Sooooo I stopped updating this list after February. It was a strong two months, though.

Thankfully, I have a memory and tracking data on Last.fm. Here’s a quick recap.

Brain Worms by RVG was my favourite album of the year. “Nothing Really Changes” from that album was my favourite track of the year. “Squid” was a close second.

Other highlights include:

  • All Her Plans by Cable Ties. My go-to driving album for the year. Fantastic, racuous stuff.
  • So This is Love by Cash Savage & the Last Drinks. “Push” and the title track are two of my favourite songs in a long time. “$600 Short On The Rent” is up there as well, just for the lines “I’m a speed freak / Read into that anything you want / I’ll be anything you want / I’m a motorbikе / I’m a motorbike, baby”.
  • Expired Candy by Body Type.
  • ORO, PLATA, MATA by Mo’Ju. Incredible album. Think “Money” was one of my most-played tracks of the year.

2023 was a fantastic year for Aussie music. (And gigs: great year for gigs.)

January

  • Stained glass by Alien Nosejob. Alien Nosejob are a classic of the Melbourne punk scene I had, somehow, missed for years.
  • Double tubble by Hot Tubs Time Machine. Absolutely filthy Melbourne rock that might be totally inscrutable to anyone who doesn’t live here. (One song is literally just a meditation on what it’d be like to work at an iconic bakery in Melbourne’s northen suburbs.)
  • Electric party chrome girl by Gut Health. Post-punk but dancey and joyous. I’ve been singing “Inner norm” to myself all week. (February update: I’m still singing “Inner norm” to myself.)
  • Boiler Room: Fred again by Fred again. I’m six months late to this but, goddamn, what an incredible set. (It’s actually a better watch than listen, which is rare for DJ sets.)

February

  • Submersive behaviour by Tropical Fuck Storm. Thumping covers of some classic rock songs. Noisy, energetic and electric.
  • Colours of air by Loscil and Lawrence English. The best ambient album I’ve listened to in a while (no surprise given the artists involved). Magical stuff.
  • Sakura by Possums at Twilight. The exact kind of electronica you hear in a dark bar with soft, warm lighting that makes you feel impossibly cool until someone else impossibly cool looks at you and you remember that you exists in the world.
  • I’m not sorry, I was just being me by King Hannah. A bit of stoner rock, a bit of Americana, a lot of breathy vocals and thick riffs.