In League With Paton: Monday, December 25, 2023

Another year gone, and this ritual of marking cultural time begins to feel as if it arrives ever more frequently, and the act of placing creative works (not all of them quite qualify as albums) in order feels ever more arbitrary. As ever, please see this as an act of sharing rather than an act of ranking and judging. There is roughly an ascending order here, but it is hardly rigorous. I could have chosen an entirely different set of music from my Longlist and still have felt comfortable with it. And yet I do feel remarkably happy with this list. Without much purposeful consideration for representation, it again includes a good proportion of female artists. It represents the sheer breadth of recorded music in the 2020s pretty well. It highlights some works worthy of wider attention alongside some choices that will be predictable for anyone who knows me or my musical interests. It also includes a handful of artists that are new to me this year and I am glad to still be making valuable musical discoveries in my 40s.

Some things that stand out for various reasons: The kaleidoscopic range of Dave Harrington’s musical vision (he is one of my favourite musicians right now); Mike Reed’s multidisciplinary supergroup The Separatist Party who were superb both live and on record this year; a mountain of material from the thrilling and uncompromising Kate Gentile; PJ Harvey blessing us with an old cliche by genuinely ‘returning to form’; Peter Gabriel finally ending our wait of over 20 years; L’Rain crafting something vivid, otherworldly, artful and moving; a couple of inventive and idiosyncratic hip hop albums from Aesop Rock and Armand Hammer; some moving last testaments from much missed artists (the beautiful and honest sounding reconstructed final Sparklehorse album, Ryuichi Sakamoto and jaimie branch - the sheer energy and resistance spirit of the latter showing there would have been so much more to come); Rosali making a left field album of guitar improvisations under the Edsel Axle moniker (her return as Rosali on Merge next year should be a big deal); Lucinda Williams partially recovering from a stroke to make an album as strong and confident as any she has made; Depeche Mode sadly now being a man down after the unexpected passing of Fletch but making the best record they have made since Ultra; for better or for worse the entire Tzadik catalogue going on Spotify and suddenly having easy access to the maverick and wonderful world of John Zorn; Corinne Bailey Rae’s refusal to be pigeonholed; Wadada Leo Smith belatedly channelling electric Miles to spectacular effect; my album of the year somehow combining a deft and strong melodic sense with provocative abstractions and abrasions and making it sound like the most natural thing in the world. That album, and the welcome return of Cornelius, were probably the two things to go most unfairly under the radar this year.

Monday, December 25, 2023

2023 In Music: New Music Top 100