Rosy Overdrive’s Top 100 Albums of 2023 (25-1)

Here it is! Rosy Overdrive’s 25 favorite albums of 2023, revealed today along with albums 50 through 26, and coming a day after albums 51 through 100. This was the hardest year yet in terms of the top; specifically, the top twelve albums on the list I kept rearranging up until press time. I’m more than satisfied with what you’ll read below, however. Once again, thank you for reading, vote in the Rosy Overdrive Reader’s Poll, and stay tuned for upcoming EP and compilation lists as well as a few more Pressing Concerns.

See also:
Part One (100-76)
Part Two (75-51)
Part Three (50-26)
Playlist with all albums (Spotify link) (Tidal link)

25. Shredded Sun – Each Dot and Each Line

Release date: February 24^thRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Psychedelic pop, indie pop, garage rock, noise pop
Formats: Digital

Shredded Sun’s members have a shared history dating back to their time in 2000s lo-fi garage punk group Fake Fictions, and they’ve also put out another album and a few EPs under their newer band over the past decade. Their time playing together assuredly is helpful in pulling off something like Each Dot and Each Line, which is a delightfully eclectic indie rock record that combines fuzz rock/shoegaze noiseness, a garage-punk edge, and power pop catchiness. They pull from several different eras of “alternative” and indie rock in a Yo La Tengo-esque, “music fan first and foremost” way, and their overall enthusiasm ensures that they pull off every genre shift. (Read more)

24. William Matheny – That Grand, Old Feeling

Release date: August 4^thRecord label: Hickman Holler
Genre: Alt-country, singer-songwriter
Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital

West Virginia’s William Matheny has slowly but surely crafted a distinct world of worn-out vans, drifters, and hazy Biblical figures in his solo records for quite some time now. If you liked the sharp alt-country tunes of his last album, 2017’s, Strange Constellations, you won’t be disappointed in That Grand, Old Feeling, even as there’s a different feeling with this one–it feels like one long exhale, like Matheny’s taking a step back from the action and the movement for a moment. Just a moment, though; then it’s off to the next hole-in-the-wall for Matheny’s various narrators. (Read more)

23. Brontez Purnell – Confirmed Bachelor

Release date: November 10^thRecord label: Upset the Rhythm
Genre: Power pop, garage rock, fuzz rock
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Short but incredibly potent, Confirmed Bachelor is a no-filler collection of immediate garage-rock-power-pop that picked up where Oakland’s Brontez Purnell left off on 2020’s White Boy Music EP. The former Younger Lovers frontperson tears through fuzzy, hooky rock and roll like it’s his job (which I suppose it is, at least when he’s not being an author, dancer, filmmaker, or choreographer)–we’re five songs in before we get a track longer than two minutes. The weirdest-sounding moment on Confirmed Bachelor might be the AutoTune-heavy cover of The Amps’ “Bragging Party”, although it’s arguably even weirder just how easily Purnell turns Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me” into a “Brontez Purnell song”.

22. Rust Ring – North to the Future

Release date: February 24^thRecord label: Knifepunch/Storm Chasers Ltd.
Genre: Emo, punk rock
Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital

Named after Alaska’s state motto, North to the Future uses the Last Frontier’s isolation as a jumping point for Rust Ring frontwoman Joram Zbichorski to write about her relationship with gender in a fantastical but still very close-hitting way. Oh, and it’s also a jumping point for a bunch of very good, very cathartic, gang-vocal-sporting emo-punk anthems. It’s a really great-sounding record, with Zbichorski and her collaborators bringing their A-game musically–North to the Future is interesting conceptually, but it wouldn’t be nearly as remarkable if Rust Ring didn’t execute it as well as they do. (Read more)

21. The Tubs – Dead Meat

Release date: January 27^thRecord label: Trouble in Mind
Genre: Post-punk, jangle pop
Formats: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital

The debut full-length record from The Tubs delivers on the promise of their 2021 EP Names (perhaps unsurprisingly, given Owen Williams’ work in Joanna Gruesome and Ex-Vöid). Dead Meat is an ace mix of vintage 80s post-punk and jangly indie pop, as catchy as it is chilly overall. The Tubs have a propulsive urgency to them in highlights like “Illusion Pt. II” and “Wretched Lie”, and Williams’ dark, self-lacerating songwriting gives a bite to songs like “Sniveller”, counterbalancing its massive chorus.

20. Teenage Tom Petties – Hotbox Daydreams

Release date: November 3^rdRecord label: Repeating Cloud/Safe Suburban Home
Genre: Lo-fi power pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Wiltshire, England’s Tom Brown recorded the self-titled debut Teenage Tom Petties album entirely on his own at home; a year later, the band is now a five-piece, three-guitar group that recorded their sophomore album, Hotbox Daydreams, in a real recording studio. As great as lo-fi Teenage Tom Petties sounded, I’m pleased to say that not only does Hotbox Daydreams retain that initial spark, it’s a leap forward for Brown and his collaborators in every way. It’s deeper, more energetic, more consistent, and it sounds better. Every song on Hotbox Daydreams could’ve been a single–and in a better universe, they all were. Shh, be quiet, “This One’s on You” just came on the radio. (Read more)

19. Sharp Pins – Turtle Rock

Release date: March 1^stRecord label: Hallogallo/Tall Texan
Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, noise pop, 90s indie rock
Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital

Sharp Pins is the solo project of Chicago’s Kai Slater, who also plays in good bands like Dwaal Troupe and Lifeguard. Sharp Pins’ latest album, Turtle Rock, hews closer to Dwaal Troupe’s lo-fi, poppy indie rock than Lifeguard’s post-hardcore sound, although Slater covers a lot of ground over the album’s thirteen songs and 35 minutes. Slater has a knack for wistful but exuberant lo-fi pop that reminds me of early Guided by Voices in a way that goes beyond aesthetics and recording styles–Sharp Pins will lapse into noisiness, but nothing call dull the impact of gems like “Bettie Wait” and “You Turned Off the Light”.

18. Onesie – Liminal Hiss

Release date: August 18^thRecord label: Totally Real/Pillow Sail/Kool Kat Musik
Genre: Jangle pop, power pop, psych pop
Formats: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital

Brooklyn power pop quartet Onesie have a rock edge to them, although they deploy it strategically on Liminal Hiss, their third album. Sometimes the ornate touches let the band’s love of 60s/70s studio-based pop rock come through, while some of the looser moments on Liminal Hiss imagine The Chills as a more freewheeling, 90s indie rock-inspired group (like if the Flying Nun bands had taken influence from Pavement and Guided by Voices, instead of the other way around). Bandleader Ben Haberland puts together a barrage of warped, proggy pop hooks; nevertheless, they come through loud and clear and are nothing but joys to listen to. (Read more)

17. Coventry – Our Lady of Perpetual Health

Release date: September 19^thRecord label: Septic Jukebox
Genre: Folk rock
Formats: CD, digital

Chicago’s Coventry is a new collaboration between Jon Massey (Silo’s Choice) and Mike Fox (Arthhur, Flesh of the Stars). Their debut CD together, Our Lady of Perpetual Health, is an accessible but decidedly offbeat collection of excellently-penned pop songs and ornery folk rock. Judging by the sheen of Our Lady of Perpetual Health, Massey and Fox certainly have spent plenty of time with classic folk rock and “studio pop” from the 1960s and 70s, but it’s also a very Chicago record, channeling the spirit of both Drag City iconoclastic troubadours and Thrill Jockey jazz-fusion scientists. (Read more)

16. Norm Archer – Splitting the Bill

Release date: September 28^thRecord label: Panda Koala
Genre: Power pop, 90s indie rock, pop punk, psych pop
Formats: Digital

Unlike 2022’s Flying Cloud Terrace, Splitting the Bill was recorded with all live drums, allowing the music of Norm Archer to catch up just a little bit to bandleader Will Pearce’s kinetic energy. Splitting the Bill is still a pop record, but the edges of Norm Archer are as sharp as ever, merging power pop with Archers wqof Loaf-style 90s indie rock. Every facet of Pearce’s pop songwriting skills is on full display on Splitting the Bill, from grandiose, Pollard-esque multi-part suites to humbler, Westerbergian power-pop-punk. Splitting the Bill is an ornate work, one in which a closer inspection of even its less showy moments reveals exquisite detail. (Read more)

15. Washer – Improved Means to Deteriorated Ends

Release date: April 28^thRecord label: Exploding in Sound
Genre: Garage rock, post-punk, punk
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Washer’s long-awaited third album has been one of my most anticipated records since 2017’s All Aboard–six years later, we finally have Improved Means to Deteriorated Ends, and from the first seconds of opening track “King Insignificant”, the band instantly bridges the long gap. Washer haven’t abandoned their core sound (a barebones blend of punk, post-punk, post-hardcore, and noise rock), but what they’ve been working on, it seems like, is packing it with as much as possible. The record’s fifteen songs grapple with thoughts on the passage of time, difficulties in holding on to motivation, and failing to meet one’s own expectations and live up to one’s self-image, all over their spirited music. (Read more)

14. Taking Meds – Dial M for Meds

Release date: September 1^stRecord label: Smartpunk
Genre: 90s indie rock, power pop, indie punk
Formats: Vinyl, digital

In my small circle of the music world, Dial M for Meds qualifies as a genuine breakout record. The New York four-piece really put the “power” in power pop on their fourth full-length album–there are shades of Superchunk and Archers of Loaf all over the record, and it’s not not heavy, but Taking Meds take these tools and aim for massive and polished hooks and choruses with a straightforwardness rarely seen in 90s indie rock/punk revivalists. Listening to the melodic squall of “Outside”, it’s hard to believe nobody saw the potential in making something like Dial M for Meds–it just sounds so self-evident.

13. Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – Dancing on the Edge

Release date: October 27^thRecord label: Sophomore Lounge/ever/never
Genre: Alt-country, folk rock, country rock, singer-songwriter
Formats: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital

On Ryan Davis’ first solo-ish album and first “song” record since the last album from his country rock group State Champion in 2018, the Louisville singer-songwriter is as sprawling and as “country” as ever. Davis’ unbothered Kentucky tones and the Roadhouse Band’s post-post-country rock-and-roll both sound brilliant across Dancing on the Edge, expanding Davis’ songs into seven-plus-minute behemoths. Closer inspection of the record only yields more and more impressive results, as Davis’ characteristically winding but sharp writing is as strong as ever. (Read more)

12. Whitney’s Playland – Sunset Sea Breeze

Release date: March 17^thRecord label: Paisley Shirt/Meritorio
Genre: Power pop, indie pop, jangle pop
Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital

The debut record from the Bay Area’s Whitney’s Playland is a strong opening statement. The band’s sound fits in with the sleepy, dreamy side of jangle pop, but Sunset Sea Breeze is also one of the straight-up catchiest records I’ve heard this year–it’s a lo-fi power pop record first and foremost. The four-piece band offer up the transcendent indie pop of the title track, the big-electric-guitar-wielding “Mercy”, and a host of other hits; Sunset Sea Breeze offers enough strong hooks for several records’ worth of indie pop. (Read more)

11. Spirit Night – Bury the Dead

Release date: August 4^thRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Emo-y indie rock
Formats: Digital

There’s a moment in “Country Roads”, a song about Dylan Balliett’s complicated and activating relationship with his home state of West Virginia, where the Spirit Night frontman sings “Now I’m carrying with me / The rapid river / And the people it claimed / Who I can’t forget”. In perhaps the single most illustrative moment on Bury the Dead, Balliett directly hovers over still-sharp memories of the people he’s outlived and the places he’s outran. Trailing out from this state of mind are the ten songs of Bury the Dead, an album that navigates this complicated tightrope soundtracked by the sounds of classic, spirited, emo and punk-informed indie rock. (Read more)

10. Curling – No Guitar

Release date: August 11^thRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Prog-pop, power pop, math rock
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Curling’s third album, No Guitar, was assembled slowly but surely, “bit by bit”, over the past five years. The two Pacific Ocean-separated members of the band, Jojo Brandel and Bernie Gelman ended up building an album that reflects their love of vintage 60s-esque, heavily-tinkered-with studio pop rock, without straying too far from the sound of their previous, more math rock-indebted music. No Guitar is a wholly unique combination of Game Theory, XTC, Jon Brion, progressive pop, power pop, and math rock (with, yes, a little bit of emo in there too); Brandel and Gelman’s influences are apparent here, but they also completely transcend them. (Read more)

9. Poppy Patica – Black Cat Back Stage

Release date: May 5^thRecord label: House of Joy
Genre: Power pop, 90s indie rock, indie pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital

After a string of self-recorded and -released records, Poppy Patica’s Peter Hartmann takes advantage of a full band backing on his latest album, Black Cat Back Stage. Although these recordings place Hartmann’s songwriting front and center, the songs are dressed up with a style that combines Hartmann’s 90s indie rock influences with deep, layered synths and organs brought forward by the other members. It’s a charming but weighty sheen for Black Cat Back Stage, which deals with Hartmann’s original home of Washington, D.C. over the course of its ten songs. (Read more)

8. Vista House – Oregon III

Release date: February 10^thRecord label: Anything Bagel
Genre: Alt-country
Formats: Cassette, digital

Portland, Oregon’s Tim Howe first appeared on my radar last year as one half of First Rodeo, but he also fronts the country rock group Vista House. The newest Vista House album, Oregon III, contains plenty of the twangy sound found in Howe’s contributions to First Rodeo, but it also accentuates Howe’s fuzzier and rockier sides. The album achieves a full-band indie rock sound in places, although it also has a bedroom pop charm in others. Howe’s voice is the main constant throughout Oregon III, a comforting and deep-felt presence throughout the record. (Read more)

7. Blues Lawyer – All in Good Time

Release date: February 17^thRecord label: Dark Entries
Genre: Indie pop, power pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Blues Lawyer has expanded from the founding duo of Rob I. Miller and Elyse Schrock to a quartet on All in Good Time, their third full-length album. Subsequently, it’s a full-sounding power pop album, containing traces of dreamy jangle pop but shaken awake and enlisted into the service of making big indie pop anthems. Miller and Shrock are intriguing songwriters beyond their pop instincts: All in Good Time’s songs are full of hard-earned realizations about interpersonal relationships, but as uncomfortable or desperate as things get on the album, it always sounds fantastic. (Read more)

6. Pacing – Real poetry is always about plants and birds and trees and the animals and milk and honey breathing in the pink but real life is behind a screen

Release date: October 13^thRecord label: Totally Real
Genre: Anti-folk, bedroom pop, singer-songwriter, indie folk
Formats: CD, cassette, digital

Real Poetry… is an album well-served by its title. Pacing’s Katie McTigue wriggles back and forth in her writing between stubbornly conversational and surprisingly poetic throughout the record’s twelve tracks. Pacing has been tagged “anti-folk”, which is partially true, but Really Poetry…’s indie pop structures (while frequently acoustic guitar-based, yes) range from sketched sparsely to keenly orchestrated, dramatic, intimate, and experimental and more in under thirty minutes. The questions and musings about art, legitimacy, and presentation of concepts at the core of the album only come clearer into focus the more chaotic Real Poetry… gets, however. (Read more)

5. Buddie – Agitator

Release date: April 21^stRecord label: Crafted Sounds
Genre: 90s indie rock, fuzz rock, power pop
Formats: Cassette, digital

On their second full-length album (and first since lead singer/songwriter Dan Forrest relocated to Vancouver from Philadelphia), Buddie deliver eleven deep, fulfilling, and sharply-realized indie rock songs. Forrest remains a towering but approachable songwriter on Agitator, thinking in big-picture terms but never losing sight of the day-to-day and direct interpersonal minutia of his grand topics. Forrest’s gentle vocals are juxtaposed by the sweeping music that accompanies them, encompassing Built to Spill-esque 90s indie rock, fuzz rock, and power pop–delivered with an earnestness from the band that matches their frontperson. (Read more)

4. Connections – Cool Change

Release date: March 24^thRecord label: Trouble in Mind
Genre: Lo-fi power pop
Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital

Connections’ sixth album, Cool Change, took five years to come out (an eternity for a band who started off putting out multiple records in the same year), but it’s anything but a soft relaunch for the Columbus band. The new album has a bit of everything–a massive, five-minute opening statement of purpose with “In Space”, smooth power pop in “Slow Ride” and “Unsolved Mysteries”, and subtlety with “I Confess” and “You Are All I Need”. With a half-dozen records and a decade together under their belt, Connections remain at their peak. (Read more)

3. Soft on Crime – New Suite

Release date: February 3^rdRecord label: Eats It
Genre: Jangle pop, power pop, psychedelic pop
Formats: Cassette, digital

Soft on Crime eagerly explore guitar pop of several stripes on their debut record, New Suite. The trio toss off excellent tunes in the vein of retro psychedelia, fuzzy lo-fi indie rock, and starry-eyed college rock across the album’s runtime–the pitch-perfect “Telex Eyes”, the giddily melodic “Crying Pool”, the crunchy “Splendid Life”. Soft on Crime jam these dozen songs with as many instrumental and vocals hooks as possible per track, even when they’re putting together numbers that reflect their less overtly poppy influences, like the jerky, Devo-ish “Pretty Purgatory”. (Read more)

2. Star 99 – Bitch Unlimited

Release date: August 4^thRecord label: Lauren
Genre: Power pop, pop punk, twee
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Bitch Unlimited is ten songs and 26 minutes long, and just about every second of it is crammed with hooks. Although it’s the San Jose band’s debut album, its members have played in Bay Area bands for a while–perhaps explaining how Bitch Unlimited so effortlessly pulls off that unmistakable sound of early 2010s indie-pop-punk bands like P.S. Eliot, Chumped, and Gladie. Star 99’s philosophy seems to be that there’s nothing that can’t be made into excellent, catchy, fizzy, and quite memorable power pop, with every wrinkle on the record (the shared lead vocal duties, the slightly buried but still noticeable big synth hooks, and, of course, plenty of power chords) defending this thesis admirably. (Read more)

1. Upper Wilds – Jupiter

Release date: July 21^stRecord label: Thrill Jockey
Genre: Fuzz rock, space rock, noise pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Upper Wilds continue to storm through our Solar System loudly and grandly with their fourth album, and third in their series of planetary-based albums that began with 2018’s Mars and continued with 2021’s Venus. The Brooklyn trio have always been ambitious, so it’s no surprise that their album based upon the largest planet in Earth’s neighborhood rises to the challenge, and then some. The band’s loud, catchy, and massive-sounding fuzz rock is perfect for the scale, and for bandleader Dan Friel’s writing, which uses the titular planet to explore fascinating subjects both terrestrial and extra- as the band white-knuckles through the cosmos. With Jupiter, Upper Wilds have finally found a muse that’s gigantic enough to match them. It’s their best album yet, and it’s my favorite album of 2023. (Read more)

Honorable mentions:

Click here for:
Part One (100-76)
Part Two (75-51)
Part Three (50-26)

Rosy Overdrive’s Top 100 Albums of 2023 (25-1)

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