Would I have preferred to post my best indie albums 2023 list four or five weeks ago. Yes. Yes, I would. Am I losing sleep over it? No. It simply has low cultural relevance now.
I had most of these 20 records scratched onto a cute, pink “Mom’s To Do List” note pad at the end of the year. But one distraction lead to another and I didn’t sit down to start writing until February 1st. But get off my back already — this is the best 2023 album list you’ll read the entire month of February!
Best indie albums 2023: A few ground rules
Per tradition, here are some ground rules for my best indie albums 2023 year end list. I over-index on releases that are cohesive statements. Also, not much appeals to me about Important records with a capital “I.” Unless I’m going to come back and listen to an album over and over again, it’s just a curiosity. Finally, for some reason this year I was really listening for bands trying to do something new under the sun.
So read a little about these albums and listen to a song from each record. If you dig it, listen to a few more songs. Link to the release and buy it. All on one indispensable website, because I love you.
I have five weeks of music in 2024 to catch up on, so let’s do this.
20. Lael Neale – Star Eaters Delight
The Shenandoah Valley’s favorite daughter, Lael Neale writes spacious chamber pop. Star Eaters Delight is Neale’s second record for Sub Pop Records. She also moved back to her family farm during the Corona, uses a flip phone and may churn her own butter.
Get Star Eaters Delight from Sub Pop.
19. Appleseeds! – æblefrø
This jangle pop morsel from Appleseeds! features alternating, desultory vocals by Copenhagen’s Kasper Clemmensen and Ditte Duus. The exquisite record packaging includes prints by famed Japanese illustrator Mamoru Yamamoto. This is now one of my favorite musical belongings.
Indulge yourself in a physical copy of æblefrø from Too Good To Be True Records!
18. Gaz Coombes – Turn the Car Around
Gaz Coombes’ Turn the Car Around was the first album I bought last year. The compositions are rich and impeccable. Many songs on Turn the Car Around are a perfect stylistic mashup of Elbow and Radiohead. “Long Live the Strange” could absolutely be a takeout from Leaders of the Free World.
Buy Turn the Car Around or get an “I ♥ Gaz” mug at his website.
17. JAWNY – It’s Never Fair, Always True
…in which I forfeit any alternative street cred? I don’t know but he earned a collaboration with Beck so back off. It can be so easy to forget that music like JAWNY’s debut can still be fun. Rock should be intense sometimes, loud almost always…but when did we lose our joy? Loosen up people!
Buy It’s Never Fair, Always True at Bandcamp. Or snag a JAWNY French Toast Tee at his website.
16. Shame – Food for Worms
To hear Food for Worm is to be reminded of the seminal London Calling. Shame swings for the fences again, turning post-punk into something fresh and vital. Instead of The Clash’s experiments with ska and world beats, Shame employs spikey rhythms on Food for Worms.
Not surprising, their third album is best played at ear-crushing decibels. Bump the VU on the arena-worthy chorus of album highlight “Adderall.”
Buy Food for Worms from Bandcamp.
15. The Go! Team – Get Up Sequences Part Two
If the Get Up Sequences had come out in 2003 or 2004 instead of Thunder, Lightning, Strike we would be heralding it as revelation. That Ian Parton and Ninja can create these surfy playground grooves 20 years later is a testament to their continuing genius.
Buy most any part of The Go! Team’s back catalogue, including the Get Up Sequences Part 1 or 2.
14. Buddhist Bubblegum – What We Know and What We Believe
Allow me to introduce you to Slovenia’s premier dream pop band, Buddhist Bubblegum. Last year, Wiktor Szotowski released the divine single “Merry-Go-Round,” a label split with mysterious KC musician Wiggly and announced his 2023 album. It is a dreamy, psychedelic pop triumph.
Download What We Know and What We Believe from Bandcamp.
13. Grian Chatten – Chaos For the Fly
Grian Chatten’s solo debut reminds me a lot of Billy Bragg’s raw populist energy. Chatten stepped away from Fontaines D.C. to produce an intimate record that ranges between chamber folk and more classic barroom pop. “Salt Throwers” nearly sounds like an Irish standard.
Buy a copy of Chaos For the Fly from the Grian Chatten website.
12. Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy
What’s not to like about the Young Fathers’ fourth mashup, Heavy Heavy? Maybe the fact you’re SUPPOSED to like it? Fair enough. But you’ll find plenty here to like here, in “Rice,” “Ululation,” “Sink or Swim” and “Holy Moly.” Young Fathers are always at their best with the throttle wide open.
Here is Young Fathers’ website.
11. Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
On Javelin, Sufjan Stevens seeks to answer the question, “Can you overuse child choir backing vocals effect on a single album. The answer, for Stevens, is a resounding, “No.” Never precious, Javelin is the kind of life affirming record you have to be dead inside not to enjoy.
Buy Javelin from Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty records.
10. Slaughter Beach, Dog – Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling
Slaughter Beach, Dog and Modern Baseball have not been part of my musical journey. So when I listened to Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling I didn’t hear “emo,” a descriptor I read in several places. I found it an endearing, dusty alt country gem I couldn’t resist.
Add Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling to your shopping list, available from Lame-O Records.
9. U.S. Highball – No Thievery, Just Cool
This year’s tastiest jangle pop, Glasgow’s U.S. Highball, also comes from Lame-O Records. I was frankly taken aback by No Thievery, Just Cool, which was such a dramatic leap from 2022’s more twee A Crosshead Park of the Mind. Every song is a single; every musical idea, perfectly composed indie pop.
Holy smokes, buy No Thievery, Just Cool today!
8. Jason Isbell – Weathervanes
It’s a lot to expect Jason Isbell to live up to the legacy of the Drive-By Truckers as well as his seminal solo album Southeastern. While I feel Isbell still tends to sing-shout in abrasive ways on Weathervanes, the songcraft and stories are remarkable. Sprawling arrangements like “This Ain’t It” rival his best work.
Check out Isbell’s website, which includes the 10th anniversary reissue of Southeastern.
7. Shana Cleveland – Manzanita
Shana Cleveland’s Manzanita is a bewitching concoction of dream pop, slithering psych folk and pedal steel. “Quick Winter Sun,” “Bonanza Freeze” and “Gold Winter” feel like Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. It’s a shame the La Luz singer hasn’t received more recognition for the shimmering Manzanita.
Buy Cleveland’s Manzanita here.
6. Wednesday – Rat Saw God
A big regret from 2023 was not getting to see Wednesday at the Kilby Block Party. I did walk past the stage after a competing concert and heard Karly Hartzman screaming like she was being stabbed to death. Rat Saw God could have been a #1 record for me, but limps home a bit on the last two cuts.
Wednesday’s website has Rat Saw God, hoodies and totes.
5. Aiko El Grupo – Me Están Apuntando Con Un Arma
Madrid’s Aiko El Grupo start my Top 5 with a delirious album of power pop. Just noisy enough to be crunchy but never too much to derail the choruses you sing at the top of your lungs. Me Están Apuntando Con Un Arma is one of many reasons to follow the redoubtable Spanish record label Elefant.
Browse Elefant’s website and buy Aiko El Grupo’s second album while you’re at it.
4. Florry – The Holey Bible
Florry has been the Little Band That Could for me this year. While I enjoyed January’s Sweet Guitar Solos EP, I had no idea Francie Medosch et al would produce such a provoking, ramshackle alt country gem. Every cut on The Holey Bible is a rocking, drunken hootenanny. At the Urban Lounge March 5 woot!
Buy a copy of The Holey Bible or Sweet Guitar Solos from Philadelphia’s Florry at Bandcamp.
3. Yves Tumor – Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
I have a lot of questions about Yves Tumor. What exactly do I call their ecstatic brand of psych rock? Will Sean Bowie DJ their set at Kilby Court this May or will instruments happen? Despite the arch pretentiousness of the title, Praise a Lord Who Chews is full of melody and a sure bet for Decade End lists.
Learn more about Yves Tumor and buy Praise a Lord Who Chews at their website.
2. Hamish Hawk – Angel Numbers
What an unexpected delight Angel Numbers has been! Barely a hint of irony…just THAT VOICE and a stirring collection of pop songs about love and sex. Each time I returned to this Hamish Hawk record, I thought, “Oh I’ll find it a bit dull now.” Not once! Timeless!
Buy a record or an Angel Numbers tea towel from the Hamish Hawk website.
1. Parannoul – After the Magic
After the Magic is an absolute fever dream of shoegaze and electronica scenescapes bursting with angst. Justin Broadrick’s experimental shoegazers Jesu are in the same zip code. You won’t even notice the Korean lyrics. Parannoul released one of the few records in 2023 that really set me back on my heels.
Download or buy a physical copy of After the Magic at Bandcamp.
Best indie albums 2023: These are also very good
Any of the following here could have made my best indie albums 2023 list on a different day. A few are holdovers from my “Best of 2023 so far” list from June. All of them are worth your time!
Purling Hiss – Drag on Girard (Best Indie Albums 2023: Bordering on metal)
Philadelphia’s fuzzy, throbbing Purling Hiss is back after a seven year hiatus. Every track here sizzles with the angst of a garage band whose members know they could be investment bankers but choose instead to RAWK.
Buy Drag on Girard from Drag City.
Fixtures – Hollywood Dog (Best Indie Albums 2023: Sugar tribute)
Hollywood Dog was a spring favorite of mine. Fixtures layers a terrific horn section over power pop. They make you wonder what Bob Mould would have sounded like with an expansive brass arrangement.
I’ve decided I will travel up to 400 miles to see Brooklyn’s Fixtures live. Here is the 2:26 blast of title track “Hollywood Dog,” which would rip in person!
Buy a digital copy or vinyl edition of Hollywood Dog at Fixtures’ Bandcamp page.
The WAEVE – The WAEVE (Best Indie Albums 2023: More Graham Coxon please)
I didn’t expect to enjoy Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall’s album as much as I did. Obviously the Blur founder can turn almost anything to gold. But this was the year 2023 and my expectations were…modest. What a terrific surprise!
THE SONGS ARE LONG — and really deserve the time to gradually reveal themselves. At two minutes in, “Drowning” is just getting started. Give it the time it deserves.
Buy The WAEVE‘s debut and merch at the band’s website.
Teini-Pää – Sata syytä aloittaa (Best Indie Albums 2023: Finnish indie pop)
Teini-Pää (“Teenage Head”) record super-duper two-minute power pop gems in their native Finnish.
Songs on their second album Sata syytä aloittaa range from power punk to jangle pop, and include a couple of gazier numbers. Most cuts are just two minutes and change. Before you declare, “I don’t even speak Helsinki!”…listen to the universal language of garage rock on songs like “Kuka vaan käy.”
You can read more about Teini-Pää and Sata syytä aloittaa (“100 Hundred Reasons to Start”) at their Finnish label Soit Se Silti. As far as I can tell from a poor Google web translation, you need to buy Sata syytä aloittaa from their Bandcamp page.
The Murlocs – Calm Ya Farm (Best Indie Albums 2023: Proggy alt country)
I believe I sampled more alt country than any other genre in 2023 besides your broadly defined post punk. I mean…I HEARD A LOT of alt country, and not much hit hard. But The Murlocs – wow!
Here is the swampy, roiling “Russian Roulette,” a cut from one of the best indie albums 2023 has seen so far — across any genre!
Pour yourself a finger of whiskey and buy Calm Ya Farm from The Murlocs website.
Lisasinson – Un Año De Cambios (Best Indie Albums 2023: More Spanish joy)
Another Spanish language obsession in 2023, Valencia’s Lisasinson are playing Spain and Mexico this year. Let’s hope they make it further north! Their September single from Un Año De Cambios, “Se Me Ha Muerto Una Flor” (“A Flower Has Died”) would be amazing to sing along live. Superior indie pop.
Another gem from Elefant Records.
The War and Treaty – Lover’s Game (Best Indie Albums 2023: Gospel)
Soul and R&B aren’t really part of my brand. So it probably helped that I was introduced to The War & Treaty as an alt country/gospel thing. I lean toward the call-and-response and gospel harmonies of Lover’s Game. The whole album, though, is worth venturing outside your established brand!
Get yourself a signed copy of Lover’s Game here or buy a fun, churchy stained glass window tee.
Dignan Porch – Electric Threads (Best Indie Albums 2023: Beautifully weird)
Dignan Porch melodies are slightly off kilter and psychedelic at times. The lofi songs are wonderfully poppy at their core but warped just enough to sound like lost cassette tracks from Marquee Moon. You can hear the late, revered Tom Verlaine in the mournful harmonized guitar of songs like “Ancestral Trail.”
Order Electric Threads from Safe Suburban Homes Records in the UK and Hidden Bay Records in the EU. In North America, buy from Repeating Cloud Records.
Best indie albums 2023: Honorable mentions
- Madder Rose (No One Gets Hurt Ever) – Starting my Madder Rose collection…now.
- The Angles (The Angles) – You’ll fall in love with this soft 70’s jangle pop
- Indigo De Souza (All of this Will End) – I regret missing De Souza at Kilby
- Boygenius (The Record) – Nice album, I’m probably not the target. It was good, it was fine.
- National Honor Society (To All the Distance Between Us) – Jangle pop I returned to all year!
- M(h)aol (Attachment Styles) – Not a song on this album I didn’t love, prurient or not
- Hifi Sean and David McAlmont (Happy Ending) – I have a full post about this duo!
- Manchester Orchestra (The Valley of Vision) – This release is amazing but I think it is EP length
- Paul Simon (Seven Psalms) – Probably for Paul Simon completionists only
Best indie albums 2023: Even more honorable mentions
- Lost Ships (Atoms Collide Forever) – I loved “We’re a Song That Never Sleeps” so much I added it to my radio station’s bump music. Listen with wine.
- Bonny Doon (Let There Be Music) – Indie pop with a tough backstory that belies the uplifting tone
- Drayton Farley (Twenty on High) – Full length was superior; the Kudzu Wild EP was even better
- The Tubs (The Tubs) – Revisiting this, I liked every cut. I may need to go back and give it another go
- Steve Mason (Brothers & Sisters) – Tasty baggy tunes from Mr. Mason, former of The Beta Band
- Beach Fossils (Bunny) – The world needs a Beach House/Beach Fossils double bill more than ever
- Special Friend (Wait Until the Flames Come Rushing In) – Such a simple but enigmatic sound!
- The Bombshell Flowers (The Death of Me) – Utah indie pop with sugary Killers-style hooks
Not best albums 2023: Not super impressed
- The National (First Two Pages of Frankenstein) – I’m a big fan but Frankenstein was unremarkable
- Sparks (The Girl is Crying in Her Latte) – I love Cate Blanchett as much as anyone, but come on
- Murray Lightburn (Once Upon a Lifetime in Montreal) – So much for my Murray Lightburn mancrush
- The Tallest Man on Earth (Henry St) – Seems like a lifetime since Shallow Grave. I guess it has been
- Bondshell (Blondshell) – These songs are good; good not great
- Yo La Tengo (This Stupid World) – Some day we’ll look back and wonder why we lost our collective mind over an average Yo La Tengo album