For the most part these are mainly albums that came out in 2023, but there are a few that came out previously that I only just discovered in 2023, so I included them just the same. I won’t go over each and every album, but here are some highlights.
No real surprise here that I put Memento Mori on top as it is a solid album and easily the best album that Depeche Mode have put out in 20+ years. For an album so focused on death (I mean, that title…)and with the loss of founding member Andrew Fletcher in 2022, it’s surprising to hear how rejuvenated and fresh this band/duo is after all of these years. I could go on and on about how some of their contemporaries (PSB, OMD, even Soft Cell) have been newly reinvigorated and have reinvented themselves in the last 15 years, so I am glad that Dave and Martin have caught up to their peers.
Is this the last album from DM? I suspect not as they have very regularly released a corresponding live album and video for just about every album since Songs Of Faith…, but it could very well be their last studio album and maybe their final tour. I’d be happy to see the boys keep going, but if this is the curtain call at least they’re going out on top.
Speaking of a second wind for existing albums, The National, VNV Nation, and OMD also put out strong releases this year, with The National and VNV both leaning back into the sounds of their back catalogs and producing more powerful releases than each of the albums that respectively preceded them.
And OMD are happy doing their own things and experimenting to their heart’s content. Sounds like this is their final album and if that’s true, it sounds like they’re having as much fun as they did when they first formed as a group.
While those kind of fill out the “old standbys” there were two albums from “new” bands that really grabbed me this year.
First was Rabbit Junk Apocalypse For Beginners, which was technically released in October of 2022. I’m not going to die on a hill saying that this is a great album, but its highlights are far stronger than when it lulls, but there’s just something about their industrial-meets-digital-hardcore that hits more than misses with me. It may be a touch juvenile, but “Stone Cold” is one of my favorite songs to sing along to this past year.
The band and album that most grabbed my attention this year as “new” was Nation of Language Strange Disciple. Given that this band was formed after their lead singer and chief songwriter Ian Richard Devaney heard OMD’s “Electricity” I guess it’s not much of a surprise that both are on this list, but don’t take that to mean that NoL is in any way an OMD clone. Their take on synthpop is very of the moment and more organic and chill than the groups that influenced them.
If Depeche Mode hadn’t released such a strong album this year then Strange Disciple would be at the very top of this list.
To round out the list, IDLES just rock, even when it’s a live album from 2018 that doesn’t even have my favorite song of theirs; my obsession with them continues.
And yes, I saw LA LA LAND late this year and spent far too much time listening and relistening to the soundtrack.
© 2024 Michael A. Diaz