Below, ranked in no particular order, you can find Bob Fish’s Top 10 Albums of 2023. Click here to see all the latest lists – a Top 100 Albums and more to follow.
This is the Kit – Careful of Your Keepers
Kate Stables is one of those singers that’s impossible to resist. On Careful of Your Keepers, she conjures up a most exotic brew with the help of Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys manning the soundboard. Tightly focused, yet slightly eccentric, this is the sound of a woman who knows exactly what she wants and pulls off the kind of changes most of us can only dream about. But it’s no dream.
Spirit Fest – Bear in Town
How do you explain Spirit Fest to the uninitiated? Here’s a band that spans continents yet plays with a simplicity that comes from listening and knowing when too many elements will only muddy things up. Saya and Takashi Ueno of Tenniscoats, Notwists Markus Acher and Cico Beck, and Jam Money’s Mat Fowler hear the simplicity that makes a song like “Kou-Kou Land” shine brighter because of what they haven’t done. Less is more.
Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2
An Englishman in the Americas, playing an instrument designed for country-western music and creating new ways to play it, completing an album in two days. Weaving threads of music from genres one rarely associates with folk, like Krautrock and psychedelia, Cullum and his compatriots find ways to bring the most out of these tunes, dazzling listeners with their ability to do it in the amount of time it takes some bands just to tune up.
Penguin Café – Rain Before Seven
Firmly established outside the bounds of Simon Jeffes’ Penguin Café Orchestra, Arthur Jeffes’ Penguin Café sounds similar, but never the same. His soundscapes offer new tastes and themes created using their own palettes of colours and conditions. While there are echoes of the past, what comes through loud and clear is that this is most definitely something new and different for a new generation.
Nico Paulo – Nico Paulo
The dual nature of Nico Paulo, being Canadian born, though raised in Portugal, rather than creating a clash of cultures, actually establishes a hybrid with multiple filters. Melding time and space to create a unique mixture where her voice and songs strike chords impossible to ignore. Creating new territories by blending instruments and sounds to find a balance between genres.
King Creosote – I Des
After seven years in the wilderness, Kenny Anderson’s return was something to rejoice. A beautiful new tapestry to unfurl even as it takes on the kinds of themes that others might shy away from, like songs about his funeral, ageing, regret, and the sorts of concerns anyone in their fifties has. It’s just that Anderson sings about them. Rather than being morbid, these are the sounds of a man working his way through today’s world.
Jerry Joseph – Baby, You’re the Man Who Would Be King
Circumstances are everything, and for Jerry Joseph, writing an entire album from the comfort of the trailer parked in his driveway during the pandemic seemed like the way to go. The album rocks so hard you can almost see the trailer bouncing on its axles as these tunes sprang to life. Embodying a New York ethos while residing on the left coast, Joseph brings out the truth even when it hurts.
Harp – Albion
Ten years on from leaving Midlake, Tim Smith finally released Albion, an album by Harp that at one point seemed destined to never see the light of day. Yet the day finally arrived, proving that despite wandering in a metaphorical desert, his instincts were correct. Working with his partner and percussionist Kathi Zung, these are sounds of rebirth mixed with medieval choruses and analogue synths.
Complete Mountain Almanac – Complete Mountain Almanac
From “January” to “December,” the 12 tracks of Complete Mountain Almanac feature the songs and sounds of Rebekka Karijord and Jessica Dessner, who, with her two brothers, The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner, created a chronological album of decay and healing. Working on both global and personal levels, these songs feature heart and soul combined with the spirit of two women who refused to be dominated by forces outside their control. The healing qualities of these songs shine through, making a release that needs to be heard over and over.
All the Bees – All the Bees
All The Bees harken back to a time when voices were everything. Kirsty McGee and Gitika Partington create the kind of choral arrangements that one simply doesn’t hear anymore. Their voices merge perfectly and are often massed in ways that create unimaginable beauty. There are really no reference points for what they do, with their voices generating choirs that offer the kind of beauty one never expected.