It’s that time of the year again! After writing about 100 albums in 2022, the bar was way too high in 2023. So I didn’t, and ended up not publishing it at all. So let’s not do that anymore. Here’s my top five, plus 95 of my other favorites in no particular order.
I need a new playlist. The fourth solo LP by the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, “I Need a New War”, has won the race to spearhead our playlist, following one of the year’s strongest Release Friday. Ten more sublime songs by one of the greatest songwriters of the century century. Plus: new tracks by Bedouine, Aldous Harding, Honey Harper, Olden Yolk, Lucy Dacus, Kevin Morby, Dylan LeBlanc, Starflyer 59, Josh Ritter, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Wand, Psychedelic Speed Freaks, Kyle Craft, Marika Hackman, Jackie Cohen, Better Oblivion Community Center, Esther Rose, I am Oak, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Willie Nelson, and the Mountain Goats.