This has become an end-of-year tradition for me: compile a playlist of songs by my favorite artists that I became aware of this year. This produces a document that encompasses my musical exploration, which generally serves as an anchoring artifact that I can return to when I need a temperature check on this place in time.
2023 took me some interesting places: on a hunt for the elusive, chimerical Mid Air Thief; through dusty dollar bin disco yard sale picks that yielded classic treasures like Heatwave, Brick, and Double Exposure; lounging in hazy Brazilian hammocks with Bala Desejo and Bruno Berle; grooving to the heady math-jazz of Elephant Gym; daydreaming along to the minimal aesthetic of animator-cum-musician TraceLoops; in the heavy garages of Miranda and the Beat and Slow Pulp; treading with dread of what waits in the darkness described by the grim cumbia of Karen y Los Remedios; and even face-to-face with my general distaste for The Beatles by giving Wings an honest chance.
There’s probably stuff on here that isn’t new to anyone. Chiefly, I became a little obsessed with some treasures from the 70s and 80s that were probably background radiation in my childhood. Primarily, though, this is a transcription of a continuing journey of discovery of both new and old, of parallel universes and nascent spaces.
Thanks for listening, happy new year, and mind the fnords.