MUSIC! AGAIN!
Some of these were coincidentally released in 2023 but this is just a list of music I listened to in 2023.
Here's a playlist where I compile a song from each album:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7iql4Cxyjj59DpBpL9iqBg?si=76ca4ada5e684fec
This playlist has a song from each album on the list. Not the best song, not my favorite song, though maybe both of those. The point is that it's a song that I think illustrates how I feel about the album and/or will cast a wider net to more audience members.
Somewhere in the Between by Streetlight Manifesto [2007]
Genre: Ska punk
I really liked Streetlight Manifesto's first album, Everything Goes Numb, so I decided to listen to some of their other stuff. So on a trip to come visit my partner before moving in with them, I decided to put a long playlist together for the road, on which I included Somewhere in the Between. So let me tell you now the two main reasons I think this album rules.
The first one is that the album slightly throws away the whimsical nature of what people would expect from modern ska and the politically centered lyrical content expected from punk. That might sound bad or mislabeled but what is in these aspects' place with the most entertaining bouts of sheer existentialism and mortality I have heard in an album. Almost every song is at least connected in some way with death; a concept I think about probably unhealthily often! It is not necessarily brooding. It's more about living with the constant knowledge of mortal finality.
Reason 2: The nonstop energy of the first two Streetlight Manifesto albums is here, typically contrasting the grim lyrical content without coming off as comically out of touch. The guitar tones mix well with the drums and brass about as well as their previous albums while still having a closer punk sound to Everything Goes Numb versus Keasbey Nights.
The songs are all pieced together in a way that really resonates with me and has theming that hits harder here in an ongoing pandemic where I constantly fear for my loved ones' safety. Out of all ten albums I have talked about here, I would recommend this one to general audiences the most both for accessibility to general audiences just looking for catchy tunes and for sharing how hard it hit me personally.
Tomorrow, in a Year by The Knife [2010]
Genre: Alternative electronic, opera
Tomorrow, in a Year is a fucked up electronic opera soundtrack by one of my favorite groups of all time, The Knife. They also made this with artists I've never heard before, Mt. Sims and Planningtorock. Kristina Wahlin Momme, Jonathon Johannson, and Laerke Bo Winther are also directly credited on the album release. Tomorrow, in a Year is an avant-garde, Darwin-focused opera and not like how Pink Floyd did The Wall. This was a legit opera; an on-stage opera with actors, sets, an audience, etc. I haven't found a way to watch the whole thing yet but I digress. Is it worth listening to on its own since the album version, at least in the US, is more accessible than the full performance? I would say yes with some caveats. The Knife has weird bops (Deep Cuts, The Knife, Silent Shout, and the "Shaken-up" versions of a lot of songs) and then they have stuff that is supposed to juggle your brain on purpose (Shaking the Habitual and for sure Tomorrow, in a Year). This isn't to say that none of Tomorrow, in a Year is slappy but you should expect the weirdest side of The Knife possible. Shaking the Habitual, in comparison, has noticeable beats, rhythms, and melody lines blended in with shrill and wracky timbres throughout the entirety of its length. Tomorrow, in a Year, is more split. The vast majority of it is the weird stuff. Though it is smart and thoughtfully crafted noise, it is still noise. That is not a diss but not something everyone is prepared for nor are they excited about. As you get to the final 25% of the album's runtime, there is relief in this sense. I decided to put Coulouring of Pigeons on the playlist this year for reference. This song is where the relief starts in this sense. It is still weird, don't misunderstand me. But it's more melodic than the rest of the album. There are still figures to pick out in the noisier stuff that are used effectively to make their own beats, even if they aren't bangers. I wouldn't be talking about this album if I thought it was a complete waste of time. It was one of the most interesting things I heard this year so I thought I would share it, again, with caveats.
Strange Mercy by St. Vincent [2011]
Genre: Progressive pop
St. Vincent is a largely influential artist to me as a fan of music, a student of music, and a creator of music. Admittedly, I had not listened to that much of her stuff. So I finally gave Strange Mercy a shot and ended up really enjoying it. This is as good of a time as any to mention that I did listen to more than 10 albums I had never heard before this year. This album has a lot of very ambient pop music. I find it a lot less simplistically and less predictably structured than the self-titled album overall. There's less I have to say about this album overall. I just wanted to say that all the songs on this album are real good. It's a real good mix of funky riffs, chill beats, and delayed synth pad ambience.
Shadow Theater by Tigran Hamasyan [2013]
Genre: Jazz, Armenian Folk
Tigran Hamasyan is a wacky pianist and everything I have listened to by him so far has shown this. He's also a good songwriter who has very distinctive and unique arrangements. Shadow Theater is less wacky piano and more unique arrangement. Each song on this album is a lot different from the last but not enough to be jarring. The vocals are soothing as much as they are impressive and well-arranged throughout the album. This album has legitimate metal moments, which I was not expecting since none of the previous stuff I had heard from him explicitly did. Shadow Theater overall is just this weird candy shop of different sounds all wrapped-up in cozy, strange packaging.
Contrast by Majiko [2015]
Genre: J-Pop
This album slaps so fucking hard. Oh, you don't understand. It is so crazy. Banger after banger. It all rips. There are so many songs on this album and it all rips. "Hypocrite Syndrome" is the first Majiko song I ever heard. My friend showed it to me and I said "this rips, what do you know this artist from?". They responded with "I dunno, that song just kinda came on and I thought you would like it."
Contrast spans a lot of different genres. Just calling it J-Pop doesn't really describe what you're in for by listening to Contrast. It has plucky, happy synth stuff, metal, synth pop, stuff that sounds like PS1 JRPG OST. It's the bomb. It is so good. Contrast is a trip through so many different genres and styles and it nails all of them. Majiko also has a nice and unique voice. I find her voice super-endearing. I need to listen to more Majiko so don't be surprised to see her in "Shoving Music Down Your Throat 2024".
Abyss by Chelsea Wolfe [2015]
Genre: Dark wave, gothic rock, doom metal
Abyss is not as varied as a lot of the albums I have talked about on here but it is called Abyss. Imagine if doom metal were looped underneath brooding, brutal, and high-pitched vocals. Does that sound kind of freaky? It is. I love it. It is delightfully freaky. Compositionally, the album is mostly straightforward but emotive enough for me to not call it basic. There really was not a weak song on this album. It all fits a certain mood and demeanor I really appreciated and I am curious to say if it hits other people the same way. By that, I mean other people that read this. People know who Chelsea Wolfe is, she doesn't really need my help.
Clarion Call by The Human Project [2018]
Genre: Melodic hardcore
I am a fairly radicalized leftist and it sounds like at least one member of The Human Project is too. Most of their lyrics are unabashedly critical of the US government, government conceptually, and bigotry. However, the politics of a song are not what grab me about it. The Human Project are just a good band regardless. Their vocals match the energy given by the instruments and I really love the vocal harmony arrangements and mix. This band has a lot of what I like about The Police but angrier and more in your face. This album is a good one for shuffling in with other stuff I listen to regularly. Front-to-back, it kinda lulls a little toward the middle. I listened back to those songs on their own and they're still good songs.
t.i.a.p.f.y.h. by Left at London [2021]
Genre: Indie pop
This album rules front-to-back. The end song might be one of my all-time favorite Left at London songs. I did not put that on the playlist though because I would rather people's first impressions of that song be after the other songs like it was originally made. So I put on another one of my favorite songs on here. Left at London albums and EPs always feel like a journey onto themselves and t.i.a.p.f.y.h. is no exception. Musically, I was impressed with how many weird turns the album takes while still being ultimately a pop album. By this, I mean mid-song, the song will change drastically like it's prog more than pop. If you have seen previous installments of "Shoving Music Down Your Throat", you will probably recognize that I appreciate that kind of thing.
ROMCOM by Jakey [2022]
Genre: Electro-pop
So I was waiting for this album to drop for a while and somehow missed it for a whole year. So now I've listened to it at least four times front-to-back upon writing this. This might be one of my favorite albums of the decade. Could easily be thrown out of that ranking since it's only 2023 as of writing this and probably 2024 as of posting this publicly. I don't 100% know what the album is about but I can tell the story it is telling was something Jakey really wanted to tell and was probably best told in this medium (I swear if I use that term it's not a punny reference to another Jakey song). Little details thrown here and there that connect to each other and reference other songs released before ROMCOM feel less arbitrary the more I listen to the album. Any concept album can reference lyrics, reuse lyrics, or repeat motifs. How it all comes together on FATHEAD, the last song on this album was something I was skeptical about at first. But after listening all the way through, I couldn't get the songs out of my head, including the final few bars of FATHEAD. I realized the next day that it wasn't just because the album has a lot of catchy melodies and cool samples. I wanted to listen to it again. And then later that night. And I listened to a few tracks the next day while running errands. Then the whole album again the next day.
Jakey's one of those singers that has such a unique vocal tone, you know what you are hearing isn't the most technically sound vocal performance ever, and you don't care. Who does have the best voice, who knows how to use it the best, and why would that even matter? At the end of the day, I think a believable vocal performance is the most important thing. Singing is, in a sense, acting. I think this album overall demonstrates this really well and exemplifies what I have liked about Jakey's music for a long time. Aside from the vocals, the instruments are pretty on par with what he's been known for for a while. For example for those of you who don't know who or what I'm talking about, there's a dope Shadow of the Colossus sample in "TOTALLY FREAK ME OUT". I don't recognize all the video game and meme samples used for ROMCOM but none of them are jarring. A lot of the vocal processing, some more noticeable, some less noticeable, rules. I think "TOMMY HANKS" might be my new favorite Jakey song. However, his voice is pitch-shifted throughout the entire song so to represent the album better to get people interested, I put "SURVIVAL HORROR" on the playlist this year. I also really like that one and it is one of Jakey's songs out of all his music that I think maybe hit me the hardest in terms of speaking to me on a personal emotional level.
The vibe I get from a lot of the album is broken expectations and overcoming beating oneself up. That's my interpretation anyways. I haven't deeply analyzed the lyrics or anything. I have just listened to the album several times all the way through and a few of the songs on their own. Whatever the album is about, it feels unapologetically honest. Highly recommend. Obviously. It's on this list. Anyway.
Fauna by Haken [2023]
Genre: Prog Rock
I spammed this album this year and love every song on it. For a few months, I tore myself away from it with other music just to not listen to the same thing over and over again. Haken is one of my favorite bands known for their impressive prog metal prowess with catchy melodies and great leitmotif use. They were known for a lot of synth use before their keyboardist started leaving the band around the release of Virus in 2020 (don't worry, they planned the album out well in advance and it is not what you think it's about). Fauna re-introduces Haken's former keyboardist and sounds both like their old stuff and nothing like anything they've released before at the same time.
The theme is animals and our connections to a lot of animalistic traits. That sounds silly and it can be at moments. It never gets too silly to the point where it's embarrassing. The silliness is unironically part of the appeal. The cover art is a monkey in a suit. A lot of this also ties into the loss of one of the member's father, especially "Eyes of Ebony", the last song. "Taurus" upon development became a song more about Ukrainian refugees. There are a lot of deeper topics while not being too much of a bummer of an album. It isn't explicitly brooding. It feels more like a conversation being had in front of you than a thematically conclusive story, and that's a good thing.
The music is so good. The tones are never wracky. A lot of the distorted guitars are mixed just as fully as previous Haken releases without relying as heavily on distortion. There are also a lot less blistering guitar solos in exchange of focusing more on song structure, which I personally think rules. Your mileage may vary since people listen to metal and guitar-based music for different things. For me it's weirdness. Metal is one of my most frequented genres because it was always supposed to be something that challenges your expectations. That is why Haken is still one of my favorite metal bands recently and of all time. I was scared of Fauna but after listening to it way too many times, I can safely recommend it to others. Even if you don't like metal, I would say give this one a shot.
Honorable Mentions
Execution by Single White Infidel
Unfinished Again by Lexi Karma even though a better version is coming out May 6, 2024
