Your 2023 retrospective music list

[Sacul]

So this is something I usually do each year but forgot about it for a while, which is, making a list consisting of my favorite findings in art and media of the last year. I want this thread to be a place for people to share their favorite music discoveries / listens of 2023, but they don't have to be new releases necessarily - just new to you. I'll begin:

2023 saw the rebirth of my love for music, which had sort of faded a lot, and even a 2022 roulette couldn't help to fix. I just felt that I wasn't discovering new things that I loved, couldn't connect with a lot of newer stuff, and overall, I had almost stopped listening to music entirely. I think that going back to my roots, and finally delving deep into my country's rich music scene, boy was I saved. So, let me share you a list of my favorite findings of the past year:

So, what about you? What were your favorite findings of the past year?

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I don't really track my listening in any way and my memory's not very time-specific, but I think the biggest discovery for me this year was King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I'd heard of them before (it's the kind of name that you take note of) but the one song I'd listened to hadn't really done anything for me so I just sort of wrote them off. Then for whatever reason I listened to them again and thought they were amazing. Now I'm a big fan and I'm going to see them when they play in Nashville later this year, probably with songs from the 10 new albums they'll release between then and now.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

the biggest discovery for me this year was King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

[twosuitsluke]

I don't really track my listening in any way and my memory's not very time-specific, but I think the biggest discovery for me this year was King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I'd heard of them before (it's the kind of name that you take note of) but the one song I'd listened to hadn't really done anything for me so I just sort of wrote them off. Then for whatever reason I listened to them again and thought they were amazing. Now I'm a big fan and I'm going to see them when they play in Nashville later this year, probably with songs from the 10 new albums they'll release between then and now.

This was 2022 for me. Goddammit that was a ride! Fucking love the damn band (to no one's surprise) and pumped to see them for the second time in May!

[Crow]

dacul did you check out the romy album from last year, it's real good

[Sacul]

Nope but I have it on my wishlist, so I'll prob get to it when the roulette ends or in the next 5 years (same thing).

[SoundscapeMN]

Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears was my favorite discovery/the new band-to me that I listened to the most.

[Buddyhunter1]

Here were the best releases I discovered in 2023, from best to least-best:

Kostnatění - Úpal
Chapel Of Disease - ...And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye
Parannoul - To See The Next Part Of The Dream
Sadness / abriction - sadness // abriction
An Abstract Illusion - Illuminate The Path
Della Zyr - Nebulous You

There were also some really good albums from The Ocean and death's dynamic shroud that released that year, but since I was already anticipating those albums and heard them as soon as they came out, they weren't really "discoveries" per se.



The most significant discovery for me that year was probably the Korean shoegaze scene, as I heard those Della Zyr and Parannoul albums very early in the year and loved both of them. I then went on to explore their discographies further and found much more to enjoy from there. That Parannoul album is now easily my favorite album of 2021, a year which I previously had no album I could confidently place as my album of the year. And while it's not Korean, that Sadness / abriction album is very much in the same genre and I probably wouldn't have checked it out prior to getting into those previously-mentioned albums and wanting more of that sound.

A similar thing happened with that Chapel Of Disease album, which is one of the best metal albums I've heard in recent memory and is now easily my favorite album from 2018. I'm still a bit salty I didn't discover that album slightly sooner, as if I had I would have sent them for twosuitsluke's last roulette round and I might have actually won.

Lastly, that Kostnatění album was a RYM discovery and it's honestly probably the best album I've discovered in the past few years - enough to break into the pretty exclusive group of albums I have rated higher than 4 stars. It's just an incredibly awesome metal album in a style of black metal that I previously thought I didn't even enjoy, so I'm very much looking forward to any future releases from that project.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Everything I could think of that would be relevant for this thread is something I'll be touching on in my upcoming top 50 and post-roulette updates.  I'll probably have to bump it after those with summaries. 

[ProfessorPeart]

My find of the year is a German band called Wucan. Bought their entire catalog and still listening to them regularly. Francis, their singer, is just fantastic. Their live album and the most recent studio album have been in rotation the most.

IQ is another big find for me. The Road of Bones and Frequency dominated my listening for them. I have the entire Peter Nicholls collection of albums and still am working my way through them.

Finally, I would throw KXM in here. Doug Pinnick, George Lynch and Ray Luzier. Solid collection of albums and my intro to Ray. I hate Korn so I never really knew of his playing. Dude is a beast.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The disparity between the skill level of their drummers (Luzier, David Silveria, Terry Bozzio briefly) and the rest of the band is ludicrous.  Might be the widest gap I can think of in popular music. 

[Jamesman42]

I got so many songs between 2 roulettes. I think the first band I want to take a deeper dive on is Caligula's Horse, and they have a new album so I might start with that and work backwards. VOLA has also stood out to me.

[HOF]

My favorite "new to me" albums in 2023 (not necessarily new artists to me though), not including any 2023 releases:

The Sundays - Static & Silence
Duncan Sheik - Duncan Sheik
Field Music - Plumb
Field Music - Measure
The Week That Was - The Week That Was
Owsley - Owsley
Robbie Robertson - Robbie Robertson
Sting - The Soul Cages
Sting - Nothing Like The Sun
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Sting - Brand New Day
Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
The Flower Kings - Paradox Hotel
Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Dire Straits - On Every Street
Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Pat Matheny Group - Pat Matheny Group
The Relict - Tomorrow is Again
Christopher Cross - Christopher Cross
Journey - Dream After Dream
Michael McDonald - Blink of an Eye

[SoundscapeMN]

My favorite "new to me" albums in 2023 (not necessarily new artists to me though), not including any 2023 releases:
Field Music - Measure
Owsley - Owsley
Sting - The Soul Cages
Sting - Nothing Like The Sun
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Pat Matheny Group - Pat Matheny Group

nice list here. Good to see another Owsley fan around here especially.

[HOF]

My favorite "new to me" albums in 2023 (not necessarily new artists to me though), not including any 2023 releases:
Field Music - Measure
Owsley - Owsley
Sting - The Soul Cages
Sting - Nothing Like The Sun
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Pat Matheny Group - Pat Matheny Group

nice list here. Good to see another Owsley fan around here especially.

A totally random discovery. I was listening to an interview Kip Winger was doing on a Nashville radio station about his classical music. It was streaming live, and when it ended they played "Sonny Boy" in between programs. I was like "what is this?" Thankfully they showed the artist and song name on the stream, so I looked him up and was soon hooked. Fantastic album.

[SoundscapeMN]

My favorite "new to me" albums in 2023 (not necessarily new artists to me though), not including any 2023 releases:
Field Music - Measure
Owsley - Owsley
Sting - The Soul Cages
Sting - Nothing Like The Sun
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Pat Matheny Group - Pat Matheny Group

nice list here. Good to see another Owsley fan around here especially.

A totally random discovery. I was listening to an interview Kip Winger was doing on a Nashville radio station about his classical music. It was streaming live, and when it ended they played "Sonny Boy" in between programs. I was like "what is this?" Thankfully they showed the artist and song name on the stream, so I looked him up and was soon hooked. Fantastic album.

ahh, interesting. He's somewhat popular among Jellyfish fans. Like some others, his story was pretty tragic, but his music was understandably loved.

His debut album actually came out on Vinyl last year, so i ended up picking it up.