With parenthood, redundancy, job hunting, a very busy new job and a steam-powered laptop all taking up time, we’ve not been able to post anywhere near as much as we’d like to throughout 2023 – but we still love music and what’s December without some Top 5s. Here is five of our favorite tracks of the past 12 months…
Blur – ‘The Narcissist’
Our toddler has grew very fond of Blur this year and demands a triple bill of the videos for ‘Parklife’, ‘Song 2’ (also known as ‘woo-hoo’) and ‘Coffee & TV’ (‘Milk walking’ and the final scene is ‘Milk bat’, but ‘The Narcissist’ was the song that announced Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave were back – and were brewing something special with ‘The Ballad of Darren’. This song was wistful, sentimental and had some sublime back/and-forth vocals as Damon took stock of things and promised to ‘shine a light’ in the subject’s eyes.
boygenius – ‘Not Strong Enough’
Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker’s supergroup hit stratospheric heights in 2022 and ‘Not Strong Enough’ must rank as one of their finest moments. Each member relishes their moment, referencing The Cure and putting a communal singalong of self-doubt right at the forefront: ‘I don’t know why I am the way I am, not strong enough to be your man’.
The Xcerts – ‘Ache’
The Xcerts took stock of where they were as a band and decided to experiment more on this year’s ‘Learning How to Live and Let Go’ album – throwing synths, fractured pop hooks and a whole lot more into their sound. ‘Ache’ was a frenzied and exhilarating two minutes featuring a perfectly pitched cameo from Architects’ Sam Carter.
Everything Everything– ‘Cold Reactor’
Is there a more nuanced observation on the state of modern life than ‘I sent ya the image of a little yellow face to tell you that I’m sad about the emptiness that’s all around me’? Everything Everything have whet the appetite for their new album next year in typical oddball style: ‘I love you like an atom bomb’.
Bill Ryder-Jones – ‘This Can’t Go On’
Bill has established himself as one of the UK’s finest songwriters and ‘This Can’t Go On’ might just rank as one of his greatest moments. Tender, orchestral and instantly relatable, it finds Bill giving himself a pep talk, rallying to get himself together and revealing how at some points he feels like a little boy. With stirring string arrangements and gentle strums, it’s poignantly powerful.
