Top 30 Albums of 2023

What a year. Perhaps the best in recent memory for new rock ‘n’ roll acts striking out. Social comment has begun to forge bonds with the devil, and the results have been breathtaking. It’s seen plenty of 00s stalwarts prove they’re not done creatively.

Find out where they’ve ranked in our top 30 albums of the year:

30. NGHFB – Council Skies

Some great moments blended with average ones. Lockdown and pending divorce may have hit the consistency, but there’s enough melody to keep you returning for more.

29. The Kynd – Timelines (full review here)

The long-awaited second album from 90s outfit The Kynd is a touch of baggy-mod class.

28. Neev - Catherine

Heartfelt folk from the Glaswegian songwriter who will surely go on to bigger and better things.

27. Adam Nutter – Badlands On Fire

Celestial instrumentals from The Music’s lead guitarist.

26. Andrew Cushin – Waiting For The Rain

The Geordie singer-songwriter’s debut shows glimpses of a much brighter future.

25. Emy P - Lights // Chaos // Action

Intense tales of love, coming-of-age, and mental health. Raw Kai Tempest meets Scroobious Pip vibes.

24. Bag of Cans – We Are A Band

Lunacy. Brilliant, hilarious lunacy!

23. DMAs - How Many Dreams?

Polished anthems from the Aussie heroes.

22. The Boo Radleys - Eight

The cult Scouse heroes continue their fine run of form since returning in 2021.

21. Egyptian Blue – A Living Commodity

Off-beat but cohesive post-punk striving for glory.

20. Death of Guitar Pop - Be Lucky

The third installment from the DIY Ska outfit.

19. Grian Chatten - Chaos For The Fly

The Fontaines frontman strikes out with a timeless sense of songwriting.

18. The Shed Project – Our Fear Is Their Power (Full Review here)

What began as mates in a Shed playing for fun has become the do-or-die rock ‘n’ roll generations live for! Their attempt to convey their moods has given a window into a nation teetering on the edge of revolt at its politicians, media, and institutions falter.

17. Mull Historical Society – In My Mind There’s A Room

Colin McIntyre’s literary project is littered with melodic gold and award-winning author cameos.

16. Jasmine Minks – We Make Our Own History

The former Creation Records maestro’s prove they can still cut it with the best.

15. Treasures of Mexico – Burn The Jets (full review here)

Three albums in, Treasures of Mexico show no signs of tailing off. ‘Burn The Jets’ is a heartfelt slice of guitar joy that all should bask in.

14. King Creosote - I DES

Fife’s finest fok artist continues to find pockets of magic twenty-five years after his debut.

13. Afflecks Palace – The Only Light In This Tunnel Is The Oncoming Train (full review here)

The rise of Afflecks Palace continues steadfastly. It’s beautifully aimless, passionate, and soul-enriching. 100 years from now, they will not be forgotten!

12. Slowdive - Everything Is Alive

Utterly spellbinding.

11. Das Koolies - DK.01

Four members of Super Furry Animals strike out with breathtaking results.

10. Trampolene – Rules of Love and War (full review here)

The journey from ‘Swansea To Hornsey’ youthful fire to ‘Rules Of Love and War’ measured prose has been six years of hope, self-doubt, escape, self-discovery, and now, one of triumphant return. The mission statements they dreamt up in bedrooms in 2017 are now becoming fully realised via richer creative palettes. Coupled with Jack Jones’ purist of souls, long may Trampolene’s ship sail on.

9. Senses – Little Pictures Without Sound (full review here)

‘Little Pictures Without Sound’ is an album by dreamers for dreamers. Even in its most lo-fi moments, it’s touched by the hands of fantasy. It breeds a vision of a better life at every turn.  

8. Tom Clarke– The Other Side

2023’s best kept secret! The Enemy frontman’s second solo album is his finest set of songs. Timeless songwriting showcases what a generational talent he is!

7. The Goa Express - The Goa Express

Life-affirming indie that’ll soundtrack a generation coming of age!

6. The Coral – Sea Of Mirrors (full review here)

The drifters charter. Masterful songwriting.

5. The Dream Machine – Thank God It’s The Dream Machine (full review here)

The Wirral has a new set of outsiders to idolise!

4. Joel Stoker – Undertow (full review here)

After two decades with The Rifles, making any solo album was a brave decision. To tackle his living nightmares and chart a musical course a world away was truly courageous.

3. The Velvet Hands – Sucker Punch (full review here)

Skint, downtrodden, and overtaken by those who can afford it or the artistically redundant. Despite the odds against them and cultural pressures pushing them toward a boring mainstream landscape, the band have funnelled their joyous punk debut into something more studied and grander this time out.

2. Pynch – Howling At A Concrete Moon (full review here)

Pynch’s debut album is full of such great era-defining couplets it's easy to overlook just how many great musical moments it possesses. The dreamy Real Estate and Horrors-esque (circa ’V’) synths of opener ‘Haven’t Lived a Day’ or the solos on ‘Tin Foil’ and ‘Maybe’, to name just a few.

A truly great moment in a sea of political despair. Viva la hope!

1. The Utopiates – The Sun Also Rises (full review here)

Whether you’re coming of age or finding a new lease on life, The Utopiates are the band to soundtrack it. From ‘Devolution’ to ‘It’s Coming To You’ they clutch onto hope with their fingernails as their sonic tumbles towards the darkness. Like all great bands before them, they find a way to lead the mortals out of their doldrums. During the introspection of ‘The Sun Also Rises’ the fog begins to lift allowing the rhapsodic ‘Ups and Downs’ conjures a moment of unrivalled happiness. The journey to their promised land is completed on the angelic reflective come-down piece ‘Simple Minds’.

Undeterred by Spotify’s influences, they take their time on intros and solos alike. They’ve allowed rock ‘n’ roll to breathe once more. The results are nothing short of a perfect debut album.

On The Cusp...The Velvet Hands

In today’s climate, bands and artists blowing up overnight and storming the charts are dead. It is a brutal process, from getting local gigs to performing on the main stages of festivals. As such, there is a swelling of talent on the underground, poised to break through.

So, this week, we are picking five of our favourite artists on the cusp of said breakthrough.

Today, we pick our top 5 tracks by The Velvet Hands:

*banner image courtesy of Alan Wells.

Image courtesy of Harvey Williams-Fairley & Sonic PR

The Party’s Over

Comfortably in the last decade's top 5 rock ‘n’ roll songs. A stonewall classic built sonically on debauchery and lyrically on unrequited love and heroic failure.

Holiday In My Head

The fog of life without a future swell to unprecedented levels in the verses as they play The Ramones sound in ferocious Stooges style. The intensity is several levels above anything their debut offered, exemplified by the explosive Nick Valensi (The Strokes) meets Russell Lissack (Bloc Party) solo. It encapsulates the pressure and stress of bills mounting, work not paying, and life becoming too much with such vehement brilliance.

Telephone Love

‘Telephone Love’ takes the band to darker pastures of overindulgent all-nighters of booze and drugs. The party is over, but the protagonists remain, caning it. A snapshot of a generation sold down the river in every industry. Now they’re left praying the next line will make them feel alive enough to carry on:

“Bloodshot eyes and bleeding gums,
Welcome to the house of fun
And now you’re talking insane,
Telephone love runs through your veins
And I don’t know just how you found me, I don’t know Just how you found me

And now, and now it’s dawn
Riding from the dusk before
We could waste the night
You know you help me feel alive”

I Don’t Mind

‘I Don’t Mind’ has a chorus that forges a togetherness with the band and the listener through its shambolic arm-in-arm drunkenness. Images of spilt snakebite and sweat-ridden walls of indie discos flood the senses.

Sucker Punch

Artwork curtesy of Sonic PR.

The violence and desolation on the title track ‘Sucker Punch’ but a more thoughtful musicality exists. The title track initiates with jagged 00s guitars reminiscent of Bloc Party, Dogs, and early Razolright whilst the vocals roar like Johnny Rotten. Despite the uncompromising snarling of the verses, they lead into a melodic Vaccines-esque chorus for fans to buy into joyously. Not finished there, they serve up a breakdown akin to an out-of-body experience. The message of getting up off the canvas and keep fighting becomes less naive and one of “now or never” and “don’t give up”. They emerge on the other side with confidence and solidarity.

Click the image below for tickets to their November tour:

Kick Out The Jams - The Brighton Mix Up Vol 3

The Great Escape may have its official line up but, in the heart of Brighton lies a fringe so prominent it causes Sian Clifford to revaluate her “pencil” look.

Key to its success is Roger Kent’s Kick Out The Jams free, REPEAT, free weekender. You’ll find no better line-up any weekend in the UK than at the KOTJ shindig.

Here are our favourite acts from this year (in no order):

The Red Stains

Cataclysmic drumming collides head-on with their Slits-esque destruction. Violent, broken, brilliant!

Key Tracks: TV Static

The Velvet Hands

Despite the odds against them and cultural pressures pushing them toward a boring mainstream landscape, the band have funnelled their joyous punk of debut into something more studied and grander this time out.  It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world realises their quality.

Key Tracks: Telephone Love / 40 Up 40 Down

This Is War

When BRMC made ‘Howl’, something in the rock ‘n’ roll cosmos aligned, the acoustic guitars which seemed so ill-befitting on paper became their natural domain without them losing any outsider credentials. On ‘Promised Land’, This Is War treads a similar path. The acoustic guitars have found a place between Penny Lane and The La’s and shimmer like a memory of The Roses at their peak.

Key Tracks: Promised Land / Mona Lisa

Breakup Haircut

Wry, humble, and heartfelt lyrics come at you like a brilliant diary entry to melt the coldest of hearts.

Key Tracks: I’d Say Yes / Why Can’t I Be Cool Enough to Move to Berlin

Cross Wires

The East London four-piece have the urgency of Traams and the indie panache of Telegram. As certain to be a 6Music favourite as Cerys Matthews.

Key Tracks: A Room Full of Memories / Distraction Technique