O.K. Goodnight – The Fox & the Bird

Djent, math rock, prog metal, folk, singer-songwriter stuff, jazz rock, Zappa/Vai, songs, instrumentals, a superb female vocalist, pomp, drama, a couple of death growls, quiet moments, acoustic, electric, new, exciting, bric-a-brac and poetry: a wild ride.

Interested in some highly original progressive rock? Listen to the whole thing and marvel at the singer's bouquet of temperaments.

Smashing album by a smashing band. I'm only beginning to make myself familiar with their discography, so I don't know whether it's one of their stronger ones but it's all rather interesting, this mantra-ish quality to nearly every track. They seem to be like Sonic Youth but without the pop and without the complete noise, i.e., er, without the elements that make Sonic Youth what they are (lol).

1. The Gaslight Anthem - History Books
2. L.A. Edwards - Out of the Heart of Darkness
3. The Menzingers - Some Of It Was True
4. Dave Hause - Drive It Like It Was Stolen
5. Marvelous 3 - IV
6. The Young Hearts - Somewhere Through The Night
7. Spanish Love Songs - No Joy
8. The National - (both their 2023 records)
9. Lucero - Should've Learned By Now
10. Marty Stuart - Altitude
11. The Go Set - The Warriors Beneath Us
12. Nils Lofgren - Mountain
13. Deer Tick - Emotional Contracts
14. Waco Brothers - The Men That God Forgot
15. Jethro Tull - RokFlot

2023 saw me enter the realm of artist management, a path I never really thought I'd take (apparently quite common). Earlier this year I decided I wanted to listen to more Toronto rappers—specifically women—so I just followed a bunch on Instagram and started going to smaller events, open mics, etc.

These have been some of my favourites:

V!LLAH - Filipino-Canadian woman with a hardcore flow. Seriously talented



Tia Bank$ - Pretty hardcore as well. Love her punchlines. She's really making a name for herself and has even had a song on the Canadian TV show, Robyn Hood



F33NiX - Djibouti-Canadian woman with a unique, raspier voice. Lyrics are more conscious/reality-based



Beretta - Pretty hardcore with a nice steady flow, strong voice too



Chenzehn - She does a lot of dirty rap but her newest song is more on the hardcore end. Nice flow change-ups



Sage the Goddess - Sage is the artist I've started managing. She does a mix of hardcore rap and neo-soul singing, can do a variety of voices, and is incredibly talented. I've been pushing/helping her to release music more frequently, promoting it, designing her logo and cover art, trying to book her for shows, filming her live performances, etc. It's been super-rewarding on a personal level and has helped get me out of my shell a bit.

Here are my top albums from 2023, listed alphabetically by artist:

Carbon Based Lifeforms-Seeker
Depeche Mode-Memento Mori
Explosions In The Sky-End
Extreme-Six
Fucked Up-One Day
Noel Gallhager-Council Skies
Floor Jansen-Paragon
The Keening-Little Bird
Rancid-Tomorrow Never Comes
Sigur Ros-Atta
White Reaper-Asking For A Ride
Steven Wilson-The Harmony Codex
The Winery Dogs-III

Basic list is basic list.

I just checked my FB after a long day in the provinces and the first thing I see was dudes talking about the new Kanye album cover looking suspicious. I knew at somepoint he was gonna play with some Burzum imagery, lets see him put it in full circle and by having him sample some Gelal riffs.

I guess my top 10 would look something like this

01 blink-182 - One More Time… (and Dance with Me my favourite song of the year)
02 Chris Stapleton - Higher
03 Elle King - Come Get Your Wife
04 Maria Mena - And Then Came You
05 Filter - The Algorithm
06 Alice Cooper - Road
07 Tenille Townes - Train Track Worktapes
08 Staind - Confessions of the Fallen
09 Luke Combs - Gettin' Old
10 Godsmack - Lighting Up the Sky

Non-Archived top 20 of 2023 for me:

01. Tyga & YG - Hit Me When U Leave The Klub: The Playist (Hip-Hop/Rap)
02. Boygenius - The Record (Indie/Folk)
03. Spanish Love Songs - No Joy (Alternative)
04. The Gaslight Anthem - History Books (Alternative Rock)
05. Danny Brown - Quaranta (Alternative Hip-Hop)
06. Anohni And The Johnsons - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Art Pop)
07. Miya Folick - ROACH (Indie Pop)
08. Manchester Orchestra - The Valley Of Vision [EP] (Indie Rock)
09. Sigur Rós - Átta (Ambient/Folk)
10. The Aces - I've Loved You For So Long (Indie Rock)
11. Dave Hause - Drive It Like It's Stolen (Rock)
12. Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Pop)
13. Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (Art Pop)
14. Jeremie Albino - Tears You Hide (Folk Rock)
15. PromiseLand - Sad But Happy (Industrial Techno)
16. Lanterns On The Lake - Versions Of Us (Alternative Rock)
17. Wilder Woods - Fever/Sky (Indie/Folk Rock)
18. Federico Albanese - Days Of Passage (Contemporary Classical)
19. The Young Hearts - Somewhere Through The Night (Punk Rock)
20. The Menzingers - Some Of It Was True (Punk Rock)

One thing this year was missing for me was a big, catchy country record released in the summer. Hoping Eric Church has a new record out next year.

Chiming in with my list which is rather loosey-goosey and not scriptural as my metal ones tend to be. A lot of really good music from this year keeps flowing into my awareness even now but these really stood out - in some particular order, I present:

THE TOP 20 NON – METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

1. Oxbow – Love’s Holiday
2. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter – SAVED!
3. JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown – Scaring the Hoes
4. Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
5. Aesop Rock – Integrated Tech Solutions
6. Noname - Sundial
7. Swans – The Beggar
8. Poison Ruïn – Härvest
9. Jamila Woods – Water Made Us
10. Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
11. McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
12. Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music
13. Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My
14. El Michels Affair & Black Thought - Glorious Game
15. Zulu – A New Tomorrow
16. Lana Del Rabies – Strega Beata
17. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light
18. Angel Bat Dawid - Requiem For Jazz
19. Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy
20. Depeche Mode – Memento Mori

I'm blinking so hard in disbelief at your #1, jimbies. But otherwise, cool list.

busy with making my list not sure if there is a clear no 1 for me

No one's taste in music is as cringe as mine!

Well I didn't get enough reranking done to be set in a top 20, so 15 will have to do:

1) The Canyon Observer - Figura - Spent most of the year in #2, but I've liked it more every listen and I'm now giving it the nod. Noisy Free Jazz Sludge.
2) Big Brave - Nature Morte - Girl singing dramatically over escalating drones does it for me. Repetitive, but I love the sound.
3) ZA! & la TransMegaCobla - ZA! & la TransMegaCobla - So playful and dumb, big happy folky wacko prog rock which grooves and camps it up in equal measures. Puts a smile on my face.
4) EABS & Jaubi - In Search of a Better Tomorrow - Catchy fusion which gets a bit lost in the back half, but it's got such a strong sense of groove mixed with the little middle eastern jazz touches in that first half that it holds on to a high spot.
5) Sarmat - Determined to Strike - These non-metal lists get easier when the oldhead MA mods chuck you a freebie like this. It's energetic jazz fusion made out of tech death instrumentation.
6) Zopp - Dominion - Cheesy as hell 60's prog worship except like, shreddy and wanky as hell. I kinda wanna hate it for its definite lameness but the noodling speaks to me.
7) Physique - Again - D-beat go bum-ba-dum-ba bum-ba-dum-ba bum-ba-dum-ba bum-ba-dum-ba
8) Nihiloxica - Source of Denial - Lacking their traditional coolest art you've ever seen, but their style of african tribal beat driven electronic jam is still outstanding.
9) Radiation Blackbody - Dead Seed Planted in Dead Earth - Lighting Bolt at home, isn't as exciting as the real deal, but something with aping.
10) Park Zero - M - Well shit, didn't think this would hold on for a top 10, but here were. Deconstructed club bangers. Lotta groove but also lotta noisy artiness.
11) Silence in the Snow - Ghost Eyes - Post-punk but it's not plodding and the vocalist doesn't sound bored? Blasphemy! Sadly they only have one song, it's a cool song but it needs some diversity. But then again if it wasn't boredom adjacent it wouldn't be post-punk.
12) Noname - Sundial - Lady rapper who varies her style a lot song to song, high skill level even if her coffee shop backing tracks aren't my jam.
13) Witch - Zango - Feel good story of the year, strong grooves and insanely cute but musically too stripped down to compete with the top enders.
14) McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? - Front loaded but I dig it, I keep relistening to find it too pop-rap this time, but I never do. It's poppy and catchy for sure, but also energized and driving. Gets a bit sleepy and serious at the end but the first like six tracks are all bops.
15) Azmari - Maelström - Fairly lush african styled jazz from a bunch of Dutch white guys. A bit campy, this one is more chilled back and less techy than the prior album.

My top "totally non metal albums" of the year was easy enough:

1. Lisabö - lorategi izoztuan hezur huts bilakatu arte (noise rock/post hardcore)
2. Lankum - False Lankum (folk)
3. KEN Mode - NULL/VOID (noise rock/sludge metal)
4. Big/Brave - Nature morte (doom metal/noise rock)
5. Altari - Kröflueldar (totally not a black metal band with post punk influence, definitely not metal!)
6. OXN - CYRM (folk)
7. Protomartyr - Formal Growth in the Desert (post hardcore)
8. Phoxjaw - Notverynicecream (post hardcore)
9. Tim Hecker - No Highs (drone/ambient)
10. Anatomy of Habit - Black Openings (post metal/noise rock)

dont let those flemish people hear that you are just calling em dutch!

I look forward to their fired up diss album at me next year.

That Lankum record's far and away my #1 of the year and I only discovered OXN last week and can't stop listening to it (I ordered the vinyl before the opening track had finished). Un-fucking-believeable stuff coming out of Ireland at the moment. Radie Peat's voice kills me.

Yeah, it's incredible stuff. I'm so happy they are getting the recognition they deserve and everyone is loving their music.

Great mix of folk and darkwave, I'm adding this to my list...

Instead of a standard list, I'll just list the albums alphabetically (by bands). These are the albums that I listened the most, or in some cases only once, but they made enough of an impression. I'm not sure what would be the number one for me, I'd need more time for that (maybe Swans?), but anyway, here's a mix of electro-pop, shoegaze, post-hardcore, indie rock, hip-hop, some singers/songwriters etc.

P.S. rec thanks: Gravetemplar for ØXN, and Lichtung002 for Wednesday


Blonde Redhead - Sit Down for Dinner
Danny Brown - Quaranta
Depeche Mode - Memento Mori
Drop Nineteens - Hard Light
Hannah Georgas - I'd Be Lying if I Said I Didn't Care
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes
Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Bauhaus Staircase
ØXN - CYRM
Paramore - This Is Why
Parannoul - After the Magic
Pia Fraus - Evening Colours
PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying
Saint Agnes - Bloodsucker
Slowdive - Everything Is Alive
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
Svalbard - The Weight of the Mask
Swans - The Beggar
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World

+ Nurse With Wound - The Little Dipper Minus Two Plus (Echo Poeme Sequences) *this is a reissue of an old and rare album from 2005, so I didn't put it on the list with new albums, but it's pretty great: mostly ambient with some cool voice manipulation...

This is absolutely fucking incredible, thanks for the tip.

Was immediately drawn into this album, and went back through their discography-excellent stuff. If you are looking for a more diverse take on their sound, previous album Levitation Chamber is at a more controlled pace and mixes it up a fair bit, comparatively speaking (although I am certain you are already familiar with it).

That’s why I appreciate these threads, I get turned on to some cool shit I otherwise would have missed.

Murmur Mori -- Canzoneta, va! (They play interpretations of Medieval music)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlSUA5-m9co
Would love to see them live at some point. Just fantastic stuff.

Kobaryo -- Super Key Generator (Japanese Techno)
I like the chaotic music that he creates.

Tenhi -- Valkama (Finnish Folk)
It is Tenhi.

Top 15 2023 (predominantly progrelated stuff):

The order is almost arbitrary because I enjoy most of the albums equally but for different reasons. There are moments when I wonder: "Why isn't 'Commissioned Works' the number one? Why isn't 'Summit' the number one? Why isn't 'Prima Materia' the number one? It's probably the most fun album of them all, so why isn't it higher up the list", and I don't have an answer.

01 OK Goodnight – The Fox & the Bird
Brilliant female vocals #1 (Casey Lee Williams): unsigned prog concept album including everything and the kitchen sink: modern prog metal, acoustic folk and everything in between. And if the world depicted in the lyrics is colourful, this melting pot makes sense.

02 Phantom Elite – Blue Blood
Brilliant female vocals #2 (Marina La Torraca): They're on the Archives but I can't view them as metal. Does "heavy pop" exist as a label? Now it does. A guilty pleasure because I normally dislike polished, poppy so-called "modern metal", but I can't help it, the vocals are just too good. Unfortunately, after the first couple of tracks, the album is a bit samey but, thankfully, the anthemic closer "Black Sunrise" saves the day. Plus: one of last year's best cover artworks.

03 Crown Lands – Fearless
The best album Rush never made between "A Farewell to Kings" and "Hemispheres".

04 Confusion Field – Future Impact of Past Diversions
Unsigned power pop. Sounds a bit like the awesome Rush-like Eloy albums in the 80s (from "Colours" onwards). Plus: one of last year's best cover artworks.

05 Lalu – The Fish who wanted to be King
Predominantly jazz rock- and hard rock-influenced neoprog. Fresh and memorable and a counterbalance to the bleakness in much of today's progressive music. Damien Wilson's vocal delivery on the title track even reminds you of the time when masters like Phil Collins and Paul Carrack haunted the airwaves… Plus: there's some killer drumming.

06 Mystery – Redemption
British neoprog from Canada; a bit like Landmarq or early Arena or IQ without all the darkness. Usually, I avoid neoprog as there's not much to discover if you already know and like the classics. This album is a pleasant surprise, though, because, despite delivering the same old stuff, there's something unassuming about it all: in place of overblown theatrics there are simple beauty and a warm heart.

07 The Flower Kings – Look at you Now
A very song-centric version of the Flower Kings.

08 Agusa – Prima Materia
Mostly instrumental 70s jam rock that cites all the clichés associated with Canterbury but is very lively and fun. Buckle up and go!

09 The Chronicles of Father Robin – The Songs & Tales of Airoea - Book I & Book II
They're like Wobbler, i.e. authentic 70s prog from the woods. The third part of the concept story about their imaginary world (map in the background) follows in 2024.

10 Ring van Möbius – Commissioned Works Pt. II - Six Drops of Poison
As if Grobschnitt and Van der Graaf Generator had recorded an ELP album.

11 Seven Impale – Summit
Like Van der Graaf with lots of jazz and some metal influences.

12 Jordsjø – Salighet
Skandiprog part umpteen: a bit lightweight but sufficiently mysterious, the woods, the clearings…

13 Loonypark – Strange Thoughts
Poppy rock with proggy influences.

14 M-Opus – At the Mercy of Manannán
Prog rock homage to the year 1972.

15 Avkrvst – The Approbation
Metallic Porcupine Tree and ("Damnation"-)Opeth.

Some of the honourable mentions (no order):



It was a very strange prog year, a year without new releases by The Tangent and IQ while Yes, Tull, Waters and Peter Gabriel had nothing substantial to add to the discussion. I discovered lots of worthwhile bands but not much that spoke to me directly.

I just had to remove the metal records from my aoty list to come with these 20 albums. My overall aoty list has 35 records which means that for the first time ever most of my absolute faves of a year are not metal.

As you can see a lot of experimental takes on non western traditional music. Seems like a contradiction no? I guess its not.

Also as always heaters all the way down, even my no 20 is very good in my opinion.

1. Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily - Love in Exile (Electronica x jazz x south Asian classical and overall my fave album of the year)
2. Raja Kirik - Phantasmagoria of Jathilan (Indonesian opera meets post-industrial, absolutely crushing)
3. Poil Ueda - PoiL Ueda (Avant prog meets Japanese folk)
4. Envision - The Gods That Built Tomorrow (I know they are on MA but I would nuke em off the site, hardcore gone glam a la Dokken)
5. Pussies - Pussies (Albert Witchfinder fronting a doom metal influenced noise punk band)
6. Lenhart Tapes - Dens (experimental folk from Serbia)
7. Oxbow - Love's Holiday (atmospheric noise rock)
8. Los Mohanes - La Tumbia (Drugged out Cumbia, absolutely crazy stuff)
9. Poil Ueda - Yoshitsune (2nd album of these guys this year, songs are a bit more expansive and distinguishes itself enough from their other album)
10. Mohamad Zatari Trio - استهلال (Arabic classical)
11. Goat - Joy In Fear (Experimental rock thats like minimal techno in a way without being that krautrock like)
12. Nihiloxica - Source of Denial (Tribal drumming and electronica, not as good as their previous album but still v good)
13. Filmmaker - Artillery Material (Industrial techno)
14. Madhuvanti Pal - The Holy Mother (Some really good Hindustani classical)
15. Islandman feat. Okay temiz and muhlis beberoğlu - Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Progressive take on Anatolian rock)
16. Death Crusade - Znów Płonie Niebo (sort of neocrust maybe? not straight forward crust at least)
17. Lankum - False Lankum (Irish folk band strikes again with a v good album even if it is a step down)
18. PHYSIQUE - AGAIN (I too like Disclose)
19. The Blood of Heroes - Nine Cities (Breakcore meets dub rock and a ton of more things going on here)
20. Tenhi - Valkama (neofolk legends return with a worthy comeback)

Some of my favorites from 2023 that were not metal:


Abjection Ritual - There is a Wasteland and it is Us CD
Genocide Organ + Prurient - Carte Blanche CD
Poison Idea - Last Show in France LP
Poison Idea - Young Lords: Live at the Metropolis, 1982 LP
M.I.A. - I Love You tape

And reissues of
Terror Cell Unit - Come and Test Christ tape
Himukalt - Come October 2xLP