Our Favourite EPs and Albums of 2023
Below is a list of some of our absolute favorite albums of the year!
Featuring Kara Jackson, Gal Musette, Bimini, a.s.o., Stemlines, Neggy Gemmy, Coolgirl, moistbreezy and Craic Boi Mental
A list of some of our absolute favorite albums of the year; ranging from sparking Y2K electronic pop blends; euphoric late 90s - early 2000s electronic, an album that feels like it brings you closer to the shimmering cosmos; a 1990s saturated world of haunting electronica; an album that feels like it is from a mysterious intercepted transmission, and more!
Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? - Kara Jackson
I have listened to a lot of music; but I can quite easily say, I have not heard anyone who is quite like Kara Jackson. Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is one of the best albums of the decade, it is kind of psychedelic; the lyrics drawing you in right away (Kara is also a poet). It opens with recognized, the sound of a cassette tape being inserted, giving way to a sparse song that has beautiful analog quality to it, getting more and more dissonant and uneasy until it ends on “lot of people gonna die, to be recognized”.
The music of this album is a blend of dreamy alt country, folk, bursts of kaleidoscopic sound design and razor sharp lyrics (pawnshop is one of my favorites); all weaving together to form a shimmering tapestry of immersive art that feels consciousness-expanding. Tell everyone to leave you alone, go find a meadow and listen to this album, it will leave you better.
Connect with Kara Jackson
Spotify / Bandcamp / Instagram / Twitter / Website
Pure Imagination - moistbreezy
moistbreezy is a genius - this entire album was written, produced, performed, mixed and mastered by the artist. A blend of eurodance, trance and hyperpop; opening with a burst of shimmering glittering textures; sugar candy vocals sweeping in; as you begin your ascent up to the stratosphere of endless blue skies. Every song on this feels like a gem you came across on Now That's What I Call Music. This is, as the title indicates, a work of Pure Imagination, put on your lipgloss and your most glittery outfit, as escape via the cloud-like pads and synths.
Connect with moistbreezy
Spotify / Bandcamp / Instagram / Twitter / Website
Pendulum - Gal Musette
This album cover is giving 1970s Vogue editorial photoshoot; and I love it.
The album itself is equally as wonderful; it tinkles and shimmers over your ears, like a collection of classic songs playing over a surrealist fairytale dream. It has a lush analog and nostalgic quality; a quality that gives it a very high caliber and glamorous feel, ( an element present in some of Lana del Rey’s best work). The songwriting and musicianship throughout this album are perfection; however, all the while still maintaining the wonderful quality of the artist herself, and her inner world.
Connect with Gal Musette
Spotify / Bandcamp / Instagram / Twitter / Website
When The Party Ends - Bimini
There was a specific euphoria induced from late 1990s - mid 2000s electronic music, that I didn't realize had left a void, until I heard Bimini’s song Rodeo earlier on in the year. This brought with it the rush that many of us felt back then; the elation of youth, and for life itself. When The Party Ends is a full length EP, produced with music producer Redshank, and it is phenomenal (track 03, Different Kinds of People was produced with Benjy and Harvey Kirkby). The songs range from house, breakbeat, electronica with lush house influences, to eerie, haunting pads, dissolving into DnB territory; giving rise to something entirely new, that you cannot live without.
Connect with Bimini
Spotify / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
A.s.o. - a.s.o.
If you are a fan of the nighttime 6 Underground world of Sneaker Pimps; then this is for you. The beautifully haunting vocals of Alia Seror-O'Neill melt over the beats; which feel like they are coming to you from an uninhabited warehouse from the 1990s. The music of a.s.o.’s album (made up of the aforementioned Alia Seror-O'Neill , and producer Tornado Wallace) has a bewitching and otherworldly quality; it sweeps you into its shadowy and mysterious underworld. Take in the hypnotic basslines, surreal sound design, and imagine yourself walking through the worlds of Hackers, Spaced, Charmed, or any movie or TV Show from that time period, you are guaranteed to have a good time.
Connect with a.s.o.
Spotify / Instagram / Bandcamp
L4TA - Stemlines
L4TA opens with a warm beam of glittering, sunshine soaked electronics, sweeping down at you from the correctly named first track THE BEAM, injecting you with dopamine, and welcoming you into the magical world of soundscapes that await you.
Listening to this album will get the synapses in your brain firing; it has some absolutely divine interludes; glittering, enticing audioscapes, winding you up for the next song. This is an immersive, thoroughly imaginative album. PEACES is one of my favorites, it is mesmerizing, in that it has the quality of a dream, with its lavish textures.
Connect with Stemlines
Spotify / Instagram
CBD Reiki Moonbeam - Neggy Gemmy
It is rare for every single song on an album to be impossible to stop listening to; but producer/singer Neggy Gemmy has done it. This album has a late 90s early 2000s vibe, while still managing to be something new entirely. I first came across Neggy Gemmy via Daydream, a song that sounded like a sunshine soaked classic from the 90s.
The music videos reflect the sparkling Y2K quality of the sounds (check out the glossy plastic pink aesthetic of the music video for Gemmy Juice). There are also surreal, trippy soundscapes scattered throughout the album, that will bring you to a dimension that exists between memory and reality. This album is a masterpiece, crafted by a producer who not only creates a gorgeous terrain of immersive sounds and music; but also creates vocal melodies that stay with you and don’t leave; portraying the visual world of the artist.
Connect with Neggy Gemmy
Spotify / Instagram / Bandcamp / Facebook
Failed Reboot - Coolgirl
This feels like an intercepted transmission, coming from an unknown source and location in the 1970s. It is hypnotizing, it draws you into an uneasy landscape, where something mysterious looms within the forest and over the skyline. Ominous electronic soundscapes, glitchy sounds, droning synths, from Coolgirl (Lizzie Fitzpatrick) all give rise to an album made for listening to at night, while you uncover a decades long mystery.
Connect with Coolgirl
Spotify / Instagram / Bandcamp
Autistic Legend 2 - Craic Boi Mental
Craic Boi Mental is back, and as good as ever. This full length album features a blend of dreamy lofi textures, classic hip hop and soul style sampling, smooth 808s, all combined with his signature earworm choruses. If you have found yourself getting disillusioned, on the verge of giving up, the ferociousness of this album, combined with the sheer luxuriousness of the beat, will bring you back to life.
Connect with Craic Boi Mental
Spotify / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp
About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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