જ⁀➴
RADIOLIO'S TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2023
... and some complementary pairings
Everyone who publishes year-end lists makes a big deal about how much work / thought / agony goes into compiling them. As someone who used to make those lists all the time, I can confirm that people will like, lose their minds working on this shit but that the payoff for all that hand-wringing is essentially nothing.
Unless you're with various Times or a leading trade pub, the rest of us are shouting into the void with our delicately balanced curations, those considerations between commercial juggernauts and overlooked treasures.
And yet! Here is my shout. Along with each entry, I've included a few miscellaneous cultural objects that fit within the album's/artist's universe.
To calibrate you to my general frequency (my version of tuning to 440A), this is my most recent fascination:
^ s/o @cosmicvelocity on Tumblr for sharing; Jersey's EP The World I'm Searching For (Spotify / YouTube Music) is a cheesy fun time
Okay. In alphabetical order by artist...
Ali Sethi & Nicolas Jaar — Intiha
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
Every now and then I'll go, "Huh, I wonder what [X] has been up to since their 'hey-day' fêting in the music press." I had that moment with Nic Jaar this year and was pleasantly surprised to see that he'd been in remix-conversation with the Pakistani-American artist Ali Sethi. Sethi's voice moves like a rising curl of smoke as it's pushed and pulled around a central upward current by many murmuring cross breezes, but the balance between its chameleonic, fluttering warmth and Jaar's equally serpentine (and chopped up) compositions is what keeps me coming back to the record. I've been going through Sethi's catalog; this was a nice place to start reading about him, if you're so inclined.
The one I keep returning to: "Nazer Se" sounds the way walking through a field of tall grass feels
Pairs with: that first sip of coffee (or tea) in the morning— detailed marginalia in a used book— the manga series Planetes by Makoto Yukimura
Caroline Polachek — Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
This bitch (reverently)... My ringtone for my high school boyfriend was fucking "Bruises" (by Chairlift, her previous band) so yeah, I'm deep into the Caro-LINE universe. Out of all the things that have me laying flowers at her altar, the one that I admit to being particularly protective about is the fact that she doesn't shave her armpits. That shouldn't be a big deal and it isn't, except most female pop singers (even the Feminists) capitulate to this ground-level division of beauty standards. Oh lol and obviously uhhhhh the music is like... stratospheric... She's the only artist of her technical caliber who's building on the legacies of my personal faves Enya and Utada Hikaru and yes... Dame Catherine Bush... while pushing and developing something entirely her own. Also, I admit to being charmed by her pop-poetic lyrics, like, "Sexting sonnets under the table," wench!core is iN.
The one I keep returning to: this changes every couple of months but don't ask me how many times I've cried when the choir comes in during "Hopedrunk Everasking"
Pairs with: a morningstar— the novel Y/N by Esther Yi (my favorite read of the year)— that scene in The Return of the King when Pippin's singing and Denethor pops the tomato between his teeth while taking furious bites of roasted fowl... you know the one
Kelela — Raven
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
The first time I listened to Raven all the way through, I texted my friend Lisa like "?????" (paraphrasing) and in return, Lisa replied, "She's a subtle genius." I keep returning to that turn of phrase to describe Kelela, a sonic artisan who's seemingly mastered the alchemical formula for creating immaculately textured moods that blow a kiss at the notion of "vibes" before pushing deeper. Her voice, even at a whisper, winds a thin wire around your body until suddenly, you're pulled taut in the trap she's laid out patiently, like a meditative spider. (The transition from "Raven" to "Bruises," hello!) I miss and still love the brighter palette of Hallucinogen and the more coquette cuts on Take Me Apart but nothing made me want to float on my back in a body of gently waving water under a night sky more than Raven: that desire for transcendent weightlessness, for sublimation of the self, for no mortal questions, only immortal and thus honest answers... AH!
The one I keep returning to: if you're around snow this time of year, listen to "Sorbet" at dusk while clomping through some brittle wonderland and you might see God in Her glory (this "Contact" remix is incredible though)
Pairs with: a generous pour of honey wine— anything from the 100% SILK SHOP catalog— the oeuvre of Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu
Kevin Abstract — Blanket
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
This is a bit of a bittersweet rec because Kevin Abstract's recent show at SF's Café du Nord was a real let-down. Not in terms of what he actually performed, but so much of his set was spent bantering (badly) with the crowd, interfacing with them as though they were all still wrapped up in the BROCKHAMPTOM mythos which, okay, the crowd recognized and cheered for Romil but at the end of the day, we sang back his, Kevin Abstract's songs, because he was always a distinct personality outside of the boy band that eventually fell apart because of (self-admittedly) his own actions, which were divulged to the general listening public in the form of records and sOcIaL mEdIa because that's always truth, ha, ha. It was disheartening to watch Abstract, moments after restarting a song just to listen to the audience sing it back to him, decide to cut performances of his new record to indulge in insecure stagecraft. ANYWAY: yes yes, Blanket is Kevin Abstract's attempt at Alex G, but I'm so often reminded of the gutting intimacy and splendor of the record American Boyfriend, which turned me into a boy (joking!...), that whatever he did was always going to be one of my favorites of any year.
The one I keep returning to: when he opened his set with "The Greys," I was that binch in the crowd that audibly went, "Oh my god, I love this song"
Pairs with: therapy— the essay "Baby Yeah" by the late Anthony Veasna So— the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibit at SF MoMA (runs until 3/3/24)
Maria BC — Spike Field
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
I didn't include Rachika Nayar's record Heaven Come Crashing on my 2022 best-of roundup because I hadn't listened to it that much when it came out, but it ended up becoming one of my favorite records from that year and, separately, turned me onto Maria BC (who's a featured artist on the title track and one other). I love any artist who knows what to do with negative space, and I also have a soft spot for sepulchral music. Maria BC scratches both of those tricky itches, and also happens to be based in Oakland now so, hey! One of my 2024 intentions is to engineer a meeting between me and them, haha, just kidding... But they're exactly the kind of person who's going to be at Chapel of the Chimes for the summer solstice... I'm manifesting...
The one I keep returning to: I put "Haruspex" on my book 2 playlist so... :) but also :(
Pairs with: the short story "Morrigan in the Sunglare" by Seth Dickinson (whose novel The Traitor Baru Cormorant is a recent fixation)— the fresh tofu at Joodooboo on Market— the beautiful and strange candles by @ivory_tata / Xiang Yata
Mitski — The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
The one I keep returning to: I put "Star" on the book 2 playlist but if I were still in the habit of fucking around with the book 1 playlist (which I'm not!) ... "I'm Your Man"
Pairs with: the novella Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto— the manga series The Land of the Lustrous by Haruko Ichikawa— the art of Palestinian painter Sliman Mansour
Romy — Mid Air
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
Romy's first true blue post-The xx single "Lifetime" was one of those songs that pushed its way into my listening rotation by sly force. A club banger that came out during the early year of the pandemic; a decisive unmasking of the taciturn persona Romy had kept as a member of The xx; a novel use of that distinctive voice, which rarely erupted into the kind of ecstatic euphoria that characterizes most dance music. Every further single cemented my interest in the full album, and while the middle section of Mid Air doesn't hold onto that promise, I! dare! you! to listen to "Enjoy Your Life" (with its Beverly Glenn-Copeland sample) and not Snoopydance. Also... I know it's been a breakout couple of years for "double u-ell-double u" music but no one, and I mean NO ONE, is operating in that space with as much genuine affection as Romy.
The one I keep returning to: ENJOY! YOUR! LIFE!
Pairs with: the paintings of Chinese American pioneer Bernice Bing— eating something fried and/or cheesy at 2 in the morning with your blissed out friends— cooking breakfast for the first time for a new lover
Strange Ranger — Pure Music
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
It bums me out so much that Strange Ranger disbanded earlier this year... When people (including me) go on and on about the absolute ravaging that's been going on in the music industry (not just because of Spotify but it's a main culprit for sure), bands like Strange Ranger—who were in it to evolve on their own terms, who will almost definitely be cult favorites in a decade if not a few years—are the most obvious casualties. Pure Music didn't sound like anything else in its elisions and casual collisions of genre, and it will not be followed up anytime soon by anything as erudite (I'm serious!) and vital. Plus, they were an incredible live show... but I can't be too sad because at least Isaac's been moving into production... no, I'm still sad...
The one I keep returning to: "BLUE SHADE" ... that doomed!Chromatics sound is a thread that I wish literally any other band picked up as deftly
Pairs with: reading a book of critical theory at an unfamiliar bar— the anime series Sonny Boy— the art of Oda Iselin Sønderland
Tanukichan — Gizmo
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
I distinctly remember the first time I got a PR blast about "Tanukichan" yearsssss ago and being like... suspect about the name, and all these insecurities about the intersection between art and artist identity and the fangless paranoia of like, Wait, am I only being pitched this person because I'm AsIaN?! Flash forward and yeah, that shit definitely happens, but while I was fretting, Hannah Junghwa van Loon got busy churning out the kind of knotty, scuzzy garage rock that is absolute catnip to anyone who remembers the sensation of and enjoys breaking skin during a show. And then I learned that Gizmo is dedicated to her former dog... and then I learn that she's also based in Oakland... hang on lemme go hug my Oakland dog real tight for a second... (post-hug update, why does my dog smell like seaweed???)
The one I keep returning to: technically not an album cut, but still from this year, "NPC" is the song that brought me into the Tanukichan universe
Pairs with: frozen beer (need to go back to Bon, Nene in SF)— sprinting the final block of your run— holding your dog's confused face between your palms for a really long time
yunè pinku — BABYLON IX
Soundcloud / Spotify / YouTube Music
For most of my adult life, my favorite artist was/is Gr*mes. In light of things I really don't want to get into here, I've relinquished her music, not because of some sort of active boycott but because it just makes me sad to listen to her work. Which is a very ungraceful way of saying that when I first listened to yunè pinku, I went, "I know you" (like Théoden, king of Rohan, returned to lucidity and embracing Éowyn's face—I'll stop). I've since discovered other artists that scratch the Gr*mes itch—Pearly Drops, Ушко, Snow Strippers—but there's something particularly beguiling about yuné pinku's approach. Like CP, she's definitely indebted to anime (read: Japanese) pop music, but (like CP) she tinkers with the parts that thread the needle between future nostalgia and true future.
The one I keep returning to: "Blush Cut" makes me feel like I'm a pixel prince dual-wielding cyber warrior on the run from love in the year 3099
Pairs with: the animated short film Puparia— the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury— the tattoo work of @puppypuppyplaytime / Jenny Collins
🌱
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The Chemical Brothers — For That Beautiful Feeling
Official / Spotify / YouTube Music
I don't remember when I heard my first CB song ("Swoon"), but it left an impression. I don't listen to most of these tracks but I will and do repeat "Goodbye" when I work out.
Pairs with: sweat— memories of would-be lovers— insomnia
James K & hoodie — 065 (Scorpio)
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube Music
Someone I follow on Tumblr had "Scorpio" as his #1 most-listened to song of the year, and then a few weeks later, I went to Cone Shape Top and chatted with co-owner Cat about this record as she put it on for the store. Water signs, dawg...
Pairs with: browsing the discount stacks at your local record haunt— the anime series Boogiepop Phantom— seasonal fall produce
Kate Bush — Aerial
Official / Spotify / YouTube Music
I had COVID (much!) earlier this year and the only two things I did while I was bedridden were 1) watch the entirety of Nana (Ai Yazawa, so bad so good) (in the cadence of Lykke Li "So Sad So Sexy") and 2) listen to Aerial on repeat. And from the dark mist of my fever, I emerged certain that this record is Dame Catherine Bush's Best.
Pairs with: any episode of The Joy of Painting (aka Bob Ross) that features Peapod the pocket squirrel, the website WindowSwap, shrooms
🌱
I'm writing this in the wee hours of the morn so this is my personal cue to Log Off. For those of you who care, Book 2 Draft 1 will be complete...soon... :)
Okay, thanks for "listening." Stay tuned...!
🎶 xoxo Lio
♬ﾟ࿐⋆｡♪₊˚. ݁₊ ⊹ *:･ﾟ. ݁