X-Press Magazine’s Top 23 Albums of 2023
As music tastes and genres across the world continue to become more fragmented, 2023 saw established artists assert themselves on the musical landscape. Genesis Owusu, SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, Sampha, and more proved their breakthrough debut albums were no flukes, returning with stellar sophomore efforts. Meanwhile, some old friends, like Blur, PJ Harvey, and Foo Fighters, returned with records strong enough to win over a whole new generation. Meanwhile, Western Australia continued to match it on the world stage, literally in the case of Eurovision finalists Voyager, while political punks Last Quokka hit as hard as anything this year, and few came close to crafting dance-pop bangers as smooth as Troye Sivan’s. These are the albums that X-Press writers have named as their standouts of 2023.
23. Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers I Love You
A festival favourite, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers are an unstoppable force with their first studio album I Love You, an emotional journey through high voltage pop-punker bangers, and deeply contemplative, intimate ballads. Combining some of their already most beloved songs like Ahhhh! and Lights Out with exciting new material, including the recently released Never Saw it Coming, fans of the band are seeing TJ&tJT at their unabashedly loud, unapologetic best.
– BEC WELDON
22. Voyager Fearless in Love
Perth’s synth-prog virtuosos, Voyager, renowned for spellbinding Eurovision performances, unveiled their eighth studio album and magnum opus, Fearless in Love in July. Recorded live, a departure from their usual approach, the collective effort of charismatic frontman Danny Estrin’s dynamic vocals and keytar, Simone Dow and Scott Kay’s guitars, Alex Canion’s bass and backup vocals, and Ashley Doodkorte’s drums resulted in an eclectic mix of modern progressive synth-metal and ’80s pop vibes across 11 diverse tracks. Featuring tracks Dreamer, Promise, and Ultraviolet, the album is sure to leave an enduring mark on music history, with each band member contributing to the absorbing experience.
– ANDY JONES
21. Sleep Token Take Me Back to Eden
In their short phenomenal rise, Sleep Token have already graced Perth with two visits. One was an almost under-the-radar support slot for Northlane in 2021 riding the popularity of their debut release Sundowning, and the second, their own headlining show at Magnet House only weeks before the release of Take Me Back to Eden. The first singles off the album Chokehold and The Summoning came out in early January, followed by Granite and Aqua Regia later in the month. This shotgun approach gave the band a rapid and massive increase in listeners, with The Summoning quickly becoming their most popular release. Take Me Back to Eden continues to solidify their sound with a meld of genres ranging from djent, R&B, pop, electronic, black and progressive metal to funk and blues. Said to be the closer of a three-part trilogy, many view this as their most refined and solid release to date.
– ANTHONY JACKSON
20. Last Quokka Red Dirt
Last Quokka have been releasing excellent records longer than most people realise, even here in their home state. The WA punks finally started getting the recognition they deserve with Red Dirt: nominated for the Australian Music Prize (AMP), touring widely and getting unprecedented plays across streaming platforms. It’s the combination of raging Aussie anthems about Broome, Gina Rinehart and “grass stains on my jeans” that connects so well with their fast-growing fanbase. But what really lifts Red Dirt is upscale production values and a sublime mix care of new guitarist Justin Zanetic. It ensures the anarchic sound and vision is fatter and louder than ever, without sacrificing their DIY, warts and all ethos.
– HARVEY RAE
19. Genesis Owusu STRUGGLER
Genesis Owusu’s STRUGGLER is a beautiful, winding ride through a sonic maze. Quickly becoming Australia’s hottest export, Owusu throws punk, hip-hop, and electronica into a blender, serving up a cocktail of musical bravado. STRUGGLER tackles heady issues like identity and anthropologic fortitude in a way only Owusu can. Tracks like Leaving The Light and Stay Blessed burst with conviction, while downtempo moments in See Ya There and Stuck To The Fan reveal Owusu’s soul. More than a collection of songs, it’s a rebellious sonic manifesto, solidifying Genesis Owusu within the stratosphere of global genre-defying recognition. STRUGGLER is a triumph for Genesis, for Australia and for the roaches.
– CALOGERO ALGERI
18. Troye Sivan Something to Give Each Other
Five years after his last studio album, Perth’s homegrown pop star Troye Sivan’s third album Something to Give Each Other is a sample-heavy pop journey about embracing the highs and lows of love, sex, and parties of your twenties. Despite barely scratching 30 minutes over 10 songs, Sivan touches on and explores different sounds that leave you wanting more and sad that it’s finished. It’s safe to say Sivan has shed his teen YouTube star image and embraced the modern pop star that he has become and presents all that he has to offer the music world in his proudly queer and eclectic songs.
– ETHAN GREGORY
17. Polaris Fatalism
Released just months after the tragic death of guitarist Ryan Siew, Polaris’ third album Fatalism was one of the year’s most gripping heavy records. Jamie Hails’ impassioned vocals intertwined seamlessly with the band’s relentless instrumentals and generated a distinct identity for the album. From the searing intensity of Nightmare to the haunting beauty of Vagabond, the album was sonically diverse and presented the listener with an intricately emotional narrative.
– HARRISON JONES
16. SZA SOS
Arriving right at the tail end of 2022, the second album from American singer-songwriter SZA arrived too late for most of last year’s accolades, but it’s simply too good to be overlooked. Kill Bill was a worthy radio hit, but the whole album bats deep, brimming with smooth and timeless standouts like Snooze and Good Days. SZA is simply a class above her contemporaries, without sounding like she’s breaking a sweat.
– BRAYDEN EDWARDS
15. Blur The Ballad of Darren
Blur’s ninth album, following their second reunion, is a superb reminder of Albarn and co’s unique brilliance. The Britpop pretty boys are now grizzled with age on this reflective album. Known for his character-based songs, this feels deeply personal, following Albarn’s split from his partner of 25 years. Now 32 years on from Blur’s debut, it’s up there with their best work, and cements Albarn’s legacy as of one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. (Testament to his relentless creativity, he produced another of the year’s best albums with Gorillaz.) Barbaric and The Narcissist are catchy, instant Blur classics. Albarn is also a master of melancholy, and album closer The Heights is a strikingly tender moment. Whether it’s their last album is yet to be seen.
– ALFRED GORMAN
14. Grian Chatten Chaos for the Fly
That the Fontaines D.C. frontman could follow one of last year’s best records (Skinty Fia) with a solo-debut album of the year contender, shows just how much of a sweet spot he’s in. Steering clear of his day band’s post-punk noise, he embraces traditional Irish folk melodies (Fairlies, Salt Throwers off a Truck), while also lifting from In Rainbows-era Radiohead on The Score and getting all Sinatra (or is that Gainsbourg and Bardot?) on Bob’s Casino. Confident, assured and rangy, it’s an unlikely home run.
– HARVEY RAE
13. Janelle Monae The Age of Pleasure
On her previous album, Dirty Computer, genre-blurring R&B star Janelle Monae shed the ‘genderless cyborg’ persona of her first two records to put her real self on display. Now on her fourth album, The Age of Pleasure, the Kansas City artist levels up from self-acceptance to self-love, with a sensual, yet still politically vivid record that blends a world of different flavours into a deliciously rich and righteously indulgent treat.
– BRAYDEN EDWARDS
12. Lana Del Rey Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Lana Del Rey’s ninth album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, is the sound of the singer songwriter’s introspection turned up to ten. Starkly beautiful and disarmingly honest, Del Rey finds artistic freedom by disavowing pop-hooks or choruses and rather knitting her tales of lost-love and heartbreak in a blanket of low-key aesthetic looseness. Lana is not entirely on her own though; a delectable bevvy of features across the album, each adding flavour without disturbing broth. Where once her singer-songwriter credentials were questioned, Did You Know… confirms that Del Rey’s is a definite inclusion in the Great Song Book of Americana.
– MICHAEL HOLLICK
11. Caroline Polachek Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
“Hope you like me, you ain’t leaving.” Caroline Polachek’s fourth album kicks off with Welcome to My Island, an invitation to a world where the US singer-producer writes her own rules. A choir singer and synth player from a young age, with a childhood spent absorbing traditional Japanese music, Polachek feels at home in any musical climate, cultivating electro, classical, flamenco and more on an island rich with treasures eager to be discovered.
– BRAYDEN EDWARDS
10. 100 Gecs 10,000 gecs
10,000 gecs was the 2023 record that showed the kids are (still) alright. After breaking out in 2019, 100 gecs’ major label debut continued the Dylan Brady and Laura Les’ assault on the boundaries of pop music with an arsenal of distorted vocals, glitchy beats and grabby hooks. Always playful, the exhilarating ride is over in under 28 minutes which, while short in the conventional sense, is more than enough time for the duo to reanimate their iPod Shuffles of 90s nu-metal and ska into 10 abusrdly catchy pop tracks.
– MICHAEL HOLLICK
9. Sampha Lahai
Over six years since his near-perfect, Mercury Prize-winning debut album Process, news of a new Sampha project was music to the ears of so many—and boy was it worth the wait. Sampha’s Lahai is a mesmerising dive into contemporary R&B; a sonic tapestry that captures the essence of vulnerability and resilience, with Sampha’s soulful voice serving as the guiding force. Experimental production weaves electronic, jazz, and R&B elements into an ambitious yet authentic sound. Each track feels like a personal revelation, leaving a lasting impression with its hauntingly beautiful sonic landscapes. A timely and timeless project all at once.
– CALOGERO ALGERI
8. PJ Harvey I Inside the Old Year Dying
Voices from the woods, faded drawings of pentagrams, dark childhood secrets, discarded poems, ghosts of medieval murders, eerie hallucinations, the unease after a nightmare, light at early dawn. Quite some time ago PJ Harvey ascended to the artistic strata of a Radiohead or Nick Cave, each new album every five years or so an epistle to be devoured and decoded. Inspired and adapted from her epic narrative poem Orlam, published in 2022, this extraordinary, beautiful layered record pushes hard into the sublime. Music like this exists in 2023 and we should be thankful.
– GORDON JONES
7. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
Exploring metal further after 2019’s Infest the Rats Nest (some nine albums previously), King Gizzard showed the genre was more than just a teenage passion project. Much cleaner production compared to Petrodragonic’s ‘prelude’ gives the album’s heavy riffs stronger impact and intricate musical passages more definition. Forays into progressive metal almost seem like subtle references to 2017’s Polygondwanaland, as if opening up a second Gizzverse (Gizzdwanaland?) For its final four minutes, the distorted guitars and double kicks are swapped for industrial synths, as if to conjure a silver cord…
– AJ MAHAR
6. Foo Fighters But Here We Are
It breaks our heart that The Foos had to experience such tragic loss to make this album—their best in years. A tribute to fallen drummer Taylor Hawkins and to main man Dave Grohl’s mother, it’s an emotional tour de force with opener Rescued and ten-minute epic The Teacher amongst their career best, while daughter Violet’s gorgeous vocals on Show Me How break hearts from twenty paces. Grohl was consumed by grief, and surely this dredged up feelings of another former bandmate lost to misadventure. To be able to properly convey his sadness, loss and rage into a career highlight collection of articulate and meaningful songs is nothing short of staggering.
– SHANE PINNEGAR
5. Gaz Coombes Turn the Car Around
Gaz Coombes’ excellent forth solo effort finds the evergreen Supergrass frontman delivering his finest suite of self-penned songs since 2014’s Mercury Prize nominated Matador. Lushly produced and stylistically diverse, Turn The Car Around features gorgeous, expansive songs with heartfelt lyrics about family life and relationships pairing up to more abstract sounding ruminations about murdered boxers and lizards. With Coombes really bringing his A-game on the vocal and songwriting front, the overall sound of the album is dense, almost cinematic in texture at times like a Berlin-era Bowie album, but with enough clever touches on the arrangement side of things to keep things fresh and hugely listenable throughout.
– ZACK YUSOF
4. Wednesday Rat Saw God
North Carolina’s Wednesday could not have had a bigger year. With the band having seen modest success on their previous records, it was their fifth album Rat Saw God which mixes their shoegaze and alt-country leanings to perfection, has seen them take the leap to be one of the most talked about ‘indie’ bands of 2023. The songwriting vehicle for the black lipstick-adorned Karly Hartzman who sings about her native Ashville, drug use and the associated melancholy are augmented with wunderkind guitarist MJ Lenderman and pedal steel. Be sure to see them on their upcoming tour, as they won’t be playing in boutique venues for long.
– CHRIS HAVERCROFT
3. Olivia Rodrigo GUTS
Olivia Rodrigo has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and her newest studio album GUTS is no different. Packed full of punchy, almost fatally catchy lyrics and strong instrumental moments throughout, it’s an incredibly honest album that sees Rodrigo reflect on herself as a person, performer, and lover. Through the songs, she takes a look back with clarity, comparison, and a little humour at bygone eras of her childhood and teenage years, and contemplates the impact they’ve had on her as person. It’s an album that filled with so much heart, and yet is an unapologetic serving of absolute party anthems.
– BEC WELDON
2. Yves Tumor Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
Five albums in and Yves Tumor continues their metamorphosis from an experimental sound artist to genre-hopping musical polymath. Praise a Lord… traverses post-punk and metal (even making nu metal acceptable on Meteora Blues) atop programmed beats and whirling synths, but still saves time for hip hop instrumentals as heard on Purified by the Fire. The two-part vocals and synth punk of Lovely Sewer shows off Yves’ songwriting chops the best though, as well as the driving Echolalia, which is built around an obscure 1982 single from Italian cult new wave band Neon.
– MATTHEW HOGAN
1. boygenius The Record
After guesting on each other’s albums over the past few years, it was about time that Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus dusted off their boygenius moniker and gave us a full-length album. Modestly titled The Record, each of the artists brought songs of their own to the project as well as a number of tunes that were penned together. With each being a killer vocalist in their own right there is no shortage of perfect harmonies and layered instrumentation. Lucy Dacus takes flight with her rich and warm vocals being a highlight throughout Cool About It and Not Strong Enough. Never one to be outdone, Bridgers delivers the highlight by reimagining Me & My Dog into the track Letter To An Old Poet. boygenius turn sadness into a celebration at will.
– CHRIS HAVERCORFT