It's July, and there doesn't seem to be a new album thread for non-metal. At the risk of being the only one interested, let's get this started!

My AOTYs so far include a live album from Ichiko Aoba with 12 Ensemble, Susanne Sundfør's lush Blómi, the really unsual, moody but catchy genre hybrid that is Big Blood, Katie Gately's savage post-industrial art pop monster, with some delightfully solid albums from PJ Harvey and Carly Rae Jepsen. Will link below.

Here's my 2023 list (only added the albums I rated so far):
Iron's 2023: Bangers & Pastoralia

This song is like a neo-psychedelic freak folk Abba, maybe song of the year so far:


This jazzy slice of late-nigh melancholia is some of Susanne Sundfør's prettiest:


Katie Gately is channeling some pretty ferocious energies, like a primal-cum-indistrual St. Vincent:

I was wondering when someone would create this thread. There have been several really good releases so far, my favourites being:

This year I fell down the vocaloid rabbit hole and it's all thanks to this abum. Last year's Inabakumori release showed me what kind of creativity could be expected from vocaloid music and this one only confirmed that this scene was where some of the very best pop was being made.


However, this release is imo the very best that pop music has to offer. I already detailed it more here, but it's excellent from beginning to end and for sure one of my very favorites this year.


Covered in this article are two other favorites of mine. Won't expand much on them but do check them out.



Additionnally, there's this little gem right here. It's very metal adjacent (that band release a black metal album earlier this year) but never becomes full-on metal, and it's a really hypnotic drone / folk album which I really enjoyed.

Not sure what this is or whether it's good or bad, but it's definitely interesting:

Also apparently "experimental cumbia" is a genre, I definitely need to delve more into this:

This is some solid chiptunegrind, not a joke band like most of them, but an actual serious chiptunegrind record.

Well, this was a quiet thread this year. I don't have the time/energy to write mini-reviews this year, and my list is still missing some good albums from the 3,5/5 range downward, but some highlights:

Big Blood - First Aid Kit: what a great discovery, a unique blend of brooding Americana with psychedelic, krautrock-like repetition, childlike wonder in the vocals, and some harmonies that Abba or The Beatles would be happy with.
PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying: A really strong comeback for PJ, gloomy, folky art rock that evokes some of the atmosphere of White Chalk but pushes her sound forward.
Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time: Maybe the best CRJ album since Emotion/Side B. A pretty much flawless run of dance pop bangers from track 5 to 11.
Ascendant Vierge - Une nouvelle chance: Ridicilously fun hard dance (or whatever, euro-trance?) that evokes the 90s (or Danny Harle's Harlecore), bombastic vocals, viral melodies. This is what it means when kids say something "goes hard", I guess.
Lisa O'Neill - All of This Is Chance: meandering, intimate Irish folk storytelling that sounds simultaneously ancient and modern. One of the best voices in contemporary folk.
Titanic - Vidrio: A project with Mabe Fratti on cello and vocals, this is some cool experimental folk/avant-pop/jazzy post-minimalism.
Vyva Melinkolya - Unbecoming: Pure slowcore, with occasional heavier fuzz going into shoegaze territory. Just good, simple, slow melodies, she gets the genre. For fans of Codeine, sure, but also True Widow, Grouper, Midwife etc.

By the way, there was a lot of Irish (and Scottish) modern/experimental folk this year that I really liked. Apart from Lisa O'Neill, you should check out ØXN (sounds like a lighter, folkier Menace Ruine or Anna von Hausswolff), John Francis Flynn, Lankum, Cinder Well and Brìghde Chaimbeul (instrumental bagpipe post-minimalism with features by Colin Stetson).

Written by IronAngel on 30.12.2023 at 13:30

Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time: Maybe the best CRJ album since Emotion/Side B. A pretty much flawless run of dance pop bangers from track 5 to 11.

I really like this one too. A nice comeback.