This was a great year for music! And great music is exactly what we needed when you take into consideration all the other things 2023 brought us. We had Chinese spy balloons in the US and a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in Ohio. Earthquakes rattled Turkey and Syria, killing 59,000 and injuring 121,000. Both Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank collapsed while the Palestinian and Israeli governments continued refusing to get along. The Pentagon addressed a pretty substantial military leak, a mass suicide cult was discovered in Kenya and at one point New York City earned the title of Worst Air Quality in the World. Over 17,000 acres of Hawaii were wiped out due to wildfires, Tennessee was a national embarrassment and 621 people died while another 2,126 were wounded as a result of 520 mass shootings in the United States (as of the time of this writing).

In GOOD news: Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison for tax fraud involving the Tr*mp Organization, Tr*mp himself was indicted over his hush money scandal with a porn star and Dilbert was canceled after its creator was outed as a filthy racist. Tucker Carlson was fired from F*x News, Tr*mp was found guilty of the sexual assault and defamation of E. Jean Carroll, Meta launched Threads and Tr*ump was indicted for a third time regarding his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. Taylor Swift had an epic year, as did Greta Gerwig, Tr*mp racked up indictment number four in Georgia for racketeering and attempting to overturn Biden’s presidential victory and Pr*ud Boys leader Joe B*ggs was sentenced to 17 years. Rupert Murdoch retired and the Tr*mp Organization was found guilty of tax fraud.

Shew. What a year!

So this year, it’s in memory of Steve Harwell, Jimmy Buffett, Sinead O’Connor, Tony Bennett, Tina Turner, Tim Bachman, Harry Belafonte, Burt Bacharach, David Crosby, Jeff Beck and Gangsta Boo that I present to you …

Part 1 of 3

Top 5 new Releases of 2023

In no particular order, of course.

Lana Del Rey – Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd

Release Date: March 24, 2023

My Favorite Tracks: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, A&W, The Grants

Granted, some may be better than others but the fact remains: Lana simply cannot put out a bad record. She said she wanted this record to have a spiritual element and it really comes through on many of the tracks with the gospel-style instrumentals and lyrical content. A&W is my favorite track on the record and it finds itself among other Lana songs Venice Bitch, Shades of Cool, Change, Off to the Races, Lolita (original) and Cola, all my all-time favorites by her. The simplistic, piano-driven first half of the song is classic Lana with lyrics like “I’m a princess, I’m divisive; ask me why, why, why I’m like this” paired with more crude lines “It’s not about having someone to love me anymore; This is the experience of being an American whore.” The song ends with a completely different, low-fi hip-hop vibe, “Your mom called, I told her you’re fucking up big time.” 

Ouch.

Reportedly, Lana wrote many of these songs simply by just “going with” words she felt fit the melody, spending much less time creating a scenario or fictional world like you find on her other records. Many songs, including Fingertips, were recorded on her phone’s voice recorder when the inspiration struck and her engineer would add effects to her voice and BOOM, you have a track. There’s not much I wouldn’t do to be able to hear those raw recordings. 

One more highlight worth mentioning: album closer Taco Truck x VB fades out with a demo version of Venice Bitch from three albums prior, “Norman Fucking Rockwell.” It’s a known song but the way it blends in with the final notes of Taco Truck leaves you realizing you’re listening to an older classic while you’re floating in mid-air. Or is that just me?

Mutoid Man – Mutants

Release Date: July 28, 2023

My Favorite Tracks: Unborn, Call of the Void, Graveyard Love

I have been dying – DYING – for the mighty Mutoid Man to drop another record ever since their previous effort “War Moans” rocked my face off a whopping six years ago. Of course, it’s not like they were just being lazy. Bassist Nick Cageao left the band in 2021, vocalist/guitarist Stephen Brodsky is a modern day Renaissance man and was giving his time to other projects Converge, Old Man Gloom, Cave In and even a bit of solo work. Finally, drummer Ben Koller suffered a severe elbow injury, forcing him to spend an extended time in recovery (still finding time to drop a record with Killer Be Killed in 2020). Regardless, Mutoid Man has returned with bassist Jeff Matz (coincidentally who was filling in on bass when I caught them in concert a few years back) with powerhouse effort “Mutants.” Consisting of 10 songs and barely coming in over half an hour, the same unique metal-meets-punk energy that makes Mutoid Man so special is definitely all there. Koller is one of my favorite drummers and his octopus-style fills are placed throughout, often making the listener wonder how he’s even pulling it off. Meanwhile, Brodsky is a guitar virtuoso who effortlessly jumps between heavy chugging with maniac-noodling all while singing flawlessly with his very unique voice. And while I may miss Cageao’s banter, Jeff Matz is a great fit for the band and if you don’t believe me, just ask Graveyard Love. That intro is reminiscent of Melt Your Mind. 

Brodsky’s use of effects are bursting at the seams on this record, taking front-and-center especially in Call of the Void and the insufferably heavy Unborn. One downside to taking so much time between records is it gives die-hard fans like myself time to invest in their relationship with the previously loved albums (read: “War Moans” (2017),  “Bleeder” (2015) and “Helium Head” (2014)) so when a new record comes out, it’s almost impossible to top because you don’t have that investment yet. After a couple of listens, however, “Mutants” has earned its spot in the unbeatable discography of Mutoid Man, probably my favorite modern band.

Blink 182 – One More Time

Release Date: October 20, 2023

My Favorite Tracks: Dance With Me, More Than You Know, Edging

I admit that I wasn’t excited for this album initially. I’ve been a Blink fan for almost 30 years so I’m not about to quit on them, but my reaction was at first an unenthusiastic yawn. I was happy to see that Tom had rejoined the band but figured it would result in a world tour, a big pay day, then we’re back to where we’ve been for the last decade. When the video for Edging was released last year, however, I was suddenly filled with a glimmer of hope. Not only did they have the classic Blink sound, they still had their warped sense of humor. Fast forward to the promotion of this album and the release of the single AND music video for One More Time and woah, man. Like so many other Blink fans who are pushing 40, it hit me right in the feels. At that moment, I was so ready for a new Blink album.

“One More Time” is exactly what Blink fans needed this year. It’s a perfect combination of classic Blink structure with a more adult attitude and some experimentation. It’s one of the things I loved so much about their 2003 self-titled record. If they came out with an album that was all jack-off jokes, it would be funny but kind of lame. Nobody wants to hear adult men speak like that all the time. It needs, however, to have some glimmer of that past, though, because that’s what hooked many of us in the first place and “One More Time” does just that. Anthem Part 3 starts the record out strongly, both making a statement of return and giving listeners that dose of nostalgia we were all looking for. Dance With Me and Turn This Off! sound like something that could have come out on “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” (2001) while Fuck Face sounds like it belongs on either “Cheshire Cat” (1995) or “Buddha” (1994). 

The guys then go ahead and push themselves with uncharacteristic tracks like You Don’t Know What You’ve Got, Blink Wave, Cut Me Off and Childhood. You can definitely tell they’ve been inspired by the modern-day pop-punk that they inspired themselves. It’s a great balance because it leaves the listener saying “This is the Blink 182 I remember” while also stating “I’ve never heard them do this before.”

Rancid – Tomorrow Never Comes

Release Date: June 2, 2023

My Favorite Tracks: Tomorrow Never Comes, Don’t Make Me Do It, Eddie the Butcher

You’re going to have a hard time finding another punk rock band that has stayed as consistent with their sound, energy and mission than Rancid. I love that if you want to get into this band, you can more-or-less start anywhere in their discography and know if you like them or not. “Tomorrow Never Comes” is their first effort since 2017’s “Trouble Maker” and is, in my opinion, the strongest album they’ve put out since 2003’s “Indestructible.” The album packs a whopping 16 songs in under 29 minutes and there’s no shortage of instant Rancid classics.

The title track and album starter is a banger that encourages the listener to fight back against the establishment right now with the tools you have because if we’re always waiting until tomorrow, we’ll be waiting until we die. “We’re dead tomorrow” is punk rock philosophy 101 so they’re not covering any new ground here but they bring that classic Rancid style to the tried-and-true message. Mud, Blood and Gold goes a little harder than usual with its extremely heavy guitar intro while Tim Armstrong’s songwriting shines on New American, a track revealing the stories of multiple characters coming to live in America for the first time.

Eddie the Butcher is my favorite track on this recording thanks largely to bassist Matt Freeman’s intro solo. Matty has always stood head-and-shoulders above punk rock’s best bass players and he’s still shining even now. The guys have been doing this since 1991 and they’re still killing it. Also randomly, they taught me a new word on this record: a stevedore is a person employed to work on the docks.

Kim Dracula – A Gradual Decline in Morale

Release Date: July 14, 2023

My Favorite Tracks: Make Me Famous, My Confession, Luck Is a Fine Thing (Give it a Chance)

Okay. I think this is actually my favorite record of 2023. I don’t know how she came across him but Katie introduced me to Kim Dracula early in the year with his music videos for Drown, Seventy Thorns and Make Me Famous. Hearing those songs were enough to pique my interest because it was punk, black metal, emo, death metal and trap-metal with random bouts of jazz. If that wasn’t enough, he packs in even more as the album begins.

The intro track, A Gradual Decline in Morale, is pretty simple and sounds like something you’d get on a Cradle of Filth record. At the conclusion, however, follow up track My Confession bursts out the gate with a funk-rock slap bass solo that turns into an electro-pop song before going into something sounding vaguely like the Used. Before the song wraps up, there’s a trap-metal phase á la Ghostemane before going into a full-on heavy breakdown. That’s just the first proper track.

Over the course of this album’s 20 songs, you’ll also get bits of smoothe jazz, mariachi, industrial metal and bossa nova among others. This is NOT the album for you if you are easily distracted! This album is very much like a goth Mr. Bungle experience and that is a very, very high compliment. Please check out Kim Dracula while he’s still up-and-coming. He has what it takes to either be a “big” star or at least a cult favorite.

Honorable Mentions:

• Blackbraid – Blackbraid II (June 7, 2023)
• Killer Mike – Michael (June 16, 2023)