Again, it will be of no surprise to anyone to see Hamish Hawk’s Angel Numbers in my Top 5 Albums of 2023. It was by far my most played album of the year. Both it and Hamish’s previous album, Heavy Elevator, have been on pretty solid rotation all through 2023. The penmanship in his songwriting is just wonderful. For me he’s on a par with Bowie and early Jim Kerr writing for the imagery and poetic beauty I find in the words. He’s very clever with word play. For instance, a song like Desperately is a great example of how he can meld the mundane and every day with art and culture and make it really classy. And the way he delivers lines and how they fit musically – he’s just really clever. And song titles too, like ‘Once Upon an Acid Glance’, ‘Elvis Look-alike Shadows’, ‘Dog-eared August’, and ‘Rest & Veneers’. There’s diversity in the styles of music too, with a track like Frontman being very folk in sensibility and Rest & Veneers having a strong country music twang to it. I just absolutely love this album to bits. Hamish is the best thing to come my way musically in a long while. And it was all down to Simple Minds. The guy has positively usurped them this year! (The image below is me holding up the store promo that was in the window at Blitzkrieg. I’d asked the store owner, Tony, if I was able to have the poster. He said ‘of course’ and then went on to say that I should go back into the shop and have Hamish sign it. While I was waiting, the idea of getting him to write out the line of a song stuck in my head as well. So I asked him if he would write a line from Dog-eared August for me. The line he wrote is ‘eyes wide enough to shoot stars across.’ I was a very happy bunny.)
As spoken about previously, I didn’t know anything at all about Nation of Language until this year. I had remembered some vague mention of them from a Minds fan and looking through SMOG, they had ONE mention from back in 2021. I think the thing that caught my eye was a promo ad for their tour on Facebook and so I decided to give their music a listen. It piqued my interest enough to book a ticket. Seeing them at the QMU solidified my feelings and the Strange Disciple album has been one of my constant spins during the latter months of this year. They have a great synth-based sound. Quite dancey in that electro-pop kind of way. I guess they could be accused of wearing their influences on their sleeve but that’s what I like about them.
Speaking of electro-pop and influential sounds – I turn to Sparks and The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte. I think this album has been their strongest in a while. I really love it. It’s so fresh and current, yet retro and still so very Sparks. Ron and Russell really knocked it out of the park with this one. It feels very conceptual as well, and that’s quite a signature statement for them to give in fairness. I don’t say that to dilute its impact. Far from it. The title track has an almost industrial underbelly, as if it could slot into a Einsturzende Nuebauten album and not seem misplaced (other than if Russell were to sing in German). Of course there is also lots of irreverent humour weaving through the album as well. Another fave track is the fantastically titled ‘The Mona Lisa’s Packing, Leaving Late Tonight.’
The Anchoress released one of the most beautifully packaged albums this year with Versions – a selection of covers that she had been releasing individually as limited availability digital downloads on her Bandcamp page each month for Bandcamp Friday. The vinyl edition release was produced through a production plant that makes eco vinyl mixes reusing a blend of old vinyl to produce colour blends pressings, making each one unique. Not only did it look beautiful, it sounds fabulous too. Catherine puts her own stamp on each of the tracks. My own personal favourites are: (as discussed in the Top 10 Songs section) Bizarre Love Triangle, This Is Yesterday and Enjoy The Silence. The latter came with a fantastic homage to Depeche Mode’s original video for the track.
Lastly was Iggy Pop’s Every Loser. An album that, for me, saw Jim Osterberg back on top form. To be 75 and making such fresh and fantastic music is testament to the staying power of the original ‘Godfather of Punk.’ It’s right up there with my other Iggy favourites and I probably hadn’t been so keen on one of his album’s since the release of Brick by Brick in 1990. Again, it has quite a conceptual streak to it (I do seem to love a concept album, I do), with a couple of Sprechgesang pieces segueing between songs – a little akin to Bowie’s Outside in that regard. Not overcooked and a perfect length for an album at just shy of 37 minutes. There is something in every track.
Angel Numbers – Hamish Hawk
Strange Disciple – Nation Of Language
The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte – Sparks
Versions – The Anchoress
Every Loser – Iggy Pop