OPPS! 2023 / #45 – 41: Calling Your Mom, Some Kids and Music From Norway

We just keep going with what I missed and why I am a music fraud…FUN! I love hearing new music and, man, there was a lot of good new music this year. We may have missed the heavy hitters from 2022, but there was a ton of great music this year. The OOPS! of 2023 is very eclectic and nothing shows that more than this group of tracks. So, let’s check it out.

45. Noah Kahan: Call Your Mom

Noah Kahan fills that folky Bon Iver hole in your heart with warmth and piercing vocals. Acoustic guitar, strong falcetto vocals and a clam groove takes you out to the woods for a soul cleansing hike. This is the type of music you listen to alone by the fire and learn about yourself. It is a beautiful track about how no one is beyond redemption and connections is what makes life worth living. Now, call your mom.

44. Burna Boy ft. GZA: I Told Them

I don’t know how I missed this track on the top 50. I love Burna Boy ever since African Giant blew me away in 2019. He made the top 50 that year with his mix of African pop, reggae and hip hop in an intoxicating blend of high energy club tracks. I Told Them brings this altogether in a track about how Burna is on top of the pop mountain with his ever growing talent. With some strong percussion arrangements, his reggae – esque delivery and autotune flourishes makes a complex and engrossing track. Then GZA comes in to melt your brain with his WU-TANG style.

43. Middle Kids: Highlands

How do you follow Burna Boy? With Australian indie rock of course. Middle Kids are back with their glittery high octane indie pop with Highlands. This is a track about how the world is ever changing, which can both be an adventure as well as overwhelming. So, take control of the change and move to the highlands for a simpler life. This is a fun track that we can all relate to. When change gets too much we need to take control and settle down.

42. Susanne Sundfør: Ieikara Ijóõ

Sometimes music needs to be weird and from Norway. Susanne Sudfør delivers with a track complete with bird calls, amazing vocals, hand claps and lyrics about shock treatment. This is a track about connecting with nature in order to shock your soul back into equilibrium. I love her vocal and I am a sucker for any track with bird songs in it. The track builds to an amazing crescendo and it is best experienced by putting on some headphones and letting it wash over you.

41. Sunny War: Whole

Part Tracy Chapman and part delta blues, Sunny War delivers a bluesy track about not letting the world get you down and staying true to yourself. She sings about not selling your soul and protecting your soul and mind against the pain and brutality the world can throw at you. The combination of singer songwriter vibes and blues overtones is an excellent mix that brings this track to life and keeps it fresh.