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Willie McDonagh writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2023: Willie McDonagh
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2023. Our next list is from DJ Willie McDonagh.
#1 False Lankum by Lankum (Rough Trade)
Blood flows in tales from the ballad tradition, and Dublin-based folk group Lankum makes sure you know that it’s not metaphorical. Virtuosic vocal performances from band member Radie Peat draw out real pain and heartbreak, and the band’s experiments with vocal harmony, drones, and tape loops are a resounding success. This album is glacial, in that its massive bulk inches forward with deceptive might, it lets out creaks and pops from deep within, and if you were to take a core sample, you’d find the incredibly old roots of the Irish folk tradition. You might encounter purity tests in traditional music, interrogating your validity as a keeper of a sacred thing. But as Lankum itself has cited, harmony singing is not a “traditional” part of Irish music, and instruments like guitar and tin whistle don’t go nearly as far back as “pure” singing. The saxophone was quite popular in the genre in the early 20th century! All this to say, the tradition progresses, like it or not. And people like Lankum. Their reverence for the past does not ignore our 21st century ears. I knew it would be my album of the year from the moment I heard the first single, and sure enough, nothing surpassed it. In fact, the only reason I’m ordering this list is so I can put False Lankum at the top. The band’s last album, The Livelong Day, wrenched me out of a long torpor by exposing me to its particular magic, and False Lankum is even better. If mystery excites you, try this and see.
CHIRP Radio writesCHIRP Radio Weekly Voyages (Dec 18 - Dec 24)
Upcoming Events:
- Wednesday Jan 10: CHIRP Radio welcomes Half Gringa to Schubas
- Wednesday Jan 10: CHIRP Radio presents Both Sides Now: A Vinyl Listening Bar at Schubas (upstairs)
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.