Our 2023 12 months in overview ends with the highest 10 albums of the 12 months as voted on by the AllMusic neighborhood. Some previous favorites, some new names, and an outpouring of help from the Ok-Pop nation, and we’re excited to share the highest 10 outcomes as voted by you, the AllMusic reader. Thanks once more for studying and supporting AllMusic this 12 months, and we sit up for bringing you extra music in 2024.
“The hallucinatory mix of people, rock, electronics, and area recordings permits Harvey to enterprise deeper into the dreamspaces she’s hinted at beforehand. She partially improvised the music with longtime collaborators John Parish and Flood, and the often free taking part in expresses the album’s slippery relationship with actuality completely.” (Learn the Assessment)
“Now greater than a decade into making music, Lana Del Rey has honed a mode so distinctive she’s virtually a style unto herself. Stuffed with sensible strides ahead, Ocean Blvd is an important chapter in Del Rey’s ongoing saga of heartbreak and enchantment.” (Learn the Assessment)
“Collectively, boygenius feels heftier and hookier than Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus do on their very own, and this collective intuition in the direction of immediacy pays nice dividends: it is bracing to listen to such introspective singer/songwriters embrace the pleasures of a united entrance.” (Learn the Assessment)
“…Homme is not a memoirist; he has an ear for placing phrases that achieve import by a full-band association. By working completely with a lineup that is been largely in place for 16 years — solely drummer Jon Theodore hasn’t been round that lengthy, he is been part of the group for a decade — Homme is ready to steer QOTSA towards their essence, laying down a basis of gnarled, greasy guitars that permit the band both to soar to the horizons or plummet to earthy depths.” (Learn the Assessment)
“…track-for-track, Memento Mori is their most strong effort since Angel and a catalog greatest, a marvel coming 4 a long time into their profession. Going through mortality and the inevitable sundown of their prolonged, storied careers, Gore and Gahan remodel tragedy into one thing profound and universally relatable.” (Learn the Assessment)
“Blur offers Albarn’s songs depth and dimension, as Graham Coxon decorates the margins left by the elastic rhythms of Alex James and Dave Rowntree. The Magic Whip hinted on the essence of this chemistry however The Ballad of Darren revels in it, leading to an album that feels age-appropriate with out being stodgy: it is mature and nuanced, cherishing the connections that when have been taken without any consideration however now appear valuable.” (Learn the Assessment)
“A part of the subtext of Isbell’s work from Southeastern onward is gratitude that he is been given the prospect to do higher work as a more healthy man, coupled with the accountability to not waste his alternatives on trivial themes. Each of those concepts are current on Weathervanes, as is his capacity and drive to make music worthy of his followers’ excessive expectations. This LP is a triumph, an impressive set of songs and performances from somebody who has already proved they’re one of many strongest, truest voices in American roots rock.” (Learn the Assessment)
“As a result of it has no grand conceptual hook and since the Stones so completely combine their celebrity company — not solely are Gaga and Wyman right here however so are Stevie Surprise, Elton John, and McCartney — it would not overwhelm upon an preliminary hear the best way the prolonged Voodoo Lounge or A Greater Bang do; that small scale is its energy. At its coronary heart, it is nothing greater than the Rolling Stones knocking out some good Rolling Stones songs, which looks like a minor miracle after such an extended wait.” (Learn the Assessment)
“A few of these songs surge, some simmer, however all of them return to an thought essayed on the title observe: “stuff popping out, stuff entering into/I am simply part of every thing,” a worldview that is intimate and all-encompassing. What makes I/O distinctive, even particular, is that the method of looking out is not central to the completed product. There isn’t any restlessness right here, solely acceptance, a top quality that offers I/O a quiet energy that may’t assist however construct over time.” (Learn the Assessment)
“Because the songs stream out and in of each other in hypnotic vogue, the first focus is on these lush vocals. Layover is a beautiful dose of adult-oriented pop that is perhaps sudden for these anticipating the large BTS sound, however that is an enormous a part of the attract.” (Learn the Assessment)