My Favorite Albums of 2023

It's pretty cool that this site has a blog section and I can basically write about whatever I want. So I'm going to write about some of my favorite albums that came out in this year, 2023 (in no particular order). I didn't listen to a whole lot of new albums this year but there were some that I liked. Once you read this you'll probably have a good idea to the kind of music I normally listen to.

In Times New Roman... - Queens of the Stone Age

2017's Villains is by no means a bad album, but if you ask me it's clearly the weakest link in the QOTSA discography. Josh Homme and company returned from an almost six year hiatus with a reinvented sound that feels reminiscent of both 2004's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's Era Vulgaris. Homme's writing seems to be at it's best when he's in a dark place, and after a very messy divorce/custody battle along with a cancer diagnosis, Homme channeled his pain into his music. Lyrically this album features some of the most melancholic themes of Homme's career paired with catchy, overdriven guitar riffs. It also has callbacks to songs earlier in the album as well as prior albums. It's hard for me to rank it towards the top of the Queens discography since they've put out so many amazing albums, but In Times New Roman... is an extremely enjoyable listen.

4/5 Stars

everything is alive - Slowdive

I'll be honest, I don't have nearly as much to say about this album as I do with the others I'll talk about, but I really did enjoy it. It's rare to see a band reunite nearly 20 years later and continue to make great music, but Slowdive isn't just any band, they're incredibly talented. Shoegaze is something you can put on and vibe out to, and everything is alive is definitely worthy of vibing to. Get a good pair of headphones, close your eyes, and drift away to the music.

4/5 Stars

Chrome Dreams - Neil Young

Is this technically cheating? Maybe. Chrome Dreams was recorded between 1974 and 1977, what some would argue as the peak of Neil Young's career, and was considered for release in late 1977. It's been shared around as a bootleg since the 90s and most of the tracks appeared on other Neil Young albums. However, 2023 saw Chrome Dreams be officially released for the first time ever, so I'm going to talk about it. While the songs on the original Chrome Dreams acetate work well in the albums they eventually ended up releasing on, Chrome Dreams recontextualizes these songs in a whole new light. This isn't just some release of archival recordings, it's a full album front to back. Every track here fits so well together, and in case you're a Neil Young fan who isn't in the mood for listening to what you'd expect to be a compilation album, you'll be pleased to find that this album features recordings either previously unreleased or only released in other archival compilations. The one that sticks out most to me is track 11, "Powderfinger." This album features a solo acoustic version of the song that is very different from the full-band electric version found on 1979's Rust Never Sleeps (hey I think I've heard that name somewhere before.) To sum up my feelings on this album, Chrome Dreams makes you wonder why the album was never put out back in 1977 in the first place, but happy with the impact it's songs made on the albums they were initially released on.

4.5/5 Stars

But Here We Are - Foo Fighters

I know I said this was in no particular order, but I saved But Here We Are for last because it's by far my favorite album from this year. The death of longtime Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022 was a shock to everyone, especially frontman Dave Grohl. Alongside that, Grohl also lost his mother in 2022, a fact that was unknown to the public for a while. The band Foo Fighters was born as a means of healing from a major loss in Grohl's life, now the band's rebirth comes from the same thing. The biggest difference is that But Here We Are's lyrics are directly inspired by the grief felt by Dave Grohl. Greif is a complex emotion, and the complexity can be found in the more up-tempo sound of a lot of the songs on this album. It's not all sad ballads on this album, and it tells you that right away with the opening track "Rescued." Sonically, But Here We Are likens back to the classic Foo Fighters albums of the 90s but also has some shoegaze elements thrown into the mix. Listening to this album puts me in a weird state where I can jam out to the instrumentals but feel the emotions in the lyrics so much that even thinking back to it now gives me goosebumps. This album impacted me in a huge way, I even wrote a review of it back when it came out (which despite what you may think while seeing this blog post, I don't do very much.) It sounds kinda music snobby looking back at it, but I think the way I ended the review really sums up how much of an impact this album left on me:

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"But Here We Are ends like every other album, silence. After a cacophone of emotions, there's nothing. All you can do is reflect on what you've ecperienced, much like grief itself. How you felt during the moment and how you'll feel after. No album can last forever, and sometimes they end sooner than you'd expect. It comes in a flash, it comes out of nowhere. It happens so fast, and then it's over. But now that it's over, you can rest now. You will be safe now."

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The last two sentences reference the first lines of the opening track "Rescue" as well as the last lines of the closing track "Rest." Whether that makes this more or less cheesy is up to you. Sure maybe it's snobby and pretentious, but that's how this album made me feel. But Here We Are is easily the best Foo Fighters album since The Colour and The Shape, and may even surpass it and become my favorite Foo Fighters album as time goes on.

4.5/5 stars