My Top 13 Vinyl Albums of 2023 - LIST AND REVIEW

And I'm going to lose all the hi fi fans right out of the gate. Crazy that he can have this many songs and there's no low spot. Can't charge us $35 for something that sounds dramatically worse than streaming it on my iPhone. If it's like whales mating or somebody like, screaming from a mountaintop. Everything about this is by far and away the best album of 2023.

Welcome to the Syndicate X library, where we love books, but we also collect vinyl. We have a an addiction to vinyl. Today we're going to go through my top 13 albums of 2023, and right before I tell you my number one album of 2023, I'm going to tell you about an album that really upse. Even though this band has sold probably 100 million records and was a part of my childhood, it's out and I'm going to tell you why. I also go over a couple other ones that I just don't quite get in this list. If you watched my other list of vinyl records that I listened to the most, I really don't favor one category. I won't tell you that I listen to everything, but I. I'm pretty broad and so is everybody that works here. I would say too, that this list is a collective of our thoughts here, not just myself. So we have a lot of really smart and talented people that have some great insights and opinions here, which I'm always seeking out and making it a part of this countdown. So let's get started. So number 13 is Ice Spice. And I'm going to lose all the hi Fi fans right out of the gate. I like this album. I've introduced Ice Spice to a lot of people. I think that if you haven't checked it out, check it out. It's fun, it's good. She's cool. I don't know. She's got a great personality and I really dig what she's doing and I think the music is good. It's fun, it does what it's supposed to do. Number 12. So, David Gray White Ladder Live. I love live albums and it's great. It's very cool. It's recorded in Austin, I believe. Well, well pressed. Really fun. Number 11. Yachty. Let's start here. I turn more people onto this one, too. I don't. I don't really think I know how to explain this album because it's not rap. I wouldn't say it's R and B either, but it's a band and it's great. Beginning to end. It's one of those albums that changes the mood in the room, and that mood that it changes into is optimistically mellow. So this is number 10, the crow by Hardy and I. I think he's kind of trying to show both sides. Hardy is known most for being a songwriter, and he has written some of the biggest hits in country music. He's kind of doing a nod here to the music he likes versus the music that makes him a living. And so it gets pretty heavy. It starts country, and then the song the Mockingbird and Crow is kind of the flip in the album. And then it gets heavier. The Mockingbird and the Crow song reminds me a lot of that Puddle of Mud song, Drift and Die. It has those vibes. My favorite song on here is Happy. The lyrics are great. Just everything about it. It's a very optimistic song and a great message. But big fan of Hardy. He's an incredible songwriter and just a just great spirit.

Number nine, Killer Mike. I love this album. I love everything about it. I Run the Jewels is one of my favorites. Yeah, it's just great. Look at this picture. He's so great. I love everything about Killer Mike. And the music is great. It's got gospel. So fun. Number eight, Fire Orchestra Echoes. This falls, I guess, under jazz. I don't know that I would categorize it. Just jazz. There's some parts of this album that are just so visceral. I don't know if it's like whales mating or somebody, like, screaming from a mountaintop. It's just incredible, everything about it beginning to end. Number seven, Christopher Stapleton. Higher. I did a review of this record after it came out. I do tend to wait for albums that I'm really excited about on vinyl, if possible, unless they're like, you know, there's this new thing where it takes months to get the vinyl after a record comes out. But his was was very close. They had a plan. And the pressing's great. Sounds incredible. When I tell people about this album, they don't know who Chris is. I just say Star Spangled Banner. And they go, oh, that guy. By far and away the best. Star Spangled Banner. No disrespect to Whitney Houston, just is number six. Zach Bryan. I'm not a huge Zach Bryan fan. I always kind of thought that I was missing out because people are die hard. Like, oh, you gotta listen to Zach Bryan. And so I do. But it never really connects with me. I get it. But it's not, you know, it's not something I want to come back to over and over again. There's something about this album that is more, I want to say honest, but I don't know that that's fair. I don't know how to explain this record, except I would just say give it a try. This is number five. Morgan Wallen. One thing at a time. This album was my summer this year, on the lake, in the boat, on the jet skis. It's so crazy that he can have this many songs. 36 songs. And there's no low spot in the way that they structure them, in the. The way they combine the different styles of songs is really, I think, overlooked. There's really something to this. I'm sure that this whole album is designed to get plays on Spotify. I'm positive that's why they're doing these shorter songs and so many of them, but it works. Number four, the National. First two pages of Frankenstein. Then number three, the National Laugh Track. This is the edition that they sold at their kind of homecoming concert. There's a thousand of these. This is 152 of a thousand. I also have the other pressing at home of the actual vinyl release. They both sound really, really good. And I just love the way the national puts an album together. And you know, that is One thing about 2023 is in a world where people listen to a lot of singles, I feel like there's some artists making some great albums. Number two, Post Malone, Austin. So this was a collective vote from myself and our team here. Post Malone is just getting better, in my opinion. I know his album sales, I believe, are going down comparatively, but the music and the art is only getting better. The pressing here is really interesting because it's digital, right? So you don't necessarily think about vinyl being better, but you hear a lot of the engineering and production on the vinyl. It's interesting. It's an interesting experience. Experience. But you also hear the limitations. It. It isn't a turn off, it's just what it is. So that's number two. Now let's talk about some albums. I really wanted to put the Foo Fighters on this list, but I just don't get it. Like it's good, but it's not something I want to listen to over and over again. I also feel like this album was more for them than for us because, you know, Taylor passing away, them trying out new drummers and then of picking a new drummer, the Lana Del Rey. I don't get this either. I wish somebody could explain it to me. I've tried to like this and I Love Lana Del Rey, but I feel like it's getting a little long in the tooth. The. The alter ego of Lana Del Rey needs to evolve. To me, it's a funny thing because I feel like she's very authentic, and then she's not. This one is the one that pisses me off the most, this Metallica album. The artwork on here is incredible. It really is. It's well designed, but the vinyl's garbage. Can't charge us $35 for something that sounds dramatically worse than streaming it on my iPhone. I understand that you guys are a big business, but you don't have a singer who struggles with alcohol and put out a whiskey, which you did, which is odd, super odd to me. And then release vinyl that is garbage. If I stream it in here versus the vinyl, it's night and day. I would not. This. The first of all, let me say the music on this album is incredible. Like Metallica maybe, maybe writing the best songs they ever have and the best production. And then just why, why, why do you not care about vinyl? Like, it's maddening. Number one, I know nothing about this artist. I've watched a couple of videos on YouTube. I don't even. I don't even understand how to explain this. So this is Caroline Rose, the Art of Forgetting. And this is my number one album of 2023. The songwriting, the performance, the overall just concept of it. And then her, unlike Metallica, puts this out on 45 and it sounds incredible. Unbelievable. Everything about this is by far and away the best album of 2023. And if you haven't checked it out, get it. Get the vinyl and check it out. It is nuts. I would just start at the beginning and let it happen. Let it. Let it unveil itself to you because there is so much here, the attention to detail in the production. It's not easy to achieve this. This did not happen by accident. So everybody involved in this album and Caroline Rose, man, you are. You are a true artist making incredible art. And this album is something very, very special. So that is my top 13 albums of 2023. I am really excited to see what happens in 2024 because this was a great year for music and it just feels like it's getting better. So thanks for hanging out. Make sure you subscribe, comment, comment in there, let me know what your top albums were, and we'll see you again real soon.