Category: Vinyl Recommends
Staff Picks to Satisfy Your Inner Choir and Band Nerd
Whether to help you study or because you’re actually a choir/band nerd, orchestral and choral music are a staple. Personally, I’ve been singing in choirs since middle school, discovering many fantastic pieces throughout my years.
Even though it’s not your typical pop music, orchestral and choral music still has the ability to reach souls and spark memories. I’ve often found myself in my deepest reflection when I’m listening to pieces like these.
So, three Vinyl Mag staff have each chosen songs to add to your orchestral and choral playlists, hoping they satisfy that inner band and choir nerd we know lives in each and every one of you. Check it out below.
Staff Picks for Your Perfect Granola Playlist
With the weather warming and summer swiftly on the way, it’s about time to break out your favorite “Life is Good” T-shirt again. The chacos make a reappearance, and driving with the windows down is back “in.” The only thing missing — the perfect granola playlist to transport you away from Athens, Georgia, and into the Colorado mountains instead.
The “granola girl aesthetic” has been something I’ve long aspired to have. The carefree and folky vibes that radiate off every granola person ease my type-A persona. I like to imagine myself in the woods with the sun on my face and growing my chaco tan line.
With that spirit in mind, three of our Vinyl Mag staff have each chosen songs for your perfect granola playlist this spring and summer. Some are perfect for driving and others would be ideal for a night campfire. Check it out below.
‘It’s Only Life After All’: The Legacy of the Queer Folk Women Duo, Indigo Girls
With four decades behind them, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, the women behind the Indigo Girls, are in the midst of a victory lap. Despite a loyal fanbase, evocative songwriting, and artistic consistency, mainstream success and popularity evaded the Girls. As openly queer musicians since the 90s, the duo was stunted by misogyny and homophobia for most of their careers but widely embraced by the LGBT+ community since their early days. Now, with a resurgence in interest for their folk-rock songs following a prominent feature in the Barbie movie, and a documentary directed by Alexandria Bombach, the Indigo Girls are being recognized as the trailblazers and community beacons they were.
Their documentary, It’s Only Life After All, premiered at the Sundance and the Tribeca Film Festivals in 2023. This month, it’s finally hitting movie theaters at select locations on April 10, with early screenings in their hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
Its first two theatrical showings took place on March 29 at the Tara Theatre to a crowd of eager fans who’ve supported the Girls for decades, the young adults and teens those fans raised, and Salier’s and Ray’s family and friends. After the showings, the duo and the director were present to answer questions from the crowd, followed by acoustic performances of “Shame on You” and “Closer to Fine” (AKA “the Barbie song” as Ray called it)
Bombach, who met the duo through a mutual friend in 2017, became interested in making the Indigo Girls documentary after a quick Google search revealed there currently wasn’t any. During the Q&A, Saliers and Ray gushed about already being big fans of her work, which made it easy for them to get on board with the project. The result was a film that left moviegoers laughing and sniffling interchangeably for two hours.
Except for brief clips featuring fans and family members, Bombach largely allows the Indigo Girls to speak for themselves through the two-hour documentary. The movie is interspersed with old interview footage and decades of private cassettes that Ray recorded. With the addition of the newly recorded footage, Bombach shared that she combed through a whopping 1,000 hours to make the film.
With the help of Bombach’s directorial hand, Saliers and Ray radiate an authenticity uncommon in most rockumentaries.
With the wisdom that hindsight brings, Saliers and Ray speak candidly about their early experiences, able to understand their younger selves with a loving, delicate, and brutally honest perspective, while gracefully exploring their shortcomings.
As in everything else they do, the documentary centers the women’s activism and political involvement. Saliers and Ray were always more interested in the palpable community their music formed than celebrity status. At one point in the film, Saliers says, “It was always about community—the feeling you get in a room with people you are singing to.”
In the documentary, we watch them contend with the naivety of their earlier social activism. They mature from slogans like “save the earth” and “recycle” to more nuanced ecological perspectives embodied by Native Americans. Their dedication grows but they take up space only to support the voices of others. A little later in the film, when the Indigo Girls are at a rally for Black Lives Matter, the speaker introduces them saying “They weren’t even here to sing. They only wanted to support and since we know who they are we want them to sing.”
There’s an almost comical aspect to how different they are and yet, their differences complement each other well and the admiration they hold for one another is evident.
Saliers, raised on folk, is often featured wearing brighter colors. Ray, raised on punk and alt-rock, gravitates to darker tones and grungier outfits. More notably, they have striking differences in personality. Ray, trailing a year behind Saliers, looks up to Salier’s diplomacy. Ray says of herself, “I was always so angry. It wasn’t healthy.”
Saliers, the more reserved of the two, initially avoided coming out publicly as a lesbian. While Ray at one point in the film says, “I’ve never been in the closet.” Over the years, they’ve spoken candidly about the impact internalized homophobia has had on their self-esteem. They reflect on the jokes made at their expense and spaces they’ve been excluded from as Bombach shares with us pieces from the past.
The documentary is personal and intimate, but somehow the story feels so much bigger. With the help of Bombach’s directorial hand, Saliers and Ray radiate an authenticity uncommon in most rockumentaries. On the screen, fans give sincere odes to the band that quite literally saved their lives, and the theater audience whoops and cheers in recognition. Others shout back “They saved my life too.”
Bombach’s insightful touch, the sincerity and introspection of the Indigo Girls, and the community surrounding their music set this rockumentary apart from others. The Indigo Girls are a beacon. Rather than the cult of celebrity, the air surrounding them is decidedly different. The space feels uniquely democratic. This is a documentary you don’t want to miss the chance to see in theaters.
Concert Diaries: Em Beihold Shines on Stage
Em Beihold’s rising star took her by surprise and later tonight, she’ll tell us the story. Despite her shock, she has gone on to tour with an impressive array of artists like Lewis Capaldi, King Princess, and the Jonas Brothers. A lifelong musician, Beihold didn’t believe she could make a career out of music, but now, almost through with her first headlining tour, Beihold is steadily building up her budding fandom. In Atlanta, on a chilly Monday Night, she visits Terminal West, a humble venue with a capacity of 625.
The night’s opener, Will Linley, a boyish pop artist hailing from Cape Town, South Africa is a natural charmer and a flirt with the romantic and sensitive songs to back it up. Before “Gracie”, a song in which he ruminates over the identity of his future wife, Linley called out a fan in the front row—”the girl in the green shirt”—and asked for her name, Mary. Then, he slipped her name in towards the end of the song, singing “Mary / I know that you’d be the one to save me”.
For someone on his first-ever U.S. tour, he showed off a surprisingly convincing southern accent. Before heading off the stage, he plugged his upcoming single “Blame” with a live debut before it officially releases on April 5th. Then he headed off, leaving us waiting for the main act.
As the lights lowered, an extended introduction to “Roller Coasters Make Me Sad” played over the speakers. Beihold’s guitarist and drummer took their places and then, Beihold pranced in, heading straight into the first verse with an infectious energy.
Bantering back and forth with the audience, she joked that the next song, “12345”, was for the “anxiety girlies.” Mental health is a common theme in the 24-year-old’s music. She openly shares her struggles surrounding it through her songs, which her listeners tend to connect most immediately to. As a part of her advocacy efforts, she noted that each ticket sale from the tour contributes $1 to Active Minds, a non-profit leading efforts to take mental health seriously, especially for students.
Beihold’s relatability stems from her earnestness. In each song, she offers a fresh perspective on the realistic struggles of being a young adult in the modern age. She builds on this with each track on the setlist. In “Too Precious” she embraces her introverted tendencies, poking fun at the expectation of what it means to be “cool” at her age.
Before playing “Groundhog Day”, an undeniably relatable track, she tells the audience that this is the track that launched her career. She says she’d resigned herself to working as a production assistant for the Voice—”that’s like music-adjacent right?”—after being rejected by reality TV talent shows and her college’s a cappella group. And when “Groundhog Day” was embraced by audiences, it landed her a record deal from Republic Records. On the stage, she opted to play her keyboard as she sang it.
Then, she graced audiences with a live performance of an unreleased track, “Extraordinary”. Driving home her relatable persona, the song explores the constant pressure to be and do great things in your life, the thoughts that lead to those late nights when you realize you’ll never be the president or that 12-year-old competing in the Olympics. She contemplated with the audience “I don’t know why I’m so consumed by how history sees me.” She muses in the chorus “Optimism / tricked me / and it made me believe / that the only way to be / is extraordinary”.
After the Los Angeles native sang “City of Angels” about all the fakers in L.A., she invited her friend/merch coordinator, Leah, to the stage to back her up as she sang “Until I Found You”, a nostalgic song in which she joined crooner Stephen Sanchez, launching the song into the viral stratosphere, gaining 1 billion streams on TikTok and just short a billion on Spotify.
She played yet another unreleased track, “Shiny New Things”, focusing on the rush to embrace new trends as quickly as possible in the current digital landscape. The next three songs—”Goo”, “Pedestal”, and “Spiderman”—all focused on romantic escapades gone wrong, with the middle one being the mandatory ukulele moment.
“Lottery”, which Beihold named as her favorite, was a highlight of the show, exemplary of her down-to-earth nature, and the third unreleased track of the night. In “Lottery” she is grateful that she hasn’t been endowed with egregious amounts of money and the ails that accompany it.
As we headed to the end of the set, Beihold embraced the most energetic songs of her discography. Yet, the subject matter isn’t necessarily happy. “Egg in the Backseat” stemming from a childhood nickname, is a bouncy, upbeat track that gets the crowd jumping as she says of her crush, “I think you’re a bad Idea / you’re a bad idea”.
Second to last she plays “Maybe Life is Good”. Of the song, she noted: it was written at a time in which everything was bleak and miserable and she used this song as a tool to get better. She says “I named the tour after this song because I wanted this to be a safe space.”
Then finally, the night wrapped up with “Numb Little Bug”, one of her best-known tracks, which takes a humorous yet candid take on anhedonic depression and taking medications to get better. It’s another early single that gained her the following she has. The top comment on its music video reads “It’s fascinating how one song can really make you say ‘thank God it’s not only me.’”
Her malleability as an artist is evident. As the audience files out, I noted many parents here with younger daughters in tow, wearing pink tour merch. Even still, there is no shortage of teens and younger adults in the mix. Empathetic as she is talented, Beihold was a vibrant artist on the stage.
RELEASE RECAP: Best New Music of February, 2024
February was an incredible month for new music—here are some new releases that Vinyl Mag LOVED last month!
SZA, “Saturn“
SZA teased us at the Grammys with this single, as she performed “Saturn” live, leaving us shocked at how mesmerizing she sounded. Then, she released it the next week, and it took us by storm. Some were a bit upset at SZA for tweaking the original Grammy performance recording, to which SZA responded with “No clue what’s wrong with the mixes on Saturn but all will be corrected shortly. Thank you” on X. This single will supposedly be the cover song for SZAs new album Lana, which is expected to release somewhat soon. – Alex Carrillo
Beyonce, “16 Carriages” & “Texas Hold Em“
Beyonce broke the internet during the Superbowl when she partnered with Verizon for a commercial and exclaimed “Drop the music” at the end of it. Immediately after, Beyonce released two singles, “16 Carriages”, and “Texas Hold Em”. These two singles mark the start of the singer’s country music era, and the beginning of act two of her three-part project, with Renaissance being act i. She sent a powerful message by highlighting the contributions of Black musicians to country music, becoming the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in the process. Beyonce’s Act ii COWBOY CARTER is set to release on March 29, 2024. – AC
Charlie XCX, “Von Dutch”
“Von Dutch” is Charli XCX’s first solo single since “Speed Drive” was released last year. She has teased her next album, Brat, dropping in Summer of 2024. “Von Dutch” has the same electric upbeat feel that we are used to hearing from her, keeping the energy flowing until the end of the song. In honor of her upcoming record, Charli XCX performed a boiler room set in Brooklyn, New York called “PARTYGIRL.” – AC
Kacey Musgraves, “Deeper Well”
Teasing her upcoming album Deeper Well, Kacey Musgraves dropped the titletrack in early February. The single and its follow-up, “Too Good to be True”, signal a return to her roots for Musgraves, who embraced a poppier sound on 2021’s star-crossed. In “Deeper Well”, Musgraves weaves her past and present, looking ahead to a brighter future. The soft plucked guitars and the cottagecore visuals are good signs for fans of her previously most-celebrated album, Golden Hour, which snagged an Album of Year Grammy in 2019. Her latest project is set to release on March 15, 2024. – Buket Urgen
Little Simz, Drop 7
UK-based rapper, Little Simz, dropped an EP titled Drop 7, which is a continuation of her drop series that began in 2014. This album blends a mix of Portuguese rap, jazz, and R&B, which ultimately showcases the artist’s talent and versatility. With this blend, the rapper’s lyricism shines, as she addresses her personal struggles, along with societal issues. – AC
The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy
UK-based The Last Dinner Party released their much-awaited debut album to great acclaim on Feburary 2, 2024. The all-female quintet delivered stunning tracks, with scorching lyrics, exploring themes like feminity and the packaging of pain and grief as a commodity. Their appetite for originality in musical arrangments is evident, making for a fun and fascinating listen. They deliver a product that meets the epic hype generated by their earlier live performances and singles. This is a band to watch in coming years. – BU
Brittany Howard, What Now
Brittany Howard absolutely dazzles with her wide-ranging and etheral album What Now. It’s got a little bit of everything for everyone. Howard’s refreshing honesty, dreamy arrangements, and captivating vocals make this a must-listen. – BU
Score Soundtracks For Your Whimsical Fiction Movie Life
We all need a whimsical fictional world to escape to now and then. There’s How to Train Your Dragon to make you feel like you’re soaring, and Tangled to get you up off your feet. UP is a real tear-jerker, but Monsters Inc. is a real toe-tapper—all this to say that score soundtracks are a seamless way to transport us into those fictional worlds we crave.
As I’m reminiscing on my time spent in Copenhagen, Denmark, this past summer, I’ve listened to a lot of fairytale scores. Copenhagen was magical—the weather, the air, the scenery, the almond croissants, the parks, the people—I could go on. I was exploring the city on a bicycle when I stopped to take this quick photo shown above. That moment didn’t feel real.
Then again, nothing about travel feels quite real. As soon as I felt the plane take off, a supernatural buzz consumed me. Even though I’d only flown on a plane once before trekking to Denmark, I still knew I had to have a playlist ready for takeoff. The perfect song for being hurled hundreds of feet into the atmosphere: “Test Drive” from the How to Train Your Dragon score.
Here is a playlist of the best scores to be in your fiction movie moments—times like when I biked around Copenhagen and wondered upon the most perfect scenery.
RELEASE RECAP: Best New Music of January 2024
January was an exciting month for new music—from Megan Thee Stallion’s string of disses in her latest track “Hiss” to the controversy surrounding Ariana Grande’s relationship in “Yes, and?”. Vinyl Mag is here to deliver with our staff picks of the top music released each month. For a taste of our favorite singles and albums, tune in for a release recap every month!
Kali Uchis, Orquídeas
Colombian-American singer and songwriter Kali Uchis released the album Orquídeas, meaning “Orchids” at the start of the month. This is her second Spanish-language album, following 2020’s Sin Miedo. Some notable features on this album are Peso Pluma in “Igual Que Un Ángel”, Rauw Alejandro in “No Hay Ley Parte 2”, and Karol G in “Labios Mordidos.” Uchis also shined a light on many genres in this album, from house to R&B to reggaeton, ultimately making this album extremely versatile.
21 Savage, American Dream
American Dream is 21 Savage’s third studio album release, summarizing the ups and downs of Savage’s life in America. From the artist’s ICE arrest in 2019 to fallen friends and gang relations in Atlanta, he paints his persona neutrally throughout this album. It has notable features with Summer Walker, Brent Faiyaz, Travis Scott, and Metro Boomin. Savage, who had a jam-packed 2023, co-headlining with Drake on the “It’s All a Blur” tour, still plans on being a part of more features and projects as the year progresses.
Ariana Grande, “Yes, And?“
Ariana Grande’s new single “Yes, and?” is an upbeat song experimenting with genres like house and ballroom. Many also noted Grande’s inspiration from Madonna‘s 1990 hit single “Vogue”. “Yes, and?” has topped billboard charts and is still in the top ten at the date of publication. However, Grande is facing a divide among her listeners due to the controversial lyrics, which belittle the backlash surrounding her relationship with Broadway star Ethan Slater.
Megan Thee Stallion, “Hiss“
“Hiss” is spot on for Megan Thee Stallion’s snake theme, following her previous single, “Cobra”. It’s her second song released through her independent label Hot Girl Productions. In “Hiss,” Megan disses numerous celebrities who have previously spoken negatively about her in the past. Some notable callouts include Drake, who dissed Megan in “Circo Loco” from his 2022 album Her Loss, and Tory Lanez, who was on trial for assault after shooting Megan in the foot. Nicki Minaj is gaining notable traction, after assuing that the lines “don’t be mad at Megan / but that they’re mad at Megan’s Law” targeted her husband, a registered sex offender.
Review: Olivia Dean: ‘Messy’
London-based Olivia Dean, 24, released her debut album Messy (EMI Records) in late June. As featured on my Staff Picks list, Messy is a collection of delicate and soft reflections on young adulthood that I was immediately drawn to. Oscillating between unbridled love and joy and melancholy reflections on life, Dean showcases a vulnerable ethos, making the record an ideal companion for musing on one’s own life and inner world.
Recorded over two weeks in her hometown, Dean led the album with her heart, not her mind. Leaning into her own creativity, Dean’s first priority was pleasing herself by making a record that she loved. Her relaxed attitude shines through with music that simply is, rather than pretending to be something it’s not. Messy boasts simple melodic patterns, tight and straight-to-the-point narratives against a backdrop of whimsy keys, jazzy brass ensembles, smooth rhythms, and even a steel pan. Dean’s musical landscape is reminiscent of the United Kingdom’s previously most iconic neo-soul export, Amy Winehouse. In “Dive”, a vibrant portrayal of recklessly falling in love, one finds traces of Winehouse’s “Valerie” and “You Know I’m No Good”.
Messy’s strongest point is Dean’s instinct for self-reflection. In “Ladies Room”, she meditates on a boy who holds her back and how to let that go, via an ode to the unifying experience of drunken exchanges with strangers in the women’s restroom of a bar. On “The Hardest Part”, an earlier single, she ruminates on growing out of a teenage romance. She’s both vulnerable and self-assured, presenting an antidote for the post-break-up blues in song.
On the album’s title track, Dean relinquishes herself from the urge to present as put-together, singing ‘It goes, you can let it / It’s okay to regret it / I’m on your side’. Singing along feels like therapy through repetitive affirmations. In the penultimate, “Everybody’s Crazy”, Dean observes the universality of anxiety and insecurity. As with earlier tracks, simplicity allows her meaning room to breathe.
Dean dedicates the album’s final track, “Carmen”, to her grandma, who immigrated to the UK from Grenada as a part of the Windrush generation. She honors the quintessential immigrant story: the courageous young immigrant, against all odds, starting anew in a foreign land for future generations of one’s kin. Her gratitude for this unrequitable debt is evident when she sings “You transplanted a family tree / And a part of it grew into me”.
The album chronicles the beginning of a new relationship in “Danger”, a standout single with a groovy rhythm. It encapsulates the anxiety of entering a new relationship, which can be particularly daunting after a recent heartbreak. It’s a reflection of Dean’s happy-go-lucky attitude and persistent optimism, which is the common thread in the entire album. Even her sad songs feel hopeful about the future and relish in her evident confidence. It’s not easy to write a record with depth but it’s even harder to make it expectant and reassuring despite being, well, messy. It feels easy to give in to our personal problems amidst the daunting pressures of today’s stressors and troubles with blunt gloominess, but Dean shines by doing the opposite. This is a happy record, deviating from what we’ve been accustomed to in the current pop landscape—simply put, it’s a breath of fresh air.
Year in Review: Our Favorite Albums of 2023—Staff Picks
From one fellow music lover to another, Vinyl Mag staff shares the albums they loved all year long. Take a look below to see what records made us feel, dance, and reflect in 2023. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite.
Adeboye Adeoye, Staff Writer
- McKinley Dixon, Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
- Sampha, Lahai
- Lord Apex, The Good Fight
- Kara Jackson, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
- Leith Ross, To Learn
- Noname, Sundial
- Jordan Ward, FORWARD
- Khamari, A Brief Nirvana
- MARCO PLUS, JOINTS
- Jamila Woods, Water Made Us
The albums that stick with me most this year tell very personal stories. McKinley Dixon evoked the written works of master author Toni Morrison over jazzy instrumentation to tell the story of contemporary Black life and his place in it. The title track stands out to me because of how simple it can be with repetition yet how layered its lyrics and themes are. Seeing Sampha return to the stage and release a new solo album was a moment of profound joy for me. Now a father and husband, I can hear how the years have aged him for the better, how he worked to overcome pain and grief, and it gives me hope for a brighter future in my own life. On a similar note, Kara Jackson’s record is an especially poignant project. The former National Youth Poet Laureate is bringing a whole new generation’s ears to the Blues while personally using her music as a vessel to navigate a sea of grief. I hope 2024 is filled with stories as personal as these, but I also hope that I don’t limit my ears to a small subsection of the near-boundless collection of stories and perspectives that is modern music.
Ethan Barrilleaux, Staff Writer
- Westside Gunn, And Then You Pray For Me
- Travis Scott, Utopia
- Earl Sweatshirt, The Alchemist, Voir Dire
- Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan
- Logic, College Park
- Lil Yachty, Let’s Start Here.
- JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown, SCARING THE HOES
- Drake, For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition
- Larry June, The Alchemist, The Great Escape
- Tyler, The Creator, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST: The Estate Sale
Reflecting on the music released this year, I am reminded that hip-hop is alive and well. However this year, I reached out of my comfort zone with records like Zach Bryan’s self-titled and Lil Yachty’s indie/psychedelic rock Let’s Start Here. Bryan gave me the best I could ask for in an introduction to country music, a soft record with insightful lyrics. And when I first heard about Yachty’s indie album, I was skeptical, but, the intro track “the BLACK seminole” immediately drew me into the great record. However, this year gave me plenty of new favorite hip-hop records too. We got a classic boombap-style record by Westside Gunn. This record was all I could ask for with its grimy drums over eerie instrumentals. The track “KITCHEN LIGHTS” is beautiful and it’s where we get what Griselda Records do best. Since July, Travis Scott’s Utopia has grown on me. The intro track “HYAENA” is already an iconic track during his live shows, and I still cannot stop listening to “MODERN JAM” and “TIL FURTHER NOTICE”. Earl Sweatshirt delivered on his brief yet beautifully produced record Voir Dire with The Alchemist, who had an incredible year. The Alchemist was also featured on Larry June’s The Great Escape and Drake’s For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition, where Drake went 6 for 6 on the additional tracks. It was an experimental yet gratifying year for hip-hop production largely thanks to The Alchemist and Conductor Williams. However, I cannot talk about experimental production without highlighting JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s SCARING THE HOES. Tracks like “Garbage Pale Kids” and “Lean Beef Patty” gave such unique productions that I keep coming back to them. Then there was Logic’s College Park, a highly anticipated album for me, and while it did not meet all my expectations, tracks like “Lightsabers” and “Village Slum” made it one of my favorites of the year. Lastly, we did not get an entirely new Tyler, The Creator project this year, but CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST: The Estate Sale contained enough notable and well-produced tracks such as “WHAT A DAY” and “HEAVEN TO ME” that I had to include it.
Haley Gilbert, Staff Writer
- Liza Anne, Utopian
- Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
- Heffner, Super Bowl LXIX
- Olivia Rodrigo, GUTS
- Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan
- Boygenius, the record
- Indigo De Souza, All of This Will End
- Hozier, Unreal Unearth
- Gregory Alan Isakov, Appaloosa Bones
- Briston Maroney, Ultrapure
This year marked the end of my college career and the beginning of whatever happens next. Naturally, things did not play out in the way I had planned, but that does not mean that they did not play out in the way they were supposed to. During this in-between phase of life, I have found myself surrounded by lots of music, which tends to be a good sign about how things are going. While listening to Utopian by Liza Anne, I realized how special of a gift it is to be able to listen to them describe change as a beautiful and necessary thing while I am currently terrified at the prospect of restructuring my life; I was able to find comfort where I wasn’t necessarily expecting or looking for it. After finding myself at lots of shows in Athens this past year, there was no way Heffner’s Super Bowl LXIX was not going to make this list; their sound has become interwoven in many of the memories I made during my time in the Classic City. Between boygenius’s the record, Briston Maroney’s Ultrapure, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Indigo De Souza’s All of This Will End, and Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS, there was no such thing as a boring car ride this year. The songs on these bodies of work were raw, powerful, and such an experience to listen to. On the late-afternoon-coffeehouse-playlist side of the spectrum, Zach Bryan, Hozier, and Gregory Alan Isakov served as my company on many of the days when I turned to music for a sense of peace and comfort with their respective releases Zach Bryan, Unreal Unearth, and Appaloosa Bones. Isakov’s Appaloosa Bones, an album with themes that largely focus on the importance of leaning on those around you for love and support during times of hardship and struggle, felt like a message I so desperately needed to hear, even if I was initially reluctant to accept it, and Zach Bryan’s self-titled album felt like an important step in his mission with Noah Kahan to assemble the Folk Avengers. As the end of the year is approaching, I genuinely do not know what is next for me, but the artists on this list have helped me not only come to terms with this fact but begin to embrace it.
Buket Urgen, Editor-in-Chief
- Janelle Monáe, The Age of Pleasure
- Olivia Rodrigo, GUTS
- Victoria Monet, Jaguar II
- Troye Sivan, Something to Give Each Other
- boygenius, the record
- Hozier, Unreal Unearth
- Caroline Polacheck, Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
- Portugal. The Man, Chris Black Changed My Life
- Allison Russell, The Returner
- Olivia Dean, Messy
Honorable Mention: Amaarae, Fountain Baby
Per usual, my favorite records of the year lean female-artist-heavy. With a mission to throw myself into more music, this year, I made a point of listening to an album from beginning to end, and repeatedly, until it sank in. (I’ve always had a particularly bad habit of zoning out on listens one through three and not genuinely hearing a record until the fourth or fifth time.) I listened to 55 new albums that came out in 2023, which is much less than I would’ve liked. So, here are the albums that were in heavier rotation than the rest. Without a doubt, 2023 was a great year for sexy club bangers from Janelle Monáe’s and Amaarae’s Afrobeats-inspired progressive R&B to Victoria Monet’s more classic R&B and hip-hop influences to Troye Sivan’s electro-pop and house. Meanwhile, supergroup boygenius found massive success following their first full-length record, growing their cult-like following with an indie rock triumph. The record is a slow burn and I find myself finding something new to appreciate in each listen. Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS was a compelling instant classic, with Rodrigo’s edgy girlhood-core aesthetic brilliantly shining through to reach the repressed teen girl in all of us (or was that just me?). And in moments when I needed to let go and just be, I found myself returning to Caroline Polacheck’s Desire, I Want To Turn Into You or Allison Russell’s The Returner, both soothing in different ways for any rough sailing days in life. This year lacked the blockbuster records of the previous one (see: RENAISSANCE, Midnights, SOS), but it was instead defined by breakthrough moments for long underrated artists or the ones coming into their own with their second full-length project. For anyone out there trying, there was plenty of good music to be found in 2023.
The Asymptomatics Celebrate New Single ‘Two Possibilities’ With A Live Performance at Flicker Theatre and Bar
Athens has been home to critically acclaimed bands throughout the decades, marking the Classic City as not only home to the University of Georgia and its students but also a booming hub for artists and musicians alike. One such band is the funky, weird but strangely groovy The Asymptomatics.
The Asymptomatics, or “the Asymps” as they are often called, is a band of nine members who have made “chaotic” the name of the game. Since its formation in 2019, the band has garnered a name for itself within the music community of Athens. After the release of three singles, they have now added one more to their list of original music. To celebrate the release of their brand new single, “Two Possibilities”, the Asymptomatics recruited a list of prominent local Athens bands to play at Flicker Theatre and Bar for a night of unforgiving energy and sound.
Walking into Flicker is always a surreal experience, particularly on the evening of a gig. From the outside, bypassers can hear the beat of the featured band while they smoke a cigarette and drink a beer. Walking through the red curtains that lead to the venue portion of the establishment, stationed in the room next to the bar, I could see a sea of people bobbing their heads to the band, Neat Freak, which was followed by Late Notice and finally, Bog Bod. The celebrated feature of the night, The Asymps, performed last. Between bands, members handed out flyers with the single’s cover art designed by Hollis Midriff and they discussed their excitement to play their cleanest-sounding single live for the first time.
The band’s set began as most of its sets do, with the lead singer Max Mahieu relentlessly jumping around the stage with the band, maintaining an aura of chaos that has defined the group’s career, particularly in the past year.
The single itself possesses an eccentric guitar-solo build-up in the outro. Though their MO is full-fledged passion, this song was a pleasant departure as it boasted a more meaningful and slower vibe. “Two Possibilities” explores that little gray area in life by rejecting the idea of black-and-white decisions and outcomes. A simple song to describe how intensely unsimple this life can be, especially when young, as the band members are.
“A lot of times it seems like there’s two possibilities but, you know, in reality, things are a lot deeper than that,” says Mahieu. “It’s not just decisions you make, it’s the decisions of the people around you and the ones you love that affect your life and affect their life.” Mahieu’s family is the inspiration behind the song, which was written by Mahieu and his mom, who is a musician herself.
It’s both happy and sad which is reflected by the musicians as they played with electricity and passion, making the audience feel the underlying irony of “Two Possibilities”. Mastered by Jason NeSmith at Chase Park Transduction, “Two Possibilities” incorporates a classic guitar solo from the lead guitar that amplifies the emotional aspect of the song.
“We wanted to have this big rock section at the end that instrumentally captures the emotion and the vibes of the song that the lyrics start at the beginning,” said Mahieu.
From there, the band immediately transitioned to play their classic, most-noteworthy hit “GTFO! (Gerald the Friendly Orangutan)” which was a lighthearted and silly conclusion to a great show.
Though the chaotic transformation of the Asymptomatics onstage is something that some would deem messy and unorganized, those with an ear for passion would comprehend that this gives the band its personality, hence its rising claim to fame within Athens. A funk outfit of shameless chaos and a force to behold.
“Two Possibilities” is out now on all platforms, with the Asymptomatic’s first full album slated for spring.