Best Music of 2023 Recap – Non-Local Music
This list covers music from musicians based outside of Pittsburgh, PA.
For my 2023 local (Pittsburgh) music recap, click here!
It’s 2025, which means it’s about time I talked about the best music of 2023. I go into more detail about why this took so long on my local music recap here. (In short, it came down to an intensely stressful 2024 and my own struggles with mental health, creativity, and overwhelm in the midst of it.) I was hoping to get the list done by New Year’s Eve 2024, in keeping with my previous iterations. But it just wasn’t ready yet. And by the time I finished, I had enough material that it made sense to split it into two lists: Pittsburgh music, and everything else.
The goal is to get 2024’s review out by February at the latest, so that I’m not perpetually a year behind. Between Kendrick v. Drake, the meteoric rise of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli XCX’s well-deserved takeover with Brat (and all its remixes), 2024 was a monumental year for music. One with culture-spanning waves that uniquely united and excited people en masse; something that’s harder than ever to do in our increasingly fragmented times. In the wake of this, 2023 might feel like ancient history. But it had its own share of amazing albums and tracks, and they deserve recognition as well. Even if they’re not technically “new,” there’s a good chance they’ll be new to you. I hope you consider checking some of them out!
One entry per artist per list. Non-local music is ranked all the way through within these lists. I did my best to be thorough, but I’m only one person, so I’m positive that I missed some gems. As challenging as it was to shake the rust off and give these artists the depth of attention they deserve, I’m proud of how these recaps turned out. I appreciate you reading them if you do. :)
Best Non-Local Albums/EP’s of 2023
Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess: Is there any other choice? It was so refreshing to see an artist with indisputable substance and talent—not to mention a striking aesthetic all her own—take the world by storm in 2024. And the hype was backed up by this album. It’s packed with memorable, hard-hitting, infectiously catchy pop songs; undeniable heart; and a phenomenal powerhouse voice. (Femininomenal, you might say.)
Chappell’s unabashed embrace of her sexuality and queer identity, including its struggles and its celebratory moments, helped millions of her LGBTQIA+ fans feel seen and understood. The courage it took to do so further cemented her icon status. We may have progressed leaps and bounds from even just a decade ago, when gay marriage was federally illegal in the U.S. But there’s no denying the stranglehold heteronormativity still has on our culture, and on much of our population. From the content of her tracks and music videos, to her consistently featuring local drag queens as her show openers on tour (and embracing drag herself), to her candor in interviews and on social media, to her Sasha Colby-inspired quip “I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist”—Chappell rebukes that. She rebukes the shame that her conservative upbringing told her she should feel for not fitting into her pre-assigned box, and offers a rhinestone-studded alternative at the Pink Pony Club. One so compelling that the line to get in and dance now wraps around the world.
I admit I was a little late to this party. I learned about her through her now-iconic Tiny Desk Concert, several weeks after it went live. (Really regret not seeing her at Mr. Smalls while that was still an option.) So much has been written about Chappell and this album at this point that I don’t know how much more I can add to the conversation. You know she’s great. I know she’s great.
The last point I’ll make is how strong the songwriting is on this record, from start to finish. These tracks are packed with hooks, and some of the best bridges I’ve heard in a long time. Every songwriter with pop ambitions dreams of coming up with a line that works as well as this one from “My Kink is Karma:” “Six months since April, and I’m doing better/No need to be hateful in your fake Gucci sweater.” The internal rhyme alone! Goddamn.
There’s nothing guilty about the pleasure that is The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Chappell is taking some well-earned time off, and I support that. But I’ll be thrilled to hear what she has in store next.8485 – Personal Protocol: 8485 sounds like the future to me. Since I first heard her single “hangar” in 2021, off of the brilliant pandemic-era plague town EP, she’s stood apart in an increasingly crowded genre.
There’s no shortage of reasons for this. The boundary-pushing production on her tracks blends the intricate, rapid-fire loops of drum and bass with the computer glitch, candy-coated-ferocity of hyperpop. Sprinkles of other electronic subgenres—and even indie rock—are occasionally mixed in as well. I’ve seen this singular combination described as “post-hyperpop,” and I think that moniker is appropriate. Her skillful singer-songwriter attention to lyricism is poetic, potent, and emotionally visceral. Behind an acoustic guitar, this might be the baseline expectation. Not as much in an arena where a song’s words can often take a backseat to the vocal effects, synth lines, and drum machine beats. This stands out—as does her incredible, exceptional voice. Digitally enhanced or otherwise, there’s no denying its power and range. All of these elements are demonstrated decisively on Personal Protocol.
The last point I’ll raise on this front is 8485’s cohesive creative vision for her music, and its accompanying visuals, backstory, and promotional lexicon. It doesn’t just exist as standalone songs (though you won’t have a bad time engaging with it that way.) Themes of interaction between humans and computers, between the heart and uncaring mechanized systems, as well as how humans relate to each other through the medium of these machines, are all driving forces behind 8485’s lore and how she visually presents and describes her work. (As an example, for this album cycle, she didn’t ‘release singles.’ She “implemented modules.”) In the story surrounding her previous releases, she was a singer-songwriter with an AI installed in her by the mysterious Helix Tears collective, in order to create this music. On Personal Protocol, however, she makes a clean break from that narrative. She embraces her humanity and autonomy from this ultra-modern, often-sinister technology—posing instead with an ancient Apple computer on the album cover, complete with a floppy disk drive and rectangular mouse. It may not be capable of running Ableton, but it’s also won’t harvest and scrape your data for a mega-corporation. In lieu of an AI-generated overview, statements about the project are relayed as scientific abstracts, jargon-laced descriptions, and technical diagrams.*
Nostalgia for these simpler, less malicious times is one thematic thread running through this album. But ultimately, its key premise is the cyclical nature of everything. The certainty that patterns can and will repeat over and over again, potentially forever, and potentially with us trapped inside of them. Trains of thought; routines; relationships and our behavioral tendencies within them; the blood in our veins; lines of code on an old computer…and of course, drum machine, synthesizer, and vocal loops. The same loops that form the foundation of dnb and hyperpop music in the first place. This throughline is perhaps most clear in the album opener and accompanying music video, COOL_DNB_SONG.
Don’t let the generic name fool you—this is a beautiful, heart-wrenching track. For a song and album about repetition, 8485 finds a variety of evocative ways to describe it. For example: “Curved lines, Circles on the inside/Turn around, there’s no use/Pumping all the same blood through my system/Trying to make its way out in a bruise;” “Looking through the sky over the city/Obviously everything’s a loop/It’s so so sad/When we’re up, we’re falling back;” and “Cyclical and zip-tied/Pretty on the inside/I miss my new self, I miss my new self.” Amidst these lyrical laments, melancholy-tinged beats, and aching minor-key vocals, there’s at least one aspect in which she finds relief. “You’ll always be my best friend/you’ll always be my best friend.”
I’ll spare the complete track-by-track breakdown for brevity’s sake. If you’re interested, I do cover my two favorite singles from this record in more depth in the Best Non-Local Singles section below. (Spoiler: they tied for the top spot.) The upshot is, every song on this album matches this level of quality. I hope I’ve made it clear how much I admire 8485 as an artist.
——
Now, the difficult part. Back in March 2024, some ugly allegations came out about her most consistent producer and collaborator (and apparent romantic partner), blackwinterwells. Nothing has been definitively confirmed to the public. But from what I can tell, the less-awful accusations (sexual harassment, a history of predatory/invasive behavior towards other artists in her orbit) seem likely to be true. This resulted in the abrupt cancellation of their headlining show in Toronto back in April, which I had arranged an entire trip around. It also left a stain on my ability to recommend their work, or even listen to it myself, for months.
This was profoundly disappointing. In fact, it’s a big reason why I put off this list for so long. Personal Protocol was going to be my #1 album of 2023 before Chappell took over. It was such an impressive body of work that resonated so strongly with me, on both sonic and emotional levels. But how could I recommend it, knowing that someone deeply involved in its creation was just accused of being a menace and a creep? How could I continue listening when doing so reminded me of being let down (and out a significant, non-refundable amount of money?)
Of course, terrible morals from talented artists are nothing new. If we only embraced art from completely morally upstanding people, that well would run dry fast. I just hadn’t experienced something like this happening so quickly, so unexpectedly, connected to an artist who meant as much to me as 8485 did. Who I really believed in and wanted to succeed. Who I only saw an upward trajectory for, and whose trajectory I wanted to support.
So I didn’t recommend the album. I didn’t really talk about it. But I couldn’t honestly put any other album higher than this one on my list either. Combine that stalemate with the circumstances of my own life (described in more detail on my local recap here), and the result…is that this list stayed as a draft on my computer for over a year. Added to ad hoc, but not fully fleshed out or refined. And only now getting released in 2025. I felt caught between a rock and a hard place, which is a difficult position in which to find forward momentum.
Over time, the sting of disappointment started to lessen. I gradually came back to this music I loved so much. As a music writer, I have to honestly give it the praise it’s due on its artistic merits alone, divorced from how good of a person any of its creators are. But from now on, that praise and love will have an asterisk next to it. A disclaimer. I’ll never get back the uncomplicated version. And that sucks.
All that to say: this record is incredible, and I think you should listen to it. But it would be remiss of me to offer up this praise without that context. I hope my friends and any readers know that I don’t condone sexual harassment or predatory behavior. Just like I don’t assume the worst of anyone who puts on Billie Jean or Thriller.
Great art is often made by shitty people. On some level, we have to accept that if we want to enjoy any art at all. But it’s up to us to figure us how and when we want to square that circle, and what constitutes a bridge too far. And also, to understand that those lines are going to be different for everybody. (For me, even if confirmed unrepentant abuser Chris Brown was making his absolute best work, he’s not making it on to any of my playlists or recommendations. Fuck Chris Brown.)
This wasn’t how I expected to end my review of Personal Protocol, but there you go. I dig more into my favorite tracks from it on the Non-Local Singles list below.
*(Credit to this Fader interview with 8485 for helping me understand these nuances and get the details right. I also referenced the lyric sheet and artwork included with this album’s vinyl, which was purchased before these allegations came to light.)Paramore – This Is Why: Worth the long wait. Paramore have grown alongside their audience, as musicians and as people. I appreciate them for maintaining a space for rock music in the mainstream, and for doing so with so much heart and skill while having something substantial to say. The fears and struggles of living through the pandemic, the seemingly endless stream of bad news that most of us feel helpless to do anything about, alongside feeling stuck in personal self-sabotaging patterns—it’s all presented with compelling clarity and heart-pumping energy.
As is the case with many great records, it turned out to be more prescient than we first realized. For instance, this line from “Big Man, Little Dignity:” “I keep thinking/this time the end’ll be different/But it isn’t/I keep thinking/the end is gonna be different/But you keep on winning.” It’s a line I’ve come back to a lot in recent months, and certainly will again as 2025 wears on. Living in a world where those who most need to be held accountable for their destructive actions are precisely the people who elude it (by design, over and over again) is profoundly disheartening. Hearing that you’re not alone or crazy in seeing this, and being disillusioned by it, offers at least some comfort. It can keep a sliver of your heart from numbing out defensively just to make it through the day. The band comes through on this front multiple times, alchemizing that fear and rage and despair into well-aimed catharsis. (“The News” is also a good track for this. I recommend adding it to your workout playlists.)
Musically and lyrically, this is an album they couldn’t have made in 2006, or 2009, or even 2017. But it’s still unmistakably them. This level of progression, while maintaining the core aspects and instincts that launched their careers, speaks to their artistic skill and dedication to their craft. Especially considering how dramatically the music industry—and society itself—changed during that time. This is why Paramore have outlasted and outshone most of their original pop-punk contemporaries. This album is a triumph.
You’ve probably heard the hits, but definitely don’t miss the deep cut “Figure 8.” It’s a prime example of every band member bringing their A-game. When I heard Hayley sing this live at PPG Paints Arena and hit the high note at the end in her chest voice, I transcended a little bit.boygenius – the record
PVRIS – Evergreen
100 gecs – 10,000 gecs
Slowdive – everything is alive
yeule – softscars: Shoutout to the track cyber meat specifically. If you like Grimes’ sound but not her baggage, check out yeule.
M83 – Fantasy – Chapter 1
Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalpyse
Ashnikko – Weedkiller
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown – Scaring The Hoes
Slayyyter - STARFUCKER
Pinkpantheress – Heaven knows
Art School Girlfriend – Soft Landing
Magdalena Bay – mini mix vol. 3
underscores – Wallsocket
Arlo Parks – My Soft Machine
Cannons – Heartbeat Highway
6lack – Since I Have a Lover
André 3000 – New Blue Sun
Dorian Electra – Fanfare
Hannah Diamond – Picture Perfect
Yaeji – With A Hammer
Turnstile, BADBADNOTGOOD – New Heart Designs
NewJeans – NewJeans 2nd EP ‘Get Up’
Frost Children – SPEED RUN
Cautious Clay – KARPEH
Gorillaz – Cracker Island
KC Rae – Think I’m Gonna Die
Skrillex – Don’t Get Too Close
Best Non-Local Singles of 2023
Tie – Atlantis (2°) and Scribbles (feat. Drainpuppet) by 8485: I genuinely couldn’t choose between these two songs. Both appear on the Personal Protocol album discussed earlier in this post, but were released as singles first.
“Atlantis (2°)” is appropriately blue-tinged. Its cool, shimmering, minor-key synths—from the deep echoic ones calling from the abyss to the higher-pitched rays of light rippling across the surface—powerfully evoke the feeling of being underwater. This effect is enhanced by 8485’s gorgeous, mournful, reverb-heavy vocals, drawing you in like a chorus of sea sirens. Emotionally, it conjures the sadness, disorientation, and grief that comes with suddenly being abandoned to—or taken by—the water. This drowning is also metaphorical, with the speaker processing heartbreak and fracturing of trust in a crumbling relationship. For example: “Baby, I am feeling blind/and a little disconnected;” and “Let me see edges, let me see walls/Tell me my expectations were false/A concave lens to make everything small/Call everything off.” There’s more to the story here, but I won’t give away all of its entrancing secrets. Dive in and hear them for yourself.
I recommend doing the same for the track that had to tie for my top spot. “Scribbles” is an electrifying breath of fresh air. Its initial slow burn builds into a killer, high-voltage drum-and-bass sound, that catches its breath at just the right emotional turning points. It’s exhilarating, and each shift in energy is flawless. (If you’ve heard “Time Bomb” by Feint and Veela, there are some sonic parallels here.) The lyrics ride the line between stoicism and vulnerability. You can feel her cold demeanor covering up the pain. Both with her delivery, and with the words themselves: “Caught up in what the plan yesterday was/Hurry up, turn around, that was then, this is now,” and “You said everything would be fine/Promised me some peace of mind/Find out I don't keep mine/Lose it and I weep again.“
“Scribbles” captures a collapse of trust in someone who presented themselves as caring, as long as doing so was easy and useful; which it no longer is. The speaker is treated as stupid for believing that this person meant what they said, and annoying for having feelings about the bait-and-switch. Quoting her detractors, she sings: “’Don’t be so emotional and difficult/They don’t mean anything they tell you, this is typical/You should know.’” I’ve seen too many women treated similarly: naïve for expecting decency, and as an inconvenience and a burden if we're in any state besides happy and passive about it. It’s validating to hear this captured so intensely and adeptly. Both the catalyzing anger from the part of us who knows we don’t deserve that treatment, and the heartache and self-flagellation forming the lump in our throats underneath it.
I didn’t hear anything else quite like these tracks in 2023. It’s badass and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s 8485.boygenius – Not Strong Enough: It’s hard to pick just one single from the record. But man, this one packs an emotional and musical punch. Perhaps it’s not surprising that three songwriters of this caliber can pull off a song that feels so universal, yet unmistakably rooted in their own lives, so concisely and powerfully. We’ve all felt vulnerable, insecure, defeated, and frustrated with not being strong enough. For someone else, for ourselves, for one of life’s curveballs thrown at an extremely inopportune time. But when the vocal layers slowly build over Dacus’ repeated lament of “Always an angel, never a god,” while the guitars and drums retreat, rise, and explode to match that emotional intensity, the group ties that very human experience to their particular struggles of not being taken seriously or given full agency as female musicians. You shout along with Phoebe, and you know why she’s shouting.
Each verse also connects back to their own mental health—Dacus’ loneliness and dissociation, Baker’s intrusive thoughts, and Bridgers’ anxiety and depression. Bridgers in particular captures the confusing yet all-consuming paralysis of depression with devastating accuracy: “I don’t know why I am/the way I am/Not strong enough to be your man/I tried, I can’t/Stop staring at the ceiling fan and/Spinning out about/things that haven’t happened.” This track is such a well-written, precise blend of the personal and highly relatable. Sonically, it’s the indie soundtrack to a nostalgic highway drive just before sunset. Upbeat enough to match the world blurring by through a car window, and melancholy enough to tug at your heartstrings.Sad Night Dynamite – Sick of Your Sound: There aren’t enough songs dedicated to someone you just don’t like, unrelated to any previous romantic entanglements. With this track, Sad Night Dynamite does their part to correct this imbalance. Sparse choruses powered by propulsive percussion and a catchy little bass riff perfectly complement rapid-fire verses, which detail the object of their disdain and what they’d like to be able to do about it. The contrast of the slower melodic pre-choruses, sung by a different member than the one on the verses, adds a conversational back-and-forth element. This approach is highly effective. It reveals that the hatred is shared by both parties: “I'll smack you like your mother, your mother doesn't love you/She didn't want to have you/Forgot to wear a rubber, and now we have to suffer.” The music video displays this dynamic most clearly. I think we all have at least one person or public figure whose sounds we’re sick of, that will make this an extra gratifying listen. It’s a firestarter. Check it out.
MUNA – One That Got Away: This is an indie pop banger. Throw it on while you’re getting ready for a night out. Anyone who’s been in a frustrating situationship will appreciate this line from the chorus: “If you never put it on the line, how am I gonna sign for it?”
Depeche Mode – Ghosts Again
Alina Baraz – Keep Me in Love
Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For?
Purity Ring ft. Black Dresses – shines
Florence + the Machine – Mermaids
Ashnikko – You Make Me Sick!: Need to channel some rage? Ashnikko’s righteously angry metal screams, pointed lyrics, and heavy, buzzing, mechanical backing track are here for you. (Fair warning, the music video is a bit disturbing.) I hope we get more of this intensity from her in future songs.
The Japanese House – Sunshine Baby
Mr.Kitty – 6x6
Hippo Campus – Yippie Ki Yay
EARTHGANG + Spillage Village + Benji. – Bobby Boucher
Cannons – Loving You
Slayyyter – Miss Belladona
Art School Girlfriend – A Place to Lie
Poppy – Spit: This is a cover of a song by Kittie, but it’s still my favorite of her 2023 single releases. It’s pure adrenaline and rage. Hearing her perform this live at the Roxian last September was amazing and intense.
Charli XCX feat. Sam Smith – In the City: “Speed Drive” is a banger too, don’t get me wrong. I just liked this one a little more.
Pinkpantheress – Capable of love
Megan Thee Stallion – Cobra
Baby Keem feat. Kendrick Lamar – The Hillbillies
CD Ghost – Roses
Remi Wolf – Prescription
numbers – gun
Bizarrap feat. Shakira – Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53
Arlo Parks feat. Phoebe Bridgers – Pegasus
NewJeans feat. J.I.D. – Zero (J.I.D. Remix)
Boy Jr. feat. Ky Vöss – Meet Me in The Middle
Tycho – Small Sanctuary
Drauve – Big Star
Bloc Party feat. KennyHoopla – Keep It Rolling
KC Rae – Blockbuster
Thank you again for taking the time to read this! If you missed my local music recap for 2023, you can find it here (or by clicking to the previous post below.) The Best of 2024 is in progress and will be coming soon.
I hope to share shorter pieces here, and more art in general, as the year progresses. Wishing you all a happy 2025, filled with great music, memories, and loved ones.