Top Albums I Discovered In 2023

And Other Nerdy Stats

It takes me a long time to “digest” a new album. I try to spread things out for variety, and even if I enjoy something a lot, I try not to listen to it too much, so it remains fresh. Because of this, I usually don’t have end-of-year lists like many people. Instead, I will talk about some of my favorite albums I discovered this year — whether they were released this year or 40 years ago. Then, I’ll reveal some nerdy charts and graphs.

Deftones — Koi No Yokan (California, USA, 2012)

Arguably a very influential band to the world, Deftones introduced shoegaze elements to their style of metal. I’ve been a fan of them for a long time — they were one of the first few bands I got into. It’s telling how much of an effect on my taste this had, as I fell in love with the blackgaze genre about ten years later. I think Deftones were a precursor to that.

If I’m being honest, there were several times when I felt that I “outgrew” Deftones. I thought I had matured beyond their style and lost interest in their new material for several years at a time. 2003’s self-titled album was a bit of a disappointment for me, and after that, it would be a full seven years before I would even check out their next album, Saturday Night Wrist. I moderately enjoyed that album, and it resulted in a mini rediscovery of the band.

At that point, Diamond Eyes was already released. I checked it out a bit, but I found myself a bit underwhelmed again. I then wrote off any new Deftones material and simply wasn’t interested in it, although I still listened to and enjoyed the albums I had.

I’m not even sure what prompted me to check out Koi No Yokan with an absurd 11-year delay (I think I was writing something about White Pony). I liked what I heard very much, though, and it’s been one of my most listened-to albums this year. I have since gone back and listened to some tracks off Diamond Eyes, and it seems to have grown on me a bit. I’ll probably just finish collecting all their albums.

This album brings back the nostalgia of what attracted me to Deftones in the first place while also providing a modernized and evolved sound. I’m kind of mad at myself for waiting so long to hear it.

Lana Del Rey — Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (California, USA, 2023)

I haven’t listened to this too many times yet (even though it came out in March), but I can already tell it’s set to be remembered as one of Lana’s best albums. It’s certainly leaps and bounds better than her previous two.

It’s a very low-key, emotional, and personal album, and I think that contributes to its success so far. Whenever true emotion can pour out, it usually results in a successful album. There aren’t many upbeat or hip-hop-infused tracks here, and the various interludes add a unique perspective.

This album has a lot of life left, and it will take time for me to figure out where it will settle in her discography. I don’t think it will be at the top, but it will probably be close.

black midi — Hellfire (United Kingdom, 2022)

As I’m always trying to broaden my musical boundaries, I was checking out the best albums from 2022 according to Rateyourmusic.com, and discovered this at the very top. Intrigued, I checked out the song “Sugar/Tzu” and enjoyed it. After checking out some other tracks, I brushed it off as just enjoying one song at first. I kept going back and listening to more and more of it, though.

If you read my other stories, I sound like a broken record here — but this was really unlike anything I’ve ever heard. I’ve always thought that I should like more jazzy music, but the genre has so far failed to reel me in fully. This may or may not be full-on jazz, but is certainly one of the jazziest records I can remember enjoying lately. Musically, it’s very far from anything else in my collection. The vocal style also took me a while to get used to, but I think I’ve learned to embrace it. Their earlier material seems just as challenging to get into as this one, but that is a challenge I’m looking forward to.

Trhä — Nvenlanëg (Texas, USA, 2020)

Sadness was one of my best discoveries of 2021, quickly skyrocketing up my list of favorite blackgaze artists. This naturally led me to check out Damien’s other work, which includes Trhä. This project leans to a much more raw, atmospheric black metal side, with ear-piercing screeches, lo-fi production, and icy dungeon synth-style arrangements. He seems to draw enormous influences from early Burzum, and it’s arguably more varied than some of those albums.

Like its sister project, Sadness, an overwhelming number of albums, splits, and EPs are available. Unlike Sadness, none of them have pronounceable names. There are so many it’s hard to decide where to go next, but I’m sure there are some more gems to discover here.

Osiris — Osiris (Bahrain, 1982)

I found Osiris based on a video of the best album from every country. I didn’t have a band from Bahrain in my collection yet, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any, so it naturally piqued my interest. I would have been sold no matter where they were from, though.

They play a style of progressive rock with a Middle Eastern flavor, tribal drumming, few vocals, and a fairly raw sound with plenty of synths. It’s a fun, melodic, and unique album — and quite a deviation from the norm, at least for me.

They remind me a lot of Camel, Anekdoten, and some other ‘70’s-’80s progressive rock acts, but with a distinct sound all their own. I think they deserve a little more recognition.

Isleptonthemoon — My Misery is Carved into the Flesh of this World (Atlanta, GA, USA, 2022)

This is one of my top contenders for blackgaze discoveries this year. It contains elements of post-metal and depressive black metal, with many cold, melancholic, clean interludes to get lost in. It seems to be quite overlooked so far, so those who enjoy this genre should take note.

Heretoir — Nightsphere (Germany, 2023)

Heretoir doesn’t release full-length albums too often — this is only their third one since 2006. But from the first note, it’s obvious this one is special and easily one of my favorite metal releases of the year.

Heretoir takes their influences from blackgaze, post-metal, atmospheric, and depressive black metal and wraps them up neatly into a cohesive sound. Hints of ambient, folk, and post-rock also shine through, forming a truly genreless album. The songs are notably longer than past releases — only five tracks appearing over a 42-minute runtime, giving them more breathing room to explore new territories.

Their previous album The Circle is very high on my top albums list, and I think this has the potential to one day top it.

Beach Fossils — Bunny (New York, USA, 2023)

Beach Fossil’s newest release is just what fans have come to expect from this band. This airy, carefree, jangly dream/indie pop is some of the most soothing, mellow stuff out there. It came out in June, but I seem to be experiencing a delayed honeymoon phase the past few weeks. Some songs are just permanently stuck in my head, and I keep listening to it over and over. “Don’t Fade Away” is probably my favorite track at the moment.

I don’t know exactly where it will land in their discography for me, but I’m certain it will be up there.

Ofdrykkja — After the Storm (Sweden, 2022)

This is one of those bands that makes me wonder how I didn’t discover them sooner. This is my first album of theirs, and I don’t know much about their history. They seem to come from a more depressive black metal side and slowly migrated toward a more atmospheric, dark, pagan folk sound. This album, in particular, is pure folk. I’m unsure if that’s their future direction altogether or just a one-off experiment.

This album is perfect for fans of Vàli, Tenhi, Of the Wand & The Moon, October Falls, or any other dark folk/neofolk. I will certainly be checking out more of their work, although I know it’s not exactly the same.

Alvvays — Alvvays (Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, 2014)

I’m slightly baffled how this band slipped under the cracks when I was in my indie surf/rock discovery phase, along with Best Coast, Beach Fossils, etc. Come to think of it, it probably came out a bit after that, so I probably moved on to something else by then.

Its sweet, innocent, lo-fi jangle is right up my alley. Sometimes, I’m just in the mood for a simple, carefree album, so you better believe I’m catching up on listens now.

Soul Dissolution — Sora (Belgium, 2022)

This band is a recent find, and this album has captivated me so far. I don’t know what it should be considered — atmospheric black metal, post-metal, blackgaze, or some combination. Whatever it’s categorized as though, it’s pleasantly melodic and triumphant while lacking the off-putting cheesy feel often associated with those words. Heaviness and harshness are balanced out by clean, introspective breaks, and the album has a very complete, recurrent theme.

death’s dynamic shroud — I’ll Try Living Like This (Dayton, OH, USA, 2015)

This is the latest vaporwave album I’ve started to obsess over. If you’re not familiar with vaporwave, it’s a genre that essentially samples various music, commercials, or video games and manipulates them into a new composition. The original samples are mostly slowed down, sped up, looped, pitch-bended, echoed, or otherwise glitched. This album takes samples from K-pop and J-pop hits, hip-hop artists, Zelda and Sonic games, episodes of CSI: New York, anime OSTs, and even a hemorrhoid treatment center commercial. It’s a fascinating art form that pushes the boundaries of music’s definition. It’s not for everyone, but deserves a closer look by inquiring minds.

Upon first listen, it’s easy to dismiss this as a garbled mess of noise, sloppily pasted together by some kid in his mom’s basement — that’s exactly what I did at first. But it’s considered a masterpiece in this space, and I’m slowly starting to realize why. I kept returning to it, listening to different tracks, and it kept growing on me. Now, I can’t get some of these tracks out of my head for days on end.

I don’t think this will become my favorite album of all time or anything, but the hype seems to be warranted to an open enough mind. This is an exciting new artist for me to discover, as they have quite a few renowned albums spanning many genres.

Panopticon — The Rime of Memory (Minnesota, United States, 2023)

This album just came out, but I can already tell it’s one for the history books. At a time when most artists might start to become stale, Panopticon consistently pushes the envelope 15+ years into their existence. They continue to explore new territory and refine their sound, proving they’re one of today’s most important metal acts.

The album is in no hurry, beginning with a two-minute piano and fiddle intro. It leads into “Winter’s Ghost,” the band’s longest song to date, if I’m not mistaken — clocking in just short of 20 minutes. The intro instrumental morphs into acoustic guitar and strings for eight more minutes, but when the metal is unleashed, it becomes quite relentless.

There are plenty of incredible atmospheric moments, but this album’s metal side is also nothing to scoff at. It’s rich in instrumentation, with piano, fiddle, flute, violin, cello, accordion, and several others making an appearance, giving the album quite a sophisticated sound for black metal.

Sewerslvt — We Had Good Times Together, Don’t Forget That (Australia, 2021)

At this point in time, this is my favorite album (and artist) I discovered this year. I found it from a three-second clip of some random YouTube video of “every electronic genre” or something of that nature. I immediately wanted to hear more and looked it up. I got Draining Love Story first and was so enamored by it that I got it the following month, only to enjoy it even more.

This opened up a new world of electronic music that I know very little about. It could be considered atmospheric drum & bass, breakcore, hardcore EDM, and/or trancestep. I guess time will tell if I dive deep into these subgenres or not.

This artist has a somewhat complex history. The person behind Sewerslvt calls herself Jvne, named after Junko Furuta — one of the most horrifying abduction-murder victims I’ve ever heard of. Jvne uses an anonymous digital avatar of sorts. Other than she is a transgender person living in Sydney, Australia, little is known about her true identity. Despite this, she has somewhat of a cult following, with over 450K monthly listeners on Spotify and the song “Mr. Kill Myself” reaching over 11 million streams.

In 2021, Jvne’s girlfriend, Angel, committed suicide while in a psych ward. Jvne said she would release one last album — a memorial to Angel — and then retire from the music industry. This is that album.

At first glance, this 89-minute behemoth might seem a bit daunting, alien, or chaotic — and I’m not necessarily going to disagree. The breakbeats and glitch effects might be too intense for those unfamiliar with them. But astonishing melodies, sweet basslines, and an enduring, memorable atmosphere are waiting to be discovered. This has a very hypnotic and transmogrifying feel, as many tracks fluidly shift around instead of having a solid structure. It is truly an all-encompassing experience as the listener is dragged into this dark, strange digital world.

I can hear the pure heartbreak and suffering that went into this album. I enjoy many genres that instantly come across as depressing or angry, and despite many of her songs and album titles having obvious depression and suicidal themes, the music itself doesn’t feel like that. The heavy emotion is embedded much deeper and expressed more indirectly.

I think the best part of this album is the last three tracks — which add up to nearly 30 minutes. After such a long and seemingly exhausting album, one would think the last few tracks would be a slog, but it’s the exact opposite. It finishes out very strong, leaving the listener hungry for more.

Charts and Graphs

I track all kinds of nerdy info about my collection. One of those data points is the “generic” genres of everything I buy throughout the year to see how my listening habits have changed over time.

Metal continues to be my dominant genre by quite a bit, at 48%, although that is notably less than last year, which was 60%. It was the lowest since 2019, when it was only 41%.

16% was Electronic (which encompasses all synthwave, chillwave, vaporwave, etc.), which is up from 11% last year and the highest since 2020.

Rock (which encompasses post-punk, indie surf, shoegaze, etc.) was 14%, down from 20% last year.

Folk was 8%, up from only 3% last year, and is the highest since 2016 which was also 8%. I’ve been having a bit of a rediscovery of neofolk and dark folk lately. I bought a bunch of Rome albums this year, as well as some classics I’ve been catching up on, such as Sonne Hagal, Tenhi, Current 93, and Vàli. I also got some new (to me) folk artists such as Ofdrykkja, Osi and the Jupiter and Rota Fortunae.

Pop was 6%, the highest since 2018, mostly due to dream pop artists such as Cannons, Lana Del Rey, Frankie Rose, and Bat for Lashes. It can be hard to differentiate between pop and electronic or even rock sometimes - in the end, this comes down to my opinion.

I did buy one Jazz album this year for the first time since 2010 (Hanging Gardens by The Necks, which I believe was recommended to me here on Medium) and one rap album (Donker Mag by Die Antwoord).

Countries

I currently own music from 59 countries. This year’s additions are:

South Korea (Parranoul — Shoegaze/Indie Rock)

Philippines (Moscow Olympics — Dream Pop/Post-Punk)

Latvia (TESA — Atmospheric Sludge Metal/Post-Hardcore) and

Bahrain (Osiris — Progressive Rock, mentioned above).

How I buy music

I currently collect music by downloading MP3s. I used to buy CDs at first, and once downloading MP3s was a thing, I only downloaded albums I couldn’t find physical copies of. That switched in 2018, and I now only buy physical copies if I can’t find digital copies.

I don’t collect vinyl. I like the idea, but it would be too expensive and impractical for me. I would most likely need to buy MP3s in addition, anyway. I know many of them may come with download codes, but vinyl’s high cost would greatly limit me from collecting all the music I would like to. I primarily listen to music from my computer, so this works for me. I also play on my Sonos system (linked to my computer) throughout the house. This way, I can set a playlist, album, or genre on random, and forget about it. It would be tedious to get up and switch sides on a vinyl every half hour or so, especially when entertaining, gaming, working, or doing almost anything else. My entire music collection is also on a hard drive in my car. At work, I primarily stream albums I have bought — Bandcamp and Amazon allow users to stream anything they have purchased without a subscription (and without ads).

There might not be a true substitute for physical media — there’s nothing like opening up an album for the first time, reading the booklet, liner notes, hell, even the smell. But MP3s are much more convenient for today’s fast-paced world. My CDs are still on prominent display in my office, supposedly for nostalgic purposes and for any curious houseguests to probe.

I don’t exclusively use streaming services because I want my collection organized the way I want — the folders, genres, tags, everything. I also feel like it’s much easier to appreciate and know your own music collection if it’s personally curated. I like Spotify — it can be a great way to discover new artists, but not everything is on it, so I can’t rely on only that. I’m certain this is true for any major streaming service. Albums or artists also tend to disappear from them. Who wants songs to disappear from their playlists? Or crave listening to a certain album only to find it gone? Theoretically, no one can ever take that from me if I have a digital file downloaded.

I also typically don’t like algorithms or playlists unless I’m specifically having a music discovery “session.” If I’m working, for example, I spend so much time skipping tracks and checking what song is playing I don’t get anything done. In most cases, I want to listen to an album from start to finish.

Buying music also supports the artists much more than streaming. Many of the artists I like are relatively obscure, so I’m happy to support them. It’s uncommon for an artist I like to tour in my city, so this is the best way I can support them so they can continue to create great music.

I bought 196 albums this year. That’s a little less than last year, which was 210, and a lot less than 2021, which was a whopping 291. During lockdowns, I spent an insane amount of time discovering new music and building a wish list backlog. I think that’s finally starting to normalize a bit.

The past four years have exploded for me as far as discovering music, partially due to buying MP3s instead of physical media. In the past, I had to be careful with how many CDs I bought, to limit the number of packages on my doorstep, and to avoid spending my entire paycheck on them. Of course, that made my collection more personal and special to me, as I really had to want something in order to purchase it.

That’s about it for now. Here’s to 2024 being just as great of a year for discovering new music!