Posted on Wednesday 13th December 2023 at 16:00
2023 has certainly been one of the most impressive years for album releases in quite some time; alongside it, we've been blessed with an incredible 12 months of acompanying gigs and tours.
The team here at Gigantic Tickets have been listening to such a huge selection of music throughout the year, and have had the pleasure of seeing many of our favourite records live: from up and comers in intimate spaces like Geese at The Bodega in Nottingham, to international heroes boygenius at The Piece Hall in Halifax.
So, to mark the end of another calendar year, here in the Gigantic office we've put our heads together and compiled a list of our best albums of 2023. How many of your favourites made the cut? Settle in and take a look...
Also, you can also read through our best gigs of 2023 right here!
Country music’s poster boy Morgan Wallen’s third album One Thing At A Time is an eclectic mix of styles spanning from more traditional country (“Thought You Should Know”) to anthemic rap cuts (“Cowgirls”); the album plays in total cohesive harmony.
Wallen explores and reflects on his past and present, with many themes that are accessible to everyone. This could very well be the album that brings the inner country fan out of everyone. - ELIZABETH J, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Originally conceived as a double album, half synth-pop and half guitar-based; indie veterans Ash opted to make Race The Night a full-on indie rock record sure to please long-term listeners and new fans alike. Just check out the Weezer-inspired “Reward In Mind”, the crushing riffage of “Like A God” and Tim Wheeler’s epic lead guitar on the six-and-a-half minute single “Crashed Out Wasted”.
Special mention has to go to the heartbreaking song “Oslo”. Featuring tender vocals from Dutch singer Démira (who wasn’t even born when the boys dropped their debut album 1977); it’s the sort of wide-eyed and unabashed love song that only Wheeler could write and is easily one of the Ivor Novello winner’s best. - JIMI A, WEB CONTENT MANAGER
Back in April 2023, British-Canadian singer Matt Maltese released his fourth studio album Driving Just To Drive. It's mellow and sentimental, but upbeat piano-driven jazz-pop... very cool, very nice.
A great listen from top to bottom, standout tracks for me include “Irony Would Have It”, “Mortician”, “Suspend Your Disbelief” and that one drum fill in the outro of “Museum”. - SAM P, EVENT MANAGEMENT
Maisie Peters' sophomore release had a lot to live up to, after her acclaimed debut caused such a stir in the music press back in 2021. Thankfully, in The Good Witch, she maintained momentum and produced a record that is widely acclaimed and, in Peters' own words was "my heart and soul, my blood on the page, the collection of stories that I've managed to capture in the past year".
A popstar on the rise, Peters shows no sign of slowing thanks to her Taylor Swift-influenced songwriting and incredible knack for imposing relatability on her listeners. - ELIZABETH J, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Janelle Monáe’s latest effort The Age of Pleasure is a perfect cocktail of self-expression, queerness, sexuality and – above all – pleasure. Where its predecessor Dirty Computer dabbled in these themes in between moments of anger, identity, and politics, The Age Of Pleasure is a near-perfect 31 minute shot of soulful serotonin that fuses afrobeat, reggae and pop together in an intricately woven and succinct track list.
The Age of Pleasure is already a summer classic that’s central emotion is joy. Crucially it feels as though it’s exactly the record Monáe needed to release in a time where, all too frequently, it’s difficult to publicly celebrate your authentic self. In The Age of Pleasure she does it beautifully. - SARAH M, HEAD OF MARKETING
The sophomore album from Geese is, as the NME said: "story of an uptight cowboy as he wanders through the desert after taking psychedelic drugs, watching the world around him – and his concept of the self – unravel in the process".
I’ve been walking around screaming “BE MY WARRIOR” with any friends that know it ever since it came out.“ Cowboy Nudes” is the unrivalled anthem of the year. Having said that, the whole album is so refreshingly fun, ambitious and full of energy. Song-wise, there’s so much variety; it’s all weird, feels good, and slaps. What’s not to love? - JIMI M, EVENT MANAGEMENT
Ten years have passed since Fall Out Boy's infamous hiatus came to an end, and their output since then has been somewhat shaky. With their eighth LP So Much (For) Stardust though, it feels as though Fall Out Boy finally have something important to say rather than just a contract to fulfil, and we’ve seen the return of a former spark that had been lacking since their comeback. The result is an album that goes far beyond simply being a pop-punk throwback record.
While we’re certainly closer to that sound than we've been for over a decade, the record shines brightest when it utilises Patrick Stump's (vocals, guitar) gift for composition, combined with Pete Wentz's (bass, lyrics) much-admired lyricism to create songs that are so far from what you’d expect from a Fall Out Boy track, such as disco-inspired "What a Time to Be Alive". So Much (For) Stardust is Fall Out Boy's finest work in at least 15 years, and a perfect amalgam of each of their seven previous records. - SARAH M, HEAD OF MARKETING
Nottingham rockers As December Falls barely took time away from festivals and touring, but somehow managed to release their third LP this year. Although finding success on the festival circuit and with the rock critics of today, it's a crime As December Falls aren't as big as they deserve to be.
In Join The Club, the band move towards the heaviest sound they've created to date and it works in their favour. The album is impossibly infectious and draws on influence across the rock spectrum, from metal to 00s emo and far beyond. It's an absolute pleasure to listen to, and we can't wait to see where they go from here. - ELIZABETH J, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
For a band that made waves over the last two years with a song called “Big Disappointment”, the highly anticipated debut album Life Under The Gun from Ian Shelton’s Militarie Gun certainly does not disappoint.
The LA hardcore band have exploded onto the scene with a record that's packed front to back with hooks and endlessly relatable lyricism. For me, I can’t see another record knocking this off its perch for 2023. - JACK M, CUSTOMER SERVICES
South London death metallers Burner released their debut album this year, full of filthy breakdowns, riffs, screams and more. It All Returns To Nothing is a completely sexy mix of hardcore and metal chaos that's executed perfectly. Environmental concerns and their dying hope for the government are the most prominent themes running through the album's lyrical output.
Keep an eye on this South London band if you love the heavier, brutally honest side of music: standout tracks include “Hurt Locker”, “It All Returns To Nothing”, “An Affirming Flame”. - ELIZABETH J, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
It may be a well-trodden path for loudmouth Jason Williamson and producer Andrew Fearn, yet again mixing up DIY beats with spat-out bars of street poetry rage, but the Nottingham pairing’s latest LP UK Grim has proven to be the best Sleaford Mods album since seminal record Divide and Exit.
Gritty, witty, but never pretty – it’s a vital addition to the ultimate Marmite band’s back catalogue. – JIMI A, WEB CONTENT MANAGER
Blending ambient electronica with dream pop, post rock and shoegaze, the sphere of influences bdrmm continues to swell to an enormous size with latest release I Don't Know.
The Hull-based band could have easily buckled under the pressures of both second album syndrome and the sheer weight of their own creative ambitions. Instead, they have more than risen to the challenge and released a record that will no doubt be considered a masterpiece in their promising career and a vital addition to anyone’s collection in 2023. - JIMI A, WEB CONTENT MANAGER
In this new wave of emo, Paramore once again find themselves at a pivotal point in their career where they're effortlessly redefining the genre that brought them into the limelight almost 20 years ago.
This Is Why is a delicious blending of Bloc Party-inspired dance-punk, Talking Heads-esque rock, and good old-fashioned pop-punk. Somehow, Paramore released a record this year that appears as though it's their tightest, most meticulously planned and refined of their career; yet, it feels as though they have (at least in part) relinquished control.
Paramore’s sixth record is almost gloriously feral in places: unapologetically honest and deeply personal, with its best moments coming from an outpouring of political outrage, aching emotional turmoil, and tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation. - SARAH M, HEAD OF MARKETING
Teeside band Benefits dropped their debut album Nails and it's every bit as nasty and uncompromising as we all hoped. Led by Kingsley Hall, Benefits veer wildly from lengthy spoken word poetry highlighting the sheer pain of being on the sharp end of cruel Tory rule to abrasive walls of sound and furious bursts of death metal with a bit of post-punk and a bit of lo-fi electronica thrown in for good measure.
Tracks like “Flag”, “Empire” and “Traitors” take blind nationalism head-on, tearing apart the racist rhetoric used to justify BREXIT. It’s a record that reveals the acute pain felt by working-class communities, demonised, brutalised, and left without hope or solidarity. Nails is probably the most punk record of the 2020’s so far, and they’re only just getting started.- JIMI A, WEB CONTENT MANAGER
The long awaited eighth album from Avenged Sevenfold took four years for the band to complete, and was released seven years since their last album. So, thank goodness it was well and truly worth the wait.
The avant-garde metal record Life Is But A Dream... sees Avenged Sevenfold back at the top of their game - taking risks, and pushing boundaries with a hell of lot of experimentation. But, I wouldn’t expect anything less from them at this point! - LUCY H, EVENT MANAGEMENT
I was a little late to fall in love with Caroline Polachek's fourth solo album Desire, I Want To Turn Into You. I found the music of the former Charlift frontwoman in the midst of the pandemic, when I discovered her previous album Pang and was completely hooked by her signature avant-garde art-pop.
My obsession with Pang is probably why I was less inclined to fall for Desire quite so vehemently, but it's since hit me over the head with its incredible innovation and eclecticism. While still undeniably Caroline, her latest effort broke the boundaries of art-pop time and time again throughout its 45 minutes. It's a thoroughly exciting release that draws on influences of the past while driving pop music firmly into the future. – SARAH M, HEAD OF MARKETING
Indie supergroup boygenius released their debut LP this year and had already amassed a huge following having only previously released one EP in 2018. But, with previous catalogues of music from Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker as an indication of what was possible, it’s not hard to see why the anticipation for the record was high.
the record is an incredible effort, with strong singles and infectious album tracks which gives each of these gifted musicians their own time to breathe and complement one another. It takes just enough style from each of the members’ previous work and blends it in a way that is fundamentally new and exciting.
What’s most endearing about the record, though, is where its feeling of comradery, friendship, and childlike joy is most defined. In between its mournful moments are the warmest sunbeams of affection that is only uniquely found in female friendship. - SARAH M, HEAD OF MARKETING
The supergroup of all supergroups, boygenius created an album with real nice lyrics and harmonies - plus some great songs to have a little cry to also! Standout tracks for me include “Letter To An Old Poet”, “Leonard Cohen”, “Not Strong Enough” and “True Blue”. - EMMIE S, CUSTOMER SERVICES
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