I felt a little less enthused about rifling through 2023’s cultural production. It was a busy year, for one thing. Our business required a lot from us this past year and I expect that will be true of 2024 as well. It takes a certain amount of attention and care to seek out new things, which is why very few people my age (49!) seem to bother. I’ve long since decided not to discuss politics on this website, so I’ll just say that I often took comfort in the familiar last year. That would be another factor. So when I looked at the music I ‘added’ to my Apple Music ‘library‘ or purchased on vinyl, there wasn’t much there to sort through. (Here are the previous lists that I’ve made: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.)
Favorites of 2023
Feist, Multitudes
We waited and waited for this record and when it finally came it felt surprising and fresh. From songwriting to, presumably, the concert experience the whole thing held together conceptually. Would that there were more musicians who thought this holistically.
Nostalgia 77, The Loneliest Flower in the Village
Nostalgia 77 is the work of producer and guitarist Ben Lamdin. It sounds like jazz, it comes from the UK, and it makes me happy. I recommend it.
La Reveuse, Le Concert des Oiseaux
17th and 18th century music inspired by bird song performed by a small ensemble consisting of recorder/flageolot, theorbo, and viola de gamba… could anything be more charming? Could anything make you forget about Donald Trump’s candidacy more efficaciously?
Beirut, Hadsel
I’ve been a little in awe of Zach Condon since his first album came out. I have found his records a little hit or miss, however. Gallipoli didn’t engage me. But the sounds of Hadsel are very striking and different. He’s getting into leider-territory, which is fascinating.
Vusi Mahlasela, Norman Zulu & Jive Connection, Face to Face
The joyfulness of this just released 1994 recording of Sotho South African musicians Mahlasela and Zulu collaborating with a Swedish jazz collective is balm. Balm seems like the theme.
Various, The Endless Colored Ways, Songs of Nick Drake
I live for reinterpretations of Nick Drake’s songs, which are endlessly resilient. I’ll never forgive the Boomers for having ignored one of their greatest singer-songwriters while venerating James Taylor.
Wilco, Cousin
There are so many Jeff Tweedy and Wilco records that flit past my sensorium that I sometimes forget to listen to them. This one landed and felt like the most significant Wilco record in years. And, can I just say, what a great album cover.
Favorite Reissues of 2023
Jolie Holland, Catalpa
This is one of those special first records that captured something alchemical. It came out in 2003. For its 20th anniversary Holland lovingly remastered and reissued it on vinyl, giving it all the care it deserves. It’s a beautiful listening experience. These are still available on her website, snap one up before it’s too late.
R.E.M., Collapse Into Now
I am guilty of having written R.E.M., one of my favorite bands, off after Bill Berry left. Up was a disappointment and I never gave them a second chance. Several years ago I realized that Collapse Into Now is not only a great record, but one of my favorites. “Oh My Heart,” is as classic as it gets.
Tom Waits, Frank’s Wild Years
My dad—who’d been a fan of Waits’ jazzier records—brought this home when it came out and hated it. Not coincidentally, I loved it. These songs made a deep impression on me and it’s a treat to have this on vinyl at long last. It sounds magnificent. This is the capstone to Waits’ trilogy that began with Swordfishtrombones.
John Coltrane, Olé
Somehow I’d never gotten around to listening to this one. I don’t think my dad (who introduced me to Coltrane) had a copy, he may not have liked it. I’m not sure why I put it off, if nothing else it’s worth it for the typography. Needless to say, picking this up led to repeated listens.
Hamza El Din, Al Oud
The sound of El Din’s voice over the sound of his Nubian oud has a tonic effect on my central nervous system; particularly the last part of his piece, “Escalay.” There’s not much out there like his music, not that I’ve heard. You’ll take him traditionalist at first, but he’s more sophisticated than you first suppose.
Best Concert of 2023
Natalie Merchant, Pabst Theater, Milwaukee, May 2034
For Christmas 2022, I surprised Linda with tickets to see Natalie Merchant at the Pabst. I love taking my wife to concerts, but she’s very picky because she doesn’t really enjoy the experience. So it’s tricky to identify the right opportunities. Natalie Merchant is definitely part of her pantheon of favorite artists. I’d never really been more than a casual fan, but this performance converted me. More than just a music, I’m now a fan of Natalie as a person. Check out her new record.
There are so many Gen-X artists making great music right now. I have to remind myself.
(Photo: Justin Higuchi from Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Three Books I enjoyed in 2023
I read quite a lot last year, but there were three books in particular that I think are worth recommending.
Monica Byrne, The Actual Star (2022)
This came out in 2022, but I didn’t hear about it til last year. This is an incredible sci-fi novel set in several time periods, with interlinked characters, etc. It’s the kind of book that you finish and then immediately wish you could read for the first time a second time or even third. I’m mildly obsessed with the Classic Mayan civilization, which features very heavily in this book. I’ve even been to the cave in Belize that’s crucial to the plot of the book. And if that’s not sufficiently interesting, an entire strata of the book describes the future, nomadic, post-gender society that resulted as a consequence to actions undertaken… oy. Just read it.
I follow Byrne on Bluesky and the difficulty she’s having selling her third novel after the brilliance of this one blows my mind. If you’re a literary agent, give her a call.
Timothy Snyder, Black Earth (2015)
This was not a joy to read. But it was fascinating and shed light on what was going through Adolf Hitler’s grease trap of a mind. It wasn’t quite what I thought. There were levels to the man’s anti-semitism that went far beyond what I had known. I cannot imagine what Snyder had to wade through to discover Hitler’s belief that Christianity was a Jewish plot. But then I can’t even imagine reading Mein Kamps, so… Black Earth also contains a lot of information and insight into Zionist movements in Eastern Europe, Hitler’s desire for an “Eastern frontier” inspired by the American West and more.
This was a chilling book because at its core it’s about how a single man organized an entire society around some very crazy ideas.
Miles Harvey, The King of Confidence (2020)
This one was a joy to read. So I’d found a pamphlet about a small island in Lake Michigan. And I noted that in the introduction, the author alluded to the ‘War with Beaver Island.” Intrigued, I took to wikipedia and quickly found the basic facts: a Mormon leader named Jesse Strang had led a sizable contingent of the Saints to Beaver Island. He declared himself King and engaged in various acts of piracy and other shenanigans. Eventually he was assassinated by his own subjects with the cooperation of federal agents. The book revealed there was far more to the story. The ‘antebellum’ period in American History is one of the odder times and places.
This is an ‘only in America’ kind of book.
I was going to talk about tv shows and movies, but honestly… I don’t have much to suggest that isn’t obvious: Succession, The Bear, For All Mankind, and so on. I did appreciate that it was the year of high profile classical music movies.
Alex Galt 
Leave a comment