Meditation
I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of this space and what it means to me and while I’ve enjoyed finding new music and forcing myself to look at it from a critical lens, I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do with this newsletter going forward. I’ve always enjoyed writing about something with a little more history or personal reflection and felt more satisfaction from that writing than a standard critique. Additionally, I’ve enjoyed the more art focused place I created with Skeleton Sides (which will conclude its current story before the years end!) and I’m looking to combine art and music writing going forward in the new year. I want fewer walls of text and more visual emotional exploration of music and art and stories. I’m excited about the future and I hope you will join me for it!
But first let’s take a look back at the year 2023.
Wrapped
I had my creativity uprooted and slammed into a brick wall towards the end of the year. I suppose it started with catching Covid for the first time and ended with moving to a new apartment and the holidays. Juggling my day job with regular updates to my newsletter was more than I could manage. Despite all that, the absolute magical volume of great music was stunning in 2023 and I couldn’t ignore writing about it for this newsletter.
According to my Spotify wrapped (my primary source for this, obviously) I listened to at least 40 different genres but, as with last year, it was a horse race to the top between my two twin princes, Alternative R&B and Art Pop. This year shone bright with some really dance centric hits that made the joyful moments soar and the painful moments tolerable and, in the end, Art Pop came to secure the top spot.
Caroline Polachek took the crown for top artist and it's not hard to see why. She started out the year with Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, an album that stood strong after repeat listening and held tracks that made their way into many of my playlists. Her strong backlog with 2019’s Pang only led to deeper dives and more tracks to repeat and dig into.
My second favorite this year was Oklou who snuck into my consciousness midyear made my number one song with the sweet and dreamy ‘Fall’ from her all too short 2020 release, Galore. I simply couldn’t stop playing these songs that struck a perfect blend of soothing romanticism and vulnerability. I need more from Oklou as soon as possible.
Rounding out the final three spots were Christine and the Queens, who blew me away with their massive triple album, Paranoia, Angels, True Love, a meditation of grief, love and healing; Pearly Drops with their infectious synthpop sophomore album A Little Disaster; and the irresistible Disco of Jessie Ware with her glamorous and lovely album That! Feels Good. They all shaped the sounds of 2023 for me and underscores just how powerful they were in a year that had some really great releases.
There are a few amazing late in the year releases that I absolutely love and plan on writing about in the next year but for now I’ve curated a playlist of my favorite tracks from these five artists as well as some that still hit heavy rotation but may not have racked up the same numbers. I hope you enjoy and thank you for joining me here! I hope to see you next year as things grow and change.