Hey all. I thought that I'd have a stab at posting an official albums of the year, for 2023 thread. My other 2023 best modern prog year ever! (haha), was never meant to be that.
I have not compiled my list yet...just so much great stuff to try and organize, so step up and have at it, if you so choose!
Neil
I haven't finalized this, as I usually wait until the last couple of days of the year to refine the list and write a little blurb about each choice, but it's a fairly good idea of where things stand at this late stage of the year. I don't normally make such a big list because I know it loses people's interest, but it was a great (but expensive) year, so I couldn't keep it under 30 picks!I left quite a bit off too, including some that either weren't quite good enough, massive disappointments, or just plain 'meh' releases. I even have a 'Dreadful' category with three titles in it, but I won't drag names through the mud here.
1. Lars Fredrik Frøislie - Fire Fortellinger
2. Paskinel - Maraude Automnale
3. Arabs in Aspic - The Magic of Sin (a re-worked album but qualifies as 'new-ish' IMO)
4. Wegferend - En Autremonde - Chapitre Second
5. The Chronicles of Father Robin - The Songs & Tales of Airoea – Book II: Ocean Traveller (Metamorphosis)
6. Blood Ceremony - The Old Ways Remain
7. Zopp - Dominion
8. Agusa - Prima Materia
9. The Chronicles of Father Robin - The Songs & Tales of Airoea – Book 1: The Tale of Father Robin (State of Nature)
10. Crown Lands - Fearless
11. Jordsjø - Salighet
12. Galahad - The Long Goodbye
13. Tusmørke - Hestehoven
14. Comedy of Errors - Threnody for a Dead Queen
15. Vesilinja - Myrskyn keskellä (technically late 2022 but not on CD until this year)
16. Peter Gabriel - i/o
17. Soft Machine - Other Doors
18. Ring Van Möbius - Commissioned Works Pt II - Six Drops of Poison
19. Peter Hammill - In a Foreign Town/Out of Water 2023 (again, a re-working but I was pleased enough with it to include here)
20. Mystery - Redemption
21. Resistor - Illuminator
22. Metallica - 72 Seasons
23. Proud Peasant - Communion
25. Il Balletto di Bronzo - Lemures
26. Gong - Unending Ascending
27. Rick Miller - Altered States
28. Nexus - Insania
29. Il Bacio della Medusa - Imilla
30. Ozric Tentacles - Lotus Unfolding
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 4 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
You're no fun!Originally Posted by Progatron
The secret is to ply me with alcohol.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 4 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Nice list. A definite Scandinavian vibe. I have 6 of your top 11. I find it difficult where to rank a lot of that stuff as it sits pretty closely together. I don't have the second Chronicles of Father Robin yet, so looking forward to that.
How about a disappointments category; that way it doesn't seem so mean, ha.
Neil
Karisma had the Bandcamp pre-orders sent out in plenty of time so I've been spinning the CD and really digging it.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 4 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
My AOTY is the Homunculus Res record! But I may be biased because I mixed and mastered it haha.
But I'm even more disqualified from voting for Rascal Reporters so maybe I can have this one... Okay FINE!
Shout out to the Saddam Webcam album which was fantastic.
Bob Drake's new one is coming before end of year I think so that may be up there too!
Something like
PoiL Ueda - PoiL Ueda
Ni - Fol Naïs
Holy Family, The - Go Zero
Branch, Jaimie - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world warr))
SWRM - Salamander
Jack O' The Clock - The Warm Dark Circus
Natural Information Society - Since Time Is Gravity
Dayes, Yussef - Black Classical Music
Ultraphauna - No No No No
Squid - O Monolith
Model/Actriz - Dogsbody
5uu's - Live at A.K.W. Würzburg, Germany
Blue Cranes - My Only Secret
Asceta - Erebus, La Suite De Las Sombras
Ogives - La Mémoire des Orages
PoiL Ueda - Yoshitsune
Swans - The Beggar
GoGo Penguin - Everything Is Going To Be OK
Eclectic Maybe Band - Bars Without Measures
VÄLVĒ - Tiny Pilots
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
I'm one of the 212.
^^That new Ni is pretty epic. Loaded with killer riffs.
Neil
We are the Knights who say... Ni!
Impera littera designata delenda est.
Nobody so far mentions Neil Morse... A new NM album is not that important anymore is it?
Yay! I was at the album launch event on Thursday. Good stuff.
Given my well-known focus on Yes-related stuff, I offer a top 3 albums not involving any Yes connection:
VALVE: Tiny Pilots
Chris Cutler: Compositions and Collaborations, 1972-2022
Yumi Hara: Groove Study
... and a top 3 that are Yes-related:
Yes: Mirror to the Sky
Trevor Rabin: Rio
Trevor Horn: Echoes - Ancient & Modern
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
I like the Yumi Hara - Groove Study too! Just didn't make my top 20.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
I'm one of the 212.
This one fell off my radar, got lost in a swell of other amazing releases around the same time and I've not made it back to it yet. Getting tickets to see them next April though, so that'll likely get it back front/center of rotation for a while. I DO remember enjoying it more than the prior one (which was a bit wordy for my tastes).
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
Great year overall for me. Just pulled a list from Bandcamp and my CD selection...maybe not 100% perfect but probably in the 90% range (with a few wildcards still to go this year!).
Alphabetical although I actually do think I'd put the David August at #1...was a total blind impulse purchase that paid off big time.
David August - VĪS
Craven Faults - Standers
French TV - A Ghastly State of Affairs
Peter Gabriel - i/o
Grand River - All Above
Tim Hecker - No Highs
Helios - Espera
Kiile - In Your Dreams
Makeup and Vanity Set - Atropy / Entropy
Hinako Omori - Stillness, Softness
Penguin Cafe - Rain Before Seven
Perge - Void Coefficient
Purple Decades - Journey Test
SIERRA - A Story of Anger
Snakes of Russia - True Surrender
Spurv - Brefjære
Subdream - Nameless Constellation
Tangled Thoughts of Leaving - Oscillating Forest
Yes - Mirror to the Sky
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
Like both of these
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
I'm one of the 212.
Wayayayay toooooarlyyyyy for this
Not even sure my list is start complete (kind of hoping other lists will tell me if I forgot something or missed out on another)
So far, no order whatsoever (italics are private markers)
2023
Zopp - Dominion
The Chronicles Of Father Robin - The Songs & Tales Of Airoea: Book 1&2
Jordsjø - Salighet
Amoeba Split - Quiet Euphoria
Homunculus Res - Ecco l'impero Dei Doppi Sensi
Agusa - Prima Materia
Gong - Unending Ascending
Caravela Escarlate - III
Isobar - Isobar III
La Theorie Des Cordes - 4u-9525
Go Go Machine Orchestra – SYMBOL/Everything Will Be OK
Hidden Orchestra – To Dream Is To Forget
Light – The Path
Andorra – Current
Eyeless Owl – Murmurations
Free Human Zoo – Mysterious Island
Ishkero – Shama
Atsuko Chiba – Waters It Feels Like Growing
Binker and Moses – Feeding The Machine
Rhùn – Tozih
One Shot – 111
Pourpre – S/t
Rabaska – s/t
Mangeurs de Reves – Vivre et Mourrir
Gecko & Tokage Parade – Heart of Tokage
Sonar – Three Movements
Alakazam – Karnival Dawn
Äshkinel – Maraude Automnale
Sesam – Modern Voodoo
The Ocean – Holocene
Natural Information Society – Since Time Is Gravity
Ultraphauna – No No No
Mong Tong - Tao Fire
Emme Phyzema – Trying Not To Be
AKKU Quintet – Kinema
Univers Zero – Lueur
Eclectic Maybe Band – Bars Without Measures
Maailmanpuu – Kaimalkuu
Fire! Orchestra – Echoes
Gravity Fields – Disruption
DAAU - Musik Für Animierten Tonspurfilm
Bend The Future – Sounds So Wrong
London Brew – London Brew
Trees Speak – Mind Maze
Maybe even The Gabe's I/O will find a spot (haven't heard much yet)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Allison Miller - Rivers In Our Veins
GoGo Penguin - Everything Is Going To Be OK
Penguin Cafe - Rain Before Seven
Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers
Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek - New Future City Radio
Zopp - Dominion
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
I did mention my 'Dreadful' category.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 4 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Not really.
My Top Five:
(not necessarily in order)
-Peter gabriel - i/o
-Jethro Tull - Rok Flote
-Eloy- Echoes from the Past
-Flower Kings- Look at you now
-Riverside - ID Entity
One Shot - 111
Univers Zero – Lueur
Poil - Ueda
Peter Gabriel- i/o
Blur-The Ballad Of Darren
Trevor Rabin-Rio
Lana Del Rey-Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Marvelous 3-IV
The Rolling Stones-Hackney Diamonds
Yes-Mirror To The Sky
Metallica-72 Seasons
U2-Songs Of Surrender
Steven Wilson-The Harmony Codex
"It was a cruel song, but fair."-Roger Waters
Here's my little list for 2023, in order of purchase:
ID.Entity - Riverside
Maze of my Mind - Martin Miller
My Paragon - Floor Jansen
73 - Arielle
Mirror To The Sky - Yes
North Star - Pendragon
Light Up (vinyl LP) - Solstice
The Harmony Codex - SW
The Turning Of The World - Tiger Moth Tales
Luminescence - Bruce Soord
Birds - Karfagen
Mirage - Plini
Himlackbacken 2 - Moon Safari
Last edited by Steve983; 12-16-2023 at 02:47 PM.
^ You really think Mirror to the Sky is that good? I haven’t given it much of a chance I guess. Or is it more because Yes is your favorite band and you figure it’s their last album?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks