Luke Nuttall (Editor / Writer)
5
Grave Pleasures – Disintegration Girl
Few hooks have drilled themselves in deeper this year than “She’s the end of the world in the form of a girl”, courtesy of Grave Pleasures filling in the corners of gothic opulence that Creeper have since outgrown. That’s an especially apt comparison when you consider this song in particular, wrestling through the throes of post-punk desolation while handily leaving a golden pop kernel intact. Grave Pleasures have never been averse to launching a few gloomy bangers from out of nowhere, but Disintegration Girl is something of a crowning achievement among them all—bigger, more kinetic, more rambunctiously bracing, and more of what makes Grave Pleasures so much fun.
4
The Menzingers – Alone In Dublin
Although 2023 hasn’t been the most banner of years for The Menzingers (relatively speaking, of course), they’ve not been without their heavy hitters. Even on an album that emphatically felt more comfortable than outright commanding, a song like Alone In Dublin can singlehandedly send the feels rushing in. It’s just classic ‘Zingers, at the end of the day—an alt-punk ode to lost love framed by advancing age and the lonely Dublin cityscape, detailed in a way for Gregor Barnett to undergo his own little Ulysses journey along the way. And of course, he knows his way around a line and a hook that’s impossibly evocative, to where not only is “jingle-jangle jargon” one of the year’s standout phrases, but in capturing a plainspoken humanity like no one’s business, even The Menzingers operating at half-speed can flatten you with emotion. Business as usual, then.
3
Hot Milk – Zoned Out
In what was unquestionably an enormous year for Hot Milk—capping off a fairly consistent string of them, we should add—you’re kind of spoiled for choice as far as cuts from A Call To The Void go that stood out immensely. Zoned Out, though, feels like just the kind of anthem that a band like this needs right now, skirting between their older pop-rock anthemia and a soul-bearing heft indicative of their current form, condensed into a slobberknocker of a chorus that puts both Han Mee and Jim Shaw at their best in performance. It couldn’t be more to-the-point as far as examples go of a great song elevated so high purely on said greatness. A pop-rock highlight of the year that only appreciated in value with every fresh spin.
2
Fall Out Boy – What A Time To Be Alive
Maybe there were better songs on So Much (For) Stardust, but few felt more satisfying than this one. In a post-hiatus world where the reappraisal of Folie À Deux has seen it rise as one of Fall Out Boy’s crowning achievements (for good reason), a song building on the glitz and ostentatiousness of Motown and Earth, Wind & Fire worship, alongside the cynical insularity that’s become a deep theme of their recent work, is among the easiest possible wins to sketch out. And lo, here’s Fall Out Boy milking every moment of that, sweeping and strutting through premium earworm territory that’s better than a post-pandemic cross-section of human failing has any right to be. It’s almost like that’s always what they’ve been good at, or something… Either way, What A Time To Be Alive is the kind of hit that Fall Out Boy fans have been crying out for for damn close to a decade, and it’s rare that scenarios like that yield results where every drop of output feels so, so earned.
1
Spanish Love Songs – Clean Up Crew
Every time Spanish Love Songs seem as though they’ve gone as far as they can go, they manage to utterly atomise any such notion. Haunted spoke for itself from the word ‘go’, but Clean Up Crew is barely behind in terms of their indie-rock metamorphosis paying off handsomely. In fact, it might be an even better display of the beaten-down magic of old making the leap with barely a hitch, in Dylan Slocum’s world-weary tremble that might shape itself into an indie-punk stomper, but isn’t free of the weight bearing down. It’s the easy win that Spanish Love Songs frequently strive for, but you can’t fault it when it never misses. This has the force and the feeling that’d carry it far past the finish line on its own, paired with a tantalisingly rich, layered sound and tight-as-anything construction that sends it rocketing so much further instead. Just a few of many reasons why Spanish Love Songs’ campaign for modern rock domination is on such stable ground, and when they keep knocking it out of the park like this, how can you possibly deny it?
Georgia Jackson (Deputy Editor / Writer)
5
Kelsea Ballerini – Penthouse
Kelsea Ballerini came to terms with her divorce on Valentine’s Day release Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, Penthouse taking the ‘best confessional power-ballad’ title well and truly home. The storytelling is incredibly visual and classic country, using the titular penthouse Ballerini and her ex-husband to describe how their relationship felt like playing home is heartbreaking. She’d later release a ‘healed’ version (raucous crowd cheers after declaring her husband’s settlement makes the fury hit home even more), but that pain healing doesn’t change Penthouse’s raw brilliance.
4
Enter Shikari – Jailbreak
A Kiss For The Whole World showed Enter Shikari buoyantly persevering through the increasingly impossible day-to-day of life in the UK, but Jailbreak provided the out-and-out party that everyone needs right now. Rou Reynolds is at his best when rousing a rabble, this song doing just that in its declarations of defiance, shout-along chorus and dedicated dance / mosh moment.
3
Gracie Abrams – I should hate you
Gracie Abrams’ introspective songwriting hit new highs on her debut record Good Riddance this year, I should hate you one of the absolute best on its tracklist. She lays bare her misery following a relationship ending, always conversational and heavy on details which place the listener right in the middle of her kitchen breakdown but lets the chorus, a simple repeating of the song’s title, marinate and speak for itself. As it all comes crashing down in the stunning bridge, home to some of Abrams’ best gut-wrenching one-liners, it chokeholds the listener in Abrams’ own delicate way, leaving a mark that lasts long after her album has finished playing.
2
Paramore – You First
This Is Why saw Paramore grappling with their innermost demons in their most rock-forward guise in a while, the pinnacle being the storming You First. Detailing the inside battle between the hero of one’s own story or the bad guy, the band’s new angular sound and Hayley Williams’ always-perfect delivery (both in terms of vocal prowess and embodying the story she’s telling) making this one of the most dynamic songs on the whole album.
1
Olivia Rodrigo – all-american bitch
Olivia Rodrigo is great at a ballad, but she’s at her most exciting when she’s bouncing off the walls. all-american bitch is the perfect opening to her sophomore record Guts, acknowledging and rebuffing the standards women are expected to meet in gloriously bratty fashion. She flits between fingerpicked Fleetwood Mac-esque verses before exploding into a raucous chorus (its production making sure that transition hits even on your hundredth listen). The song is a total party while it plays, but it’s also the perfect mission statement for Olivia Rodrigo and Guts, which is why it’s such a highlight both on the record and of the year.
