Best of 2023 Lists – KALX 90.7FM Berkeley

~~updated 2024 January 29th~~

These lovely KALX crew share their faves of 2023:

Baby Teeth ··· Bartleby ··· Beast Monster Thing ··· Berkestir ··· Carnacki ··· Cia Cia La Pirata ··· Cuppa Joe ··· da Flower Punk ··· Deep Mission ··· desolation girl + ness ··· DJ Aahh ··· DJ Twinkle ··· Dokkaebi ··· ((echoplex)) ··· E. Lit ··· Film Close-ups ··· Freddy Sneakers ··· Free Radical ··· Imaginary Radio ··· Joey Miscue ··· Lance D’Amour ··· Lost and Found ··· Majority Whip ··· Massari ··· Megasoup ··· Microtone ··· Mike Burma ··· Mr. Green Genes ··· Poindexter ··· Polly Vinyl ··· Roscoe 2000 ··· Sex 14s ··· Sparkle Motion ··· squyd ··· Surface Tension ··· Velvet Einstein ··· Vernal Pools ··· Vic Vocab ··· Your Mom ··· Zabardast

Read on to see their list, lists and more lists.
(psst, there’s bonus if you scroll all the way to the end)

Baby Teeth

Favorite 2023 Releases:

Tee Vee Repairman – Whats on TV? (Total Punk)
Poison Ruïn – Härvest (Relapse)
Cosmetics – Baby (Minimal Wave)
feeble little horse – Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
Gee Tee – Goodnight Neanderthal (Goner)
Lana Del Rey – Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Interscope)
Billiam – Corner Tactics (Under The Gun)
Tanukichan – GIZMO (Company)

Favorite Songs in 2023:

Artificial Organs – “This & That” (Domestica)
Saccharine Trust – “A Human Certainty” (SST)
Peremotka – “Здравствуй” (UP!UP!UP!)
Станция Видеопарк – “Приходить к тебе” (RAW POP)
Lalleshwari – “For You I Hold My Breath” (Katie Jane Garside)
:Of The Wand And The Moon – “Watch the Skyline Catch Fire” (Heidrunar Myrkrunar)
Lives of Angels – “The Rock Drill” (Dark Entries)
Suicide – “Sweetheart” (Mute)
Psychic TV – “We Kiss” (Sacred Bones)
Arthur Russell – “What It’s Like” (Audika)
Bladee, Ecco2k – “White Meadow” (YEAR0001)
Life Without Buildings – “Sorrow” (Rough Trade)
Electrelane – “To the East” (Too Pure)
Belle and Sebastian – “Like Dylan In The Movies” (Jeepster)

Favorite albums not released in 2023:

Linear Movement – Pulse Music (Micrart)
Les Rallizes Dénudés – The OZ tapes (Temporal Drift)
I-F – Fucking Consumer (Disko B)
Charlie Megira, The Modern Dance Club – Love Police (Numero)
Orange Juice – You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever (Analogue Enhanced)
Current 93 – All the Pretty Little Horses (The Inmost Light) (Durtro/Jnana)
Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation (Fat Possum)
Happyness – Weird Little Birthday (Bar None)
The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart – Higher Than The Stars (Slumberland)
Fat White Family – Serfs Up! (Domino)
Martin Rev – Martin Rev (ROIR)
Oppenheimer Analysis – New Mexico (Minimal Wave)
Powerplant – People in the Sun (Dreamland Syndicate)

Favorite Live Music of 2023

The Symposium – May 25 @ Bottom of the Hill
Tanukichan – May 19 @ Bottom of the Hill
Ultra Q – October 21 @ The Crepe Place
Powerplant – November 18 @ Kilowat
Martin Rev – December 21 @ The Chapel
Slowdive – October 12 @ The Warfield
Alex G – August 11 @ Outside Lands
Lana Del Rey – August 12 @ Outside Lands
Cigarettes After Sex – August 13 @ Outside Lands
Weyes Blood – March 26 @ Regency Ballroom
Faye Webster – November 7 @ Fox Theater

Film Soundtracks I Enjoyed in 2023:

Emile Mosseri – Kajillionaire (Focus Features)
Air – The Virgin Suicides (Rykodisc)
Angelo Badalamenti – Blue Velvet (Dino De Lorentiis)
The Cyrkle – The Minx (Ace)
Bruno Nicolai – Love Birds (Decca)
Coconut Records – Goats (Young Baby)
Alex G – We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Love in Winter)
Ennio Morricone – Lolita (Milan)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – Bones and All (Null)
Nicola Piovani – Hungry Hearts (Emergency)
Piero Piccioni – Playgirl ’70 (General)
Alex North – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Masters Film)
Jon Brion – Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Hollywood)
Carter Burwell – Carol (Number 9 Films)

Bartleby

Favorite Albums of 2023 – in no particular order

JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown – Scaring The Hoes (Self-Release)
Nabihah Iqbal – Dreamer (Ninja Tune)
Wet Dip – Smell of Money (Feel It)
Decisive Pink – Ticket To Fame (Fire)
Famous Mammals – Instant Pop Expressionism Now (Siltbreeze)
Kyle Flanagan – Hangman Cut Himself Loose (New Forces)
Diesel Dudes – New Muscles (Self-Released)
Brontez Purnell – No Jack Swing (Dark Entries)
Public Interest – Spiritual Pollution (Spiritual Pollution)
Maria BC – Spike Field (Scared Bones)
Sweeping Promises – Better Life Is Coming For You (Feel It)
Billy Woods and Kenny Segel – Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
Monde UFO – Vandalized Statue To Be Replaced With Shrine (Quindi)
Morgan Garrett – Extreme Fantasy (Orange Milk)
The Drin – Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom (Feel It)
Malefixio – Magia Ceremonia (Psychic Eye)
Katsy Pline – Incandescent Fire (Take A Turn)
Somnambulists – Ascending Planes (Zum)
Violent Change – Starcastle (Sloth Mate Productions)
Ceremonial Abyss – 23 (Katabatik)
Bored Lord – Name It (T4T LUV NRG)
Sharkiface – Climax In a Process (No Part Of It)
Wolf Eyes – In Splattered Time (Self-Released)
Heavy Metal – IV: Counter Electrode / Iron Mono (Total Punk)
Alien Nosejob – The Derivative Sounds of…or… A Dog Always Returns To It’s Vomit (Goner)
Kim – Sir Kim (Sludge People)
Snōōper – Super Snooper (Third Man)
Debby Friday – Good Luck (Sub Pop)

Best EPs:

Cheree – Factory EP (Cherub Dream)
Dreamcrusher – Suite One (PTP)
Non Plus Temps – Dark On Harmon (Self-Released)
Natural Privacy – EP (Self-Released)
Blues Lawyer – Sight Gags On The Radio (Dark Entries)
Body Double – Voice 2 Skull (Self-Released)

Awesome shows I went to this year:

1/20 Nervous Gender / Diesel Dudes / Chaki (Thee Stork Club, Oakland)
1/27 Neil Hamburger / Major Entertainer (Thee Stork Club, Oakland)
2/13 Unsane / Seized Up (Ivy Room, Albany)
5/16 Lucretia Dalt (The Chapel, SF)
6/16-6/18 Oblivion Access Festival: Yellow Swans (first show in 15 years!) / Faust / Drew McDowall / Godflesh / Earth + more (various venues in Austin, TX)
6/3 Cheree / Debt Rag (Unimatrix Zero, Oakland)
7/21 Body Double / Chaki / Candy Whips (Thee Stork Club, Oakland)
8/6 Wolf Eyes / Bill Orcutt (Thee Stork Club, Oakland)
8/20 Moth Drakula / Deathroes / Scott Arford / Thoabath (First Church of the Buzzards, Oakland)
9/2 Sir Richard Bishop (The Chapel, SF)
9/16 Through the Looking Glass Festival: Spellling / Sun Ra Arkestra / Cone Shape Top Dream Radio 3 +more (Fairyland, Oakland)
9/16 Moira Scar / Plomo / Scissoring (The Purple House, Oakland)
9/23 Katsy Pline / Cindy / Matt Robidoux (Eli’s Mile High Club, Oakland)
10/6-10/7 Crisis Data Transfer: Francisco Lopez / Aaron Dilloway + Victoria Shen / Barbara Ellison / Michael Gendreau / Olivia Block / Kevin Drumm / Daniel Menche (Gray Area Grand
Theatre, SF)
10/7 Pharmakon (Counterpulse, SF)
10/31 Driveway Follies Puppet Show (a driveway in Oakland)
11/11 Drunks with Guns / Flesh Narcs / Nine Dog Dick (Bottom of the Hill, SF)
12/2 Zum 25th Anniversary: Growing / Paul Costuros + Marshall Trammell / My Heart, An Inverted Flame / Somnambulists (Thee Stork Club, Oakland)
12/9 The Phantom Surfers / The Okmoniks / Clean Girl and the Dirty Dishes / Albacore (Thee Stork Club, Oakland)
12/16 Eric Andre / DJ Dougpound (The Fox Theatre, Oakland)
12/29 Cel Genesis / Gumby’s Junk / Aaron Space and His Terrestrial Underlings (Ivy Room, Albany)

Beast Monster Thing

Favorite Albums (in alphabetical order by artist)

Andre 3000 – New Blue Sun (Epic)
Boygenius – The Record (Interscope)
Sabrina Carpenter – emails i can’t send fwd: (Island)
Indigo de Souza – All of This Will End (Saddle Creek)
McKinley Dixon – Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (City Slang)
Eartheater – Powders (Mad Decent)
En Attendant Ana – Principia (Trouble In Mind)
Fred Again.. & Brian Eno – Secret Life (Text)
home is where – the whaler (Wax Bodega)
ICE SPICE – Like..? (Capitol)
KaytrAminé – KaytrAminé (Venice)
Kelela – Raven (Warp)
Aya Nakamura – DNK (Warner)
NewJeans – Get Up (ADOR)
100 gecs – 10000 gecs (Dog Show)
Paramore – This Is Why (Atlantic)
Pardoner – Peace Loving People (Bar None)
Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (Perpetual Noise)
Jeff Rosenstock – HELLMODE (Polyvinyl)
Say She She – Silver (Karma Chief)
Troye Sivan – Something to Give Each Other (Universal)
Slow Pulp – Yard (Anti)
Snõõper – Super Snõõper (Third Man)
Sweeping Promises – Good Living Is Coming For You (Feel It)
Tinashe – BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
Water From Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)
Billy Woods – Maps (Fat Possum)
Yaeji – With A Hammer (XL)
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World (Matador)

Fun shows I went to (in no particular order)

Sob’s first show in America at Brick & Mortar Music Hall
alt-J’s 10th anniversary show for An Awesome Wave at the Fox Theater
Water From Your Eyes at Eli’s Mile High Club
Forests at Tamarack
Caroline Polachek at The Warfield
Wednesday at The Independent
Two nights of The Cure at the Shoreline Amphitheater
Twompsax’s last show at Thee Stork Club
Pardoner’s album release show for Peace Loving People at Great American Music Hall
Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service 25th anniversary tour for Transatlanticism and Give Up at the Greek Theater
Built to Spill at The Chapel

Berkestir

New Stuff

Acid Twilight – Shadow Wrangler (Not Not Fun)
Deena Abdelwahed – Jbal Rrsas (Infine)
Deena Abdelwahed – Khonnar Remixes (Infine)
Altin Gun – Ask (ATO)
Black Belt Eagle Scout – The Land,The Water,The Sky (Saddle Creek)
Black Market Brass – Hox (Colemine)
Blonde Redhead – Sit Down For Dinner (Section 1)
Cruel Diagonals – Fractured Whole (Beacon Hill)
Death Valley Girls – Islands In The Sky (Suicide Squeeze)
Decisive Pink – Ticket To Fame (Fire)
Elisapie – Inuktitut (Bonsound)
Follakzoid – V (Sacred Bones)
Goat – Levitation Sessions (The Reverberation Appreciation Society)
Goat – Medicine (Rocket)
Hawkwind – The Future Never Waits (Cherry Red)
Chester Hawkins – Metabolism Quartet/Nocturne For Poppy (Intangible Arts/Zeromoon)
Robyn Hitchcock – Life After Infinity (Tiny Ghost)
The London Experimental Ensemble – Child Ballads The Final Six (Don Giovanni)
Jantra – Synthesized Sudan (Ostinato)
Jenny Don’t And The Spurs – The Single Roundup (Downtown Sounds)
H.C. McEntire – Every Acre (Merge)
Moundabout – An Cnoc Mor (Rocket)
Lael Neale – Star Eater Delight (Sub Pop)
Nil – 01 (Intangible Arts)
Nil – 02 (Intangible Arts)
Pere Ubu – Trouble On Big Beat Street (Cherry Red)
Marlene Ribeiro – Toquei No Sol (Rocket)
Screaming Females – Desire Pathway (Don Giovanni)
Sparks – The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte (Island)
Veronica Swift – Veronica Swift (Mack Avenue)
Tombstone In Their Eyes – Sea Of Sorrow (Kitten Robot)
Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire)
Veryan – Reflection In A Wilderness (Werra Foxma)
Ni Zheng – Body Of Immanence (Syrphe)
The Zombies – Different Game (Cooking Vinyl)

EP’s and Singles

Death Valley Girls – I Am A Wave (Suicide Squeeze)
Catu Diosis/Oh Levena – Abundancia (self-released )
Catu Diosis -Vai (self-released )
Cedrik Femont -Observatory (Syrphe)
Goat – Seu Sangue (Rocket)
The Linda Lindas – Resolution/Revolution (Epitaph)
Veryan/Xqui – Double Anonymous (Wormhole World)
Jane Weaver/Decisive Pink – Stages Of Phases (Fire)

Old Stuff

Peter Barclay – I’m Not Your Town (Numero Group)
Hawkwind – Days Of The Underground The Studio & Live Recordings 1977-1979 (Atomhenge)
Hawkwind – Space Ritual (Atomhenge)
Meitei – Kwaidan (Evening Chants/Kitchen)
Nik Turner – Prophets Of Time (Cleopatra)

Carnacki

32 Favourite Albums in Alphabetical Order

Félicia Atkinson / Richard Chartier – Ni Envers Ni Endroit Que Cette Roche Br û lante / Recurrence.Expansion (Portaits GRM)
Natalia Beylis and Eimear Reidy – She Came Through The Window To Stand By The Door (Nyahh / Eiderdown)
Blyth Power – The Power Behind The Throne (Downwarde Spiral)
Kate Carr – A Field Guide To Phatasimic Birds (Room40)
ChiaraOscuro – Rancor:Succor (Nefarious Industries)
Cinder Well – Cadence (Free Dirt)
Shirley Collins – Archangel Hill (Domino)
Cranes – John Peel Sessions 1989-90 (Dadaphonic)
Cruel Diagonals – Fractured Whole (Beacon Sound)
Dom La Nena – Leom (Sabia)
Ekin Fil – Rosewood Untitled (re:st)
Clara Engel – Sanguinaria (Elephant Shrew Editions)
Kristin Hersh – Clear Pond Road (Fire)
Holy Locust. – Beneath The Turning Wheel (Flail)
irr. app. (ext.) – 2023 (errata in excelsis)
Lankum – False Lankum (Rough Trade)
Lau Nau – 5 x 4 (Fomal)
Cheryl E. Leonard and Wobbly – Multiple Park (Gilgongo)
Loretta Lynch – All The Right Regrets (self-released)
Luxury Skin – It’s All Over (self-released?)
Matmos – Return to Archive (Smithsonian Folkways)
Maud The Moth & Traiedesaliva – Bordando El Manto Terrestre (Time Released Sound)
Dren McDonald – Pterous (Appearing)
OBJECT AS SUBJECT – HERETIC (Lost Future)
Paul Roland – Wyrd Tales of an Antiquarian (Dark Companion)
Sangre De Muérdago – O Vento Que Lambe As Miñas Feridas (Música Máxica)
Colin Andrew Sheffield – Don’t Ever Let Me Know (Aug Abwegen)
Surplus 1980 – Illusion of Consistency (Surplus Industries)
Tele Novella – Poet’s Tooth (Kill Rock Stars)
Thoabath / Demonologists – split lp (4iB / Liquid Death / Breaking Wheel)
Phil Tomsett & Aaron Martin – At Sea (Fluid Audio)
W.I.T.C.H. – Zango (Desert Daze)

10 Favourite Digital-Only Albums in Alphabetical Order

Anoice – untraceable fire (Ricco)
Jeffrey Cantu-Ledesma – Severed Belonging (yellowelectric)
Michael Cashmore – The Sword Becomes A Shield (Symphony Number 1) (House of Mythology)
Ben Frost & Francesco Fabris – Meradalir (Room40)
Carla Kihlstedt, Kalyn Harewood, Pamela Z – If I Give You My Sorrows (self-released)
Peter Langan – John Barleycorn & Other Stories (self-released)
Adrian Lane – The Clouds Give Us Rest (self-released)
Carol Anne McGowan – Aer (self-released)
Sailcloth – Resting Fields (self-released)
Naomi Yang – Never Be A Punching Bag For Nobody (original soundtrack) (20|20|20)

10 Favourite Cassettes in Alphabetical Order

Blackbird Raum – Come Into Your Power (Black Mold Tapes)
Blood Of The Black Owl – Spirit Canoe: Soaring the Shadow Spiral (Glass Throat)
David Colohan – Sargasso Sky (Cruel Nature)
eleOnora – Tuuljamuud (Cruel Nature)
Clara Engel – Undergrowth (Geology)
The Far Sound – s/t (Centripetal Force)
Golem Mécanique – Satan (Fort Evil Fruit)
Gregory C Hagan – Crawlers
Andrew Heath – Fold (Dronarivm)
MC Schmidt and Obie Feldi – John Of Dust (E2-E4)

7 Favourite Small Things in Alphabetical Order

Marisa Anderson & Tara Jane O’Neil – For all We Know (Jealous Butcher)
Body/Head – Come On (Open Mouth/Three Lobed Recordings)
Doc Wör Mirran and Telepherique – The Backstreet Beuys (Marginal Talent)
Kultur Shock – King / Country Mohammed (Alternative Tentacles)
MX-80 – When Tully Flew The Coop (A&$/ENT)
Nurse With Wound – Le Christ (Lenka Lente)
Stephen Thrower – Psilo-Plutonian (Heaven’s Lathe)

5 Favourite Compilations in Alphabetical Order

various artists – Anxiety/Hope (Ambientologist)
various artists – Ballads of Seduction, Fertility, and Ritual Slaughter (Was Ist Das?)
various artists – Sonoris (Chitra)
various artists – Spectrum (Cruel Nature)
various artists – Synthetic Bird Music (mappa)

5 Favourite Individually-Released Songs in Alphabetical Order

Cave Mouth – Hares On The Mountain (I and II) (self-released)
Carol Anne McGowan – Do Not Stand By My Grave And Weep (self-released)
Marissa Nadler & Rob Burger – Whispering Pines (self-released)
Saariselka – Song To The Siren (self-released)
Solace – Closest Thing To Prayer/Grief Is Fucking Hard (self-released)

5 Favourite Musical Series in Alphabetical Order

W.A. Davison – Stactorm Radioo (self-released)
Thomas Dimuzio – Sculpting Electric (Gench)
Irr. App. (Ext.) – Monthly Digital Single: NDAS Revisited (errata in excess)
Rural Situationism cd series
Jonathan Segel – Stockholm Elektron Musik Studio Series (self-released)

Favourite Live Shows in Chronological Order

Red Room Orchestra, GAMH, 2 February
Emily Jane White, Lost Church, 23 February
Colin Stetson, The Chapel, 6 March
Godspeed / Jessica Moss, The Chapel, March
Faun Fable / Foxtails Brigade, Bottom Of The Hill, 19 March
Emma Ruth Rundle / Patrick Shiroishi, Swedish American Hall, 28 March
Kali Malone, The Lab, 7 April
Residents, GAMH, 18 April
Club Foot Orchestra “Pandora’s Box”, Paramount, 6 May
Loretta Lynch, Starry Plough, 19 May
somesurprises, Martial Arts, 20 May
Zoe Keating, Freight & Salvage, 11 June
Murder By Death, GAMH, 11 June
Gregory Hagan / Leila Abdul-Rauf, Mosswood Sound Series, 30 July
W.I.T.C.H., GAMH, 9 August
Val Esway, Starry Plough, 11 August
Mama’s Broke, Lost Church, 31 August
Cheryl E. Leonard & Wobbly / Dokuro, Mosswood Sound Series, 10 September
Benoit Charest “The Triplets of Belleville”, Zellerbach Hall, 22 October
Cruel Diagonals, Beauty Supply, 20 November

Cia Cia La Pirata

Cia Cia La Pirata’s picks for Best Of 2023

Powerful and catchy melodies, imaginative and evocative lyrics, sublime sonic sensations, over-the-top exuberance, compelling beats that cause spontaneous “kitchen/car/wherever-dancing”, comfy-cozy orchestration… and selections that simply elicit *That Certain Feeling* which makes me realize: music can be truly magical.

Albums

Releases such as these are shining examples of albums with so much to offer.
Multiple tasty tracks that made an impression on me.

Au Suisse – Au Suisse [City Slang] (new to KALX in 2023, released in 2022)
Beach House – Become [Sub Pop]
Dubby Stardust – Spaced Oddity [Echo Beach / Lifefidelity]
Everyone Is Dirty – Caramels For Grandpa [self-released]
The Lloyds – Attitude Check [Liberation Hall]
Milk For The Angry – Free Gold Sunday [King Pizza]
Moar – Baby I Am Cheap [Belly Button]
The Sextones – Love Can’t Be Borrowed [Record Kicks]
Dele Sosimi & the Estuary 21 – The Confluence [Wah Wah 45s]

Stellar singles, or specific ‘standout songs’ off a release

Sometimes it really IS about 1 special track.

Beach Fossils – “Don’t Fade Away” from Bunny [Bayonet]
The Distant South – “All Our Kin” from The Distant South [Norm Pickles]
The Downstrokes – “UFO Baby” from This Close to Vertigo [Coffin Curse / Allegedly]
Carlos Pes con I Marc 4 – “Bossa Party” from 7″ The Riff [Four Flies]
Un Gruppo – “Sie Betretten die DDR” from Sessione Saló [self-released]
Ursula 1000 – “Life Is Beautiful”, featuring Yuuko Sings – single [Insect Queen]

“KALX Live!” show in-studio performances that made my ‘pinnacle picks’ short-list

Not easy to pick, believe me! But these 3 full performances really were extra-special from start to finish.

Body Double – March 4th – Host: DangerVenture
California’s Slugger – August 12th – Host: Reneé Black
The Boars – October 14th – Host: Donut Monoxide

Compilation releases

Ary Lobo – Ary Lobo 1958-1966 (Limited Dance Edition No. 19) [Analog Africa]
various artists – Mr. Bongo Record Club Volume 6 [Mr. Bongo]
The Movers – The Movers, Volume 1: 1970-1976 [Analog Africa]
various artists – PDX POP NOW 2023 [PDX Pop Now]
various artists – Padang Moonrise: The Birth of the Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-1969) [Folkways]
Dub Specialist – Studio One Space-Age Dub Special [Soul Jazz]

Special Section: Earworms Of Excellence & Hypnotic Melodies

There are songs that get into your head, and then just stay… for the longest time. Songs that you think about, days after hearing them. They roll through your brain when you’re doing chores, while waiting in a line, or even when doing nothing at all. They haunt… in the best sort of way. Some are not easy to sing, but some are (perhaps when nobody’s around).

C:\User – “ha’iku” – compilation Kokua [Sunset Grid]
Circus Devils – “Here We Are” – Squeeze The Needle [Guided By Voices]
Kara Jackson – “Pawnshop” – Why Does the Earth Give Us Someone to Love [September]
Dadá Joaozinho – “Ô Lulu” – tds bem Global [Innovative Leisure]
Roselit Bone – “Crying In The USA” – Ofrenda [Get Loud]
Tonino 3000 – “Circolare” featuring Joey Diretto – single [self-released]

Cuppa Joe

Favorite Albums (alphabetical):

Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City)
The Baseball Project – Grand Salami Time! (Omnivore)
Duane Betts – Wild & Precious Life (Royal Potato Family)
E.C.P/ L e t – LS for Release (self-released)
The Feelies – Some Kinda Love: Performing The Music Of The Velvet Underground (Bar/None)
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Weathervanes (Southeastern)
Carolyn Mark – Off Season (self-released)
The Minus 5 – Calling Cortez: Neil (Vol 3) (Yep Roc)
Nick Drake and the Sad Beads – S/T (self-released)
Plague Dad – L@ST: Live at Sun Tiki (self-released)
Anna St. Louis – In The Air (Woodsist)
Quasi – Breaking the Balls of History (Sub Pop)
Wilco – Cousin (dBpm)

Favorite Singles (alphabetical):

Pancho and The Wizards – “The Rift” (self-released)
Prism Bitch – “Woman” (self-released)
PSDSP – “Convience.Wav” (self-released)

(what’s with the P thing?)

Favorite Compilations (alphabetical):

Various Artists – Compassion: A Petal Motel Compilation For Human Rights (Petal Motel)
Various Artists – The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake (Chrysalis)

Favorite Reissues (alphabetical):

Betty Davis – Is It Love Or Desire? (Light In The Attic)
Danielle Dax – Dark Adapted Eye (Rubellan Remasters)
Dream Syndicate – History Kinda Pales When It And You Are Aligned: The Days Of Wine And Roses 40th Anniversary Edition (Fire)
Jerry Garcia And David Grisman – So What (ORG Music)
Jason Isbell – Southeastern (Thirty Tigers)

Best Live Shows (in order of awesomeness):

PSDSP – every time they played, Smiley’s Schooner Saloon & Hotel in particular
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Josh and Dan @ Peri’s
Built To Spill @ The Chapel
The California Honeydrops @ Thalia Hall
The Sadies @ The Chapel
Remain In Light (Jerry Harrison & Adrian Belew) @ The Warfield
Dorado Schmitt and Sons @ SF Jazz
The Starling Six @ Peri’s
Duane Betts @ Neck Of The Woods
Angel Olsen @ The Regency

Best Live Surprise Of The Year:

Prism Bitch opening for Built To Spill

da Flower Punk

Favorite CDs of 2023

Mighty Poplar – Mighty Poplar (Free Dirt)
Lindsay Lou – Queen of Time (Kill Rock Stars)
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – City of Gold (Nonesuch)
Duane Betts – Wild & Precious Life (Royal Potato Family)
Nina Gerber – Time Is Funny That Way (Goatscape)
Will Bernard & Beth Custer – Sky (Dreck To Disc)
African Head Charge – A Trip To Bolgaotanga (On-U)
Bombino – Sahel (Partisan)
Joy Oladokun – Proof Of Life (Amigo)
Margo Cilker – Valley of Heart’s Delight (Fluff and Gravy)
The Wood Brothers – Heart Is The Hero (Honey Jar)
Midnight North – Diamonds In The Zodiac (Americana Vibes)
Mikaela Davis & Southern Star – Mikaela Davis & Southern Star (Kill Rock Stars)
Meshell Ndegeocello – The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)

Favorite Singles, EPs, Tracks of 2023:

Big Thief – “Born For Loving You / Vampire Empire” (Bandcamp)
Elliot Peck – In The Pines (EP) (self-released)
Melody Walker – “Their Loss” (w/ Sarah Potenza) / “Room” (w/ Crys Matthews & Heather Mae) (Melody Walker – radio only self-release)
Melody Walker – “Jesus Was A Drag Queen” (w/ Mercy Bell) (Melody Walker – radio only self-release)

Favorite Box Sets, Re-releases, Tributes, Archives of 2023:

Joni Mitchell – From The Archives, Vol. 3: The Reprise Years (1972-75) (Rhino)
Grateful Dead – Here Comes Sunshine 1973 (Rhino)
John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy – Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse)
Charles Mingus – The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings (Atlantic)
Nina Simone – You’ve Got To Learn: Live at the Newport Jazz Festival 1966 (Verve)
Various Artists – Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 (Legacy)
Various Artists – More Than A Whisper: Celebrating The Music of Nanci Griffith (Rounder)

Deep Mission

Best New Rock

Mayya – Infinite Possible Futures (self-released)
Ladytron – Time’s Arrow (Cooking Vinyl)
The Damned – Darkadelic (Ear Music)
Arthur Alexander – …Steppin’ Out (Big Stir)
Dengue Fever – Ting Mong (Tuk Tuk)

Best New Jazz

Laura Tate – Smoky Tango (Blue Heart)
Janet Evra – Meet Me in Paris (Plum Jazz)
The Hot Toddies Jazz Band – The Hot Toddies Jazz Band (Prohibition Productions)

Best New Soul/R&B/Blues

Tammy McCann – Do I Move You? (Io Canto)
Teresa James – With A Little Help From Her Friends (Blue Heart)
Sandra Bouza – A Sound in the Dark (self-released)

Best Americana

Rhiannon Giddens – You’re The One (Nonesuch)
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway (Nonesuch)

Best International

Rebolu – Mi Herencia (Smithsonian Folkways)
Altin Gun – Ask (ATO)
Derya Yildrim & Grup Simsek – Dost 1 & 2 (Bongo Joe)
The Free Music Free Music (Part 1) (Habibi Funk)

Best Compilations

Various Artists – Blind Raccoon & NOLA Collection vol. 5 (Blue Heart)

desolation girl + ness

please save my earth radio

Favorite 2023 Releases:

Urusei Yatsura – We are Urusei Yatsura 2023 Xxtra Version (Rocket Girl)
Superviolet – Infinite Spring (Lame–o)
Paramore – This is Why (Atlantic)
elizabeth whitington – we’re still the same, if not minorly fucked (self–released)
Number Girl – 無常の日/Mujou no Hi (Universal Music Japan)
Sparklehorse – bird machine (Anti)
Everyone Asked About You – Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts (Numero Group)
The Lemonheads – Come on Feel…30th Anniversary Edition (Fire)
Chonky Changos – cigarettes and la croix (self-released)
Downtown Owl – Downtown Owl EP (self-released)

Favorite Songs Released in 2023:

Current Joys – LOVE + POP (Secretly Canadian)
Big Thief – Vampire Empire (4AD)
Neutral Milk Hotel – Everything Is (Merge)
Wednesday – Bath County (Dead Oceans)
Paramore – Figure 8 (Atlantic)
Superviolet – Big Songbirds Don’t Cry (Lame-o)
CHAI – Driving22 (Sub Pop)
Jeff Rosenstock – HEAD (Polyvinyl)
Hibakusha Baby – Mando (self-released)
Yaeji – For Granted (XL Recordings)
ZAZEN BOYS – 永遠少女/Eien Shoujo (Matsuri Studio)
bod – fastlife (self-released)
ネクライトーキー/NECRY TALKIE – bloom (Sony)
Urusei Yatsura – Siamese (Rocket Girl)
garden angel feat. Isaac – My Dream Girl Don’t Exist (self-released)

Most Listened To In 2023:

Jimmy Eat World – What Would I Say To You Now (Capitol)
Paramore – All We Know is Falling (Fueled By Ramen)
Number Girl – School Girl Distortional Addict (Universal Music Japan)
Alex G – God Save the Animals (Domino)
Sparklehorse – Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (Capitol)
Clique – Clique EP (Broken World Media)
Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West (Glacial Pace)
ZAZEN BOYS – ZAZEN BOYS II (Matsuri Studio)
The Strokes – Is This It (RCA)
Armor for Sleep – Dream to Make Believe (Equal Vision)
Thursday – Understanding in a Car Crash (Victory)
Paramore – The Summer Tic EP (self-released)
Say Anything – In Defense of the Genre (J Records)
The Sidekicks – Awkward Breeds (Red Scare)
Now, Now – Threads (Trans-)
Supercar – スリーアウトチェンジ /Three Out Change!! (Sony Japan)
Ditch Effort – Sober Joey (self-released)
The Civil War in France – Where’d Everyone Go? (self-released)
Adventures – Adventures EP (No Sleep)
All Dogs – All Dogs EP (Salinas)
Silver Jews – Trains Across the Sea (Drag City)
Paramore – I Caught Myself (Atlantic)
Rainer Maria – Breakfast of Champions (Polyvinyl)
Guided by Voices – As We Go Up, We Go Down (Matador)
ribbon fix – some Saturday this has been (Grafton)

DJ Aahh

<3>DJ Aahh’s Top 10 2023 Shortwave Electronica Songs Z-to-A

Róisín Murphy – “You Knew” (Ninja Tune)
Rahill – “Fables” feat. Beck (Big Dada)
Jayda G – “Lonely Back in O” (Studio !K7)
Jamila Woods – “Practice” (Jagjaguwar)
H31R – “Backwards” (Big Dada)
Frank Sinutre – “Franco cerca un’ora” (New Model Label)
Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band – “I Need Somebody to Love Tonight” (Big Crown)
Atmosphere – “Talk Talk” feat. Bat Flower (Rhymesayers)
Altin Gün – “Doktor Civanim” (Gülbaba)
Alex Lustig – “Fade” feat. Sølv (self-released)

DJ Twinkle

10 (+16) favorite releases of 2023 (alphabetical)

abracadabra – shapes & colors (Melodic)
Peter Barclay – I’m Not Your Toy (Numero Group)
Tamar Berk – Tiny Injuries (self-released)
Black Belt Eagle Scout – The Land, The Water, The Sky (Saddle Creek)
Cable Ties – All Her Plans (Merge)
CHAI – CHAI (Sub Pop)
Marta Del Grandi – Selva (Fire)
Dom La Nena – Leon (Sabia)
Elisapie – Inuktitut (Bonsound)
Everyone is Dirty – Caramels for Grandpa (Donut Time)
Rhiannon Giddens – You’re the One (Nonesuch)
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
Nabihah Iqbal – Dreamer (Ninja Tune)
K!mmortal – Shoebox (self-released)
ladyybird (Gina Izzo) – Tomorrow’s Yesterday (Innova)
Lael Neale – Star Eaters Delight (Sub Pop)
Melenas – Ahora (Trouble in Mind)
Pale Jay – Bewilderment (Karma Chief)
Pantayo – Ang Pagdaloy (Telephone Explosion)
Arlo Parks – My Soft Machine (Transgressive)
Petite Noir – MotherFather (Roya)
Piqsiq – Spectral Harmonies (self-released)
Silkroad Ensemble – Phoenix Rising (self-released)
Son Rompe Pera – Chimborazo (Aya)
WITCH – Zango (Desert Daze)
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tunes)

Dokkaebi

In No Particular Order

Top Albums:

Avalon Emerson – &the Charm (Another Dove / One House)
Jalen Ngonda – Come Around and Love Me (Daptone)
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
Bala Desejo – SIM SIM SIM (Coala)
Cécile McLorin Salvant – Mélusine (Nonesuch)
Sally Anne Morgan – Carrying (Thrill Jockey)
Mapache – Swinging Stars (Innovative Leisure/Calico Discos)
Yazmin Lacey – Voice Notes (Own Your Own)
Vusi Mahlasela, Norman Zulu, Jive Connection – Face to Face(Strut)
Dele Soismi, The Estuary 21 – The Confluence EP (Wah Wah 45s)
Rahill – Flowers At Your Feet (Big Dada)
Andy Shauf – Norm(Andy Shauf)
Whatitdo Archive Group – Palace of A Thousand Sounds (Record Kicks)
Sofia Kourtesis – Madres (Ninja Tune)
Sufjan Stevens – Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty)
Cleo Sol – Heaven (Forever Living Originals)
Dominic Fike – Sunburn (Sandy Boys)
Chloë – In Pieces (Parkwood Entertainment)
Babble – Kendra Morris (Karma Chief)
Danny Brown – Quaranta (Warp)
Peter Barclay – I’m Not Your Toy (Numero Group)
Pachyman – Switched-On (UMG-ATO)
Elio Villafranca – Standing By The Crossroads (ArtistShare)
Grace Clark – Daydream (Grace Clark)
Son Rompe Pera – Chimborazo (AYA)
Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)
Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows (Thirty Tigers)
Tammy McCann – DO I MOVE YOU? (Canto Music)
Arthur Alexander – …Steppin’ Out! (Big Stir)
Altin Gün – Aşk (ATO)
Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music (Nonesuch)
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – City of Gold (Nonesuch)
PinkPantheress – Heaven knows (Warner)

Top Singles:

Prescription – Remi Wolf (Island)
Cobra – Megan Thee Stallion (Hot Girl Productions)
Kaitlin – NoSo (Partisan)

Top Compilation Albums/Reissues:

Various Artists – Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and the Gambia (Smithsonian Folkways)
Various Artists – Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio de Janeiro (Mr. Bongo)
José González – Veneer (20th Anniversary Deluxe Version) (Telegram Studios)
Various Artists – Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia Vol. 1 (Vampisoul)

((echoplex))

Albums That Bent My Brain In 2023

abracadabra – shapes & colors (Melodic)
Azu Tiwaline – The Fifth Dream (I.O.T.)
Blawan – Dismantled Into Juice (XL)
Blonde Redhead – Sit Down For Dinner (Section 1)
De-Bons-en-Pierre – Card Short of a Full Deck (Dark Entries)
Decisive Pink – Ticket To Fame (Fire)
Dina Ögon – Oas (Playground Music)
Dissemblance – Centauresse (L.I.E.S.)
Faten Kanaan – Afterpoem (Fire)
Forest Swords – Bolted (Ninja Tune)
Forever Pavot – L’Idiophone (Born Bad)
The Gaslamp Killer & The Heliocentrics – LEGNA (Cuss)
Holy Tongue – Deliverance And Spiritual Warfare (Amidah)
IE – Junk Body (Ish)
Lagoss – Imaginary Island Music Vol.2: Ascension (Discrepant)
Mandy Indiana – I’ve Seen A Way (Fire Talk)
Marlene Ribeiro – Toquei No Sol (Rocket)
Melenas – Ahora (Trouble In Mind)
Michael Nau – Accompany (Colemine)
Omni Gardens – Golden Pear (Moon Glyph)
Pachyman – Switched-On (ATO)
Radian – Distorted Rooms (Thrill Jockey)
Ricardo Dias Gomes – Muito Sol (Hive Mind)
Rogê – Curyman (Diamond West)
Rrose – Please Touch (Eaux)
Salami Rose Joe Louis – Akousmatikous (Brainfeeder)
The Serfs – Half Eaten By Dogs (Trouble In Mind)
Shana Cleveland – Manzanita (Hardly Art)
Soyuz – Force of the Wind (Mr. Bongo)
Sweeping Promises – Good Living Is Coming For You (Feel It)
Timber Timbre – Lovege (Hot Dreams)
V/Z – Suono Assente (AD 93)
Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire)
Vince Clarke – Songs of Silence (Mute)
Water From Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)

Reissues & Compilations

Guilherme Coutinho E O Grupo Stalo – Guilherme Coutinho E O Grupo Stalo (Mr. Bongo)
Ian Elms – Good Night (Dark Entries)
Poppy y sus Pirañas – Quiero… (Vampi Soul)
Various Artists – Ecuatoriana: El Universo Paralelo de Polibio Mayorga 1969-1981 (Analog Africa)
Various Artists – Silberland Vol 2: The Driving Side Of Kosmische Musik 1974-1984 (Bureau B)

E. Lit

List in alphabetic order. Entries in italics are the cream of the crop

Favorite Albums of 2023

Aesop Rock – Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers)
AJ Suede & Televangel – Parthian Shots (Fake Four Inc)
AJ Suede & Steel Tipped Dove – Reoccurring Characters (Fused Arrow)
Alaska & Steel Tipped Dove – The Structural Dynamics of Flow (Fused Arrow)
andrew & Steel Tipped Dove – The Trumpet’s Obviously Been Drinking (Fused Arrow)
B. Cool-Aid – Leather Blvd (Lex)
billy woods & Kenny Segal – Maps (Backwoodz Studioz)
BlackLiq & Mopes – Choice Is a Chance (Strange Famous)
Blockhead – The Aux (Backwoodz Studioz)
Buck 65 – Super Dope (Handsmade)
Buck 65, Doseone & Jel – North American Adonis (Handsmade)
Busdriver – Made In Love (Temporary Whatever)
The Difference Machine – Alien Nation and the Black Adolescent (Full Plate)
DJ Muggs – Soul Assassins 3 (Soul Assassins)
Eligh & Aloeight – Halo Boy (self-released)
Eto & Futurewave – Dead Poets (Wavgodmusic)
G’s Us – What Them Dogs Don’t Know They Know (Ruby Yacht)
Guilty Simpson – Escalation (Uncommon)
IAMGAWD & Clypto – Bloodstained Suede (Filthe/Nxmediocre)
Jay Worthy & Roc Marciano – Nothing Bigger Than the Program (Marci Enterprises)
Kurious & Cut Beetlez – Monkeyman (Weaponize)
Lipphead – From the Back (Young Heavy Souls)
MidaZ the Beast – The Last of the Mohicans (Midnight Society)
MidaZ the Beast – The Devil’s Playground (Midnight Society)
MIKE, Wiki & The Alchemist – Faith Is a Rock (ALC)
Milc & Televangel – The Fish That Saved Portland (Last Epoch)
The Musalini & 9th Wonder – Don & Eye 2 (Jamla)
Neak – Die Wurzel (2nd Life)
Onry Ozzborn – BlvckBeachBoi (Pipistrelo)
Rob Cave & Thxk_U – Knowledge of the Sun (HiPNOTT)
Roughneck Jihad – The Aztlan Alkebulan Affair (Disgruntled)
Salami Rose Joe Louis – Akousmatikous (Brainfeeder)
Sleepingdogs – I’m Fakin’ My Own Death Just to Get Some Rest (5 Dollar Pistol)
Stik Figa & The Expert – Ritual (Rucksack)
Substantial – Adultish (Substantial Art & Music)
Thes One – Farewell, My Friend (Piecelock70)
Yungmorpheus – From Whence It Came (Lex)
Video Dave & Controller 7 – ArticulatedTexTiles (Fake Four Inc)
Wino Willy – Wino From Another Planet (Grilchy Party)
Zilla Rocca & Jason Griff – Stacking Chips (Insubordinate)

Film Close-ups

Representing the combined lists of Chandler Bennett, Esme Agilar, Gregory Scharpen, and Sonia Mistry

Film Close-ups’ Combined Favorite Films of 2023 (in alphabetical order)

20 Days in Mariupol
26.2 to Life
The Adults
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Asteroid City
Barbie
Bottoms
The Boy and the Heron
Broker
Enys Men
Fallen Leaves
Godzilla Minus One
The Holdovers
Infinity Pool
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Monster
Never Be a Punching Bag for Nobody
A Night of Knowing Nothing
Nimona
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Showing Up
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Squaring the Circle
A Thousand and One
Women Talking

Freddy Sneakers

Top 10 Concerts of 2023 (in order)

The Polish Ambassador + Opiou, 8.11.23 The Midway, SF
Lotus + Thievery Corporation, 7.2.23 High Sierra Music Festival 2023, Quincy, CA
LSDream + Zingara, 10.20.23 The Midway, SF
Fatboy Slim, 9.22.23 The Loom, Oakland
Liquid Stranger + Chef Boyarbeatz, 11.25.23, Apocalypse: Zombieland 2023, QMW, Long Beach
Little Stranger, 2.19.23 Cornerstone, Berkeley, CA
Jerry Harrison & Adrian Belew, 12.30.23 Warfield, SF
Goose, 9.25.23 Fox Theatre, Oakland
Circles Around the Sun, 6.29.23, High Sierra Music Festival
The Residents, 4.19.23 GAMH, SF

Free Radical

Favorite Albums Released in 2023

boygenius – the record (Interscope)
Slaughter Beach, Dog – Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling (Lame-O)
Screaming Females – Desire Pathway (Don Giovanni)
Cable Ties – All Her Plans (Merge)
Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

Favorite Songs Released in 2023

Wednesday – “Turkey Vultures” (Dead Oceans)
Miesha and the Spanks – “Grlsrok” (Mint)
Hannah Jadagu – “Say It Now” (Sub Pop)
Olivia Rodrigo – “love is embarrassing” (Geffen)

Favorite Songs Discovered in 2023

Tallis Scholars – “Cornysh: Salve Regina” (Gimell)
Johnnie Ray – “Cry” (Okeh)
Try the Pie – “Theories of Consciousness” (Get Better)
Cat Power – “Nude as the News” (Matador)
Wye Oak – “Civilian” (Merge)
Big Thief – “Parallels” (Saddle Creek)
R.E.M. – “Maps and Legends” (I.R.S.)

Favorite Shows of 2023 (in chronological order)

Slaughter Beach, Dog – Pico Union Project, January 5
Joyce Manor, PUP, Jeff Rosenstock, and Slaughterhouse – Long Beach Arena, January 7
Tallis Scholars – First Congregational Church of Berkeley, April 27
Taylor Swift – MetLife Stadium, May 28
boygenius – Frost Amphitheater, June 4
Pedro the Lion – The Independent, June 27
Palehound – The Chapel, October 4

Imaginary Radio

Top 25 Releases

Ali Farka Touré – Voyageur (World Circuit)
Ben Folds – What Matters Most (New West)
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (Drag City)
Boygenius – the record (Polydor)
Various Artists – The Best Of Wattstax (Live At Wattstax 1972) (Craft)
Damien Jurado – Sometimes You Hurt The Ones You Hate (Maraqopa)
Duane Betts – Wild & Precious Life (Royal Potato Family)
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – The Songs Of Bacharach & Costello (Universal)
Iris DeMent – Workin’ On A World (Flariella)
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Weathervanes (Southeastern)
Kurt Vile – Back to Moon Beach (Verve)
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
Loretta Lynch – All the Right Regrets (self-released)
M. Ward – Supernatural Thing (Anti-)
Mighty Poplar – Mighty Poplar (Free Dirt)
New Pornographers – Continue as a Guest (Merge)
Peter Gabriel – i/o (Real World)
Ratboys – The Window (Topshelf)
Sparks – The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte (Universal)
Sufjan Stevens – Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty)
The Hold Steady – The Price of Progress (Positive Jams)
The Lemonheads – Come On Feel (30th Anniversary Edition) (Fire)
Thomas Lauderdale & Satan’s Pilgrims – Thomas Lauderdale Meets the Pilgrims (Heinz)
Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)
Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music (Brownswood)

Top 25 Live Acts

Luna – Chapel, 14 January
Deb Talen – Freight & Salvage, 4 February
Blind Boys of Alabama – Freight & Salvage, 8 February
Sonny Smith & his Rhinestone Sunsets – Stork Club, 10 March
George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners – French Quarter Fest, 14 April
Magnetic Ear – French Quarter Fest, 15 April
Rory Danger & the Danger Dangers – French Quarter Fest, 16 April
Lost Bayou Ramblers – French Quarter Fest, 16 April
Tiny Dinosaur – French Quarter Fest, 16 April
Eels – UC Theatre, 11 June
Twisted Pine – Back Room, 15 June
Leo Kottke – Freight & Salvage, 22 July
Liz Cooper – Great America Music Hall, 26 July
Ween – Fox, 29 Jul
Big Thief – Greek, 8 August
Ben Folds – Fox, 17 August
My Morning Jacket/Fleet Foxes – Greek, 19 August
Dawes – Hardly Strictly, 29 September
Syd Straw – Hardly Strictly, 30 September
Valerie June – Hardly Strictly, 1 October
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Hardly Strictly, 1 October
Clem Snide – Ivy Room, 3 October
Carsie Blanton – Freight & Salvage, 20 October
Courtney Barnett – UC Theatre, 7 December
The Musical Box – Regency, 10 December

Joey Miscue

2023 6-CD changer:

Parannoul – After the Night (Live)
Tony Allen – Tony Allen JID018
Amaarae – Fountain Baby
That Mexican OT – Lonestar Luchador
Noname – Sundial
MJ Lenderman – And the Wind (Live and Loose!)

The 6 Albums I Played the Most in 2023:

Amaarae – Fountain Baby
Prince – Sign O’ The Times
LE$ – Midnight Club
Nipsey Hussle – Victory Lap
Prince – Parade
The Coup – Sorry To Bother You

Lance D’Amour

All lists ordered alphabetically

7″

Blues Lawyer – Sight Gags on the Radio (Dark Entries)
Cuticles – Pavlova (Wormwood Grasshopper)
divorcer – Espionage (Domestic Departure)
Es – Fantasy (Upset the Rhythm)
The Goods – ep (Dandy Boy)
Yfory – Yfory (Static Age)

12″

Display Homes – What If You’re Right And They’re Wrong (Erste Theke Tonträger)
Famous Mammals – Instant Pop Expressionism Now! (Siltbreeze)
rocky – rocky (Lulus Sonic Disc Club)
Sweeping Promises – Good Living Is Coming For You (Feel It)
Tee Vee Repairman – What’s On TV? (Total Punk)
Theee Retail Simps – Live On Cool Street (Total Punk)
The Toads – In The Wilderness (Upset the Rhythm)
Tyvek – Overground (Ginkgo)
Wet Dip – Smell of Money (Feel It)

Cassettes, etc.

Itchy and the Nits – Itchy and the Nits (Warttmann Inc.)
PAL – PALS (self-released)
Society – Social Flies (Spared Flesh)
Sweepers – Demonstration (self-released)

Lost and Found

Favorite Albums, EPs, and ~2 singles~ in no particular order

Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12 [Commmons]
Death Valley Girls – Islands in the Sky [Suicide Squeeze]
Black Belt Eagle Scout – the land, the water, the sky [Saddle Creek]
Julian Lage – The Layers EP [Blue Note]
Lael Neale – Star Eater’s Delight [Sub Pop]
Free Music – Free Music (part 1) [Habibi Funk]
Meshell Ndegeocello – the omnichord real book [Blue Note]
Kara Jackson – why does the earth give us people to love? [September]
Wednesday – Rat Saw God [Dead Ocean]
Arthur Russell – Picture of Bunny Rabbit [Rough Trade]
Noname – Sundial [self-released]
Water From Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed [Matador]
Small Crush – Penelope [Asian Man]
Bully – Lucky for You [Sub Pop]
Jalen Ngonda – Come Around and Love Me [Daptone]
Quasi – Breaking the Balls of History [Sub Pop]
Caroline Rose – The Art of Forgetting [New West]
Snail Mail – Valentine Demos [Matador]
Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End [Saddle Creek]
Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven (Single) [Epitaph]
Wallice – Best Friend (Single) [Dirty Hit]
Marnie Stern – The Comeback Kid [Joyful Noise]
Elliott Fullam – End of Ways (single) [Kill Rock Stars]

Majority Whip

Favorite Albums or EPs of 2023 (Alphabetized)

33EMYBW – Holes Of Sinian (SVBKVLT)
100 Gecs – 10000 Gecs (Dog Show)
Abracadabra – Shapes and Colors (Melodic)
Daniel Bachman – When the Roses Come Again (Three Lobed)
Marlov Barrios – Manjar Profano (Identidata)
Bas Jan – Back To the Swamp (Fire)
Niecy Blues – Exit Simulation (Kranky)
Cell\Borg – Cell\Borg (Fuzzy Warbles)
Chino – Common Oddity (Pinkman)
CIA Debutante – Down, Willow (Siltbreeze)
The CIA – Surgery Channel (In The Red)
Coen – Slop Drop and Roll (Maloca)
Collate – Generative Systems (Domestic Departure)
Hollie Cook – Happy Hour In Dub (Merge)
Cop Funeral – Jake (self-released)
Joaquín Cornejo – Más Allá Que Acá (YUKU)
Current Affairs – Off the Tongue (Tough Love)
Death And Vanilla – Flicker (Fire)
Summer Dean – The Biggest Life (The Next Waltz)
Deeper – Careful! (Sub Pop)
Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare – Amidah (Holy Tongue)
Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd? (Polydor)
Alabaster Deplume – Come With Fierce Grace (International Anthem)
Djs Di Guetto – Djs Di Guetto (Principe)
Elita – Dysania (Opposition)
El Kontessa – Nos Habet Caramel (Bilna’es)
Equipment Pointed Ankh – From Inside the House (Bruit Direct Disques)
Etceteral – Rhizone (Glitterbeat)
Markus Floats – Fourth Album (Constellation)
Ford. – Guiding Hand (Foreign Family Collective)
Gazelle Twin – Black Dog (Invada)
Gold Panda – The Work (City Slang)
Graciehorse – LA Shit (Wharf Cat)
H31R – Head Space (Big Dada)
Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View (Gondwana)
Rolf Hansen – Tableau (Karaoke Kalk)
Kristin Hersh – Clear Pond Road (Fire)
Anna Hillburg – Tired Girls (Speakeasy Sounds)
Ale Hop – Why Is It They Say A City Like Any City (Karl)
Hyperculte – La Pangée (Les Disques Bongo Joe)
Immaterial Possession – Mercy Of The Crane Folk (Fire)
Jlin – Perspective (Planet Mu)
Kolezanka – Alone With The Sound The Mind Makes (Bar None)
Stella Kola – Stella Kola (Fountain Flight)
Aziz Konkrite – Mokido (Shouka)
Lagoss – Imaginary Island Music Vol. 2: Ascension (Discrepant)
Le Diable Degoutant – Fleur De Chagrin (Aguirre)
Lewsberg – Out & About (12xu)
Lisel – Patterns for Auto-Tuned Voices And Delay (Ba Da Bing)
Los Sara Fontan – Queda Pendiente (Aloud)
Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen a Way (Fire Talk)
Maria BC – Hyaline (Father/Daughter)
Charif Megarbane – Marzipan (Habibi Funk)
MEMORIALS – Music For Film: Tramps! (The State51 Conspiracy)
Yalla Miku – Yalla Miku (Bongo Joe)
Mint Field – Aprender A Ser (Felte)
Helen Money & Will Thomas – Trace (Thrill Jockey)
Faizal Mostrixx – Mutations (Glitterbeat)
Bruno Muerte – Errors (All Will Be Well)
Mungo’s Hifi – Past And Present (Scotch Bonnet)
Nappy Nina – Mourning Due (Lucidhaus)
Nihiloxica – Source of Denial (Crammed Discs)
Osees – Intercepted Message (Castle Face)
Otracami – Touching The Stove Coil (self-released)
Paavoharju – Yön Mustia Kukkia (Fonal)
Hali Palombo – Radio and My Voice (self-released)
Patio – Collection (Fire Talk)
PCN – Collector (self-released)
Philip Perkins – Undanceable (Artifact)
Pmxper – Pmxper (Smalltown Supersound)
Princess Thailand – Golden Frames (A Tant Rever Du Roi)
Radian – Distorted Rooms (Thrill Jockey)
Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary – Evicted in The Morning (Disciples)
Salami Rose Joe Louis – Akousmatikous (Brainfeeder)
Marta Salogni & Tom Relleen – Music For Open Spaces (Hands In The Dark)
Joe Santa Maria – Echo Deep (Orenda)
Screensaver – Decent Shapes (Upset The Rhythm)
Sextile – Push (Sacred Bones)
Guilty Simpson – Escalation (Uncommon)
Sinego – Alterego (Sinego)
Sonora Mazuren – Bailando Con Extraños (Barbes)
Son Rompe Pera – Chimborazo (Aya)
Swansea Sound – Twentieth Century (Skep Wax)
Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood – Jarak Qaribak (World Circuit)
Teke::Teke – Hagata (Kill Rock Stars)
Terrine – Standing Abs (Bruit)
Teslasonic – Foundation (Minimal Rome)
Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire)
V/Z – Suono Assente (AD93)
Water From Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
Witch – Zango (Partisan)
Billy Woods and Kenny Segal – Maps (Backwoodz Studioz)
Derya Yildirim & Graham Mushnik – Hey Dostum, Çak! (Buback)
Mohamad Zatari Trio – Istehlal (Zehra)

Massari

Fave Albums – in no particular order

Jonnine – Maritz (Idle Press)
STATIC CLEANER LOST REWARD – Breathing Under Honey (Low Company)
MM/KM – Ich sehe Vasen (The Trilogy Tapes)
Titanic – Vidrio (Unheard Of Hope)
Fran Lobo – Burning It Feels Like (Heavenly)
Tirzah – trip9love…??? (Domino)
Lukid – Tilt (Glum)
Frederico Heliodoro – The Weight of the News (self-released)
Laura Groves – Radio Red (Bella Union)
Nicolini – SOPRATUTTO (South of North)
Speakers Corner Quartet – Further Out Than The Edge (OTIH)
Kassem Mosse – workshop 32 (Workshop)
sunnbrella – Heartworn (self-released)
Nabihah Iqbal – Dreamer (Ninja Tune)
DSM-V – Life Is Done (Third Coming)
SØS Gunver Ryberg – Spine (ARTERIAL)
Michael J. Blood & Rat Heart – Nite Mode Vol. 2 (BodyTronixxx)
Sampha – Lahai (Young)
FFT – E7H Ritual (Bristol NormCore)
Lil B-B – Unit (Basedworld)
Niecy Blues – Exit Simulation (Kranky)
SSIEGE – Beautiful Age (YOUTH)
Yara Asmar – Home Recordings 2018-2021 (Hive Mind)
Dane Law & Chants – Gurum Triads (The Trilogy Tapes)
ML Buch – Suntub (15 love)
Caterina Barbieri – Myuthafoo (Light-years)
Actress – LXXXVIII (Ninja Tune)
Cruel Diagonals – Fractured Whole (Beacon Sound)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12 (Commmons)

Megasoup

Megasoup’s Favorite New Albums From 2023

A.S.O. – A.S.O. (Low Lying Records)
Aga Khan Master Musicians – Nowruz (Smithsonian Folkways)
Ak’chamel, The Divinatory Monkey and the Sovereign Plumed Serpent – A Mournful Kingdom of Sand (Akuphone)
Alex Albrecht – Coles Ridge (Analogue Attic)
Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy – O Yinne! (Philophon)
Amma Ateria – CONCUSSSSION I (Dragon’s Eye)
Ancient Infinity Orchestra – River of Light (Gondwana)
Andra Ljos – Megalithic Statues of Vishapakar (Not Not Fun)
Anthony Naples – Orbs (ANS)
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, & Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile (Verve)
Art Of Flying – Heartslaughter (Throat Culture)
Azu Tiwaline – Fifth Dream (IOT)
Bex Burch – There is Only Love and Fear (International Anthem)
Bobby Lee – Endless Skyways (Tompkins Square)
Boozoo Bajou – Finistère (Pilotton)
Califone – Villagers (Jealous Butcher)
Channelers – Generation / Harvest (Inner Islands)
Charif Megarbane – Marzipan (Habibi Funk)
Chocolate Hills – Yarns from the Chocolate Triangle (Orbscure / Cooking Vinyl)
Chuck Johnson – Burden of Proof (All Saints)
Danny Paul Grody – Arc of Day (Three Lobed)
Dina Ögon – Oas (Playground Music)
EABS & Jaubi – In Search Of A Better Tomorrow (Astigmatic)
Elin Piel – Ingride Linnea (Mystery Circles)
The Far Sound – The Far Sound (Centripetal Force)
Forever Pavot – L’idiophone (Born Bad)
Gaïsha – Ana Aïcha (Zephyrus)
Glåsbird – Pacifica (Whitelabrecs)
Golden Brown – Wide Ranging Rider (Inner Islands)
Golden Ivy – Kammarn (Malmö Inre)
Holy Tongue
Jakob Battick – Slow Motion Summer (Lilien Hexen / Stoned To Death)
James Holden – Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities (Border Community)
Jon Iverson Meets Prins Emanuel, Golden Ivy & Inre Kretsen Grupp – Jon Iverson meets Prins Emanuel, Golden Ivy & Inre Kretsen Grupp (Séance Centre)
Kabeaushé – The Coming of Gaze (Hakuna Kulala)
Kara Jackson – Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September)
Kim Oxlund – Very Special Things (Hotham Sound)
L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
Lapgan – History (Veena Sounds)
LLimbs – Midnight Amber (Veyl)
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
Marlene Ribeiro – Toquei no Sol (Rocket Recordings)
Mary Lattimore – Goodbye, Hotel Arkada (Ghostly International)
Masahiro Takahashi – Humid Sun (Telephone Explosion)
Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the garden… (Constellation)
Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View (Gondwana)
Minhwi Lee – Hometown to Come (Mansu Inc.)
Mitchum Yacoub – Living High in the Brass Empire (All-Town Sound)
Mount Maxwell – Littlefolk (We Are Busy Bodies / Hotham Sound)
Natasha Barrett – Reconfiguring The Landscape (Persistence Of Sound)
Niecy Blues – Exit Simulation (Kranky)
Numün – Book of Beyond (Shimmy Disc)
Pachyman – Switched-On (ATO)
Panda Bear, Sonic Boom, & Adrian Sherwood – Reset in Dub (Domino)
Polobi & the Gwo Ka Masters – Abri Cyclonique (Real World)
Polygonia & Popp – Candid (Squama)
Polypores – Praedormitium (Castles In Space)
Posm – With The Birds (Mad Habitat Recordings)
Purelink – Signs (Peak Oil)
Rogê – Curyman (Diamond West)
Saapato – Somewhere Else (Aural Canyon)
Salamanda – In Parallel (Wisdom Teeth)
Saphileaum – Intrapersonal Experience (Good Morning Tapes)
Sean La’Brooy – There’s Always Next Year (Analogue Attic)
Schroothoop – Macadam (Sdban Ultra)
Seljuk Rustum – Cardboard Castles (Hive Mind)
Sourdurent – l’Herbe De Détourne (Les Disques Bongo Joe)
Staran Wake – Staran Wake (Hands In The Dark)
Sven Wunder – Late Again (Piano Piano)
The Gaslamp Killer meets The Heliocentrics – Legna (Cuss)
The Necks – Travel (Northern Spy)
The Starless Oracle – Holographic Oasis (Aural Canyon)
Thiago Desant – Wetlands (self released)
Vague Imaginaires – L’île volante (Versatile)
Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire)
Wax Machine – The Sky Unfurls, the Dance Goes On (Batov)
Whatitdo Archive Group – Palace Of A Thousand Sounds (Record Kicks)
X.Y.R. – Memory Tapes (Fuselab / Not Not Fun)
Ya Tosiba – ASAP inşallah (Huge Bass)
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
Zonderwerk – Babel (Dauw)
µ-Ziq – 1977 (Balmat)

Megasoup’s Favorite New Singles, EPs, & Mini-Albums From 2023

Arp – The Enormous Room (Longform Editions)
Berke Özcan – Twin Rocks (Omni Sound)
Chuck Johnson – Shadows On The Green (All Saints)
Cousin – Rosie / On2 (Moonshoe)
Dania – arête (Longform Editions)
Deadbeat – Ark Welders Dub / This Bitter Dub (Bump’n Grind)
Isik Kural – peaches (RVNG Intl.)
phil in a maze – A Tree For Crying Times (self released)
Pantayo – Ang Pagdaloy (Telephone Explosion)
Purelink – To / Deep (Naff Recordings)
Saariselka – Song to the Siren (self released)
Sessa – Estrela Acesa: Demos & Alternates (Mexican Summer)
so wet’s water kingdom – swwk’s “SC22” (self released)
Surprise Chef – Friendship EP (Big Crown)

Megasoup’s Favorite Archival Releases, Reissues, & Compilations from 2023

Abdul Wadud – By Myself (Gotta Groove)
Airto & Flora Purim – Sounds, Dreams & Other Stories: A Celebration: 60 Years (BBE)
Alain Goraguer – La Planète Sauvage {Expanded Original Soundtrack} (Cam Sugar)
Augustus Pablo – Roots, Rockers, & Dub (Nature Sounds)
De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising (AOI / Chrysalis)
Dennis Bovell & The 4th Street Orchestra – The 4th Street Orchestra Collection (Doctor Bird)
Dub Specialist – Studio One Space-Age Dub (Soul Jazz)
Guilherme Coutinho – Guilherme Coutinho E O Grupo Stalo (Mr. Bongo)
Herman Chin Loy – Musicism Dub (Pressure Sounds)
Joe Gibbs & The Professionals – The 1970’s Dub Albums Collection (Doctor Bird)
Kiln – Holo (Keplar)
M Mashabi And His Orkes Kelana Ria – Kafilah Nights: Malay-Arabic From 1960s Indonesia (Elevation / Irama)
Naujawanan Baidar – Khedmat Be Khalq (Radio Khiyaban)
Observer All Stars & King Tubbys – Dubbing With The Observer (Doctor Bird)
Pauline Anna Strom – Echoes, Spaces, Lines (RVNG Intl.)
Sun Electric – Live at Votivkirche Wien (Arjunamusic)
Umeko Ando – Upopo Sanke (Pingipung)
Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar – Vrindavan 1982 (Black Truffle)
Yan Tregger – Space Oddities {1974-1991} (Born Bad)
Various Artists – Collection Two (Companion)
Various Artists – Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia!!! Vol. 1 (Vampi Soul)
Various Artists – Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and Gambia (Smithsonian Folkways)
Various Artists – Ecuatoriana: El Universo Paralelo de Polibio Mayorga 1969-1981 (Analog Africa)
Various Artists – Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio de Janeiro (Mr. Bongo)
Various Artists – …it wasn’t really me (Knekelhuis)
Various Artists – Middle Eastern Grooves {Selected by DJ Kobayashi} (Batov)
Various Artists – Mondo Organico (Invisible, Inc.)
Various Artists – Prends le temps d’écouter — musique d’expression libre dans les classes Freinet {1962/1982} (Born Bad)
Various Artists – Still Sad (Anthology)
Various Artists – The Soul of Congo — Treasures of the Ngoma label {1948-1963} (Planet Ilunga)

Microtone

Albums I returned to most often in 2023 (by release date):

Takashi Kokubo & Andrea Esperti – Music for a Cosmic Garden (WRWTFWW)
bod 包家巷 – Your Music 消失音樂（家）無聲，翻譯失敗（沒）注意 (self-released)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12 (Milan)
Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City)
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
Dina Ögon – Oas (Playground Music)
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily – Love in Exile (Verve)
Golden Ivy – Kammarn (Malmö Inre)
TEKE::TEKE – Hagata (Kill Rock Stars)
Decisive Pink – Ticket to Fame (Fire)
Alabaster Deplume – Come With Fierce Grace (International Anthem)
Eki Shola – Kaeru 還 (self-released)
Azu Tiwaline – Fifth Dream (IOT)
Meernaa – So Far So Good (Keeled Scales)
Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire)
Hania Rani – Ghosts (Gondwana)

Audiobooks that carried me through 2023 (chronological by finish date):

Mother Care: On Obligation, Love, Death, and Ambivalence, by Lynne Tillman, narrated by Kim Niemi (HighBridge Audio)
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, narrated by Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi (Random House Audio)
The Riders Come Out At Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland, by Ali Winston and Darwin Bondgraham, narrated by Robin Miles (Simon & Schuster)
Saving Time: Discovering Life Beyond the Clock, by Jenny Odell, narrated by Kristen Sieh (Books on Tape)
Permission to Come Home: Reclaiming Mental Health as Asian Americans, written and narrated by Jenny T. Wang (Hachette Audio)
Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt, narrated by Marin Ireland and Michael Urie (Harper Audio)
The Nineties, written and narrated by Chuck Klosterman (Penguin Audio)
The Future is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs, written and narrated by by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (Tantor Media).
End Credits: How I Broke Up With Hollywood, written and narrate by Patty Lin (Zibby)
Shark Heart, by Emily Habeck, narrated by Karissa Vacker, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, and Soneela Nankani (Simon & Schuster)
Solito, written and narrated by Javier Zamora (Random House Audio)
Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang, narrated by Helen Laser (Harper Audio)

Mike Burma

Releases Most Frequently Played by Burma on KALX (ordered by number of plays)

various artists – The Inmates Are Running The Asylum: Best Of K.B.D. Punk 1978-1988 [Just 4 Fun]
The Lloyds – Attitude Check [Liberation Hall] ::::collection of 79-84 Power Pop from SF group::::
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy [Ninja Tune]
various artists – Bullet Train (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Sony/Arista]
Hélène Barbier – Regulus [Celluloid Lunch]
various artists – Destination Forbidden Planet (37 Outer Space Shock Treatments) [Bear Family]
Cable Ties – All Her Plans [Merge]
Screaming Females – Desire Pathway [Don Giovanni]
various artists – Jukebox Mambo Vol. IV [Jazzman] ::::which turned me on to the incredible volumes 1-3 !::::
Miesha and the Spanks – Unconditional Love in Hi-Fi [Mint]
Class – Epoca de Los Vaqueros LP [Feel It]
Amyl and The Sniffers – Comfort To Me [ATO]
Juicebumps – Hello Pinky! [Lil Slugger]
The Mauskovic Dance Band – Bukaroo Bank [Bongo Joe]
Sunny & The Sunliners – Mr. Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 2 [Big Crown]
various artists – Padang Moonrise: The Birth of the Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-69) [Soundway]
Green/Blue – Paper Thin [Feel It]
Hot Laundry – Pawn Shop Gold [Hot Laundry]
Yan Tregger – Space Oddities (1974-1991) [Born Bad]
Daddy Long Legs – Street Sermons [Yep Roc]
SAULT – Untitled (Black Is) / 5 / Untitled (Rise) [Forever Living Originals]
R.E. Seraphin – Tiny Shapes / Swingshift EP [Mt.St.Mtn.]
The Movers – The Movers Vol. 1: 1970-1976 [Analog Africa]
Asha Puthli – The Essential Asha Puthli [Mr Bongo]
Pushups – Pushups Is Pop (1979-80 Archival) LP [Hozac]

Releases Second Most Frequently Played by Burma on KALX (ordered by number of plays)

Olivia Jean – Raving Ghost [Third Man]
Smirk – Material [Feel It]
Rose Mercie – ¿Kieres Agua? [Celluloid Lunch]
Altin Gün – Aşk [ATO] ::::energetic Amsterdam sextet playing 70s style Anatolian folk-rock::::
Fatty Cakes and The Puff Pastries – Fatty Cakes and the Puff Pastries [Emotional Response]
The Free Music – Free Music (Part 1) [Habibi Funk]
Renaldo & The Loaf – Gurdy Hurding [Secret]
Spread Joy – Spread Joy / II [Feel It]
Glitter Wizard – Kiss The Boot [Kitten Robot]
Chancha Via Circuito – La Estrella [Wonderwheel]
The Harlem Gospel Travelers – Look up! [Colemine]
Whatitdo Archive Group – Palace of a Thousand Sounds [Record Kicks]
The Surf Piranhas – Diver’s Cove [Y&T]
The Monsters – Du Hesch Cläss, Ig Bi Träsch LP [Slovenly]
Porridge Radio – Every Bad [Secretly Canadian]
Vusi Mahlasela, Norman Zulu & Jive Connection – Face to Face [Strut]
Black Jesus eXperience – Good Evening Black Buddha [Agogo]
Bananagun – The True Story of Bananagun [Full Time Hobby]
The Revelons – The Revelons: ’77-’82 LP [Hozac]
Editrix – Tell Me I’m Bad / Editrix II: Editrix Goes To Hell [Exploding In Sound]
Homeboy Sandman – Still Champion [Mello Music]
Adrian Quesada – Jaguar Sound [ATO]
Petula Clark – Splendido! The Italian Singles Collection [Ace]
Bar Italia – Tracey Denim [Matador]
TEKE::TEKE – Hagata [Kill Rock Stars]
Spacemoth – No Past No Future [Wax Nine]
The Rubs – (Dust) [Hozac] ::::Power Pop!::::
Art Ensemble of Chicago – The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris [RogueArt]
Ak’Chamel – A Mournful Kingdom of Sand [Akuphone] ::::contemporary Sun City Girls vibe::::
Joni Void – Everyday Is The Song [Constellation]

Favorite December Release that would have been Top 10 in my first list

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – These Things Remain Unassigned double-LP [Bulbous Monocle]

Some Favorite Songs

SAULT – “Don’t Shoot Guns Down” – Untitled (Black Is) [Forever Living Originals]
Rose Mercie – “Witching” – ¿Kieres Agua? [Celluloid Lunch]
Cable Ties – “Perfect Client” – All Her Plans [Merge]
The Lloyds – “And That’s Why (I Don’t Like You)” – Attitude Check [Liberation Hall]
Screaming Females – “Brass Bell” – Desire Pathway [Don Giovanni]
Olivia Jean – “Ditch” – Raving Ghost [Third Man]
100 Flowers – “Fascist Groove Thang” – Fascist Groove Thang 7″ single [Happy Squid/Spacecase]
The C.I.A. – “Impersonator” – Surgery Channel [In The Red]
The Lost Days – “Gonna Have to Tell You” – In the Store [Speakeasy Studios SF]
The Yolks – “Tell Me Now” – Take Your Time/Tell Me Now (7″ single) [Randy]
The IFIC – “Wrong Way” – Wrong Way 7″ single [Â¡No Clubs!]
Flea Collar – “Worried Wart” – Flea Collar LP [Feel It]
Rich Mattson and the North Stars – “Apex” – Out There! [Sparta Sound]
The Tubs – “Illusion” – Names 7″ EP [Trouble In Mind] ::::A contemporary XTC::::
Snooper – “Running” – Music For Spies 7″ EP [Computer Human] ::::I prefer this version over the later one from the Super Snõõper LP::::

Live and Out on da Town

Le Tigre, Bratmobile, ESG, JJ Fad, & Snooper @ Mosswood Meltdown, Oakland – July 2023
SF Silent Film Festival – Five days @ Castro Theater, SF – July 2023
John Zorn 70th Birthday Bash: 15 performances over 5 days @ Great American Music Hall, SF – Sept 2023
John Zorn 70th Birthday Bash: solo organ @ Grace Cathedral, SF – Sept 2023

Mr. Green Genes

Fave Albums – in no particular order

Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World
Slaughter Beach Dog – Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling
Mapache – Swinging Stars
Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band – Honey
Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) [Live]
Quasi – Breaking the Balls of History
bar italia – Tracey Denim
Roge – Curyman
Horse Girl – Versions of Modern Performance

…and a bunch that are on the tip of my tongue

Fave Songs

The Smile – “Bending Hectic”
Wilco – “Ten Dead”
Dengue Fever – “Room 720”
Julian Lage – “Double Southpaw”
Quasi – “Last Long Laugh”
Horsegirl – “The Fall of Horsegirl”

…and many others who escape me

Some Favorite Shows

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at the Hollywood Bowl
black country, new road at the Regency Ballroom
Ella Papo at the Mint
Roge at the Hammer Museum
Fred Frith and the Rova Saxophone Quartet at the Freight and Salvage
Brian Jonestown Massacre at the Warfield
Yo La Tengo at the Fillmore
Lemon Twigs at the Chapel
The Walkmen at the Fox Theater
Monterey Jazz Festival Touring Band at Zellerbach Hall

…and tons that I can’t remember now

Favorite KALX Memory

KALX Live! during my Friday 12-3 slot; either Quasi (courtesy of Poindexter) or Dengue Fever (courtesy of Jack the Stripper)
OR
My “Green Year in Review” Show featuring Jack the Stripper, EcoFreak, Pacifica, Mondo, Melodrama, and other guests

Poindexter

A Dozen Albums I Loved, Alphabetically

Blues Lawyer – All in Good Time (Dark Entries)
Shana Cleveland – Manzanita (Hardly Art)
Decisive Pink – Ticket To Fame (Fire)
Dick Stusso – S.P. (Hardly Art)
En Attendant Ana – Principia (Trouble in Mind)
Famous Mammals – Instant Pop Expressionism Now! (Siltbreeze)
The Lost Days – In the Store (Speakeasy Studios)
Melenas – Ahora (Trouble in Mind)
Quasi – Breaking the Balls of History (Sub Pop)
Sweeping Promises – Good Living is Coming For You (Feel It)
Terry – Call Me Terry (Upset the Rhythm)
Whitney’s Playland – Sunset Sea Breeze (Meritorio)

Two Dozen Songs That Got Stuck in My Head the Most, in Order of Stickiness

Quasi – “Queen of Ears”
Sweeping Promises – “Shadow Me”
Gemma Ray – “Come Oblivion”
Sparklehorse – “It Will Never stop”
Lael Neale – “Must Be Tears”
Blues Lawyer – “Our Divide”
The Smashing Times – “Glorious Tales of Wes”
Whitney’s Playland – “Sunset Sea Breeze”
Melenas – “1986”
Jeanines – “What the Echoes say”
Terry – “Centuries”
Dick Stusso – “Convenient Life”
Vanishing Twin – “Marbles”
Smile Too Much – “You Can’t Help Me”
Rogê – “Eu Gosto Dela”
Decisive Pink – “Haffmilch Holiday”
abracadabra – “In a Photo”
A. Savage – “Hurtin’ or Healed”
Small Crush – “5”
The Lost Days – “Half the time”
Tee-Vee Repairman – “Bus Stop”
Kurt Vile – “Another Good Year For the Roses”
Devendra Banhardt – “Fireflies”
Mega Bog – “The Clown”

A Baker’s Dozen of the Most Memorable Live Shows I Went to, Chronologically

Quasi – Feb 25, 2023 @ Ivy Room, Albany
Shana Cleveland – Mar 10, 2023 @ Bandcamp Store, Oakland
Lee Fields – Mar 23, 2023 @ The Chapel, SF
Juicebumps – Apr 15, 2023 @ Thee Stork Club, Oakland
B-52s – May 6, 2023 @ Venetian Theatre, Las Vegas
Juan Wauters – Jun 30, 2023 @ Cafe Du Nord, SF
All Girl Summer Fun Band, Kids on a Crime Spree, Rose Melberg (With Bonus Softies Mini Set) – Sep 8, 2023 @ Phono Select Records, Sacramento
Through The Looking Glass Fest (Spellling, Sun Ra Arkestra, Molly Lewis and others) – Sep 16, 2023 @ Children’s Fairyland, Oakland
Sweeping Promises – Sep 19, 2023 @ The Chapel, SF
Cindy Lee, Freak Heat Waves, Famous Mammals – Oct 18, 2023 @ Thee Stork Club, Oakland
Decisive Pink – Oct 23, 2023 @ Rickshaw Stop, SF
Quasi, Yuvees, Fortune’s Favor – Nov 10, 2023 @ Live at KALX, Berkeley & Thee Stork Club, Oakland
Reds Pinks & Purples, Artsick, Chime School – Dec 1, 2023 @ 4 Star Theatre, SF

Polly Vinyl

Top 21 Albums (in no particular order)

Dream Wife – Social Lubrication (Lucky Number)
Death Valley Girls – Islands In The Sky (Suicide Squeeze)
Slowdive – everything is alive (Dead Oceans)
Nabihah Iqbal – Dreamer (Ninja Tune)
Yves Tumor – Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume… (Warp)
Yaeji – With a Hammer (XL)
Sonny & The Sunsets – Self Awareness Through Macrame (Mexican Summer)
Bully – Lucky For You (Sub Pop)
Blackbelt Eagle Scout – The Land, The Water, The Sky (Saddle Creek)
Bar Italia – The Twits (Matador)
Flyying Colours – You Never Know (Poison City)
Boy Genius – The Record (Matador)
Bethany Cosentino – Natural Disaster (Concord)
Cherry Glazerr – I Don’t Want You Anymore (Secretly Canadian)
Sufjan Stevens – Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty)
Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)
Sparklehorse – Bird Machine (Anti-)
Slow Pulp – Yard (Anti-)
Juliana Hatfield – Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO (American Laundromat)
Ironsides – Changing Light (Colemine)
Pachyman – Switched On (ATO)

Roscoe 2000

Best 2012 Reissue Of A 1975 Album About The Year 2023

Barış Manço – 2023 (Guerrsen)

Sex 14s

Sex 14’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2023 (in alphabetical order)

Richard Carr, ACME – Night Fragments (Convivium)
African Head Charge – A Trip To Bolgatanga (On-U Sound)
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile (Verve)
Aksak Maboul – Une Aventure de VV (Songspiel) (Crammed Discs)
Al-Qasar – Who Are We? (Glitterbeat)
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Secretly Canadian)
Art Ensemble of Chicago – The Sixth Decade – From Paris To Paris (RogueArt)
ARTEMIS – In Real Time (Blue Note Records)
Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City)
bar italia – Tracey Denim (Matador)
Will Bernard & Beth Custer – Sky (Dreck to Disk)
Black Belt Eagle Scout – The Land, The Water, The Sky (Saddle Creek)
Zsófia Boros – El último aliento (ECM)
Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings (Ghostly International)
The C.I.A. – Surgery Channel (In the Red)
The Clientele – I Am Not There Anymore (Merge)
Jane Antonia Cornish & Vicky Chow – Sierra (Cantaloupe)
Decisive Pink – Ticket to Fame (Fire Records)
Iris DeMent – Workin’ on a World (Flariella)
Kimi Djabaté – Dindin (Cumbancha)
Dom la Nena – Leon (Sabia)
Gustavo Dudamel, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra – Thomas Adès: Dante (Nonesuch)
Various Artists – The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake (Chrysalis)
Everything But the Girl – Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet – Songs & Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog (Cantaloupe)
Buddy Guy – The Blues Don’t Lie (Silvertone)
Jon Hassell – Further Fictions (Ndeya)
Angela Hewitt – Mozart: Piano Sonatas, K. 310-311 & K. 330-333 (Hyperion)
Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors – Strangers No More (Magnoiia Record Club)
Nabihah Iqbal – DREAMER (Ninja Tune)
Kara Jackson – Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)
JFDR – Museum (Houndstooth)
Faten Kanaan – Afterpoem (Fire)
Kelela – Raven (Warp)
Jakob Kellermann, Vivane Hagner, Julianna Koch, BBC Philharmonic & Christian Karlsen – Takemitsu: Spectral Canticle (BIS)
Julian Lage – The Layers (Blue Note)
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – BEN (Bendo LLC)
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: – Hadal Zone (Cantaloupe Music)
Maud the moth + Trajedesaliva – Bordando El Manto Terrestre (Time Released Sound)
MC Yallah – Yallah Beibe (Hakuna Kulala)
Joni Mitchell – Archives – Volume 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) (Rhino)
Dorothy Moskowitz & The United States of Alchemy – Under An Endless Sky (Tompkins Square)
Víkingur Ólafsson – J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (Deutsche Grammophon)
Asha Puthli – The Essential Asha Puthli (Mr. Bongo)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12 (Commmons)
Cécile McLorin Salvant – Mélusine (Nonesuch)
Slowdive – everything is alive (Dead Oceans)
Trio Dichter – An Invitation at the Schumanns’ (harmonia mundi)
Trio Nebelmeer – Chausson – Saint-Saëns: Piano Trios (Mirare)
Cassie Wieland & Vicky Chow – HYMN (Cantaloupe)

Sparkle Motion

Sparkle Motion’s Best of 2023. In no particular order

Music with Few Words:

Shida Shahabi – Living Circle (130701)
Hania Rani – Ghosts (Gondwana)
Issei Herr – Distant Intervals (NNA Tapes)
Craven Faults – Standers (Leaf)
Time Wharp – Spiro World (Leaving)
The Necks – Travel (Northern Spy)
Horse Lords – Comradely Objects (RVNG, Intl.)
Aphex Twin – Blackbox Life Recorder 21f/In A Room7 F760 (Warp)
Dom La Nena – Leon (Sabia)
Hauschka – Philanthropy (City Slang)
Lafayette Gilchrist – Undaunted (Morphius)
Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet – Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog (Cantaloupe)
Erik Wollo – Cloud of Strings (Projekt)
Myra Melfords’s Fire & Water Quintet – Hear The Light Singing (RogueArt)
Will Bernard and Beth Custer – Sky (Dreck to Disk)
LADYYBIRDD (Gina Izzo) – Tomorrow’s Yesterdays (Innova)
Aga Kahn Master Musicians – Nowruz (Smithsonian Folkways)
Brad Mehldau – Your Mother Should Know (Nonesuch)
Allison Miller – Rivers in Our Veins (Royal Potato Family)
Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra – The Gennett Suite (Patois)
Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale – Thomas Ades: Dante (Nonesuch)

Music with Words:

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily – Love in Exile (Verve)
Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music (Brownswood)
Cecile McLoren Savant – Mélusine (Nonesuch)
Meshell Ndegeocello – The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
Jenny Lewis – Joy’All (Blue Note)
Alice Gerrard – Sun to Sun (Sleepy Cat)
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – City of Gold (Nonesuch)
Guano Padano – Back and Forth EP (Ponderosa Music)
Decisive Pink – Ticket to Fame (Fire)
Matmos – Return to Archive (Smithsonian Folkways)
Slowdive – everything is alive (Dead Oceans)
The Clientele – I Am Not There Anymore (Merge)
Mikaela Davis – And Southern Star (Kill Rock Stars)
Elisapie – Inuktitut (Bonsound)
Lankum – False Lankum (Rough Trade)
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Rough Trade)
Wilco – Cousin (dBpm)
Rubber Blanket – Our Fault (Mt. St. Mtn.)
Asher White – New Excellent Woman (Ba Da Bing!)
Robert Forster – The Candle and the Flame (Tapete)
Sam Blasucci – Off My Stars (Innovative Leisure/Calico Discos)

Compilations:

Various Artists – The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake (Chrysalis)
Various Artists – Silberland – Vol. 2: The Driving Side of Kosmische Musik 1974-1984 (Bureau B)
Various Artists – Padang Moonrise: The Birth of the Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-1969) (Soundway)
Various Artists – Here it is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen (Blue Note)
Various Artists – Jukebox Mambo IV: Afro-Latin Accents in Rhythm & Blues 1946-1962 (Jazzman)

Reissues:

Jon Hassell – The Living City & Psychogeography (Zones of Feeling) – Further Fictions [1990] (Ndeya)
Akiko Yano – TO KI ME KI [1978] (WeWantSounds)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Ongaku Zukan [1984] (WeWantSounds)
John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy – Evenings At The Village Gate [Live 1961] (Impulse!)
Ahmad Jamal Trio – Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse 1966-1968 (Jazz Detective)
A Produce (Barry Craig) – The Clearing [1988] (Trance Port)
Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard – Pioneering Women of Bluegrass (Smithsonian Folkways)

Nicest Surprise:

Thomas Carnacki – “The Thigh-bone of a Materialist (Gregory Sharpen remix)” – Cadavre Isole (Alethiometer)

squyd

squyd’s favorite releases in 2023 (in alphabetical order)

Arooj Aftab – Love In Exile (Verve)
Chuck Johnson – Music From Burden Of Proof (All Saints)
Craven Faults – Standers (Leaf)
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Dost 1 & 2 (Les Disques Bongo Joe)
Julian Lage – The Layers (Blue Note)
Lalalar – En Kötü İyi Olur (Les Disques Bongo Joe)
Loscil // Lawrence English – Colours of Air (Kranky)
Marlene Ribeiro – Toquei No Sol (Rocket)
Negativland – Speech Free: Recorded Music For Film, Radio, Internet and Television (Seeland)
Nihiloxica – Source Of Denial (Crammed Discs)
Popp – Blizz (Squama)
Schroothroop – Macadam (Sdban Ultra)
Ukandanz – Kemekem (ከመከም) (Compagnie 4000)
Yalla Miku – Yalla Miku (Les Disques Bongo Joe)

Surface Tension

Wriggly ear worms + birds in the brain

Lorelle Meets the Obsolete – “Dínamo” – Datura (Sonic Cathedral)
Snooper – “Running” – Super Snooper (Third Man)
Cheree – “Murmur” – Factory (Cherub Dream)
M. Palmer – “Solve My Need” – Parchman Prison Prayer – Some Mississippi Sunday Morning (Glitterbeat)
Heavy Metal – “It’s Only Suicide” – IV: Counter Elecrtode Iron Mono (Total Punk)
Decisive Pink – “Rodeo” – Ticket to Fame (Fire)
Lourdes Rebels – “Jacuzzi Soup” – Necronomicon 3 (Aagoo / Maple Death)
Lomond Campbell – “Infinite Spin” – Interference Patterns (One Little Independent)
V/Z – “Candles” – Suono Assente (AD 93)
Acid Twilight – “Old Canyon Reverence” – Shadow Wrangler (Not Not Fun)
Rocky – “Repeater” – Rocky (Lulu’s Sonic Disc Club)
Abracadabra – “In a Photo” – Shapes & Colors (Melodic)
PJ Harvey – “A Child’s Question, August” – I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan)
DJ Female Convict Scorpion – “Rekiller” – Confucius, Milton Berle (self-released)
Jlin – “Fourth Perspective” – Perspective (Planet Mu)
Samiam – “Lake Speed” – Stowaway (Pure Noise)
Cell\Borg – “Astro Snack Packet” – Cell\Borg (Fuzzy Warbles)
Radian – “Cicada” – Distorted Rooms (Thrill Jockey)
Guilherme Coutinho – “Ataláia” – Guilherme Coutinho E O Grupo Stalo (Mad About) – reissue
Zeus B. Held – “Cowboy on the Beach” – Attack Time (Bureau B)

Best use of a cricket

JMSN – “Cherry Pop” – Soft Spot (White Room)

Best use of a freeway

Lisa Lerkenfeldt – “Shell of a City” – Shell of a City (Room 40)

Best 1-minute workout

Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs – “We Build a Lot of Muscle as We Exercise” – Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs Sing and Play New Folk Songs for Children (Smithsonian Folkways)

Best use of Gene Okerlund and Randy “Macho Man” Savage

Burnt Envelope – “I’m a Chameleon Pt. 1 + 2” – I’m Immature II (Hozak)

Best accompaniment to how I would answer the question “If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?”

Thomas Carnacki – “The Thigh-bone of a Materialist (Gregory Scharpen remix)” – Cadavre Isolé (Alethiometer)

And a handful of albums

Sunroof – Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 2 (Mute)
Matmos – Return to Archive (Smithsonian Folkways)
Swans – The Beggar (Young God)
Moray Newlands – Your Life Work (Wormhole World)
Scotch Rolex & Shackleton – Death by Tickling (Silver Triplet)

Velvet Einstein

Favorites of 2023 (alphabetical order)

Acid Arab – ٣ (Trois) (Crammed Discs)
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile (Verve)
Al-Qasar – Who Are We? (Glitterbeat)
Altin Gün – Aşk (ATO)
Colleen – Le jour et la nuit du réel (Thrill Jockey)
Dengue Fever – Ting Mong (Tuk Tuk)
Kimi Djabaté – Dindin (Cumbancha)
Dom La Nena – Leon (Sabia)
Elisapie – Inuktitut (Bonsound)
Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet – Songs & Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog (Cantaloupe)
Hanabie. (花冷え。) – Reborn Superstar! (来世は偉人！) (Sony Japan)
Hauschka – Philanthropy (City Slang)
The HU – Rumble of Thunder (Deluxe Edition) (Better Noise)
Faten Kanaan – Afterpoem (Fire)
Alam Khan, Arjun K. Verma & Del Sol Quartet – The Resonance Between (AMMP)
No-No Boy – Empire Electric (Smithsonian Folkways)
Otyken – Phenomenon (Aboriginal)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12 (Commmons)
The Sampaguitas – Folk Songs From The Philippines And Beyond (Little Village)
various artists – Padang Moonrise: The Birth of the Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-1969) (Soundway)

Vernal Pools

Best 50 Releases of 2023 (alphabetical by artist)

Altin Gün – Aşk (ATO)
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Secretly Canadian)
Ellen Arkbro – Sounds While Waiting (W.25TH)
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, & Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile (Verve)
Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City)
Martina Bertoni – Hypnagogia (Karlrecords)
Nora Brown & Stephanie Coleman – Lady of the Lake (Jalopy)
Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings (Ghostly International)
S. Carey – Shadowlands (Libellule Editions)
Marika Christine – Soft Like an Apricot (Ghost Mountain)
Dobrawa Czocher – Dreamscapes (Modern Recordings)
Angel Bat Dawid – Requiem for Jazz (International Anthem)
Enji – Ulaan (Squama)
Laura Groves – Radio Red (Bella Union)
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
Kara Jackson – Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September)
Jlin – Perspective (Planet Mu)
Kate NV – WOW (RVNG Intl.)
Madeline Kenney – A New Reality Mind (Carpark)
Lia Kohl – The Ceiling Reposes (American Dreams)
Mary Lattimore – Goodbye, Hotel Arkada (Ghostly International)
Liv.e – Girl In The Half Pearl (In Real Life Music)
L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
Mandy, Indiana – i’ve seen a way (Fire Talk)
Maria BC – Spike Field (Sacred Bones)
Buck Meek – Haunted Mountain (4AD)
Greg Mendez – Greg Mendez (Forged Artifacts)
Chantal Michelle – Broken to Echoes (Somewhere Between Tapes)
Midwife – Orbweaving (The Flenser)
Miss Grit – Follow the Cyborg (Mute)
Meshell Ndegeocello – The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
Lael Neale – Star Eaters Delight (Sub Pop)
Nihiloxica – Source Of Denial (Crammed Discs)
Parannoul – After the Magic (Topshelf)
Katsy Pline – Incandescent Fire (Take A Turn)
Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (Perpetual Noise)
Hania Rani – Ghosts (Gondwana)
Marlene Ribeiro – Toquei No Sol (Rocket)
Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the garden… (Constellation)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12 (Milan)
Salamanda – In Parallel (Wisdom Teeth)
Salami Rose Joe Louis – Akousmatikous (Brainfeeder)
Claire M Singer – Saor (Touch)
Troye Sivan – Something to Give Each Other (Universal)
Snakemother – Snakemother (self-released)
Joanna Sternberg – I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
Tirzah – trip9love…??? (Domino)
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
Yves Tumor – Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume… (Warp)
7038634357 – Neo Seven (Blank Forms Editions)

Best 20 Shows of 2023 (in order of occurrence)

Chantal Michelle – KM28, 29 March
Caroline Polachek & Magdalena Bay – The Warfield, 2 May
Twompsax – Mosswood Meltdown, 1 July
Big Thief & Lucinda Williams – Greek Theatre, 8 August
Snakemother – Bottom of the Hill, 25 August
Sigur Rós – Greek Theatre, 26 August
Skronkathon – Mosswood Chapel, 4 September
Julie Byrne – Swedish American Hall, 8 September
Sun Ra Arkestra – Through the Looking Glass, 16 September
Miya Folick – The Independent, 18 September
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, & Shahzad Ismaily – Great American Music Hall, 21 September
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – The New Parish, 22 September
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul & Little Simz – Portola Music Festival, 1 October
Rainbow Girls – The Chapel, 8 October
Mary Lattimore – Cafe du Nord, 14 October
Just Friends – Cornerstone, 15 October
Birdy – August Hall, 22 October
Ethel Cain – Castro Theatre, 23 October
Spacemoth – The Empty Bottle, 21 November
Maria BC – Stork Club, 7 December

Vic Vocab

Vic Vocab’s Favorite Songs of 2023

Peter Barclay – “You Are Loved” – I’m Not Your Toy (Numero)
Andrew Gabbard – “Glum and Empty Feeling” – Cedar City Sweetheart (Colemine)
The Goods – “Dear Angeline” – The Goods EP (Dandy Boy)
Aldous Harding – “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain” – Warm Chris (4AD)
Isolde Lasoen – “Oh Dear” – Oh Dear (self-released)
Laele Neal – “I Am the River” – Star Eaters Delight (Sub Pop)
The 1981 – “Easy (It’s Not)” – Move On (Dandy Boy)
Kate NV – “Slon” – Wow (RVNG)
Dina Organ – “Pumpan” – OAS (Playground Music)
Orchestra Gold – “Koniya” – Medicine (self-released)
Terry – “Gold Duck” – Call Me Terry (Anti Fade)
Cindy Wilson – “Overboard” – Realms (Kill Rock Stars)

Your Mom

Fave Albums:

Janelle Monae – The Age of Pleasure (Atlantic)
Fred Again… and Brian Eno – Secret Life (Opal Limited)
Shabazz Palaces – Robbed in Rareness (Sub Pop)
Fearing – Destroyer (Profound Lore)
Fever Ray – Radical Romantics (mute)
PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan)
Slowdive – Everything Is Alive (Dead Oceans)
Paris, Texas – Mid Air (self-released)
Devendra Banhart – Flying Wig (Mexican Summer)
Earl Sweatshirt + The Alchemist – Voir Dire (Gala Music)
Midwife – Orbweaving (The Flenser)
Sprain – The Lamb as Effigy (The Flenser)
The Drums – Jonny (Anti)
Lavarr the Star + Shabazz Palaces – Illusions Ago (Glass Cane)
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Secretly Canadian)
Timber Timbre – Lovage (Hot Dreams Publishing Inc)

Fave Songs:

Lana Del Rey w/ Father John Misty – “Let The Light In”
Pan Amsterdam – “Morning Jog”
Shabazz Palaces – “Binoculars”
Factor Chandelier – “Moving Like A Planet”
Tyler, The Creator – “Dogtooth”
JPEGMAFIA + Danny Brown – “Steppa Pig”
US Girls + Bootsy Collins – “Superstar”
Al Green – “Perfect Day”
Osees – “LADWP Hold”
Sufjan Stevens – “So You Are Tired”
The Dare – “Girls”
Bleachers – “Alma Mater”
Danny Brown – “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation”
Armand Hammer – “When It Doesn’t Start With a Kiss”
Midwife + Allison Lorenzen – “Glycerine”
Omar Apollo – “Ice Slippin'”
Ruby Haunt – “Fallen Air”
Julia Jacklin – “Shivers”
Yves Tumor – “Echolalia”
Savile Row, Open Mike Eagle, Chubb Rock – “Night Fever”
The National + Sufjan Stevens – “Once Upon A Poolside”
Beach Fossils – “Don’t Fade Away”
Fat Tony – “Make A Baby”
Vashti Bunyan + Devendra Banhart – “How Could You Let Me Go”

Zabardast

Favorite Songs:

Jalen Ngonda – “That’s All I Wanted From You” – Come Around And Love Me (Daptone)
Jungle – “Good At Breaking Hearts” – Volcano (Caiola)
Eloise – “Drunk on a Flight” – Drunk on a Flight (Harbor Arts and Music)
Miguel – “Sure Thing (Live)” – Sure Thing (Live) (RCA)
Gabriel – “Offering” – Angels and Queens Deluxe (Parlophone)
Nina Simone – “I Loves You Porgy (Live at the Newport Jazz Festival 1966)” – You’ve Got to Learn (Live) (Verve)
Norah Jones and Max Clarke (Cut Worms) – “Too Bad” – Norah Jones Plays Along (Blue Note)
Cleo Sol – “Desire” – Gold (Forever Living Originals)
Thandii – “Give Me A Smile” – A Beat To Make It Better (Bad Hacker)
Acid Arab – “Done Done” – Trois (Crammed Discs)
Man Kunto Maula – “Rushil, Abi Sampa” – Orchestral Qawwali Project (self-released)
Agha Khan Master Musicians – “Nowruz” – Nowruz (Smithsonian Folkways)
Rema – “Calm Down” – Calm Down – single (Mavin)
Aya Nakamara – “Tous Les Jours” – DNK (Warner Music France)
No No Boy – “Western Empress of the Oriental Sawmill” – Empire Electric (Smithsonian Folkways)
Nicholas Payton – “Gold Dust Black Magic” – DRIP (Smoke Session)
She She She – “Forget Me Not” – Silver (Karma Chief)
Cable Ties – “Perfect Client” – All Her Plans (Merge)
Tomb Mold – “Angelic Fabrications” – The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin)
Brandee Younger – “Your a Girl For One Man Only” – Brand New Life (Impulse!)
Roge – “Existe Uma Voz” – Curyman (Diamond West)
Luiz Bonfa – “Baiao De Uba” – Sua Melhor Epoca (Verve)
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “Nadja” – V (Jagjaguar)
Kali Uchis – “Moonlight” – Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
Genesis Owusu – “Tied Up!” – STRUGGLER (OURNESS)
Yaeji – “Done (Let’s Get It)” – With A Hammer (XL)
Mustafa – “Name of God” – Name of God single
Mitski – “My Love Mine All Mine” – The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

2023 KALX Annual Cumulative Charts!

The results are in! All the information you didn’t know that you wanted!
The KALX Staff Music Statisticians are done tabulating close to 3000 DJ playlists from 192 DJs to bring you the most played music on the KALX airwaves in 2023.