My Favorite Music of 2023 (Part 1 of four recaps)
A better year for singles than albums, with great additions to my permanent listening.
To the people who spare the time to read this newsletter, I want to begin by apologizing for three and a half months without a post! This semester was busy without precedent, handling 150 students without an assistant, dealing with some personal issues, traveling a lot and catching up with deadlines that were months late. I now have a clean slate going into my sabbatical, and a ferrous determination to say no a lot and never again let small busy work get in the way of the research, teaching and writing that is supposed to be the core of both my job and my intellectual life.
To take this newsletter back on track, I will post between now and mid-January four recaps: my favorite music, films and books, and an annotated list of my 2023 publications and media. Everybody who knows me knows I am a sucker for lists. I acquire a lot of stuff from the favorite lists of others, and I hope those who read this post will find the things I like worth exploring. These lists should not be construed as “the best” as my own habits of cultural engagement are chaotic.
I therefore will present my favorites in a list that follows a few rules. The lists are unranked, but I will state my top choices amongst the list. I will also provide some short reflections on my experience of the year. Each genre has its own rules that will be available in every post.
For music, there is a list of 15 albums and a list of 25 songs. In both cases, the list reflects music released in 2022 and 2023 that I listened for the first time in 2023. After the lists, I will share the music I heard the most in general and the concerts I attended. Thank you for reading, I hope you find something interesting to you here!
I am in a moment in which I listen to much more music in Spanish than English, which has not always been the case. I am particularly focused right now on something I term “pop fresa,” which is the term I use to describe Latin American alternative pop broadly, a pop developed by wonderful contemporary artists who are frequently eclipsed by the enormous popularity of urbano and regional mexicano genres. To me it is not in contradiction with these genres, either, which are also represented in this list, and which I listen with great joy. But there is no question that the pop fresa triggers my own nostalgic attachments to the mainstream pop and rock en tu idioma from the 1990s. Artists like Fey (who I will see in Chicago next year) and Caifanes (who I saw in concert last month) are heavy in rotation, and some of these artists come from there. The inclusion in my list of the 2000s Pop Tour album (essentially a nostalgia concert of pop artists from the aughts) reflects this nostalgic mode.
My favorite albums in this list are, in order: Monsieur Periné’s Bolero Apocalíptico, which is a masterclass of tropical-infused pop with great lyrics and a tremendous performative strength; Daniela Spalla’s Dara, a collection of heartbreak and sentimental ballads written with elegance and beauty; and Wednesday’s Rat Saw God, which builds great power from its dialogues with 90s rock. The list includes albums I heard repeatedly from beginning to end from artist I repeatedly enjoy (Jorja Smith, the National) to some likely shared by other best of lists (Olivia Rodrigo, boygenius, Caroline Polacheck), to Ramayana, who have the funnest album of the lot. Here is the list, organized by the name of the artist:
Carin León. Colmillo de Leche.
Caroline Polachek. Desire. I want to turn into you.
Charlotte Cardin. 99 Nights.
boygenius. The Record.
Daniela Spalla. Dara
Danny Lux. DLux
Jorja Smith. Falling or Flying.
London Grammar. The Remixes.
Monsieur Periné. Bolero Apocalíptico.
The National. First Two Pages of Frankenstein.
Nicki Nicole. Alma.
Olivia Rodrigo. Guts.
Rawayana. Quien trae las cornetas.
Various Artists. 2000s Pop Tour.
Wednesday. Rat Saw God.
Perhaps due to the pop sensibilities, my favorite songs of the year are mostly in Spanish, with a few exceptions. The four songs at the top are: Silvana Estrada’s “Tom’s Diner,” the first cover I have ever considered a favorite song in a year; Steve Aoki and Ángela Aguilar’s “Invítame un Cafe,” a bold EDM cover of Rocío Dúrcal’s classic ballad “La gata bajo la lluvia” (nostalgia plays in these two of course), the special version of Aurora’s “Cure for Me” with Silvana Estrada (although Aurora’s original could have easily had this slot) and "Paty Cantu, Ximena Sarinaña and zzoilo’s Feliz Breakup,” a brilliant pop song in any angle, and one that I shared this year with a person dear to me who really needed its message. Otherwise, the list has familiar people who produce marvelous music evert time they try (Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo), songs that are addictively fun (Cuero, Wiggy, Johnny Dang, Talk Too Much). I do not have a lot of heartfelt songs this year, but “Calle sin Salida” and “Frágil” definitely belong to that category. There are albums from the prior list that do not have a favorite song, perhaps because I like the totality better. And some albums with song here (particularly Sofia Reyes, Renee Rapp and Karol G) barely missed the cut in my mind for favorite album. This is the list, with no rank, alphabetized by the name of the artist.
Aurora ft. Silvana Estrada. Cure for me.
Bad Bunny. Where She Goes.
Carin León. Si es cierto que te vas.
Christian Nodal. Un cumbión dolido.
Colomet. Com a Dua Lipa.
Daniela Spalla. Calle sin salida.
Diplo, Sturgill Simpson, Dove Cameron and Johnny Blue Skies. Use Me.
Karol G. S91
Lila Downs. Dos Corazones.
Mau y Ricky y Carin León. Llorar y Llorar.
Miley Cyrus. Flowers.
Monsieur Periné ft. Ana Tijoux. Cumbia valiente.
Olivia Rodrigo. Bad Idea Right.
Paty Cantú ft. Ximena Sariñana & zzoilo. Feliz Breakup.
Rawayana & Monsieur Periné. Hora Loca.
Renée Rapp. Talk Too Much.
Silvana Estrada. Tom’s Diner.
Sofía Reyes & Danna Paola. Tqum.
Steve Aoki & Ángela Aguilar. Invítame un Café.
Tainy, Young Miko and the Marías. Mañana.
That Mexican OT ft. Dhodi and Paul Wall. Johnny Dang.
Tinashe. Talk to Me Nice.
Villano Antillano. Cuero.
Yahritza y su esencia ft. Grupo Frontera. Frágil.
Young Miko. Wiggy.
As someone totally taken over by the Apple ecosystem, I listen to music in Apple Music and not in Spotify. This makes it hard to share because I definitely will not make playlists in two platforms. But it also has replay and I think it shows a couple of things to add. My top artists of the year are Los Angeles Azules, Elsa y Elmar, Paty Cantú and Leyva. My younger self, who identified Los Angeles Azules with the hours of public transportation in Mexico City, would have been shocked about this, but they are to me the best Mexican band ever, period. It is the beauty of embracing my chilango self in full. Elsa y Elmar, a Colombian pop singer who works in Mexico, and Paty Cantu echo my pop fresa preferences, and so does Leiva, whose album, from 2021 continues to be meaningful and enjoyable to me. Leiva’s album is perhaps my current favorite and it will be a long time before this changes.
Notably, I would not say I discovered an album of the past this year. I like very few albums to listen in full, and I keep up enough with the genres I like that so far the past has little surprises for me. But nevertheless, I do have the literature-professor craving for good lyrics, which is why the albums I like to listen in full tend to be either playfully song-written (The Magnetic Fields) or carefully crafter (Leiva, The Civil Wars). I am still cheering for a return of lyrics.
As I have grown older, I like going to concerts less and less, but this year I had two incredible experiences. But I did manage to have two incredible live music experiences.
The LA Phil’s “Cantos en resistencia” cycle in Disney Hall is one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. I am very lucky to have shared this with my Mexicanist comrade and cultural activities accomplice Amanda Petersen, who kindly agreed to join me when my wife Abby became unable the trip in the end. Thanks to Gustavo Dudamel’s direction, Latin America has a strong presence. In-between the two days, the concerts opened with classical pieces. The note of cheer was given by Roberto Sierra’s Alegría as an opening piece. Tania León’s Stride, which won the Pulitzer Prize was deep and powerful, and a real treat considering that there is not yet an official recording. One of my favorite pieces of the Mexican classical repertoire, Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 was performed on day two, echoing the recording of the piece conducted by Dudamel and released this year. On day 2 we also had the privilege of listening to the world premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s Seis piezas a Violeta, a beautiful tribute to Violeta Parra.
What brought me to this trip was, nevertheless, the roster of singers featured in the “Cantos en resistencia” cycle. On Day 1, we were treated to a set of past and present political songs interpreted by five of the most talented Latin American singers: Ely Guerra, Lila Downs, Catalina García (the singer of Monsieur Periné), Goyo (from the Afro-Colombian band Chocquibtown), and Ana Tijoux. On Day 2, Silvana Estrada filled the room with her marvelous voice, shaking the audience with her song “Si me matan,” on the feeling of living as a woman in a country where femicide is prevalent. Complementing the concert was a magificent installation by Tania Candiani, a contemporary Mexican artist whose work resides in the intersection between sound and image.
To my utter shock, Caifanes, one of the two great Mexican bands in my youth, came to play in Chesterfield, an exurb of St. Louis. I jumped at the opportunity and was rewarded. They are very powerful live, and they performed all of their major songs. The crowd was standing even though it was a seating-only, and many of us knew the songs. Nostalgia, I guess the anchor I had to make up for a tough semester. Which is, I guess, the reason why I already have tickets to see Fey in Chicago and the Café Tacvba/Caifanes concert in Indianapolis in 2024.
Thank you for reading and subscribing! The other three recaps will come in early 2024. I also have as a goal a minimum of one post a month thereafter. Happy New Year!