ME has chosen: These are our albums of 2023

In 2023, a number of remarkable and strange records were released again – and of 50 of these releases we can say with a clear conscience that they are our albums of the year!

50. Everything But The Girl – FUSE

A quiet comeback: Pop’s coolest married couple reunites after almost a quarter of a century and sings electro-pop songs about getting older: Ben Watt remembers DJ and karaoke nights, Tracey Thorn resolves to be less strict with herself to be and smoke a cigarette again – she calls it the “menopausal blues”. Everything But The Girl reveal a lot about themselves on FUSE, but the cover with its C64 demo look remains a mystery. – Andre Boße

49. Margo Price – STRAYS

On her fourth album, Price’s country roots find the perfect psychedelic studio sparring partner in Jonathan Wilson as producer. Supported by Sharon Van Etten, heartbreaker Mike Campbell (who further increases the Tom Petty factor) and Lucius, the farmer’s daughter from the Midwest manages the balancing act between psi-pop, classic and roots rock on consistently superb songs. Also (very) good: The recently released sister album, STRAYS II, with nine more highlights from the soul searcher session with Wilson. – Frank Thiessies

48. Fatoni – WONDERFUL WORLD

Social, societal, capitalism and media criticism, self-doubt and irony, storytelling and a nod to Rio Reiser and Alfred Jodokus Kwak: Fatoni’s new album encompasses so much more than just the sarcasm of the title. He raps about lies about promotion, rhymes Michael Jordan with Dieter Hallervorden and takes a taxi to therapy. Features with our new favorite leftist Danger Dan, the outdated Tristan Brusch, elder statesman Max Herre as well as Deichkind and Roger Rekless underline that in German rap you can be loud without disses and beefs, but with content – if you can. – Fabian Soethof

47. Olivia Rodrigo – GOOD

GUTS seems like a more pointed version of the debut album SOUR: edgier, cleverer, more aggressive, crazier. Perhaps the outstanding success of the previous album gave Rodrigo the courage to pursue her artistic vision even more boldly. But Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish don’t have to be claustrophobic in their Champions League: Rodrigo is made of completely different cloth. Their sound draws influences from Hole, Weezer, Blondie, the Veronicas and Alvvays. Pop-rock in the best sense of the word – guitars are not decoration, but a logical expression of an attitude. – Stephan Rehm Rozanes

46. ​​Noname – SUNDIAL

In 2019, the Chicago rapper announced her retirement from the music business. Sundial was almost a defiant comeback. Politically ruthless and technically light-footed, she raps against the appropriation and selling out of hip hop. Instead of being immediately declared a milestone of campy “conscious rap,” the album was lost in the controversy surrounding the mindless lines of their feature guest Jay Electronica. “Your disappointment means nothing to me and I say that with love,” Noname then told her fans. Greetings from Azaelia Banks. – Fabian Peltsch

45. Gaz Coombes – TURN THE CAR AROUND

In 2023, the supergrass singer (let’s leave out the prefix Ex because his old band has since been revived for live operations) demonstrated in a fabulous way how you can move forward with the past. Turn the mobile vehicle in the other direction and start the journey to the Valhalla of soul, it sounds fine, fat and pathetic in the same moment: “Don’t Say It’s Over”. So much ancient song construction makes us cheer, we float into the future with Gaz. – Frank Sawatzki

44. Romy – MID AIR

Three years after her first solo single “Lifetime”, Romy Madley Croft, the last member of The xx after Jamie xx and Oliver Sim, finally released a solo album. On MID AIR, Romy beams himself and us back to the Eurodance discos of the late nineties and queer raves on the one hand and, on the other hand, is completely in the sound-technical here thanks to EDM drops and the contemporary house production by Stuart Price and the upcoming superstar Fred again. and now. The second piece of good news: A new record from the indie-electronic-minimal-held:innen The xx is now really only a matter of time. – Fabian Soethof

43. Saeko Killy – MORPHING POLAROIDS

With her debut album, the Japanese musician and DJ Saeko Killy confirms a micro-trend of the past few years: the transcendence of house and techno into a different type of music for which a term has yet to be invented. MORPHING POLAROIDS is a fascinating album made up of pieces from Dub, House, Post-Punk, experimental Krautrock and Psychedelia with a pronounced love for small sound details as icing on the cake. Every single track is a sensation in itself. – Albert Koch

42. Deichkind – NEWS ABOUT THE PERMANENT CONDITION

Deichkind had already won after the opener “Delle am Helm”: finding Drölf descriptions for a lack of resources aka spiritual emptiness without making fun of mental health shows how much they always enjoy hopping between flashy party rioters and contemporary caricaturists in front of the trademark sound still or succeed again. Ferris is gone, Roger Rekless is here. “Remmidemmi” drinking bouncers are now called “Fete verpennt”. And with the Heinz-strunchy Italo beach number “Lecko Mio” there is still something for unkempt drinks. – Fabian Soethof

41. Kate NV – WOW

Ekaterina Shilonosova is the pop star for people who prefer not to hear pop from multimillionaires. On her fifth album, the producer from Russia creates a patchwork of pop deconstructions, as Japanese artists like Haruomi Hosono, Akiko Yano and Yasuaki Shimizu did in the 70s and 80s. Comic music straight from the computer game: a kind of pop that isn’t really pop meets a kind of avant-garde that isn’t really avant-garde. – Albert Koch