2023 IN REVIEW — The Best EPs of the Year (Part 2)
IT’S TIME. The second part of the 2023 EP list is here, and the top 75 short-form releases of the year (in my humble opinion) are below. Check the previous installment for a few notes on how I define an EP (spoilers: not how many record labels seem to), and to see numbers 150 to 76 — appearances from Palace, (G)I-dle, milk., Mykki Blanco and more guaranteed.
Allons-y!
75 — Ravage (Rema)
Afrobeats rising star Rema follows 2022 smash debut full-length Rave and Roses with a five-song EP that pushes the sound further in his distinctive ‘Afrorave’ direction, while maintaining common themes of personal pride and sexual hedonism.
74 — Ascension (Sarah Kinsley)
Four EPs in and Sarah Kinsley is amassing an impressive indie pop catalogue, with Ascension providing five expansively produced, imaginatively sung, lyrically evocative ruminations on growing up and watching time pass you by oh-so-slighly quicker than when you were younger.
73 — Face (Jimin)
Not the first BTS boy on the list, Park Jimin’s debut solo release is a prime slice of K-pop, with solid beats and tried and true pop songwriting — but perhaps predictably, it’s Jimin’s voice, Auto-Tuned at points though it may be, that proves the EP’s most distinctive suit.
72 — GOOD POP (PAS TASTA)
Maximalist digicore hyperpop from internet-based six-piece producer group PAS TASTA, genre skeptics might be surprised at how much beauty and emotion the producers (and their collaborators) are able to eke out from the saturated electronic textures through timbral subtlety and harmonic inventiveness.
71 — Little Demon Boy (Boyish)
Indie rock duo Boyish may not have the most unique sound on this EP list — reverb-heavy indie rock the likes of boygenius and Snail Mail is very much the reason for the season at the moment — but why complain when they do it so well, and channel reminiscences of teenage angst so precisely?
70 — 아가씨 [AGASSY] (SOOJIN)
One of several recent victims of false school bullying allegations in the K-pop sphere, (G)I-dle’s Soojin has weathered the storm and redebuted as a solo artist with AGASSY, a mature and confident record with a broad instrumental palette and heartfelt lyricism.
69 — Half Songs (Sophie May)
As the title suggests, each of the songs on Sophie May’s second 2023 release are short, self-contained, and continually leaving you wanting a bit more. That’s alright, though — it perfectly mirrors the banal dissatisfactions of life that form the backbone of the EP’s material. A bold compositional choice that, for me, pays off.
68 — NEW DNA (XG)
Seven-piece girl group XG’s debut mini-album is a bold and decisive jump into hip hop, RnB and club music, with a futuristic, almost mechanical feel to a majority of the production that sets them apart from many of their K-pop peers.
67 — deadpool (peterparker69)
Japanese bedroom producer duo peterparker69 bring a distinctly melancholic take on hyperpop production in six-track release deadpool, pairing the glitchy, choppy aesthetic with a warmth and harmonic gentleness rarely seen in the scene.
66 — Psychic Dance Routine (Scowl)
Santa Cruz hardcore outfit Scowl allow themselves a healthy dose of cross-genre integration in their 2023 EP, pushing their technical and songwriting mastery further in the process and landing one of the most compelling and re-listenable records in recent hardcore in the process.
65 — The Holy Land (Lana Lubany)
Palestinian-born Lana Lubany fuses aspects of trad-pop with ominous electronically-augmented production and Middle Eastern popular music in The Holy Land, a musical self-portrait tracing the personal and geographical influences that shaped her upbringing.
64 — Granny Music (Girl Scout)
Sweden’s Girl Scout have released two EPs in 2023, with their second just edging out Real Life Human Garbage to be included here. Grunge, 60s guitar bands, and contemporary indie are all to be found within the group’s singular sound, backed up with solid songwriting to boot.
63 — <Version Up> (ODD EYE CIRCLE)
Former LOONA subgroup (now part of Modhaus’s ARTMS project alongside bandmate Heejin) ODD EYE CIRCLE release their first independent project, and it proves that they still retain all the qualities that made them one of K-pop’s most acclaimed groups to begin with, with pitch-perfect vocal deliveries and a vibrant synthy production style.
62 — temperance (Addy)
Six soft, tender, country-adjacent songs from Philadelphia’s Addy Watkins and co. Titled after the Temperance tarot card, whose virtuous, androgynous figure stands between water and land, the EP explores both the notion of change and the confidence found in being able to understand and exist within it.
61 — Apocalypse (Rotten Sound)
2023 marks 30 years of Finnish grindcore group Rotten Sound, and though it’s taken a few years for release number 8 to finally land, it’s paid off. 18 songs there may be, but the lyrics are so vitriolic, the songs segue so seamlessly, that after the brutal 20 minutes are done you’re left feeling cut to pieces by an incisive, lean and supremely crafted EP.
60 — Warriors Never Die (Zenobia)
A revelatory EP from Palestinian electronic duo Zenobia, Arabic pop and dabke rhythms combine with dub and club influences in four tracks, each sung by a different Palestinian vocalist (Rola Azar, Sama Shuhhok, Dunia Qarawany and Rina Kardosh) in this reimagination of traditional folk songs.
59 — Yunque (Marta Movidas)
Spanish-language pop with all the stylings of Japanese anisongs, Marta Movidas’ EP may raise a few cynical eyebrows, but a single listen to the four-track should allay fears of parody with the pitch-perfect realisation of J-pop stylings.
58 — But I’m Alright Now (Eden Rain)
Simple, effective story-telling accompanied by a classic British soft indie sound, Eden Rain’s second EP is an even more convincing artistic statement than her first, as she lyrically makes peace with the past through personal growth and contemplation.
57 — OO-LI (WOODZ)
WOODZ has had one of the busiest careers in K-pop since 2014, performing as part of two groups and as a solo artist under two distinct monikers, but his fifth mini-album in three years is undoubtedly one of his strongest outings yet, with a bold guitar-forward sound and a keen sense of vocal production.
56 — Who Am I (Grandmas House)
All-female queer punk trio Grandmas House remain on form on this, their second EP, that packs a huge burst of rough-and-ready riot grrrl, with memorable hooks and distinctive vocal interplay, into less than 8 minutes.
55 — METTENARRATIVE (METTE)
Dancer and actor Mette Towley’s pivot into music has been a uniformly strong one, with this EP representing the first major release from a bold new voice in pop tackling the radio-friendly sounds of today with a conscious lens on gender and her mixed-race identity.
54 — jazz is for ordinary people (berlioz)
‘deep in it’ has seemingly been the soundtrack to every other YouTube short I’ve seen this year, but all of berlioz’s smooth little EP ends up being earwormy as hell, and makes a compelling case for his personal blend of house and jazz.
53 — QWERTY (Saya Gray)
Saya Gray seems to go from strength to strength with every release, and the unforgiving experimentalism of QWERTY, with its abrupt breaks, psychadelic production choices and at times elusive vocals, makes it her most infectious, intriguing and attention-grabbing release yet.
52 — 水をあげる [mizu wo ageru] (uami)
Fukuoka’s singer-songwriter and visual artist uami had a busy year, but out of the various projects she’s released, the finest can be found in the laid-back, distorted electronics and gentle beats of June’s haunting mizu wo ageru (‘to give water’).
51 — The Fear of Fear (Spiritbox)
The Fear of Fear is the latest in Spiritbox’s catalogue of impressively diverse metal releases, and while some listeners may find the slower, more melodic moments a drag, they contribute to an EP with a startling amount of breadth over its 25 minutes.
50 — THE DEEP (Mishaal Tamer)
Saudi Arabia’s Mishaal Tamer justifies his stardom on this moody, dreamy 7-track pop release, with subdued vocals and trip-hop/lo-fi indie instrumentals outlining emotional despair and the slow, contemplative climb out of it.
49 — dismantled into juice (blawan)
London producer blawan delivers one of the most frenetic, left-of-centre dance records of the year, as chugging beats and erratic samples and loops fight for centre stage under thick walls of clipping and drastic timbral interruptions.
48 — RABBIT STAR ✰ (Wednesday Campanella)
The second Wednesday Campanella release featuring vocalist Utaha at the helm, RABBIT STAR ✰ is a colourful and upbeat J-pop six-track with imaginative and vibrant production that balances its quirkiness with a fundamentally cheerful mood.
47 — Apocalypse : From us (Dreamcatcher)
The first EP of 2023, and third Apocalypse release, from K-pop’s resident rockers Dreamcatcher, From us is a testament to the group’s boundless versatility, as K-pop balladry and dance-pop is seamlessly integrated with blistering rock and metal riffs.
46 — lil spirits (Two Shell)
After breaking into the comparative mainstream with the attention granted them by last year’s hit ‘home’, Two Shell’s 2023 EP lil spirits continues to fine-tune the nebulous duo’s choppy, chipmunked production style and internet-minded musical language to great effect.
45 — JUNK or GEM (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)
Skapara are well into their fourth decade of work, and yet their irresistable blend of ska and funk with J-pop harmonies and textures is as fine as ever on this EP — and for an added perk, JUNK or GEM features some of the best vocal collaborations of the group’s career.
44 — 3awdet Eldab3 [Eldab3 returns] (Eldab3)
Bringing the distinctly Egyptian electronic genre of mahraganat in within the productions underscoring his tracks, Cairo rapper Eldab3 delivers a concise five-track EP with ever-evolving beats and punchy vocal delivery.
43 — The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION (TOMORROW X TOGETHER)
TXT need no introduction to any K-pop fan, though something feels a little different here — a slightly sultrier, more mature sound that perfectly plays against the J.M.Barrie-esque narratives of resisting the need to grow up completely.
42 — Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760 (Aphex Twin)
It’s quite frankly always a good year when Richard D. James decides to drop, and how wonderful that Blackbox ended up being one of the year’s most solid electronic releases. Aphex Twin at his best — what more is there to say?
41 — Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good) (Kelsea Ballerini)
Kelsea Ballerini has been one of my favourite artists in country ever since her debut, but Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good) feels like a high point, even despite its sad real-world inspiration, with its blunt but heartfelt lyrical content and clean production.
40— 4D Country (Geese)
A tie-in to the group’s stellar 2023 album 3D Country, the Geese boys package up some offcuts from the recording sessions into this companion EP. What a surprise — they’re absolutely fantastic too.
39 — Set the Roof (Hudson Mohawke, Nikki Nair)
A three-track from ‘Cbat’’s own Hudson Mohawke and Nikki Nair, joined on the title track by Tayla Parx, the production is expectedly bizarro, but the duo’s hi-NRG/house/children’s toybox (?) styles work perfectly hand-in hand here.
38 — extra life (crushed)
Comfortably one of the best dream-pop release of 2023, crushed’s debut EP is an at-times achingly beautiful, charmingly askew take on the genre with poetic texts set within (not upon, within) echoic 90s-esque instrumentals.
37 — The Flag (Kwon Jin Ah)
Kwon Jin Ah provides a stripped-back, largely understated five-track mini-album that eschews many of K-pop’s perceived truisms for a skilfully-composed set of songs backed by keys and guitars, with one of the best- and most dramatically-sung title tracks of the year.
36— Komy (ZULI)
Cairo’s ZULI provides glitchy, restless electronica that scratches much of the same itches as blawan’s release above — but in Komy comes a slightly wider set of timbres, a more exploratory approach to structure, and an ever-unexpected sound that refuses to settle.
35 — OTHERBODY (Dazy)
After 2022’s under-appreciated OUTOFBODY, Virginia’s Dazy provides 8 more tracks from the sessions in the form of a follow-up EP. Blending a heavy influence from British rock of all ages with a touch of brash American indie, the record is charmingly listenable even through its intentionally crunchy production.
34 — the Billage of perception: chapter three (Billlie)
Billlie’s fourth EP overall may not be the group’s most adventurous one — but what we lose in casting the net wide, we gain in a carefully-managed stylistic grounding that gives us the seven-piece’s most tightly-constructed, sonically unified project to date.
33 — BABYLON IX (yunè pinku)
Bermondsey-raised producer Asha Nandy, a.k.a yunè pinku, combines 90s trance into a soft, glittery, pad-washed sound world in BABYLON IX, never sacrificing her charmingly unassuming vocals but complimenting them with an ever-more intricate ear for texture and instrumental detail.
32 — Bleary Eyed (Bleary Eyed)
Bleary Eyed aren’t your average shoegaze band, and they demonstrate as much on their self-titled EP, which complicates the atmospheric sound with more than a healthy dose of digital interference and a keen sense of space that’s rare to find in the field.
31 — Perspective (Jlin)
Experimental Indiana producer Jlin explores a wide variety of percussive and electronic instruments in Perspective, creating musical moments that sound like propulsive underscores excised from exotic, mystical ceremonies.
30 — RT Hon (Proc Fiskal)
Work from one of the most intriguing producers working today, the four-track RT Hon EP from Scotland’s Proc Fiskal is subtle, synthetic and even a little sexy, and the unrelenting digital undercurrent of many of the sounds lend the project a sense of coherency.
29 — XCAPE, PT 1; DESTRUCTION FOR DUMMIES, PT 2 (Jean Dawson)
Jean Dawson’s two EP releases in 2023 perhaps are the loosest ‘series’ here, linked only by the part allocations in the titles — but both Pt 1 (credit to Jean Dawson as “Phoenix”) and Pt 2 (as “Nightmare”) showcase Dawson’s shoegazey, genre-bending blends of alternative, trip hop, synthpop and post-punk.
28 — INFINITY CLUB (BAMBII)
A concertedly global view on club culture and dance music from BAMBII, who delivers an uptempo, floor-filling eight-track EP that unites talent from the UK, Canada and Suriname (via Amsterdam) over the producer’s bouncy beats.
27 — After Party (Temps)
It’s James Acaster. In an alligator suit. Collaborating with heaps of artists from around the world. To make an experimental avant-rock record. And… it’s brilliant? No, really, it’s actually brilliant — every bit as zany and off-the-wall as reading its description would have you to believe, and every bit as memorable and grin-inducing as I’d hoped.
26 — INSAINT (Haru Nemuri)
Haru Nemuri — singer, songwriter, poet, rapper — returns with possibly her hardest-core material in INSAINT, backed by a live band and exploring all the sprawling, noisy possibilities of her bold J-rock approach in a fresh new way.
25 — exodus the north star (Yaya Bey)
Complimenting 2022’s Remember Your North Star and yet progressing from it, Yaya Bey’s 3-track EP vows to leave behind much of the grief of the earlier project in favour of a more hopeful, if still emotionally open, reggae-tinged set of songs.
24 — SCARING THE HOES: DLC PACK (JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown)
SCARING THE HOES was one of the year’s most remarkable and celebrated rap records, and JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown rightly capitalised on the hype by releasing four more tracks as a companion piece. Unsurprisingly, it’s just as zany and just as fascinating.
23 — Boys of Faith (Zach Bryan)
Yet another artist jumping on the hype of a hotly-received album with a companion EP, Zach Bryan here accompanies his acclaimed self-titled LP with five more tracks, including features courtesy of Bon Iver and Noah Kahan. The overall feel is a little less centred, but it’s no bad thing.
22 — RR (Rosalía, Rauw Alejandro)
Three tracks from the erstwhile musical power couple that form a short but nonetheless touching portrait of falling and living in love. The sound is a perfect fusion of the two artists’ respective styles, and though perhaps a tad more commercial than we’re used to from either of them, it proves no less engaging.
21 — Machine Like Me (Nuha Ruby Ra)
Soft-voiced electropunk with a gutsy, individualist approach to percussion and instrumental layering, Machine Like Me is something of a difficult record to latch onto at first, but repeated listens reveal a deeply sardonic, satirical creative who’s pulling no punches musically or lyrically.
20 — From Gaza With Love (Saint Levant)
Gaza-born artist Saint Levant frequently draws criticism from all sides, but his love for and celebration of his homeland shines through brightly on this debut EP, infusing his multicultural upbringing and plenty of witty trilingual wordsmithing into the fabric of its seven tracks.
19 — Paradise (Wishy)
Indiana dream-pop that never feels too bogged down from Kevin Krauter, Nina Pitchkites et al., whose distinct songwriting styles form good foils to one another and lend both a tender intimicy and a buoyant enthusiasm to the project.
18 — The Architect (Dawn Richard)
The New Orleans singer’s self-described ‘Epoch 1’, The Architect is a brazen deconstruction of the concept of the ‘single’ from Dawn Richard, featuring three tracks (one in two distinct parts) that play around freely with various flavours of dance, RnB and electronica.
17 — BB/Ang3l (Tinashe)
Tinashe’s most recent project, coming five-ish years after her split from RCA, is a short one, though not one lacking in substance, as she releases perhaps the most convincing realisation of her futuristic, orphic RnB sound to date.
16 — God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys (The Callous Daoboys)
I don’t know whether God’s smiling upon the Callous Daoboys, but I certainly am, as the Atlanta mathcorers scream, shout and ooooooh-waaaaah their way through three heavy, chaotic and largely unpredictable songs on this semi-eponymous EP.
15 — Forever Means (Angel Olsen)
Four tracks from the Big Time sessions, Angel Olsen’s 2023 EP is a perfect fusion of her earlier work and the new creative directions she more recently took — and though they often sit conspicuously alongside one another, the idiosyncracies are all the more compelling in contrast.
14 — SCRAPYARD I; SCRAPYARD II; SCRAPYARD III (Quadeca)
Quadeca’s three SCRAPYARD EPs only total 8 songs in 22 minutes, but they function well both as individuals and as a full project when placed end to end. The third is perhaps the highlight, functioning perfectly as a fusion of its two predecessors, but all three are an indication of Quadeca working at his best.
13 — Slice (O.)
Bolshy drum’n’sax from London that sits just on the tuneful end of noise rock, Joe and Tash are quickly becoming one of the UK’s most interesting instrumental groups, and four-track EP Slice makes for a strong debut release.
12 — Long Is The Tunnel (Daneshevskaya)
November brought us Anna Daneshevskaya Beckerman’s first EP, and what a wonderful thing it proved to be — soft, folk-hued instrumentals that swell at points into wide expanses, with confessional, sincere words that highlight the smallest and most banal of daily observations.
11 — Bubblegum (Biig Piig)
The BBC were right to nominate Jessica Smyth for the sound of 2023, because she released one of its best records right at the start of the year. The seven emotionally complex dance-pop bangers demonstrate an alreay-confident artist with a lithe and limber approach to genre.
10 — Give me a moment (Dean Blunt)
London art-pop auteur Dean Blunt returns with an incredibly short but nonetheless fulfilling five-song EP that feels incredibly personal to the artist. It’s hardly the most uplifting listen, but the directness from Blunt lyrically, paired with the almost hypnagogic musical style, makes for a transformative seven minutes.
9 — Brothers in Christ (Nerver, Chat Pile)
Nerver (from Kansas City, Missouri) and Chat Pile (from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) come together to take two tracks each on this split EP. Somehow, Chat Pile’s songs come out as the (marginally) lighter end of the record, though all four tracks are heavy, charismatic and full of technical skill and energy.
8 — Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall (Nia Archives)
Helping rally the current resurgence of jungle in the British musical scene, Nia Archives proves she’s more than just a beatmaker in this cheerful, melodic six-track, that never loses an optimistic feeling even amidst honest, to-the-point songwriting.
7 — Let’s Hope Heteros Fail, Learn and Retire (Alice Longyu Gao)
Easily amongst the best titles of the year, Alice Longyu Gao’s chaos-laden noisefest is a campy, nu-metal-ridden, hyperactive 19 minutes that run the full gamut through twee, horny, gross, angry, unhinged and right back again — no wonder xe offers a discount code for therapy at the end of the album.
6 — Dweller (Dweller)
Cross-Canadian collaboration Dweller’s debut EP is a masterful four-track collection of isolations and connections, each song rooted in a specific sense of place and time and underpinned by spacious, carefully considered strains of indie-rock.
5 — the rest (boygenius)
2023 has, in many people’s eyes, been boygenius’ year, and not content with releasing one of its best albums, they come along with four more tracks and give us a stunner of an EP too. If you liked the record, you’ll like this too — three-piece indie perfection.
4 — Julie Byrne with Laugh Cry Laugh (Julie Byrne)
Julie Byrne’s group Laugh Cry Laugh bring four poignant downtempo tracks to fruition on their sort-of-self-titled EP, including a touching Jackson Browne cover and a haunting instrumental — but Byrne’s own songwriting, carried on the wings of her tremulous, half-whispered voice, shines just as strong.
3 — Barren Land (Taymour Khajah)
Barren Land is an explosive, energetic, dizzying fusion of jazz instrumentals with Khajah’s one-of-a-kind spoken-word vocals that wouldn’t sound too out of place on a Yard Act track. The instrumental performances are immaculate, the penmanship full of flair, and the entire package one of the most striking of the year.
2 — Get Up (NewJeans)
‘Super Shy’ is practically the K-pop song of 2023, but the rest of NewJeans’ second EP is just as infectious, blending big bassy Jersey-style beats and sparkly synths with the girls’ coy yet charismatic vocal deliveries.
1 — going… going… GONE! (hemlocke springs)
From smash-hit TikTok awkward anthem ‘girlfriend’ blooms the year’s best EP — hemlocke springs’ charmingly eccentric release combines the best excesses of 80s artpop with a distinctive any-and-all electro flair that is endlessly listenable and more than a little humorous too.
And thus, the second list of the 2023 end-of-year review is complete. Next up — the year’s best soundtracks, from video game, film and TV, and boy were there some gooduns. Until then,
AC.
2023 IN REVIEW
- The best music videos of 2023
- The best EPs of 2023 — Part 1 — Part 2
- The best soundtracks of 2023 [not yet released]
- The best albums of 2023 [not yet released]
- The best songs of 2023 [not yet released]
