Finding Any Joy In 2023

I don't think that I've ever had a year like 2023 when it came to collecting records and just listening to music in general. I really spent the majority of the year feeling a bit lost when it came to what I wanted to listen to. Hardcore and metal were still in the rotation but I really felt the pull to listen to different things. I've always been a full album kind of listener, but this year had me doing specific songs from Spotify playlists and checking out a lot of stuff that I never would have expected to like. Songs from The Smiths, Orville Peck and Zack Bryan... stuff that I would have never been open to listening to in years past were suddenly getting repeat plays... and Lana Del Rey ended up with the most listened to song on my Spotify list, so yeah, even I didn't know who the fuck I was for most of this past year. It was weird and I enjoyed it. Plus, a lot of my focus was pulled off of records and instead I obsessed over books. I've always been a big reader, but this year I met some new friends that shared that obsession and they turned me on to different reading challenges on StoryGraph which only fanned the flame of that passion. With my thoughts consumed with books, I suddenly wasn't too concerned with my Discogs notifications or keeping up to date with this blog, and I pulled way back on buying records. I still picked up some good shit though, so let's check that out.

I never have a lot of focus on what I'm buying. My mood shifts and my buying habits flow with it. Basically I just listen to something, and if it really strikes me a certain way, then I just want to buy it. I went from wanting to buy some classic thrash records this year, and then thinking that I wanted to buy some crucial punk stuff... but then my eye would catch on an album that I hadn't listened to in a long time and I WOULD NEED THAT IMMEDIATELY. So here is the randomness that is my Top 9 purchases from this past year.

1. Judge 'New York Crew' on blue - I didn't expect to ever own this record, and I don't really know why. Small collector thinking. So when I worked a vague trade with Marcus for a record that he wanted, and he ended up sending me this one from a list of wants that I drew up on the spot in about 3 minutes, I was shocked that he pulled it off and was able to score this for me.

2. Striking Distance 'March To Your Grave' supreme court cover - This is decent hardcore record. I like it, but I've never lost my mind over it. This cover though? Fuck yes. That I wanted in a bad way.

3. AC/DC 'Highway To Hell' Australian first press - This isn't the last AC/DC Australian pressing that I need, but it is the last big one for the collection. All that I'm missing right now is the live LP, If You Want Blood. Could not be happier to finally have this Australian alternate cover in my possession. Why the fuck didn't I rate this one higher on my list?

4. Black Flag colored vinyl - Colored vinyl for Black Flag was a fucking mission for this year. I've wanted this for the collection for years, and early this year I really wanted to make it happen. I spent a lot of time in the Spring listening to the later era Flag, so I was stoked to get these two.

5. Sick Of It All 'Yours Truly' on red - It had been a long time since I'd spent time with this Sick Of It All record. Fuck, it has been years since I've probably bothered with any of the SOIA Fat Wreck albums. I'd kinda forgot about them, but when I was spending some time in my early 2000's playlists, Yours Truly came up and wow, I'd forgotten just how fun this shit is.

6. Over My Dead Body 'Sink Or Swim' final show - Okay, technically I bought this one at the end of 2022, but it didn't make the blog until the first of this year, so I'm counting it... plus, these past few years I've rediscovered how great OMDB were. Bands can get buried in time and dust, and that was the case with Over My Dead Body. This band was so good. Finding this special cover for their final show at a record store in Boston was not something that I was expecting.

7. Trouble 'Psalm 9' on white - Dude, this record has been on my immediate want list for years, but I keep putting it off for one reason. *whining* "That is too expensive" and "That condition isn't good enough". Fucking hell. I got sick of dicking around about it and I bought one with little regard of the price. Just give it to me.

8. Unified Action record release - Lins from Unified Action is an old blogger friend, and when I heard that his band was going to have a special cover for their record release show over in the UK, I immediately sent him a message asking how I could get one. I didn't really expect that he would hold one aside for me, but it didn't hurt to ask. I was grateful that he not only did that for me, but that he also gave me number 15 out of 15. Very cool.

9. Overkill 'Under The Influence' orignal press - An old school thrash classic and the final album I needed for the early Overkill collection. Originally released in 1988 when I graduated high school, and there is no denying how important this record was to me at that time.

1. Drain - Living Proof

2. As Friends Rust - Any Joy

3. Drink Deep - DD

4. Vantage Point - Against Myself

5. Scowl - Psychic Dance Routine

6. Wreckage - Our Time

7. Magnitude - Of Days Renewed...

8. Envision - The Gods That Built Tomorrow

9. Buggin - Concrete Cowboys

There were some really great hardcore records released this year. I didn't think much about it over the past 12 months, but sitting here right now and looking at this list... there is a lot of stuff here that I'll be getting a charge out for years. Dude, that Drain album? I did not expect much from that one, and when I started putting this list together, I was thinking that it was going to end up somewhere in the middle. But the more that I thought about it, the higher it climbed. Fuck it. It deserves the number one spot. I also kind of forgot about that Scowl record because it feel like it was released so long ago, but yeah, I still have a good time spinning that one. I wasn't overwhelmed with a bunch of hardcore releases, but the ones that I did pick up are so good.

1. Enforcer - Nostalgia

Blood Star - First Sighting

3. Blood Ceremony - The Old Ways Remain

4. Overkill - Scorched

5. Metallica - 72 Seasons

6. Pest Control - Don't Mess With The Pest

7. Cirith Ungol - Dark Parade

8. Night Demon - Outsider

9. Metal Church - Congregation Of Annihilation

This year I had a hard time getting excited about the metal albums. Very solid albums from Blood Star and Blood Ceremony, and a nice rebound for Enforcer to put them back at number one... plus I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the new Metallica... but overall, for the most part I just didn't find myself in a hurry to return to many of them.

Yeah, it was kind of a weird year. Like I mentioned, I was kind of lost early in the year for what I wanted to listen to. I think that I spent so much time with new hardcore records in 2022, that this year I was burned out on it. The last couple of years I've kind of rediscovered R.E.M., and that really took off this year. I listened to that band a lot. Plus, The Smashing Pumpkins connected with me in a big way... specifically the Mellon Collie album. I've never given the band much thought, but I started to slowly check them out last year, and when I wanted something different, this band always hit what I wanted. Yeah, I was slow to fully appreciate High Vis, but their last album finally clicked and I listened to that a lot earlier this year. I didn't expect to like the Actions and Indications album from Seaweed as much as I did. I figured that it would be okay, but nothing special. I was wrong. I loved it.

There were a number of bands that were introduced to me by a new friend that I met in an online bookclub on Instagram. She had me listen to Gulch and Amyl and the Sniffers from a couple years ago, and they both blew my mind. Plus she made me check out Life Of Agony because I had actively avoided them all these years, and the River Runs Red album surprised the hell out of me. It was not what I thought it was at all, and it shocked me just how good it was. Another one that I wasn't expecting was the Downer album from 2001 that was just released on vinyl this year. Marcus told me to check it out, and it fit that different vibe that I was looking for perfectly.

So yeah, it was a different kind of year. I'm not sure if I'll get back on track for 2024, but if you are still hanging out and checking this nonsense, I appreciate it.