The “Mixes” Series: Boom and Hiss, 2023

Not sure how people/sites put out their end-of-year lists in December. I mean, what about the December releases?! No consideration for those?

As has been the case over the last few years, I’ve curated two long-play Spotify playlists representing the best “fast” and “slow” tracks of the year. There is no intentional transition from song to song; rather, they’re simply alphabetized by song title (save the opening and closing tracks on both playlists). I chose this method for 2023 because I had multiple songs from multiple bands and didn’t want to play them back-to-back-to-back. The playlists comprise 44 and 56 songs, respectively, a perfect 100 tracks.

As always, I listened to a shit-ton of music this year, as I’ve been working from home for nearly four years now. As was the case in recent years, I don’t know how many albums came out that I would consider “great” records, but, as always, there were certainly a few standouts. Don’t forget to comment to let me know your 2023 favorites.

With that, let’s get into it . . .

Album Cover of the Year:

Ratboys – The Window (Top Shelf)

Song of the Year:

Margaret Glaspy – “Act Natural”

Music Video of the Year:

Mitski – “Bug Like an Angel”

“Faaaaaaaaaaaamily”

Top 20 Records of 2023:

20. Connections– Cool Change (Trouble in Mind Records)
19. Hotline TNT – Cartwheel (Third Man)
18. Kara Jackson – Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September)
17. Frog – GROG (Tape Wormies/Audio Antihero)
16. Gaadge – Somewhere Down Below (Crafted Sounds/Michi Tapes)
15. Claud – Supermodels (Saddest Factory)
14. Black Belt Eagle Scout – The Land, The Water, The Sky (Saddle Creek)
13. Sufjan Stevens – Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty)
12. Ratboys – The Window (Topshelf)
11. Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

10. Explosions in the Sky – End (Temporary Residence Limited)

9. Washer – Improved Means to Deteriorated Ends (Exploding in Sound)

8. Margaret Glaspy – Echo the Diamond (ATO)

7. boygenius – the record (Interscope)

6. Upper Wilds – Jupiter (Thrill Jockey)

5. Florry – The Holey Bible (Dear Life)

4. Slow Pulp – Yard (Anti-)

3. Billie Marten – Drop Cherries (Fiction)

2. Joanna Sternberg – I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)

1. Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)

Following 2022’s excellent Boat Songs, M.J. Lenderman and his band Wednesday’s Rat Saw God hit me in a certain kind of way. Now, I don’t mean to imply that this is Lenderman’s band; rather, I’d give that title to lead vocalist Karly Hartzman, whose voice elevates itself above the sludgy, shoegazey scuzz. That, coupled with the multiple forays into punk country (punktry?), make Rat Saw God not only wonderfully listenable, but an album you’ll want to constantly return to and rediscover. All in all, I can think of nothing better than to refer to it as a Southern Gothic masterpiece. Eat your heart out, Cormac McCarthy!

As always, there are no CDs (hard copies) this year. Your best bets are to A) listen to the Spotify playlist (linked below the track listings), or B) curate the playlists yourself in Apple Music or some other type of music app.

With that, I give you the 100 songs that comprise my 2023 playlists . . .

Boom (The Best “Fast” Tracks of 2023):

1. Explosions in the Sky – “Ten Billion People” (End)
2. boygenius – “$20” (the record)
3. Silver Car Crash – “Accept” (Shattered Shine)
4. Margaret Glaspy – “Act Natural” (Echo the Diamond)
5. Claud – “All Over” (Supermodels)
6. Hotline TNT – “BMX” (Cartwheel)
7. Quasi – “Breaking the Balls of History” (Breaking the Balls of History)
8. Fucked Up – “Cicada” (One Day)
9. The Armed – “Clone” (Perfect Saviors)
10. Palehound – “The Clutch” (Eye On the Bat)
11. Country Westerns – “Country Westerns” (Forgive the City)
12. En Attendant Ana – “The Cutoff” (Principia)
13. Washer – “Death of an Empire” (Improved Means to Deteriorated Ends)
14. Home Is Where- “floral organs” (the whaler)
15. Fucked Up – “Found” (One Day)
16. A Giant Dog – “In Rainbows” (Bite)
17. Fucked Up – “I Think I Might Be Weird” (One Day)
18. Ratboys – “Making Noise for the Ones You Love” (The Window)
19. Big Girl – “Mother Tongue” (Big Girl vs. God)
20. Gaadge – “Mundys Corner” (Somewhere Down Below)
21. Gaadge – “Nanty Glo” (Somewhere Down Below)
22. Grocer – “Not By Choice” (Scatter Plot)
23. Matthew Logan Vasquez – “Over It” (As All Get Out)
24. The Armed – “Patient Mind” (Perfect Saviors)
25. Subsonic Eye – “Performative” (All Around You)
26. Upper Wilds – “Permanent Storm” (Jupiter)
27. Feeling Figures – “Pour Un Instant” (Migration Magic)
28. Marnie Stern – “Plain Speak” (The Comeback Kid)
29. Wednesday – “Quarry” (Rat Saw God)
30. Goo – “Real Life” (Squid Ink Sky)
31. Lowertown – “Root Canal” (Skin of My Teeth)
32. gal pal – “Say No” (This and Other Gestures)
33. Upper Wilds – “Short Centuries” (Jupiter)
34. IAN SWEET – “Smoking Again” (SUCKER)
35. Purling Hiss – “Something in My Basement” (Drag On Girard)
36. Blondshell – “Tarmac” (Blondshell)
37. Marnie Stern – “Til It’s Over” (The Comeback Kid)
38. Cherry Glazerr – “Touched You with My Chaos” (I Don’t Want You Anymore)
39. Frog – “U Shud Go 2 Me” (GROG)
40. Guided By Voices – “Why Won’t You Kiss Me” (Welshpool Frillies)
41. Helvetia – “Without You” (The Beach at the Edge of the World)
42. En Attendant Ana – “Wonder” (Prinicipia)
43. Purling Hiss – “Yer All in My Dreams” (Drag On Girard)
44. Explosions in the Sky – “Moving On” (End)

Hiss (The Best “Slow” Tracks of 2023):

1. Explosions in the Sky – “Peace or Quiet” (End)
2. Squirrel Flower – “Anti-glory” (Tomorrow’s Fire)
3. gal pal – “And the Sun Was Still Hot” (This and Other Gestures)
4. Vagabon – “Anti-Fuck” (Sorry I Haven’t Called)
5. Mitski – “Bug Like an Angel” (The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We)
6. Slow Pulp – “Broadview” (Yard)
7. Blondshell – “Dangerous” (Blondshell)
8. Cusp – “Dead Things Talk” (You Can Do It All)
9. Claud – “Dirt” (Supermodels)
10. Gaadge – “Don’t Go There” (Somewhere Down Below)
11. Black Belt Eagle Scout – “Fancy Dance” (The Land, The Water, The Sky)
12. Big Girl – “Forever” (Big Girl vs. God)
13. Angel Olsen – “Forever Means” (Forever Means)
14. Florry – “From Where You Are” (The Holey Bible)
15. Squirrel Flower – “Full Time Job” (Tomorrow’s Fire)
16. Sufjan Stevens – “Genuflecting Ghost” (Javelin)
17. Margaret Glaspy – “Get Back” (Echo the Diamond)
18. Billie Marten – “God Above” (Drop Cherries)
19. Slow Pulp – “Gone 2” (Yard)
20. Gia Margaret – “Hinoki Wood” (Romantic Piano)
21. Connections – “I Confess” (Cool Change)
22. Mitski – “I Don’t Like My Mind” (The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We)
23. Puppy Problems – “In Hell . . .” (Winter in Fruitland)
24. Feeling Figures – “I Should Tell You” (Migration Magic)
25. Claud – “It’s Not About You” (Supermodels)
26. Joanna Sternberg – “I’ve Got Me” (I’ve Got Me)
27. Joanna Sternberg – “I Will Be with You” (I’ve Got Me)
28. Katie Von Schleicher – “Jeanine” (A Little Touch of Schleicher)
29. Free Range – “Keep in Time” (Practice)
30. Fran – “The Label” (Leaving)
31. Caroline Rose – “Miami” (The Art of Forgetting)
32. Soft Idiot – “My Head Became a Pool” (Some Captured Light)
33. Frog – “New Ro” (GROG)
34. Puppy Problems – “No News” (Winter in Fruitland)
35. Blondshell – “Olympus” (Blondshell)
36. Black Belt Eagle Scout – “On the River” (The Land, The Water, The Sky)
37. Parannoul – “Parade” (After the Magic)
38. boygenius – “Powers” (the rest)
39. Joanna Sternberg – “Right Here” (I’ve Got Me)
40. boygenius – “Satanist” (the record)
41. Claud – “Screwdriver” (Supermodels)
42. Mitski – “Star” (The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We)
43. Gia Margaret – “A Stretch” (Unromantic Piano)
44. Animal Collective – “Stride Rite” (Isn’t It Now?)
45. Florry – “Take My Heart” (The Holey Bible)
46. Beirut – “The Tern” (Hadsel)
47. Katie Von Schleicher – “Texas” (A Little Touch of Schleicher)
48. Billie Marten – “This Is How We Move” (Drop Cherries)
49. Wednesday – “Turkey Vultures” (Rat Saw God)
50. Gaadge – “Turning” (Somewhere Down Below)
51. Wednesday – “TV in the Gas Pump” (Rat Saw God)
52. Black Belt Eagle Scout – “Understanding” (The Land, The Water, The Sky)
53. Free Range – “Want to Know” (Practice)
54. Sufjan Stevens – “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” (Javelin)
55. Slow Pulp – “Yard” (Yard)
56. Explosions in the Sky – “It’s Never Going to Stop” (End)

Boom (Best “Fast” Tracks of 2023)

Hiss (Best “Slow” Tracks of 2023)

Well, that’ll do it for 2023. With that, I now ask that you do the following four things:

1. In the comments section, let me know your picks for the best songs, records, and anything else music of 2023. What did I miss? What do you violently disagree with? What are you wholeheartedly in agreement with? What the hell else?
2. Should you choose to (or if you have already) put together a Best of 2023 playlist of your own, by all means send me a copy, or at the very least a track listing. I’ll do my best to post them on my blog.
3. If you’re feeling nostalgic, go back and check out my Best of… mixes from years’ past. There’s a shit-ton of them.
4. You’ve got X, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and 7 billion other social media outlets at your disposal. Share this with the world, even if you only have two followers

Until the Best of 2024, have at it, you vultures!

BD