MARTIN JONES (Senior Contributor) TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR The Record – Boy Genius False Lankum – Lankum I Inside The Old Year Dying – PJ Harvey This Stupid World – Yo La Tengo [...]
MARTIN JONES (Senior Contributor)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
The Record – Boy Genius
False Lankum – Lankum
I Inside The Old Year Dying – PJ Harvey
This Stupid World – Yo La Tengo
Cousin – Wilco
V – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Nothing Lasts Forever – Teenage Fanclub
Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd – Lana Del Rey
On Pain – Lloyd Cole
Los Angeles – Lol Tolhurst + Budgie + Jacknife Lee
BEST COMPILATION REISSUES
Ghost Riders – Various (Efficient Space Australia)
BEST MUSIC BOOK
Goth: A History – Lol Tolhurst
BEST MUSIC FILM
Eno
BEST FEATURE FILMS/DOCUMENTARY
The Quiet Girl
BEST GIG
Paul McCartney
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
My father played in a band with Darcy Moore’s grandfather, Bruce Moore who only just passed away this week. Seeing Peter and Darcy together on the podium on Grand Final day was unforgettable. Oh, and KISS played too!
STUART COUPE (Senior Contributing Editor)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (In no order and excluding things I worked on)
Australian Dream – Concrete Sea
Strange Adrenaline – Nat Vazer
Did You Know There’s An Ocean Under The Sea – Lana Del Ray
Ozarker – Israel Nash
Archangel Hill – Shirley Collins
The Music That I Make – Leah Senior
Weathervanes – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
First Two Pages Of Frankenstein – The National
Brain Worms – RVG
Trouble On Big Beat Street – Pere Ubu
BEST COMPILATION REISSUES
Archives Volume 3: The Asylum Years (1972 – 1975) – Joni Mitchell
Bootleg Series Vol 17: Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996 -97) – Bob Dylan
Playing For The Man At The Door: Field Recordings From The Collection Of Mack McCormick 1958-1971
Pharoah – Pharoah Sanders
Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriters Demos – Various Artists
BEST MUSIC BOOKS
Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers And Other Sole Survivors From The Songs Of Steely Dan – Alex Pappademas & Joan Lemay
Chuck Berry: An American Life – RJ Smith
BEST OTHER BOOKS
Cosmic Scholar: The Life And Times Of Harry Smith – John Szwed
The Upstairs Delicatessen – Dwight Garner
BEST MUSIC FILMS
(Both old but I finally saw them this year)
Voice Of The Eagle: The Enigma Of Robbie Basho
Karen Dalton: In My Own Time
BEST FEATURE FILMS/DOCUMENTARY
(Also old but I finally watched them)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time
City Of Gold: The Jonathan Gold Story
BEST FESTIVAL/GIGS
Paul McCartney – Allianz Stadium
Cash Savage & The Last Drinks – City Recital Hall, Sydney
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Publication of Shake Some Action!
NICK CORR (Online Editor)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
All Night Long – Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys
Weathervanes – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Strays – Margo Price
Where Only Memory Can Find You – Mick Thomas
I Only See The Moon – Milk Carton Kids
First Two Pages of Frankenstein – The National
Exoskeleton – Nick Barker
Bird Machine – Sparklehorse
Nothing Lasts Forever – Teenage Fanclub
Cousin – Wilco
BEST COMPILATION / REISSUES:
The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions – Bob Dylan
Roaring Forty Super Deluxe Edition – Billy Bragg
Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert
History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned: The Days Of Wine and Roses – The Dream Syndicate
Complete Dirty South – Drive-By Truckers
Southeastern (10 Year Anniversary Edition) – Jason Isbell
Come on Feel (30th Anniversary Edition) – Lemonheads
Overcome By Happiness (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) – Pernice Brothers
Tim: Let It Bleed Edition – Replacements
A Song for Leon (A Tribute to Leon Russell) – Various
BEST MUSIC BOOKS:
Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Nebraska – Warren Zanes
Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You – Lucinda Williams
(Honourable mentions: Sons of Beaches – Bill McDonough, Started Out Just Drinking Beer: The Mental As Anything Story – Stuart Lloyd)
BEST MUSIC FILMS:
Louder Than You Think
Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)
BEST FEATURE FILMS:
They Cloned Tyrone
Asteroid City
Dumb Money
BEST FESTIVALS:
Bluesfest
Out On The Weekend
BEST GIGS:
Milk Carton Kids – Thornbury Theatre
Paul McCartney – Marvel Stadium
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR:
The Delines Imperial Cassette Party at the Merri Creek Tavern
TONY HILLIER (World Music & Folk)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
1. Timba a la Americana – Harold Lopez-Nussa
2. History – Bokanté
3. The Wedding Above in Glencree – Daoiri Farrell
4. Bonfire – Hazmat Modine
5. To Those Who Came Before Us – Joseph Tawadros
6. Canta a Víctor Jara – Nano Stern
7. Super Blue: The Iridescent Spree – Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter
8. The Golden Sekere – Douyé
9. Accomplice Two – Tommy Emmanuel
10. Shadow Kingdom – Bob Dylan
BEST COMPILATIONS
More Than A Whisper: Celebrating The Music of Nanci Griffith – Various Artists
Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 3 – The Asylum Years (1972-1975)
BEST MUSIC BOOK
Abbey Road – David Hepworth
BEST OTHER BOOKS
42 The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams – Edited by Kevin Jon Davies
The Darkest Shore –Karen Brooks
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Joan Baez: I Am Noise
BEST GIGs
Tommy Emmanuel – Cairns Performing Arts Centre, May
Katie Noonan – Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, June
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Witnessing the youthful brilliance of Cairns’s family jazz ensemble Carruthers & Others.
AL HENSLEY (Blues)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Buchanan Lane – Yates McKendree
Live In London – Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram
In The Waves – Steve Barry
Oscar’s Motel – The Cash Box Kings
Ramblified – Fiona Boyes
Oceans Together – Mark Ginsburg & Ryan Grogan
Get Your Back Into It – The Nick Moss Band
Daughter Of The Seas – Visions Of Nar
The Right Man – D.K. Harrell
Goldfish Blues – Will Jacobs
BEST COMPILATION/REISSUES
Delmark 70th Anniversary Jazz Anthology – Various Artists
Delmark 70th Anniversary Blues Anthology – Various Artists
BEST MUSIC BOOK
Chuck Berry: An American Life – R.J. Smith
BEST OTHER BOOK
The Book Of Roads And Kingdoms – Richard Fidler
BEST MUSIC FILM
The Other One: The Long Strange Trip Of Bob Weir
BEST FEATURE FILM/DOCUMENTARY
Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song
BEST FESTIVAL/GIG
Andy Cowan & Big Mamas Door
Noosa Arts Theatre – 11 August 2023
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
My 80th birthday celebrations and all-star jam at the Sunshine Coast Blues Club on 6 July 2023, Palmwoods Bowls Club, Queensland
BRETT LEIGH DICKS
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Keep Your Courage – Natalie Merchant
Weathervanes – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
The Returner – Allison Russell
Appaloosa Bones – Gregory Alan Isakov
I Only See The Moon – The Milk Carton Kids
Light, Dark, Light Again – Angie McMahon
Such Ferocious Beauty – Cowboy Junkies
Eight Guitars – Amanda Brown
Haunted Mountain – Jolie Holland
Safe To Run – Esther Rose
BEST COMPILATION REISSUES
Wild Creatures – Neko Case (Anti)
BEST MUSIC BOOKS
Shake Some Action – Stuart Coupe
Full Coverage – Samuel J. Fell
BEST OTHER BOOKS
If There Is A Butterfly That Drinks Tears – Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon
Operation Hurricane – Paul Grace
BEST MUSIC FILM
Daisy Jones & the Six – Amazon Prime Video
Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed – HBO
BEST FEATURE FILMS
Limbo
Oppenheimer
BEST FESTIVAL/GIGS
The Waifs – Kalgoorlie Arts Centre, Western Australia
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Clackamas County Fairgrounds, Oregon
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Sitting on the sprawling grass meadow at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo for the Zoo Tunes sessions listening to Neko Case perform a breathtakingly beautiful rendition of The Go-Betweens’s ‘The Devil’s Eye’.
BILLY PINNELL (Classic Album)
TOP 10 ALBUMS
The Night We Called It A Day – Rebecca Barnard
I Can Only Be Me – Eva Cassidy
You’re The One – Rhiannon Giddens
Peace…Like A River – Gov’t Mule
Tangled Trails – Robbie Melville
Moving On Skiffle – Van Morrison
Splash Landing – Ben Rogers Instrumental Asylum
Silver Sound – Silver Sound
Seven Psalms – Paul Simon
Here’s To You – Jo Jo Smith
RE-ISSUES
Sun 1972 – Sun (Feat. Renee Geyer )
MUSIC BOOKS
Charlie’s Good Tonight – Paul Sexton
PJ Proby And Me – Matt Cornwall
The Islander – Chris Blackwell
A Meeting At The Crossroads, Robert Johnson And The Devil – Matt Frederick
1964 Eyes Of The Storm – Paul McCartney
Full Coverage: A History Of Rock Journalism In Australia – Samuel J.Fell
MUSIC FILMS
Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads
Lost Angel: The Genius Of Judee Sill
DOCUMENTARY
Melbourne On Dylan – Directed by Chris Franklin
GIGS
Marcelle – The Paris Cat
Bill Barber – Newmarket Bowling Club
Bonnie Raitt & Mavis Staples – The Palais
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
The realisation that we can access live music in relative safety in the lucky country.
CHRIS FAMILTON (Columnist: Waiting Around To Die)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2023
Villagers – Califone 3D Country – Geese Watty Thompson – Watty Thompson Nambucca Fables – Mark Moldre Black & White Town – Perry Keyes Traffic Fiction – Tré Burt Rat Saw God – Wednesday All Night Long – Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys Outsider – Bud Rokesky Every Acre – H.C. McEntire
BEST COMPILATION REISSUES
Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) – The Replacements
BEST MUSIC BOOK
Spaceships Over Glasgow – Stuart Braithwaite
BEST MUSIC FILM
Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads Dir. Jonathan Demme)
BEST FESTIVAL
Dashville Skyline 2023
CHRISTOPHER HOLLOW (Columnist: Underwater Is Where The Action Is)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
This Stupid World – Yo La Tengo
For Who the Bells Tolls For – Jonathan Rado
Rings of Saturn – Kramer
Lore of the Land – The Order of the 12
Prairiewolf – Prairiewolf
Sit Down for Dinner – Blonde Redhead
Your Own Adventure – Hollow Hand
Norm – Andy Shauf
The Almond and the Seahorse – Gruff Rhys
Strange Ride – Murphnick
BEST COMPILATION REISSUES
Live at Hollywood Bowl – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present: Incident at a Free Festival – Various Artists
BEST MUSIC BOOKS
Lou Reed: The King of New York – Will Hermes
Wayward: Just Another Life to Live – Vashti Bunyan
BEST OTHER BOOK
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk
BEST MUSIC FILMS
The Stones and Brian Jones
Little Richard – The King and Queen of Rock and Roll
BEST FEATURE FILMS/DOCUMENTARY
Killers of the Flower Moon
Barbie
BEST FESTIVAL/GIGS
The Cruel Sea + The Wraylettes, The Palais, St Kilda, Melbourne
Makaya McCraven, The Croxton, Thornbury, Melbourne
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
The Sand Pebbles releasing a new album called The Antagonist.
CHRIS LAMBIE (Reviews, Features)
In view of the sorry Referendum result, I would like to honour all Indigenous artists who continue to create, entertain and educate with music. Sharing stories, songlines and language. Bring on Truth-telling and Treaty.
BEST MUSIC BOOK
Songs From The Kitchen Table – Archie Roach & Ruby Hunter
Sons of Beaches – Bill McDonough
BEST OTHER BOOK
Unfinished Woman – Robyn Davidson
BEST MUSIC FILM
First & Forever (Mushroom / ABC)
BEST FESTIVALS
WOMADelaide, March 2023
Cresfest, Creswick, Victoria – April 2023
BEST GIGS
Red Hot Chili Peppers (Support: Post Malone) Feb 7, Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Sunnyboys ‘The Last Dance’ (The Prize, Rocket Science) Jan 28, Northcote Theatre, Melbourne
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Getting back to Borneo for the full live format return of Rainforest World Music Festival. Joyous rhythms, reunions and discoveries in sunny Sarawak. Footy. Collingwood. Every nail-biting win through the year. Premiers. Legends. GOLD! The Rolling Stones back in business with ‘Hackney Diamonds’. The magnificent farewell for Broderick Smith at Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal. Tears, laughs, yarns and music. Miss ya Broddie.IAN MCFARLANE (Sounds of The City)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
The Music That I Make – Leah Senior
The Antagonist – Sand Pebbles
Too Much Sky – Sand Brothers
Tines of Stars Unfurled – Tim Rogers and the Twin Set
Duets – Kevin Borich
The Hypnogogue – The Church
Hey Dawn – Fanny Lumsden
The Silversound – The Silversound
The Candle and the Flame – Robert Forster
Open City – The Sunset Strip
Soundtracks Volume 2 – Ashley Naylor
BEST COMPILATION REISSUES
Electrical Storm (reissue) – Ed Kuepper
Space Ritual (50th Anniversary Edition) – Hawkwind
The Last Stand (40th Anniversary Box Set) – Cold Chisel
Long Time… Recorded 1988-2023 (compilation) – Margret RoadKnight
BEST MUSIC BOOKS
No Fixed Address – Donald Robertson
Radio Birdman: When the Birdmen Flew An Illustrated History – George Munoz
BEST OTHER BOOKS
Stolen Focus: Why We Can’t Pay Attention – Johann Hari
BEST MUSIC FILMS
Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party
Squaring The Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis
BEST FEATURE FILMS
The Banshees of Inisherin
Killers of the Flower Moon
BEST FESTIVAL
The Monkey Men (Rolling Stones 1973 Kooyong Concert 50th Anniversary Tribute) Corner Hotel, May
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Music, Music, Music
JEFF JENKINS (Features/Reviews)
TOP 10 ALBUMS
Black & White Town – Perry Keyes
Small Town Temple – Ella Hooper
Minor Gold – Minor Gold
Exoskeleton – Nick Barker
100 Years From Now – Stephen Cummings
Nambucca Fables – Mark Moldre
Centaurus – The Ronson Hangup
South of Everywhere – Henry Wagons
This Is Andre Warhurst – Andre Warhurst
Brain Worms – RVG
BEST COMPILATION/REISSUE
Long Time – Margret RoadKnight
BEST MUSIC BOOKS
Full Coverage – Samuel J. Fell
Shake Some Action – Stuart Coupe
BEST BOOKS (OTHER)
The Fall: The End of the Murdoch Empire – Michael Wolff
Judas Boys – Joel Deane
BEST FILMS
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story
John Farnham: Finding The Voice
BEST FESTIVAL/GIG
The Chicks, A Day On The Green, Mt Duneed, October
Mark Seymour & The Undertow, Memo Music Hall, October
HIGHLIGHT
Watching Daisy Jones & The Six. Seeing Del Amitri for the first time. Enjoying Queensland winning State of Origin.
STEVE BELL (Features, Reviews, Vinyl)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
The Candle & The Flame – Robert Forster
Tines Of Stars Unfurled – Tim Rogers & The Twin-Set
Brain Worms – RVG
Cousin – Wilco
Weathervanes – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Sublimation – Ben Salter
Black And White Town – Perry Keyes
Hertz – Carla Geneve
Several Songs About Fire – A. Savage
Should’ve Learned By Now – Lucero
BEST COMPILATION/REISSUES
The Complete Dirty South – Drive-By Truckers
Electrical Storm – Ed Kuepper
BEST MUSIC BOOKS
Shake Some Action – Stuart Coupe
Sons Of Beaches – Bill McDonough
BEST MUSIC FILMS
The Ending Goes Forever: The Screamfeeder Story
Pub: The Movie
BEST GIGS
Pavement @ Mona Foma
Built To Spill @ The Triffid
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
The Aussie leg of the Pavement world tour was incredible fun and in the sporting realms St Kilda’s return to the finals and England’s moral victories in both The Ashes and the World Cup all proved incredibly inspiring.
SUE BARRETT (Columnist, Hello & Goodbye)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Workin’ on a World – Iris DeMent Cloudheads – O’Hooley & Tidow Lavender Moonshine – Tret Fure Seven Stones – Katie Dahl All These Walls – Gretta Ziller The Answer is Always Yes – Alex Lahey Rooted – Emma’s Revolution Wesselbobs – Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones Such Ferocious Beauty – Cowboy Junkies We Will Never be the Same – Good Lovelies
BEST COMPILATION/REISSUE
Satisfied – Gaye Adegbalola
BEST MUSIC BOOK
Murli la: Songs and Stories of the Tiwi Islands – Ngarukuruwala Women’s Group with Genevieve Campbell
BEST OTHER BOOK
Songs for the Dead and the Living – Sara M Saleh
BEST MUSIC FILM
Red, White & Brass
BEST FEATURE FILM/DOCUMENTARY
Mincéir
The Lost City of Melbourne
BEST GIG
Cris Williamson, Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, USA (livestream)
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Books. Music. Puzzles. Homemade stuff. Home grown things. Shoe horns. Gardening Australia Junior. Mastodon (decentralised social media). And that stash of odds and ends which again saved the day.
TREVOR LEEDEN (Columnist, You Won’t Hear This On Radio, Reviews)
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Golden State – Logan Ledger
The Chicago Sessions – Rodney Crowell
The Third Mind 2 – The Third Mind
Hits And Misses – Eli “Paperboy” Reed
Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet – Brennen Leigh
Ten Paces – Ruen Brothers
Corazones And Canciones – La Marisoul & Los Texmaniacs
If You Ask Me To – Victor Axelrod
Weathervanes – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Black Bayou – Robert Finley
BEST COMPILATION REISSUES
Who’s Next/Life House – The Who
Marshall Crenshaw – Marshall Crenshaw
Born A Woman: Complete MGM Recordings – Sandy Posey
BEST MUSIC BOOK
New Highway – Dave Alvin
South To Louisiana: Music of the Cajun Bayous (2nd Edition) – John Broven
BEST OTHER BOOKS
False Alarm – Bjorn Lomborg
A Sense Of Balance (2nd Edition) – John Howard
BEST MUSIC FILM
Lost Angel: The Genius Of Judee Sill
BEST CONCERT/GIG
Asleep At The Wheel (with Brennen Leigh & Joshua Hedley) – Thornbury Theatre
Tubular Bell For Two (Daniel Holdsworth & Tom Bamford) – State Theatre
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
In a year of global tumult, the emphatic public affirmation that democracy is alive and well in the Great Southern Land is the undoubted highlight.
