2023 Music and Albums

Any new albums you've been checking out this year?

I'm currently listening to the new Squid. I was really hoping Squid would release their sophomore this year, since I tend to lump them in with Black Country New Road, who released their sophomore last year and their live album this year. I'm on the third track, and it's just as weird and consistent as I expect (maybe even demand) from an experimental rock album. Lemme tell you, finding five-star albums has been impossible up to this point. All the albums people hype up are just a tad underwhelming to me. Until now my favorite was the new Xiu Xiu. This is my top five so far (until I finish this, greatly expecting it to be my new number 1).

1. Xiu Xiu - Ignore Grief
2. Parannoul - After the Magic
3. Lovebites - Judgement Day
4. Jeromes Dream - The Gray in Between
5. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Maps

This Squid album is totally for you, Gulfport.

Heh, heh. Is that their "O Monolith" album? Listened to a little on YT. They have some interesting stuff, but possibly lean a little too much on electronic sound manufacture.

Sorry to say I haven't heard much of anything that's been done in the last 15-20 years...

I've listened to a paltry amount so far, I'm afraid, but here's some recs anyway:

Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (all-around fun pop album)
Riverside - ID.Entity (Polish prog)
Uriah Heep - Chaos & Colour (They've still got it!)

...and one guilty pleasure:
Ghost - Phantomime (a covers EP)

Tim Hecker's new album, No Highs, is very solid.

Taylor Swift has more No. 1 albums than any woman in history
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news...023m?PC=EMMX01
I would've thought it was Madonna, but it appears the previous record holder was Barbara Streisand.

Good time for a Bee Gees tune.

New Sigur Ros record
New Beach Fossils record
Explosions in the Sky have a new one out in September

I was going to say the new Dry Cleaning record, but that was last year. So maybe I haven't really found anything from this year that I'm consistently listening to.


EDIT: Even though I've found it a fairly disappointing record, and almost like a parody album of everything that likely makes The National so insufferably dull to so many people...I'm slowly warming up to their new First Two Pages of Frankenstein record. Or at least a third of the tracks on it.

It still pales to most of their work though.