CJLO'S BEST OF 2023

Omar Sonics - Host of Hooked on Sonics 

20 Fave Records of 2023

everything is alive - Slowdive 

Metta World Peace - Soft Kill 

Death is Nothing to Us - Fiddlehead

i've seen a way - Mandy, Indiana

Cartwheel - Hotline TNT

GOOD LUCK - DEBBY FRIDAY

Sunforger - Sunforger

Bird Machine - Sparklehorse

Still Life in Decay - FACS 

Life Under The Gun - Militarie Gun

Nature Morte - BIGIBRAVE

Fourth Record - Markus Floats 

Rat Saw God - Wednesday

After The Magic - Parannoul

Red Moon in Venus - Kali Uchis 

Lucky for You - Bully 

Power Is The Pharmacy - Ky 

Sit Down for Dinner - Blonde Redhead 

Adrift - Andrew Sisk

Blondshell - Blondshell 

10 Fave Songs of 2023

"alife" - Slowdive

"Trouble" - Soft Kill

"Name of God" - Mustafa

"Sullenboy" - Fiddlehead

"Needs" - Tinashe

"Sun Spots" - 9Million

"Monterey Canyon" - Samiam

"Very High" - Militarie Gun

"Sunblock" - Barnacle

“Your Spit" - Ian Sweet

5 Fave Local Squirrels

Chuckles

Rusty

Slim

Fat-face

Steven

5 Fave Sodees

Maine Root Mexicane Cola

Cherry Dr Pepper

Maine Root Sarsaparilla

Virgil's Black Cherry

Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale

Josh Dimakakos - Host of Psychic Ceremony

Top 10 Albums of 2023

1. Tight Ass Goku Pictures -  Timeout Room

2. Good Lies - Overmono 

3. Good Living is Coming For You - Sweeping Promises

4. Hit Piece - Tony Price

5. A Blaze in Time - Erang

6. Live on Cool St. - Thee Retail Simps 

7. Sword & Circuitry - Quest Master 

8. Migration Magic - Feeling Figures

9. Super Snooper - Snooper

10. Ooh Rap I Ya - George Clanton

Eric Wider - Host of Patch Note

Favourite Albums of 2023

Album of the Year: Wallsocket -  Underscores

Every time I put Wallsocket on, it gets its hooks further into me. This is the second album by April Harper Grey, aka Underscores. It’s bolder, and more ambitious than her first, plunging into concept album territory and refining her alternate sound. It’s loud and full of energy, but also finds the time for subtler moments where April explores the boundaries of the town of Wallsocket, Michigan she sets the album in. The biggest compliment I can share is that whenever I start listening to any one song in the tracklist, I always find myself listening to it all the way through. 

3D Country - Geese

“God of the sun I’m taking you down on the inside'' Cameron Winter proclaims in the first three seconds of the opener “2122.” It’s this same bizarre post-apocalyptic theme that is a constant in Geese’s new album, 3D Country. Put simply, it’s an album packed with super engaging rock music. The album keeps an energetic grip throughout its runtime, elevated through its use of backup singers. It’s always fun when an album doesn’t take itself seriously, and how can you argue against Geese with the lyrics “we could live in the sea, just you and me, and those fishes in-between?” 

Everything Harmony - Lemon Twigs

I have a weird issue where I find it hard to go back to the classics. There’s an infinite amount of music that’s come before me, it’s easier just to stick to new releases. I plan to amend this eventually, but for now, listening to Everything Harmony will do. It’s a throwback to 70’s music, the kind of stuff that would slot right in with my parent’s collection. Every song is incredibly memorable, whether it’s the lyrically dissonant “In My Head”, or tragically sweet “Still It’s Not Enough.” It’s some of the most addicting music you’ll hear this year. 

Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? - McKinley Dixon

Add jazz instrumentals to rap songs and I’m sold. It’s all the better then that McKinley Dixon goes further than this, constantly throwing in curveballs to keep the audience on their toes. The borderline experimental "Mezzanine Tippin’" comes to mind, taking a detour into darkness early on. Sweltering saxophones, pianos and drums are gorgeously performed throughout the entire album, giving the perfect backdrop for McKinley to perform with. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? finds itself celebrating the life of a friend, and despite touching on heartache, grief and trauma, ends up feeling as if it’s letting a light in.

Lahai - Sampha

Lahai is ethereal. It is a labour of love that has managed to maintain its soul no matter how much it was tinkered with. Sampha’s voice remains beautiful as always, and so does the production. There is such a focus on keeping just the essential elements of each song, highlighting the beauty in each drum pattern or piano note. So much of Lahai makes you feel like you’re floating, but “Jonathan L. Seagull” is the closest to heaven I’ve come listening to any music this year. 

In the End It Always Does - The Japanese House

Amber Bain’s second album is light and airy, it’s the kind of music the best indie-pop is. Putting on this album is like throwing on a stranger's blanket: you haven’t grown up with it but it’s comforting all the same. ITEIAD is focused on love, and how it feels to fall out of it. Songs such as “Morning Pages" do a fantastic job at recounting memories but never feeling like a slog. Every now and then there are lyrics that go straight for the heart, with, “no one’s ever gonna love me, like this dog lying in my lap”. It’s a truly great album. 

The Brightest Days - Origami Angel 

It’s perplexing, staring out into the beach on a sunny day and feeling like nothing. On Origami Angels’s new mixtape, The Brightest Days, they distill this feeling down and translate it into a series of thick guitar riffs in and way too relatable lyrics on a tight 22-minute project. All their music has a shimmer to it, but there’s something about The Brightest Days that harkens to summer like nothing else they’ve released before. Maybe it’s the ukulele. 

Live at Bush Hall - Black Country, New Road

Maybe it’s unfair to put this on the list. The band has stated they don’t consider this as an album, but more of a live concert (which it is). With that said, it’s still an excellent snapshot in time and worth considering. Live at Bush Hall sees the now six-piece Black Country, New Road playing music over the course of three nights, blended to get the best performances out of each show. As corny as it sounds, it’s a showcase of the power of friendship. Having their lead singer leave earlier in 2022, the art-rock band has split up vocal duties among three of the members, each bringing a unique flair to the song they perform. It’s extremely smart and technical, but never leaves behind the emotional weight of their previous work. If you were to watch this, the first listen has to be the concert film itself, there’s truly nothing like seeing great musicians perform live.

10,000 gecs - 100 gecs

Recently there was a post on Twitter that picked up momentum: a clip of the song "Money Machine" by 100 gecs with the caption “i won’t forget some of u guys used to like this.” Taking a step back and perceiving it from someone else’s perspective, I get where they’re coming from. It’s grating music, overblown and not really focused on anyone liking it except for Laura Les and Dylan Brady themselves. But if you like it, odds are you really like it. 10,000 gecs is filled to the brim with capital B bangers, from the sample filled "Dumbest Girl Alive" or the always clipping "One Million Dollars." I’m fortunate enough to be one of the lucky ones who enjoys this absurd music. 

World of Hassle - Alan Palomo 

I’m not sure if I’ve ever listened to a more fun, funky album this year than World of Hassle. Alan Palomo used to go by Neon Indian, but he’s shed that moniker and has now released his first album under his own name. Every song is full of shimmering, perfectly constructed synth work that finds its place in each mood it goes for. It’s also a truly funny record in moments such as “Big Night of Heartache” which sees Palomo bargaining with a partner, claiming his tears are just the byproduct of a spicy meal. His vocals are great as always, singing in his native tongue of Spanish for a good portion of the runtime. It’s the perfect music to listen to if you find your head is in some serious need of bops. 

Bonus: Albums I’m sure are good that I’m embarrassed I haven’t gotten around to listening to

Rat Saw God - Wednesday

Javelin - Sufjan Stevens

I Killed Your Dog - L’rain

Maps - billy woods and Kenny Segal

Girl with Fish - Feeble Little Horse

Integrated Tech Solutions - Aesop Rock 

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek 

Andrew Wieler - Metal Music Director and Host of Grade A Explosives

10. The Crotals - Conjure - A big ole sludge fest from a three-piece from Switzerland. This record feels heavy and has a real foreboding atmosphere to it, and if that isn't enough, it probably has the best incorporation of horns into sludge I've ever heard on "Taenia", with the greatest respect to KEN Mode, who is also doing a great job in the same field.

9. JAAW - Supercluster - Supergroup featuring members of Therapy? (who had a subpar record this year), Squarepusher, Petbrick, and Sex Swing, this is called a "post-industrial” record. I don't know about that, but it's damn good and calls back to the best 90s industrial stuff (read: the best Therapy? era) and gives it a flavour from today.  

8. Humanity's Last Breath - Ashen - Jeeeesus christ, this record is fucking heavy. If you have bass turned up for the device you're listening to this on, you should probably turn it down or your speakers and ears will be crushed with what's coming out. But, if that would scare you away, it isn't juuust heavy; it manages to also have good melodies that are present... just underneath the pure seething rage. Hey, that's kind of an apt metaphor for 2023 in general.

7. Tigercub - The Perfume of Decay - It's no surprise that I like this, being that fellow UK band Royal Blood, whose first and second records were excellent, become a slightly darker Imagine Dragons knockoff recently, and this band is basically doing what they're doing with a bit of Spotlight's darkness mixed in. Your inner goth will thank you for listening.

6. Green Lung - This Heathen Land - After the fantastic stadium rock opus of Prequelle, Ghost hasn't been hitting as much as I'd like. Luckily, UK's Green Lung are here to give their best Ghost impression along with some stoner rock flare. Honestly, if you can listen to "Maxine" and not enjoy it, you're probably dead inside, and not in the cool way.

5. Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead - This is some tasty doomgaze from this NYC trio that manages to have some interesting arrangements and instrumentation in the mix. They toured with Baroness this year, and the sound at Corona... oh, sorry "Beanfield", didn't do them favours. If they want to come back and play Turbo Haus again, though, maybe they can stop by CJLO and do a session. Not saying... just saying...  

4. Mutoid Man - Mutants - Steven Brodsk, lead singer and main songwriting mind behind this band has been busy between Cave In, joining Quicksand, and returning to Converge for the team-up record with Chelsea Wolfe, but among all that, he still found time to make this record. Mutoid Man has always been catchy but this record really outdoes their previous works. If you want some heavy rock and/or roll and still be able to sing along, this is probably the best record you could ask for.

3. Svalbard - The Weight of the Mask - UK's post-everything band Svalbard puts out another stellar record, this time with the backing of Nuclear Blast, so good for them. If you're a fan of everything from Mogwai, to Touche Amore, to Harakiri for the Sky, there is something on this record that will interest you. Hell, it's probably up your alley if you're into heavier shoegaze as well. Just a great record from a consistently great band.  

2. Wayfarer - American Gothic - I know, Panopticon is the gold standard for mixing folk with black metal, but it doesn't quite capture the "Western" feel that Colorado's Wayfarer is able to get on this record. The record is a bit uneven, with the first part being the heaviest, and then becoming way more mellow at the end, but that's all totally fine for me.

1. Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden - I mean... can it get better than this? If it can, then, I suppose it would be a case where I just kill myself directly after listening, knowing full well that life has hit a peak. Mixing elements of djent, black metal, RnB, pop, and hip hop, this record treads ground that no other metal record has tried, and if there is a band that does anything close to this, I want to know about it. And look, is this album above critique? No. But if you're one of these people saying this is the downfall of all metal, or that it's only liked by "fake metalheads", why don't you just, I don't know, shut your mouth? Some people don't want to hear the same thrash chords or blast beats every day of their lives, and frankly, if this gets ANY young people into one of the oldest skewing genres, I am totally for it.

Honourable mentions

KEN Mode - Void - Those good Canadians still punching you in the face with sludge.

Lethvm - Winterreise - Belgium post-doom that is alternating between breathy and heavy

Pil & Bue - Special Agents - A very good... grunge... pop?... yeah, let's say that, form the "most northern band on the planet".

Liturgy - 93696 - I have never gotten Liturgy up to now, so if you're like me, maybe give this a shot

Raum Kingdom - Monarch - Irish proggy doom that has a real mean streak to it

Racetraitor - Creation and the Timeless Order of Things - Some unique hardcore from a band that used to have Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy in its ranks

3teeth - Endex - Modern industrial of the highest order

68 - Yes, And... - Weirdo rock at its finest

Vvon Dogma I - The Kvlt of Glitch - The mastermind behind Unexpect puts out a glitchy weirdo metal album, so basically Unexpect with electronics