Top 10 Albums of 2023 – Aaaron Benko’s Picks

An incredible year for music and radio! There were an extraordinary selection of new albums from new and newish artists from across music genres and sounds. FACS released what was my favorite album for the first half of the year that I listened to a lot of the summer, immediately hooked. After settling into the Morning Sound Alternative shows, I started falling back into the mellower side of music I’ve always loved and leaned towards, I think well represented here. Helena Deland released her second release I’ve been awaiting since Someone New came out in 2020. But Viv & Riley’s single, Kygers Hill, from Imaginary People was the song when I first discovered it, listened as many times over as I could, knew that it would be the best song of the year, and the full album lives up to that energy and creativity. And Model/Actriz’s post-punk just absolutely brims with energy, uniqueness, unbridled modern experimental sound that will knocked my socks off. Seeing them this year was absolutely astounding.

Here, too, are some songs that are especially excellent, but not represented on the Top 10. Strongboi – fool around; waveform* – Lonely; Slow Pulp – Broadview; Maria BC – Haruspex; Bonnie Prince Billy – Bananas; Patrick Dethlefs – Daydream; Paper Kites – Marietta; Mary Lattimore – Goodbye, Hotel Arkada; Gregory Alan Isakov – One Day

Check some of these out, hope you find something you really enjoy. Long Live Community Radio!!!