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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2023. Our next list is from Weekly DJ DJ Duggery.
Eyo eyo, sup y'all? Man, what a year. Going into my top 10s, I looked back at what I listed from last year and...yeesh, I haven't listened to half of those in, well, a year. So we tried to hone it down to the ones that I think'll really stick with the lot of us. There were some funky jelly jams this year, let's give 'em a lil' gander. Hope ya enjoy!
#1 DJ E by Chuquimamani-Condori (self-released)
I've been saying it for years, the future of electronic music lies in the hearts and souls of latine trans women. Maybe I'm a bit biased as a nonbinary latine person myself, but Chuqumamani-Condori (Elysia Crampton)'s new release has solidified my opinion to a fine diamond. Experimental, future-forward maximalist club deconstructions seep through this record to create a new sound that I can truly say I've never heard before or since. It's challenging for sure, but if you stick with it this album can change your entire perception of what music can sound like. At least, that's what it did for me.
#2 The Worm by HMLTD (Lucky Number)
If you told me last year that a rock opera would be making its way into my top 10 albums of 2K23, I would have scoffed. But as an art kid raised on Rush, I guess it's not actually that surprising. Curious? Here, let me just mention the base concept of this album. A worm has devoured England, and it threatens to consume the entirety of Europe. It's silly and theatrical, but it also manages to create these surprising moments of tension and deep reflection. So yeah, of course existentialist worm music deserves a top 10 spot!
#3 Anochi by GEZAN with Million Wish Collective (あのち)
Anochi acted as my first intro to GEZAN...and damn, what an intro! This album presents itself as a hard dive into art punk, but that energy is equally balanced with softer points of modern psychedelia. This is an album for when I want to move and groove as much as it's an album for when I want to lie down and simply exist for a few minutes. There aren't many songs these days that make me want to scream-sing along to them quite like the songs on this one. And for that alone, this album jumped into my #3 spot.
#4 The Lamb as Effigy by Sprain (Flenser Records)
To me, this album feels like the peanut butter to fellow Flenser alum Chat Pile's jelly. It manages to be just as aggressive and chaotic as the hardcore sweethearts, but this chaos melts into soundscapes of beautiful droning doom and gloom. Even beyond its apocalyptic wailing, Sprain's heartfelt foray into post-rock, namely the 24-minute epic "Margin for Error" that appears around the halfway mark, produces a cryptic panorama of apocalyptic proportions.
#5 False Lankum by Lankum (Rough Trade)
An early-year recommendation from good friend and fellow DJ Willie, I had honestly forgotten this album up until right near the end of the year. And may I say, forgetting to check out this album for so long may have been my largest music mistake of the year by far. Continuing the theme of ominous and apocalyptic audio environments, False Lankum breaks Irish folk down into some of the most dark, gothic drones I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Each song is a slow descent towards the far-reverberating growls of a hypnotic abyss. Follow the sound and you'll find yourself surrounded by an ethereal orchestra.
#6 SAVED! by Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter (Perpetual Flame Ministries)
Continuing down the river of gothic gloom, Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter delivers an infernal hymnal to our eager ears. Accompanied by what I can only describe as the rotting corpse of a grand piano, the Reverend approaches Christian music through a new lens that lies antagonistic to the saccharine output of many of her contemporaries. Experimenting with tape distortion and glossolalia as musical elements, SAVED! is an album of true healing. Away from the optimistic narratives of healing that may alienate some, this album is Reverend Hayter self-healing in a wholly complex and powerful way.
#7 Grave Robbing by Leroy (self-released)
Veering hard away from the doom and gloom, local Chicago DJ Leroy (Jane Remover) mixes an absolutely wild ride on Grave Robbing. A love letter to pop culture of the early 2000s via routes of hardcore dance and euro-trance, this is an album you'll either immediately love or vehemently hate. It's a peak non-stop queer dance party from start to finish, mashing sample after sample into hyper-energetic Dariacore (yes, that's a thing, and it's amazing). This one's for all the queer Zoomer kids out there that grew up on Touhou and speedcore, y'all go have a blast with this one!
#8 El Día Libre de Polux by Chini.png (Uva Robot)
I've heard some people refer to 2K23 as "the year shoegaze made a comeback", and I think nobody proves that quite like Chilean dream pop rockers Chini.png. Filled to the brim with lush and beautiful guitar and synth work, El Día Libre de Polux is the musical equivalent of taking a nap on an endless sea of clouds. It draws on shoegaze foundations laid out by genre legends like Sweet Trip and Candy Claws, then builds their sound further to stand tall against the giants. Chini.png is climbing their way toward a celestial shoegaze heaven, and I hope this only marks the start of their journey.
#9 Infinity Signature by Full Body 2 (self-released)
When a genre makes a comeback it doesn't just return, but rather it comes back with something new. Nu-disco brought modern dance sensibilities to the 80s genre. With the modern shoegaze revival, bands like Full Body 2 are evolving the genre by incorporating funky elements like drum and bass stylings. That may feel like an odd pairing, but really atmospheric drum and bass already acts as the 2010s vibe equivalent to 90s dream pop shoegaze. They're genres built on psychedelia and dreamscapes, and on Infinity Signature, Full Body 2 expertly combines these elements to take our hand and guide us through an electroacoustic galaxy of infinite proportions.
#10 Again by Oneohtrix Point Never (Warp)
Following his relatively pop-oriented 2020 release Magic, Oneohtrix Point Never (Daniel Lopatin) is back with an effervescent bout of progressive electronic bliss. While I can't personally say which of his styles I prefer more, this stint into experimental glitch/post-rock/classical builds up extraterrestrial atmospheres that fill me with wonder and glee. Again is hiking through a forest on an alien planet. You walk and walk, passing the still beauty of unknowable trees, only then broken up by the surprising beauty of a crashing waterfall, awe-inspiring in its roaring presence.
Honorable Mentions
Thanks so much for reading my top 10 for the year, I really appreciate it! This has been a wild year for music, and honestly, it was a struggle to decide what to highlight here versus what to cut. Hell, I even built out a top 100 list for myself to help hone this final one down, and cutting from that ended up being a struggle in itself! I don't have the room here to showcase all top 100 picks, but I thought I'd throw in some more honorable mentions for all ya music goblins out there with insatiable appetites.
Honorable Mentions:
Ana Frango Elétrico - Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua (Mr Bongo | Funk, MPB)
Squid - O Monolith (Warp Records | Noise Rock, Post-Punk)
Bruiser and Bicycle - Holy Red Wagon (Topshelf Records | Indie Rock, Psychedelia)
Yaeji - With a Hammer (XL Recordings | Glitch Pop, UK Bass)
Nana Benz du Togo - AGO (Komos | Electronic, World)
Thanks again y'all, this has been an absolute blast!
Peace and Love,
DJ Duggery
Next entry: CHIRP Radio’s Best of 2023: Bobby Evers
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