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Illustration by Anna Laura.
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“I’m Rich!”
Category: Around the Web / Tags: "I'm Rich!", Anna Laura, Illustration by Anna Laura, One cat's idea of wealth
My 5th Annual Music “Year In Music” Review: Top 20 & 35 Honorable Mentions
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I feel like every end-of-year list should begin with a series of apologies. I’m sorry for not listening to everything. And for not listening closely enough, for not fully attending, for not hearing what’s there, for not being enough to do any of this justice.
In other words, I am not worthy.
And then there’s the second thought which is: Lighten up, Jimmy. Stop dithering. Nobody cares. So, yeah, these are just albums from the year that hit me, that stood out, that seemed distinct and fresh and different and valuable.
Mostly, it’s my hope that this annual exercise helps you find something that you like, just as it helps me clarify my own listening umwelt. What I hear within the confines of my particular bubble.
I am struck, often, by how negative (and infuriating) some people are about music. So narrowly dismissive, closed off and elitist. It breaks my heart. So if, on the other hand, you arrive to this list as a springboard for checking out something you haven’t heard before, or if it prods you to listen again, maybe with fresh ears and an open heart, then . . . thank you. You are my kind of listener.
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And third: Every list I read includes a too-long preamble that I almost invariably skip. So: more apologies for lacking the strength to resist that temptation.
Quickly about my process: I keep track of every full album I listen to, a practice I started five years ago. I listened to 131 (& counting) full-length albums that were released in 2023. Not nearly everything.
This year, I listened to 505 (& counting) full-length albums overall. That number used to be in the 700s. Two factors: I’m more committed than ever to repeated listens, and I’m quicker to abandon an album that isn’t working for me.
If I wait another week, or six more minutes, the contents here would likely change. There will be mistakes. Things I’ve missed or over- or under-rated. That’s why I embrace the “nobody cares” aesthetic. It’s liberating. I’m free. I’m not going for perfection. It’s all for fun, folks.
Here goes . . .
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TOP 20 (in alphabetical order)
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Ahnoni, Antony & the Johnsons: My Back Was a Bridge
Ambrose Akinmusire: Beauty Is Enough
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension
Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die ((world war))
Julie Byrne: The Greater Wings
Margo Cilker: Valley of Heart’s Delight
Feeble Little Horse: Girl with Fish
PJ Harvey: I Inside the Old Year Dying
Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light
Jason Isbell: Weathervanes
Lankum: False Lanky
Lydia Loveless: Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way
Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden
Jeff Rosenstock: Hellmode
Ryuichi Sakamoto: 12
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Sufjan Stevens: Javelin
Veeze: Ganger
Wilco: Cousin
Yo La Tengo: This Stupid World
Youth Lagoon: Heaven Is a Junkyard
HONORABLE MENTIONS (36)
EXPERIMENTAL, AMBIENT, NEW MUSIC
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Altin Gun: Ask
Daniel Bachman: When the Roses Come Again
Blue Lake: Sun Arcs
Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My
Blake Mills: Jelly Road
Tirzah: Trip9love . . . ?
JAZZ
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Natural Information Society: Since Time Is Gravity
The Necks: Travel
Gogo Penguin: Everything Is Going to Be Okay
Mette Henriette: Drifting
London Brew: s/t
ROCK, INDIE
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Bar Italia: Tracy Denim
Beirut: Hadsel
Bully: Lucky for You
Margaret Glaspy: Echo the Diamond
Hotline TNT: Cartwheel
The Lemon Twigs: Everything Harmony
Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Palehound: Eye on the Bat
Ratboys: The Window
Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me
The Tubs: Dead Meat
Water From Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed
Wednesday: Rat Saw God
AMERICANA, FOLK, COUNTRY & ALT-COUNTRY
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Meg Baird: Furling
Shana Cleveland: Manzanita
Cut Worms: s/t
Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World
Margo Price: Strays
Paul Simon: Seven Psalms
Kassi Valazzi: Kassi Valazzi Knows Nothing
Jamila Woods: Water Made Us
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HIP HOP, R & B
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Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure
Noname: Sundial
Cleo Sol: Heaven
RAYE: My 21st Century Blues
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THANKS FOR STOPPING BY . . . NOW GET LISTENING!
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Category: Music / Tags: Best albums 2023, Blue Lake, Cut Worms, Jaimie Branch, James Preller Music List, Jeff Rosenstock, Meg Baird, Tirzah, Top 20 albums 2023, Year in Music 2023
The Lure of True Stories — Better Than Nonfiction!
FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #332: Carli Didn’t Dig the Ending
I received two quick emails from Carli . . .
Hi James prellee I read your book bystander and I don’t really like how you ended it you should have ended it with more conflict but over all I really liked it and is there a second book
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And what I really did like about the book I like that there was a lot of conflict and I like how Mary was a good friend to Eric and was introduced herself to Eric when he first arrived
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I replied . . .
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Carli!
Sorry it’s taken me a couple of weeks to get back to you. I blame the turkey!
You sent two brief emails and I’ll try to answer them both here, toggling back and forth.
Let’s see: the ending.
Ah, the ending.
I know, I know. It doesn’t wrap things up in a tidy bow and it doesn’t conclude with a dramatic flourish. In many respects, you are not wrong to wish for those things. I usually do, too. But in this story, I wanted it to be as true to life as I could make it. So I sort of sidestepped “drama” in favor of “truth.” For better and for worse! I actually did write a more dramatic and “satisfying” ending w/ Eric helping to get Griffin caught for stealing bicycles, but it felt false (and forced) to me, so I ditched it.I think in real life we kind of endure these things. We move past them over time. That annoying kid in 7th grade moves on, time passes, and we realize it’s behind us at a certain point. There’s no tidy resolution. In terms of artifice, of a fictional story, maybe that’s not the most satisfying way to go. But, hey, to be honest, I like the open-ended nature of the book. That these characters live on in our imagination, and that it’s up to individual readers to speculate about where things will go after that. I do leave a number of hints along the way.
Yes, I love Mary, too. She’s a minor but crucial character in Bystander. And one that was, I think, underwritten. My primary focus was on Eric’s experience. But Mary has guts, stands up to her friends, suffers the consequences of that decision, and undergoes the greatest change in the novel. I liked her so much, in fact, I made her the main character in my recent book, Upstander, a prequel/sequel to Bystander. The book follows Mary closely, some time before the timeline of Bystander begins. We see her meet and become friends with Griffin. We learn about her troubled home life. We learn more about her uneasy friendship with Chantel. And halfway through the book, we pick up on meeting Eric on that basketball court (chapter one of Bystander) — this time told from Mary’s point of view. We also see that horrendous, painful moment with David and the ketchup.Everyone has a story. And if the pandemic taught us anything, it’s to withhold our judgment on other people. We just don’t know what’s going on in their lives. For Upstander, I wanted to pull back the curtain and get to know Mary much, much better.
I hope you read it. There’s also an excellent audiobook available, if you prefer to read with your ears.
My best,
James Preller
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Category: Bystander, Fan Mail, Upstander / Tags: Bystander, Fan Mail Wednesday Preller, The ending to Bystander, Upstander
FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #331: “Maxx Trax” Remembered, 37 Years Later
I’ve been randomly sharing samples of Fan Mail & my responses on this site since 2008. However, I haven’t posted as much Fan Mail the past couple of years, largely because I haven’t gotten as much. The pandemic shut it down — publishers don’t seem to forward mail the way they once did — and who knows. Maybe schools aren’t focusing on that kind of thing as much anymore. Everyone’s exhausted. Maybe it’s my own fading star. The ebbs and flows of a long career. I don’t know.
But look at this: an email from a reader who remembers a beloved book that I published in 1986, my first book ever, Maxx Trax: Avalanche Rescue!
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Pretty amazing, huh?
What a gift to receive such a message.
Dear Mr. Preller,
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I was reading Maxx Trax to my daughter and decided to look you up. I am happy to see that you continue to write children books.
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Thank you so very much. Your book has been in my life since 1986. When I chose it out of a school book fair. You’ll have to thank the artist as to a kid the picture on the cover caught my eye.
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This book has traveled with me to Japan back to the US and again Japan. I’m not military so that says something about the books importance while moving.
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My son has a special place on his shelf.
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I just wanted to let you know all these years later it is still one of my favorite books.
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Keep up the fantastic work.
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Jeremy
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I replied . . .
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Dear Jeremy,
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Wow, what a great letter. Thank you so much.
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The Irish have an expression, “Flowers for the living.”
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We don’t have to wait for someone to die before saying something nice to them.
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You did just that and I appreciate it.
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Yes, yes, yes, that was my first book, written at age 25 in 1986 and, I think, a story that stands up today. Long out of print, of course. I wrote a sequel but for insane reasons (money, I suppose), Scholastic changed illustrators and went an entirely different direction. A total failure and the end of that.
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The first book, your book, sold more than a million copies out of the gate. I was a junior copywriter at the time and I people were pretty surprised. However, I doubt there are many copies left in the world today. Hold onto your beloved, ragged copy.
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Gratefully yours,
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James Preller
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P.S. You might enjoy more background info about my very first book by clicking here!
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Category: Fan Mail / Tags: James Preller Fan Mail, James Preller's first book, Joe Lapinski, Maxx Trax Avalanche Rescue