Best of 2023 | Best albums | Best songs | Irish albums | Best Of Podcasts | Guest lists |
Leagues O’Toole is a music promoter and label owner with Foggy Notions based in Dublin.
Leagues’ lists from 2022 and 2021.
Nabihah Iqbal
This World Couldn’t See Us
The references pop out, 80s synth pop, PSB, New Order etc which isn’t uncommon in 2023 but very few can write songs as coldly urgent and crafted as this. The whole album is great, love her.
H31R
Down Down Bb
Pronounced “Heir”, randomly stumbled on this on a YouTube rabbit-hole, classic emcee/producer team-up that immediately made me think of that early 00s experimental hip-hop groundswell around Anti-Pop Consortium, Anticon etc, real fast raps and trippy beats. Recommend the album. Great to see the Big Dada label still at it.
Cleo Sol
Desire
From the enigmatic Sault scene, Cleo is right up with the greats, Sade, Mary J, the 60s dons. This song is so spacious and calming, it brings the sun out in winter. Sol is Sun in Spanish i think so that makes sense.
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily
Shadow Forces
There’s music that contextualises everyday life, trends and social currencies and there’s music that has the ability to completely change how you feel in the moment. This is 14 minutes of bliss. This is the closest I can come to mediation. Said it before… Arooj is operating on a different level.
Lisa O’Neill
All Of This is Chance
This song is a masterpiece within a masterpiece, drawing from Kavanagh, nature, soil, ornithology, and diminishment of the human spirit. The way she changes direction two minutes in and takes us by the hand and sings “Man, walk on the moon, eat with the stars, try and touch the sun, burn, burn, burn.” It actually takes my breath away.
Julie Byrne
Summer Glass
Her voice is an incredible instrument to build songs around. I think this was the first single from the album and filled me with summer hope. She’s a superstar sun-kissed songwriter and a bit of a genius.
Soda Blonde
Bad Machine
Soda Blonde feel like outliers in the Irish music scene, as everyone else leans into their dark ancient recesses Soda Blonde activate their emotive pop sensibilities. But they remain poignant throughout. What an incredibly incisive and thrilling direction swerve this single was.
Nourished By Time
The Fields
Get this album, it has it’s own unique dreamlike identity. It’s full of fuzzy ennui, urgent beats and creamy melodies. One of the albums of the year it should soundtrack a generation.
Space Afrika & Rainy Miller
The Graves at Charleroi (feat. Coby Sey)
These guys are the vanguard, the best new music in Britain, altogether on one beautifully solemn track. The whole album is incredible but Coby’s vocal here is immaculate.
Brìghde Chaimbeul
Tha Fonn Gun Bhi Trom | I Am Disposed of Mirth (feat Colin Stetson)
She’s a force of nature, showing us traditional Scottish music is as dramatic, melancholic, and powerful as any modern genre. This collab with Stetson really takes the tune into a spacey swirl. It’s divine.
ØXN
Cruel Mother
John Francis Flynn
Mole In the Ground
Genius. Let’s make it the new Irish National Anthem. The album is a masterpiece. That’s two out of two for JFF. I dreamed of artists like John Francis Flynn and Lankum for years but here it is.
Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
Sword
See all Guestlist of 2023 choices
Best of 2023 | Best albums | Best songs | Irish albums | Best Of Podcasts | Guest lists |
