ybnbo's Favorite Music of 2023
"I don't miss old hoes, not even a little bit."
Emilio’s Favorite Music of 2023
It might sound strange to say or hear but I’m pretty proud of the music I listened to in 2023. I made a very conscious effort to listen to more new music than I had ever listened to in a calendar year. I’ve always been very lucky to have the internet at my hands and also to be surrounded by friends with discerning tastes so that I don’t spend my time online, I don’t know, ranking Drake albums or something else stupid like that.
Don’t ever let someone tell you that music — or really, any form of art — is getting bad, boring, etc. because that just means they haven’t put in the time or care to find the good stuff. I can tell you firsthand, just like last year, 2023 was filled with more great shit.
Favorite albums
Niontay, Dontay’s Inferno
Veezer, Ganger
Amaarae, Fountain Baby
Tisakorean, Let Me Update My Status
billy woods & Kenny Segal, Maps
Valee & Harry Fraud, Virtuoso
NewJeans, Get Up EP
MIKE, Burning Desire
Larry June & The Alchemist, The Great Escape
Caroline Polachek, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
SZA, SOS
MIKE, Wiki & The Alchemist, Faith Is A Rock
Julie Byrne, The Greater Wings
Zelooperz, Microphone Fiend
Wednesday, Rat Saw God
Jim Legxacy, homeless n**** pop music
HiTech, DÉTWAT
Liv.e, Girl in the Half Pearl
Brent Faiyaz, Larger Than Life
Cleo Sol, Gold
Favorite songs
Niontay, “THANK ALLAH”
Byron Messia, “Talibans”
Earl Sweatshirt, “Danity Kane (Making the Band)”
Peggy Gou, “(It Goes Like) Nanana”
Tisakorean, “uHhH HuH.Mp3”
Sexxy Red, “SkeeYee”
Veeze, “No Sir Ski”
NewJeans, “Super Shy”
quinn, “Camrymuzak”
Zelooperz, “Microphone Fiend”
Olivia Rodrigo, “bad idea right?”
Babyface Ray & 42 Dugg, “Ron Artest”
454 & Surf Gang, “BARBIE”
ZAYALLCAPS & My Favorite Color, “PHINEAS”
PinkPantheress, “Mosquito”
Certified Trapper, “Overrated”
Valee & Harry Fraud, “About That (feat. 03 Greedo)”
Faye Webster, “But Not Kiss”
Boldy James & RichGains, “Dopey (feat. Sir Michael Rocks)”
Mach-Hommy & Tha God Fahim, “N****s Sooooo Good”
Old stuff that I revisited a lot
Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense
Joyce Manor, Never Hungover Again
Cults, Cults
Parquet Courts, Sympathy for Life
Clairo, Immunity
454, FAST TRAX 3
Starlito & Don Trip, Step Brothers Three
Roc Marciano, Marcielago
Babytron, Bin Reaper
A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders
Kevin’s Favorite Music of 2023
I spent most of 2022 beating myself up over passive listening.
The act of listening, much like watching and reading, deserves undivided attention, though every passing year seems to be an argument against that idea. I don’t enjoy using playlists, YouTube’s autoplay feature, and car speakers to soundtrack my routine or fill empty space. Turning on a song can’t set a “mood” or “feeling” for me, though, eventually, it can undoubtedly prescribe one.
Participation in the conversation around music should not be a race to categorize things into a binary “good” or “bad,” nor is it an opportunity to use metrics as a cudgel. And it’s certainly not to be a shared moment of internet consumption disguised as community building.
This year, I’ve stopped treating music as an essential companion for surfing the internet or washing dishes and just sat with it and listened. I use headphones and play out entire albums and singles — I still prefer albums over singles, by the way — and I occasionally sit on my sofa with speakers aimed at my head as I do nothing. I’ve found myself listening for lyrics without reading them first — a feeling similar to using subtitles on Netflix, which I’m only opposed to on a first watch — and I’m no longer using album reviews as a pitch to jumping into something. I’ve become a better listener.
I think for 2024, I want to optimize listening, whatever that means. Maybe that involves keeping a media journal and writing/reflecting on things after I hear them. Or, maybe, that means dedicating a specific timeframe to listen every week.
Albums (in no particular order)
billy woods & Kenny Segal, Maps
Bully, Lucky For You
Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist, VOIR DIRE
King Krule, Space Heavy
Jeff Rosenstock, HELLMODE
Jessy Lanza, Love Hallucation
Kelela, Raven
Larry June & The Alchemist, The Great Escape
Liv.e, Girl in the Half Pearl
Maxo, Even God Has a Sense of Humor
MIKE, Burning Desire
NewJeans, Get Up EP
Noname, Sundial
Palehound, Eye on the Bat
Sexyy Red, Hood Hottest Princess
Slauson Malone 1, EXCELSIOR
Tinashe, BB/ANG3L
Tisakorean, Let Me Update My Status
Veeze, Ganger
Wiki & Tony Seltzer, 14K Figaro
Wednesday, Rat Saw God
Yaeji, With a Hammer
Young Nudy, Gumbo
Zelooperz & Quadie Diesel, Quazel
100 gecs, 10,000 gecs
Songs (in no particular order)
Babyface Ray & 42 Dugg, “Ron Artest”
Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar, “The Hillbillies”
Bully, “All I Do”
By Storm, “Double Trio”
Car Seat Headrest, “Beach Life-In-Death (Live at Brooklyn Steel)”
Earl Sweatshirt, “Danity Kane (Making the Band)”
Faye Webster, “But Not Kiss”
George Riley & Hudson Mohawke, “S e x”
Jessy Lanza, “Limbo”
Liv.e, “Wild Animals”
Mannequin Pussy, “I Got Heaven”
Masakatsu Takagi, “Marginalia #131”
NewJeans, “Super Shy”
Niontay, “Real Hiphop (Feat. El Couseau, MIKE & Earl Sweatshirt)”
Olivia Rodrigo, “get him back!”
Palehound, “Eye on the Bat”
Peggy Gou, “(It Goes Like) Nanana”
Pissed Jeans, “No Convenient Apocalypse”
RXK Nephew, “Yeezy Boots”
Slauson Malone 1, “Voyager”
Tierra Whack, “Chanel Pit”
Tisakorean, “mIdDiE FiNgErS Up.mP3
Vegyn, “Halo Flip (feat. Lauren Auder)”
Yaeji, “For Granted”
100 gecs, “The Most Wanted Person in the United States”
Music not from 2023
De La Soul, Buhloone Mindstate
Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense
Injury Reserve, By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 2] // Video Game Intelligent Drum & Bass Mix for CHILL, STUDY, FOCUS
Masakatsu Takagi, Okaeri Mone
Soil & Pimp Sessions, Lost in Tokyo