Tape Op Staff Picks 2023!

Happy New Year! Now that the dust has settled from the holidays, and most of us are in the 2024 groove, we thought we'd offer a quick look back at some of our favorite releases from 2023. There was a staggering amount of great music released this past year, so this is just a sampling of what was in rotation! We'd love to hear what some of your favs were as well! -GS

Larry Crane

These are all people or situations I have interviewed for Tape Op at some point.

John Cale - Mercy Listen Read the John Cale Interview

An awkward Zoom connection with no camera on John and still an intriguing chat. He seemed to want to discuss mixing in quad!

Peter Gabriel - i/o Listen Read the Peter Gabriel Interview

A batch of journalists in a booth at an AES Show in NYC. My recorder jammed up and Tom Kenny of Mix Magazine loaned me his audio. Peter was wonderful to be around.

Robyn Hitchcock - Shufflemania Listen Read the Robyn Hitchcock Interview

Backstage at The Aladdin in Portland, OR. Robyn was gracious and patient with my dumb questions.

Speedy Ortiz - Rabbit Rabbit Listen Read the Sadie Dupuis Interview

Over Zoom in the early Covid times with bandleader Sadie Dupuis, who has now done some articles for Tape Op!

Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation.Live Listen Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex Listen Read the Steven Wilson Interview

Possibly the most nervous I have been interviewing someone over Zoom, and one of the earliest in the morning interviews as he was in the UK. Turned out to be so fun to talk to and quite eloquent!

Panda Bear, Sonic Boom, and Adrian Sherwood - Reset in Dub Listen Read the Sonic Boom Interview Read the Adrian Sherwood Interview

Sonic Boom/Pete Kember and I had a great chat over Zoom, and worked on a Moon Duo album together as well. Adrian Sherwood felt distracted, I swear he was in the middle of a tracking session! His recent dub work, like Spoon's Lucifer on the Moon and this one are fabulous!

Sparklehorse - Bird Machine Listen Read the Mark Linkous Interview Read about Sparklehorse's Bird Machine

Wilco - Cousin Listen Read the Jeff Tweedy Interview

I interviewed Jeff Tweedy at his studio, The Loft, in Chicago on one of the coldest days ever. Went back the next day to interview engineer Tom Schick and have lunch with most of Wilco. Amazing, and thanks to Spencer Tweedy (also interviewed)!

John Baccigaluppi

2023 was a great year for recorded music. Some of my favorite established artists released really great mid/late career albums. Sufjan Stevens released Javelin, PJ Harvey released I Inside The Old Year Dying, and Wilco and The National released two great albums each in 2023. But, even though those six albums are some of my 2023 faves, I'm trying to not list any artists I've listed in previous years so I can mostly spotlight some newer, younger artists. Here's a dozen great new records from 2023.

Lucinda Chua - Yian Listen Mixed By Nathan Boddy

Sigur Ros - Átta Listen Read the Sigur Rós Interview

Roger Eno - The Skies They Shift Like Chords Listen Read the Roger Eno Interview

Modern Nature - No Fixed Point in Space Listen

Daughter - Stereo Mind Game Listen

Fenne Lilly - Big Picture Listen Produced by Brad Cook

Ratboys - The Window Listen Produced by Chris Walla

Slow Pulp - Yard Listen

Keaton Henson - House Party Listen

Anna B Savage - In/FLUX Listen

Geoff Stanfield

It's not often that you get to have two albums from the same band from the same year on your year end favorites list, but when one of your favorite bands is King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, it's less hard to imagine. The first, PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night or Annihilation of Planet, is a compact, fuzzy metal joyride of an album and the second on the list, The Silver Cord, is a 2 disc synth-heavy electronic offering with whispers of Kraftwerk, Radiohead, Steve Reich, Massive Attack, and Air. The second disc is alternative/extended mixes.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night or Annihilation of Planet Listen Read the KGLW Interview Listen to the KGLW Podcast

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - The Silver Cord Listen

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom Listen I love a good psych-rock banger and this is good one. More refined, and not quite as lo-fi as some of their earlier releases, but a treat regardless.

Beirut - Hadsel Listen Listen to the Beirut Podcast Hadsel is a refreshing listen and somewhat of a meditation on space, time and place. A perfect winter listen that is full of hope.

Panda Bear and Sonic Boom - Reset Listen Listen to the Panda Bear and Sonic Boom Podcast This was in heavy rotation this summer and keeps finding its way to the stereo. The dub version that includes Adrian Sherwood is also awesome.

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ishmaily - Love in Exile Listen Read the Arooj Aftab Interview Listen to the Vijay Iyer Podcast Read the Shahzad Ishmaily Interview

Thandii - A Beat To Make It Better EP Listen My daughter turned me on to this band and I was immediately drawn to the blown-out dirty bass sound, Jess Berry's groovy vocals and the interesting alt-soul-trip hoppy production. Not Just One is a stand out track.

Doja Cat - Scarlet Listen Living room and kitchen dance party is on. The Herb Alpert sounding horn hook on Paint the Town Red is a killer.

Scott McChane

The Replacements – Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) Box Set: reassembled/remixed by Ed Stasium

I confess with pride that my musical origins (and misplaced aspirations) began in my birth town of Minneapolis. For all of us never quit / die-hard Replacements fans, we wanted more than anything – and could hardly wait – to show the world how our Twin Cities heroes were so fucking special. Unfortunately, much in the same way that The Replacements' live sets could be unpredictable (and quickly go off the rails), Tim took a sonic turn down the wrong road. This record was supposed to be "the one" for us, but it ended an era for The Replacements. Now, like a mythical comeback from six stumble-down drunk codas of "Help Me, Rhonda," Ed Stasium has resurrected these songs by stamping his remixed version of Tim as The Replacements' best album – it's definitely now "the one." I selfishly bought the Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) Box Set for myself as a holiday gift. It's almost an anthology that includes previously unreleased recordings, live performances, and demos, plus a cello version of "Can't Hardly Wait." -SM

Anthony Sarti

Codeseven - Go Let It In Listen

Cannons - Heartbeat Highway Listen

100 gecs - 10,000 gecs Listen

Eliminate - Playing With Fire Listen

Crosses - Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete. Listen

Andy Hong

Here are my Top 5 YouTube videos and performances of 2023!

Lily & Madeleine - "Windowless Bedroom" [Official Video]

SOFI TUKKER - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

Heo Hoy Kyung - Live Clip | 'Memoirs' 1-5

Hadrien Feraud - 'The Bass of Doom Sessions'

EBTG - Rare Archive Footage, Part 1 & 2

Corey Reidy

The following albums brought me a lot of joy over the last twelve months, each leading me to the doorway of the ever-so-important world of fiery inspiration and incalculable imagination. They allowed me to float around in a Corey-sized bubble for a few minutes at a time, viewing it's heights. Some I just played really, really loud.

Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE Listen

AJJ - Disposable Everything Listen

OFF! - Free LSD (2022) Listen

Lil Yachty - Let's Start Here Listen

Peso Pluma - Génesis Listen

Kara Jackson - Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (Kara Jackson is the former U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate) Listen