The AllMusic 2023

Year
In
Review

Embracing dancefloor anthems, lo-fi glitches and abrasive, cathartic near-noise, the electronic genre pushed boundaries in 2023. Our editors highlight groundbreaking recordings from Faten Kanaan, Mary Lattimore (pictured), Me:You, and a farewell to legend Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Actress

LXXXVIII

Darren Cunningham's eighth mystifying album serves another generous batch of purposefully askew dancefloor mutations and crystalline ambient pieces.

Barker

Unfixed

The groundbreaking producer engineers kick drums back into the equation of his cascading ambient techno.

Beatriz Ferreyra

Senderos de luz y sombras

Impressive 16-channel electro-acoustic work inspired by astrophysics and the unconscious mind.

Blawan

Dismantled Into Juice

The producer's most bizarre release yet is filled with twisted, grimy mutant dancehall and sludgy deconstructed acid.

Cardopusher

Immaculate Poison

Cardopusher returns to high BPM intensity with an exhilarating hybrid of breakcore and hard trance.

Caterina Barbieri

Myuthafoo

A companion release to the Italian synthesist's revelatory 2019 album Ecstatic Computation.

Colleen

Le Jour et la nuit du réel

The French composer/producer returns to her roots with poignant analog synth instrumentals reflecting the ever-changing nature of reality.

DJ Black Low

Impumelelo

The South African artist's second album is one of the amapiano scene's strongest releases yet.

DJ K

Panico No Submundo

Fascinating effort from the pioneer of beat bruxaria, a surreal and sinister offshoot of funk brasileiro.

Doc Sleep

Birds (In My Mind Anyway)

Immersive, environmental ambient techno from one of the founders of experimental label Jacktone Records.

Eluvium

(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality

The ambient composer reflects on humankind's troubling relationship with technology on an album rich with strings and sophisticated electro-acoustic arrangements.

Erika

Anevite Void

An intoxicating set of ambient-leaning sci-fi techno from the longtime member of Detroit electro group Ectomorph.

Evian Christ

Revanchist

The British producer embraces his trance roots on his equally cathartic and euphoric debut album.

Faten Kanaan

Afterpoem

The New York composer's fifth album is a delight of shape-shifting melodies and enchanting cyclical moods.

Forest Swords

Bolted

The producer returns from a six-year hiatus with artfully claustrophobic tracks that teeter between mournful and menacing.

G Jones

Paths

Reflective yet chaotic second full-length from the hybrid bass master and festival mainstay.

Gifted & Blessed

Heard and Unheard

Bright-eyed machine soul from central Los Angeles beat scene figure Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker.

Hawksmoor

Telepathic Heights

James McKeown evokes '70s Krautrock and kosmische music as well as hauntology on his first Soul Jazz Records release.

Helena Hauff

Fabric Presents Helena Hauff

A masterful set of cyberpunk-leaning electro-techno from the esteemed Hamburg-based DJ.

Hollie Kenniff

We All Have Places That We Miss

The third album of wistful, hazy ambient/post-rock compositions from Hollie Kenniff of dream pop duo Mint Julep.

James Blake

Playing Robots Into Heaven

The singer/songwriter, producer, and star collaborator returns to his club roots on one of the most honest releases of his career.

James Ellis Ford

The Hum

The debut solo album from the celebrated producer and Simian Mobile Disco co-founder is unexpectedly insular and personally drawn.

James Holden

Imagine This Is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities

The visionary electronic artist revisits some of his formative trance and techno influences while retaining the spirituality of his later work.

Jessy Lanza

Love Hallucination

One of Hyperdub's key artists returns with her ebullient if emotionally broad fourth album, joined by the likes of Paul White and Pearson Sound.

Jlin

Perspective

Original electronic versions of Jerrilynn Patton's Pulitzer Prize-nominated collaboration with Third Coast Percussion.

Jungle

Volcano

An inspired blend of 1970s and '80s dance and hip-hop sounds mark the London electronic duo's fifth album.

Justin Walter

Destroyer

The EVI master channels darker energies on his third Kranky release, this time incorporating the frayed wheezing of a restored pump organ.

Katie Gately

Fawn/Brute

Inspired by her pregnancy, the producer/sound designer's third album is a restless, fascinating exploration of childhood and parenthood.

Kx5

Kx5

Pumping maximum energy and euphoria, this is the debut LP from the collaboration between Kaskade and deadmau5.

Laurel Halo

Atlas

A flowing sequence of orchestral ambient collages created in part during the artist's residency at Ina-GRM Studios in Paris.

Lauren Bousfield

Salesforce

A more detailed yet also noisier and more aggressive follow-up to the breakcore artist's remarkable 2020 effort Palimpsest.

Lawrence English / Loscil

Colours of Air

Using a 19th-century pipe organ as a source, the composers deliver a rainbow's worth of ambient pieces ranging from soft to all-consuming.

Loraine James

Gentle Confrontation

On her third Hyperdub full-length, the Londoner reflects on her family and the music that helped shape her adolescent years.

Maps

Counter Melodies

The English musician takes something of a left turn and delivers a sleek, deeply satisfying dance record.

Mary Lattimore

Goodbye, Hotel Arkada

The ambient harpist turns in her most richly nuanced album to date, with help from members of Slowdive, the Cure, and other collaborators.

Matmos

Return to Archive

The duo's collages of Smithsonian Folkways' non-musical recordings celebrate the label's 75th anniversary and how we document and reframe the past.

Me:You

Field Tapes in der Trash

Mourning [A] BLKstar offshoot with a thrilling mix of poetry, electronics, and live instrumentation that obscures genre borders with post-punk spirit.

Melati ESP

hipernatural

Lush, atmospheric pop drawing from liquid drum'n'bass and ambient house, by Indonesian-American artist Melati Malay (Young Magic, Asa Tone).

Mukqs

Stonewasher

Chaotic glitch improvisations recorded live with no overdubs by Hausu Mountain's Max Allison.

Nia Archives

Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against tha Wall

Third EP and major-label debut from the award-winning neo-soul junglist.

Nondi_

Flood City Trax

A cloudy, daydream-like fusion of footwork, IDM, and abstract techno from a prolific artist based in Pennsylvania.

Oneohtrix Point Never

Again

The project's restlessly creative tenth album revisits the music of Daniel Lopatin's young adulthood with equal amounts of ambition and emotion.

Overmono

Good Lies

The debut album from the celebrated U.K. dance duo mixes moody, after-hours melancholia with hook-driven club rhythms.

Pangaea

Changing Channels

Some of the most immediate and accessible work from the visionary U.K. bass producer and Hessle Audio co-founder.

Rezzett

Meant Like This

Second LP of inventive, supremely blown-out lo-fi house and abstract jungle from Lukid and Tapes.

Ryuichi Sakamoto

12

The final album released during the revered artist's lifetime is an audio diary consisting of somber yet graceful keyboard pieces.

Salami Rose Joe Louis

Akousmatikous

Another cosmic earth-rot fantasia from sci-fi synthesist Lindsay Olsen, this one involves around a dozen collaborators who add rhythmic intricacy and might.

Sofia Kourtesis

Madres

A vibrant set of house tracks that serve as poignant reflections, celebrations, and peaceful protests.

Surgeon

Crash Recoil

Surgeon returns to Tresor with a propulsive, constantly shifting studio album that captures the spontaneous energy of his live sets.

Yaeji

With a Hammer

The Korean-American electronic artist's debut album is a mixture of self-reflection, protest, and nostalgic fantasy.

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Oneohtrix Point Never