New Jams - December 2023
The best music I've found this month, recommended sources for new jams, and inspiration for your music discovery.
Consider this your how-to guide for finding great new music. Journalists might not reveal their sources, but I do.
I’m on a journey to beat the Algorithm. To take control of what I listen to, what new music I discover, and what I like.
And I get it - the Algorithm is useful these days. There’s too much music to wade through it all by yourself. But there’s a point where it becomes less useful and more like an echo-chamber, forcing you into a spiral of listening to the same songs with different names over and over until you think that’s all the music there is.
I got into that musical spiral over the last few years, and realized it was time for a change. So I’m on a quest to find the best sources for musical inspiration. Critics, reviewers, websites, and yes, even the occasional algorithm, will all be vying for my vote. This will be a music recommendation newsletter, but it will also be a music recommender recommendation newsletter (say that three times fast).
Because as great as music writers and journalists can be, sometimes their recommendations aren’t approachable for beginners, or for the everyday music listener.
I’m on a mission to give you the tools to find what you like, and to learn how to find more of it. Don’t outsource your music to a few lines of code - or at least, if you do, do it with your eyes open. Hey, if a robot “gets” you better than a human, I ain’t here to judge.
New Jams
Shoutout to 2 great Substack publications that supplied several of this issue’s recommendations: No Expectations, and On Repeat. Also a reluctant shoutout to the Spotify Algorithm which gave me a couple of solid recs recently, although the Arcs album also appeared on many different “best of the year” lists, so I don’t know if that really counts yet. Credit where credit’s due, I guess…
Let us jam.
Bananasugarfire - Golden Apples - 2023
This album has a nostalgic vibe from another era mixed with a tiny hint of today’s brand of chaos, and it works. The whole album felt genuine and coherent, and the fuzzy aesthetics of the sound fit perfectly. It’s indie rock with a new garage-y sound, but it’s a garage built in 2020 with plastic siding and an old rusty Chevy broken down in the corner.
Source - No Expectations
Jamwise Taste Rating - 8/10
New Jams
“Anti-Ant Car”
“Little Bronco”
“Waiting For A Cloud”
Long Way From Home - JD Clayton - 2023
“Different Kind Of Simple Life” hits close to home for me as a born and raised southerner - people think many different things about the American south, with different levels of misguidedness, but this song is a super authentic and clear picture of life in a small southern town, with a dash of cool tossed in.
This album was as authentic and natural-sounding as it gets. I thought the songwriting was fantastic and relatable, nothing was forced, and I was immersed the whole way through.
Source - No Expectations
Jamwise Taste Rating - 8.3/10
New Jams
“American Millionaire”
“Long Way From Home”
“Cotton Candy Clouds”
Swinging Stars - Mapache - 2023
This album felt like a combination of things I’ve heard before - Khruangbin, Phish, and some assorted LA rock bands all mashed up into one. It’ll be the soundtrack to my next hike in the desert, whenever that happens. You’re gonna love it.
Source: No Expectations
Jamwise Taste Rating - 8/10
New Jams
“French Kiss”
“Reflecting Everything”
“Hey”
“Where’d You Go”
Wait Till I Get Over - Durand Jones - 2023
Source: On Repeat
Durand Jones has one of those voices that just bleeds emotion. I got goosebumps several times, both from the pure talent and the moving quality of the songwriting.
Jamwise Taste Rating - 7.8/10
New Jams
“See It Through”
“Letter to my 17 Year Old Self”
What Went Down - Foals - 2015
I listened to this album driving home from my parents house and damn, I loved it. I’d heard Mountain At My Gates before, but I didn’t realize the entire album was equally epic and stimulating. It tickled my taste buds in fun ways. I don’t remember any real “down” tracks - the energy was there the whole time. I was also high as a kite on coffee so that might have had something to do with it.
Source - The Spotify Algorithm…
Jamwise Taste Rating - 8.3/10
New Jams:
“Birch Tree”
“Snake Oil”
“Night Swimmers”
Home - Billy Strings - 2019
This album won a Grammy for best Bluegrass album in 2019. I’d heard “Away From The Mire” before, and it was one of my favorite songs of the past few years. The album is a great time start to finish, with the signature bluegrass high-energy tracks mixed with some softer pieces that both feel equally authentic and effortless.
Source - Grammys past winners list
Jamwise Taste Rating - 8.5/10
New Jams
“Away From The Mire”
“Taking Water”
“Love Like Me”
“Everything’s The Same”
Electrophonic Chronic - The Arcs - 2023
Yours, Dreamily was a candidate for my favorite album title of all time, and also a fantastic album itself. This might be my favorite album of 2023. I love the Arcs, and this album just epitomizes their tight and unique sound. I was all in from the first note. This one’s going in the vinyl collection without a doubt.
Source - Spotify Algo (and echoed by others)
Jamwise Taste Rating - 9.3
New Jams
“Keep On Dreamin”
“Eyez”
“Heaven Is A Place”
“A Man Will Do Wrong”
“Behind The Eyes”