blank mood picks for 2023
_____ mood. was new this year with monthly episodes featuring new and old tracks in shoegaze, ambient and related genres plus some college radio nuggets from the 90s. Year-end best of rankings and lists are a dime a dozen, as are mixtape shows like this one, so I try for at least some unique element. I'm a fan and avid listener, not a musician or expert - and I don't think anyone needs to be expert to enjoy and talk about music. So here's my un-expert atypical fangirl list of noteworthy 2023 releases. Not your usual categories or "best" claims - just some good tunes put out in 2023 that I particularly appreciated. There's already signs of new music to look forward to in 2024.
Thanks for listening and following along with _____ mood.
Debut album
Just Fade Away Glazyhaze [Slimer Records]
Just Fade Away hits all of the emotions and sounds of classic shoegaze tinged with teenage angst. Bouts of pop delight and sullen pout sit alongside each other on Just Fade Away, offering solace like a good friend who knows just how you feel - or want to feel. I appreciate the female-male vocals and “bap doo wop bap” refrain of “Hold My Hand”. It will be interesting to see where Glazyhaze goes with its sound and songwriting on a sophomore release.
Pearlies Emma Anderson [Sonic Cathedral]
Perhaps not fair to place the accomplished Ms Anderson in a ‘debut’ category, but hearing this woman’s voice solo is long overdue. Those la la las of “Xanthe” - carefree, creepy, devilishly triumphant. Pearlies is a reminder of Emma Anderson’s adroit songwriting and I hope that new fans will discover (or old fans re-discover) the equally incredible indie pop genius of her work as Sing-Sing.
Pleasant surprise
Universal Flames Three Quarter Skies [Sonic Cathedral]
Triple fudge ripple, who saw this one coming? In 2023 Simon Scott of Slowdive started fanning the flames of a new project drawing on influences like Can, Flying Saucer Attack, Black Sabbath, Syd Barrett, John Cage, Spacemen 3… wait, did someone say Flying Saucer Attack? Can anyone who was old enough to buy hard-to-find CDs in an actual record store back in 1990-something even handle it?! Yes! More in 2024, please. Is 'space rock' on its way back from the far side? I’d say this is one of the best musical surprises for me this year, maybe because Simon Scott’s Long Drove had already made a huge impression on me (more about that below) and the idea of a resurrection of the Flying Saucer Attack sound was exciting. Universal Flames is a trip, moving through light, floating sensations to more intense and demanding depths with indiscernible information that cannot, and will not, precisely guide you. The final track “Bedförd” concludes the journey (or maybe re-starts it?) with ominous whispers layered under a warped, psychedelic cowboy soundtrack. Holy shit, what is next?
Become Beach House [Sub Pop Records]
Somewhat excused as a collection of songs that they “didn’t think fit” with the Once Twice Melody album, Become is a five-song EP of “scuzzy and spacious” songs by Beach House that “live in the spirit realm”. There’s a largeness and spooky spirit to “Black Magic,” “Become” and opening track “American Daughter”. Become conveys a bit of pleasantly dark listlessness. I’ve yet to hear or feel the scuzz.
Remix
Two albums of personal significance got interesting make-overs this year. One of them we can look forward to in full early next year. Both haunting in their original states, the remixes bring the listener to the other side, to breathe freely with a sigh of relief and maybe even joy.
Sun Moon Town Versions by Steve Queralt and Michael Smith [Bytes]
Includes four remixed versions of the original tracks released in 2022. Instrumental versions of the originals are also included. Each of the four spoken word soundscapes reworked by Nandele, Flug 8, GLOK and Nina Walsh manage to change the mood of the originals while still carrying the cool and collected enigma of Steve Queralt and retaining the lightly haunted lyrics of Michael Smith.
for you who are the wronged (Lomond Campbell remixes) by Kathryn Joseph
Also qualifying as pleasant surprise, Kathryn Joseph recently released a Lomond Campbell remix of her heavily haunted song “what is keeping you alive makes me want to kill them for you” and announced that Lomond Campbell would be remixing the entire for you who are the wronged album. The remixed album is something to look forward to in early 2024.
Water
What the hell kind of music category is ‘water’ you say? Well, I actually dislike water in music. I appreciate found sound and field recordings, but the sound of recorded water turns me off. I live in Amsterdam - we are surrounded by water. It doesn’t have a sound unless you are too close to it or something is wrong… until… I realise... I am listening to what sounds like recorded water on these two releases... and… hey, how did you trick me?
Long Drove Simon Scott [Room 40]
Six soundscapes that reliably induce weird dreams if listened to before sleep. Long Drove blurs the lines between a lot of things: Earth and atmosphere, unadulterated and fabricated, quiet and loud, calm and anxiety. I hesitate to call it an album; it’s a magical composition of field recordings, droning sounds and space exploration…and a soaking load of water.
Dawn Layer Jonas Munk [Azure Vista Records]
A three-song digital-only single that was quietly released this summer, Dawn Layer is one of the most relaxing things that I listened to in 2023. The title track “Dawn Layer” somehow clocks in at more than five minutes, but there is no sense of time passing while listening. “Canopy” is where the water sneaks in, acting as a textured layer to a simple synth piano and swirling drone. Jonas noted that the title track would appear on a forthcoming album - fingers crossed that means 2024.
Under the radar
“Memory” Rosa Pajaro [Open Tab]
I stumbled upon this beautiful and curious track this summer. When asked about “Memory,” the artist’s response was that they don’t talk too much about what songs are about. The exact emotion of “Memory” is concealed by its floating, breathy vocals, but carried by a light and demure sparkle. Rosa Pajaro remains a mystery to me.
Defying categorisation
Stillness, softness… Hinako Omori [Houndstooth]
Electronically warped classical. A devotional summoning. In the clouds, but down to Earth. Swirling with joy and freedom yet demanding attention to every detail. Weird and absolutely wonderful ear candy that is best eaten piece by piece in one sitting. Some pieces might be laced with something, but go for it. Listen to the album, see her live - she’s playing before the end of the year. Hinako Omori is the only artist on this list that I’ve seen play live with an orchestra... and she is simply amazing. Ready for more ear candy? Listen to her 2022 album a journey…
Notable reissue
The feeling you get when an album you know and love gets re-issued on vinyl for its 25th anniversary: “That’s so cool! Yikes, I’m old. I still have the CD.”
Tribute to Spacemen 3 Various artists [Rocket Girl Records]
I don’t think you even need to know or appreciate Spacemen 3 to dig this compilation thick with heavy-hitters from the late 90s space rock and noise scenes: Mogwai, The Asteroid No. 4, Bowery Electric, Bardo Pond, Low, Arab Strap and others. On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, Rocket Girl Records released a re-mastered version of Tribute to Spacemen 3. “Vinita approached bands that she felt were influenced by Spacemen 3,” explained Rocket Girl Records when I asked about how the bands chose the songs. “After an initial dialogue she asked the bands to choose a track and weirdly there were no clashes and all the bands chose a different track.” You can read the rest of the conversation, which was specifically about Low and their contribution to the comp, at _____ mood.’s Instagram.
Re-introducing The Asteroid No. 4 The Asteroid No. 4
Philly’s quintessential 90s psych-space rock band The Asteroid No. 4 originally released this album in 1998 as Introducing The Asteroid No. 4… and it blew my mind as a college radio DJ at the time. It got plenty of play during my graveyard shift - the kind of album you want to be in a dark room when you announce, “That was “Underbelly of a Mushroom” by The Asteroid No. 4”. I always wondered, “Would my dad like this? I mean, he does like Iron Butterfly.” Maybe Re-introducing will end up under the Christmas tree this year.