Zappagram #88: All is quiet on New Year's Day
Hey 2023, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out
Hey Zappagrammers,
I hope everyone had a nice holiday and got to spend some time with loved ones. My condolences to all the sanitization workers who had to clean up all the diapers in Times Square this morning.
A big welcome and thank you to all my new subscribers! Thanks for joining the community. Don’t be a stranger. Jump into the comments. Say hello. I’m so glad you’re here!
Perhaps fittingly, I woke up with U2’s “New Year’s Day” playing on repeat in my head. Later in the day, I discovered that Ryan Adams had released not one, not two, but five albums today. Okay, settle down, overachiever. He’s already known, amongst other things, as one of the most prolific artists of the last 25 years, but five albums at once has to be some kind of record, no?
Anyway, I’ve been hard at work putting together my Top Albums of 2023. Despite the fact that the year sucked hard in a number of ways, a ton of great music emerged from the dumpster fire that was 2023.
Here, in no particular order, are my recommendations for Top Albums of the Year (full-length LPs only, no singles or EPs.) If you’ve not yet listened to these, get on it. What are you waiting for?
Madi Diaz: Weird Faith
Hozier: Unreal Unearth
Caroline Polachek: Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Bluhm: Garden Of Hearts
Bleach Lab: Lost In A Rush Of Emptiness
Black Pumas: Chronicle Of A Diamond
Devon Gilfillian: Love You Anyway
M. Ward: Supernatural Thing
Golden Blue: Museum
Friendship Commanders: Mass
Jonathan Wilson: Eat The Worm
The Beaches: Blame My Ex
Atticus Chimps: Space Exploitation
Joy Oladokun: Proof Of Life
Tennis: Pollen
The National: First Two Pages Of Frankenstein
The National: Laugh Track
Wye Oak: Every Day Like The Last
Queens Of The Stone Age: In Times New Roman…
Illiterate Light: Sunburned
He’s Not Your Kind: Cambria
Dylan LeBlanc: Coyote
Danielle Ponder: Some Of Us Are Brave
Butch Bastard: Las Vegas Salvation
What were your favorite albums of 2023? Turn me on to something I might not have heard yet. Sound off in the comments. Do eeeeeit.
Ground control to reader: Take your protein pills. Put your helmet on.
This newsletter ain’t gonna read itself.
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”
—Bob Marley
ROCK THE VOTE
:: MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
WEEKLY PLAYLIST
:: NEW MUSIC EVERY WEEK
Featuring: U2, Breezy the band, weathrhead, Watchhouse, Destroyer, Mikey Videotape, The Police, Tom Waits, EL VY, Bleach Lab
ZAPPAGRAM #88
ZAPPAGRAM PLAYLIST (ALL WEEKS)
MUSIC NEWS
:: WHAT’S GOING ON
FILED UNDER: GOOD, FUCK EM
Trump Supporters Have a Meltdown After Green Day Slam ‘MAGA Agenda’ During New Year’s Show
The band changed the lyrics to their 2004 song "American Idiot" while performing on ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest [RollingStone]
FILED UNDER: BECAUSE WHY NOT
Anderson Cooper Laughs Until He Cries After John Mayer Calls in From a Cat Cafe on New Year’s
Mayer, meanwhile, was totally straight-faced as a bunch of tabbies crawled all over him at a Tokyo bar [RollingStone]
FILED UNDER: RIP
Les McCann, Jazz Pioneer Sampled by Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre, Dead at 88
The musician developed pneumonia a week before his death, according to his manager [RollingStone]
FILED UNDER: RIP
Amp Fiddler, Storied Detroit Artist, Dies at 65
The singer, keyboardist, and producer worked with Parliament-Funkadelic, J Dilla, and Moodymann in a career that spanned musical generations [Pitchfork]
FILED UNDER: RIP
Torben Ulrich, Father of Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Dead at 95
A Danish tennis star and artist, Torben famously appeared in the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster [Consequence]
FILED UNDER: FOR A GOOD CAUSE
Massive Attack, Fontaines D.C., and Young Fathers Announce Ceasefire EP for Gaza Relief Efforts
All profits will go to Doctors Without Borders aid in Gaza and the West Bank [Pitchfork]
FILED UNDER: WORTHWHILE READS
Nick Cave Pens Obituary for the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan in The Guardian
Cave’s longtime friend died last month at the age of 65 [Pitchfork]
FILED UNDER: GOLD DIGGER
Nevermind Baby’s Lawsuit Against Nirvana Revived by Appeals Court
A three-judge panel reversed a dismissal of Spencer Elden’s filing, which alleges that the use of his nude image on the 1991 album cover constitutes child sexual exploitation [Pitchfork]
FILED UNDER: FUCK YEAH
Father John Misty Debuts New Song ‘Corpse Dance’ on New Live Album
The unreleased track spans over seven minutes is expected to be part of an upcoming project [NME]
FILED UNDER: HO HO HO
Eddie Vedder Gifts Guitars to Young Musicians For Christmas
The Pearl Jam frontman surprised three young guitarists in Kailua, Oahu [Consequence]
FILED UNDER: WE NEED MORE GOOD NEWS
David Gilmour Working on New Music
As confirmed by his wife and musical collaborator Polly Samson [Consequence]
Z-REX
:: ZAPPA’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Wilco on KEXP. Nels Cline is a god. That’s all.
NEW RELEASES
:: RECENTLY DROPPED MUSIC
Breezy the band: Lemonaide (single) [listen]
Brooksofyork: Big To The Sky [listen]
Mikey Videotape: Algorithm Wasted (single) [listen]
Ryan Adams: 1985 [listen]
Ryan Adams: Heatwave [listen]
Ryan Adams: Prisoners (Live) [listen]
Ryan Adams: Star Sign [listen]
Ryan Adams: Sword & Stone [listen]
Weathrhead: Little Crow (single) [listen]
RELEASE RADAR
:: UPCOMING RELEASES
- JAN 12 -
Kali Uchis: Orquídeas
Lou Reed: Hudson River Wind Meditations
The Vaccines: Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations
- JAN 19 -
Green Day: Saviors
Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope
- JAN 26 -
Future Islands: People Who Aren’t There Anymore
Gruff Rhys: Sadness Sets Me Free
The Smile: Wall of Eyes
Ty Segall: Three Bells
ON THIS DATE
:: MUSICAL HAPPENINGS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
- JAN 1 -
Birthdays: British producer Andy Johns (1952) • Andy Gill of Gang of Four (1956) • Grandmaster Flash (1958) • Hank Williams died of a heart attack brought on by a lethal cocktail of pills and alcohol aged 29. (1953) • Johnny Cash played a free concert for the inmates of San Quentin Prison, California. (1959) • The Clash played the opening night at punk's first real venue, The Roxy Club in London. (1977) • American singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt died age 52. (1997)
- JAN 2 -
Birthdays: Roger Miller (1936) • Glenn Goins (1954) • The entire shipment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album 'Two Virgins' was seized by authorities in New Jersey due to the full frontal nude photograph of the couple on the cover. The album was eventually wrapped in plain brown paper in record stores. (1969)
- JAN 3 -
Birthdays: Sir George Martin (1926) • Van Dyke Parks (1943) • Stephen Stills (1945) • Robert John & John Paul Jones (1946) • Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk (1975) • Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (1987) • Phil Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, died of complications from lung disease aged 74, in California. (2014)
- JAN 4 -
Birthdays: Nels Cline (1956) • Bernard Sumner of Joy Division (1956) • Lorna Doom of The Germs (1958) • Michael Stipe (1960) • Till Lindemann of Rammstein & Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins (1962) • Cait O'Riordan of The Pogues & Beth Gibbons of Portishead (1965) • Chauffeur Neil Boland was accidentally killed when The Who's drummer Keith Moon ran over him in his Bentley. Moon was trying to escape from a Gang of skinheads after a fight broke out at a pub in Hatfield, England. (1970) • Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy died of heart failure and pneumonia after being in a coma for eight days following a drug overdose. (1986) • Gerry Rafferty died aged 63 after a long illness. (2011)
- JAN 5 -
Birthdays: Sam Phillips (1923) • Producer, Phil Ramone (1934) • Chris Stein of Blondie (1950) • Kate Schellenbach of Luscious Jackson (1966) • Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age and A Perfect Circle (1970) • Bruce Springsteen released his debut album 'Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) • Charles Mingus died aged 56. (1979) • Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident. (1998)
- JAN 6 -
Birthdays: Earl Scruggs (1924) • Doris Troy who sang on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (1937) • Syd Barrett (1946) • Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1951) • Malcolm Young of AC/DC (1953) • Muzz Skillings of Living Colour (1960) • Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys (1986) • Lou Rawls died, aged 72, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after battling lung cancer. (2006)
- JAN 7 -
Birthdays: Paul Revere (1937) • Kenny Loggins (1948) • Black Sabbath released Paranoid, their second studio album in the U.S. (1971) • Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist for Canadian rock band Rush, died from brain cancer aged 67. (2020)
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Peace and love to all,
🤘🏻🖤
