(Today we present the fifth and final installment of Neill Jameson‘s 2023 year-end list. You can find the first four Parts by hitting this link and scrolling down.)

See the subtle change in the title? I’m building a narrative, I’m told that’s a good idea in writing. As far as I can tell (from constantly Googling myself), I’ve been doing year-end lists here since 2014. Initially I would only pick a few records each year, mostly because I was trying to shed light on things that other people may not have noticed throughout the year, which would grow somewhat each year until we made it to 2018, one of the most miserable years I’d had in a moment, and it showed in the lack of anything approaching enthusiasm in my writing. But once 2019 hit, it was like something opened up in me and I was actually interested in seeking out new music, the closest to approaching being passionate about anything I’d been in years. And from there I haven’t slowed down. 

I understand that these lists are read for a variety of reasons, to see if your band was in it, to disagree with it, to tell me I’m either an SJW cuck or a nazi, or (and this is the lowest number) to actually seek out new music that might interest you. Regardless of your reason, I hope you’ve found something you’re looking for out of this. I don’t really want to hear about it either way.

These were my favorite releases of the year not covered by my Invisible Oranges list, which was all album based. There’s a few here too, sure, but this is mostly EPs, demos etc. Not a lot of surprises if you’ve read any previous years. This will probably be wordy, even for me (“long winded” is another description I’ve read about myself) Enough from me, here’s the list: Continue reading »

photo by Hillarie Jason

(One of the perennial highlights of our year-end LISTMANIA series are the articles Neill Jameson has contributed, and we’re very happy that he’s doing so again this year. This one is the third of five Parts we’ll be publishing. To be clear, Neill wrote the title of this feature himself. And hey, you should check out Krieg‘s new album Ruiner too.)

Five. There’s five of these things in total. This is the third one.

These are getting more and more difficult to write because I’ve always taken a minute or two to refresh my memory on what I’m writing about but this year I’ve found myself just drifting off and listening to more and more of each release, which causes a slowdown in my progress. 

This is all fascinating to you, I’m sure. I’ve let my tea grow cold, let’s dive into it before I write more about my old womanly habits. Continue reading »

photo by Hillarie Jason

(One of the perennial highlights of our year-end LISTMANIA series are the articles Neill Jameson has contributed, and we’re very happy that he’s doing so again this year. This one is the first of a handful of Parts we’ll be publishing. To be clear, Neill wrote the title of this feature himself. And hey, you should check out Krieg‘s new album Ruiner too.)

I’m getting a later start on these this year, meaning I’ve already seen a lot of year-end lists, mostly due to checking to see if my last album made any of them. And because of this I could easily make the joke that most journalists have Helen Keller’s musical taste. I’d like to think I’m above such low hanging fruit, however.

In years past I’ve sectioned these lists off by demos, albums and dungeon synth. This year I’m ignoring that format in favor of dumping a ton of unrelated genres together outside of the final one, which will be the traditional “best of” list. Why am I doing this? I’m glad you asked and showed sincere curiosity: in the customer service industry we’ve begun using the phrase “surprise and delight the customer” and I’d like to take this wonderful philosophy into my writing. 

Or I’m just lazier than usual this year. Because fuck the customer.  Continue reading »