This Week's Playlist #105 - The Happy New Year edition.
Some of my forgotten favorite songs of 2023 (including a heavy metal bonus).
Hello everyone!
This week’s playlist season 3 :-)
First, I wish you all a happy new year wherever you are. Love, happiness, good health and all the best in 2024. And a lot of music. I'll make my best to help you with that :-)
And as a tradition to start this new year of music newsletter, here is a selection of some of my favourite albums of 2023 that went under the radar.
I hope you enjoy it and see you next year.
TL;DR: I'm running a musical newsletter with a new guest sharing 5 songs each week.
There is a YouTube link for each of the songs on the cover, and here are the playlists for each streaming platform
1. Charif Megabarne - Chez Mounir
The first release of the Bandcamp Stakhanovite under his own name (he's one of the most prolific musicians I know of, with more than 100 releases on his Bandcamp page).
He composes, plays and mixes bluesy rock / grainy funk and old European film scores with influences from world music, from Middle Eastern influences to afrobeat.
Full album: Marzipan
2. Algiers - I Can’t Stand It (feat. Samuel T. Herring)
Flashback to Feb 2023 with Algiers’ album.
Algiers are coming from Atlanta, take their names from the anti-colonialism struggle and blend gospel, industrial dancing beats, noise rock, post-punk and “afro-futurism” in a style rarely heard before.
Full album: Shook
3. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Motor Spirit
The Australian prolific psychedelic rock band released an album in 2023 (a low after the 5 albums of 2022 or 2017).
They're coming from a background very similar as psychedelic / garage / progressive rock. Still, they are venturing into heavier spheres, described by the band as "a vivid, fiery painting of a lizard-like monster in an industrial, apocalyptic landscape."
4. Black Country, New Road - Up Song
A live album (Live at Bush Hall) to restart the band after the tumultuous year of 2022.
The new English cool kids (whose first album was also one of the gems of 2021 and whose second album was the gem of 2022 before the singer left the group) are back with a live album full of new songs and their very recognizable fragile and elegant folk music style.
Full album: Live at Bush Hall
5. Blur - Good Bye Albert
Another classic to finsih this week’s plylist with Blur’s 2023 album. It took me some time to get into it but in the end the magic operated. It’s a typical Blur song: contrasting hopeless lyrics with upbeat melodies.
Full album: The Ballad of Darren
Heavy metal bonus
As usual, I'm adding a couple of more head-banging specific gems I listened to or missed a lot this year.
1. Wayfarer - The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise.
Black metal, with sludge, with death metal, heated to a boil on the scorching stones of the Rocky Mountains.
2. Blut Aus Nord - The Endless Multitude
Atmospheric Black Metal, Avant-garde/Black/Industrial Metal/Dark Ambient.
3. Blackbraid - The Spirit Returns
The one-man project telling Native American stories through compelling black metal.
4. Tar Pond - Blind
Doom’n’Gloom super band
5. Gorod - We Are the Sun Gods
Technical death metal
Until the next time, Godspeed!
Thomas
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