John Kelly's top 10 albums of 2023

These are in no particular order and represent no more than a top ten list as it immediately comes to mind.

I might well suggest another ten albums by lunchtime, and I dread to think what I'm inadvertently omitting.

1. Lisa O’Neill – All of This is Chance.

This was a dead cert to be one of my albums of 2023 from the very first moment I heard it, sometime back in 2022. Lisa is a one-off. She’s the real deal. The songs on this album, both mysterious and beautiful, come from somewhere most of us will never get to visit. And I don’t mean Cavan.

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2. Lankum – False Lankum

This one is making almost all the lists, and proper order. On False Lankum it turns out that there was indeed another level, and they found it – powerful, tender, ancient, modern, earth-shaking, heart-breaking and utterly uncompromising. Play loud!

3. ØXN – CYRM

They had me at Scott Walker’s Farmer in the City. ØXN is Katie Kim, John 'Spud’ Murphy, Radie Peat and Eleanor Myler plus, and I’m not joking, a gathering of unsettling spirits that seem to show up and somehow inhabit these dark and deadly songs. Again, play loud.

4. Daniel Villareal – Lados B

There have been so many wonderful releases on the International Anthem label. On this one, Chicago drummer Daniel Villareal is joined by bassist Anna Butterss and guitarist Jeff Parker. Recorded outdoors in the bright Californian air, there’s a definite West Coast vibe – music both sunny and cool.

5. Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shazad Ismaily - Love In Exile

I interviewed Arooj in 2021 and ever since I’ve been pushing her Urdu vocals on everyone I know. Vulture Prince won a Grammy that year, and as we awaited her follow-up, this extraordinary collaborative album suddenly landed. With Vijay Iyer and Shazad among the finest musicians working today, and Arooj a truly remarkable singer, this an album both beautiful and profound.

6. John Francis Flynn – Look Over The Wall, See The Sky

Anything that begins with that bawdy classic The Zoological Gardens and then veers off into sonic territory that both challenge and somehow accommodate everything from Kitty to Within a Mile of Dublin is alright with me. If I’d known that any of this was even possible, I’d have stuck with the tin whistle.

7. Ordnance Survey - Turas

Sometimes an album comes along just when you need it, and this one landed during what, for me, was a very rocky December. Ordnance Survey is musician and producer Neil O’Connor and part of the process here involved field recordings made at passage and wedge tombs across Ireland – making use of the tombs own acoustics by recording percussion on site, or by playing and re-recording pre-recorded music. The result is a wonderful and much needed meditation. 3000 year old vibes.

8. Lonnie Holley – Oh Me, Oh My

Lonnie Holley is an artist, musician and one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever encountered. In 2012, at the age of 62, he made his debut as a recording artist and Oh Me, Oh My is his fifth album – this one produced by Jacknife Lee, with appearances from collaborators like Sharon Van Etten, Bon Iver and Michael Stipe. Art is vital, and Lonnie Holley is living proof.

9. Blue Note and Impulse! reissues

I listen to a lot of jazz and there’s nothing more dependable than reissues from the back catalogues of Blue Note and Impulse! From Blue Note I’ll choose Herbie Nichols' The Herbie Nichols Trio, Sam Rivers' Fuchsia Swing Song and Hank Mobley's No Room For Squares. From Impulse! I’ll go for Albert Ayler's Love Cry, The Ahmad Jamal Trio's The Awakening and Out of the Afternoon from The Roy Haynes Quartet.

10. Now I’m going to cheat and break all the rules of a top ten. Here’s a bunch... Paul Simon, Seven Psalms, ANOHNI and the Johnsons, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, PJ Harvey, I Inside The Old Year Dying, Ron Sexsmith, The Vivian Line, Bob Dylan, Shadow Kingdom, Gabriel McArdle, The Fermanagh Blackbird, Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World, Jaimie Branch, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) – I could go on, and I often do.

Mystery Train with John Kelly, RTÉ lyric fm, Mon - Thu @ 7pm - listen back here.

John Kelly's top 10 albums of 2023

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