Like every year, 2023 was full of incredible music, a mountain of new releases so high that I could never climb it, a weekly firehose of albums, singles, soundcloud, bandcamp, trips to the record shop and adventures in discogs. I can’t keep up, but I try. There will never be enough time in my life to listen to all the brilliant music made in any given year, and that’s kind of amazing to consider. There are many things to feel pessimistic about in this world today, and I can give in to the dread when I read too much news or spend too much time on social media. But music is an unending source of joy and community and pure human expression. Like Vonnegut said, music is sacred. And despite the constant news about AI taking over everything, music like this will never be replaced. Music is vital, it’s part of who we are as a species and we make it because we are compelled to create. I feel blessed to live at a time when I can experience so much incredible beauty from across the world while sitting at my desk, buried in my headphones.

So, let’s get on with the list. I couldn’t settle on just fifty again, or close to it, so here we are. I enjoyed and loved a lot more than sixty albums in 2023, but I spent the most time and gave the most of my attention to these ones listed below.

I know I missed a bunch of great stuff, so let me know in the comments or on twitter @funkentechno. I’ll never catch up, but it’s always fun to try. Here we go, in the order I heard them, plus my super special top 20 at the end:

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