I still have a few 2023 releases to get through, but I’m hoping to get my 10 Best Albums of 2023 up later this week. I’ve covered the final major contender here, so I can publish my list. There’s also a brief EP from the indie supergroup Boygenius.
Sofia Kourtesis
Madres
2023, 9/10
Peruvian DJ Sofia Kourtesis has been releasing music since 2014, with four EPs. Madres is her first full-length album. The record is named for her mother, while ‘Vajkoczy’ is titled for the neurosurgeon who saved her mother’s life.
As someone who first fell in love with pop and rock music, I don’t always find electronic music accessible. Kourtesis adds her own vocals to these tracks, giving a human, emotional access point.
Some of it’s genuinely weird. In particular, the woozy ‘Moving Houses’ is one of the weaker tracks, but it works as a change of pace. The first side is exceptionally strong. The house of ‘How Music Makes You Feel Better’ is joyful and uplifting. On ‘Habra Can Ella’ and ‘Funkhaus’, Kourtesis uses prominent vocal samples, rhythmic and enticing. The standout track though, is ‘Vajkoczy’, with its pretty vocal.
Madres is lovely and immersive, danceable but often introspective.
Boygenius
The Rest (EP)
2023, not rated
In indie rock, it’s been Boygenius’s year. The conglomerate of singer-songwriters Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers have received a acclaim for The Album, one of the most celebrated releases of 2023.
The trio followed it with the recently released victory lap, The Rest. A four-song EP, it’s so brief that it struggles to make much impression in its twelve minutes of running time. But it’s enjoyable, with the trio sharing vocals on ‘Black Hole’ before presenting individual tracks. Of the individual tracks, my favourite is Baker’s ‘Powers’, typically intense.
The Rest is too brief to make a big impression, but it’s a worthy appendix to The Record.
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2023 was an awesome year.
Best songs IMO:
Manchester Orchestra- The Way
nothing but thieves – Overcome
young the giant – the walk home ( my number one)
milky Chance – Living in a Haze (I wish I was a disco Boy…)
Boy Genius- not strong enough. Might be the best lyric of all time – “skip the exit to our old street, and go home “
Noah Khan – Dial Drunk.
The Beaches – Blame Brett (Toronto band, all women)
In fact, the Noah Khan and Beaches songs are the same – in some way.
It’s probably my least favourite year for albums since I’ve been making lists (since 2018).
Boygenius just missed out – True Blue was my favourite on that record.
I’m listening to Blame Brett now – it’s pretty good!
When I first heard it…I thought slighty of atmospheric music but it’s not of course…this song anyway is just low keyed you have to pay attention. I will say though after listening to it a few times it picks up steam as it goes…it’s just a quiet one to me.
I like her singing, and the vocal-type samples she uses.