SONIC SUBWAY

2023 was not my favorite year for new music. There was not much that was fresh sounding, exciting, or new. There were a lot of so-so albums that seemed to be recirculating things that I have heard before and not things of the good kind. But, there were those special, standout albums that reminded me of why I go seeking out new music year after year...to make the heart race, the mind ponder, and to satisfy the need and desire to be carried off to someplace else. My top ten albums of 2023 did just that and more. In this regard, it was a GREAT year for new music.

10. Coyle Girelli, Museum Day

English singer-songwriter Coyle Girelli has done a little bit of everything. He's fronted two bands, co-written songs for two French musicals, written hit songs for a diverse group of artists from Macklemore to BTS, he's collaborated with other hit-making songwriters such as Linda Perry, and he's released two solo albums. He's done...just a bit.

Girelli now calls New York City home and on his latest album, Museum Day, he draws inspiration from living and loving in the Big Apple. He also tips his hat to some of the bands that have inspired him over the years...The Smiths, The National, The War On Drugs, and even New Order. Yet these songs are all Girelli.

Girelli has a gift for songwriting and each of the ten songs on Museum Day are wonderful. With melodies and lyrics that capture moments in time beautifully whether they are ones filled with love, joy, sadness...or all of them at once, Girelli has crafted a great album.

9. Ġenn, Unum

In 2017, Childhood friends, vocalist Leona (vox) Farrugia, bassist Leanne Zammit, and guitarist Janelle Borg left their home island of Malta and moved to the UK. Brighton to be exact. There they met drummer Sofia Rose Cooper and Ġenn was born.

Ġenn takes it's name from the Maltese word for frenzy. Unum is the Latin word for oneness, unity, and a sense of being whole. Together, these two words greatly define the tone and tenor of Ġenn's music. Drawing from their diverse backgrounds and influences, the band has somehow woven post punk, noise-rock, Maltese folk, some Jamaican rhythms (Cooper has Jamaican and Portuguese roots) and a little bit of psych-rock into a tapestry of sound that is surprising and exciting to hear. Most importantly, the band's eclecticism works.

Loud, caustic, quiet, moody, hypnotic, Unum will have your heart racing and your head wanting more. It's a fierce album and was my favorite debut of the year.

8. Dylan LeBlanc, Coyote

Dylan LeBlanc was in Austin, Texas, climbing the face of a 100-foot cliff, gambling with 'Mother Nature’s good graces' as he pulled himself up by tree branches. Once he reached the top, all that laid ahead of him was a lush treeline. There was a breath of stillness, then the sound of a thunderous rustling that drew closer and closer to him. In a blink, LeBlanc watched as a frenzied raccoon came speeding out of the treeline, trailed by an animal that stopped and stared at him with striking intensity: a coyote.

As LeBlanc describes the moment, “We’re looking at each other dead in the eyes…and I’m saying -- out loud -- ‘If it’s you or me, I am going to kick you off the side of this cliff. I’m not going down.’ LeBlanc recalls that it was an intense, human-animal moment. A moment that he's never forgotten.

Living on the edge of danger with its many consequences is the theme woven throughout the songs on Coyote, LeBlanc's fifth album. LeBlanc has said that that it's an autobiographical and concept album built around a character named Coyote, a man who is on the run. Set against a moody and atmospheric folk rock musical backdrop with a tinge of psychedelia, LeBlanc's songs have a cinematic feel to them, like the closing scene of a movie where the protagonist is last seen walking down an empty Texas highway on a cool clear night reflecting on his many trials and tribulation while his camp fire is left smoldering, crackling, and popping in the distance. It's a highway where I want to be. I just love this album and I think that you will as well.

7. Bruno Major, Columbo

There once was an old ivory white 1981 Mercedes Benz 280sl named Columbo. Columbo was named after the 70's TV character. The car and character's trench coat were the same color. Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bruno Major loved Columbo...the car.

After being locked down at his parents house in Northampton, England during COVID, where he felt starved of life and experience, Major hopped a plane to LA. There he would drive around in Columbo. The car became a symbol of his renewed autonomy, being able to go wherever he wanted to go and do what he wanted to do once more. In an interview, Major said that this was the most prolific period of writing in his life with songs exploded out of him. Those songs became his third album, Columbo.

Columbo the character was eventually retired. Columbo the car met a different ending in a car crash. While Major may have have lost Columbo, he found a new place of creativity from those drives in his 'nuts and bolts' traveling partner. And it has produced his best album to date. Columbo is an enchanting album about love, heartbreak, time, and hope. So it's fitting that Bruno would sing fondly of Columbo on its title track and of a time when they can ride together again.

"Columbo, Columbo, I'll see you on the other side. We'll go for a sunset ride. You wait, someday, we’ll drive the world away. On the Pacific Coast Highway"

6. Greta Van Fleet, Starcatcher

When Greta Van Fleet arrived on the scene in 2017 with their debut album From the Fires, they were hailed and celebrated as a hard-rocking, Led Zeppelin-esk sounding band that was here to save rock music. I thought that the album and the band were fine. But to me, lead singer Josh Kiszka had not yet figured out what to do with his voice. And twin brother Jake (guitar), younger brother Sam (bass), and Danny Wagner (drums), as good as they were as musicians, had not landed on a signature sound. They sounded too much like a Zeppelin knock-off and lacked originality.

2021's The Battle At Garden's Gate, their follow up album, found the band stretching in new directions while toning down the Zeppelin influences. The results were mixed. There were moments of brilliance, exemplified best on the album's closing, The Weight Of Dreams, a monster of a song with one of the greatest guitar solos of the past decade. But there were others that fell short.

All of this brings us to Starcatcher, the Band's third album. In a press release, brother Sam, said that with this album they wanted something 'raw around the edges'. Something that represents them going 'back to their roots' while also moving them forward at the same time. I think that the band realized that they will never outrun their Led Zeppelin influences and that 'going back' was a decision to embrace it. It was the right move. Taking this and a decade's worth of playing together and growing as a band, as songwriters, and as musicians, Greta Van Fleet has finally landed on something that successfully fuses it all together. For me, Starcatcher is their most successful and best album to date.

5. The Milk Carton Kids, I Only See The Moon

Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan know how to fill quiet spaces better than most musical artists that I have listed to over the past twelve years. This is the length of time that they have been releasing albums as The Milk Carton Kids. With two interplaying acoustic guitars and voices that come together with gorgeous harmonies, Pattengale and Ryan create spaces that seem to stop time and make you take in the moment.

Since their 2015 album, Monterey, the duo have introduced new instrumental elements to their music. The journey for them has been to figure out how to best use these elements to create spaces where colors are more expansive, but the intimacy of their music is preserved. On their latest album, I Only See The Moon, the duo use orchestral strings, clawhammer banjo, and organ beautifully to do exactly that. This is best experienced on the title track. The strings draw you in and then fade away for the moment to bring your full attention to a single guitar and Pattengale as he sings "Far away from prying eyes I cry, how I cry for you. A broken croon in solitude, I only see the moon." It's simply beautiful.

"The world won’t end the way you think or when you think it will. Time’s a thief, why are we standing still? We’ve got all of the time in the world to kill. We’ve got all of the time in the world to kill."

An album that the duo describe as a love letter to loss and reconciliation, I Only See The Moon is gorgeous, spellbinding, and so special.

4. Declan Welsh and The Decadent West, 2

2019 was a very good year for the Glaswegian band Declan Welsh and The Decadent West. Their debut album, Cheaply bought, Expensively Sold, was a hit in Scotland and earned the band a Scottish album of the year nomination. New EP's followed as well as touring. Then COVID happened.

Tucked away in his room for months on end, lead singer and songwriter Declan Welsh wrote and demoed a new set of songs. The songs drew on the band's influences is new ways and the lyrics reflected feelings and ruminations concerning isolation and anxiety that Welsh was experiencing. But the songs also then gave way to moments of humor, hope and love which as Welsh explained in an interview, 'break through to lift the songs and provide light to the shade'. The band then took his demos into the studio and came away with their sophomore album, 2.

It's been a minute since I could say that every song on an album was a standout, but that is the case with 2. From the opening song, Mercy, to closing song, The Comedian, Welsh and the band deliver a set of songs that combine to form one of my favorite albums of the year and satisfy my need for great Scottish Alt rock.

3. Steven Wilson, The Harmony Codex

What can one say or write about Steven Wilson that has not been said or written about already? Guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist, composer, audio engineer, producer, Wilson is and has been one of the most prolific and influential musicians of his generation. With a scope and body of work spanning thirty years, his journey and career is really unparalleled.

For many, Wilson's band Porcupine Tree has been the entry point to all things Wilson. From there, it was on to his other bands, collaborations, and solo projects. Each one occupying a unique musical space with its own sound and point of view. There is just so much to list and share here that I'm not even going to start. What I am going to do is jump to Wilson's new solo album,The Harmony Codex.

In Wilson's recently published autobiography, he includes a short story called...The Harmony Codex. It's a self-described piece of dystopian sci fi. Dystopian in the sense that it’s a science fiction story, but it takes place in a world that Wilson says is just about recognizable as our own yet it's very surreal. Like a lot of dystopian sci fi, Wilson says, its metaphor for the world we live in today. And in this case, the central metaphor is the never-ending staircase.

Wilson points to a direct relationship between his short story and his new album that shares the same name. While there are some songs that Wilson has drawn on from the story's characters and situations, there are others that are more 'obliquely related to the subject matter' in the sense that they relate to this idea of “it’s about the journey, it’s not about the destination.” But where does one start such a journey musically speaking?

In an interview Wilson said that when he started writing this record he had nothing. No agenda. He just sat down and started making music for the sake and for the pleasure of experimenting with sound, and experimenting with songs in the context of experimental sound. That experimentation has augmented Wilson's musical DNA. While certainly still familiar to past albums and works, there is something different going on here. Spatially and sonically this is a newly formed space and soundscape and its next level. I could go on, but I will stop here as this is not a never-ending blog post.

The Harmony Codex truly is about the journey and it's a journey that we should all be taking in its entirety...all at once. So my suggest is that you put on your headphones, sit back, and let yourself experience this remarkable album. You will be rewarded for it.

2. Gorillaz, Cracker Island

When Blur's Damon Albarn and comic book creator Jamie Hewlett came together back in 1998 to form the virtual band Gorillaz, I don't know that they thought they would still be at it twenty-five years later. I know that I did't think that this would be the case. While I liked their debut album, Gorillaz, and LOVED their follow up, Demon Days, I figured that as the novelty of a virtual band faded away, their music would become less fresh and exciting, and the band would quietly exit stage left. Yet here they are in 2023 with their eight album Cracker Island. And what an album.

Not since Damon Days has Albarn and the band's music sounded this fresh and exciting. Collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Thundercat, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Beck, and others only add to the strength of their songs and music. Perhaps this is where they do exit stage left. Perhaps not. But if it is the case, it would be a fitting way to go out.

1. Lankum, False Lankum

With one half of them rooted in traditional Irish folk music and the other in experimentation, introducing elements from different musical genres and creating dissonance and some consonance within their songs, Lankum have been an interesting band to explore. Though I will say that I have not always enjoyed their music. It can be dark and feel menacing with tension being created for which there is no relief or release. It can become too much for me to handle. This is not the case with False Lankum, the band's latest album. Not at all.

'If modern folk music needs its own OK Computer, its own The Dark Side Of The Moon, or indeed its own F#A#∞, this may well be it.' Mojo

With False Lankum, the band's ambitions have never been greater. And yet, they have finally found the perfect balance between tradition and the something else that they have been playing with for so many years. Listening to the album, I truly felt like I was hearing something new, something different, something for the first time. In this regarding, Mojo's putting this album in the company of such singular albums such as OK Computer, while lofty, is just about right. What Lankum have achieved with their album False Lankum is truly breathtaking.

A few years back, as we were closing out the last decade, I posted my favorite 20 albums by decade. At the time, I skipped the '70's. It was too difficult a task to narrow my list down to just 20. Though I have struggled with it, I have finally settled on my list. So now, as we close out 2023, here is my list with apologies to so many artists and their albums left off of it.

Billy Joel, 52nd Street