Welcome, hello and happy nearly the end of 2023 to you all. It’s finally time for Tracksuite’s hotly anticipated Best Albums of the Year roundup.
Usual rules apply - it’s got be good and it’s got to be an album. Saying that, one of these is actually not an album, it’s a mixtape - so much for rules. All bloody excellent though. Not nearly excellent, or great efforts, or worthy of note, but genuinely and thoroughly excellent.
Here they are, go listen to them. Now!
(OK not right now, after you’ve read this. Let’s get straight in to…)
Lankum - False Lankum
After the first couple of months of the year passing without note, March 24th brought the release of ‘False Lankum’ on Rough Trade Records, named after the original John Reilly ballad from which the previously named ‘Lynched’ claimed their new moniker in 2016. It’s the Irish folk giants third long player and the third to be included in a Tracksuite best album of the year list. It’s fair to say we love this band. Since catching them live touring their Between the Earth and Sky album, in the relatively modestly sized Oran Mor venue in Glasgow, their popularity is growing at a hefty rate that now sees them packing out much bigger venues across this country and further afield. In parallel with their growing audiences, or perhaps due in no small part to them, their sound is maturing and expanding. Clash Music said ‘The record swells and retreats at will as the group flex their musical dexterity’. They sure did.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to experience Lankum, then the album’s opener ‘Go Dig My Grave’ is where they lay out their stall, a perfect example of what they do and how they do it. You may have heard a version of the folk ballad ‘The Butcher’s Boy’ via anyone from The Clancy Brothers to Kirsty MacColl to Elvis Costello but whoever you heard deliver it, it was unlikely to sound like this. Altogether darker and more foreboding, like their version of The ‘Wild Rover’ from the last album ‘The Livelong Day’. Instead of cleaning up bloodthirsty and often terrifying folk stories for a popular audience, they go the other way and heighten the horror with drone and clatter. All the time with Radie Peat’s inimitable vocals, the sound of a fallen angel if ever there was, painting the details onto these songs like Goya’s paintings in sound.
‘They returned with a successor that takes what worked on their previous album and pushes further in every direction. Radie Peat and producer Spud Murphy have spread their remarkable talents this year in the recently released debut six track long(ish) player from fellow doom folk band Øxn, alongside Katie Kim and Eleanor Myler, the highlights of which are undoubtedly the very Lankumesque and brilliant tracks, ‘Cruel Mother’ and ‘The Wife of Michael Cleary’.
The Guardian said, ’There is so much to revel in here. ... They remain a radical band while making music that is reaching out to the mainstream – while also giving off the thrilling sense that there is so much more to come’. Tracksuite wholeheartedly agrees.
Other album highlights are the stunning love story ‘Newcastle’, the haunting ‘Lord Abore and Mary Flynn’, the tale of a mother poisoning her own son to stop a marriage and ending with incredible ‘The Turn’. This Lankum original closes the album, the song stretching and peeling off, carrying the spirits with it.
Fatoumata Diawara - London Ko
On 12th May, via 3ème Bureau and Wagram Music, Malian singer songwriter Fatoumata Diawara released her third album ‘London Ko’, co-produced and co-written with Damon Albarn. A collection of music almost diametrically opposed to False Lankum. Light instead of dark. Joy in place of sorrow. Tracksuite has to admit to not being fully aware of Diawara’s work, other than with previous Albarn project Africa Express, which they started to work on together back in 2011. They also collaborated on the opera ‘Le Vol Du Boli’ in 2020 and 2022 but London Ko appears to really cement and push the partnership to new heights. It’s a genuine celebration of life across ages and cultures.
Mostly sung in her native Malian Bamako language, interspersed with English language rap on M.anifest and infectious groover ‘Mogokan’, lacing English lyrics in the immensely danceable ‘Blues’ featuring Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca. This album manages to encompass the rich traditions of Wassoulou music while broadening genre styles and reaching out to embrace the wider world. The best example of this is arguably the best track and the most obviously distinctive of the collection, co-performed with Alburn on synths - ‘Dambe’. It’s an electronically dub driven piece reminiscent of Massive Attack’ and an absolute beauty. ‘Massa Den’ reflects Diawaras life in France, where she is mostly based, with some French spoken lyrics over a dance music production and vocal style that sits back perfectly before dropping into fuller, heavy, beat driven production that allows the emotional pull of Diawara’s voice to dominate. Not afraid to tackle the difficult subjects, one of the highlight’s is the incredibly moving ‘Sete’, Diawara’s second song about female genital mutilation. Undoubtedly this is serious subject matter and this gravity echoes throughout the the album, but what comes across, entirely intentionally despite the challenging nature of the subject matter, is the large scale exuberance. Tracks like ‘Seguen’, ‘Tolon’ and the brilliant pounding ‘Yada’ create a festive atmosphere that dares you to try not to dance.
Pop Matters said ‘In London Ko, Diawara uses a broader sonic palette than her earlier music and generally dials up the amplitude. While the music aims to move your body, its Bambara lyrics are also meant to move your spirit.’ Diawara exceeds on this score. A beautiful album.
Bongeziwe Mabandla - AmaXesha
Another African artist pushing at the boundaries of the traditional is South African singer-songwriter Bongeziwe Mabandla, releasing his fourth studio album, AmaXesha, on May 5th. via both Black Major and Platoon.
Mabandla has always had high quality songs built on a very individual sound. Ever since his debut album Umlilo in 2012, although wholly more organic and traditional in terms of approach, the signature feel of his music as sensual, soaring and spiritual has always been there. It was in his follow up long player Mangaliso in 2017 that we started to find traces of experimentation in production, courtesy of his career long collaboration and relationship with producer Tiago Correia-Paulo. Then through last album Iimini and the new album, the symbiosis between pushing the dual crafts of performance and production have been refined to perfection. The journey arc of music through this album is beautifully choreographed and to echo the sentiment of Mabandla himself in discussion with his producer during recording of ‘Xesha’, properly allows the listener to ‘vibe out’.
The Guardian said ‘No longer just an interpretation of Xhosa folk music, ‘AmaXesha’ places Mabandla’s music firmly in its own lane, capable of transmuting the shades of tradition into something else entirely’.
An album highlight and one that perfectly encapsulates the sense of the album is ‘Ukuthanda Wena’, translated as ‘Loving You’. Built on a skipping pulse beat and dark atmospheric synth bed, reminiscent of The XX, Mabandla’s vocal shines, delicately balanced on top of relentless waves of electronica. The vocals coming straight from the heart, the yearning and longing is, yes, heart breaking, but impossible not to be drawn to. From the moment the epic build finally breaks into the vocal on the stunning opener ‘Sisahleleleni (Part 1)’, you can feel the power of the sentiment that echoes throughout. As with so many albums just now, the concepts and writing were explored and shaped through Covid lockdown and Mabandla’s sensitivity from that time is to the fore in this music.
African culture magazine Okay Africa says ‘AmaXesha captures that yearning for true connection, a yearning the pandemic only made more acute.’
The album’s first single ‘Noba Bangathini’ is an admittedly slow ponderous track but the feel of it is as if stumbling along fits the idea of a soul lost in love perfectly. ‘Hlala’ picks up the pace and uplifts the spirit in a joyous danceable treat. ‘Ndikhale’ takes a step back into the traditional gospel folk style but feels no less modern or out of place here. As the album approaches the end, another stand out track is the moving ‘Libali’, a soulful rhythmic wonder with another distinctive vocal hook over the reflective lines ‘I have not forgotten, I have still not forgotten’. Then finally, what is effectively the album closer, (minus 3rd part of refrain Xesha, with the sumptuous ‘Ubukho Bakho’, which I think translates as ‘Your Presence’), a Tracy Chapman like number that seems to be sum up the introspection reflected throughout the album, while also looking forward and outwards from it.
Roseanne Reid - Lawside
Next up, on June 2nd, Roseanne Reid released her sophomore album, ‘Lawside’, on Last Man Music. Her excellent debut, ‘Trails', from 2019, featured on that year’s Tracksuite best of the year list, with a collection of such finely crafted and ageless songs, the like of which, I profer, have ne’er been found on a debut album for quite some time. And Reid has just picked up from where that album left off. Another collection of classic sounding tracks that takes her further towards, if a little early to proclaim, as one of the finest Scottish songwriters ever.
‘If Americana dominated her 2019 debut ‘Trails’, ’Lawside’ returns Reid to her Scottish roots. Through simple but fabulously effective instrumentation runs an unmistakable Celtic streak. To her previously soft Appalachian sound Reid now puts her vocals right up front. ‘All pulled together ‘Lawside’ is a complete success’ - Americana UK
Along with churning out folk country gems by the truckload and charming her evermore increasing number of fans, Reid has also been very busy on a personal level since her last album. She is now married and has her first child, the love of both a constant reference throughout the album, heard immediately in the sublime opener ‘All I Need’, a love letter to her wife. ‘Couldn’t Wish More For You’ and ‘All My Days’ both shine with the love for her son and are clearly lit with joy. Album highlight, in an album packed with highlights, ‘Mona Lisa’ is quite a rare treat from Reid, as she really cuts loose proclaiming that joy with a rollicking bootscooter. Online mag At The Barrier said ‘From hymn to hoedown, Mona Lisa is a gradually escalating hootenanny, a vocal chorale bolstering the feel good fiddle and accordion, a banjo plonking away with intent. The slightest song here, it’s placing is integral to the mood of the whole, coming as light relief between the headier tracks’.
One of the age old perks of success in the music industry is the ability for the artist to have more choice and control over the production of their art. Admittedly it’s not always the key to better product, an elusive secret to the x factor of perfect product remains mostly elusive. However, where her debut album was done in a five day rush in Brooklyn, albeit in the hands of the genius Teddy Thompson, this was completed in comparatively more relaxed circumstances with musical partner David Macfarlane in a studio just up the road in Perth. Rushed or not rushed, she delivers.
Kicking any second album syndrome fears into touch; this seems certain to figure in year-end best-of lists and launch her into the wider consciousness of fans on both sides of the Atlantic. - Folk Radio
Catch this lady play live as soon as you possibly can, her performance is one of subtle perfection. A delicate artistry that can hush even the largest of spaces and break the largest of hearts. But if you can’t get out to see her, you will not regret investing in her two albums (and a lovely wee EP in the middle). Just turn off the world and soak up flawless ageless songwriting.
Geese - 3D Country
Here we have another example of a perfect follow up album that arrived via Partisan Records on 23rd June, with ‘3D Country’ from Brooklyn based five piece indie rock band Geese. Their debut ‘Projector’ also made it into Tracksuite’s Best album list in 2021. A band with mastery beyond their years, their debut was a mashup of indie punk heritage with everything 1981 through 2021. Here, as to be expected, is a broadening of the sound, bringing in all sorts of new influences like sixties new wave, seventies prog, r&b, grunge, alt country and more. Tracks like funky hot stepper ‘Mysterious Love’ sound like the Rolling Stones one minute with Mick Jagger wailing over a Keith Richards groove but then soon after a guitar chop the breakdown drops into nineties alt rock before returning to the Jagger refrain. ‘I See Myself’ carries the spirit of Prince straight into a late career Chris Cornell riff. ‘Tomorrow’s Crusades’ would not seem out of place on the stage at Woodstock. All the time this is all going on, they manage to lose absolutely none of their original essence and sound irrefutably just like themselves.
Like Paste put it, ‘Across 11 tracks, 3D Country is gnarled, chaotic and vibrant. But, what’s potentially the most-shattering truth of all is that, amid all of this charismatic, wholehearted sonic anarchy, Geese have only just begun.’ After a few listens to both of Geese’s album, it can come as quite a shock when you’re reminded that these are still just the first two albums from still a relatively young group of musicians.
Album highlights are very difficult to pick out with a band that likes to load each track with a few more hooks and a couple more riffs than you’d expect to find in a rock tune, notwithstanding all the tempo changes and influence switches. However opener ‘2122’ is such an immediate and fully loaded attack on the senses, it will stick with you and to you throughout. An anarchic punk/country/prog hybrid monster of a tune, its a demonstration of all the growl this band can muster and a swift kicking down of the sides to the box that the band had been popped in following their debut. Incredible to think the plan for these guys was to split after the first album to concentrate on college and university. Plans we can all thank the gods for have been stuck on the back burner for the time being. Anyway, ’2122’ can be found in Tracksuite’s Best 50 Tracks of 2023 playlist.
Cable Ties - All Her Plans
Released on the same day as Geese’s ‘3D Country’ via Poison City Records and Merge Records came the third studio album ‘All her Plans’ from Melbourne punk trio Cable Ties. Described by Merge as ‘fierce, tense rock’n’roll’, they take the three-minute punk burner and stretch it past breaking point to deliver smouldering feminist anthems.’ Another band that only pinged on to the Tracksuite radar this year and whose work up till this point is still to be explored. However it appears by a brief dip of the aural toe into the first two albums, that these guys are punk to the core and have been true to the form from their beginnings.
Clearly snapping at the bit, there’s no building into this. Opener ‘Crashing Through’ does just that, straight into an insistent bass line and drum kick, while vocalist Jenny McKechnie greets us with a ‘Everybody’s ready, Everybody’s waiting, For me to get into gear. I keep it steady, Trying to keep my brain from, Sliding sideways out of my ear!’ You just know there’s going to be no letting up from there. The rhythm keeps driving and the vocals pitch up from a snarl into something you don’t hear a lot in rock these days, a classic rock falsetto reminiscent of Robert Plant, and I have to say I didn’t know I missed that sound until now. There’s an intermittent but consistent return to it all the way through this album and never once does it feel like its forced or referential for the sake it. Instead it seems the natural platform of expression for McKechnie as she bounces back and forth from hooks of sneer and drawl to this high pitched, anthemic nod to rock royalty . Follow up track ‘Perfect Client’ just gets faster, higher and more forceful.
There’s a purveying garage rock roots sensibility here. I don’t know these people but the music tells me that they are happiest when playing up close to their audience, in some rough and ready sweat pit than in bigger more refined settings. So, if they aren’t already, very soon they’re going to have to make the inevitable and unavoidable tough choice of how to cater for increasing audience numbers while retaining the intimacy that thus far still tightly informs their brilliant output.
Do Nothing - Snake Sideways
After a smattering of dazzling single and EP releases, like the pulsing megagroove of ‘LeBron James’ from 2019 and jagged swing of ‘Rolex’ from 2021, the debut album from Nottingham post punkers ‘Do Nothing’ was much anticipated. However, when it finally arrived on June 30th this year via Exact Truth, it’s fair to say it is not what was expected. The extroverted swagger of the pre album releases was followed by a self proclaimed ‘creative stutter’, and the album has turned inside to achieve a more introverted, subtler sound. It’s not lost one bit of the wry humour that gives the band their signature bite but the critics have rather unsurprisingly and perhaps a little tediously gone too cold on what, with a bit more investment than background listening, is actually a complex and deeply rewarding collection of songs.
That said, the lead single ‘Happy Feet’, released in February, plays closest to the early releases with its punchier rhythm and singalong hook but all the while there’s an irrefutable sense of unease in the tone of it, an echo of the nagging doubt any adult can find creeping in after the shine of your cocky early years start to fade, and it’s that that makes this album so intriguing. It wouldn’t be the first time this listener’s opinion forks off from the trodden path and age sometimes plays a part in that. Yes, I heard The Fall and The Walkmen and the many other comparisons that have been given the band before but I think they’ve done very quickly what most bands in similar situation fail to do because they don’t want to do, and that’s shirk of the branding that’s always comparing them and never allowing them to be. By avoiding treading those softened boards of success and not exemplifying the comparisons and posturing appropriately, they have dug down to the roots of something that has the makings of being bigger and far more interesting.
The title track ‘Snake Sideways’ is the game changer. For the visual thinkers out there, it has the feel of a small stage lit in high contrast by a single spotlight. Have a look at the album cover for reference. A light buzz in the audio suggests an opening as a sound system settles. A jazz bass and scattering drum beat backs singer Chris Bailey drooped pensively over the mic stand like a seasoned stand up. Then the real discovery of the new Do Nothing is his voice. The confident spoken word is still strong here but now there’s added cream on the pudding with honey dipped vocals that wield real power. Sitting comfortably alongside the cutting wit is aching introspection and its in this where Do Nothing now play their game and where they will undoubtedly thrive.
Gabriels - Angels & Queens
It was all very contemporary from UK/US Soul trio Gabriels with a drip feed release of their debut album ‘Angels and Queens’. The initial taster seven track Part 1 was released in September 2022, then the full 12 track album, inclusive of the initial part 1, released on 7 July this year by Atlas Artists and Parlophone. Then came the 20 track deluxe edition that included a few extras and 5 tracks from their Glastonbury 2022 set. But let us stick with the 12 track release before I invite the wrath of the fairness trolls, should any other releases in this blog have any bumper editions that I am unaware of. That and, well, as 12 tracks go, it is more than enough.
‘Every song is a wonder. It is unlikely Angels & Queens will inspire many imitators of its retro-future soul, its damaged doo-wop. It’s simply too good to be copied’ - The Observer
Kicking off from their brilliant first couple of introductory EPs in 2021 ‘Love and Hate in a Different Time’, two songs from which have been punched for the full album, and ‘Bloodline’, Gabriels continue to embellish and elevate their custom sound of gospel rhythm and blues. The first offering, aptly named ‘Offering’ sets out their choir stall with a solid soulful dancefloor filler. A pin perfect rhythm section from Ryan Hope and Ali Balouzian, feels both nostalgic and yet crispy fresh at once. Topped, of course, by the inexplicably beautiful voice of Compton’s own Jacob Lusk, a talent that appears to span generations in referential ability. On top of all that, of course, the album is blessed with the hefty production talents of Mark Anthony Spears, aka, Sounwave, a big time player who has worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and Beyonce.
Album highlight still remains the same as the track included in Tracksuite’s best tracks of last year playlist, ‘Taboo’. Apparently about a complex relationship that defies societal norms and expectations, they execute this by crafting a complex and bewilderingly good tune that defies all musical norms and industry expectations. Three minutes of breathtaking drama and released joy. ‘Professional’ is sumptuous vintage homage to early cinema and stage and ‘Glory’ is a fully ‘hands in the air’ disco delight. But Tracksuite’s choice for the 2023 playlist is the infectious Al Green type soul slinker ‘Remember Me’, a sublime mood setter, suited to both a low lit intimate dance space with the one you hold closest and also the fully lit club experience.
CLT DRP - Nothing Clever, Just Feelings
On Sept 8th, the hugely exciting Brighton based electro punk trio CLT DRP released the follow up to their brilliant debut album from 2020, ‘Without The Eyes’. An incredibly tough act to follow, the critically acclaimed debut was a thoroughly welcome left field attack on the senses in every way that a punk album should be, never cowing to outdated dogma about what punk is and the rules it should follow (seriously, they do that!), but insisting on breaking the mould. Now with ‘Nothing Clever, Just Feelings’, another lovely wry title, released on creative punk label Venn Records, the band have crashed through their own mould before it’s even had a chance to set. While losing none of the rasping edge or willingness to experiment, they’ve cleverly managed to round off some the angular make up of the earlier stuff. After six years honing their music and solid years of touring, everything sounds more considered, the overall effect feels more complete and the hooks in the songs are coming through cleaner.
If you haven’t heard them yet, the most obvious comparison would have to be Canadian electroclash pioneer Peaches, an undoubted influence that can be heard so clearly on the title track, with its twisted synth bass rumble, techno tweaks and direct acerbic vocals from Annie Dorrett. Otherwise it’s pretty difficult to pin them down, they appear to be at their happiest when breaking free of any preconceived form. The songs are obliterating the boundaries, constantly writhing and struggling free to do something new. Tracksuite’s pick ‘Desire / 1 on 1’ is an industrial pounder that comes in with a techno build before breaking into a mosh pit stomp. ‘M.U.T.M’ feels like St Vincent in a particularly abrasive mood with an abstract electronica backdrop, effected guitar chops and typically provocational vocals. ‘Cake 4 The Women’ bops a casual groove before quickly double timing with huge guitar punch and offbeat jagged sonic stabs. The most interesting new elements are when they pitch things down. ‘The Door’ is an intriguing minute and a half of nostalgic early days electronica. ‘Easier Than This’ has an 80s Kate Bush tint with contemporary indie sensibility. The almost shoegazey downbeat reflective ‘I See My Body Through You’ has a very cinematic feel, highly contrasting a swirling dreamscape sound with visceral Rage Against The Machine like power riff sections.
CLT DRP clearly have the talent and ambition for success but, perhaps most importantly, they have that edge that will let them continue to shake things up and carve out a singular path on the way. Always challenging the audience, while never failing to rock the show, makes them one of the most exciting bands out there.
Chase & Status - 2 Ruff, Vol 1
The final album in this year’s best album list isn’t actually technically an album, ‘2 Ruff Vol 1’ by Chase and Status, released on Nov 10, is in fact (and according to the artists themselves), a mixtape. I don’t really know why, I can’t even remember when collections of songs sold and presented in bundles started being called mixtapes so I must have missed that meeting. To my ears, it sounds like an album, so we’ll move ahead on that basis.
Chase & Status have already provided us with a two-word review of their latest release;“Absolutely nasty!” and although that essentially nails it, I will try and pad it out a little. The first thing that hits is a very welcome return to earlier career form of purer roots based bangers and almost none of the glitzier mid career pop edged anthems. Since 2019 and the aptly named ‘Rtrn II Jungle’, the London duo of Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status) have done just that and for it we are thankful. It can never be an easy decision for any artist to make, to pass on the privilege and wealth that must come from serious pop success and instead, jump back into the fire of the edgy drum and bass scene. But thankfully they have and they have done so proving why they are now stepping up to the plate as elder statesmen of the scene. This album, full to the brim with MC vocal talent, is a cranked up bunch of top rate ‘absolutely nasty’ killer tunes. I guess the only downside and possibly one of the reasons for calling it a mixtape, as well as the ‘Vol 1’ giveaway, is the ‘shorter than album length’ of just under 35 mins. But these tracks will live mostly outside this album, with extended mixes and club remixes. Besides, quality is quality, and not once here does that quality drop. So it’s difficult to pick highlights here, and so if filthy but perfectly produced weaponised drum and bass is your thing this is a must listen. The opener ‘Selecta’ feat Stefflon Don immediately plants the flag of what they want this music to be, and that’s dank stacked boiler room intensive chaos. It continues as planned with the brilliant ‘Liquor and Cigarettes’ feat Hedex and Arrdee.
On Tracksuite’s best of year playlist is the lead track and dancehall mega hit ‘Baddadan’ which features regular collaborators Irah, Flowdan, Trigga and Takura, a dark, fiery, infectious hardcore gem that proudly exemplifies the glory of the genre. This regeneration of Chase and Status has actually managed to wind back the stylist clock while simultaneously slingshotting their return to mainstream success, this time bringing the scene and all the talent with them.
Best tracks of 2023 playlist coming soon.
Much love, D@Tracksuite