Albums of the Year 2023: Kesha - Gag Order

Some years there’s no obvious Album of the Year. 2023 is not such a year. Any one of five albums could have been my choice. I chose Kesha from that esteemed selection because her fifth album bombed commercially, and I want to BIG IT RIGHT UP.

The album I’ve listened to most all year is Iggy Pop’s Every Loser. Partly this is because it came out in January, so I really did listen to it all year. But mostly it’s because, after years of often interesting albums which I cherry-picked, the great proto-punk survivor came up with a whole set that worked, a straightforward rock album, with hooks that stuck.

At the moment the album that refuses to leave the turntable is Madness’s new one, which bears the awkward title Theatre of the Absurd presents C’est la Vie, as well as iffy PhotoShop-style cover art. Pry out the contents, though, and it’s their most consistent album in years, fired with anger and sadness at what’s become of this country, tying such emotions to songs that are very Madness but also move their sound in unexpected directions.

Electronic music delivered gems. US producer Oneohtrix Point Never continued his journey to the frontiers of sonic possibility on Again, while always keeping things interesting, even weirdly poppy, while The Chemical Brothers’ For That Beautiful Feeling took their stadium techno and tweaked it. It’s hardly a quantum leap, but that’s the point. What they do is excellent.

But Kesha came out top. She settled her longstanding legal battle with Dr Luke in June but the month before she and producer Rick Rubin revealed Gag Order, an album entirely unlike anything she – or indeed, anyone else - has ever produced. It’s an excoriation of personal pain, depression, and the dangers of personal struggles crossing into art. It’s also witty, occasionally comical. Often pared back, sonically adventurous, it ranges from Kesha making cat noises to bellowing a gigantic gospel chorus, from smeary electronic textures to strummed guitars, from the words of post-LSD mystic Baba Ram Das to a wonky, psychedelic ocarina interlude. In short, Gag Order is never dull, and every song is a gem.

Three More Essential Albums from 2023

Iggy Pop Every Loser

Madness Theatre of the Absurd presents C’est La Vie

Oneohtrix Point Never Again

Musical Experience of the Year

I’ve had some whoppers! I shook, rattled and rolled to both The Hives and Sparks at Glastonbury Festival, to Beyoncé at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, to Iggy at his own Dog Day Afternoon one-dayer at Crystal Palace, to the electro-sneer of Shelf Lives at the Latest Bar in Brighton during multi-venue Great Escape, and to superb, enlivening sets from MadMadMad, Django Django and Grace Jones at a completely waterlogged Bluedot Festival. However, I’ve been Chair and Events Coordinator of the Cellar Arts Club in Worthing for a few years and our events came into their own this year (though I say it myself!). So, while we’ve had brilliant sets by everyone from Moonya to Fabi Paras to Gramski, the hugest highlight for this old raver was back in January, dancing like a loon to junglist DJ legend Jumping Jack Frost downstairs in that sweaty little room surrounded by friends and family.

Track of the Year

Orbital featuring Sleaford Mods “Dirty Rat”

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Below: Watch the video for "Only Love Can Save Us Now" by Kesha