🏆 2023: Top Ten Albums

Their previous effort, Written & Directed was enjoyable, but with A Fistful of Peaches they go to 11 and pumped out some of the most fun alternative indie rock that I've heard in a long time.

This record feels timeless to me. It could've come out in any year and felt "of the time" somehow. It's in the alternative rock sphere, but I'd define it as punk-adjacent surfer rock with a tinge of Queens of the Stone Age and The Black Keys. While I don't know that there is any singular "hit", it's a wholly, complete record you can listen to from front to back with no skips.

More pop-punk that I need in my veins. Hope D just brings some super fun poppy songs with an edge. I think Olivia Rodrigo has taken the Paramore blueprint and taken over the pop side of that, but there is a burgeoning movement in female-led pop-punk bands who are leaning into the punk side, and Hope D is nailing it alongside Beach Bunny, The Beths, Soccer Mommy, Pacifica and more!

I've been trying to get back into jazz a bit more this year and this record was truly incredible. Yussef Dayes is a god behind the kit. So many cool rhythms and collaborations that go in so many fun directions.

This was easily my album of the year. It's the pop-punk sound of my youth, but matured in a way that makes sense (I'm looking at you blink-182). There really isn't a bad song on this record.