Photo of Altin Gün courtesy of ATO Records
It was a great year for dance music! Here are the albums that soundtracked my 2023, in alphabetical order:
1. Altin Gün | Aşk (Red Vinyl)
This ensemble from the Netherlands actually toured their new album all across the US, yet they remain on my live music bucket list, as this release put them on the festival circuit in 2023 but didn’t reach our flyover city. Blending traditional Turkish songs and instruments with disco rhythms, buzzy bass, and spacy keys, they’re an exciting interplay of classic, mod, and modern sounds from Dutch and Turkish musicians, reminding us that globalization has done some good for music. “Leylim Ley” is a mysterious moonlight beach stroll, while “Doktor Civanim” relates a folksy tale of courtship in a more Abba-like sound than its wedding song origins. I desperately need to see this in action, and thankfully now there are videos to tide me over.
2. Big Freedia | Central City (Queen Diva Music)
This was probably my most-played album of the year. Since 2014, Big Freedia has fed us a steady diet of singles and collaborations while we waited for another full album. The 2023 release truly satisfied with a collection encapsulating much of the Queen Diva’s journey across these years. “Central City Freestyle” sounds just like the wild abandon of the booty-shaking contest of a Big Freedia live show. “Throw It Back” has a classic bounce rhythm with a hint of reggaeton and some nasty, gritty new vocals, reminding us of New Orleans’ history as a port city as well as Big Freedia’s tours and travels. Guest appearances abound, including Kelly Price and Ciara. My personal favorite, “El Niño,” has the hometown hero passing the mic to other NOLA talents Lil Wayne and Boyfriend.
3. Damien Jurado | Motorcycle Madness (Maraqopa Records)
This is not the only album Jurado released this year, but it’s my favorite from him in a long time. His music tends toward the spare and sorrowful end of the singer-songwriter spectrum, but every once in a while he flexes his instrumentation muscles. Much like 2014’s Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, this album works big sounds around recurring themes, this time the “St. Gregory Hotel.” Saxophone, strings, piano, and backup vocals accompany his usual sardonic wit and melancholy.
4. Dengue Fever | Ting Mong (Tuk Tuk Records)
Their latest release is gentler by intention. The beats are slow and droning while the vocals still ring clear and resonant as a bell. We are told the album title in Khmer relates to a scarecrow-like figure used to deflect evil spirits, and that concept comes through in a shadowy, protective vibe. The album is aptly dreamy and delirious, with “Room 720” creeping around an ominous corner and the big closer, “Wake Me Up Slowly,” bringing us sweetly back to reality.
5. Gitkin | Nowhere to Go But Everywhere (Antifragile Music)
Another of my most-played for 2023, this album feels right for a lot of occasions. The multi-instrumentalist toys with dub sounds and hypnotic dance-grooves, desert rhythms and hand drums, all of which fit the bill for soothing atmosphere. It’s just the thing for getting outside your head and lulled into auto-pilot muscle memory relaxation. Get lost in “Despierta” or put a little shimmy in your step with “Whaya.”
6. Janelle Monáe | The Age of Pleasure (Wondaland Productions)
I have gone back and forth with this one, with a lot of thoughts and emotions, which I ultimately take as a sign of valuable art. My first listen was a little disappointing, as the subject of this album is entirely physical and zero cerebral. It felt superficial in contrast to the social commentary I look for in her music. But then again, flexing your right to ditch the cerebral and inhabit the physical is social commentary of its own. I call it her sexy-money-party album, full of Caribbean rhythms designed for grinding and strutting a runway. In the end, I listened to it over and over and sang “Float” to myself for days. It is just plain fun, and we all deserve that.
7. Night Beats | Rajan (Suicide Squeeze Records)
The latest release experiments with psychedelic trends while remaining distinctly theirs. “Hot Ghee” plays with hazy sitar, and the retro sounds on “Motion Picture” conjure a technicolor ‘60s groove with sick guitar and tuned-in-dropped-out vocals, while “Nightmare” feels like it belongs in a ‘70s crime show soundtrack. “Osaka” is more classic Night Beats ramble, a hallucinogenic stumble through the desert. However they play it, the reverb is thick as always, just the way I like it.
8. Say She She | Silver (Karma Chief/Colemine Records)
Angelic three-part harmony is gloriously synchronized with the choreography of a 1950s girl group and distinctly modern subject matter to cast a spell on your dancing shoes. Like the nu-disco sound of Escort, but with three female singers who split and merge fluidly, they trill like three little jungle birds in “Forget Me Not.” Alternately daydreaming about lovers on “Astral Plane” and admonishing the nightmarish loss of body autonomy in “NORMA,” this album is both sweetly charming and confidently independent. Get out your sequins and disco ball for this party of an album.
9. Tall Tall Trees | Stick to the Mystical I (Joyful Noise Recordings)
Longtime Kishi Bashi collaborator released an album of heartwarming, light-filled musings that will dispel all gloom and cynicism with the twang of his trademark Banjotron. It’s trippy and introspective, starry-eyed but grounded—a perfect fit for inspired crafting, reading on the couch in a sunbeam, and backroads cruising out to a hike. It sparks simple joys and appreciation for the little things, as in “This Is Just a Mountain Song.” I love it so much I had to wonder why I haven’t been listening to his solo work all along. When an album opens the door to an unexplored catalog like this, it’s a gift that keeps on giving.
10. Thee Oh Sees | Intercepted Message (In The Red)
Zing! This is the album to fuel your excessive speed at the desperate tail end of a road trip. With more focus on beeps and blips and croaky, staccato vocals, it’s electric in a way that harkens the sounds of “Hubba Bubba” from John Dwyer’s Damaged Bug project, but with more structure. In a departure from the jazzy, prog-rock turn of their 2020 projects, this veers more towards a deliriously punchy Devo. “The Fish Needs a Bike,” after all! Drums are on fire, of course.
11. Unknown Mortal Orchestra | V (Jagjaguwar)
Every track on this album could be a single. No one sounds like UMO, with their trademark mirrored guitar/vocal melodies and melancholic minor chord progressions. Fuzzy and delicate, this album is characteristically full of longing and regret, delivered with ‘80s nostalgia for Stewart Copeland’s sparse and expressive drums and drowsy yacht rock. It feels like the tail end of a raucous night, stumbling into the breaking daylight, a little soberer than you want to be, ignoring the impending crash of reality to come as soon as you sit still. Painfully beautiful and a little too self-aware to really enjoy the party, it’s a mood you can’t deny. | Courtney Dowdall
