From the latest chapter in singer-songwriter Eddie Chacon’s critically acclaimed second coming to the long-awaited debut solo album from Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist Knoel Scott.
Beloved readers, if your travels through the wide expanse of the internet have brought you to this blog’s humble corner then it is probable that like us, you are avid seekers of new music and have consequently read many of this very type of article in recent weeks. In consideration of that likelihood we will spare you the usual introductory spiel and cut straight to the chase; from the latest chapter in singer-songwriter Eddie Chacon’s critically acclaimed second coming to the long-awaited debut solo album from Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist Knoel Scott, find our ten favourite albums to release in 2023 presented in alphabetical order below.
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Eddie Chacon
Sundown
(Stones Throw Records)
If of the millennial generation or prior then you are likely familiar with the music of revitalised American singer-songwriter Eddie Chacon, whose global anthem ‘Would I Lie To You?’ dominated airwaves across the world and rendered him a household name during the early 1990s as one half of Charles & Eddie.
After retreating from the music industry for over two decades 2020 welcomed Chacon’s unexpected return through the arrival of a meditative debut solo album showcasing that time had in no way dulled the musician’s tools and creative edge. Where Chacon’s aforementioned Pleasure, Joy And Happiness exercised a celestial and hypnagogic take on R&B, its downtempo, analogue-inclined flair perfectly equipped to serve as a soothing balm during those uncertain early pandemic days, follow-up Sundown applies the same formula previously devised with Grammy nominated pianist John Carroll Kirby to an ensemble setting steeped in subtle balearic hues that tastefully nod to the Mediterranean setting wherein the album’s initial ideas were formed. Bolstered by the newfound endorsement of venerable LA wax slingers Stones Throw Records, Sundown presents Chacon one step closer toward being cemented as a singular torchbearer for a gold standard of soul music within the twenty-first century.
Recommended track(s): ‘Step By Step’, ‘Comes And Goes’, ‘The Morning Sun’
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Enji
Ulaan
(Squama)
The pairing of Mongolian ceremonial long song and jazz may not sound like the most approachable of stylistic combinations at face value however Ulaan, the third full-length album from Munich-based singer-songwriter Enji is so teeming with melodic sensibility that it welcomes the most casual of listeners to its dreamlike and evocative domain. Throughout the album woodwinds, trumpet, guitars and drums form a delicate assemblage of sound over which Enji’s seraphic vocals unfurl with an elegant cadence and cavernous range. A late entrant to the listening rotation of this consumer fast became one of the most essential long players of the year.
Recommended track(s): ‘Taivshral’, ‘Temeen Deerees Naran Oirhon’, ‘Ulaan’
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King Krule
Space Heavy
(XL Recordings)
An enduring fixture of the blog, each time that the trademark melancholia of London-raised crooner Archy Marshall resurfaces any prior notion of a creative apex being reached is quickly dispelled. A fastidious scholar of wide-ranging stylistic threads and a savant of dense texture and mood, on Space Heavy Marshall returns his critically acclaimed King Krule moniker from seclusion wisened, with renewed focus and a patient approach exhibited through an inclination to dial the pace back to, dare I venture, tempos of the slowcore variety?
Recommended track(s): ‘Flimsier’, ‘Seaforth’, ‘Our Vacuum’
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Liv.e
Girl In The Half Pearl
(In Real Life)
Through the creation of her keenly awaited sophomore album Dallas-born multi-hyphenate Liv.e forged an artistic statement unyielding in its diversity, cycling through hallmarks of drum and bass, hip-hop, neo soul, psychedelia and beyond with a freewheeling ease that renders the project defiant of any neat categorisations.
Whilst forgoing a degree of cohesion in favour of pursuing an unfettered vision for experimentation Girl In The Half Pearl presents a compelling clash of aesthetics through its revolving door policy, each hairpin turn revealing a new facet of its idiosyncratic creator and seldom returning to the same well of inspiration twice. Nestled amongst the album’s web of complexities Liv.e also takes time to lock in to one of the most unshakeable hooks of the year within the languorous and sublime ‘Wild Animals’.
Recommended track(s): ‘Lake Psilocybin’, ‘Find Out’, ‘Wild Animals’
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Thandi Ntuli & Carlos Niño
Rainbow Revisited
(International Anthem)
During a year abundant with ensemble-based jazz albums, South African pianist Thandi Ntuli’s Rainbow Revisited offered a refreshing counterpoint through its decidedly sparse and minimalistic configuration. Created in collaboration with Los Angeles producer-percussionist Carlos Niño, the aforementioned bears an understated presence throughout the album from a sonic standpoint, his rustling accompaniment only surfacing scarcely within what is otherwise a suite of piano and vocal studies that paint a breathtaking, intimate portrait exhibiting Ntuli’s wide-ranging capabilities when seated at her favoured instrument.
Recommended track(s): ‘Rainbow Revisited’, ‘Nomayoyo (Ingoma ka Mkhulu)’,
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Arthur Russell
Picture Of Bunny Rabbit
(Rough Trade Records)
Word of newly mined insight in to the creative nous of late, great American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Arthur Russell is always a prospect worthy of clamouring for and this year’s Picture Of Bunny Rabbit made no exception to the rule.
For those who view the seminal title World Of Echo with an undying reverence, Picture Of Bunny Rabbit is simply and undeniably an essential listen – having been meticulously assembled from tapes of the same era. For those yet to become acquainted with Russell’s disparate and uncompromising musical world, expect compositions binding ghostly vocals, a contorted and boundlessly expressive command of the cello and oceanic swathes of reverb that will stay with you for years to come.
Recommended track(s): ‘The Boy With A Smile’, ‘Picture Of Bunny Rabbit’
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Loris S. Sarid
A Tiny Reminder
(Moon Glyph)
2023 marked a notable year for ambient and new age music with a widening interest perhaps by and large owed to sequestered polymath André 3000’s recent flute-led dalliance with the genres.
Elsewhere a tried and tested troubadour of said creative spaces, Glasgow-based Loris S. Sarid has spent the past several years constructing a quietly monumental discography that exists within the parameters of ambient music. From the 2020 list-topping Music For Tomato Plants to present Sarid’s output has maintained an intentional, carefully considered and deeply musical approach, ever-focused on a deft marriage of acoustic and electronic sound sources and never succumbing to potential stumbling blocks within vicinity of a compositional practice that is typically repetitive in form. Kindling his irrepressible creative spark once more, Sarid’s latest full-length entry A Tiny Reminder deploys gently evolving synthesis, distant choral textures and flickering fragments of woodwind and percussion for a cosseting, meditative song cycle that reaffirms a profound understanding of his chosen palette.
Recommended track(s): ‘Quasi Red’, ‘Pretty Cloud’, ‘Birthday Song’
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Knoel Scott featuring Marshall Allen
Celestial
(Night Dreamer)
Knoel Scott is a figure of towering stature within the lexicon of jazz, having served more than forty years translating the otherworldly to earthier terms as a fundamental component at the fore of Philadelphia’s pioneering Sun Ra Arkestra. Such a venerable résumé would naturally set lofty expectations for the 2023 arrival of Scott’s inaugural studio album as a bandleader and within Celestial the multi-instrumentalist delivers in bountiful measure, deftly unpacking a lifetime of wisdom over five sprawling and divergent compositions.
Voyaging from more traditional bop stylings to the outer fringes of the avant-garde augmented by a quartet notably featuring longstanding Arkestra cohort Marshall Allen, Scott’s versatility cannot be overstated and his debut solo outing skilfully showcases a formidable grasp of the many splintering avenues of jazz that only the most accomplished of players could make feel so effortless, engaging and natural.
Recommended track(s): ‘Les Funambules’, ‘Celestial’, ‘Makanda’,
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Soft Walls
True Love
(Self released)
Brighton-based Dan Reeves has maintained a vital presence within the UK’s alternative underbelly for more years than is able to be counted across two hands, whether fighting the good fight as a member of Cold Pumas or spinning a kraut-flecked hypnosis within his solitary endeavours as Soft Walls.
True Love marks Reeves’ fourth full-length album to release under his beloved solo guise and presents the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, former label head etcetera in superlative form. Filtering his creative lens through a newfound mid-fi clarity, formerly ubiquitous thickets of tape hiss are thinned just enough to allow anthemic melodies to reign supreme whether communicated through mantra-like vocal incantations or guitar lines that bristle, chime and at times take flight in to the stratosphere with unflinching impact and immediacy. A certain high point within an accomplished discography that has yet to face a downswing in quality.
Recommended track(s): ‘A Whisper In Your Ear’, ‘True Love’
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billy woods & Kenny Segal
Maps
(Backwoodz Studioz)
2023 saw New York City rap linchpin billy woods once more task websites the world over with multiple albums of a remarkable quality to choose from when approaching the assignment of deliberating year-end lists.
A force of peerless proliferation, over the course of twenty years and a greater number of releases the MC has skilfully asserted that he fares well atop any groove or sound setting, yet a strong case stands to be made that his most accessible and impacting work materialises when operating within a dual configuration alongside Los Angeles producer Kenny Segal. Following the plaudits received in response to their 2019 debut collaborative outing, successor Maps finds each beat, sample and syllable perfectly matched as woods spins a vivid travelogue narrative of his life as an artist on the road to exceptional effect. Bolstered by the similarly lived insights of Samuel T. Herring, Danny Brown, Armand Hammer stablemate E L U C I D and more, the album’s noteworthy guest list provide further interest to proceedings without ever taking focus from woods’ laudable, and perhaps career-best wordplay.
Recommended track(s): ‘Soft Landing’, ‘Babylon By Bus’, ‘Hangman’, ‘FaceTime’
Honourable mentions:
André 3000 – New Blue Sun (Epic Records) – Buy / Stream
Black Country, New Road – Live At Bush Hall (Ninja Tune) – Buy / Stream
deathcrash – Less (untitled (recs)) – Buy / Stream
Fielded – Plus One (Backwoodz Studioz) – Buy / Stream
Foyer Red – Yarn The Hours Away (Carpark Records) – Buy / Stream
Maxine Funke – River Said (Disciples) – Buy / Stream
Kelela – Raven (Warp) – Buy / Stream
Gia Margaret – Romantic Piano (Jagjaguwar) – Buy / Stream
MIKE – Burning Desire (10k) – Buy / Stream
Modern Nature – Murmuration (Bella Union) – Buy / Stream
Niecy Blues – Exit Simulation (kranky) – Buy / Stream
Rahill – Flowers At Your Feet (Big Dada) – Buy / Stream
Cleo Reed – Root Cause (Self released) – Buy / Stream
Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the garden… (cst records) – Buy / Stream
A. Savage – Several Songs About Fire (Rough Trade Records) – Buy / Stream
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
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Fruit and Grooves Collective 