The 60 Best Albums of 2023, According to Some Guy in Chicago
No Expectations 052: Celebrating the year’s best LPs and the first anniversary of this newsletter.
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Friday marks the first anniversary of No Expectations and I’m marking the occasion today by doing exactly what I did for its inaugural newsletter: celebrating the year’s best albums. 52 weeks ago, I decided to get on Substack and write a little about music and culture each week. I honestly figured that it’d be fun for a couple of months and then it’d naturally peter out. Instead, it slowly grew and became the highlight of the year. The regular blogging practice made me a better writer. It kept me on top of my freelance assignments and because I had to freedom to write about whatever I wanted to, it stayed consistently exciting to me. Incredibly, I didn’t miss a single week publishing this newsletter. Some weeks, I even posted twice.
I appreciate you all for being here. It still means the world. If you discovered a new favorite artist thanks to this list, think about signing up for a paid subscription (but not before you buy their album). Apologies for not having the weekly gig calendar or playlist this week: consult Chicago Show Calendar for now and maybe see ya at the Cafe Racer farewell shows at Empty Bottle, Resavoir at Constellation, or the Lawrence Arms’ War on Xmas at Metro.
No Expectations: Best Albums of 2023
This might be an unpopular opinion but I tend to really enjoy years when there’s no true consensus pick for Album of the Year. Sure, both Paste and Stereogum deservedly chose Wednesday’s Rat Saw God for the top slot but to me, 2023 was more a year where just a bunch of really great LPs came out. Without unassailable masterpieces from big names dominating the discussion, you have a lot more to choose from, exciting genres to highlight, and deserving under-the-radar acts to give a platform to. This year’s lists from the bigger publications showcase this variety well. While there are certain marquee records I think are overrepresented or even more snubbed, it’s silly to call balls and strikes when an outlet correctly polls its entire staff and compiles the year by a committee of diverse voices and eclectic tastes.
For better or worse, No Expectations is not a big publication with staff writers and editors. It’s just me: a 32-year-old freelancer who lives in Chicago and has been writing about music for a bunch of publications since 2012. Here, I don’t have to argue my case to my coworkers that this guitar rock record from Vermont deserves a spot in the top 50. I don’t need to consider representing every genre or highlighting artists who get clicks. While I believe that this list is eclectic, certain genres are going to feel under-represented. This isn’t a personal snub. It’s more just a reflection of one dude’s changing tastes at a particular time. Some years I listened to a ton of hip-hop, jazz, and pop and let my interests in dance music, country, and folk slip. Other years it’s the opposite. Instead of lying to portray the most well-rounded and genre-hopping listening habits I could feasibly have, I decided to just write about what I liked. Even if you think my picks are pretty pedestrian, individual lists will always feature more left-field additions and surprises than any consensus-based roundup.
There are 60 blurbs here (plus 40 honorable mentions listed at the bottom of the article). I used old write-ups from No Expectations to fill in about half of the entries. I can devote a good amount of time to the newsletter because I love doing it but not that much. If I already covered half of these LPs in the newsletter and still stand by what I wrote, why wouldn’t I include that instead of thinking of something new to say about these great full-lengths 60 times over?
In the interest of transparency, I excluded the 2023 albums I wrote press bios for. This is how I make part of my living and while I loved the efforts I helped out on the PR/marketing side, it didn’t feel right to cover those again. My clients this year included Indigo De Souza's All of This Will End, home is where's The Whaler, feeble little horse's girl with fish, Shalom's Sublimation, Vagabon's Sorry I Haven't Called, Video Age's Away From the Castle, Far Caspian's The Last Remaining Light, and dozens more that would've made my list had I not been paid by their labels to write about them pre-release. I also didn't include any live LPs but if I did, MJ Lenderman's And The Wind (Live and Loose) and Erin Rae's Lighten Up & Try (Live & From The Heart) would both be represented. No covers albums feature either, which excluded the great Mo Troper’s Troper Sings Brion.
If you’re still wondering where your favorite album of the year is on here, maybe it’s just not as good as you think it is. Just kidding. But you can check out my ongoing 2023 Spotify playlist, which might boast the snubbed artist you hoped I’d include. When you read this blog, I recommend coursing it out over a few days. There’s a lot of great music to explore and I don’t want to overwhelm anyone by highlighting so many of them. Get around to it when you can or you can scroll quickly just to see if your favorite made the cut. Do what you want.
There won’t be a No Expectations Gift Guide this year but if you find something you dig, consider buying the LP on Bandcamp and giving it as a gift. Independent artists need to make a living and there’s no newsletter without the music. This blog started as a conversational way to share exciting, under-the-radar tunes. In that spirit, nothing beats a holiday present quite like an album you think a loved one would enjoy too.
Allegra Krieger
I Keep My Feet on a Fragile Plane
There are French horns, English horns, crisp pianos, pedal steel (not lap steel or slide, I checked), and acoustic guitars that color in the lines of Allegra Krieger’s fourth album I Keep My Feet on a Fragile Plane. It’s the New York-based songwriter’s first album with the label Double Double Whammy. which released a lot of great music this year with efforts from Charlotte Cornfield and Truth Club. Across 10 deceptively fragile arrangements that underscore Krieger’s powerful writing, it features tales of quiet contemplation, meditative walks, sex, and the moments where you’re staring at the wall wondering if they’re closing in on you or keeping you safe. Several other songwriters got the praise Krieger deserved this year but nothing can take away that this LP is a front-to-back sensation. Produced by Luke Temple of Here We Go Magic in Marin County, California, the production is simultaneously muted yet sparkling.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Anna St. Louis
In The Air
“Rest,” the fifth song off Anna St. Louis’s In The Air, is the kind of song that if you have it on, someone’s going to ask “Whoa, what’s this?” It’s a beautiful tune with an immaculately crafted chorus, compelling lyrics, and a tremendous, organ-led outro section. The track isn’t a single though, which tells you something about how excellent this album is. Some offerings here remind me of the best moments of other artists like Carole King, Jessica Pratt, and Allen Toussaint but they’re all presented in a homey and welcoming vibe that’s distinctly hers. Released via Kevin Morby’s Woodist imprint Mare Records and produced by Woods’ Jarvis Taveniere, this LP is a joy and one that should’ve been on more lists. She was also great live when I saw her opening up for Bonny Doon this year.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Arbor Labor Union
Yonder
So many former hardcore and punk kids eventually become Americana guys but Atlanta’s Arbor Labor Union made the leap as seamlessly as possible. The band, which used to go by Pinecones and made some sick and scuzzy garage rock, has chilled out since 2020 and their latest, Yonder is knotty, jammy, and always a little left field. The title track was an early favorite but I’ve been playing “Remember To Water Your Head” more than anything else lately. At a lean 32 minutes and 12 tracks, this locked-in album zooms by. This is one of the first 2023 albums I wholeheartedly endorsed in the newsletter and 11 months later, the LP still finds ways to charm.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Bella White
Among Other Things
In October, I saw Bella White open for Phosphorescent and Band of Horses at the Salt Shed in Chicago. Compared to the full-fledged rock bands on the bill, she performed as an acoustic trio without drums but kept the 3,600-capacity venue in rapt attention. I was floored by her vocal command—she didn’t even come close to missing a single note—and the way her songs gently unfolded in this stripped-down context. Her new album Among Other Things is even more mesmerizing than her live show because you get a chance to witness what a deft storyteller the Canadian country artist is. Opener “The Way I Oughta Go” documents the fear and possibility of moving on after a breakup and the first lines are just jaw-dropping: “Yet another sleepless night, no dreaming / I woke up again to the absence of your words / To a big old empty bed and the feelin’ / I could scream at the top of my voice / And still, I would not be heard.” Jesus.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Bonny Doon
Let There Be Music
I was ready to call Detroit’s Bonny Doon one of the Best American Rock Bands ever since their 2017 debut self-titled LP. Seeing their growth from 2018’s classic Longwave, their work as Waxahatchee’s backing band on St. Cloud, and now with this year’s Let There Be Music has only further entrenched my Pure Michigan homerism. This album, the band’s first with ANTI-, is Bonny Doon’s breeziest and most accessible yet. It’s not as introspective as Longwave nor as much of a hungover bummer as the debut, but it still boasts many lyrical moments of resonance from songwriters Bill Lennox and Bobby Colombo that sneak up and stun you. “Maybe Today,” while not a single, feels like an alltimer to me.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You
Will Oldham is 53 and has been making essential, haunting, and excellent folk music for over three decades under several different monikers: Palace Brothers, Palace Music, Bonnie “Prince” Billy. It’s an overwhelming catalog but it’s all pretty good no matter where you start. His latest, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, is honestly a great introduction if you aren’t familiar with his work. Just excellent songwriting here. There’s a sense of wisdom and tranquility in these lyrics, even when they get apocalyptic on opener “Like It Or Not” or gentle in “Sing Them Down Together.” The arrangements are all sparse but Oldham doesn’t need much to make a lasting point.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 8/17/23)
Brent Cobb
Southern Star
When you look at a year-end list from a major publication over the past decade, chances are you’d see just one country album, usually from someone like Sturgill Simpson or Jason Isbell. Though I’m not complaining about the deserved praise directed at these two great songwriters, I’m just saying that for whatever reason, Brent Cobb hasn’t occupied a similar lane with America’s rock journalists. He should though. He’s as country as it gets but his music is swampy, psychedelic, and while chilled out, it’s consistently great. He’s somewhere between Bobby Charles, Willie Nelson, and Guy Clark. Southern Star rarely picks up the pace beyond a stroll but it’s inflected with such thought and care that it’s an enthralling listen throughout. These songs are for taking a step back and a deep breath. A highlight comes in “When Country Came Back to Town,” which feels like an optimistic sequel to Waylon’s “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way.”
The Bug Club
Rare Birds: Hour of Song
South Wales-based trio The Bug Club write relentlessly catchy and charming garage pop songs all wrapped in inscrutable fuzz. At 47 tracks and over an hour long, the band’s sophomore LP Rare Birds: Hour of Song is never a slog. In fact, it’s one of the breeziest listens of the year. “Undone” highlights the noticeable chemistry between singers Sam Willmett (guitar) and Tilly Harris (bass), who pogo between lead vocal duties and freely harmonize throughout. Don’t let the track count and runtime scare you away: each untouchable pop song is broken up by short yet sweet spoken word tracks that serve as word-building and a chance to gather yourself by how many expert hooks are on this record. Every tune here feels like the catchiest song you’ve heard in a long time.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Cory Hanson
Western Cum
Listen, I have no idea why Cory Hanson named his album Western Cum. It’s probably a combination of him finding it funny, some sort of inclination toward professional self-sabotage, and the fact that it would, if anything, get people talking. I don’t know man. What I will say is that it is pretty funny that the Los Angeles songwriter and Wand frontman named the most impressive and instantly likable rock record of 2023 with something that gross a title. Even though I know my mom and dad would enjoy this record a lot, I wouldn’t dare send it to them. That is just not a conversation I want to have with them or anyone, really, even a dear newsletter subscriber. You just gotta believe me on this one. Even if you swore it off earlier this year, just try the first song “Wings.” I promise if you ever dug a band I recommended like Greg Freeman, MJ Lenderman, or something else, you’d like this. The 10-minute, guitar-solo-heavy “Driving Through Heaven” might be my song of the year.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Crosslegged
Another Blue
As Crosslegged, New York’s Keba Robinson has one of the strongest albums of the year in Another Blue. It’s a beguiling LP full of atmospheric folk textures and Robinson’s rich voice, which practically makes every song float. It doesn’t sound quite like anything else that’s come out recently. Single “Only In The” broadcasts Robinson’s growth since her last full-length release 2015’s quiet and searching Speck for a tangible groove and a more expansive arrangement. It’s a shame that this brilliant album isn’t on more lists.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Cusp
You Can Do It All
Even though they spent most of their time as a band in Rochester, NY, once you move to this city, you’re a Chicago band. (You’re also a Chicago band if you got your start here and moved elsewhere—I don’t make the rules). Cusp is a Chicago band and one of the better ones lately. You Can Do It All, their new LP, is pretty stellar indie rock that reminds me of bands like Warehouse, Mothers, Finom, and Ovlov. It’s for folks who like their guitars twinkling mixed in with inviting vocal melodies and the occasional Dinosaur Jr.-evoking fuzz. While it sounds like the sort of indie rock I’d love in 2013, that doesn’t make it a throwback or a retread. This is just a great band drawing from a well of underappreciated guitar rock bands and making it their own thing.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Dari Bay
Longest Day of the Year
Longest Day of the Year was my most-played album of 2023, at least according to Spotify. Dari Bay is the recording project of Burlington, Vermont’s Zack James who makes locked-in tunes that skirt the lines between no-frills ‘90s alt-rock, ambling twang, and slowcore. This is well-trodden genre territory but James manages to make it fresh and essential, especially on songs like the rollicking “Walk On Down” and the tone-setting opener “Wait For You.” James played drums on No Expectations favorite Greg Freeman’s I Looked Out and it’s been such a joy to hear all the new music from this tight-knit community up in VT. Every time I listen, I find a new wrinkle in the recording or a new song that wasn’t an instant favorite but clicks even more now.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Deeper
Careful!
Deeper thrive in propulsion. The Chicago band makes a particularly kinetic brand of post-punk that’s made for one of the most thrilling live shows of the past seven years. Their music careens into some unexpected places on Careful!, their third album and Sub Pop debut. Moody synths and breakneck drum patches are added to their arsenal here, which includes the new wave brooder “Tele,” rippers like “Sub” and “Build a Bridge” as well as the instrumental “devil-loc.” Frontman Nic Gohl is electric here. His fervent delivery elevates each track’s inherent intensity, and his lyrics, which frequently reference other songs in the Deeper oeuvre, feel especially potent.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Deer Tick
Emotional Contracts
Deer Tick have never made a less-than-very-good album to date but Emotional Contracts, their eighth, feels like a renaissance for the long-running Rhode Island rockers. It’s the purest, most digestible version of the group yet, showcasing both their versatility as songwriters but also their status as the platonic ideal of a bar band. It’s rambunctious but heartfelt and rowdy yet perceptive. “If I Try To Leave” is a swaggering rocker sung by McCauley while “Runnin’ Around” flaunts drummer Dennis Ryan’s vocal prowess, and Ian O’Neil shines on the Tom Petty-meets-Devo lead single “Forgiving Ties.” Hell, they even have a song on there called “Once In a Lifetime” that earns its title (no shots against Talking Heads).
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
The Drin
Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom
The best way to discover new music (besides subscribing to this newsletter) is by following someone whose taste you trust, whether that’s your favorite musician or a bud, and checking out what songs they post on Instagram Stories. I’m not sure how I would’ve heard Cincinnati punks The Drin had Deer Tick’s Ian O’Neil not been such an earnest supporter of this record. Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom is an exception to the Cory Hanson “Don’t Judge an Album By Its Title” Rule because the sneering, menacing punk of its tracklist fits its name impossibly well. Closer “Mozart on the Wing” dissolves into a hazy jam while “Venom” and “Stonewallin’” channel timeless-sounding riffs into unadulterated aggression.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Dusk
Glass Pastures
Too often in music journalism, when a group is described as a “bar band” it feels like a slight, an underhanded dig that only drunk folks could enjoy such sloppy rock’n’roll. Make no mistake here: when I say that Appleton, Wisconsin’s Dusk is a fantastic bar band, it’s an unequivocally good thing. It just means that I want to drink a beer and watch these Midwesterners rip through a set of expertly written, rambunctious, and twangy indie rock tunes. Their sophomore album Glass Pastures opens with Tom Petty-esque swagger on “Pissing in a Wishing Well” and it’s one of my favorite LP openers of 2023. Dusk is at their best when they’re clearly having fun playing loud songs fast and freewheeling and there’s a ton of that on the LP. “Changes” hits some power-pop bliss while the epic “Don’t Let Them Tell You” gets into some bluesy, near-Allman Brothers territory. It’s a whole lot of fun and as Steven Hyden would say, it’s a “Patio Hall of Fame album.” It reminds me a lot of Chicago’s Rookie, who put out a great one in 2020.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 11/2/23)
En Attendant Ana
Principia
En Attendant Ana is a French indie-pop quintet led by songwriter Margaux Bouchaudon and on Principia, the band’s third album swoons with infectious psychedelia and masterful hooks. On the hazy LP centerpiece “Wonder,” a krautrock-inspired groove morphs from a slow burn to a rave-up while the single “Ada, Mary, Diane” is anchored by horns and a steady bassline. It’s supremely tasteful music for fans of bands like Stereolab, Broadcast, and Deerhunter. Released via Chicago label Trouble In Mind this February, the LP’s easygoing warmth basically soundtracked my entire winter.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Florry
The Holey Bible
Philadelphia’s Florry make lived-in and ragged country tunes that make you want to take a load off on a porch or get rowdy at a sweaty basement show. It’s music perfect for kicking back outside and thinking about things after a long day of work. The Holey Bible is basically the musical equivalent of an ice-cold beer at 5pm. Opener “Drunk and High” is a hefty dose of dirtbag twang thanks to singer Francie Medosch’s caustic warble, while “ILYILY” is one of the sweetest songs of the year. They channel the Replacements, Rolling Stones-gone country, and a little bit of Drive-by Truckers throughout the 11 songs here which never grate or overstay their welcome. I regret missing their show at Schubas this year and hope they come back to Chicago soon.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Fog Lake
Midnight Society
The comedian Joe Pera used Fog Lake’s “Serotonin” as the soundtrack for a video showcasing bean arches fans of his show Joe Pera Talks With You made following its season two. The pairing makes sense: Pera is a gentle comedian who made a TV show about appreciating the quieter moments in life while Fog Lake, the recording project of Newfoundland artist Aaron Powell accomplishes the same thing in their intimate folk songs. Ever since Powell surprise released Midnight Society in May, I haven’t been able to stop playing it. The LP is his most confident yet evoking artists like Grandaddy, Broken Social Scene, and Spencer Radcliffe. While there are quiet, vulnerable moments like the opener “Bandaid Heart,” the album really comes alive on peppier tracks like “Hot Knives” and “Motorcade.”
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Free Range
Practice
Sofia Jensen is a perceptive and supremely talented songwriter from Chicago who performs as Free Range. On Practice, they enlist bassist Bailey Minzenberger (Friko) along with drummer and producer Jack Henry to flesh out gentle folk songs about fleeting moments of connection. Jensen’s writing comes from an unguarded and nostalgic place where each track searches for meaning and some understanding between two people. Jensen began work on this record when they were 15 so the lyrics mostly deal with growing up, finding yourself, and figuring out what you want. It’s obvious this band has a ton of great albums in them. In November, they released an EP called The Loft Sessions. Recorded at Wilco’s studio, it boasts three new songs, a Townes Van Zandt cover, and barebones reimaginings of Practice highlights.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Geese
3D Country
I’m not going to lie: the first time I heard 3D Country, I hated it. In 2021, I was one of the loudest supporters (at least in the music press) of their debut album Projector, which was a supremely tasteful amalgamation of aughts indie rock made by people who are 10 years younger than I am. I loved that LP and interviewed the band for a piece at VICE that never ran but I thought they were all lovely people. (My incessant tweeting about Geese also led to a bunch of confused magazine editors asking me if I wanted to write about Goose, the jam band which I respectfully passed on). But when I heard their follow-up, it shocked me. There were so many leaps and left-field decisions it was overwhelming (What the hell are these lyrics on track one and why is he doing that with his voice? Did they just discover the Rolling Stones? Wait, the song isn’t over? Are these gospel backing singers? What’s going on?). I didn’t write about 3D Country upon release but I did revisit it over 2023 and slowly softened on it. Eventually, I realized it was one of the best rock LPs of the year. This genre should be fun. It should take big swings and it definitely should alienate. It’s hammy and ridiculous, full of outrageous riffs and a charismatic lead singer. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t get it at first but that’s what should happen with great art.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Gia Margaret
Romantic Piano
When Gia Margaret released her masterful 2018 debut There’s Always Glimmer, I figured the Chicago artist would keep making gorgeous and intimate folk songs for years to come. But her musical output has taken surprising and more interesting turns since then. In 2020 she put out the ambient LP Mia Gargaret and now she’s back with a collection of mostly instrumental piano tunes in Romantic Piano. While her voice is missed in these compositions, the tunes are still evocative, dreamy, and fully satisfying. “Hinoki Wood” is stunning while “City Song,” one of the only tracks with vocals, took my breath away the first time I heard it.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Golden Apples
Bananasugarfire
Philadelphia label Lame-O Records has been on an absolute tear this year. They already have two locks for a personal AOTY contender in Superviolet’s Infinite Spring and Slaughter Beach, Dog’s Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling alongside a spectacular LP from Hurry and an EP from Dazy called OTHERBODY. (Their roster also includes some LPs I need to spend more time with which is why I didn’t mention acts like Yours Are The Only Ears, Steady Hands, and U.S Highball). Golden Apples’ fourth LP Bananasugarfire, which is out on Lame-O, is a blast. It’s a relentlessly hooky and fuzzed-out rock album that you’ll want to play again immediately after your first listen. I knew by the third song “Waiting For a Cloud” that this would be an instant favorite. It’s unbelievably in my wheelhouse: a little jangle, a hefty dose of power pop, and uniformly memorable choruses.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Greg Mendez
Greg Mendez
Even though this album comes in at a lean 23 minutes, Greg Mendez packs a lifetime of unflinching confessional storytelling on his self-titled LP. It’s his fourth album and is an undeniable peak for the Philadelphia DIY lifer for the way he can cram uncomfortable truths in easily digestible acoustic folk songs. On “Maria,” the catchiest song of the bunch, he sings so matter-of-factly you almost miss it, “Every time you say you wanna know me I get anxious / 'Cause I would probably tell you about some dumb shit / You wanna hear this story about the time we got arrested at a crack den?” Mendez, who’s been clean from drugs since 2015, sings about addiction and forgiveness with such a clear-eyed candor it’s cathartic.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Hataalii
Singing Into Darkness
Raised in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Nation, Hataałii (pronounced: Hah-toth-lee) makes indie rock that’s so mysterious and exciting that it seems like a sure bet he becomes a much bigger name in a few years. There’s something about the way his voice snakes around these sometimes tightly wound and sometimes ambling arrangements that’s so novel and interesting I can’t think of any recent comparisons. The best I can do is say that his vocal delivery evokes Jim Morrison, Lou Reed, and even Dylan or Nick Cave. But more than the hypnotizing performance of these songs is his lyrics, which are evocative but can violently turn from impressionistic to evisceratingly direct. Tip: don’t skip the deluxe edition if you look it up on a streaming service.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Hazel City
Old Friend
Hazel City is the solo recording project of Twin Peaks and Grapetooth’s Clay Frankel, who’s been tinkering with this material since 2020 before surprise-releasing it this June. Compared to his other bands, Hazel City is much more subdued and twangy: think Alex G by way of Townes Van Zandt. This is Frankel’s most vulnerable and emotionally resonant songwriting yet: songs like “Root” and “Gorgeous” are full of yearning and regret. Frankel’s been playing these tunes over the past couple of years, either as a solo act or as a bandleader with Sarah Weddle and Aunt Kelly opening for acts like Bonny Doon, and they shine in each context. I’m happy it’s finally out and it’s great to hear this more chilled-out and introspective side of him.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Helena Deland
Goodnight Summerland
Montreal’s Helena Deland has been on a collaborative tear recently, releasing songs with rapper Jpegmafia, ambient genius Claire Rousay, and an electronic LP as Hildegard with producer Ouri. But for all those shared experiments, her latest full-length Goodnight Summerland feels like a showcase of how Deland is one of the most graceful, smart, and evocative songwriters right now. Single “Spring Bug” is glittering and delicate with acoustic arpeggios and Deland’s voice floating above the mix. Flutes pepper “Drawbridge” while wobbling synths hit “Night Soft as Silk.” Produced with Sam Evian, Goodnight Summerland is an enchanting, patient listen.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Hollow Hand
Your Own Adventure
Your Own Adventure is the third album from U.K. songwriter Max Kinghorn-Mills. As Hollow Hand, who makes tastefully rendered psychedelic rock songs. Despite seeing his name pop up on Aquarium Drunkard a few times over the years this LP was my first foray into the guy’s catalog. Though I can’t speak for what the guy’s done before this, YOA is a fantastic album. It’s timeless songwriting that’s breezy, full of smart hooks, and way better than it has any right to be. A lot of artists who stay in a musical lane that’s arguably a throwback to the late ‘60s and early ‘70s tend to just be kitsch musical wallpaper—not Hollow Hand. The songs are actually fully-formed and the production never gets overbearing in its callbacks. No Expectations favorite Chris Cohen mixed the LP too.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 5/24/23)
Jamila Woods
Water Made Us
A few jobs ago, I was the music reporter for RedEye Chicago, the Chicago Tribune’s free alt-daily that no longer exists. One of my favorite print cover stories we did was when I interviewed Jamila Woods in 2016. Seven years prior, she was one of the city’s most multi-talented young songwriters and poets. But now, she’s undeniably one of its most vital and auteurist artists. Compared to her acclaimed LP LEGACY! LEGACY!, which was an uncompromising excavation of American injustice and individual resilience, Water Made Us is a much more personal interrogation of love and the self. That said, the stakes are just as weighty here. Every word Woods sings feels loaded with meaning and importance. The album is consistently lush and enthralling with playful arrangements and Woods’ air-clearing lyrical dexterity. There are soft synth grooves on “Boomerang” and a killer features from Saba, Peter CottonTale, and Gia Margaret on the 17-song full-length.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
JD Clayton
Long Way From Home
Hailing from Arkansas, Americana songwriter JD Clayton is a refreshing and endearing talent. His new album Long Way From Home could’ve come out 40 years ago but still feels fresh now. It’s the sort of swampy country rock that I always tend to enjoy but Clayton’s version of it hits the sweet spot better than most. Sometimes the songs are so good you have to google if they’re covers—not because they’re derivative but for the fact they already feel like you’ve always known them. “Goldmine,” the title track, and “Midnight Special” are all great and if you’re a fan of the Jason Isbells, the Tyler Childerses, and the Sturgill Simpsons of the world, give Clayton a chance.
Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Jess Williamson
Time Ain't Accidental
Almost 10 years ago, Texas songwriter Jess Williamson put out a song called “Seventh Song” off her album Native State. It’s a tune about waiting for life to begin and feeling unmoored in how things are going, which is exactly the sort of relatable affirmation an aspiring early twenties music journalist needed to hear while scraping by to make $500 rent. Since then, Williamson has amassed a wonderful catalog that finds her growing and expanding with each release from confessional folk to confident country. This year’s Time Ain’t Accidental feels like the culmination of a lot of soul-searching and hard work. It’s the kind of triumphant release that can only come from a personal period of transformation and upheaval. With each listen, you’ll feel drawn to a new tune. When I first wrote this blurb in June, it was “Topanga Two Step” for me. Now, I agree with Friend of the Substack Jack Antonoff, whose Spotify Wrapped song of the year was “Hunter.”
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Kara Jackson
Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
Oak Park native Kara Jackson has long been an unmissable talent, first as a poet and now as a songwriter. In 2019, she released her first EP A Song For Every Chamber of the Heart, a raw but strong collection of folk songs, but her debut album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is a perfect introduction to an essential local artist. Between Jackson’s commanding voice, her evocative lyrics, and her unorthodox arrangements, no artist is doing quite what she is. It feels like being in the ‘70s and hearing Joni Mitchell or Karen Dalton for the first time. While the LP has been universally acclaimed this year, it still somehow feels underrated.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Kassi Valazza
Knows Nothing
Kassi Valazza is an Arizona-raised, Portland-based songwriter whose voice reminds me of Karen Dalton and Sandy Denny: a commanding, personality-filled, and weathered warble that carries these homespun folk songs to great heights. There’s a bit of psychedelia on this LP, especially the guitar jam-boasting “Watching Planes Go By” where she sings of UFOs and the sky breaking open. For an album that feels so organic and lived-in, it’s fascinating to find out that Valazza made sure her band hadn’t heard the songs until they hit the studio. Other highlights include the eerie “Welcome Song,” which boasts lines like, “As I was laying on my floor / Hiding dreams from the TV / I heard a knocking at my door / While my eyes faked sleeping.”
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Magic AL
Good Grief
I first knew about Magic AL’s Alex Bingham as the charismatic bass player for Hiss Golden Messenger, who I saw play at Metro in November. Bingham’s onstage charm was a highlight and he carries that same swagger on his solo effort Good Grief, a bittersweet, likable, and adventurously collaborative collection of pop songs. Given his role as a touring bassist for Hiss, you might expect these songs to be Dead-adjacent Americana tunes but Bingham is interested in a more vibrant, electronic palette. Though the opener “Cryin’ At the Party” has some subtle twang, it’s an undeniable pop earworm with woozy synths and samples. While this is a fun listen, Bingham’s lyrics cathartically deal with death, and coming to terms with loss. It’s a guest-heavy affair too: Rosali, Libby Rodenbough, Sam Evian, Lou Hazel, and many more feature on these tunes. “Hang up the phone don’t be alone.”
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Mapache
Swinging Star
This summer, I tweeted a joke that read, “This band sounds like they're from LA (derogatory).” It was a silly riff on how many groups over there seem straight out of 1970 Laurel Canyon and usually have an adjective like “cosmic” in their press bio. You know the stereotype of “Los Angeles plays itself” in movies? Well, you can hear it in the music on a lot of albums. You could argue that I was making fun of a band like Mapache, but this duo composed of Clay Finch and Sam Blasucci is actually really good. It’s music that seems specifically designed for my tastes: Dead-inspired guitar theatrics (the two were onetime members of Grateful Shred), Everly Brothers harmonies, and tasteful twang via The Flying Burrito Brothers. “French Kiss” was one of my most played songs—a perfect tune—but the rest of the LP offers endlessly warm and inviting songs to explore.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Maple Glider
I Get Into Trouble
Back in spring 2021, Australian songwriter Tori Zietsch, who performs as Maple Glider, released a song called “Good Thing.” It floored me. I associate the track with that time—the post-vaccine haze of gradually and finally reintroducing socializing back into your life and the vulnerable, awkward way everyone processed the past year. Though I felt raw enough to have this song really hit then, it’s so undeniable that I would’ve been obsessed with it any year. Zietsch’s sophomore album I Get Into Trouble reaches similarly devastating emotional peaks across 10 tracks. She occupies similar thematic territory on leaving religion, bodily autonomy, and overcoming trauma as fellow Aussie Julia Jacklin did on 2022’s Pre Pleasure but they’re both such astute songwriters that both LPs complement each other. Standouts here include “Do You,” “You’re Going To Be a Daddy,” and “Dinah.”
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 11/2/23)
McKinley Dixon
Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Originally from Maryland, rapper McKinley Dixon made a mark on Richmond’s vibrant music community before settling in Chicago. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?, his first album as a local artist and his fourth total, broadcasts what feels like a generational talent. These hyper-literate, winding, and personal songs boast live band arrangements and Dixon’s nimble flow dancing over the arrangements. Standouts like the horn-laden “Live From The Kitchen Table” interrogate Dixon’s childhood and family while “Tyler Forever” grapples with grief and mortality. If there’s any knock on this album, it’s that it’s too short. Dixon has another masterpiece in him.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Mikaela Davis
And Southern Star
I know: there are two albums with Southern Star in the title on this EOY list. They’re both great though. Mikaela Davis is a classically trained harpist who subtly uses the instrument to add color and warmth to her effortless Americana-tinged soft-rock on And Southern Star. It’s a seamless integration throughout the album’s nine tracks, which gracefully glide from Fairport Convention-inflected folk to sunburst twang. Beyond her tasteful songwriting, Davis has performed with Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros and most recently toured with Grateful Shred. While her songs allow for exploratory jams (the closer really rips), the writing is contained, never wasting a second. Most of And Southern Star occupies a lilting, subdued space but the boogie-infused “Don’t Stop Now” adds a necessary danceable groove.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Mitski
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Mitski has been one of the more undeniably talented songwriters of the past decade. She’s an unflinchingly ambitious artist that a ton of my peers along with myself saw play understated shows in small rooms before going in bigger directions and exploding in popularity. Whenever an ascent like Mitski’s happens, there are always some growing pains. To protect herself from undue public attention and overzealous fans, Mitski’s no longer super online and posting about her life but she’s used the newfound seclusion to double down on her art. Now based in Nashville, she’s funneled some of the city’s timeless musical sensibilities into her new album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We. It might be her best yet. At 11 songs and a lean 32 minutes, no moment feels wasted. It’s uniformly breathtaking and powerful even at its most subdued. While she once expanded her sound into increasingly pop-forward directions, by reining it in here, she’s making the most radical art of her career yet.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 9/21/23)
MSPaint
Post-American
Post-American is one of the most fun and galvanizing LPs of the year thanks to Mississippi synth-punks MSPaint’s palpable intensity. Few songs make me want to be in the middle of a sweaty crowd quite like the Militarie Gun-assisted “Delete It,” which features the fists-in-the-air-scream-along lyric, ”I, I, I just wanna, wanna feel more alive.” For as immediate and exciting as this effort is on first listen, it’s kind of hard to explain. Is it synth-punk, is it hardcore, is it a secret third thing? It feels like all of the above, mixed with some Beastie Boys swagger, vocal delivery, and irreverence. Songs like “Information” and “Think It Through” sound like they’d hit live and guess what, they really do. If you’re into any sort of heavy music, this one’s a blast.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Núria Graham
Cyclamen
Irish-Catalan artist Núria Graham has been making ornate and adventurous folk music for over a decade but on Cyclamen, she does her most mesmerizing work to date. The 13 songs on this LP feel like self-contained worlds. There are little moments of surprise in the arrangements like a harp flourish or a horn section or delicate strings that color in these songs. But even without all these lush textures and layers of instrumentation, Graham’s songs are strong at their barest bones. “The Catalyst” is one of the year’s best songs and “Yes, It’s Me The Goldfish” psychedelically swirls. The album came out in January but I’m still coming back to it in December.
Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Oozing Wound
We Cater To Cowards
I don’t write about metal as much as I probably should. Some of the most formative records in my life were from the genre but for whatever reason, my tastes softened over the years and I’ve let my onetime love for the music slip. The one band that makes me want to dive back in with gusto is Chicago’s Oozing Wound, whose latest LP We Cater To Cowards hits so many musical sweet spots for me: memorable, hard-hitting riffs, scathing lyrics, and full-blown intensity. Their fifth album is scuzzy, unrelenting, and grungy but the songs are there, especially opener “Bank Account Anxiety,” which finds frontman Zack Weil howling, “Therе’s no future for us / So go and get all you got / There’s nothing left cause / Somebody’s taken it all / God we’re so fucked.” Who hasn’t felt like that?
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Prewn
Through The Window
Prewn is the songwriting project of Western Massachusetts’ Izzy Hagerup, whose voice is one of the most striking and beguiling forces on Through The Window. Throughout the eight songs, which she recorded, wrote, and performed entirely herself, her voice snarls, warbles, and shrieks over often nightmarish tales of grief, gluttony, blood, and guts. For as menacing and visceral as this LP can get—and it gets gnarly—the songs are immediate and sometimes even pretty. They toe the line between whispering gothic folk and blistering noise rock. Now, Prewn is a full-fledged quartet which I hope to see live soon.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Ratboys
The Window
Here’s the thing about Ratboys. Not only are they consistently one of the best bands in Chicago since they moved here a decade ago but they’re also some of the friendliest folks I’ve ever met while writing about music. Their albums in a lot of ways feel as welcoming and easygoing as their band members. Some of my favorite memories have been seeing them play and watching their growth from album to album. Their latest LP The Window is their best yet. Produced by former Death Cab For Cutie sonic wizard Chris Walla, it’s the culmination of almost 15 years of patient, inviting, and resonant songwriting that skirts the lines between alt-rock, country, and a little bit of emo. The songs here blow me away each time, especially “Black Earth, WI” and “Morning Zoo.” This summer, Ratboys’ singer and songwriter Julia Steiner was a guest on No Expectations’ Taste Profile interview series where we talked about women’s soccer, MeTV, and Jimmy Eat World.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 8/22/23)
Resavoir
Resavoir
Full disclosure: Will Miller, the Chicago-based trumpeter, producer, and songwriter behind Resavoir is a longtime bud but his new album Resavoir is engrossing, forward-thinking, and stunning jazz. (Not to be confused with the 2019 Resavoir LP that’s also called Resavoir). The LP is mostly instrumental but still vastly collaborative with guests that include Jeremy Cunningham, Lane Beckstrom, Macie Stewart, Peter Manheim, Eddie Burns, and many more. On one of the only vocal tracks, “Sunday Morning,” Elton Aura and Whitney’s Julien Ehrlich offer vocals. The rest of the tracklist is full of enveloping grooves, pockets of hazy synths, and Miller’s virtuosic trumpet playing. Single “Sunset” is particularly dreamlike while the penultimate track “Blue Utopia” adds percussive flair and lilting strings.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 11/9/23)
Sharp Pins
Turtle Rock
Kai Slater’s other band Lifeguard is the Matador-signed Chicago noise-rock outfit that’s making waves nationally with loud and furious tunes. While they undeniably rip, I came back to his Nuggets-inspired solo project Sharp Pins even more in 2023. Compared to the caustic and harsh tunes from Lifeguard, Turtle Rock takes a more pop-oriented approach. Sure, Slater gets ferocious on songs like “Still a Straw Man” but all of the 13 tracks here have a memorable hook or a riff. Earworm “Bye Bye Basil” is one of my favorite songs of the year. There are four or five others that come in close second.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Skyway Man
The Flight of the Long Distance Healer
Richmond-raised, Oakland-based artist James Wallace aka Skyway Man is an inventive songwriter who makes kaleidoscopic piano-based rock songs. I’ve been a fan ever since I caught him play the Empty Bottle with Friends of the Substack Sun Seeker opening up years ago. It’s been great to see him write the music for Joe Pera Talks With You since that gig and now he’s got a new record called The Flight of the Long Distance Healer. The album is a heady odyssey with dense psychedelic flourishes, opaque but evocative lyrics, and songs that undulate to hair-raising conclusions. It’s a journey through and through but one that’s pretty easy to immerse yourself into with earworm melodies and hair-raising choruses. That said, nothing can prepare you for the emotional gut punch of “Backwards In Time.” He manages to triangulate the sweet spot between swampy, soulful, and spacey throughout. What a trip
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 11/9/23)
Slaughter Beach, Dog
Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling
Whenever I’ve talked about this album to friends, I always led with, “It’s great: the dude named this LP as an homage to that alltimer Labi Siffre album Crying Laughing Loving Lying so if you like that you’ll probably dig this too.” As it turns out, I was totally wrong: Jake Ewald had never even heard of Siffre or that LP. In fact, as Paste’s Matt Mitchell points out in his incredible profile of the former Modern Baseball songwriter, Ewald assumed Siffre’s 1972 masterpiece was a new album because Pitchfork gave it a Sunday Review. Of course, once Ewald heard the album he instantly loved it and said, “It was such a beautiful meeting of all these different things that I was into, that I am into, and I fell in love with it right away.” That scans because Ewald makes conversational folk-hued rock that’s as lush and inviting as Siffre. He takes mundane moments and gives them meaning throughout 10 meaty tracks which include the sprawling yet understated “Engine.” Ewald, who has his own Substack at
, was kind enough to hop on a Taste Profile interview here at No Expectations this year.Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 9/28/23)
Slow Pulp
Yard
I don’t think any Chicago release, besides Ratboys’ The Window, had quite as much excitement surrounding its release as Slow Pulp’s Yard. The local band (by way of Madison, WI) has consistently made soaring alt-rock that always sounds effortless and welcoming but on their sophomore album here, they infuse warm hues of Americana and pristine pop hooks. The album wastes no second across 10 tracks that come in at just a half-hour. While “Cramps,” “Slugs,” “Doubt,” and “Broadview” were all excellent singles, the other six songs on the full-length could’ve easily been singles too. It’s all-killer, no-filler. Slow Pulp singer and bandleader Emily Massey hopped on the newsletter this fall for a Taste Profile interview.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Edited. Original blurb from 9/26/23)
Squirrel Flower
Tomorrow's Fire
Squirrel Flower is the songwriting project of Ella Williams, who lives in Chicago and released one of the best rock albums of 2023 with Tomorrow’s Fire. Across 10 simmering and expansive songs that are the loudest and most immediate offerings of her career so far, Williams urgently sings of work, anxiety, climate catastrophe, and how things fall apart. It feels like a culmination and one that finds Williams rerecording the first song she ever wrote and repurposing it to open the LP in “i don’t use a trashcan.” That song excels in showcasing her confidence as a fully-formed artist while staying in conversation with her younger self. Here, she enlists a marquee cast of collaborators to flesh out these songs including Wednesday’s Jake Lenderman, Bon Iver’s Matt McCaughan, Angel Olsen’s Seth Kauffman, The War on Drugs’ Dave Hartley, and producer Alex Farrar (Indigo De Souza). The result is magic. Williams’ Taste Profile interview in the newsletter was also a ton of fun.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 10/26/23)
Stuck
Freak Frequency
Freak Frequency is the best Chicago post-punk album of the year. So many of bandleader Greg Obis’ songs are about the struggle to stay afloat as the world gets crueler and more impersonal. After all, Stuck’s first album was called Change Is Bad, which serves as a sort of mission statement for the sputtering and nervy rock tunes the band makes. Throughout, the band’s sophomore LP is a thrilling listen. “Fools Idol” feels like the most cathartic track here while “Time Out” deals with phone-based anxiety. Obis is a dynamic and versatile frontman: he feels like one part David Byrne and Devo with the other taking cues from locals Meat Wave and Deeper.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Sufjan Stevens
Javelin
This may be recency bias but Javelin, Sufjan’s latest record, feels like a career culmination. It’s not the alienating and divisive electro-pop, it’s not consistently gentle folk music, and it’s not about a state, it’s its own thing: magical, alive, and breathtaking. Each song feels unimpeachable on its own terms and as part of a whole. It’s simultaneously grounded and yearning and ebullient. Upon its release, the LP took on a new resonance when Sufjan publicly came out and dedicated the full-length to his late partner who died this year. With that new context (which, to be clear, happened after Sufjan wrote the LP), album cuts “Goodbye Evergreen” and “Shit Talk”—both winding and explosive epics—hit with even more devastating pathos. But even though there are songs titled “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” this still feels like a hopeful record. The physical release comes with a collection of essays Sufjan wrote dissecting love. It’s gorgeous and searching and messy prose that captures what’s at the heart of Sufjan’s entire musical endeavor: finding, holding onto, and nurturing love. The closing cover of Neil Young’s “There’s a World” is a perfect summation of this career-long project in optimism and open-heartedness.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 10/12/23)
Sunny War
Anarchist Gospel
Anarchist Gospel features guest appearances from David Rawlings, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, and Allison Russell but Sunny War’s sixth album would be one of the most stirring releases of the year even without these marquee collaborators. With this urgent 14-track effort, the Los Angeles songwriter has a winning blend of roots, gospel, blues, and country that brings nearly apocalyptic stakes to the dissolution of a breakup. While the subject matter deals directly with heartbreak, the rawness of this pain is dealt with humor, warmth, and pointed lyrical observations that bluntly clear the air. There’s even a cover of Ween’s “Baby Bitch” on here. While War’s peers in Alabama Shakes and Hurray For the Riff Raff tread similar territory, Anarchist Gospel feels more timeless in its understated experimentations.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Superviolet
Infinite Spring
Steve Ciolek’s former band the Sidekicks was one of my most formative groups of the past 15 years—their growth from a great punk band to a great power pop/indie rock band was such a rewarding transformation. But with Superviolet, Ciolek lets his proclivity to write an amazing hook run wild. His debut album with the project Infinite Spring gets its name from the few days of the year when the weather’s finally great and everything feels possible. The songs here match that ineffable period perfectly. On first listen, it’s an instant classic but it’s a grower in the way that you’ll pick up on a genius lyric for the first time or notice a flourish buried in the mix you missed. There is not a single dud on the entire tracklist. I wrote in June that “it’s easy to see this being Top 5 for me by the end of 2023” and sure enough, it’s definitely up there.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Truth Club
Running From the Chase
North Carolina has become the official state of cutting-edge indie rock thanks to Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Indigo De Souza, Sluice, Fust, and more. But Truth Club, a band from Asheville that like many of their peers recorded their latest LP at Alex Farrar’s Drop of Sun Studio, might be my favorite. They deserve just as much acclaim for their pummeling and unrelenting album Running From the Chase, a snarling but inviting collection of jagged indie rock. Across 12 tracks, the four-piece careens from brooding tracks with lurching, booming guitars to frenetically-paced scorchers. Each lane feels cathartic and frontperson Travis Harrington sings with a tangible urgency that raises the stakes throughout.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Ulrika Spacek
Compact Trauma
London five-piece Ulrika Spacek are one of the most exciting U.K. bands I’ve heard in years. Their expansive songs lock into undulating grooves that hit the sweet spot between Amnesiac-era Radiohead, Omni-inspired post-punk, Stereolab haze, and SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE ferocity. It’s a winning combo on Compact Trauma, which from the first notes is immediately immersive and dazzling. Out of all the LPs covered in this list, I’m confused that this effort didn’t end up on more year-end lists. It’s the kind of ambitious and mesmerizing indie rock that truly goes for it and earns the big leap it takes throughout its 10 tracks. If you remember listening to Danish psych-rockers Mew in the aughts, you’ll also find a lot to dig into here.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Villagerrr
Like Leaves
Columbus songwriter Mark Allen Scott has managed to stay remarkably consistent throughout his surprisingly prolific career as Villagerrr. Like Leaves stretches out over 50 minutes but never overstays its welcome thanks to Scott’s charm as a writer. These are gentle and memorable indie rock songs that rarely get louder than a whisper but when they do hit in volume, the noise is always affecting and effective. While his other project Cantuckee has a great new LP called Sounds, this is the best introduction to his rewarding catalog. This full-length and the Song of the Year contender “barn burnerrr,” that’s going to appear on another LP he already has in the tank for 2024, is where to start.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Wednesday
Rat Saw God
You’ve probably heard of Wednesday thanks to Rat Saw God being one of the most acclaimed albums of the year and band member MJ Lenderman having one of 2022’s most acclaimed LPs of his own with Boat Songs (not to mention his 2023 live effort And The Wind (Live and Loose). They deserve every nice thing said about them because I can’t think of a newer group that’s so in my wheelhouse as these North Carolinans. 2021’s Twin Plagues floored me the first time I heard it and it’s been so sick to see them win new fans and build upon the compelling mix of indie twang and Dinosaur Jr.-inspired guitar theatrics. “Bull Believer” is such a phenomenal and massive tune but “Quarry” and “Bath Country” are up there too.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify (Original blurb from 6/29/23)
Wilco
Cousin
Ignore the hacky The Bear jokes: Cousin is one of Wilco’s best albums yet. The Chicago mainstays’ thirteenth studio effort is a masterclass in how a band who’s already figured out a winning formula can change things up and better themselves after three decades of making music. For this LP, they enlisted their first outside producer in a very long time in Cate Le Bon. An accomplished and adventurous artist herself, Le Bon’s deft touch as a producer elevates these songs, pushing the band into more lush textures than the earthy, grounded sonics of Ode to Joy and Cruel Country. Beyond being Wilco’s prettiest album to date, Cousin also boasts several of the band’s best songs: “A Bowl and A Pudding” and “Meant To Be” both feel like future classics and live set mainstays.
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
Youth Lagoon
Heaven Is a Junkyard
Before this year, Youth Lagoon hadn’t released a new album since 2015. That said, songwriter Trevor Powers was undeniably prolific, releasing two great LPs under his own name with 2018’s Mulberry Violence and 2020’s Capricorn. Despite the consistently stellar output, Heaven Is a Junkyard is Powers’ best record yet and feels like a reinvention for Youth Lagoon. These are largely sparse yet always piano-based tunes that find their shape in empty space and Powers’ muted but striking lyrical emotionality. While No Expectations is not going to publish a “Best Songs of the Year” roundup, there are several contenders on Heaven Is a Junkyard like “Trapeze Artist,” “Idaho Alien,” and “Prizefighter.”
Bandcamp // Apple Music // Spotify
The Other 40 (Honorable Mentions - Top 100):
Braden Lawrence, When You Lose the Light // Charlie Hill, Chuck Pond // Charlotte Cornfield, Could Have Done Anything // The Clientele, I Am Not There Anymore // Defprez, It’s Allways A Time Like This // Dougie Poole, The Rainbow Wheel of Death // Field Medic, Light Is Gone 2 // Gaadge, Somewhere Down Below // Jason Isbell, Weathervanes // Jimmy Whispers, The Search for God // Jonah Yano, portrait of a dog // Julie Byrne, The Greater Wings // Katie Von Schleicher, A Little Touch of Schleicher in the Night // King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, The Silver Cord // King Tuff, Smalltown Stardust // Lane Beckstrom, Looking Out // Laufey, Bewitched // Liquid Mike, S/T // Mali Velasquez, I’m Green // Mick Jenkins, The Patience // Mutual Benefit, Growing at the Edges // Pony Bradshaw, North Georgia Rounder // Protomartyr, Formal Growth in the Desert // Purelink, Signs // Rachel Baiman, Common Nation of Sorrow // Radar Peak, Radar Peak // Sam Blasucci, Off My Stars // Sen Morimoto, Diagnosis // Shame, Food For Worms // Sluice, Radial Gate // Sofia Kourtesis, Madres // Squid, O Monolith // Strange Ranger, Pure Music // The Stacks, Lay Me Down to Rest // Tyler Childers, Rustin’ in the Rain // Unknown Mortal Orchestra, V // Valee/Harry Fraud, Virtuoso // The War and Treaty, Lover’s Game // Warm Human, Hometown Hero // Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World
Goodnight Summerland is gorgeous and a nice contrast to Someone New. Was really excited to hear that Sam Evian helped produce. Interesting arrangements, thoughtful songwriting, subtle, beautiful ambient landscapes. It's the kind of music that burrows into your subconscious.
Congrats on your first year Josh! This is an eclectic list with a lot of new artists for me to explore. I did a quick scroll through to see which of my top 50 albums made your list. There were only two but quite a few more on your list were contenders for my AOTY that didn’t quite make the final cut. I’m really looking forward to spending some time with all these new artists, listening while I read your blurbs.
Thanks so much for this list. As a newbie Substack writer I’m coming to appreciate more and more how much goes into writing an entry like this, so thank you!