We are only halfway through the year and at this point it’s seemed pretty quiet. Besides the Swifties coming out in full force to condemn a, possible, Taylor relationship malfunction, there’s been no big Kayne meltdowns, no big rock star posturing, no real drama to speak of. Though, when looking through the list of albums that have been released so far, we really should change that “quiet” to “quietly powerful”. Perhaps the lack of any excitement in the music world has deluded us into thinking that nothing really exciting has come out? Take one look though and we see that Lana Del Ray has released one of her best albums in a few years, Caroline Polachek made us all hot and bothered with the excellent Desire I Want To Turn Into You and three of the best songwriters of the last decade, going by the name boygenius, have treated us to an absolute powerhouse of a debut album.

Those examples alone warranted some pretty high highs and when you couple this with some veterans, like Jenny Lewis, The National and Fever Ray, all putting out stellar releases. New kids on the block, like Wednesday lighting up crowds around the world and somewhat outsider wildcards, such as Mandy, Indiana and Water From Your Eyes crafting exquisitely quirky soundtracks to your days, it’s all very impressive. Nashville’s Bully has made their fourth record, Lucky For You, the best one of their career so far. Yves Tumor continues to impress, musically AND with album titles such as Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds). We even got an all timer of a concept album. with Maps from New York City’s billy woods and Los Angeles’s Kenny Segal.

With Summer Touring season kicking into effect and the school days drawing to a close, we wanted to highlight the albums that we have all been holding near and dear for the past six months. These are the ones that have exaggerated our highs and comforted our lows. Without any drama, it’s easy to say that the only real music industry controversies that have happened, so far, in 2023 are that most of these albums haven’t been spoken about enough. So, fire up that Spotify or, even better, those Bandcamp accounts (we want to see these artists get paid too) and check out the Northern Transmissions Best Albums of 2023, so far….

Northern Transmissions Favourite albums midway through 2023

Caroline Polachek – Desire I Want To Turn Into You
UMO – V
Jenny Lewis – Joy’All
Yves Tumor – Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume
King Krule – Space Heavy
Wednesday – i’ve seen a way
Billy Woods/Kenny Segal – Maps
The National – First Two Pages Of Frankenstein
Water From Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed
Bully – Lucky For You
Boygenius – The Record
Squid – O Monolith
Lankum – False Lankum
Yaeji- With A Hammer
Kelela – Raven
Shame – Food For Worms
Youth Lagoon – Heaven Is A Junk
Mandy Indiana – I’ve Seen A Way
Fever Ray – Radical Romantics
Jessie Ware – That Feels Good
Greg Mendez – Greg Mendez
Pony – Velveteen