Top 25 Songs of 2023

[numbersix]

SONG #14


John

Belle & Sebastian: So In The Moment

The production's a bit muffled for my tastes, but the song's a banger.




Leetsu

Golden Hours: Dead On




Transformers

Yves Tumor: Ebony Eye

While I'm not exactly eager to sing the praises of Yves Tumor at the moment after being thoroughly underwhelmed by their live show back in October, I'm also not going to pretend that I don't like their music anymore. "Ebony Eye" is a funky little tune that represents them at their trippy, groovy best.




Six

The Murder Capital: Ethel

My snarky review of the Dublin band’s second album is that they so hard to not sound like 1980s U2 that they ended up sounding like 1990s U2. They did have a few decent songs, particularly this track, which resonated particularly with me due to the reference about having a baby daughter.




Surf

Stuck: The Punisher




Ron

Fred again, Baby Keem: leavemealone

[numbersix]

15 and 14 thoughts

John: The music of that Ray LaMontagne did zero for me. Nice to see Belle and Sebs still around, flying the flag for twee music. I bet that flag was hand-knitted too. Decent song

Leetsu: Gurriers are part of the second wave of Irish noise rock bands, and the Gilla Band influence is strong here. It's pretty good, so I'll be keeping an ear out for them. Golden Hours are apparently a band of musicians who played for Tricky, Brian Jonestown Massace, and Gang of 4. Interesting mix. The song was okay, atmospheric post-rock but not sure if it sustained my attention.

Tranny: Horrendous is an appropriate name, this is a concoction of a lot of things I don't like in music. But glad to see some Yves Tumor appreciation here. Not my fav from the album, but a good closer. Shame your gig wasn't great. I think he (they?) is deeply insecure and trying to break out of his shell.

Surf: Caught Deathcrash live when they supported Iceage (bad combination), and they were good, this was very good. And delighted and surprised to see Stuck make another appearance here, particularly The Punisher!

Ron: The Shag Rock song was quite nice to listen to. Fred Again's weird mix of clubby tune and anti-social lyrics didnt' work for me, though.

[Ron Burgundy]

Hey guys! So glad to be joining you for another count, especially in honor of shryke - who id like to think
had the closest taste to my own compared to all of you weirdos. I dont comment a whole lot but i do take any countdown on the 'verse
very seriously. Ive been listening to the songs as they appear every couple days, but now ive rolled up the sleeves and plugged the headphones.
On a final note, sorry about not posting comments for my songs, the last songs like my no.20 which got no love, ill admit, was a shot in the dark. But my top 15 or so, is very much my top, so please, dont hold back, refrain from being so kind.
We all need some reality checks and practice to top six's snark

John

25
Silkroad Ensemble- Oh Death
Its a little bit in yo face isn't it? Not terrible, not something id seek out
5/10

24
Buffalo Nichols- You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond
Oh, you're a blues man. My uncles is a massive blues fan. I dunno, i never was a big blues man, if i was i needed the best of the best like BB King or Johnny Lee Hooker or Eric Clapton. Maybe i have no idea, but this aint for me.
4.5/10

23
The Golden Dregs- How It Starts
Upon the first listen, i was tentatively mused. On this second listen, its got enough on its own to not be compared with Nick Cave, who isn't good by the way for anyone here that likes him. Best so far Johnny boy, keep it up
6.5/10

22
Kylie Fox- Confetti
Yep. Nope. 2.5/10

Leestu

25
Triángulo de Amor Bizarro- La condena
My older brother would tell me, isn't this a bit dreamy? It is, and i reckon in a certain place and time id enjoy this alot more. Not bad though
6/10

24
Blossom- Forlorn
Wow, isnt this a bit heavy for the old leestu? Almost sounds like it should belong to a song chosen by tranny. But it does have that moodiness and length. Its got grundge elements but ultimately isnt anywhere close to Nirvana's best.
4.5/10

23
Island Of Love, Big Whale
One thing i love and hate about every countdown on here, is im always exposed to music ive never heard or would even hear otherwise. This song is a classic example. And yet, i don't dislike it at all. I think i like it how the song changes gears halfway through to a slower pace and that just does it for me (vocals can be average though)
5.5/10

22
Deeper- Everynight
On this second listen, i realise how much i like that riff. Catchy as fuck. I'll need to check out more of this band. Good pick!
7.5/10

Tranny

25
Mutoid Man- Frozen Hearts
Oh tran, i'd be lying if i told you im looking forward to your songs the most. Sometimes your rap picks are sick, and rarely you metal choices vibe with me.
This was not a full on metal song. Almost like cheesy faux metal. Not the worst.
5/10

24
Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves- I Remember Everything
Ok, what did you do to tranny and how much do you want? Cause we will give everything this community can collectively give (about $7)
3/10

23
Genesis Owusu-Freak Boy
Ho! Someone chose a song by an artist i listened to this year! Though i dont remember this song last year, i still appreicate it. If there is someone with a stranger (more eclectic?) taste than me on here, its you Trandog
6.5/10

22
Sampha- Suspended
Sometimes like the chorous, this song is not bad. Its just not very special.
5/10

Six

25
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter- I Will Be With You Always
Goodness, gracious. What did i just listen too (again). Umm, yeah feverish may be right. Its just so off key and demonic wishful that it gets way too grating. Like c'mon, this isn't a movie.
4/10

24
Aphex Twin- Blackbox Life Recorder 21F
And now the first almost crossover, i only heard this song as i was researching for extra songs for beyond my top 10, this was a close cut. So good choice, im a big Aphex Twin fan as well. (it actually sounds way better with headphones on)
7/10

23
Grian Chatten: Fairlies
The music video reminds me of radiohead somehow. This is def a song id want to come back to, most always you introduce me to songs ive never heard before but like on first listen, you damn tasteful irishman.
6.5/10

22
Caroline Polachek- Bunny is a Rider
Song goes from catchiness of a 9/10 to then repetitiveness of a 5/10. Overall 6/10 for me

Surf

25
Bonnie Prince Billy- Crazy Blue Bells
I think i missed this upon first round of listening. Prob best of the round. Light but kinda catchy at times.
6/10

24
PJ Harvey- Seem an I
Ah, the old P.J. Harvey. Who i pretty much don't know, only because of this forum (i spose mainly you and six). What can i say about this song? I'd have to channel our old mate Shryke....not enough pop, kinda boring
4.5/10

23
Black Belt Eagle Scout: Nobody
A little bit dreamy, a little bit adventure. I don't dislike it, i prob need to listen to this again. Kinda like it first time.
5.5/10

22
Pardoner- Short Song
The outake part is the best part of the song. Meh
4/10

[transformers2]

About time I actually made some damn comments this year. I'll be around the rest of the way and I apologize for my absence.

#14
John: Had no clue Belle and Sebastian were still around. They're still far too twee for my tastes.

Leestu: Vocals were a bit too monotonous for me to become fully engaged, but the eerie, almost shoegazey-instrumentation did a good job of creating a downtrodden atmosphere.

six: This sounds nothing like U2 because I didn't have the immediate impulse to turn it off In all seriousness, this is a solid, moody tune with an effective tempo shift during the final minute.

Surfer: Liked the frantic guitarwork quite a bit. Was less enthusiastic about the vocals, but they grew more tolerable as the song went on.

Ron: So this is the Fred again character that is among the Bonaroo headliners this year. Good to know. While there's definitely some cool things going on musically here, looping and auto-tuning the fuck of Baby Keem's rapping is a real headscratcher that drags the whole song down.

[numbersix]

SONG #13


John

Emily Rose & The Rounders - The Drifter

"I trace my fingers up and down your back
Connect the lines of your tracks
And I know you aren't coming back"

Musically, this might be the most traditional and overtly country song I've ever posted here, but it's the lyrics and the setting for the video that place it squarely in the Americana/Alt-Country realm that I like.




Leetsu

GHOSTWOMAN: Yoko




Transformers

Kesha: Eat the Acid

In the early 2010's, songs like "Tik Tok", "Die Young" and "We R Who We R" made Kesha the face of white girls who spend their weekends getting drunk, doing drugs and having one night stands that they may or may not regret. A combination of getting older and a heated legal battle with the producer of those tracks Dr.Luke-who Kesha has accused of a number of awful things including sexual assault, sexual harassment and emotional abuse that lasted from October 2014 until June of this year -has caused Kesha's music to trend in a much more downbeat direction for several years now. "Eat the Acid" just may be the apex of her evolution into a completely serious artist. It touches on her experiences with the painful price of finding success in the music industry had on her well-being with a level of vulnerability and raw, gutting honesty that pierced to the very core of my soul.




Six

Sufjan Stevens: Will Anybody Ever Love Me?

Sufjan is back with another collection of beautiful tracks, feeling like a culmination of all the things he’s learned and tried across his career, from solemn ballads to religious folk to heart-filled ecstatic epics. Will Anybody Ever Love me reminds me of some of his best work on Illinoise, where the intimate sentiment meets a bigger, broader sound. It’s also deeply poignant to learn Sufjan lost his lifelong partner last year, giving extra, unfortunate layers to the song.




Surf

Dancer: Love




Ron

Alan Palomo, Mac DeMarco: Nudista Mundial '89

[JohnErle]

GHOSTWOMAN isn't doing anything that hasn't been done before, and that noisy breakdown lost me a bit, but the bulk of the tune was quite catchy. I might listen to it again.

Kesha was surprisingly decent, despite having too much vocoder at the end. I might have to give it another shot.

I heard some of that new Sufjan album earlier this year and it didn't really grab me. Parts of this sounded good enough today to be worth a second look.

I don't know what's gotten into you guys today because even Surfer's pick is good enough to check out again.

Way to ruin the hot streak, Ron. I couldn't even finish that one the first time.

[transformers2]

#13
John: Kind of reminded me of the stuff I'd hear 20-25 years ago when I walked into my grandparents house on the weekend and the radio was blasting, which made this a nice, unexpected piece of nostalgia.

Leestu: This was tight. The whispery vocals are a great complement to the gothic, ominous guitars and bursts of harsh noise.

six: Never been a fan of Sufjan's (the mere mention of Mystery of Love makes me recoil to this day) and this did nothing to change my opinion.

surfer: Knew right away this was going to drive me up a wall, then the vocals kicked in and it was so much worse than I could've ever imagined. This is genuinely the most obnoxious song I've heard in quite some time.

Ron: Just funky, catchy and weird enough to be kind of interesting.

[numbersix]

SONG #12


John

Lol Tolhurst & Friends: Los Angeles

I hate this trend, borrowed from hip-hop, of listing an endless array of artists in the credits on the same track. Who has time to type all those names? If that many established people want to work together, they should give themselves a supergroup name like Asia, Temple Of The Dog, or The Travelling Dingleberries.




Leetsu

Deeper: Fame




Transformers

Better Lovers: 30 Under 13

A supergroup consisting of members from The Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die is basically the musical equivalent of creating a team full of my favorite players in Madden or NBA2K. These bands were absolutely essential in shaping my musical tastes and the prospect of members of these bands making music together always seemed like nothing more than a fun hypothetical to contemplate. Well, following both bands breaking up within the past 5 years and some conversations between old friends: Better Lovers-which consists of 4 members of TDEP/ETID along with grizzled veteran metal guitarist/record producer Will Putney-was born. "30 Under 13" was how they announced their arrival to the world and holy hell, did they make a mighty impressive opening statement. It's exactly the kind of blisteringly chaotic magic I envisioned they'd make together without any of the half-measures and phoned-in performances that tend to plague supergroups. I can't wait to see what these newly-unified legends cook up together in the future.




Six

Big Thief: Vampire Empire

2023 was a quiet year for the prolific band, but that didn’t stop them for releasing one of their best songs yet. Vampire Empire is apparently a live favourite they’ve been playing for a while, and they finally committed it to tape. And I’m glad they did, for it’s as catchy as it is powerful.




Surfer

R. Ring: Def Sup




Ron

Olivia Rodrigo: get him back!

[numbersix]

On #13 and #12

John: Emily Rose has really pulled herself together after than whole exorcism ordeal. The song was pretty much as stereotypically country as you can get, but it wasn't unpleasant. Agreed on Lol Tolhurst (plus Budgie plus some other guy) and naming conventions. This song is the highlight of the album, partly due to my hatred of LA, partly due to liking LCD Soundsystem. Almost made my Top 25, but another song featuring James Murphy is coming up instead.

Leetsu: Enjoyed GHOSTWOMAN's mix of psych and post-punk. Reminded me a lot of A Place to Bury Strangers, ina good way. Man, you really dug that Deeper record. Really liked that track. You should definitely check out Freak Frequency by Stuck.

Tranny: The problem with the Kesha song is, despite its strong delivery, doesn't every single pop and hip-hop star do a song and/or album about the trapping of fame once they become famous? So it's hardly surprising or innovative. I find supergroups almost always less the sum of its parts. I only know the Dillinger Escape Plan and they sound a lot better than this.

Surf: Two songs I liked but didn't love. Dancer's song was cool and coy, but I preferred the R. Ring track, which I just learned is a project of Kelley Deal's!

Ron: As someone who does enjoy the stranger side of music, sometimes, this Palomo/DeMarco song should work for me, but I was more irritated than amsued. Glad you posted Olovia Rodrigo, only because her GUTS record has been receiving raves and is huge. It's mildly listenable on a musical level, and the lyrics are plain enough, but I guess she's sucessfully capturing the teenage mindset, which I've moved on from. Besides liking cheap beer and fart jokes.

[JohnErle]

Six – It's hard to believe you and I almost had two crossovers on the same countdown, but I did think Los Angeles, Yo La Tengo, and Big Thief had a good chance of crossing over with you, Leestu, or Surfer. If I'd heard that Yard Act track earlier we might have had another crossover!

Deeper – Nice groove at first, but the vocals and guitars didn't do much for me, and even the groove became too repetitive after a while.

13 Going On 30 – Sounded like standard shouty fare to me.

No Def Soup for me. Nice bass sound, but not much else.

Olivia Rodrigo is way too young and mainstream to be of interest to me.

[numbersix]

Six – It's hard to believe you and I almost had two crossovers on the same countdown, but I did think Los Angeles, Yo La Tengo, and Big Thief had a good chance of crossing over with you, Leestu, or Surfer. If I'd heard that Yard Act track earlier we might have had another crossover!

Good god, I think that would have prompted some sort of apocalpyse!

[JohnErle]

Six – It's hard to believe you and I almost had two crossovers on the same countdown, but I did think Los Angeles, Yo La Tengo, and Big Thief had a good chance of crossing over with you, Leestu, or Surfer. If I'd heard that Yard Act track earlier we might have had another crossover!

Good god, I think that would have prompted some sort of apocalpyse!

And that's why you always resist the overpowering urge to listen to new music from Sparks or Steve Earle during the year -- you're trying to avoid catastrophe during the countdown. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.

[transformers2]

#12
John: The main groove is half decent, but man oh man did this drag on for far too long.

Leestu: Not bad at all. The sax did a good job of adding to the anxious sound of the song and the abrupt ending was a nice touch.

six: No thanks.

Surfer: This was pretty solid! Enjoyed the groovy bassline and the noisy guitarwork.

Ron: There's not too many things I'd declare myself (particularly in pop culture) too old for, but Olivia Rodrigo's music is among them. I've given both her records a chance and while her vocal talent is undeniable, I felt like I was listening to a teenager rattle off their dating complaints and biggest heartbreaks for 45 minutes. get him back! is really only notable to me because they used it in the Mean Girls trailer instead of any of the songs from the actual fucking movie (which remains extremely funny to me) and an Apple commercial starring Rodrigo herself that played roughly 3-5 times during every NFL game in September/October.

[numbersix]

Guys, I'm going to take a break for a day or two to allow people to catch up. Surf and Leetsu, send me more songs!



SONG #11


John

Billy Keane: Halo




Leetsu

A.A. Williams: Without You I’m Nothing




Transformers

Dua Lipa: Dance the Night

Nothing represents the bubbly side of Greta Gerwig's Barbie better than "Dance the Night"-which is used as a needle drop for the roller skating dance scene early in the movie. While disco-pop isn't exactly foreign territory for Dua Lipa, she's so reliably great at churning out catchy, dance bangers that each of her forays into the genre feels just as fresh as the one that preceded it.




Six

Fever Ray: Kandy

Now that The Knife are officially over, this is the only opportunity to enjoy some idiosyncratic Scandi avant-garde electro pop. If Kandy was delivered by a man, it would sound pretty seedy, but in this case the seediness is a mask, hiding behind a deeper story of a couple trying to rekindle that spark.




Surfer

Lifeguard: Alarm




Ron

Teenage Dads: I Like It

[numbersix]

#11

John: Worked quite well, actually. Nice energy to it.

Leetsu: Didn't work for me at all, had a very over-produced heavy rock sound that almost reminded me of nu-metal. I'm not a huge Placebo fan but in this case I prefer the original.

tranny: Dua Lipa is capable of some really fun, catchy tracks, and I genuinely like Levitating. This sounds like a poor photocopy of that very song, but lacks the groove.

Surf: Solid alt-rock track. Built up to a great conclusion

Ron: Pretty catchy, sun-drenched stuff. Just like the title, I like it.