Without pretensions of completionism, but not even that of giving full voice to the editorial staff's rankings, we thought we'd let you listen to the playlists that best represent each person's “musical year”. The songs that stood out within a certain genre, the symbolic songs of revelation artists or great confirmations – or, more simply, the songs that meant something to us who listened to them.
Gabriele Benzing
“The day is getting dark”. From a forest of whispers, Daniela Pes's voice emerges like the echo of a ghost. The day that is turning to dusk is filled with creaks, time itself seems on the verge of breaking. Even the form of language dissolves, dreaming of being reborn. How many times, looking around this year, have we had the sensation of finding ourselves living in the twilight of a world? “This stupid world”, Yo La Tengo would say.
The past that does not pass, the tomorrow that does not arrive: Mark Linkous's last message in a bottle remains suspended next to the grainy films of Misophone. “What will survive the end of our future?”, asks Federico Campagna in the pages of “Prophetic Culture”. “Once the skin with which the old world dressed reality has vanished, those who find themselves rebuilding a new world from a pile of ruins encounter the ineffable dimension of existence more intensely than ever”.
Behold, the ineffable. The point towards which everything seems to converge: “Everything that rises must converge”, sings Sufjan Stevens on the vibration of a crystal arpeggio. “Turn yourself around to see what I can save”: with the ineffable in our gaze, among our ruins we can see the bricks to save for the world to come. The end of days, to the sound of Matt Elliott's melancholic orchestra, resembles the bridge to a new beginning. “Let's take a walk on the other side”.
Marco Bercella
Paolo Ciro
Michele Corrado
There are so many musical genres and scenes, global and national, that today it is possible to follow and so many treasures that each of these areas holds, that with each passing year it becomes more difficult to produce a playlist that is concise and satisfying.
The only way to tackle such a mission is to impose stringent rules on yourself. In my case, otherwise I wouldn't finish it, I said to myself “okay, 2023, only 23 songs”. Thus was born an inconsistent and uninhibited string of songs, which doesn't care about genres and limits, but only about beauty and “stickiness”.
I promise that next year I will choose 24 songs instead and the next year 25 and so on, until one day something stops me.
Giuliano Delli Paoli
Lana Del Rey keeps telling me that we live in her era and bringing out masterpieces like her title track of his latest album, practically a thrill experienced in the corners most eager for life and joy of his identity, while society proceeds quickly, short-sighted, sly. Then there is the promising Nigerian Mohbad with one of his most intense songs of his wonderful “Blessed”, and again the spectacular embroideries of dadá Joãozinho in one of the most centered songs of his elusive songbook, the vibrations of the other Nigerian present in the top ten, Seyi Vibez, the old-time folk that never hurts of Nico Paulo, the emotional footwork of Faizal Mostrixx, the evergreen tribalism of Baaba Maal and Mitski's heart-to-heart confessions.
Valerio D'Onofrio
Claudio Fabretti
This year too I tried to condense 12 months of listening into a wide-ranging playlist, the result of yet another omnivorous musical binge. We immediately start strong among the high-class dance pulsations of Jessie Ware to enter a vortex of songs with a strong matrix synth-ethics: from the neon fluorescence of the “Copenhagen Cowboy” soundtrack to the magnetic Ebm of Mandy, Indiana, passing through the umpteenth high note of the imperishable Depeche Mode, the coldly Nordic sinuosities of Fever Ray and the unexpected electropop prowess of our Annalisa, without forgetting the return of the shoegazer Slowdive and the successful partnership between Graham Coxon of Blur and Rose Elinor Dougall under the acronym WAEVE. In the central part, however, ethnic sounds dominate, suspended between past and future: the enchanted liturgies of Daniela Pes, the ancestral rituals of Brigan, the Latin suggestions declined in electronic sauce by Caroline Polachek and Sofia Kourtesis, the spicy doublet of Turkish aromas Mabel Matiz–Altin Gun, the drone-folk mantra of Lankum. Therefore, obligatory space for another blockbuster of the year like “The Beggar” by the Swans and for expected and unpredictable returns (Beatles, Blur, Peter Gabriel, John Cale), without neglecting theinstant classic in duet by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves, the experimentalism of Onehotrix Point Never, Bono/Purattini and ex-Lingua Ignota Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter, the infinite sweetness of Lana Del Rey and Anohni and the folk-pop eccentricity of Misophone and Veils, as well as usual certainties like PJ Harvey, Susanne Sundfør and Yo La Tengo. There is also an incursion into the lightness of the best Italian pop with the triptych Madame–Corsi–Colapesce Dimartino. Special gueststhe sublime Finnish Maustetytöt, relaunched by Aki Kaurismaki's latest masterpiece, “Leaves in the wind“. Optimistic closing (“The End Of Days”), entrusted to that incomparable prophet of sadness named Matt Elliott.
Alberto Farinone
Fabio Ferrara
A handful of songs in no particular order from this 2023. As usual, the most complex part was finding a choice criterion. I tried to favor songs with more dynamic rhythms and artists that I didn't include in my annual album chart. It does not claim to be exhaustive. In some cases the songs are contained within works that did not fully satisfy me. Conversely, albums that I loved very much are not represented in this list. To give a semblance of regularity, I tried to order them by assonance but they can be listened to in random sequence.
At the end, a special tribute to our country with 5 songs by Italian authors.
Stefano Fiori
A year characterized by dark and calm sounds, with some touches of electronics (Troye Sivan, Goldfrapp), of soul (Jessie Ware, Arlo Parks) or of the more classic singer-songwriter warmth (Lana Del Rey, Grian Chatten), without however giving up the airy choruses and attitude arty (Christine And The Queens, Bjork). This year one more song than the usual twelve, I couldn't leave out Peter Gabriel's majestic piece even though it is definitely better appreciated in the context of the album from which it is taken.
Fabio Guastalla
Vassilios Karagiannis
My 2023 is a forking year. If on the one hand he was dedicated to long in-depth studies of prog and jazz discographies and to calibrated listening of albums as a whole, on the other hand the space for spurious songs, for personal catchphrases not necessarily linked to the project from which they were taken, was drastically reduced. In this short playlist I'm trying to take stock of the situation of those who were the highlights of next year to close. Pleasure for clearly prevails beat pulsating, dance motifs that give rhythm to the days, pieces of pure escape to which you can let yourself go with extreme ease. Women? Absolute star performers, regardless of latitude. Lil Yachty and the lopsided grooves of 100 gecs are among the few exceptions to the canon, which saw its most authentic mission in the escape towards the straight drum.
Claudio Lancia
Here is part of my compulsive listening in 2023, in a more or less random sequence. About a hundred songs taken from the albums that I loved more than others and that have accompanied me over the course of these twelve months. A rather transversal personal selection that I hope will intrigue you and keep you company. Happy listening and Happy New Year to everyone…
Daniel Moore
Cristiano Orlando
Damiano Pandolfini
I could say millions of words about these pop songs, but one is enough: padam.
Federico Romagnoli
Marco Sgrignoli
I spent a year musically rich, with confirmations, concerts, surprises. The fundamental directions were those that have characterized my explorations for a while now: a composite set of territories, which I like to see as at the frontier of “progressive music” for what the expression can mean today. Jazz, hip-hop and electronica – and above all their respective intersections; traditional music reinvented across multiple styles and regions of the world; good old rock with its load of pop sparks and hard revivalism. A substantial section of the playlist could even be of interest to those who, lovers of progressive rock, were truly convinced (laziness? lack of stimulation?) that the current year was at its best with Steven Wilson, Soen and/or Riverside. One more tail singer restores the value of catch refrains and some mocking teasing.
Ossidiana Speri
Peppe Trotta
Martina Vetrugno
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
