazers, on par with 1993\u2019s <em>Souvlaki<\/em>, boosted by the general revival around that niche genre from the early 1990s (so named because the musicians would seldom look at the audience, often looking at their effects pedals or, presumably, their shoes). And while their sound is still shoegaze at heart, there\u2019s melody here, and production that keeps the various instruments and the vocals clear and distinct for most of the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>11. Daughter \u2013 Be On Your Way.<\/strong> \u201cSo I\u2019ll meet you on another planet\/if the plans change\u201d gets stuck in my head for days every time I hear this, and the various synth lines here come together to create a sense of vaguely unsettling sadness befitting the lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>10. Cody Wong &amp; dodie \u2013 Call Me Wild. <\/strong>I enjoyed Wong\u2019s latest album, <em>The Lucky One<\/em>, with its panoply of collaborations, although Wong is nearly always the star of his own show with his guitar wizardry and genre-hopping. \u201cCall Me Wild\u201d is the one song here that\u2019s a real pop single with funky guitars, a great hook, and vocals by English singer dodie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>9. Billy Porter \u2013 Children. <\/strong>A joyous, celebratory dance track about living your truth, from the Emmy &amp; Tony winner\u2019s first pop album, <em>Black Mona Lisa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>8. Megan Thee Stallion \u2013 Cobra. <\/strong>Her only solo single of the year is a revealing look at her mental health struggles over the past few years \u2013 and an indictment of the hangers-on who didn\u2019t notice or help her \u2013 followed by a killer guitar riff to wrap things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>7. The Beths \u2013 Watching the Credits.<\/strong> I can\u2019t remember the last time an extra track from an album\u2019s deluxe edition was <em>this <\/em>good. \u201cWatching the Credits\u201d came out this spring on the deluxe version of <em>Expert in a Dying Field<\/em>, my #1 album of 2022, and it\u2019s at least a top 5 track on the LP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. Arlo Parks \u2013 Blades.<\/strong> The perfect combination of Parks\u2019s sweet, lithe vocals and her new shift into more electro-pop sounds on <em>My Soft Machine<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Jessie Ware \u2013 Begin Again.<\/strong> Ware\u2019s album <em>That! Feels! Good! <\/em>earned its way on to many best-of-2023 lists, and this samba-tinged track is easily the best on a record of unabashedly sunny pop material, although I will forever wish horrible things on whoever wrote the vacuous line \u201cgive me something good that\u2019s even better than it seems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Pip Blom feat. Alex Kapranos \u2013 Is This Love?<\/strong> Not a cover of the Whitesnake song, fortunately, but a summer banger from this Dutch pop band and the lead singer\/guitarist of Franz Ferdinand. It came out in May but has stuck with me all year, from the big arrangements behind \u201cI wanna feel you in my dreams\u201d to the disco\/rock blend behind the two singers\u2019 shared choruses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Young Fathers \u2013 Rice.<\/strong> My #1 album of the year, <em>Heavy Heavy<\/em>, included this track and \u201cI Saw,\u201d which made my 2022 list but would be much higher if I re-ranked those songs now. (It\u2019s an issue with songs that come out late in any calendar year \u2013 I actively try to avoid recency bias, and often keep those songs lower than they belong, or else I just haven\u2019t had enough time to appreciate them.) I linked this in the albums post as well, but you have to see these guys perform <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_yHfko6Kz6k\">both songs and two more live on KEXP<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. The Japanese House \u2013 Boyhood.<\/strong> A lush, immersive dream-pop track elevated by Amber Mary Bain\u2019s falsetto and her lyrics about the end of a relationship and the void that\u2019s left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Brittany Howard \u2013 What Now. <\/strong>The former Alabama Shakes singer\/guitarist released this title track to her upcoming second album, due out February 2<sup>nd<\/sup>, and it is a lightning bolt of funk, blues, and righteous anger, culminating in the chorus\u2019s final line, \u201cIf you want someone to hate then blame it on me.\u201d I recognized Howard as a talented guitarist from her time with the Shakes, but this is another level of songcraft and a big shift from her first album, which was mostly blues rock and the odd synth-heavy track. With her follow-up single, \u201cRed Flags,\u201d it seems like she\u2019s going in new directions with <em>What Now<\/em>. I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year\u2019s top 100 was more of a struggle than most years, although by the end of the process I was still about a dozen songs over the limit; I just had to go back over a number of my monthly playlists and revisit some tracks and albums I\u2019d missed before I could reach that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1328,359,609,167,852,747,260,919],"class_list":["post-10121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2023-in-music","tag-alternative","tag-hip-hop","tag-indie","tag-music","tag-post-punk","tag-rankings","tag-shoegaze","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10121"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10124,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10121\/revisions\/10124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}