My Favorite Albums of 2023

Top ten, ranked 

1. Peter Gabriel — i/o
2. The Mountain Goats — Jenny from Thebes
3. Olivia Rodrigo — Guts
4. Wilco — Cousin
5. We Are Scientists — Lobes
6. Tiny Ruins — Ceremony
7. Anohni and the Johnsons — My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross
8. Molly Tuttle — City of Gold
9. The National — First Two Pages of Frankenstein
10. Lana Del Rey — Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd

Rest of list, unranked:

• Alex Lahey — The Answer Is Always Yes
• Altin Gün — Aşk
• CMAT — Crazymad, For Me
• Der Assistant — Der Assistant
• Feine Sahne Fischfilet — Alles glänzt
• Gia Margaret — Romantic Piano
• Grace Potter — Mother Road
• Gregory Alan Isakov — Appaloosa Bones
• The Hold Steady — The Price of Progress
• Hugjiltu — Returning to Childhood
• Jason Isbell — Weathervanes
• Joseph — The Sun
• Julian le Play — TABACCO
• Juni Habel — Carvings
• Low Cut Connie — Art Dealers
• Lucero — Should've Learned By Now
• Mimi Webb — Amelia
• Mitski — The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
• Pippa — Blick
• Romy — Mid Air
• Sigur Rós — ÁTTA
• Sunny War — Anarchist Gospel
• William Lee Ellis — Ghost Hymns
• Woods — Perennial
• ZSK — HassLiebe

My Favorite Albums of 2022

 

Top ten, ranked

1. Wilco - Cruel Country
2. Camila Cabello - Familia
3. David Ford - Love & Death / May You Live in Interesting Times
4. Aurora - The Gods We Can Touch
5. Kikagaku Moyo - Kumoyo Island
6. Kyla La Grange - While Your Heart's Still Beating
7. Bob Vylan - Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life
8. Lissie - Carving Canyons
9. Titus Andronicus - The Will to Live
10. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

Rest of list, unranked:

• Amenra / Cave In / Marissa Nadler - Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol III
• Anaïs Mitchell - Anaïs Mitchell
• Ashley McBryde - Lindeville
• Bear's Den - Blue Hours
• Benjamin Clementine - And I Have Been
• Blaudzin - Lonely City Exit Wounds
• Bonny Light Horseman - Rolling Golden Holy
• Buck 65 - King of Drums
• Buddy Guy - The Blues Don't Lie
• The Cactus Blossoms - One Day
• caroline - caroline
• CMAT - If My Wife New I'd Be Dead
• Dedicated Men of Zion - The Devil Don't Like It
• Gabriels - Angels & Queens - Part I
• Ghost - IMPERA
• Hurray for the Riff Raff - Live on Earth
• John Fullbright - The Liar
• Joyride - Miracle Question
• Kamaiyah - Divine Timing
• Let's Whisper - The In-Between Times
• Los Bitchos - Let the Festivities Begin!
• Lumbematz - Nichts Perfekt
• Lykke Li - EYEYE
• Medicine Singers - Medicine Singers
• Messa - Close
• Midlake - For the Sake of Bethel Woods
• Mitski - Laurel Hell
• The Mountain Goats - Bleed Out
• Noah Kahan - Stick Season
• Pup - The Unraveling of PupTheBand
• Quiet Hollers - Forever Chemicals
• Say Sue Me - The Last Thing Left
• Shearwater - The Great Awakening
• Shilpa Ray - Portrait of a Lady
• Sorcha Richardson - Hot Fuss
• Starcrawler - She Said
• The Weeknd - Dawn FM
• Wet Leg - Wet Leg
• WILLOW - <COPINGMECHANISM>
• V/A - Stór agnarögn

My Favorite Albums of 2021

Top ten, ranked:

1. Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR
2. Five Iron Frenzy - Until This Shakes Apart
3. Yasmin Williams - Urban Driftwood
4. Weezer - OK Human / Van Weezer
5. The War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore
6. Black Fly - Black Fly 01
7. Lucero - When You Found Me
8. The Antlers - Green to Gold
9. Halsey - If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
10. Grandbrothers - All the Unknown

Rest of the list, unranked:

Afterlight - Afterlight
Altın Gün - Yin
Balmorhea - The Wind
Black Country, New Road - For the First Time
Bo Burnham - Inside (The Songs)
The Burning Sun - Marrow
Clever Girls - Constellations
Dean McPhee - Witch's Ladder
Delta Rae - The Dark
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio - I Told You So
Dornenreich - Du wilde Liebe sei
Erik Cohen - Northern Soul
girl in red - if i could make it go quiet
Goat Girl - On All Fours
Herzel - Le Dernier Rempart
The Hold Steady - Open Door Policy
Korpiklaani - Jylhä
Lily Seabird - Beside Myself
Lorde - Solar Power
Lowland Hum - So Low
Marisa Anderson & William Tyler - Lost Futures
Midnight Odyssey - Biolume Part 2: The Golden Orb
My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - CARNAGE
Palberta - Palberta5000
Pale Waves - Who Am I?
Rose City Band - Earth Trip
Ryley Walker - Course in Fable
Saint Sister - Shere I Should End
Steve Earle & The Dukes - J.T.
Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
Talons - new nightmare
Vapour Theories - Celestial Scuzz
Whitehorse - Modern Love
Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights
ZSK - Ende der Welt

My Favorite Albums of 2020

 Top Ten

1. Bob Dylan - Rough & Rowdy Ways
2. The Killers - Imploding the Mirage
3. Emel Mathlouthi - The Tunis Diaries
4. Low Cut Connie - Private Lives
5. Ásgeir - Sátt
6. Bruce Springsteen - Letter to You
7. Brian Fallon - Local Honey
8. Wolfhand - The Devil Arrives
9. Amy Macdonald - The Human Demands
10. David Ford - Quarantine Singles

#11-50, Unranked

• A2VT - Twenty Infinity
• Agnes Obel - Myopia
• Anachronist - Stay Late
• Arborist - A Northern View
• Arbouretum - Let It All In
• Ben Patton - The Swan, For Instance
• Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman
• The Bubs - Cause a Fuss
• Community Gardens - Don't Sweat It
• Couchsleepers - Only When It's Dark
• Delta Rae - The Light
• Die Ärzte - Hell
• Don Bryant - You Make Me Feel
• EOB - Earth
• Francesca Blanchard - Make It Better
• Frazey Ford - U Kin B the Sun
• Gill Landry - Skeleton at the Banquet
• Gwenifer Raymond - Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain
• Isobel Campbell - There Is No Other…
• James Elkington - Ever-Roving Eye
• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Reunions
• Jónsi - Shiver
• Lady Gaga - Chromatica
• Lily Wade - 5teen
• Little Big Town - Nightfall
• Local H - Lifers
• Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better Angels
• The Magnetic Fields - Quickies
• The Mountain Goats - Songs for Pierre Chuvin
• My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall II
• Ren Harvieu - Revel in the Drama
• Rosie Carney - The Bends
• Sam Amidon - Sam Amidon
• Sigur Rós - Odin's Raven Magic
• Steve Earle & the Dukes - Ghosts of West Virginia
• V/A - AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex
• V/A - Saving for a Custom Van
• The War on Drugs - Live Drugs
• Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
• Wilsen - Ruiner

My Favorite Albums of 2019

#1: The National - I Am Easy to Find
#2: Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars
#3: Rhiannon Giddens - There Is No Other
#4: Hallowell - Hallowell
#5: Strand of Oaks - Eraserland
#6: Nakane - You Will Not Die
#7: The Hold Steady - Thrashing Thru the Passion
#8: Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
#9: Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
#10: Kristina Stykos - River of Light

Aldous Harding - Designer
Alex Lahey - The Best of Luck Club
Amy LaVere - Painting Blue
Bedouine - Bird Songs of a Killjoy
Bernard Fowler - Inside Out
Craig Finn - I Need a New War
Emel Mathlouthi - Everywhere We Looked Was Burning
Ernest - I'm Gonna Do It (Anyway)
Grace Potter - Daylight
Guster - Look Alive
Hand Habits - placeholder
Helium Horse Fly - Hollowed
Henry Jamison - Gloria Duplex
Jade Bird - Jade Bird
Jenn Champion - The Blue Album
Joseph - Good Luck, Kid
Josh Garrels - Chrysaline
Juliana Hatfield - Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police
Júniús Meyvant - Across the Borders
Kanye West - Jesus Is King
Lauren Jenkins - No Saint
Maggie Rogers - Heard It in a Past Life
Miriam Bernardo - Songs from the Well
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Colorado
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
Nivhek - After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house
Olivia Jean - Night Owl
Pedro the Lion - Phoenix
The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger
Reed Foehl - Lucky Enough
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Mettavolution
Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missiles
Strangled Darlings - American Pageant
Sunwatchers - Illegal Moves
Thea Gilmore - Small World Turning
Titus Andronicus - An Obelisk
The Well - Death and Consolation
Tom Pearo - I Am a Mountain
Wilco - Ode to Joy
William Tyler - Goes West

My Favorite Albums of 2018

1. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy
2. Shannon Shaw - Shannon In Memphis
3. Moira Smiley - Unzip the Horizon
4. Lissie - Castle
5. Haley Heynderickx - I Need to Start a Garden
6. Typh Barrow - Raw
7. Ben Patton - Meaning What
8. Niklas Paschburg - Oceanic
9. David Ford - Animal Spirits
10. Nils Frahm - All Melody
11. Stonefield - Far From Earth
12. Emma Back - Little World
13. Brandi Carlile - By the Way, I Forgive You
14. Cedric Burnside - Benton County Relic
15. Nicki Bluhm - To Rise You Gotta Fall
16. Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance
17. The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl
18. Mark Knopfler - Down The Road Wherever
19. V/A - When the Wind Blows: The Songs of Townes Van Zandt
20. Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere
21. Stick in the Wheel - Follow Them True
22. Olden Yolk - Olden Yolk
23. Max O'Rourke - Disquiet
24. Titus Andronicus - A Productive Cough
25. Motorcade - Motorcade
26. Ry Cooder - The Prodigal Son
27. Santa Librada - Santa Librada
28. Lucero - Among the Ghosts
29. Muddy Gurdy - Muddy Gurdy
30. We Are Scientists - Megaplex
31. Field Report - Summertime Songs
32. Ver Sacrum - Stirrings Stil
33. Buddy Guy - The Blues Is Alive and Well
34. The Low Anthem - The Salt Doll Went To Measure The Depth Of The Sea
35. Danielle Nicole - Cry No More
36. Caudal - Fight Cry Fight
37. Marlon Williams - Make Way for Love
38. mewithoutYou - [Untitled]
39. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
40. Say Sue Me - When We Were Together
41. Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Up
42. Meshell Ndegeocello - Ventriloquism
43. Editors - Violence
44. Camp Cope - How to Socialise & Make Friends
45. Fatoumata Diawara - Fenfo (Something to Say)
46. God Is an Astronaut - Epitaph
47. James Kochalka Superstar - How to Tie a Tie on the Internet
48. Bombino - Deran
49. Dead Combo - Odeon Hotel
50. Natalie Prass - The Future and the Past

My Favorite Albums of 2017

1. Emel Mathlouthi - Ensen

2. Lorde - Melodrama

3. Swale - There's No One Here

4. Rob Jungklas - Blackbirds

5. The National - Sleep Well Beast

6. Henry Jamison - The Wilds

7. Natalie Hemby - Puxico

8. The Orwells - Terrible Human Beings

9. Rhiannon Giddens - Freedom Highway

10. Walpyrgus - Walpyrgus Nights

11. The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers - No Glory

12. Ex Eye - Ex Eye

13. Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Navigator

14. Slowdive - Slowdive

15. Valerie June - The Order of Time

16. Bathsheba - Servus

17. The Unthanks - Diversions Vol. 4: The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake

18. Andrea Laszlo De Simone - Uoma Donna

19. Aaron Watson - Vaquero

20. Matt the Electrician - The Doubles

21. Jaakko Aukusti - Mountain

22. Cory Branan - Adios

23. Jessi Colter - The Psalms

24. Andrew Combs - Canyons of My Mind

25. Bedouine - Bedouine

26. Ane Brun - Leave Me Breathless

27. the xx - I See You

28. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound

29. The Killers - Wonderful Wonderful

30. Offa Rex - The Queen of Hearts

31. Josh Panda - Shake It Off

32. Steve Earle - So You Wanna Be an Outlaw

33. Fiver - Audible Songs from Rockwood

34. The Mountain Goats - Goths

35. Grandaddy - Last Place

36. Kesha - Rainbow

37. Kevin Morby - City Music

38. The Raveonettes - 2016 Atomized

39. Thundercat - Drunk

40. Nev Cottee - Broken Flowers

41. Bob Dylan - Triplicate

42. Jon Latham - Lifers

43. The Magnetic Fields - 50 Song Memoir

44. Sam Baker - Land of Doubt

45. The Caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time - Stage 2

46. Jesca Hoop - Memories Are Now

47. Amy MacDonald - Under Stars

48. White Reaper - The World's Best American Band

49. Shilpa Ray - Door Girl

50. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World