Each year I wonder if there will be enough 7″ singles released into the world to fill up a countdown and then at the end of each year I look at the stack of singles I bought and I’m pleasantly surprised. Of course, the single ain’t cheap these days, and postage makes some records virtually un-gettable without an infusion of cash from a rich relative. But they are still tons of fun to play and collect. So, here are 23 singles that came out in 2023 that I liked and I bought.
1. Leatherman – Telephone (Legless)
The debut single from this Melbourne band mines the same vein of punky power pop that another Melbourne group, Romero did on their debut from a few years ago. Leatherman mix in some Amyl & the Sniffers too to really liven things up. Telephone is a scorcher of a song with guitars blazing and a chorus infecting you with a crunchy rock and roll virus that no inoculation can protect you from.
2. English Teacher – Song About Love (Speedy Wunderground)
Song About Love is an earworm of a song that snakes itself around you and consumes you. Singer Lily Fontaine knows that too many rock songs are about one thing and then decided to write one more rock song about love. The love song to kill all of the other love songs! I especially appreciate how the band gets into a frenzy at the end. A gigantic crescendo of being overwhelmed by all of the love songs out there.
3. Vicky Tafoya – The Moment (Penrose)
I haven’t heard from Vicky Tafoya since her 2020 single Forever (#2 in that year’s singles roundup). She’s thankfully back, and she’s still got it. the Moment is a smokey soulful ballad that sounds like an instant classic. She isn’t prolific, but I’ll take this kind of quality over quantity every time.
4. Ape-Ettes – Trampoline (Reta)
Ape-Ettes are a trio and hail from Sudbury, Ontario. This EP has a little punk, French punk, spy-surf and plain old pop. Easily excelling in all those styles and staying on point. They were christened the Ape-Ettes by Tommy and the Commies (#28 in the 2020 singles roundup) because of their fondness for covering girl groups and garage rock. Singer Julie Katrinette sounds a little like Kim Deal and has a knack for a good melody no matter the style employed.
5. Beabadoobee – The Way Things Go (Dirty Hit)
Beabadoobee aka Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus wrote a song called I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus which kinda got my attention. Then she released her Fake It Flowers LP which was really good bedroom pop with a bit of shoegaze influence. Her single The Way Things Go is another very pleasant surprise. She seems to be channeling Elliot Smith on this song with its acoustic backing and haunting vocal. Beautiful and amazing.
6. Blues Lawyer – Have Nots (Dark Entries)
Right from the start of Have Nots you know it’s gonna be a good time. The buzzing guitars, then the bouncing bass and finally the words come in and you are on your way blasting forward into 3:45 of pop bliss. Oakland’s Blues Lawyer have been together making quality indiepop since 2018 and this may their best one yet!
7. Jack Cades – Something New (Outro)
Stratford Upon Avon garage rockers come up with gold on Something New. Their sound is a 21st century take on 60’s psychedelic garage rock that doesn’t veer too far off the main road. Both of these songs are so good, especially Something New that it’s easy to forget that this has been done before. Jack Cades have the chops to hang with the greats.
8. Laughing Chimes – Laurel Heights (Slumberland)
Down in the southeast shoulder of Ohio, in a college town probably with a good college radio station, (Although you don’t need a radio station these days to know about the Paisley Underground or the southern jangle pop renaissance of the 80’s.) the Laughing Chimes materialized. These Athens, Ohio brothers from A probably just used the internet. Not matter the source, Laurel Heights reignites the flame of all the afore mentioned brilliance.
9. The Hazmats – Skewed View (Static Shock)
The second single from The Hazmats sees this this group with hard core punk chops continue on their fun-loving jangly pop trajectory. The A-side sounds a bit like the Stone Roses while the b-side goes for a more rocking early Wedding Present blast of guitars. This is classic sounding stuff that harkens back to when the UK indie charts were spotted with Sarah and Subway bands.
10. The Slow Summits – Budge (Too Good To Be True)
Named for a Pastels album (?) and sounding more than a little like Orange Juice, Slow Summits could be mistaken for a Scottish band. They actually call Linköping, Sweden home. Budge has a lovely guitar riff, features a skanky sax and biting lyrics. Excellent juxtaposition of happy sounding music masking a spiteful sentiment.
11. Positive Thinking – Permanent (Space Case)
Austin, Texas’ Positive Thinking were quietly putting out digital EP’s onto the internet until they hooked up with local label Space Case for this single. The hype sticker mentions that you should like this if you dig Opal and Rain Parade, and I can confirm that this is true. Permanent is haunting and catchy with elements of the Paisley Underground mixed with some 60’s futuristic sounds, a la Broadcast.
12. Jeanines – Tilt In Your Eye (Slumberland)
Jeanines songs are the most economical in indiepop today. They immediately grab you with their catchy 60’s inspired folky psychedelia and then usually a minute and 45 seconds later cast you off wanting more. Tilt In Your Eye is a top Jeanines song. It’s inserts bit of Jefferson Airplane into the Bats, Mamas and Papas formula and comes up with a slightly new winning formula.
13. Papernut Cambridge – Cinderella Crazy Golf (Gare du Nord)
The award for the only band to have a record on both the albums and singles list this year goes to Papernut Cambridge. Ian Button is on a hot streak it seems and so we benefit, getting four more songs here. Cinderella Crazy Golf is a great choice for a single. Button’s voice has a buzzy psychedelic vibe, while this chugging song takes an emergency third rail power trip to some place you may or may not have been before. There’s more too. I’ve Loved You the Longest is a pretty Byrds inspired number.
14. Red Sleeping Beauty (Featuring Amelia Fletcher) – Solid Gold (Matinee)
This Red Sleeping Beauty single features covers of Sarah indiepop classics (Sea Urchins’ Pristine Christine and Another Sunny Day’s I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist) and a couple new ones with guest vocalists. The Swedish group get help from Amelia Fletcher (Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, Marine Research, Tender Trap) on lead vocals on Solid Gold. I’ve probably listened to this song 30 times, and it’s still a mystery to me what it’s about. She’s flipping through old pictures, reminiscing, looking through her old records. Is she clearing out an old friend’s belongings? Did this person die? Or is she just getting rid of things she’s been holding on to for too long. I love it that I don’t know!
15. Chime School – Coming To Your Town (Slumberland)
One man psychedelic jangle pop man Andy Pastalaniec returns with a new single as a follow up to his debut album from a couple years ago. He’s also the drummer in Sea Blight, another great bay area group. Coming To Your Town continues on the 12 string Byrds-inspired path. Throw in some 80’s era UK indie influences like Biff Bang Pow!, Primal Scream and Razorcuts and you have a punchy little single that rails against capitalism and the breakdown of civil society. Wow!
16. Telephone Numbers – Weird Sisters (Meritorio/Perfect )
More SF goodness here! I haven’t done an in depth analysis, but I think that the 7″ single is still a thing in the bay area! Telelphone Numbers is mainly Thomas Rubenstein with some help from Glen Donaldson (Reds Pinks and Purples) and he has come up with a classic in Weird Sisters. It has a melancholy power pop sound that reminds me of late period Replacements mixed with the Lemonheads.
17. Lande Hekt – Pottery Class (Get Better)
You might remember Lande Hekt from last year’s countdown and her great cover of the Wedding Present’s Octopussy. Pottery Class is another slice of slightly melancholy, but still uplifting introspective pop in which Hekt weighs the pros and cons of living in the country vs the city. Is she a country mouse or a city mouse? Listen and find out!
18. Secret Postcards – Never Dreaming (Make Me Happy/Fastcut)
Secret Postcards are from Greece, but you could mistake their bright, sunny, slightly twee pop for a band from the UK or certain parts of the US. The buzzing guitars on Never Dreaming go great with singer Stella’s happy sounding vocals of the verses and then she dials in some melancholy for chorus. The cover is obviously influenced by Sarah records too. Easy to like.
19. Stef + the Sleeveens – Give My Regards To the Dancing Girls (Sweet Time)
Stef and The Sleevens feature members of Cheap Time, Pink Spiders and Sweet Knives and hail from Music City, USA. Give My Regards To the Dancing Girls is a tongue-in-cheek rocker. These pub rockers light it up with a a rollicking 60’s rockabilly riff and pithy attitude. This band definitely sounds like they are having the most fun of any band in this year’s countdown.
20. Wesley Bright – Six Minute Mile (Colemine/Palmetto Street)
Wesley Bright seems to sporadically release brilliant singles. It made me wonder, why he hasn’t put out an album yet. Then I searched and found he actually had already back in 2022, except it didn’t get much attention and isn’t on Bandcamp or vinyl. Go figure. In any event Bright has taken up running, or at least singing about running. Six Minute Mile clocks in at about three minutes. It’s smooth as silk and easily wins the race.
21. The Goods – David Jones Is Dead (Dandy Boy)
More goodness from the bay area. The Goods rev up the power pop engine on David Jones Is Dead. It’s a high quality rocker that fans of Sloan and Tommy Keene will totally dig. The single has 3 songs, and you get a bonus song with the download, all nearly as good as the A-side.
22. Red Mass – A Boy and His Robot (Space Case)
Red Mass are a Montreal collective lead by Roy Vucino and Hannah Lewis. Each song on this single features a different singer and all of them have a garage rock vibe. They’re not as unhinged as Thee Oh Sees, but I hear similarities on A Boy and His Robot, especially the Block of Ice era Oh Sees of 2009. Addicted featuring vocals from Chantal Ambridge is also really good because it adds in some 60’s California Mamas & the Papas ingredients to the dish.
23. Garrett T. Capps – She’s About a Mover (Self-released)
Garrett T. Capps has been described as cowboy kraut which is just about the perfect way to put it. His 2022 album People Are Beautiful was packed with some pretty great country kraut. She’s About a Mover continues his trip down the dusty boogie kraut groove road that goes direct from San Antonio to Düsseldorf.
the finest kiss 