The Un-Herd Music Top 50 of 2023
1. Sparklehorse Bird Machine
Thirteen years posthumous, a final statement curated and patched together with obvious love and respect for the quirky genius of Mark Linkous. Miraculous it exists at all; wholly miraculous it's so good.
2. Art Bergmann ShadowWalk
Where previous album took a macro view of the end of life, this one goes micro & personal. Harrowing, unflinching, courageous, honest. Nudges itself in same continuum that includes lodestar masterworks like Sister Lovers and Plastic Ono Band.
Adam Weiner's adherence to traditional rock values (in this case, the same early R&B/Rock&Roll forces that forged the likes of Springsteen and Graham Parker) may repel trend-chasers, but that doesn't mean Low Cut Connie can't be the rest-of-us's favorite band.
Grafts standard indie rock influences to an appreciation for disco bass lines (& occasional employment of hip hop rhythms) and somehow discovers something immensely satisfying and sincere.
A modern rock album that fits in exactly nowhere (and not even close to the genre suggested in the title). Eclectic, expert, indescribable, genre-less. And all the better for it. Companion EP "4D Country" delivers similar quality.
This'll get filed under alt.country, which is fair enough, but the way Loveless wittily and mercilessly lacerates herself like a female Paul Westerberg is all rock 'n' roll.
Pop wunderkind Ethan Barnett flirts with ancient verities like classic songcraft, undeniable hooks, and earnest reflection.
Last release was a 2011 UHM top ten, and this unexpected re-emergence hits the same heights. Lyrical concerns now lean into sincerity as much as smartassery, but their power-poppin' rock-out w/ hooks-out gameplan gloriously remains.
A Saints-like horn section on one track and a cover of David Johansen's elegy for the Dolls "Donna" make this typically bangin' collision of Johnnies Cash & Thunders stand out from previous discs.
This band's blistering garage rock approach to soul, blues, & rock has been coming up aces for 4 decades and they're still ready to take on all comers. And, lo, how that sax doth honk.
11. Autogramm Music That Humans Can Play
12. Belleville Before I Go
13. The Blips The Blips Again
14. Lion Island Pilot Termination Kiosk
15. Odd Robot Deathmates
16. Black Pumas Chronicles of a Diamond
17. Foxy Shazam Dark Blue Night
18. The Church The Hypnogogue
19. Diamond Dogs About the Hardest Nut to Crack
20. The Midnight Callers Rattled Humming Heart
21. The Hangmen Stories to Tell
22. The Jim Jones All-Stars Ain't No Peril
23. Bar Italia Tracey Denim
24. Spacey Jane Here Comes Everybody
25. Mason Lowe Morning People
26. Trench Dogs Stockholmiana
27. Island of Love Island of Love
28. Olivia Jean Raving Ghost
29. The Men New York City
30. Crocodiles Upside Down In Heaven
31. Uni Boys Buy This Now!
32. Sunny War Anarchist Gospel
33. Dwarves Concept Album
34. Bass Drum of Death Say I Won't
35. The Whiffs Scratch 'n' Sniff
36. Kurt Baker Rock 'n' Roll Club
37. The 1981 Move On
38. Alex Lahey The Answer is Always Yes
39. EUT Be My Reactor
40. Miss Chain & the Broken Heels Storms
41. Durand Jones Wait Til I Get Over
42. The Pearl Harts Love, Chaos
43. Worriers Trust Your Gut
44. Twin Temple God is Dead
45. Baba Ali Laugh Like A Bomb
46. Somerdale Let's Get Started
47. Nude Party Rides On
48. Backstreet Girls In Lust We Trust
49. Class If You've Got Nothing
50. Rich Ragany & the Digressions What We Do (To Not Let Go)
1. Low Cut C0nnie Sleaze Me On
2. De1ta Riggs Solution
3. Spark1ehorse Evening Star Supercharger
4. Geese Gravity Blues
5. Midnight Ca11ers Baby Let Me Be
6. Barrence Whitfie1d Hey Miss Glynis
7. Diam0nd Dogs Wring It Out
8. Meyerman Happy to See You
9. Ten T0nnes Drowning in the Deep End
10. Lydia Love1ess Poor Boy
11. Jim Jones A11-Stars It's Your Voodoo Working
12. The Hangmen Behind the Wheel
13. Uni B0ys I Don't Believe in Love
14. The B1ips Who Took My Baby Away
15. Miss Chain & the Broken Hee1s Wild Wind
16. Lion Is1and Broken Arrow
17. Autogramm Born Losers
18. Twin Temp1e Burn Your Bible
19. Trench D0gs Skulldug and Headsick
20. The Whiffs I Didn't Need You To Know
21. 0dd Robot Temporary Bachelor Does Mundane Things
22. Be11evi11e Hanging Around
23. Art Bergmann Cut 'n' Paste
24. B1ack Pumas Rock and Roll
