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The CHIRP Blog
Marites Velasquez writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2023: Marites Velasquez
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2023. Our next list is from Outreach Director and occasional DJ Marites Velasquez.
2023 brought me lots of new albums from seasoned favorites — that's basically my top 10 this year. All of these albums, except for one, are not the first for each of these artists. Like fine wine, they get better with age. 2023 was also a high for me, personally, as a musician — my band, Ovef Ow, released our debut full-length this year, Vs. The Worm. I'm not going to put it on this list because it's its own thing in my heart, but I'm forever grateful to the support we've gotten from the community here at CHIRP. Now, on to the list...
#1 Sit Down For Dinner by Blonde Redhead (section 1)
I'll admit, I was only a casual Blonde Redhead fan until this year. Whenever a song came up on a playlist from this album, I would think, "This is great. What is this?" And it was Blonde Redhead every time. That happened enough times that I finally dug into the album, and then back through the rest of their catalogue. Their performance at Thalia Hall in October blew my mind. Now, I'm all in.
Mike Bennett writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2023: Mike Bennett
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2023. Our next list is from DJ and board member emeritus Mike Bennett.
There's a lot to be said about 2023, but if you're only talking about music, it was another fantastic year. I ended up listening to over 250 new LPs and EPs over the course of the year, and not everything did much for me, but so much of it did. This list has the albums that I listened to the most, thought about the most, and enjoyed the most.
#1 Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? by Kara Jackson (September)
This record stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. It hit me the way hearing Judee Sill’s debut album hit me. There’s just so much going on here. There’s a simplicity to Jackson’s melodies, but she is daring in how she structures her songs. Her lyrics are expressive in so many ways. Cutting, funny, wise, witty, direct, poetic – but no matter what mode she’s in, it’s always authentic.
And her voice. She sings near the bottom of her range, and it has such a warm, resonant tone, but when she goes up higher, it’s sublime to hear the rise. Her phrasing is as creative as her compositions.
To top it all off, her fellow Chicagoan collaborators - Sen Morimoto, Kaina Castillo, and Nnamdi Ogbannaya - assist in perfect production, knowing when Jackson’s voice and guitar are enough, or strings or other embellishments are needed. An instant classic.
Matt Garman writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2023: Matt Garman
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2023. Our next list is from Mon. 3-6pm DJ and Programming Committee member Matt Garman.
#1 Vs. The Worm by Ovef Ow (Oort Cloud/What's For Breakfast?)
The debut full-length from this Chicago indie band shows off their expanding skillset: catchy anthems, a post-punk foundation, Robert Fripp-esque guitar, washes of synthesizer, and co-lead female vocalists who tackle big issues in their lyrics.
More than the surfy B-52s/La Luz rock hybrid that first emerged in the 2010's, Ovef Ow give me goosebumps with their atmospheric, patient-then-pummeling style, particularly on the dark, driving "Makibaka" (a sentiment shared, incidentally, by the 2 random dudes standing behind me at Ovef Ow's Milwaukee show back in the fall -- Rando 1: "This is cool." Rando 2: "Yeah, it is").
They tracked Vs. The Worm in Lawrence, KS with Sweeping Promises' Caufield Schnug in a big, echoey room that used to be a pottery studio. All that natural reverb and bleedthrough imbues the album with a booming, irresistible artistry found all over the lonely "Daylight" (check out the stop-motion video they made...OMG), the zippy, social-media-skewering "Fauxtography," and head-nodding rockers "First Day" and "Anatomy."
The album art evokes '70s sci-fi pulp fiction book covers, with a title that depicts the battle against worldwide calamities we are all waging, quietly, from the inside-out. Ovef Ow are the band to watch in Chicago right now. See you down in front in 2024.
Drew writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2023: DJ Drew
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2023. Our next list is from DJ Drew.
Busy finish to a busy year, so these are being posted without comment, other than, out of the hundreds of albums dashed past our ears this year, these stuck out for me.
Under An Endless Sky by Dorothy Moskowitz & the united states of alchemy (Tompkins Square)
Nik writesCIHRP Radio’s Best of 2023: Nik Hunder
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2023. Our next list is from Substitute DJ Nik Hunder.
Ranking the best albums at the end of year is always aa tough task because it forces you to omit all of the other great albums not from 2023 one has discovered across the year. All of these are absolute gems to listen to on vinyl.
The Window by Ratboys (Topshelf Records)
Inject this straight into my veins. By far the best record release this year and its the only one I'm ranking because it truly deserves to be number. The music Chicago's Ratboys makes is nearly impossible to disagree with and is full of Kentucky blues inflections that Julia (Vocals/Songwriting) grew up with. They're absolutely flourishing as a quartet