The 10 best records of 2023

If during the New Year's Eve, between the second first and the first second, an old friend were to take you by surprise by asking you what the the 10 best records released in 2023, here's a list so you don't get caught unprepared. Five local titles and five international ones, just in case, in purely random order.

Blur, The Ballad of Darren

After eight years of silence, the return of the iconic London band of Britpop managed to brilliantly avoid the risk of nostalgia, becoming one of the most important musical events of the year. The melancholic and bittersweet ballads are yet another opportunity to enjoy the sensitivity with which Londoners read reality. A self-reflection, peppered with the guitar riffs of Coxon who never lingers on narcissism, while the pen of Damon Albarn focuses on the meaning of loss.

Geolier, The Courage of Children

One of the best-selling artists of the year, despite the album having little to do with mainstream recording dynamics and Spotify algorithms, if only for the bars in Neapolitan dialect. Geolier he described the neighborhoods of Naples with a sense of belonging, but without mythologizing the crime: «There's no need for crime, there's no need for crime». Both thoughtful and violent.

Sufjan Stevens, Javelin

A moving, elegant and gentle album. The voice of the American singer-songwriter helps to understand oneself, beyond the interpretations of the outside world. Now on his tenth album, he still retains the coherence of his indie and alternative origins, enriching them with orchestral and electronic arrangements. But the acoustic, intimate and songwriting atmospheres are still the stylistic feature of his poetics, honest and reflective.

Elodie, Red Light

The idea of ​​throwing a clubtape into the middle of the Italian record market rightfully places it in this list of the best records of 2023 (and then the cover was designed Milo Manara). Obtained the definitive consecration with Okay. Breathe, Elodie has turned the tables, offering a more daring experimentation than her commercial dance pop. It will be interesting to see if in the future you want to take a further step forward, still exploring the world of electronics, perhaps with a more refined and international approach.

Foo Fighters, But Here We Are

After the sudden death of the drummer Taylor Hawkinsin 2022, the group had declared that they would become a different band. But Here We Are it is the first piece of the future of Foo Fighters and it's their best album of the last 15 years. A turbulent album that exorcises the agony of loss by putting it all over again Dave Grohl pounding on the kick drum and snare drum.

Appino, Humanize

Try to tell the story of humanity that is loved, hated and never understood. The third solo album from the frontman of Zen Circus it is an ambitious work with a strong social imprint. The people described – with their feelings, their strengths and weaknesses – are real and exciting. In addition to the 14 songs (which sound really good), the album hosts nine “rallies of humanity”, collected around Italy. A 73 minute audio documentary.

Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

Everything is fascinating: the writing, the aesthetics, the texture of the voice, the choice of sounds. But also the restlessness that travels underneath and holds the whole album together, chosen by fans as one of the best of recent years. And this without ever winking at the radio, only thanks to the ability to create empathy.

Daniela Pes, Spira

One of the most interesting surprises proposed by the Italian musical panorama, rightly awarded with the Tenco license plate for the best first work of 2023. The Sardinian artist signs an exciting and profound work that mixes Italian and dialect. The voice and the melodies crackle the skin, also thanks to the production of the fellow countryman I'm a dog who poured his bewitching musical world into Spira.

Wilco, Cousin

The meeting with the Welsh musician Cate Le Bon reshuffled the Chicago band's deck. The artistic infatuation born on the stage of the Solid Sound Festival, in Massachusetts, in June 2019, gave birth to one of the best Wilco albums of the last 15 years. A modern alternative rock album, but perfectly coherent with the soul of the band, sadly poetic.

Lovegang126, Christs and Devils

The first collective album of the Trastevere crew it was an event. In recent years the guys from the Tamburino scale have become a reference for the Roman rap scene and beyond. Christs and Devils it is the culmination of this journey. The fruit of seven different artistic identities that come together to write a posterand talk about what transformed a “simple” group of friends into a local hip hop phenomenon: Rome and its sidewalks, the brotherhood, the Peroni, the parties, the losses and the suffering.