Some favourites from 2023

Not Unloved only deals in facts (and speculation and hyperbole, of course!) and it's a fact that in 2023 I bought more records than I could possibility assimilate in the what little time there was left after workin' for a livin', going to a crazy number of gigs (it was a GREAT year for live music in Glasgow!), attending football matches, listening to music-related podcasts (hiya That Record Got Me High!) and watching copious videos of "Old men talking about records" (copyright J) on YouTube. The inevitable consequence of this was that lots of brilliant records didn't get enough spins which is madness given how expensive a lot of records are these days. Of course, I'll make a resolution to address this unsustainable situation in 2024 and then break it within a fortnight when the first batch of new releases winks at me from from the "Just In" bins. As ever, the only rule for the lists below was that they were bought on a physical format.

N.B. All titles are links to the various records so please check 'em out if you don't know 'em!

Albums:

The Clientele "I'm Not There Anymore" (Merge)
Linda Smith & Nancy Andrews "A Passing Cloud" (Grapefruit)
The Declining Winter "Really Early, Really Late" (Signal)
Purelink "Signs" (Peak Oil) / Intertoto "Thermal Shadow" (Intertoto)
Hotline TNT "Cartwheel" (Third Man)
Man Rei "Health" (Somewhere Press)
Maxine Funke "River Said" (Disciples)
Yo La Tengo "This Stupid World" (Matador)

TKB "Dream Nightclub" (Where To Now?)

seablite "Lemon Lights" (Mt. St. Mtn.)

Pia Fraus "Evening Colours" (Seksound)

GNAC "The Echoes On The Departure" (Vertical Horizon)

Famous Mammals "Instant Pop Expressionism Now!" (Siltbreeze)

E.P.s/singles:

Tara Clerkin Trio "On The Turning Ground" 12" (Tough Love)

Emilia Sisco with Cold Diamond & Mink "Trouble" 7" (Timmion)

Wet Tuna "PARTY PHONE extended play" 12" (Feral Child)
The Laughing Chimes "The Best of The Laughing Chimes E.P." 7" (Slumberland/Prefect)
The Hazmats "Skewed View" 7" (Static Shock)
Quad 90 "Le Blanc" 12" lathe cut (Last Night From Glasgow)

The Prize "First Sight" 7" (Drunken Sailor)

Rain Parade "Last Rays of a Dying Sun" 7" (090)

Lightheaded "Good Good Great!" cassette (Slumberland)

Wild Billy Childish & CTMF "Traces of You" 7" (Spinout Nuggets)

Chime School "Coming To Your Town" 7" (Slumberland)

Thee Marloes "Midnight Hotline" 7" (Big Crown)

Odd Nosdam "End Is Important" 7" (Where To Now?)

Reissues/Compilations:

Wild Carnation "Tricycle (Remastered/Expanded Edition" 2xlp (Delmore)
Ivy "Apartment Life (25h Anniversary Edition)" lp (Bar/None)
Voices From The Lake "s/t" 4 x12" (Spazio Disponibile)

The Particles "1980s Bubblegum" lp (Chapter Music)

The Woods "So Long Before Now" lp (Dot Matrix)

Shizuka "Heavenly Persona" 2xlp (Black Editions)

Hydroplane "Selected Songs 1997-2003" (World of Echo)

Byard Lancaster "It's Not Up To Us" lp (Superior Viaduct)

Primal Scream "Reverberations (Travelling In Time)"  lp (Young Tiki)

Dolly Mixture "BBC Radio Sessions" lp (Sealed)

Air Miami "Me, Me, Me (Deluxe Edition)" 2xlp (4AD)

Hal Blaine "Psychedelic Percussion" lp (Jackpot)

Experimental Audio Research "The Köner Experiment" lp (Space Age Recordings)

One more fact: the most exciting second hand record to find its way into Not Unloved's box of most cherished 45s was this heartfelt slice of  60s Michigan guitar pop:

Haha...looking back on this post it would appear that I was suffering from temporary amnesia. There are so many wonderful records that I didn't recall in the moment. Sigh.