Staff Top Tens for 2023

Still a little time left in 2023, and a few more records sneak in before the deadline. Southern rockers THE BLACK CROWES established their own sound with their sophomore effort in 1992; 'The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion' was a leg-stretch moment, with longer songs, more jamming, and a polishing-up of their Allmans-meets-Faces sound. For the 30th-ish anniversary of this classic, we have a remastered LP plus deluxe CD and LP versions that go heavy on outtakes, live sets, and art/photo ephemera that will have you donning the leather vest in no time. The Robinson boys are wee babies in comparison to the legendary WILLIE NELSON, who celebrated 90 years on Earth in April with a once-in-a-lifetime stand at the Hollywood Bowl. 'Long Story Short' collects the best of this star-studded affair, with guests like Keith Richards, Dave Matthews, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Beck, the Avett Brothers, Sheryl Crow and Norah Jones joining him on songs from all seven decades of his career. Rising jamband stars GOOSE reward fans with a nice EP to close out the year: 'Autumn Crossing' comes on limited color vinyl with an etched B-side. PHISH are mothers to the goose or so I gather: their always-OOP fan fave album 'Junta' gets a very limited color repress this week.

London's TARA CLERKIN TRIO refine their brilliant, dissolving jazz-rock on a new mini-album called 'On The Turning Ground'. ESPERANZA SPALDING's beguiling 2020 album 'Songwrights Apothecary Lab' gets a new color vinyl pressing. UK saxophonist MILES SPILSBURY makes a stunning debut on the lush, revelatory 'Light Manoeuvres', with production assists from Carlos Nino and Slugabed. Originating from a rural commune of musical outsiders based in southern Czechia, THE HABITAT ENSEMBLE land on the Music from Memory label with a deeply moving set of ambient folk fusion.

It has been a banner year for jazz reissues, with the Blue Note and Verve labels keeping the pressing plants exceptionally busy to cover the world in affordable, attainable classics. Some records just bring more to the table in terms of style, importance, and all-around repeat playability. Four more come our way this week: SONNY ROLLINS 'Newk's Time', GRANT GREEN's 'Green Street', JIMMY SMITH & WES MONTGOMERY's 'The Dynamic Duo', and PHINEAS NEWBORN JR.'s 'A World Of Piano!'

Look up in the sky, it's a bird, its a plane...nope its just some phenomenal international records from several corners of the globe. Bolero bandleader RAY BARRETTO turned in a career highlight with 1973's 'Indestructible', an intoxicatingly tight set of orchestral salsa. Brazilian singer ARY LOBO was the greatest performer of the forro style, a soulful form of vocal pop that had a heyday before the samba era. A deeply dug collection from Analog Africa collects his greatest hits from between 1958 and 1966. Latin superstars ROSALIA y RAUW ALEJANDRO have a new heart-shaped single called 'RR', which I am hoping is a commemoration of their now-concluded relationship and not just an unfortunately delayed release, yikes emoji. YUKI OKAZAKI's 1981 album 'So Many Friends' is a sprightly, joyous city pop classic, back in print in a nice Japan-only edition this week.

Before they missed the train to Mars, midwestern emo dynamos HUM released an even more high-octane record called 'Electra2000', back in print this week to beef up our first ever Hum section. FULL OF HELL & NOTHING are a bit like the peanut butter and jelly of post-black metal and post-hardcore, respectively, so a new collab album from them called 'When No Birds Sang' goes together just fine. 'The Rising Tied', the lone album from the hip-hop Linkin Park spinoff band FORT MINOR gets a deluxe reissue this week, and we've got a killer reprint of a lost 90s garage classic from SATAN'S PILGRIMS.

MAC DEMARCO can write songs so well, I guess it doesn't matter that he can't write album titles. A new limited LP called 'Some Other Ones' collects outtakes from his 2015 album 'Another One'. We are running out of options here Mac. Infectious indie-pop abounds on the debut LP from BENET called 'Can I go again?' Sure. Fifteen years on from it's very limited release, the COTTON JONES odds n sods collection 'The River Strumming' is back in print, along with a new edition of the THE HOLD STEADY's 2006 gem 'Boys & Girls In America'.

Electro pop producer CASHMERE CAT landed gigs with FKA Twigs, Charli XCX, Kehlani and many more on the strength of the 2013 EP 'Wedding Bells', which still bangs and is back in print this week. Richie Hawtin aka PLASTIKMAN spread the acid techno gospel far and wide with his seminal 1993 album 'Sheet One', which gets an anniversary reissue. Glasgow producer ERIN HOPES turns in glamorous, trancy gabber on 'Lucid Dreaming', while tech house genius PANGAEA returns to Hessle Audio with the nocturnally slippy 'Changing Channels: Part One'.

Berlin veteran NADIA STRUIWIGH delivers a euphoric set of fully immersive electro-psych on 'Birds Of Paradise'. East Coast heroes Jackson Ryland and Max D team up once again as SUPERABUNDANCE for the expansive, speedy tripout 'Extrasolar'. The always on-point AD93 label graces us with a pair: the dreamy reggaeton of CLARA!s 'Pulso', and the shadowy, Coil-esque avant-jangle of QUADE's 'Nacre'.

Last up, some cant-miss compilations! We order anything with the name of UK DJ Sam Don on the sleeve, after he did us such a kindness with two volumes of lovers rock gems called For The Love of You. He's back now with JUST A TOUCH, a collection of elegant 80s street soul from Britain. The musicians and selectors behind the Nu Genea moniker pay respects to the Neapolitan disco that influences them with a second volume of NAPOLI SEGRETA. The J JAZZ series returns with Vol 4, another peerlessly crisp set of Japanese jazz from the late 60s and 70s. Longtime selector ALEX FROM TOKYO presents a comp called JAPAN VIBRATIONS Vol. 1, collecting a broad range of ambient, dub, and electro goodies from his must-hear sets.

Yes, we are still buying! Call Ron to schedule (608.213.3610).