The Best of Q1 2023

A couple of years ago, I challenged myself to stay up on new music through monthly collections of my favorite releases. That was a fun exercise but proved to be exhausting and a little redundant as the months wore on. Last year, I decided to scale things back to quarterly write-ups posted every three months, which felt like a much better cadence to discuss my favorite albums throughout the year.

Early in 2023, I put out a call for guest writers, and the response was more heartening and overwhelming than I ever could have expected. Within the space of a week, the Swim Into The Sound “staff” quadrupled to almost two dozen writers, meaning the blog has been busier and more energized than ever before. We’ve been putting out reviews more regularly and publishing at least one article a week, oftentimes more. It means we’ve been able to launch fun new initiatives like Hater’s Delight, and it’s given me more time to be intentional and thoughtful with my own writing. Most relevant to this article, this influx of new writers also means we can spread the love even further when it comes to these quarterly roundups.

Instead of just me talking about the (mostly emo) records I’ve been enjoying throughout the first few months of the year, I decided it made more sense to turn this over to our newly-bolstered staff to get a diverse spread of opinions and musical recommendations. What follows is each writer talking about their favorite album released in the first quarter of the year, with just one paragraph or two devoted to spreading the word about the music they can’t stop listening to. I hope this roundup gives you something new to listen to and love, I know it already has done so for me. 

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Black Belt Eagle Scout – The Land, The Water, The Sky

Saddle Creek

In a Q1 where some of my other favorite releases (Paramore, Caroline Polachek) have been relatively short (and full of singles I’d already heard!), this Black Belt Eagle Scout record has refreshed me with its expansiveness. Many of the twelve tracks meander past the 4-minute mark, encouraging the listener to hang out and explore. It’s been such a perfect album to put on at night when I’m chasing some elusive peace of mind—Katherine Paul’s voice is atmospheric, yet warm, and on songs like “Salmon Stinta” and the album’s lead single, “Don’t Give Up,” she even borders on meditative. The record’s not all softness, though; the drums and guitars of The Land, The Water, The Sky ground the songs and give them an urgency I hadn’t necessarily noticed from Black Belt Eagle Scout in the past. Specifically, the guitars’ spacious reverb gives the record a fun rock flavor without ever losing that crucial sense of serenity (or, at least, contemplation). My favorite track is “Understanding,” which is also the most rock-y track and sounds a bit like what would happen if Cat Power drank a few Red Bulls. I’ve found The Land, The Water, The Sky extremely easy to love and easy to listen to a LOT—it’s a beautiful place to retreat and linger a while. 

Katie Wojciechowski – @ktewoj

Dougie Poole – Rainbow Wheel of Death

Warf Cat Records

Rainbow Wheel of Death is the kind of record that reminds me why I love country music so much. This album is full of genius, with something for everyone tucked inside. Lyrics about waking up crying, oceans split in two, holding white lilies on the megabus. Collage album art that features Karl Marx. Poole’s voice is like salted caramel, rich and mellow on every track. The jaunty music injects feel-good rhythm into a nonetheless starkly tragic record; it salutes traditional country music while creating brand new formulations to thrilling effect. There are several perfect songs. The insanely catchy riff from “Beth David Cemetery.” The heartbreakingly tender lap steel guitar on the harrowing “Nothing in This World Can Make Me Smile.” The record includes my current contender for song of the year, “High School Gym,” which departs from the twangy country sound of the rest of the album, using electric keyboards and uptempo percussion to create a retro synthy energy. The upbeat sound belies the sadness in the lyrics; Poole describes a recurring dream in which he encounters all his departed loved ones–grandfathers, friends–in the stands of a gymnasium, asking him, “can’t you turn back time… so we can roll the ol’ dice again / oh, the house always wins.” This record is one of the most stirring and tender documents of grief and one of the year’s best releases so far.

Elizabeth – @OneFeIISwoop

Lonnie Holley - Oh Me Oh My

Jagjaguwar

I originally planned to write about my continuing admiration for Xiu Xiu’s haunting album Ignore Grief, but I found myself compelled to shine a light on Lonnie Holley’s powerful and poignant Oh Me Oh My instead. I was not familiar with Holley prior to this album and only checked this album out due to the folk art album artwork catching my eye. The second he began singing on the opening track, “Testing,” I knew I had stumbled upon something truly special. Holley’s voice sent chills through my body. He has the voice of a man who has lived through some of the heaviest hardships life can offer and shares his experiences through a voice, and lyrics, that bares it all with a certainty and understanding that can only come from being in the pits and living to grow another day. This album features the likes of Michael Stipe, Moor Mother, Sharon Van Etten, Jeff Parker, and Bon Iver, and not once do they outshine Holley’s mesmerizing performance and deeply moving prose. Oh Me Oh My deserves your time and attention. What Holley and co. have crafted is an important work that speaks to our current times by reflecting and grappling with a painful past that, in many ways, persists today. This is a triumphant work that is sure to be revered as time goes on and more discover it.

Christian Perez – @mildblasphemy

Nick Webber – All The Nothing I Know

Self-released

Henri Nouwen once said something like, “if you try to write for a wide audience, no one pays attention. But if you try to write with one person in mind, a friend who needs to hear one truth, the rest of the world leans in to listen.” 

Nick Webber, on his new LP All The Nothing I Know, tells a very specific and niche story - his own pain and confusion of growing up in and growing out of a particular kind of rural religious fundamentalism. But in making a record only he could make, he ends up writing some of the most beautiful, moving (and accessible) indie folk I’ve ever heard. Standout tracks are the existential bops “Night Terror” and “Parabola” as well as the very earnest and sweet “I Tried To Warn You.” If you grew up religious, you’ll find a ton of Easter eggs to pick up (pun intended), but even if you’ve never set foot in a church, there’s a lot to love here.

Ben Sooy – @bensooy

Plain Speak – Calamity

Self-released

My partner judges me for watching guitar pedal videos on YouTube. I (mostly) never buy them, but watching them is a lovely comedown from the stress of everyday life. Last year, as she herself decompressed by watching the beautiful, heartbreaking Call the Midwife, I discovered the Calamity Drive, an extremely versatile pedal with a second footswitch labeled “GOOSE,” which does just that. I took advantage of a sale on the Calamity Drive over the long Thanksgiving holiday after seeing that one of Plain Speak’s guitarists, Dan Pechacek of Old Blood Noise Endeavors, had a hand in its design. After listening to their first album, Foundations, I fell in love with the band. They made me feel the best parts of nostalgia, listening to early and mid-2000s indie and emo albums while feeling vaguely heartbroken about something I can’t place now and couldn’t discern then. After wearing that album out, I wanted more Plain Speak but was nervous, given that Foundations came out almost a decade ago. Shortly thereafter, the band serendipitously announced Calamity. 

Plain Speak’s latest album again evokes mid-2000s alternative, indie, and emo rock (think a heavier Death Cab for Cutie or a more agnostic Manchester Orchestra), but with more angular guitar lines (“Better”) and somehow nerdier and more universal-yet-specific lyrics (“Career Day”). Knowing the care and passion that goes into designing and assembling the Calamity Drive, it’s unsurprising how precise, crisp, and clean Calamity sounds. I thought the way Calamity makes me feel, though, used to be irreplaceable. Instead, the album made me fall in love again with the meaningful music from my years of formative development. Despite coming out on March 10, Last.fm already reports that they are my top artist this year. I know it’s early, but I don’t see that changing. 

Joe Wasserman – @a_cuppajoe

saturdays at your place – always cloudy

No Sleep Records

saturdays at your place seemingly came out of nowhere in late 2022, announcing their signing to No Sleep Records alongside their sophomore release, always cloudy. Lead single “tarot cards” had listeners hooked instantly with, in true Midwest emo style, catchy lyrics about being awkward at parties. While topics like these make for tired tropes, especially in this particular vein of emo, the band does an excellent job at taking familiar sounds and making them their own. Every track on the release has a ton to offer both musically and lyrically, however, I can’t help myself from coming back to track six, “eat me alive.” Conjuring aspects of acts like Remo Drive and Hot Mulligan in their songwriting/vocal melodies, always cloudy offers more and more on every listen. s@yp is here to stay.

Brandon Cortez – @numetalrev

Stress Fractures – Stress Fractures

Acrobat Unstable and Old Press Records

“Stress Fractures” by the band Stress Fractures off the album Stress Fractures was my first real obsession of 2023. The titular lead single was released back in December and quickly instituted itself as a daily listen. Whenever I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to listen to? Stress Fractures. Whenever I wanted to find a song or two to queue up in between albums? Stress Fractures. Whenever I wanted some high-energy emo shit? Well, you get the idea. Then I heard an advance of the album, and it cast me under the same spell. I couldn’t help but gush about the record in a review, but here’s the short version. 

Stress Fractures is the brainchild of Martin Hacker-Mullen. You might recognize that name as one of the people behind Acrobat Unstable Records, playing bass in Clearbody, or half-a-dozen other ventures from across the Carolina DIY space. Stress Fractures, however, is Marty’s baby where they compose every note and exercise complete creative control. The record features Caden Clinton of Pool Kids on drums, a guest spot from Tyler Stodghill of Stars Hollow, and a guitar solo from Eric Smeal of Clearbody, but other than those contributions, this is entirely Marty’s record. The album itself is something of a “greatest hits” featuring re-recorded versions of songs from earlier EPs, splits, and demos dating all the way back to 2015. There’s some new stuff sprinkled in throughout there too, but this results in a strong showing where lots of these songs have been stress tested from years of performances and basement gigs. The whole thing clocks in at a blazing fast 25 minutes, making for an emo album that’s fun, bouncy, and breathless but also has some genuinely poetic things to say about evergreen topics of love, life, friends, connection, and self-betterment. 

Taylor Grimes – @GeorgeTaylorG

U2 – Songs Of Surrender

Island

In my short time at SITS, I’ve deep-dived on KISS, compared Andy Shauf to Burt Bacharach, and complained about pop artists trying to co-opt punk music. So I understand that me picking U2’s forty-track acoustic album for the best of Q1 might make it seem like I’m some Rolling Stone industry plant. Fear not, unless they let me run their list department, I’ll never be close. But I do want to make a case for how wonderful this release is. It’s not a cash grab, and it’s not U2 running out of ideas. It’s the companion piece to Bono’s tremendous memoir Surrender from last year. The book was 40 stories from his life interwoven with 40 songs from his band’s catalog. Songs Of Surrender is the soundtrack, although some songs have been taken out or added from the book’s picks. The stripped-down re-imaginings of classics like “Vertigo” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” prove that U2 is just as iconic as a pub band as they are stadium titans. Bono sings with passion, and the emotion can be felt through the speakers on ballads like “With Or Without You” and “One.” It’s a treat for diehards but likely intimidating for casual or even non-fans. I’d recommend just giving the songs you know a shot; perhaps these new arrangements will show you something you haven’t seen in the band before. If you’re looking for something not so corporate, the two new Ulthar albums for 20 Buck Spin, Anthronomicon and Helionomicon, are progressive-blackened-death-metal insanity and sound nothing like U2.

Logan Arcter Mounts – @VERTICALCOFFIN

100 gecs – 10,000 gecs

Dog Show/Atlantic

10,000 Gecs is the sonic equivalent of those strange TikToks I keep getting where the top half of the screen is Fidel Castro giving a political speech and the bottom half is someone playing Subway Surfers or making slime or some other weird sensory stimulation shit along those lines. There’s a lot going on in this album (and all of it within the running time of a sitcom episode), but all of it is in service of something that we could all get behind: having a good time living through the absurdity of our increasingly digital lives. I can’t really say if there’s any depth here lyrically, but who cares about depth when you have a hard-ass nu-metal riff or a ska-esque song about a frog on the floor doing a… keg stand? Did they sample the frog, or did he record his croaks live in the studio? 10,000 Gecs isn’t even remotely interested in answers- or questions, really- but damn, how could you not bob your head to everything on this record? It’s equal parts ridiculous and sincere; a heartfelt microwaved TV dinner that your best friend nuked for you in their barely functional microwave after a night out at the arcade. 10,000 gecs reminds us that the world is as gorgeous as a train wreck in slow motion, so we might as well have some fun art to soundtrack our impromptu exit through the windshield. 

Nickolas – @DJQuicknut