WPTS Radio’s Top Albums of 2023

This year, WPTS Radio staffers nominated their favorite albums for inclusion on our official year-end list. Here are their top 11 picks…

JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown – SCARING THE HOES

Two of the biggest names in experimental hip-hop combined to make one of the best albums of the year. Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA provide amazing, catchy verses throughout the whole album, all overtop of great production from JPEGMAFIA. I see the production to be one of the album’s greatest strengths, with Peggy exclusively using a 2005 Roland Sampling Workstation to create songs that sample gospel choirs, J-pop, and a crazy combination of breakcore and a sample of “Milkshake” by Kelis. There’s something unexplainable about this album that makes me keep revisiting it over and over, finding a new favorite song or moment with every listen. I cannot recommend this album enough. Give it a listen, I loved it! – Justin Best

Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

Going into this year I had never heard of Caroline Polachek, and coming out of this year I am obsessed with her, especially with her work on Desire, I Want To Turn Into You. Caroline takes art pop to a whole different level with this album, starting with a phenomenal vocal performance in the first few seconds, and ending with a children’s chorus fading out that makes you want even more. The production between Polachek and Danny L Harle is phenomenal, with so many unique decisions on every song, a personal highlight being the bagpipe solo on “Blood and Butter.” Caroline’s vocals are mind blowing on every song as well; the artful falsetto and vibrato she adds to so many tracks is gorgeous. You are doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t listened to this album yet. – Justin Best

Bar Italia – The Twits

When Bar Italia’s second album dropped this year, I was beyond ecstatic to experience another release from a budding new favorite band of mine so soon after Tracey Denim. This moody album contains its own spacious and mysterious mini-narratives within each song, and, while the sound on album is more acoustic than Tracey Denim, the lyrics reflect the same melancholic, reflective, and pensive feeling, with airy meanings and poetic leanings. The lyrics can seem disjointed, but I think this adds to the mood of the album, portraying the confusion and dread that aimless youth can bring. In the particularly depressing acoustic single “Jelsy,” the refrain echoes the horror of comparison and the shame of falling behind your peers: “you live too much for yourself/and you know it’s time, sooner or later/everyone in your life is passing you by.” In the typical disjointed fashion, the song ends with Nina asserting that “Isolation is the problem,” her voice watery and buried beneath layers of guitar. – Sydney Smith

George Clanton – Ooh Rap I Ya

Ooh Rap I Ya is another solid release from the Vapor King himself George Clanton. If you’re familiar with his previous work, you’ll feel right at home with this new record. While it still has George’s signature brand of Y2K nostalgia, every aspect of the production is better than before. The vocals in particular are the best out of any project George has released prior, though the textures and soundscapes on the record are equally as impressive. While it may not live up to the heights of Slide for some, Ooh Rap I Ya is absolutely a worthwhile listen for anyone, and a worthy album of the year contender. – Everett Cannon

Gingerbee – Our Skies Smile

Our Skies Smile, released March 10, 2023, is an important addition to the “hyperskramz” subgenre. Gingerbee’s use of chiptune and samples along with skilled instrumentals and harsh vocals makes this a very strong album. The track “Our sky’s smile” shows off all of the album’s strengths. The band is heavily influenced by Your Arms Are My Cocoon, another screamo project, and it shows through the cheerful instrumentals paired with harsh vocals. Created over Discord by a band living across the country from each other, Our Skies Smile is both impressive and high-quality. This was my soundtrack of the summer and album of the year; I can’t recommend it enough, especially if you want a palatable introduction to skramz. – Sarah Thomson

Sufjan Stevens – Javelin

Sufjan Stevens’s latest album, Javelin, is quite an emotional listening experience. Somber and melancholy, with a tinge of nostalgia, the album has a long-solo-car-journey kind of vibe, meant for deep reflection and contemplation as to the actual meaning behind the lyrics. While Stevens is usually known for being quiet about his private life, this time he has let us in on the meaning of his new album: a dedication to his recently deceased partner, Evans Richardson. Knowing the tragedy behind Stevens’s album makes the songs themselves even more heart-breaking. Now, when re-listening to his song “Evergreen” I become highly aware of the simple and subdued piano complementing tragic, grief-stricken lyrics such as “Goodbye, Evergreen / You know I love you / But everything heaven sent / must burn out in the end.” The lyrics not only emphasize the grief associated with the loss of a loved one, but the aching awareness that all good things never last forever. – Courtney Lucier

Read our full review of Javelin here.

Sprain – The Lamb As Effigy

Sprain’s The Lamb as Effigy, or Three Hundred and Fifty XOXOXOs for a Spark Union With My Darling Divine is a winding, sprawling, noise-rock slash post-rock masterpiece about the flailing of all human creatures in our interactions with other people, the insignificance of human concerns, the dwarfing in magnitude of human experience in comparison to the divine—whatever that may be, however divine it may be—and the performative games we play with ourselves and others to lend ourselves a false sense of control that we believe to be true. It’s ultimately an extremely pessimistic and nihilistic album, lyrically, and that may be something that turns a lot of people off from it. However, despite my reservations concerning some of the implicit philosophical claims lurking through this album, I think what wanted to be articulated was articulated near-perfectly by Alex Kent, the main vocalist, and the other musicians through the lyrics and the instrumentation. This album may not be for everyone, but I think it is about everyone. – Zack Rodick

Read our full review of The Lamb As Effigy here.

Hotline TNT – Cartwheel

Hotline TNT’s second studio album Cartwheel is one of the rawest shoegaze albums released this year. Rather than trying to combine genres, Cartwheel simplifies the formula for a 2023 rock album, featuring riff-heavy songwriting, tight production that manages to be noisy but listenable, and a tracklist that blends together perfectly; it’s certainly of one of this year’s most satisfying listens. Standout tracks include the singles “Out of Town” and “I Thought You’d Change” which perfectly encapsulate the album’s fuzzy sound. – Drew Puszko

Wednesday – Rat Saw God

Rat Saw God is the newest release from Wednesday (Asheville, North Carolina’s burgeoning alternative quintet) and escalates their acclaimed “country-gaze” sound with acutely intimate songwriting. It’s got the blaring, wailing, and warbled guitar riffs of today’s shoegaze/alternative scene and all the twang you’d expect from a band that uses pedal steel. Lead vocalist and songwriter Karly Hartzman’s patchwork storytelling describes the terrors and desperations of modernity facing off against the beauty found in the mundane, constantly referencing specific vignettes of Appalachian life— detailing adolescent drug abuse, car sex, Dale Earnhardt’s tragic passing, and the fleeting memories of childhood you can only find in your hometown. Many tracks play around with growing and declining tempos and intensities, hammering home the final notes as the smoky, visceral vocals settle into the next spin of the yarn. Rat Saw God is self-contained in its gravel road story snippets, yet ubiquitous in its application of remembering all of the terrible parts of our pasts, accepting the onslaught of the present, and finding loving refuge in the people that we choose— or, as Hartzman would put it, deserve. – Evan Rafferty

Feeble Little Horse – Girl With Fish

Feeble Little Horse did not disappoint with their sophomore album Girl With Fish, a beautiful and experimental blend of both acoustic and electric sounds. The album contains a multitude of influences from genres such shoegaze, indie, noise pop, and folk, all of which combine to form a distinct sound that is unique to the Pittsburgh band. This 11-track album is full of upbeat songs such as “Steamroller,” which are balanced out by interruptions from more mellow tracks such as “Slide.” This wonderful variety keeps the album engaging and creates a tracklist in which every music lover will find something that they can enjoy. – Ro Ramirez

Jane Remover – Census Designated

On Census Designated, Jane Remover departs from her glitch-pop sound on Frailty to a more guitar driven record. The melodies brought by the distorted guitars (partially recorded by Douglas Dulgarian of They Are Gutting a Body of Water) and live drums, not found on her first record, tell a story of being wronged by the music industry; highlights such as the title track “Census Designated” and “Video” explore just how exploitative the business can be. Her songwriting shines throughout the album, as well as her incredible vocal performance on songs such as “Always Have Always Will” and “Fling”. This album stands out among recent releases for its uniquely presented high energy and overall excellent recordings from Jane. – Eric Hart

Happy Holidays from WPTS Radio!