[…continued from last post]

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

So what were my favorite albums of the year? I think this year I have set a modern record for hearing albums contemporaneously in the year of their release. Seventeen albums from the year 2023; not counting reissues. They’re separate and will appear later. So what does that list ranking them look like? It’s hard being that subjective to so much good music, but I suppose it’s expected of me, so let’s get to it.

1. Ardala: Halls Of Antiquity
2. Steven Jones + Logan Sky: Sacred Figures
3. John Cale: Mercy
4. John Foxx: Avenham
5. The Metamorph: The Man On The 99th Floor
6. The Metamorph: Exhibition
7. John Foxx: The Arcades Project
8. Moebius: Aspirin
9. Simple Minds: New Gold Dream Live From Paisley Abbey
10. Radio Makers: Lucky Stars
11. Rain To Rust: Martyrdom – Eight Exercises
12. OMD: Bauhaus Staircase
13. Bob Gaulke: The Humanities [I]
14. Bob Gaulke: The Humanities [II]
15. Bob Gaulke: One Last Shot
16. Bob Gaulke: Strawberry Fields
17. Various: Futurism

What can I say? 2023 has been the year of Gavin Brick. Three albums each moving in unique synth spaces with the top spot taken by his elegant collaboration with Phil Heeks of British Stereo Collective as the synth duo Ardala. It’s the sort of collaborative work up there with things like the first John Foxx + The Maths album. The kind of effort that lodges immediately in one’s comfort zone and feeds our brainstem endorphins on the first play. I only got a copy a few weeks ago and have not reviewed it yet on PPM, so watch this space!

Steven Jones + Logan Sky keep growing and developing ever more complex musical muscles. They are roping in top quality sidemen like Jan Linton and Gary Barnacle to push their boundaries out further each time so how can I do anything but approve… vigorously. Another late breaking album was just bought in the 2023 window from John Cale. His first in ten years, but it seems to be a highly collaborative effort with all manner of Young Art Rock Turks lending their support with grandmaster Cale pulling it all together adroitly.

John Foxx had almost a matched pair of ambient/piano albums that made for a haunting, yet lush, listen. No sooner than “The Arcade Project” been announced, then “Avenham” beat it to the shelves! It sounded like he took a lot of inspiration from his friend Harold Budd here and how could that be anything but great?

Mr. Brick had another pair of albums in his solo Metamorph guise. We’ve already reviewed the dystopic “The Man On The 99th Floor,” but his live, improvisational album “Exhibition” was worlds apart from that vibe and was my favorite such album since Harold Budd’s “Perhaps.”

Perennial faves Simple Minds followed up their slightly tepid lockdown album “Direction Of The Heart” with a stronger live album where they played their classic “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]” album for a SkyArts special commemorating its 40th anniversary last year. The then current band managed to have some fun with the notion; not treating it like a calcified thing. It was glorious to hear Charlie Burchill inhabit that space fully once more.

Speaking of tepid lockdown albums, OMD missed the goal on their such effort, “Bauhaus Staircase.” A lack of top tier material and production/mastering technique didn’t help matters further. If not for the winning track “Kleptocracy,” this would have been perhaps further down the list. They say it will be their final album. I hope it is, because backsliding isn’t pretty and I’ve heard worse OMD albums than this one, so I know they are capable.

Bob Gaulke only released six albums last year, but four of them are on this list. He’s usually more productive, but I imagine that any album reticence last year was down to his budget to pay for the opuses. I think of Bob’s sly, witty pop [usually perpendicular to South American forms] as being his perpetual “Sandinista!” project. I think he’s putting everything down without overthinking any of it to simply create his body of work. And at the end of it I think it will rival those canons of Bill Nelson or Prince for its sheer size. Speaking of whom…party over, whoops, out of time!

Next: …Reissues And Singles