Introduction
“Some days there’s just so much to marvel at, and some days you’re at the bottom of a pit.”
This was a year that fit that Spanish Love Songs lyric a little too well, a year where I felt the highs and the lows more acutely than ever. There were the panic attacks and the days I felt like I couldn’t get out of bed, the satisfaction of finally releasing a new album and the thrill of playing it live to a packed Gman Tavern, the whirlwind of Elliot’s birth and figuring out the basics of being a parent, the utter exhaustion of those first few months, and the unquantifiable joy of his first smiles.
It’s been a lot, but I am so lucky and I don’t want to lose sight of that.
Stuff I Made This Year
- Pelafina – “Milestone” – Guitar, recording, mixing, mastering
- Watch No Evil – “Green Room – Punk-Cost Fallacy” – Podcast guest appearance
- Jeff Schaller and the Long Way Home – For Keeps and a Single Day – Guitar, keyboard, percussion, recording, mixing
Music
My year on Last.fm. It’s been really cool to follow Spanish Love Songs over the past six years as they’ve shed the trappings of pop punk a little bit more on each album. This is the third time they’ve topped my year end list, and I think No Joy is their best work yet.
As usual, the ranking of the rest of the list is just what I’m feeling today. I recommend all of these, from the relative newcomers (Awakebutstillinbed, OrigamI Angel) to reunited old favorites. For a long time, I didn’t think we’d ever get new music from The Gaslight Anthem, Fall Out Boy, or Yellowcard, three bands that fundamentally shaped my tastes as a teenager. All three are back, seemingly more excited than ever.
On the EP side, John K. Samson released new music under name Vivat Virtute, so no one else really had a chance at my number one spot there. Even if there’s never a Weakerthans reunion, I hope he continues making these perfect little snapshots of local politics and cats forever.
I also made a Spotify playlist with my favorite songs from each of these releases, plus a handful of other singles.
Albums
- Spanish Love Songs – No Joy
- The Gaslight Anthem – History Books
- The Menzingers – Some of It Was True
- Olivia Rodrigo – Guts
- Fall Out Boy – So Much (For) Stardust
- Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes
- Awakebutstillinbed – Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a Passenger
- The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein
- Hot Mulligan – Why Would I Watch
- Foo Fighters – But Here We Are
- Blink-182 – One More Time…
- Fireworks – Higher Lonely Power
- Ruston Kelly – The Weakness
- The Mountain Goats – Jenny From Thebes
- Origami Angel – The Brightest Days
- Dave Hause – Drive It Like It’s Stolen
- Citizen – Calling the Dogs
- Paramore – This Is Why
- There Will Be Fireworks – Summer Moon
- The Maine – The Maine
EPs
- Vivat Virtute – June First
- Yellowcard – Childhood Eyes
- Adjy – June Songs, Vol 1
- Boygenius – The Rest
- The Flips – A Drug To the Dour
Live Shows
I played or attended 26 shows this year. My days of getting to 80 or more are probably behind me, but I can live with that if the shows I do see are as special as these. Liesi and I saw The Wonder Years together in March and got to hear most of our favorite songs from The Hum Goes On Forever, a record largely about becoming a parent that has, unsurprisingly, meant a lot to us this year. Then I saw them again in October playing all of The Greatest Generation. I lost my voice screaming along to “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral” with old friends and new.
- The Wonder Years – 10/8 at Riviera
- Bleachers – 12/7 at Aragon Ballroom
- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – 8/9 at Wrigley Field
- The Wonder Years – 3/16 at Concord Music Hall
- City Mouth – 11/22 at Beat Kitchen
Movies
My year on Letterboxd. I’ve seen 42 movies from this year. I didn’t get to the theater much, especially after Elliot was born, so I missed out on the full Barbenheimer experience. There’s a lot I still want to see, but I think this was a really solid year for movies.
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
- Past Lives
- Oppenheimer
- Barbie
- May December
- The Killer
- Infinity Pool
- Asteroid City
- Beau Is Afraid
TV
My year on Trakt. This was feeling like a bit of a slow TV year until November, when there was a deluge of new shows and new seasons. Some of these are still ongoing as of this writing, but I’ve seen enough to feel like I can rank them, and certainly enough to recommend them. Same caveat as with movies: There’s a bunch of stuff I haven’t seen yet (namely the Doctor Who specials) that could easily make this list if I re-do it in a few months.
- The Bear (Season 2)
- The Last of Us (Season 1)
- Poker Face (Season 1)
- Slow Horses (Season 3)
- Succession (Season 4)
- For All Mankind (Season 4)
- Fargo (Season 5)
- Mrs. Davis (Season 1)
- Ted Lasso (Season 3)
- Barry (Season 4)
Books
My year on Goodreads. I read 27 books this year (only one actually released in 2023), and these were my favorites. Pale Fire was a recommendation from a friend, and aside from being a masterwork of language, it was neat to read as an influence on House of Leaves (and to find all the lyrics The Menzingers have lifted from it).
- Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
- The Passenger / Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
- The Chosen by Chaim Potok
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Troy Sennett 