Topic: RAWK Album of the Year 2023

[smutchin]

Also very late to the party, sorry. I expect my votes are too late, never mind. I've not been posting about music stuff here for a while but there was some great stuff in 2023...

In approximate order of preference:

1.BC Camplight - The Last Rotation Of Earth
2.King Creosote - I DES
3.Nation of Language - Strange Disciple
4.OXN - CYRM
5.Squid - O Monolith
6.Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
7.Goat - Medicine
8.Lankum - False Lankum
9.PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying
10.WITCH - Zango

The Peter Gabriel one passed me by. I shall check it out.

I see a few people have mentioned Young Fathers. Damn, forgot about them - thought the album came out in 2022. It is great. There are probably others I've forgotten too.

I can tell you now that Warmduscher are already my top contenders for 2024 based on the one single, Love Strong, that came out in 2023 ahead of the forthcoming album. Jane Weaver and Fat White Family are also likely to be near the top of my 2024 list. And probably Cast based on what I've heard of their new one already.

[smutchin]

Oxn (Best album recorded by a Lankum member last year - I'll die on that hill)

No arguments from me on that one. Cyrm is great, especially the mad Scott Walker cover.

[Crosby Nick]

Thanks for the PM but to my shame I don’t think I’ve listened to enough new music this year to put forward a list. Probably for the best!

[telekon]

1.BC Camplight - The Last Rotation Of Earth

Dang, I've been really off with new music this year, didn't even know he had a new one out!

[telekon]

Didn't think this year was particularly good, especially not when looking at the albums released in the 5-6 years or so prior.
Thanks a lot jack for putting it together!
Here's hoping 2024 will be a great one!

[jackh]

Forgot to post my own as usual (I'm also the person who manages to post pre-match previews but forgets to enter the prediction competition!)...

Best-manned for my brother, moved house, and started a new job this year - feel like I've not particularly soundtracked it to much new music, but here are a few bits I did enjoy:

• History Books - The Gaslight Anthem
• Weathervanes - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
• The Record - Boygenius
• The Ballad of Darren - Blur
• Endless Affair - Ailbhe Reddy
• Sea of Mirrors - The Coral
• Angel Numbers - Hamish Hawk
• Big Talk - Jared Dickinson
• Where the Light Goes - Matchbox Twenty

And for the sake of transparency, I'll add that two of mine got a single position bump within (not into) the top ten.

Will be hoping to pay much better attention to releases in 2024!

[jackh]

I'm pleased to announce Sufjan Stevens as the winner of RAWK's Album of the Year 2023, with his tenth studio album, Javelin.

Olivia Rodrigo and Boygenius claimed the other podium positions, with GUTS and DThe Record respectively.



Your Top Ten for 2023:

1.  Javelin - Sufjan Stevens




2.  GUTS - Olivia Rodrigo




3.  The Record - Boygenius




4.  Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - Lana Del Rey




5.  Heavy Heavy - Young Fathers




6.  Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek




7.  The Ballad of Darren - Blur




8.  i/o - Peter Gabriel




9.  The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We - Mitski




10.  Sanguivore - Creeper





Here's our list in full:

Spoiler

• Javelin - Sufjan Stevens (128)
• GUTS - Olivia Rodrigo (120)
• The Record - Boygenius (110.5)
• Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - Lana Del Rey (104.5)
• Heavy Heavy - Young Fathers (74)
• Desire, I Want To Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek (68)
• The Ballad of Darren - Blur (64)
• i/o - Peter Gabriel (54)
• The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We - Mitski (52)
• Sanguivore - Creeper (47)
• Sea of Mirrors - The Coral (44)
• I Des - King Creosote (41.5)
• Sundown - Eddie Chacon (39)
• Everything is Alive - Slowdive (37.5)
• False Lankum - Lankum (37)
• In Times New Roman - Queens of the Stone Age (36)
• I Inside the Old Year Dying - PJ Harvey (35)
• Hit Parade - Roisin Murphy (34)
• History Books - The Gaslight Anthem (33.5)
• SOS - SZA (32)
• Hackney Diamonds - The Rolling Stones (30)
• Cracker Island - Gorillaz (28)
• Fuse - Everything But the Girl (27)
• Cousin - Wilco (26)
• Blood Orange - Freya Ridings (25)
• Changing Light - Ironside (25)
• Chaos For the Fly - Grian Chatten (25)
• Everythin Harmony - The Lemon Twigs (25)
• Hand Is Bad - Luggage (25)
• HELLMODE - Jeff Rosenstock (25)
• Judgement Day - Lovebites (25)
• Nothing Lasts Forever - Teenage Fanclub (25)
• Racing the Storm - Emiliana Torrini & the Colorist Orchestra (25)
• Self-Titled - Stomper 98 (25)
• The Last Rotation of Earth - BC Camplight (25)
• Worlds End FM - Hak Baker (25)
• Rat Saw God - Wednesday (23)
• I'm Not There Anymore - The Clientele (22)
• Silver - Say She She (22)
• Madres - Sofia Korteisus (20)
• My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross - Ahonhi & the Johnsons (20)
• 12 - Ryuichi Sakamoto (18)
• 21st Century Blues - Raye (18)
• A Kiss For the Whole World - Enter Shikari (18)
• Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? - Galen & Paul (18)
• Crazymad, For Me - CMAT (18)
• I Was Mature For My Age But I Was Still A Child - Grouptherapy (18)
• Mommy - Be Your Own Pet (18)
• Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) - Yves Tumor (18)
• So Much (For) Stardust - Fall Out Boy (18)
• The Killer - Crime & the City Solution (18)
• This New Noise - Public Service Broadcasting (18)
• Volcano - Jungle (18)
• Weathervanes - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit (18)
• Zunge - Till Lindemann (18)
• Radical Romantics - Fever Ray (17)
• Late Developers - Belle and Sebastian (16)
• O Monolith - Squid (16)
• A Fistful of Peaches - Black Honey (15)
• Electrophonic Chronic - The Arcs (15)
• House of All - House of All (15)
• In The End It Always Does - The Japanese House (15)
• Perfect Picture - Hannah Diamond (15)
• Retas - Voice of Baceprot (15)
• Self-Titled - House of All (15)
• Strange Disciple - Nation of Language (15)
• The Death of Randy Fitzimmons - The Hives (15)
• The Old Ways Remain - Blood Ceremony (15)
• The Returner - Allison Russell (15)
• Laugh Track - The National (14.5)
• This Stupid World - Yo La Tengo (14.5)
• Holy Joe's Coral Island Medicine Show - The Coral (14)
• The Greater Wings - Julie Byrne (14)
• CRYM - OXN (12.5)
• Turn the Car Around - Gaz Coomes (12.5)
• Formentera II - Metric (12)
• Ghost Music - Michael Plater (12)
• Hoo Ha - Bad//Dreems (12)
• Mercy - John Cale (12)
• Seven Psalms - Paul Simon (12)
• Sun's Signature - Sun's Signature (12)
• Take Me Back To Eden - Sleep Token (12)
• We Know By the Moon - The Furrow Collective (12)
• Look Over the Wall - John Francis Flynn (10.5)
• 72 Seasons - Metallica (10)
• Albion - Harp (10)
• Criatura - Non Servium (10)
• Dolphin - Greg Foat & Gigi Masin (10)
• Endless Affair - Ailbhe Reddy (10)
• For That Beautiful Feeling - The Chemical Brothers (10)
• II - Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection (10)
• Petrodragonic Apocalypse - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (10)
• S/T - Eyes of Others (10)
• Secret Stratosphere - William Tyler & the Impossible Truth (10)
• Shaking Hips & Crashing Cars - The Royston Club (10)
• Still Life in Decay - FACS (10)
• Sun Arcs - Blue Lake (10)
• The Good Witch - Maisie Peters (10)
• Twentieth Century - Swansea Sound (10)
• Venom - Wargasm (10)
• Black Rainbows - Corinne Bailey Rae (9.5)
• Beloved! Paraise! Jazz?! - McKinley Dixon (
• Darkadelic - The Damned (
• Destiny - DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ (
• From Nothing To A Little More - The Lathums (
• Hadsel - Beirut (
• Is It? - Ben Howard (
• Let's Start Here - Lil Yachty (
• Rusted Lung - Droneroom (
• Struggler - Genesis Owusu (
• Sundial - Noname (
• Tear Me To Pieces - Story of the Year (
• Universum25 - Undersum25 (
• Blondshell - Blondshell (7)
• Amatssou - Tinariwen (6)
• Angel Numbers - Hamish Hawk (6)
• Crime Scene - RPWL (6)
• Harmony Codex - Steven Wilson (6)
• Lahai - Sampha (6)
• Medicine - Goat (6)
• Mind Yourself - The Scratch (6)
• Objects Without Pain - Great Falls (6)
• Softscars - Yeule (6)
• Stereo Mind Games - Daughter (6)
• Sunset Blue - Kid Francescoli (6)
• Tension - Kylie Minogue (6)
• Big Talk - Jared Dickinson (4)
• Black Classical Music - Yussef Dayes (4)
• Chapter 3: Downfall - Ad Infinitum (4)
• Multitudes - Feist (4)
• Neon Hip - First Class & Coach (4)
• One More Time - Blink 182 (4)
• Outside Problems - Andrew Bird (4)
• Paint My Bedroom Black - Holly Humberstone (4)
• Placelessness - Chris Abrahams/Oren Ambarchi/Robbie Avenaim (4)
• Scaring the Hoes - JPEGMAFIA (4)
• Soundtrack to the New Cold Way - Cyanide Pills (4)
• Starcatcher - Greta Van Fleet (4)
• The Worm - HMLTD (4)
• Weedkiller - Ashnikko (4)
• This is Why - Paramore (3)
• Chronicles of a Diamond - The Black Pumas (2)
• Exploratory Guitar: Cavelands - Winterwood (2)
• Girl With Fish - Feeble Little Horse (2)
• Good Lies - Overmono (2)
• Live at Bush Hall - Black Country, New Road (2)
• Prize - Rozi Plain (2)
• Sky Void of Stars - Katatonia (2)
• Sus Dog - Clark (2)
• Taken By Force - Civic (2)
• The Fall of the Shires - Oblivion Protocol (2)
• The Girl is Crying in Her Latte - Sparks (2)
• The Noble Art of Self Destruction - Holding Absence (2)
• Ugly - Slowthai (2)
• Where the Light Goes - Matchbox Twenty (2)
• Food for Worms - Shame (1.5)
• After the Magic - Parannoul (1)
• Ain't No Peril - Jim Jones All Stars (1)
• Arches En Maat - Grails (1)
• Good Time/Hard Time - Teleman (1)
• In Between Thoughts…A New World - Rodrigo y Gabriela (1)
• Jenny From Thebes - Mountain Goats (1)
• Joy, All - Jenny Lewis (1)
• Mid Air - Romy (1)
• No Joy - Spanish Love Songs (1)
• Road - Alice Cooper (1)
• Surface Industries II - Paul Rooney (1)
• That! Feels Good! - Jessie Ware (1)
• Versions of Us - Lanterns on the Lake (1)
• Zango - Witch (1)
• 2 Songs - Water Damage (0.5)
• 2222 and AIRPORT - Shit & Shine (0.5)
• Afternoon X - Vanishing Twin (0.5)
• Archangel Hill - Shirley Collins (0.5)
• Blind on a Galloping Horse - David Holmes & Raven Voilet (0.5)
• Carry Them With Us - Brighde Chaimbuel (0.5)
• Endless Skyways - Bobby Lee (0.5)
• Eye of Night - No Spill Blood (0.5)
• Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (World War) - Jaime Branch (0.5)
• Furling - Meg Baird (0.5)
• Glorious Game - Black Thought & El Michels Affair (0.5)
• I Don't Know - brdmm (0.5)
• I Know, I Guess - Tired Cossack (0.5)
• Imagine This Is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities - James Holden (0.5)
• In Blood - Hey Colossus (0.5)
• Inside - Free Love (0.5)
• Island in the Sky - Death Valley Girls (0.5)
• Jump For Joy - Hiss Golden Messenger (0.5)
• Jump On It - Bill Orcutt (0.5)
• Let the Moon Be A Planet - Steve Gunn & David Moore (0.5)
• Light and Space - Nashville Ambient Ensemble (0.5)
• London Ko - Fatouma Diaware (0.5)
• Maps - Billy Woods & Kenny Segal (0.5)
• Mesmerizer - Selvehenter (0.5)
• Michael - Killer Mike (0.5)
• Nails - Benefits (0.5)
• No Fixed Point in Space - Modern Nature (0.5)
• Norm - Andy Shuaf (0.5)
• Offworld Radiation Therapy - Memnon Sa (0.5)
• Standers - Craven Faults (0.5)
• The Candle & the Flame - Robert Forster (0.5)
• UK Grim - Sleaford Mods (0.5)
• Women - Orien's Belte (0.5)

[close]

Also recognising that some high-scoring records may only appear in a small number of lists, I've also done a list filtered by records that were nominated in 3+ lists (points not adjusted):

Spoiler

• Javelin - Sufjan Stevens (128)
• GUTS - Olivia Rodrigo (120)
• The Record - Boygenius (110.5)
• Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - Lana Del Rey (104.5)
• Heavy Heavy - Young Fathers (74)
• Desire, I Want To Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek (68)
• The Ballad of Darren - Blur (64)
• i/o - Peter Gabriel (54)
• The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We - Mitski (52)
• Sanguivore - Creeper (47)
• Sea of Mirrors - The Coral (44)
• I Des - King Creosote (41.5)
• Sundown - Eddie Chacon (39)
• Everything is Alive - Slowdive (37.5)
• False Lankum - Lankum (37)
• I Inside the Old Year Dying - PJ Harvey (35)
• Hit Parade - Roisin Murphy (34)
• History Books - The Gaslight Anthem (33.5)
• SOS - SZA (32)
• Hackney Diamonds - The Rolling Stones (30)
• Laugh Track - The National (14.5)
• This Stupid World - Yo La Tengo (14.5)
• Black Rainbows - Corinne Bailey Rae (9.5)

[close]

...and our updated Roll of Honour, ready for next year:

2023:   Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
2022:   Alvvays - Blue Rev
2021:   Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
2020:   Taylor Swift - Folklore
2019:   Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
2018:   Sons of Kemet - Your Queen is a Reptile
2017:   War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding
2016:   David Bowie - Blackstar
2015:   Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
2014:   The War On Drugs - Lost In A Dream
2013:   Arcade Fire - Reflektor
2012:   Chromatics - Kill for Love
2011:   PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
2010:   Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
2009:   Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
2008:   Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
2007:   The National - Boxer
2006:   Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

Cheers Jack! And I managed not to get into any arguments this year. Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age...maybe it's Maybelline.

Posts of the year are Sam's best album ones - always so much to dig into - brilliant
Too old and forgetful to do my own list but I liked the Greg Foat too, Nabihah Iqbal, Billy Woods, Lankum, Julie Byrne, Rhys Langston & Pioneer 11, Roisin Murphy all did stuff that I heard and liked

Think I listened to Can - Live in Stuttgart '75 the most

Cheers, glad someone read it 

PS New Can live album out soon: https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2024/01/new-can-live-series-announced-can-live-in-paris-1973/

First one with Damo Suzuki on vocals in this series, looking forward to that.

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

I haven't listened to the Sufjan Stevens one yet. I quite like him but I'm still cringing at the 'you checked your texts while I masturbated' lyric and that's 9 years old now.

[telekon]

In voice of Mrs Merton " So Telekon why are those attractive women LP covers your top three Albums?"

Hey, I have no bias, if there were three handsome men I could go for that. 

I haven't listened to the Sufjan Stevens one yet. I quite like him but I'm still cringing at the 'you checked your texts while I masturbated' lyric and that's 9 years old now.

Hahaha! He also seem a bit full of himself.

[leinad]

Thanks for taking the time Jack, I didn't listen to enough to vote this year but am looking forward to checking out what I missed.

[BarryCrocker]

Jack thanks for putting this together for us all.

Love being introduced to new music through RAWK and although I may not pick up on something during the year these polls make me go back where I usually find another favourite.

[.adam]

Thanks to Jack and everyone who put their lists together.

I say this every year but I use this annual thread a lot to discover new (to me) music - albeit a year behind the times.

Chromatics - Kill for Love is still on regular play in my house thanks to this thread.

Cheers.