Almost halfway through 2023, we are astounded at how many dynamite albums have come out this decade. Even in the last few months, critics have raved about a handful of new releases as much as any other record from recent years. To mark the midpoint of 2023, here are the top albums that critics have rated most highly.
5. Sparks – The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte
The original masters of weird pop are enjoying one of their best commercial and creative periods in an over 50-year music career. The duo of Russell and Ron Mael, who respectively have handled vocal and keyboard duties since their early-70s debut as Sparks, find new inspiration in the troubles of the world around them while fleshing out many tracks with a full band. While the lyrics have never been funnier, the music itself is shockingly good, considering their presence on the 25th album of a band.
4. JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown – SCARING THE HOES
Since both of these rappers are essential players in the alternative hip-hop world, their collaboration was bound to either cancel out into unoriginal conventionality or double in wildness; thankfully, SCARING THE HOES ended up being the latter. With the caffeinated production of JPEGMAFIA boosted by the unrivaled flow and lyrical variety of both wordsmiths, this is a rare album that exceeds its impossibly high expectations.
3. Lankum – False Lankum
The most obscure album on the list received a perfect score from The Guardian, the world-renowned news source based in London, and will either be a grueling avant-garde slog or a masterful drone piece depending on who you ask. Blending Irish folk tradition with a dark, industrial sensibility, Lankum delivers what is easily the most impressive experimental work of 2023 so far with False Lankum.
2. Depeche Mode – Memento Mori
Dave Gahan and Martin Gore, the two co-leading members of the band, forged on with some of their most emotionally resonant material of all time, dealing with the inescapable finality and profundity of life the only way they know. Ending with the aching closer “Speak To Me,” Memento Mori is a fitting tribute to their lifelong friend while burbling with alternately joyous and melancholic keyboard soundscapes along the way.
1. Foo Fighters – But Here We Are
Though the top entry on this list is the most recent release (and, to some, one of the most unexpected), But Here We Are deserves its place as the best of 2023 so far, thanks to its career-defining retrospective sound that capitalizes on the meaningful emotional impact of every track. From 90s-era sonic touches on songs like “Under You” to the grand design of the ten-minute epic “The Teacher,” this album marks the overdue recognition for a beloved rock band that has never received universal critical acclaim.
Beginning as the solo project of Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the ensuing full-band outfit quickly surpassed the quantity of his former band without making a masterpiece album themselves. Though certainly not as tapped into the zeitgeist as Nevermind was in 1991, Grohl’s third collaboration with pop/rock producer Greg Kurstin shows the musical processing of the deaths of his longtime drummer and mother, resulting in an absorbing experience with not one detail out of place.