I thought I’d lost my old iPod, but found it in the cellar and got it working again. It’s a delight to find a lovely old playlist on it, currently playing through the Scarlett into Ableton and my ears via my desk speakers. I thought ~2005 might’ve been the last time I’d used it, but the playlist is called AAA NACONF, so I must’ve dug it out and loaded it up for the conference tech team in January 2011.

It was exciting to see it charge (I cobbled together a wall charger from three old cables), but it was stuck on the Apple logo for ages; thankfully, a trusty forced restart button combo brought it to life. It’s a shame I can’t manage its contents because there’s an empty 6GB; I understand that Macs still recognise these models, but it takes a silly daisy chain of dongles or an old machine with a FireWire port. Maybe one day.

Reply via email

Tickets are now available!

Reply via email

Reply via email

We just travelled from Newfoundland to Nottingham (car, cabs, train, tube and two flights) with an expensive and much-loved acoustic guitar. Geri’s owned a few guitars and has an electric here. I’ve long neglected a cheap studenty Yamaha, but during our latest stay with the in-laws, I picked up her Tanglewood Sundance acoustic for the first time and fell in love with it.

We decided to bring it to the UK and bought a modest hard case. But researching pros and cons unearthed nothing but naysayers and abuse about Air Canada’s attitude and track record.

Thankfully, it all worked out, and I’m posting this positive note so that someone else might find it and feel encouraged. We found everyone involved at every step to be very considerate. We were allowed to gate-check the guitar, leaving it at the door when boarding each flight and collecting it on leaving. The case shows no signs of scrapes or drops. Oh, and we boarded early with all the parents.

Of course, we packed the guitar very carefully. We loosened the strings and took care to support the neck and head as jolts can snap the wood. The case allowed enough room to ‘float’ the body with bubble wrap. We tagged the handle with flight info and put personal contacts and an AirTag in the case.

Reply via email

I listened to 5,144 songs (down from last year’s 6,090) and 619 albums (up from 586) from 957 artists (down from 1,387, somehow). My top artists (due mainly to hammering several comfy playlists while driving) were Fleet Foxes, The National, Pulp, Blur and Bodikhuu. My top albums were Bodikhuu’s Tokyo, Blur’s The Ballad of Darren, James Holden’s Imagine, The National’s Laugh Track and Tirzah’s trip9love…???. My top genres were alternative, electronic, and ambient, and I’d reached 50,000 minutes of listening by mid-October.

Last.fm released their Last.Year Playback stats today, which feel closer to the truth: 834 artists, 1,228 albums and 4,441 songs, scrobbling 12,432 times during almost 38 days of listening.

Of course, all stats exclude Bandcamp and analog. We play lots of jazz and city pop on vinyl, and ambient and field recording releases on cassette.

Anyway, stats are just stats. A reminder, if you’re interested, that I posted my very un-statistical but meticulously composed Year in Music roundup a few days ago.

Reply via email

This is my 20th annual roundup, a landmark befitting such a rewarding year in music. But it was a very long year, with hundreds of notable releases making it more challenging than ever to keep up.

You can check out all yearlies or go directly to 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, or 2004.

To listen while you read, play my 2023 Top Fifty Tracks on Apple or Spotify.

Albums EPs & sub-30-mins Tracks Live, reissues, scores, comps Shows Notes Playlists

Top albums

1. 

   Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space...

   James Holden

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Holden knows that landscape and music are intrinsically linked. Imagine… channels electronic signals of past gatherings and imagined raves travelling on the wind. A diverse snapshot of a pastoral, more hopeful Britain where Jeremy Deller is PM and our creative culture is cherished.

2. 

   Heavy Heavy

   Young Fathers

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   The first YF album to click for me is an immersive mash of Nigerian and Liberian heritage references and stomping jubilance, so convincingly bold and direct that it immediately had me under its spell. After watching their Glastonbury set on TV, I wish I’d caught them live this year.

3. 

   Everything Is Alive

   Slowdive

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Their second stunning album since reforming, Everything Is Alive, showcases a complete mastery of the sound Slowdive helped create while offering them an opportunity to expand into a more muscular and occasionally electronic sound. It's a reminder that it’s a joy to love proper bands.

4. 

   Trip9love...???

   Tirzah

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   There’s something strange about Tirzah’s latest that I find captivating, and I was hooked on the first listen. The songs are profoundly melancholic, and Mica Levi’s piano and drum production is refreshingly raw. It’s the sound of friends making what they want to make on their terms, and I find it very inspiring.

5. 

   Fade Into You

   Romance

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   One of several Ecstatic Records releases I loved this year, and easily my fave. Effortlessly dreamy soundscapes about love and heartbreak (think Burial as a hopeless romantic) loosely inspired by 70s melodrama The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant. Note: all song titles are borrowed, but none are covers.

6. 

   The Ballad of Darren

   Blur

   Apple Spotify

   This understated album places high because I played The Ballad, The Heights and The Narcissist to death. And it’s excellent, and Albarn’s voice sounds so suitably lived in. The subsequent Deluxe edition includes The Swan, perhaps the best of the lot.

7. 

   Heaven Is a Junkyard

   Youth Lagoon

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   A real grower. There are bleak sketches of Idaho’s emptiness and the tribulations of flawed characters, but also moments of real beauty and a sense of comfort. Powers makes the most of his unique vocal, and I love the analog feel, the variety of textures and sense of space.

8. 

   12

   Ryuichi Sakamoto

   Apple Spotify

   I spent a lot of time with this minimal and beautiful album, released just before his death. I feel like Sakamoto is drawing my attention to the space between the notes, the length of his silences and the grain of the air. Intentionally raw, these pieces carry the emotion of his dimming light.

9. 

   Laugh Track / First Two Pages of Frankenstein

   The National

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Forever one of my fave live bands, where they revel in an energy frustratingly absent from recent recordings. Laugh Track is the best here, but both carry some valuable tracks, not least the mesmeric improv Smoke Detector (my favourite song of the year).

10. 

    Vanishing Artefacts

    Paul Cousins

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    Many artists use tape machines (inspired by Riley, Eno, Fripp, etc.) because they allow all kinds of hands-on analog possibilities. But few are as skilled and expressive as Cousins, conjuring delicately beautiful soundscapes that I find intensely visual.

11. 

    Tokyo

    Bodikhuu

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    The Mongolian producer delivers an imagined fantasy built with bright beats and samples. Musicians who’ve never been to Japan typically lean on tired cliches, but Bodikhuu transports us to a believable and luminescent 1980s Tokyo. If you like DJ Shadow, I think you'll like this.

12. 

    Spike Field

    Maria BC

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    It might appear quiet (her voice is little more than a whisper), straightforward acoustic indie songwriter stuff, but sonically, a lot is happening here, with some gorgeous textures and ideas. The highlight is the flow of closing tracks (Still, Lacuna, Mercury and Spike Field), which, on first listen, convinced me this is something very special.

13. 

    When The Roses Come Again

    Daniel Bachman

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    I never expected to connect with folksy finger-picking, but Bachman has me under a spell. This is similar in tone and texture to last year’s dramatic Almanac Behind but much more introspective, documenting Bachman’s retreat to a rural cabin, but still flits between moments of chaos and peace.

14. 

    The Ceiling Reposes

    Lia Kohl

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    I consider the experimental cellist’s sound collage a fine companion to one of my faves from last year, Daniel Bachman’s Almanac Behind, leaning as it does on radio broadcasts, albeit with much less dread. This is a captivating and confident record, and it all comes together on gorgeous highlight Became Daily Today.

15. 

    Songs of Silence

    Vince Clarke

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    Clarke’s first solo album (you should know him from Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure) sounds nothing like you’d expect. Constrained modular synth explorations are flavoured with cello, opera and folk song moments that bring layers of depth and cinematic beauty to an otherwise droning sense of dread.

16. 

    Kofu III

    Meitei

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    The third chapter of his Kofu trilogy is still shaped by lost Edo and symbolism drawn from literature (Tanazaki’s tattooist inspires Shisei), but also aims to define Hiroshima in terms other than destruction with a light, bright touch, as I tried to do with my own Hiroshima EP.

17. 

    False Lankum

    Lankum

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    It was only last week that this much-lauded album finally clicked for me. The Irish band rework old trad tunes with new arrangements, rich textures and moments of beauty. It's as though Lankum control time, delivering this masterful work with rewardingly unhurried pacing.

18. 

    Hold

    Wild Nothing

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    I like Jack Tatum’s bright, upbeat dream pop that draws much from British pop like Prefab Sprout and early 90s shoegaze. Hold considers his move to the suburbs, and while it’s not his strongest album, there's lots to love, including fun bangers like Suburban Solutions.

19. 

    Albion

    Harp

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    The long-awaited solo from former Midlake frontman Tim Smith is born from a fascination with William Blake, mediaeval England and The Cure’s Faith. Visually, it's all a bit Gamelord of The Ringthrones, which I'm not into at all, but his icy folk got hold of me quickly.

20. 

    I Inside the Old Year Dying

    PJ Harvey

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    I love that it’s intentionally of itself: cryptic and rich, leaning on old dialect, poetry and prose. Authentic, immersive and of a mysterious world to be decoded. Sonically, it’s fascinating, pushing things to breaking point.

21. 

    Zigoku / 地獄

    99Letters

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    Following last year's excellent Kaibou Zukan & Makafushigi releases, Takahiro Kinoshita's first for Phantom Limb sees him falling ever deeper into his uniquely dark and daring experimentation with traditional Japanese instruments, refining his idiosyncratic Gagaku Techno. Fun Fact: Taka's also a designer and exceptionally proficient Figma advocate.

22. 

    My Noise is Nothing

    Lord of The Isles & Ellen Renton

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    Following last year's terrific pair of albums, Neil McDonald releases an organic, captivating collaboration with Scottish poet Ellen Renton. The poetry evokes images of nature and the terrible threat posed by our climate crisis, and the music is suitably cinematic. The centrepiece, For a Burning World, is stunning.

23. 

    A Grisaille Wedding

    Space Afrika

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    I'll never love it like 2021’s exceptional Honest Labour, and I almost wrote off this collab. But repeat spins reveal SA's signature urban themes, dense collage and musique concrète. I can look beyond some ingredients that challenge me because ambient texture and ambition hold it together and hold my interest. The Coby Sey track is stunning.

24. 

    The Nation's Most Central Location

    Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    Music evoking a nostalgia for a future that never happened has become cliché, much of it sounding the same, whether it's inspired by mountains or motorways. But the fourth in Chapman-Fox's series of reflections on a broken utopia excels on every level, the entire concept expertly composed and presented.

25. 

    Japan Blues Meets The Dengie Hundred / Companion Peace

    Japan Blues

    Apple Spotify

    It won’t surprise anyone familiar with my music that I love this meticulously researched, expertly collaged and deeply immersive work grounded in an authenticity often missing from Japan-inspired projects. Our friend Hibiki Ichikawa contributes shamisen to the album.

And here are albums 26-50...

26. Not Waving, The Place I've Been Missing
27. Marta Salogni, Tom Relleen, Music for Open Spaces
28. Tomoyoshi Date, 438Hz As It Is, As You Are
29. Gareth Quinn Redmond, Ar Ais Arís
30. QOW, El Mosameh Sherine
31. Gonubie, Signals at Both Ears
32. Veryan, Reflections In A Wilderness
33. Heinali, Kyiv Eternal
34. Boygenius, The Record
35. Lonnie Holley, Oh Me Oh My
36. Nathan Salsburg, Landwerk No.3
37. Tatsuro Murakami, An Imaginary Autumn
38. Overmono, Good Lies
39. Masahiro Takahashi, Humid Sun
40. Everything But the Girl, Fuse
41. Feist, Multitudes
42. Deena Abdelwahed, Jbal Rrsas
43. Celestial, Listen To The Sky
44. Chihei Hatakeyama, Hachirogata Lake
45. Nation of Language, Strange Disciple
46. Squirrel Flower, Tomorrow’s Fire
47. André 3000, New Blue Sun
48. Norio, Daidara Bou
49. Wilco, Cousin
50. 7038634357, Neo Seven

Other notable albums

Khotin, Release Spirit; Kevin Drew, Aging; Continuity, Continuity; M. Sage, Paradise Crick; Minor Science, Absent Friends, Vol. III; A Last Picture from Voyager, Laboratory; Kjartan Holm, Horizon; HUUUM, Huuum; Piotr Kurek, Smartwoods; Erland Cooper, Folded Landscapes; Karen Vogt, Losing The Sea (and Remixes); Mark Vernon, Call Back Carousel; Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World; Mark Barrott, Jōhatsu (蒸発); Enji, Ulaan; Olivia Louvel, DOGGERLANDSCAPE; Beqa Ungiadze, სადგური [Station]; Nabihah Iqbal, Dreamer; Kate Carr, A Field Guide To Phantasmic Birds; Phét Phét Phét, Shimmer; Vic Mars, The Beacons; Sigur Rós, ÁTTA; Queens of the Stone Age, In Times New Roman…; Gunnar Jónsson Collider, S.W.I.M.; TEKE::TEKE, Hagata; Depeche Mode, Memento Mori; Faten Kanaan, Afterpoem; Billy Nomates, Cacti; Natural Wonder Beauty Concept, Natural Wonder Beauty Concept; Avalon Emerson, & The Charm — and many more!

Top EPs and sub-30-minute albums

1. 

   Hunger Hill Road / Ghosts Are Dancing, Supplication / Headbouncing

   Sam Morton

   Two 7"-only releases. I love the actor and music fan’s almost inevitable project, a collab with XL boss Richard Russell. Her autobiographical lyrics reference several places I know, and it's all very Nottingham, but not in a crappy Left Lion way.

2. 

   You Win Again

   Spivak

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Yet another fave from Ecstatic, and it's a terrific short synthy album from Cypriot songwriter Maria Spivak focused on new chapters, tender moments, moving forward and feeling empowered. I particularly like Golden Boy and overall highlight Triantafylla.

3. 

   Murmuring Chasms of Nostalgia

   Seventh Stitch

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   If Burial and DJ Shadow made a short album, it might sound like this. My highlight is The Red Book ("A voice from the toooomb!"). More releases followed quickly, but sadly, their dance-pop vibes aren't a patch on this fine statement.

4. 

   Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 EP

   Aphex Twin

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Richard D James returns with an EP dripping with signature sounds and pops. There's an intoxicating complexity and depth to these tracks, and you imagine he could release an album this good every week if he wanted to.

5. 

   On The Turning Ground EP

   Tara Clerkin Trio

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   I've enjoyed a few TCT releases, but this EP is my favourite. The songs are simply beautiful, and Clerkin's vocals are gorgeous. I particularly adore Marble Walls, with its 90s dream pop sound, lush strings and trippy drumbeat.

6. 

   Glitch

   Justin Von Strasburg

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   I enjoyed his excellent lowercase trees and love this one even more. Minimal, focused, stripped down to coordinated blips and signals, like a kind of join-the-dots inviting your brain to assemble the melodic messages. The pacy and jaunty Saunter is my fave.

7. 

   Inexistens EP

   Xylander

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Derby's Pete Clark returns under a new moniker, expanding into territory that will be welcome to fans of Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and all that Warp goodness. This is expressive electronica with heart, and standouts for me are Seeing Red and Handsel.

8. 

   Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against The Wall EP

   Nia Archives

   Apple Spotify

   I like most of what this award-winning Bradford-born drum and bass producer puts out, but it was So Tell Me (released late last year as a single, but included here) that really caught my ear. A versatile statement packed with songs she's rightly proud of.

9. 

   Paradise EP

   Wishy

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   This only came out a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still getting to know it, but this shoegaze EP straight out of Indiana is an absolute delight. A fresh and forthright take on the familiar with each song showcasing a different member's ideas. I particularly love the track Spinning.

10. 

    Heavenly Spheres

    Penelope Trappes

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    This mesmerising short album results from Trappes isolating herself at a residency in Aldeburgh, expressing herself with only her voice, an upright piano, and a reel-to-reel tape machine. The easiest way in is via the beautiful A Seagull Learns To Sleep Alone.

Other notable EPs

Virginia Astley, The Singing Places; Heartworms, A Comforting Note EP; Spencer Zahn, Statues II; Batu, Half Speed EP; Yu Su, I Want an Earth EP; Cowboy Sadness, First & Second Rodeo (feat. Port St. Willow, The Antlers & Bing & Ruth); Boygenius, The Rest EP; Léa Sen, You of Now, Pt.2 EP; Fatima Al Qadiri, Gumar EP — and many more!

Top tracks

1. 

   Smoke Detector

   The National

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   At the end of two restrained albums comes this post-punk seven-minute semi-improv banger. It sounds like Alligator-era National have been spinning Disintegration. My fave bit is when the lyrics begin to run away from him around 4:45.

2. 

   The Narcissist

   Blur

   Apple Spotify

   Tune! I loved it on first listen because although it has the lived-in Blur sound that I think really suits them, it also sounds like the kind of song I'd go mad for in the mid-90s. That said, I could just as easily have picked The Ballad, The Heights, or The Swan.

3. 

   Three Drums

   Four Tet

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   An absolute masterclass in electronic music as a journey. Kieran takes a few basic elements (it began with a demo bringing three different drum ideas together) and evolves them into layer upon layer of uplifting moments that leave you breathless.

4. 

   Tell Somebody

   Young Fathers

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Stunning. I take this song as a message to offload for the good of your mental health, to choose between share or despair. I almost chose Shoot Me Down, but expect few would get past that track's initial shouty intro and reach the beauty beyond.

5. 

   Not Strong Enough

   Boygenius

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   I like Boygenius more than I like their new album, but this is like a lost classic. It makes my top five thanks to the lyric "Drag racing through the canyon, singing Boys Don't Cry" because I love references to other songs, and if you love Boys Don't Cry, I love you.

6. Depeche Mode, Ghosts Again
7. Samantha Morton, Ghosts Are Dancing
8. James Holden, In The End You Will Know
9. L’Rain, 5 to 8 Hours a Day (WWwaG)
10. Slowdive, The Slab
11. Tara Clerkin Trio, Marble Walls
12. Lia Kohl, Became Daily Today
13. Seventh Stitch, The Red Book
14. Romance, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Obey)
15. Ladytron, Misery Remember Me
16. Avalon Emerson, Sandrail Silhouette
17. The Smile, Bending Hectic
18. Paul Cousins, Broken Patches of Sky
19. Tirzah, Promises
20. Lord of The Isles & Ellen Renton, For a Burning World
21. Heartworms, Retributions of an Awful Life
22. Youth Lagoon, Mercury
23. Titanic, Cielo Falso (feat. I la Católica & Mabe Fratti)
24. Maria BC, Still
25. Harp, I Am The Seed
26. Gareth Quinn Redmond, Ar Ais Arís
27. Meitei, Shisei
28. Everything But the Girl, Run A Red Light
29. Nation of Language, Surely I Can’t Wait
30. Aphex Twin, Blackbox Life Recorder 21f
31. Grandaddy, Watercooler
32. Celestial, Brother Sun, Sister Moon feat Romance
33. Overmono, Skulled
34. Phét Phét Phét, Se Siento Como
35. Wild Nothing, Suburban Solutions
36. Wishy, Spinning
37. PJ Harvey, Prayer at the Gate
38. 99LETTERS, Nakimushinatori [泣虫鳥]
39. Khotin, HV Road
40. Lonnie Holley, Oh Me Oh My
41. Not Waving, Running Back To You (with Romance)
42. Justin Von Strasburg, drift
43. Batu, Flown
44. Faten Kanaan, Ard Diar
45. Squirrel Flower, Full Time Job
46. TEKE::TEKE, Doppelgänger
47. Heinali, Kyiv Eternal
48. Nabihah Iqbal, This World Couldn't See Us
49. Spivak, Golden Boy
50. Feist, Love Who We Are Meant To

Live, reissues, compilations, scores

1. 

   Gaia: Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works

   Dream Dolphin

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Noriko released twenty Dream Dolphin albums in just eight years. This excellent release from Music From Memory collects deeply satisfying IDM, pop and ambient tunes from that period.

2. 

   Happy Land, Compendium of Alternative Electronic Music from British Isles

   Various

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   There’s a straight path between these pastoral tunes and Holden’s album. Fact: this is the “creepy” music some Swifties received instead of Speak Now.

3. 

   Life Is Climbing (Original Soundtrack)

   Chihei Hatakeyama

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   One of my favourite ambient artists, and this soundtrack was a comfort during long work nights. I also liked the prolific musician's delicate Hachirogata Lake album released a few months ago.

4. 

   Enys Men (Original Score)

   Mark Jenkin

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   Atmospheric and eerie, constructed with analog machines and the very essence of Cornwall. I still haven’t seen the film, but I often listened to the multi-talented director’s haunting and spacious soundtrack.

5. 

   Catch Feelings

   Various

   Bandcamp

   This Bandcamp and cassette-only compilation celebrates ten years of Ecstatic Records, a label I swiftly fell for this year. Romance, Celestial, Not Waving, and Spivak are all here.

6. 

   Surround

   Hiroshi Yoshimura

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   First released in the mid-80s, Surround was commissioned by a home-building company to function as an amenity to enhance newly built living spaces. Essential Japanese environmental music.

7. 

   Roseland NYC Live 25 (Expended reissue)

   Portishead

   Apple Spotify

   This outstanding performance still sends shivers, but it's even better remastered. Three tracks missing from the original are restored, making this an essential upgrade.

8. 

   Kwaidan (5th anniversary)

   Meitei

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   I'm a bit grumpy about five years becoming a legit reissue landmark to sell records. Still, in this case it meant I could finally get a vinyl copy of this atmospheric work to complete my Meitei collection.

9. 

   Live at Café Oto

   OKI

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   I've grown to appreciate Ainu music, and OKI is a leading figure. I loved his Tonkori In the Moonlight album and wished I could've seen OKI at Oto. Thankfully, I have this excellent recording to enjoy.

10. 

    Upopo Sanke (reissue)

    Umeko Ando

    Apple Spotify Bandcamp

    And here's the first Ainu artist I fell for. She died in 2004, but reissues over the last few years have collected some of the most exciting and expressive Japanese folk music you'll ever hear.

Shows

Each show links to a review and/or setlist on my site. Note: I also enjoyed the incredible Ryuichi Sakamoto mixed reality performance at MIF.

1. New Order, First Direct Arena, Leeds
2. Pulp & Richard Hawley, Utility Arena, Sheffield
3. The National, First Direct Arena, Leeds
4. Joe Hisaishi, Wembley Arena, London
5. Pulp, Bridlington Spa Centre, Bridlington
6. Space Afrika present Honest Labour, Kings Place, London
7. Yoshiki Classical, Royal Albert Hall, London
8. Brown Fang & Huw Costin, Delia Records First Happening, Nottingham
9. Pulp & Wet Leg, Finsbury Park, London
10. Mitsuné, Northern Quarter, Huddersfield

Notes

There were far too many incredible releases this year. By the end of April, I already had 30 definite faves, with another 26 in a holding pattern, 20 more forthcoming, 34 marked as notable, and 20 more EPs, rereleases, soundtracks, etc. By the end of August, I was exhausted. And still, new stuff kept coming. I’ve had to omit so much of worth; much of it might never get played again because there’s too much.

Many releases initially placed higher but fell victim to the sheer volume of outstanding records in the latter half of the year. That said, I listened less to any albums released in October or November, and those needed to have an instant impact to feature.

At this point, I want to mention that it takes three full days to turn a year of meticulous notes into this mammoth post, and that’s exhausting. Moving forward, I’ll need to ease off on the obsessive cataloguing of what I’m listening to throughout the year and aim for a lighter annual roundup—just letting you know in advance.

I usually end with my “I really tried” section, partly to avoid receiving “Hey, you forgot about...” emails. But no more, because it’s a bit negative, and you don’t need to know why I didn’t get along with new releases from certain artists. I know very well how much it stings when someone complains about something you love.

Playlists and previous

So, that was 2023 in music. Need a playlist? NP. You can wade through my vast and unedited 2023 Faves playlist (approx 430 songs, 28 hours; Apple, Spotify), or go for the more focused 2023 Top Fifty (almost 4 hours; Apple, Spotify) mirroring my top fifty list.

And don’t forget to follow Colly’s Music Weekly on Apple or Spotify for a weekly hour of new releases throughout the year.

Check out all my yearlies or go directly to 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, or 2004.

Psst, and my own music...

It was another good year for Site Nonsite. I released two further EPs to complete the Japan series. People said some very generous things, and I received more airplay, leading to an increase in downloads and excellent cassette sales. I continue to build my small home studio and evolve an ambitious live set (I have my first shows in a few months). I’m also curating something special due in late February and beginning to formalise the first album. Lots to come!

1. 

   Tokyo EP

   Site Nonsite

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   The final EP in the Japan series paints Tokyo from multiple angles, portraying a welcoming, intimate and culturally ebullient metropolis.

2. 

   Osaka EP

   Site Nonsite

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   The third EP in the Japan series celebrates Osaka’s unique culture and effervescent personality and remembers a rural retreat in neighbouring Hyōgo.

3. 

   Kyoto EP

   Site Nonsite

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   The second of four multimedia projects documenting experiences in Japanese cities, this EP celebrates the nature and spirit of Kyoto.

4. 

   Hiroshima EP

   Site Nonsite

   Apple Spotify Bandcamp

   The first of four multimedia projects documenting experiences in Japanese cities, this EP is a love letter to Hiroshima, a city writing a new history.

Thanks, everyone. See you again next year!

Reply via email

Reply via email

Reply via email

Reply via email

Reply via email

We’ve been back in Newfoundland for a few days. After we married, we made at least one trip each year to see family and friends, and St. John’s soon felt like a second home. And then, Covid. Two years ago, Geri was allowed to visit while I stayed home to care for Bearface. It's more than four years since I was last here.

Anyway, we’re back, and it’s cold. I have a big list of personal project jobs to take care of over the holidays, and I might post a few more updates. At the very least, my annual Year in Music will arrive as ever on New Year’s Eve.

Reply via email

Reply via email

Reply via email

Thanks to Geri and that night at Wembley Arena, I now love X Japan enough to appreciate this evening, but it leaves me itching to hear Toshi screaming out those searing anthems and classic ballads along with Yoshiki and the rest of the band.

Reply via email

I love these experimental electronic pop tracks from Samantha Morton (yes, the oscar-nominated actress) and producer Richard Russell for many reasons, not least how bloody good they are.

The collaged music foregrounds what the press release calls “Morton’s mainly autobiographical lyricism” and I particularly appreciate how familiar memories of growing up in Nottingham ooze from this music — “Hyson Green must I roam”.

I’m very glad I took a chance on Morton’s debut and hope for more. Note that it’s vinyl only, and limited to 300 copies. It's sold out on Bandcamp and Boomkat, but still available (at the time of writing) from Rough Trade.

Previously: Sam Morton on Desert Island Discs.

Reply via email

From New Order in Leeds via a few hours of sleep to any early train for London. Geri had acquired tickets for the first UK showing of Hayao Miyazaki’s new (and perhaps final, this time) film, The Boy and The Heron at the Royal Festival Hall.

Naturally, there was a lot to love about the movie, but it also lost me on multiple occasions, and I think everyone appreciates that it’ll need repeated viewings. I will say that it’s laced with references to his other movies and employs pretty much every Ghibli trick you can think of. I did enjoy hearing Joe Hisaishi’s theme only a couple of weeks after he played it at Wembley Arena. Anyway, do go and see the film when you can (I think it’s out nationwide on Boxing Day).

BTW, it’s the 8th of October, and the afternoon temp was steady at 25°C. From the bar’s outdoor terrace overlooking the Thames in the intense sunshine, it felt like the hottest day of the year. It was a humid evening, too. I’m not sure the weather’s very well.

Reply via email

First Direct Arena, Leeds. A fine time with the band that changed everything for me, eviscerating memories of a disappointing night at Ally Pally five years ago.

New Order changed everything for me when I hit my teens, something I explained during my Designer Discs interview a while ago — about wandering into HMV in 1987, when I was 14, and seeing Substance on the rack:

So I buy this enigmatic bit of vinyl, and it changes everything. I get home, and the first thing I hear is Ceremony. And this track is fantastic because, as I soon discovered, it was an unrecorded Joy Division song. When Ian Curtis took his life, and the rest of the band decided to carry on as New Order, they recorded this song, and so it straddles these two unbelievably iconic bands. And the words are like poetry: This is why events unnerve me, They find it all, a different story; Avenues all lined with trees — and big progressive guitar hooks and stuff. It’s such a statement.

However, it wasn’t until 2018 that I caught them live. That night at Ally Pally, the band was terrific, but with 10,000 boozily talkative Londoners in front of us and travel commitments forcing us to miss the last few songs, I left more deflated than I let on. And so, when the chance came up to see them this month at Leeds’ excellent First Direct Arena with its relatively small standing area, I jumped at it.

Thankfully, everything went to plan tonight and we found ourselves on the rail!

And when the band played Ceremony early on, I lost my shit. I think tonight we got lucky with the setlist as they’ve been mixing it up a little bit. They played Age of Consent, there was a rare outing for Regret (a song that means a lot to us), they seamlessly merged Bizarre Love Triangle into Vanishing Point, and it was the first time they’d played The Perfect Kiss on this tour.

The Joy Division encore was perfect: Atmosphere, Transmission, and LWTUA. During Transmission, I couldn’t take my eyes off Bernard and Stephen, marrying what I was seeing with that ingrained footage of them performing the track on Something Else in 1979. It’s because of that performance that Transmission has long been my favourite Joy Division song.

Anyway, forgive the gushing fanboyisms, but I’m chuffed to put that disappointing night at Ally Pally behind me and will be thinking about this show for a long time. As I said to Geri after they’d played Ceremony, “I can die happy now.”

Setlist

7th October 2023
First Direct Arena, Leeds

Reply via email

First Direct Arena, Leeds. Another epic setlist from The National packed with old rarities like Cherry Tree, Abel and Available and new treats, including a mesmerising Smoke Detector.

23rd September 2023
First Direct Arena, Leeds
Support from Soccer Mommy.

Reply via email

...with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Crouch End Festival Chorus.

This rare event was rescheduled so often (due to the pandemic) that we thought it might never happen. But tonight at Wembley Arena, the genius Joe Hisaishi — with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus and vocal soloists Grace Davidson and Ella Taylor — finally performed Music from the Studio Ghibli Films of Hayao Miyazaki in London. And it was the most beautiful, stirring, wondrous two hours.

Joe Hisaishi is no less vital to Ghibli’s success than the studio’s founders, Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki and the late Isao Takahata. To see Hisaishi down there on that stage, conducting with such infectious joy brought Ghibli to life in the most intoxicating way. I never stopped smiling and was on the verge of tears at least once.

I particularly enjoyed suites from Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, The Wind Rises, and Howl’s Moving Castle. The show concluded with Ashitaka and San, the song that played as Geri walked down the aisle at our wedding.

The concert was an overwhelmingly uplifting experience, and I left the Arena reminding myself that I must try harder always to appreciate the beauty in our world.

Setlist

22nd September 2023
OVO Wembley Arena, London

Reply via email

The second preview song from Tokyo is streaming everywhere. Angel Stain recalls hazy mornings in characterful neighbourhoods like Shimokita and Kichijoji, and the title honours Bear Pond’s famous espresso shot that embraces imperfection and finds beauty in bitterness.

On our first trip, we spent a little time with owner Katsuyuki Tanaka, and I love the photo (the taking of which he instigated) because it disproves the myth that he’s unfriendly — it’s more likely that he doesn’t tolerate arseholes. During our second trip, I attempted to write about that incomparable espresso.

You can pre-order Tokyo on Bandcamp, and I’ll be hosting a Listening Party on Wednesday 4th October at 8:30pm GMT+1. RSVP here.

Reply via email

I was interviewed by electronic musician Veryan for the third issue of her Insights and Sounds magazine. We enjoyed an in-depth discussion covering how I capture sounds and make music, why I’m compelled to document places in such detail, the beauty of Japan, the influence of land art, and a few clues as to what might happen next.

Along with the magazine, the download includes three excellent tracks that Veryan made with field recordings provided by myself and the other interviewees, Jilk and Everyday Dust.

In related news, Caravan Tokyo was featured on the latest episode of Electronic Odyssey, and you can listen back on Mixcloud.

Reply via email

Reply via email

The fourth and final EP in my Japanese Cities series is here. Tokyo paints the city from multiple angles, portraying a welcoming, intimate and culturally ebullient metropolis with leafy neighbourhoods that feel more hushed than hurried.

The first preview track, Caravan Tokyo, is streaming everywhere. The song remembers the start of our first trip, living out of a custom-built caravan in Omotesando. It recalls the disorienting wooziness of arriving in an unfamiliar place and the rush of excitement as apprehension becomes awe.

The digital and cassette editions are available for pre-order on Bandcamp, and the entire EP with supporting documents arrives on 6th October. Tapes will ship the following day, along with any Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima 2nd edition orders (I still have a few copies of each).

Oh, and I’m a big fan of Bandcamp’s new Listening Parties, so I’ll be hosting one for Tokyo on Wednesday 4th October at 8:30pm GMT+1. RSVP here.

Reply via email

The fourth and final EP in my Japanese Cities series is done and distributed. It’ll be available for pre-order on Friday, 1st September, along with the first preview single.

It’s been a long and industrious journey with the steepest learning curve, and I’ll write about everything in more detail once the entire EP is out and all cassette orders have been assembled and shipped. But for now, I’m quietly very proud of myself for publicly committing to this series and seeing it through. Site Nonsite is an essential creative outlet for me, and impressing others is not a priority, but I’m delighted that it’s resonated with lots of people and very grateful for the support I’ve received.

I’m developing a live set and already researching two album-length projects, but there’s no rush. I want to spend a few months playing music for fun without the pressure of releasing anything new soon.

Reply via email

One of Geri’s lovely clients invited us to join the team for a relaxed get-together in deepest Devon. It’s a six-hour drive, so we seized the opportunity to enjoy a much-needed mini break.

It rained most of the time because this Summer is a disaster, but Devon shines in all weather, and we filled our days with drives, walks, and treats—a fab trip, although I won’t miss mile-after-mile of hedge-lined lanes the width of my car.

Chilling in Chillington

A fun evening at the White House with Geri’s client team before relocating to nearby lodgings. We drove along Slapton Sands to Strete beach each morning for excellent flat whites from Lime Coffee Company's hut, and enjoyed takeaway fish and chips from The Start Bay Inn at Torcross.

Sunshine at Start Point

A lovely afternoon ramble to Start Point lighthouse. We got lucky with sunshine after rain, illuminating the stunning coastline and bringing nature to life along the path.

Dartmoor downpour

A big day out on Dartmoor — Geri’s first visit, and thirty years since I was last here. A torrential time at Hay Tor, satisfying lunch in Mortenhampstead, a wander around Postbridge and time travel at Merryvale prehistoric settlement.

Hope Cove

A short evening wander around windy Hope Cove.

Totnes & Drift

A return to Totnes and Drift, my favourite record shop.

All photos taken between 29th July and 31st August.

Reply via email

We've owned a copy of Mitsune’s second album for some time, and Geri’s friends with one of the shamisen players, so we decided to catch their intimate tour opener in Huddersfield.

Mitsune is a shamisen trio based in Berlin with members from Japan, Australia and Germany, accompanied by a double bass player and percussionist. I’m increasingly familiar with the “shammy” as the instrument features on a lot of the Japanese music in my collection. Geri also owns an old shamisen and was learning to play until dear old Bearface started getting spooked by it for some reason (he was deaf, but would leave the house as soon as she started playing).

Anyway, I’m glad we drove up to Hudd for this gig. Mitsune’s energetic and inventive set features a fusion of original compositions and interpretations of traditional folk songs, and their sense of fun is infectious. It was a treat to hear the familiar aesthetics of Japanese folk music in a tiny Yorkshire club, and I also enjoyed the incongruity of Geri walking around a South Yorkshire town in full kimono.

Northern Quarter, Huddersfield
24th July 2023

Reply via email

An appropriately glitchy and unexpectedly moving mixed reality performance starring the revered Japanese musician freezes beauty in time and thaws our scepticism.

There is, in reality, a virtual me.
This virtual me will not age, and will continue to play the piano for years, decades, centuries.
Will there be humans then?
Will the squids that will conquer the earth after humanity listen to me?
What will pianos be to them?
What about music?
Will there be empathy there?
Empathy that spans hundreds of thousands of years.
Ah, but the batteries won’t last that long.

I was upset when Sakamoto died as I realised how much of his work had permeated my brain over the years. As I said in this short post back in April, I never knew his work as well as I should have, but several songs, albums, and collaborations from his life have meant something to me. Listening to 12, the album released just before his death, moves me every time, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know more of his music.

We’ve known about Kagami for months but almost let it slip by. A friend recently praised Kagami, and the Guardian posted an eleventh-hour five-star review. I decided I had to see it, and we’ve managed to bag a slot on the very last morning.

We arrive at Versa Manchester Studios (a short walk from Aviva Studios), and volunteers usher us into a large room illuminated by huge images of Sakamoto through the decades while clips from the documentary, Coda, play in front. Those of us wearing glasses have our prescriptions analysed, and I select the least-worst lenses from a choice of three.

We move to the performance space and sit in a large circle. Volunteers deliver our headsets and make sure they fit. We see a rotating red cuboid in the centre of the room. For me, it’s fizzy and blurred, so I remove the prescription lenses and it’s somehow sharper, so I opt to do without them. Everyone is ready, and a disembodied voice explains what we’re about to see, noting that it’s far from perfect but worthwhile to open up further mixed reality possibilities. The lights go down, and we’re in near darkness.

Sakamoto appears; he and his grand piano beam into place like something from early Star Trek. Heavenly clouds are drawn into the centre and surround him.

It’s underwhelming. The image is, at best, VHS quality, and I’m mad at myself for believing this could be a magical experience. Still, the music is beautiful, and my brain convinces my eyes that the image is good enough, and I choose to try and enjoy it.

The first song ends, and we stand up to join the ghostly impressions of others in the audience, forming a tight circle around the glowing Sakamoto and piano. We collectively activate the space by getting up and closing in, transforming what had felt like a cold gallery installation into a warm and intimate performance. A young couple sits cross-legged on the floor before us, looking up as he plays.

Geri and I settle at 45 degrees to the piano, just a few feet away from where it isn’t so that we can watch over Sakamoto’s shoulder. Illogically, the image seems sharper at close quarters, and I feel more connected to it. But the details exemplify everything that’s still weak about this technology: Sakamoto’s trademark grey hair falls in slow motion, and his dextrous fingers have the form and colour of Twiglets. I tell myself that piano playing is a lot of complex information to render in time and space with the current limitations.

The overall projection reminds me of all those intentionally imperfect sci-fi holograms (think R2D2 beaming Princess Leia’s cry for help or glitchy Elvis in Blade Runner 2049), and I soon warm to the acceptable unreality of it. Sure, Sakamoto is fuzzy and glitchy, but in some ways, the strange energy of it feels appropriate. He’s here with us but in a different form. And that’s ok.

Within a few minutes, I realise I’m captivated, lost in the miracle of what these uncanny hands — Sakamoto’s hands — are doing, conjuring this beautiful music with an effortless expression of chords and melody. I also notice how much body movement goes into his elegant playing, the feeling for each gesture coming up his spine, through his shoulders and down his arms. His right foot gently rocks the sustain pedal throughout.

I’m a few years into learning to play and am happy with my progress, but I’m self-taught and lack a mentor. It dawns on me that something about this encounter feels like being given something. “Here, Simon… watch me play; watch closely.” And I do. I make sure to take it all in.

Something “other” about the uncanny makes us resist, yet so often, we are willingly seduced. As I watch, my brain switches back and forth between two modes. The first mode I will call “appropriate glitch”, accepting the fraggy render and occasional latency between fingers and notes because I know that Sakamoto is gone and could never be here for real — it’s as it should be. The other mode is “OMG, it’s Sakamoto!” where I focus so intently on his hands that I briefly forget it’s a simulation, momentarily convinced that he’s here, playing these songs for us — for me.

Sakamoto is with us in 3D, but we’ve only watched from one angle, so we take a slow walk anti-clockwise, carefully weaving around the ghostly forms of others. It’s cool that the image has such a multi-dimensional structure and weight, but I quickly return to my spot with the sharpest render and view of his hands. Many ghosts remain in the same place or stay sat throughout, and I find it odd that some never take a look from this side and see his otherly hands playing the keys.

I’m less keen on the occasional floating photos and experience some mild disorientation when these massive backdrops rotate, but they provide interesting context. The 3D drops and ripples are more effective, giving depth to space.

The setlist is just right, and the songs have the spacious and delicate feel of his stripped-back Plays The Piano collection, recorded around the same time as this performance. Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence is an obvious choice as a highlight, but watching him play this beautiful arrangement at close quarters is quite something.

Introducing the final song, Sakamoto speaks a second and final time about writing BB as a tribute to Bernardo Bertolucci. His last words about the loss of the great film director are something like “…he passed,” and these two words reverberate as the song ends and he disappears. We return to the room, and Sakamoto is gone. We’re all too aware that he, too, has passed.

Geri and I discuss what we’ve just experienced in detail. We agree on the positives and negatives and feel moved by the performance. I say that I feel like I’ve seen him live, by which I mean that I now have this image in my head of standing watching over his shoulder. That image is glitchy, but my brain has accepted it as genuine. Not real, but honest.

I’m glad Kagami is augmented reality rather than entirely immersive, and I wonder how impressive this will be when the tech is up to the task. Apple’s new Vision Pro immediately comes to mind — the device’s apparent sharpness and understanding of mixed reality space. Apple and others will convince sceptics like me by demonstrating the appropriate use of the technology, and I think they should sell their goggles cheaply to institutions so they can programme similar experiences and make mixed reality more familiar to audiences. I don’t think I’ll ever want to spend my time in dizzyingly frenetic virtual or mixed reality experiences, but I could warm to simpler, slower three-dimensional art.

Back home, I listen again to the spacious and deeply personal 12 and better appreciate it because I can close my eyes and see him playing every note. Kagami is strange, but strange in the best way, and I’m happy to have experienced it.

Kagama setlist

Reply via email

I’ve seen many of Yayoi Kusama’s works in various cities. I originally had mixed views of her art and still struggle to love the overall experience of her phenomenally popular infinity rooms.

Over the years, I learned much more about her life and personality and how conceptually she was way ahead of everyone in the 1960s but largely ignored in favour of much more famous male artists who stole her ideas. Hers is a fascinating story, and it makes me happy that she’s become loved in her lifetime.

You, Me and The Balloons is the first major show at Manchester’s new Aviva Studios, and few artists could tackle such a vast space, let alone fill it with so much fun. Everyone was enjoying themselves, whatever their age, without any pressure to analyse or decode the work. I liked that the artist is present via video performance, speaking from up high like some Kawaii Big Brother. I learned that she’s reciting something about suicide, but it’s in Japanese, so unlikely to spoil anyone’s fun.

Note: we visited Manchester International Festival primarily to see Kagami, and I’ve posted a more detailed review of that experience.

Reply via email

Our third and final Pulp gig of the Summer. I’ve enjoyed revisting their world and appreciating just how wonderful it is. Every show has been a nostalgic treat, but tonight’s was a triumph.

I jump up and down and wave my arms and sing non-stop during these gigs — I can’t help it — so I’m a little worse for wear today and would rather snooze than write. I did write about the Bridlington Spa gig and included several videos. There’s also a Finsbury Park post.

Utilita Arena, Sheffield
14th July 2023
With support from Richard Hawley.

Reply via email

Reply via email