Kat Says: These Are My Favorite Songs Of 2023”
You're going to like the way they sound, I guarantee it.
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Hey Friends,
Do you tune into my Spotify playlists? If you don’t, you’re sleeping. You’re fucking up. I find some good shit! And I’m not just saying that to like, get you to follow me or whatever.
I spent the last five days re-listening to all 214 songs I added to the Kat Scrawls Cumulative playlist in 2023, and I was just so impressed with the depth and quality. There were absolute jams that I forgot about, and nuggets that burrowed so deep into my brain I’ll never get them out.
All told, that adds up to about 12.5 hours of music. Enjoyed chronologically, it also reflected my year in music (and if you follow along with the playlists, it might reflect some of yours, too).
I’m extremely proud of the curation I bring to these playlists (there is a weekly Kat Scrawls playlist updated with just the new tracks each newsletter publication date, as well), and yet I was re-listening to the big whopper in order to curate the selection *even further*, because I wanted to create a smaller playlist that represents what I feel are some of the best tracks released in 2023 alone.
This is a chance for me to highlight some music I think is truly incredible. It’s also a chance to curate a time capsule that will one day capture the essence of a calendar year.
The moment we live in feels so indescribable right now (that’s how present moments work), but it will one day have a sound and a patina that feels so painfully obvious in hindsight. When that day comes, I will listen to this playlist and revel in the 2023-ness of it all. I will be transported to memories with friends, late-night flights, interviews, music festivals, vacation hotel rooms, long drives, and more than a few late evenings spent writing this fucking newsletter, curating these goddamn playlists that take hours of my life lol.
I can only hope some of these tracks transport you to beautiful places, too.
It can’t be overstated how hard it was to cull 214 songs into 45. I love every song on the Kat Scrawls playlist, and I hope you listen to it sometime, but these songs just jumped out to me for whatever reason—and to curate things one more level, I’m highlighting 14 songs from the 45-song Best of 2023 playlist below.
What can I say? I love to torture myself.
I don’t think I can say these are the best 14 of the 45 (it’s already super hard for me to say these 45 are the best of the 214. I just had to make a choice and live with it). I can say these are the tracks that I would probably interrupt when playing, so I could tell some backstory to my friends in the car or the room or wherever this song was playing.
So, in the hopes that I don’t need to ever interrupt these absolute gems (I still will), here are the backstories and tidbits I would tell you if we were in the room together, enjoying this music side by side. Put the playlist on in your car or while you take a walk or finish your work for the year or whatever, and pretend I’m sitting next to you going, “Oh man, this song…”
That’s, uh, kind of what I’m doing with this newsletter, after all 🤗
These songs are presented in chronological order of release, as is the Kat Scrawls, Best of 2023 playlist on Spotify (except for the track from Yard Act, which I left to reflect the moment in the year that I discovered it, because I make the fuckin’ rules).
Listen to all 45 songs on the Best of 2023 playlist at the link below, and please enjoy:
Amtrac - “Heard Me Right”
Shout out my boy Caleb. I’ve been covering his career since it started, basically, and I would consider him a friend among the music industry. He’s seen me drunk—like, so so drunk, haha, so we have to be friends.
He released his third album this year, Extra Time. It’s fantastic, as his music always is. I know this album represents his first that was written in a short amount of time. His first and second albums took like 10 years to write, and this took the years of COVID lockdown. That’s where the Extra Time title comes from, and the anxiety and search for meaning in the songs comes from that headspace, too.
He toured the album with his first live performance in about a decade. I drove to Orlando to see it, missed it by a couple hours, then flew to Atlanta the next weekend to see it. That’s when I got really drunk! You should read all about it.
Further Reading: Kat Says: “An Amtrac Live Set is Worth 12 Years, Two Weekends and a Flight to Atlanta”
Jayda G - “Circle Back Around”
Canadian producer Jayda G created one of the most magical and personal albums of 2023. Guy is named for her posthumous father, Richard Guy. He passed away when the Grammy-nominated artist was 10, but before he did, he recorded these video tapes for her so she could know him better. Her album tells the story of his life, and this beautiful and upbeat song specifically tells the tale of his running from the cops as a young black man in America. The music video features some of those clips from her father’s tapes to her. It made me cry just now while I re-watched it.
Jake Shears - “Too Much Music”
If this man’s voice sounds familiar, congratulations! You’re probably in your 30s or 40s, and you partied during the best time possible. I’m kidding, but hipsters know Jake Shears as the singer in Scissor Sisters, who are just one of the ultimate pop acts of the electroclash era.
Shears returned this year with a solo album dubbed Last Man Dancing. It features Kylie Minogue and Big Freedia, among others, plus production from Boys Noize and Vaughn Oliver, of bloghouse darlings Oliver. Mr. Oliver produced this absolute banger of a single. No wonder it’s so fucking good.
Skrillex, Mr. Oizo and Missy Elliot - “Ratata”
Look. Skrillex won 2023. No one else has to compete. Mans dropped two fire full-length albums in two fucking days, and they rule so hard. I have three Skrillex songs on this Best of 2023 playlist. I couldn’t help myself! I also couldn’t help myself in sharing this song in the highlights. It should be obvious why.
I first heard “Ratata” when Jaime XX dropped it at Portola 2022, a full five months before the Skrillex albums dropped. It went THE FUCK OFF. I recorded it because I was like “is that Missy Elliot rapping over Mr. Oizo?” Yes, yes it was. Skrillex, uh, slightly reworked Oizo’s Lambs Anger classic “Positif,” which I consider to be one of the hardest and funkiest songs ever made. The fact that Missy blessed it with an original vocal is fucking INSANE. LEGENDS ONLY. Thanks, Sonny.
The Dare - “Good Time”
The spirit of bloghouse lives on in the skinny frame of one Harrison Patrick Smith. This fucker is *nailing* the vibe, and not just with his aesthetics and sweat-soaked productions. I flew to NYC to see TEED last November, and I changed my flight just so I could stay a couple days more and go to The Dare’s party called Freakquencies. It was sooo much fun. It was in a small and dirty bar with anime on the TVs and blown speakers, so it was as bloghouse as you could get without anyone wearing American Apparel. I wrote about that experience, too, and you can read it in the link below.
Anyway, The Dare dropped The Sex EP this year, and he played Portola and III Points. He’s gonna blow the fuck up, watch.
Further Reading: Kat Says: “The Prime Time of Your Life, Now, Live It—Again”
Lamorn - “Distance”
Lamorn is one of those insane prodigy types who never releases a mid song and just blows you away with his talent and artistic voice. He was 16 or something when he submitted a song to Deadmau5 via COVID livestream, and the mau5 man was so incredibly impressed, he asked for the stems to make sure Lamorn didn’t sample his way to greatness and then signed the fuckin’ track then and there.
Lamorn dropped his debut LP this year. It’s called Forever, and I loved it. This song is one of my fave cuts, and I just noticed that my PR homie Alex Greenberg shared Kat Calls: Lamorn in the official PR blast for the album, which is soOoOoO nice!
Mat Zo - “Closure”
Speaking of Kat Calls Season 4, I was *this fucking close* to having Mat Zo on the program, but he’s based in the UK and we had a tough time finding a date and time that would work for both our schedules. I am not going to give up on that as an idea, because I’ve had Mat Zo on my shortlist of dream guests for a while now.
I did interview Mat Zo once in 2018 for Billboard (you can read that here), and I really related to his I-do-what-I-want attitude. He’s one of my fave producers, low key. His song “Closure” blew my mind, mostly because it sounds like one of my other high-key favorite producers. P sure a couple friends texted me like, “uh, have you heard Mat Zo’s Justice song?” Fuck yeah, and I’m still listening to it today.
Odesza and Yellow House - “Waiting Forever” Feat. Preston
I don’t have a ton to say about this song. I just really like it. It’s fucking great, and so are the Odesza guys, actually. I’ve spoken to them a few times, including when I worked on their bio for their album The Last Goodbye. That was a beautiful and personal album as well, which pulled from old family videos, too. It was nominated for a Grammy, and rightfully so.
You can read about my insights into that album culled from our bio chat, but to beef things up, I’ll tell you that I once met Sean Evans from Hot Ones backstage after an Odesza concert. I had this great conversation with him about journalism, and he was like, “You’re a real one. Everyone always just wants to ask me if I actually eat all the hot wings.” Then my friends came over and asked if he actually eats all the hot wings. Oh well!
Further Reading: Kat Says: “I Spoke To Odesza About 'The Last Goodbye'”
Doss - “Drugs”
I don’t even know how I found this song, tbh. I just know that I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It came out right before I flew to Vegas for a group birthday bash with friends. I played it about 20 times, or at least sang it wherever we went. It was really fun, I will always remember that trip fondly.
I need to learn more about Doss asap. I can tell you she’s a producer and DJ based out of NYC, and she had this to say about the song: “‘Drugs’ plays with the relationships between extremes; joy and shame, indulgence and affliction, boredom and euphoria. Friends who have left but whose memories live on. Driving around, nothing to do—getting into trouble or good ol’ fun?”
Brontez Purnell - “Blues of Every Night” Feat. Bergo Husky
Okay. My mind is being blown while I write this. I discovered Oakland-based Brontez when his album dropped. I swear this track was sent to me in a PR email, but now I can’t find that email. What I can find is the PR for his album No Jack Swing from which this track is cut, and it’s sharing that Brontez is also an author! Of multiple books! Apparently they are called 100 Boyfriends and Since I Laid My Burden Down, and they also explore his queerness and blackness—and I have been emailed ABOUT HIS BOOKS! Wow, incredible. Amazing. Adding to my reading list now.
Jerry Folk, FENGSEL - “Better Days”
It’s not unusual for a musician to have multiple aliases. It is unusual for those two distinct aliases to release a song in collaboration, but that’s apparently what’s happening here with Jerry Folk and FENGSEL. They’re, um, the same person!
“I made this track in LA last year around the same time I made my last EP, Castle Tapes,” Folk is quoted in the press release. “[That was] inspired by medieval sounds, UK Punk, and ‘90s breakbeat music—trying to find a unique middle ground between the three. It’s coming out as a collab between Jerry Folk and my FENGSEL alias. It’s hard to explain, but when some things I make get a certain nerve, I want to have it in the FENGSEL universe.”
Cool. I don’t need an explanation. This song is so achingly beautiful. Every time it starts playing, I pause whatever I’m doing and cock my head slightly to the side and just sigh. It is worth getting that explanation, though, because I can hear all three of those influences in this track. Also, wow, one dude, two names.
Skream - “Thinking Of You”
There’s one other producer with three entries on my Best of 2023 playlist, and it’s this absolute fucking nutter. Skream is a true living legend. He invented dubstep with his mate Benga when he was 14. I’m not being hyperbolic. Then he stopped playing dubstep for a decade or more, then he started playing dubstep again this year. He even played a set or two with his friend Benga who hasn’t DJed in a decade or more. It’s really, really special if you get into the cultural lore (which you can get a glimpse of in Kat Calls: Skream, just sayingggggg).
This year, he released Skreamizm 8. It’s a big deal, because that’s his old dubstep series title, but this album is not all dubstep. It’s so many things, so many feelings, and this track is maybe my favorite of them all. It’s dedicated to his kids. It was never meant to be turned into a song or a track, but I’m so glad it was, because it’s a message we can all benefit from. He’s just speaking from the heart about life. It’s sad and it’s wonderful. What a dad.
Purple Disco Machine, Duke Dumont, Nothing But Thieves - “Something On My Mind”
This is such a power collab. Purple Disco Machine and Duke Dumont are both chef’s kiss-tier groove computers. I need to dive into Nothing But Thieves, but apparently they’re a British band, and this sounds great so it might be really fun!
Anyway, this track rules, and so does the remix by French Touch icons Alan Braxe and Falcon. I also included that song on my Best of 2023 playlist. It’s the last track on the list. It’s fucking so good lol, very Todd Edwards, Daft Punk “Face to Face” with its cut-up sample textures.
And that’s the year!
Coming Up
This is the final Kat Scrawls of 2023. I am going to enjoy a much-needed break from writing now (well, after I finish this Craze interview for Spin and all my day job duties).
I will return in 2024 with a lot of spice and pizzaz. I was thinking my first newsletter of the year would come Monday, Jan. 8, but I have been last-minute invited to Friendship 2024, SO I AM DOING THAT. 😀
Will you be on the boat? Craze will be, funnily enough. So will my buddy Devon James, who has a track on my Best of 2023 playlist. So will my friend Nala, who I have a video interview with that will be posted to YouTube eventually (lol), and the afore-referenced Todd Edwards, and Friendship founder Destructo, of course. And Skrillex will be on the decks during the island party, at the very least!
So, expect Kat Scrawls to reappear in your inbox on Monday, Jan. 15. Expect me to just absolutely go the fuck off, because Friendship is a place near and dear to my heart, for one reason or another.
Welp! That’s it! That’s all, folks! Thank you so much for an incredible year. Thanks for being a part of my life. I hope you have a joyful and restful holiday.
Please do let me know what you’d like to see in 2024, if anything in particular from me. I’ve got *big things* planned, as DJs on social media would say, and I’m very excited. Yay!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!
Thanks for tuning into my newsletter. Listen to the playlists on Spotify. One is updated weekly with all the songs from each edition. The other is cumulative with all the updates ever!