A Staunch Poptimist's Year-End Wrap

As much as everythingsgonegreen loves to concern itself almost exclusively with all things retro, we’re not completely immune to celebrating the delights of today. It’s just that there’s so damn much of it, and sorting the wheat from the chaff often feels way too laborious. When really, we could just listen to the perennial tried and trusted of yester-year. As much as that lazy and unambitious default option renders this blog largely irrelevant with any cool kids, we do know our place.

In some respects, it was a genuine lack of knowledge about the here and now, or a lack of “currency”, which prompted me a few years back to cease with writing year-end wraps or best-of-the-year lists for the blog. I think the last one was in 2020, and there’s no real enthusiasm from me to revisit 2023 either. So I asked someone else to do it. Someone with the benefit of youth, an early-twenty-something self-described “staunch poptimist”, sometime music blogger and friend of the blog, Sam Bell, who offers his 2023 wrap in the form of a very welcome guest post … 

1. Jessie Ware - ‘That! Feels Good!’ (Dance-Pop, Disco)  

The release of Dua Lipa’s ‘Future Nostalgia’ in March 2020 heralded the beginning of the nu-disco revival that has saturated this decade with varying levels of success.

 The Lows? Kylie Minogue’s 2023 release ‘Tension’ and Tame Impala’s 2020 hangover cure ‘The Slow Rush’ come to mind.

 The Highs? The emergence of Dua Lipa as a pop sensation, the re-emergence (amid not-insignificant controversy) of Róisín Murphy as a bona fide hit-maker, and of course the late blossoming of Jessie Ware.

 When one thinks of tasteful use of saxophone in pop music, the mind naturally wanders to the cliché heights of ‘Careless Whisper’ and ‘Baker Street’. My mind wanders to many of my favourite moments from ‘That! Feels Good!’. Unlike the aforementioned hits, the saxophone in Ware’s music never dominates, it is left in the background, bristling with passion and excitement but never allowed to impose on Ware, whose rich vocal is always front and centre.

I’ll push saxophone discourse to the side, as I don’t want to give the impression that the music on ‘That! Feels Good!’ isn’t imminent. It is. It / Ware demands attention. 

Ware, a mother to three children, is proof that lust (for life) never quite evaporates if you’re not willing to let it. She is imperative in the album’s opener and title track; she floats over the silky ‘Lightning’; she’s just the right mix of sultry and sweet on ‘These Lips’; and you simply won’t hear a more sincere expression of joy this year than you will on ‘Beautiful People’. ‘That! Feels Good!’ is a testament to grabbing life – and love – by the horns and never letting go. It sits atop the highest peak of the 2020s nu-disco revival, and it sits there alone.

Key Tracks: ‘Free Yourself’; ‘Hello Love’; ‘Begin Again’. 

2. Danny Brown - ‘Quaranta’ (Conscious Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop)       

A decade ago Danny Brown released ‘XXX’, marking his 30th birthday. It’s a brilliantly depraved album, the kind that you feel guilty listening to, where the music is oh so good but the subject matter (that familiar cocktail of sex, drugs and fame) is oh so not.

And yet it probably wasn’t until Brown released ‘Atrocity Exhibition’ in 2016 that he received the widespread acclaim (if only from music publications; the general public did not react as Danny had intended – see here) that he has always deserved. Likewise, it probably wasn’t until 2016 that the music world at large started noticing, and being concerned by, the subject matter of Brown’s music. Luckily, with age comes maturity, right?

 A bit over 10 years after ‘XXX’, Brown has released ‘Quaranta’, or “forty” in Italian. Suffice to say, he’s trying his best to not be the Danny Brown of old. In terms of the hip hop landscape, he is old. There are glimmers of the terrifically zany character that Brown has cultivated throughout his career, however the best portions of ‘Quaranta’ are where Brown is without embellishment, sticking to his lower register to deliver insightful raps about the gentrification of hometown Detroit, heartbreak and, well, selling drugs (in the past tense!).

NB: Bruiser Wolf, almost impossibly, is the most charismatic voice on a Danny Brown album. Worth a listen for his distinctive cadence alone.

Key Tracks: ‘Y.B.P (feat. Bruiser Wolf)’; ‘Celibate (feat. MIKE)’; ‘Hanami’.

3. Sufjan Stevens - ‘Javelin’ (Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Chamber Folk)    

Sufjan Stevens releasing one of the most heartbreaking albums of the year and waltzing his way into my year-end Top 10 list. Where have I heard that before?? (see: 2021, 2015, 2010, 2005, 2004 etc…)

Sonically ‘Javelin’ is the entanglement of all of the separate strands that Stevens has played with throughout his long career, often a combination of the ethereal ambience of ‘Carrie and Lowell’, the electronica of ‘Age of Adz’ and ‘All Delighted People’, and the chamber orchestration that made ‘Illinois’ such a career-defining hit.

Lyrically, Stevens has always been familiar with the concept of the “gut punch”, as highlighted by the likes of ‘Casimir Polaski Day’ (from ‘Illinois’), ‘Futile Devices’ (from ‘Age of Adz’) and ‘Mystery of Love’ (from the soundtrack of ‘Call Me By Your Name’). Not since 2015’s ‘Carrie and Lowell’ has Stevens decided to give his listeners an album-length gut-punch, at least not until now.

 Stevens’ sexual affinity has long been among the music industry’s worst-kept secret, a theme which throughout his career has only played second-fiddle to his affinity with Christianity. While ‘Javelin’ essentially plays the part of Stevens’ coming-out party, the circumstances surrounding its release (that being the death of his longtime partner, Evans Richardson) do not denote cause for celebration.

‘Javelin’ is Stevens’ second album that is explicitly about the death of a loved one; it is Stevens’ second album that is so wrapped up in the nostalgia of life, and the warmth that life brings, that its listener almost forgets about the subject matter until they are confronted with a line like:

“So here we stand in the dark, my eyes traveling to the place where you’d thrown yourself over the rocks”.

There is no need for an artist to re-invent the wheel when the wheel is already brilliant.

Key Tracks: ‘Will Anybody Ever Love Me’; ‘So You Are Tired’; ‘Shit Talk’.

4. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown - ‘Scaring the Hoes’ (Experimental Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Glitch Hop)   

In 2016 A Tribe Called Quest released their final album, a gut-wrenching goodbye to Phife Dawg who had died 8 months prior but had recorded his verse riddled with cancer. In many ways this was ATCQ’s most innovative album, a jazz rap opus made bespoke for the 21st century kid.

 That album’s fourth track, ‘Solid Wall of Sound’, builds up slowly, becoming gradually more claustrophobic for the listener until the last 20 seconds, in which all of the layers of music pile on top of one another and the listener is confronted with, well, a solid wall of sound. While no one might have ever asked the question: “what would it sound like if that last 20 seconds was stretched out to 36 minutes?”, JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown have answered it: “Scaring the Hoes”.

‘Scaring the Hoes’ is not some revelation, but rather the culmination of two of the senior voices in avant-garde hip hop honing their craft and having a lot of fun in the meantime. Don’t be put off initially by the brash lyricism or the song titles denoting the chronically-online nature of both artists’ fanbases – behind every solid wall of sound is layer-upon-layer of meticulously crafted music. This is a sampling odyssey not to be overlooked.

Key Tracks: ‘SCARING THE HOES’; ‘Burfict!’; ‘Kingdom Hearts Key (feat. Redveil)’.

5. George Clanton - ‘Ooh Rap I Ya’ (Chillwave, Neo-Psychedelia, Baggy)          

Absolution by way of chillwave.

'Ooh Rap I Ya' is one of those albums that should, ideally, be played so loud that the music feels almost tangible (not recommended by the least cool 9 out of 10 audiologists). Even if you're not so inclined to do irreparable damage to your ear drums, it is undeniable that in any setting Clanton and his backing of reverb and synths just sound, well, massive. Sorry, I meant MASSIVE.

 In some ways, this reminds me of the Stone Roses debut effort - not just due to the Baggy influence that is so inherent that you could probably peel it off from the LP pressing and use it to roll a cigarette, but also because of the fact that, whether you like it or not, this music will ingrain itself into your brain and nestle in there until you're annoying your flatmates by incessantly humming "AND I'VE BEEN YOUNG" while peeling potatoes.

Key Tracks: 'Justify Your Life'; 'I Been Young' (SOTY 2023); 'Vapor King / SubReal'.

6. Squid - ‘O Monolith’ (Experimental Rock, Art Punk, Krautrock)         

‘O Monolith’ is an enigma.

Though Squid’s debut album 'Bright Green Field' is a bigger statement with higher peaks than what Squid have delivered in this outing, I'd herald this work to be the bigger achievement. 'Bright Green Field’ was a whirlwind of opportunity, a bizarre entry into the British post-punk canon that baffled and amazed listeners at every turn. It is by all accounts a major-scale success story.

'O Monolith' is significantly less urgent than its predecessor; don’t be fooled by the fervent opener ‘Swing (In a Dream)’. What Squid has lost in energy and eccentricity, they gained in groove, lyricism, and that maturity that tends to elude all but the best of young artists who’re trying to show the world that they’re ready to make a mark.

 That Squid successfully avoided a sophomore slump is a good thing. That they were able to do so while continuing to innovate - keeping anyone who attempts to figure out what their next move will be essentially in the dark - is a great thing.

What was once a vibrant mix of Talking Heads x Parquet Courts has now become an assured mix of Radiohead x Can. Britain’s windmill scene has brought us yet another 2020s gem, and for that we should all be thankful.

Key Tracks: ‘Swing (In a Dream)’; ‘The Blades’; ‘If You Had Seen the Bull's Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away’.

7. Carly Rae Jepsen - ‘The Loveliest Time’ (Dance-Pop, Nu Disco)        

My way-too-early kneejerk reaction was that this is Carly Rae Jepsen’s best output since 'Emotion (Side B)'. Yes, this supposed B-side album is better than the Dedicated era, and better than ‘The Loneliest Time’.

That kneejerk reaction has not been tempered by the winds of time, but rather has been solidified by the kind of conviction that only comes from playing intoxicating pop music incredibly loud.

 The run through the middle of the album, starting with ‘Shy Boy’ and culminating with ‘Put It To Rest’ is as strong a 7-track run as CRJ has had in her career, and aside from the obvious miss that is 'Aeroplanes' (which is just a bit too syrupy for me, an already staunch poptimist), this album is as consistent as anything she has ever released.

This is the kind of album that makes CRJ’s fans no fun to be around at parties. Rather than dancing gleefully to ‘Call Me Maybe’, we are doomed to lament what could have been if she received the exposure and public acclaim that output like this deserves.

Key Tracks:

‘Kollage’; ‘Psychedelic Switch’; ‘Put It To Rest’.

8. HMLTD - ‘The Worm’ (Rock Opera, Progressive Rock)           

An album made by theatre kids who have reached an apex of fame, for theatre kids who aspire to do the same.

What can truly be said of a rock opera about a man who suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, burdened with the belief that a giant worm has taken over medieval England and wreaking havoc wherever it slithers?

 If that’s not captivating enough to cause even the least curious of people to give ‘The Worm’ even a cursory listen, then they simply cannot be helped.

Oh and did I mention that they do a pretty good job covering Nina Simone?

Key Tracks: ‘The End is Now’; ‘Liverpool Street’; ‘Past Life (Sinnerman’s Song)’.

9. MIKE - ‘Burning Desire’ (Abstract Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Vaporwave)         

MIKE (with the help of DJ Blackpower, MIKE's producer alias) has created his enduring masterpiece. MIKE's career has been a story of a rapper and producer going from strength to strength, coming out from under the shadow of the likes of Earl Sweatshirt, Wiki, Navy Blue, Ka and others in the world of low-fi, drumless hip hop to revel in his own vaporwave world.

 'Burning Desire' plays like a soundtrack, comprising of vignettes melding into each other rather than defined, individualistic songs. Does that matter? When the music sounds this good, not one iota.

More nuanced, musically, then anything MIKE has released before. An utterly triumphant album.

Key Tracks: 'African Sex Freak Fantasy' (picture Kanye West's 'Hell of a Life', but not unlistenable ten years on); 'plz don't cut my wings (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)'; 'What U Say U Are'.

10. Yussef Dayes - ‘Black Classical Music’ (Jazz Fusion, Jazz-Funk)      

The best of Dayes' studio albums - his 'Welcome to the Hills' live album still sits upon the highest peaks of any jazz recording created in the last 5-10 years. A near-perfect blend of funk, jazz, soul, and contemporary R&B.

 ‘Black Classical Music’ is incredibly tight. Dayes is one of the best jazz drummers in the world right now and, alongside Makaya McCraven, has positioned himself in such a way that I, in 2030, would be surprised to learn he hadn't dominated the entirety of the upcoming 2020s.

Key Tracks: 'Black Classical Music'; 'Rust (feat. Tom Misch)'; 'Tioga Pass (featuring Rocco Palladino)'.

Honourable Mentions:

Caroline Polachek – ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’ (Art Pop, Electronic, Downtempo);

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – ‘PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation’ (Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal);

McKinley Dixon – ‘Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?’ (Jazz Rap, Conscious Hip Hop, Neo-Soul);

Róisín Murphy – ‘Hit Parade’ (Art Pop, Deep House, Chicago Soul);

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ – ‘Destiny’ (House, Plunderphonics, Nu Disco).

Favourite Debut Releases (not otherwise listed):

Nourished by Time – ‘Erotic Probiotic 2’ (Alternative R&B, Bedroom Pop);

Asia Menor – ‘Enola Gay’ (Indie Rock, Post Punk, Math Rock);

London Brew – ‘Londo Brew’ (Jazz Fusion, Avant-Garde Jazz);

Model/Actriz – ‘Dogsbody’ (Noise Rock, Dance Punk)

Maruja – ‘Knocknarea (EP)’ (Post-Rock, Art Rock)

Posthumous Praise:

Jamie Branch – ‘Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War))’ (Avant-Garde Jazz; Chamber Jazz);

Ryuichi Sakamoto – ‘12’ (Ambient, Modern Classical);

bl4ck m4rket c4rt - 'Today I Laid Down' (Slowcore, Slacker Rock)

This last one is particularly harrowing, as the artist was only 17 years old.