The 15 Best Dance Albums of 2023: Staff Picks
Yo, listen. You hear that?
From left: Kylie Minogue, Kelela, Skrillez & Romy Edward Cooke; Justin French; Marilyn Hue; Vic Lentaigne
Singles may be the lifeblood of the dance world, but albums are its beating heart — the projects on which artists offer worldviews, complete statements and the fullest sense of who they are, where they’re coming from and what they care about. Thus like dancing itself, an album is an intimate experience, especially when you listen closely.
And 2023 was an exceptional year for the format: legends returned with refreshed ideas, new acts rose above the fray, newly solo artists defined themselves and altogether a barrage of resonant projects reminded us of the vast territory of sound that the dance/electronic genre covers.
While tech house, house and techno continued ruling dancefloors worldwide, it’s hard to say any one sound defined the top albums of the year. There were throwbacks, there was ambient, there was drum ‘n’ bass, house, IDM, acid, pop dance and more. But the long-player format did give artists a chance to step back from the decks — where getting the crowd moving is the perpetual motivating force — and get into the studio to explore often softer and more experimental sounds, which might not be right for peaktime (or for radio crossover), but which still are part of the dance DNA.
And while the Dance/Electronic Albums chart was largely dominated by old standbys in 2023, the way albums were transformed into the live setting helped contribute to one of the healthiest years for live dance events in recent memory.
These are our 15 favorite dance albums of 2023, presented in alphabetical order by artist.
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Barry Can’t Swim, When Will We Land?
The debut LP from Barry Can’t Land is yes, an electronic album — but in its best moments, it feels like something beyond. On When Will We Land?, the Scottish producer melds field recordings, layers of hand percussion, jazz concepts, samples culled from around the world and a gaggle of guest vocalists into 11 tracks that are dually cerebral and joyful, drawing out emotion while also drawing you onto the dancefloor. His own effervescent piano playing weaves the 11 tracks together, with the instrument here possessing as much power as any given drop or kickdrum. — KATIE BAIN
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The Chemical Brothers, For That Beautiful Feeling
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo The 10th studio album from the U.K. pioneers pulls off a neat trick, weighing the existential dread of the moment — the pandemic, the climate, the inflation, the war — with the same rousing, tough, funky, sometimes soothing and often acid-soaked productions that define a peerless catalog going back to 1995. The Beck collaboration “Skipping Like a Stone” is the Brothers are their most soaring, and together the lean 11-track collection offers a complete statement on the duo’s state of mind and the state of the world. “But we didn’t necessarily want to dwell in that place,” the duo’s Ed Simons told Billboard in September. “We feel like what we create is perhaps a way of having moments of release and escape.” – K.B.
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Disclosure, Alchemy
The Lawrence brothers’ first LP in almost three years, Alchemy finds the duo eschewing the guest vocalists and samples of records past, instead opting for a revitalized focus on building songs from the ground up. On standout “Sun Showers,” the duo delves into the trance influences that only flutter in the background elsewhere on the record, while their-ever first crack at a jungle song, “Higher Than Ever Before” proves strong enough to have earned them a 2024 Grammy nomination for best dance/electronic recording. In total, Alchemy brings Disclosure firmly back into the club, where they’re solidly in step with the broader movements of the scene this year and also sounding as fresh as ever. – KYLE DENIS
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James Blake, Playing Robots Into Heaven
After nearly a decade of dabbling in pop stardom — or at least pop stardom-adjacency — James Blake brings it all back home with the relatively low-key Playing Robots Into Heaven. No big-name guests, no incredibly obvious singles, no songs that could be performed by John Mayer in another life: just shadowy, dense downtempo with a soulful center, the way mom used to make it. Not shocking that it was his worst-performing album to date — his first solo set to miss the Billboard 200 outright — but it makes for one of his most satisfying listens in a long time. And the songs aren’t without big moments: Note the stabbing synths of “Tell Me,” the in-surprisingly-good-taste Snoop & Pharrell interpolation on “I Want You to Know,” and how the title track closer actually kinda sounds like it is in fact playing robots into heaven. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
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Jayda G, Guy
Jayda G based her latest album on the experiences of her father William, who died when she was 10. For the first time, she penned lyrics — pulling from more than 11 hours of archival videotapes — before building out her tracks, and she also stepped into the role of lead vocalist more than ever before. “Meant to Be” and “When She Dance” nod to the bounce and gloss of 1980s R&B, while “Blue Lights” has a club-ready pulse. “When there’s nothing inside, and they want you to cry,” Jayda G sings, “I need to go on.” – ELIAS LEIGHT
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Jessie Ware, That! Feels Good!
If 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure? fully entrenched Jessie Ware in dance floor delights after the South London singer formerly specialized in soulful torch songs, this year’s follow-up is an exercise in refinement — sanding down her disco sound into a sleeker product, while still, as the album title confirms, abiding by sensory pleasures. That! Feels Good! earns its exclamation points on songs like the ecstatic party-starter “Beautiful People” and the sashaying piano anthem “Free Yourself,” and driving the whole affair is Ware’s powerhouse voice — the type of engine few dance records are blessed to possess. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
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Kelela, Raven
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo The title of Kelela’s riveting second studio album is a reference to the literal bird and also a play on the word “raving.” Through her explorations of drum’n’bass, house, amapiano and dancehall, Kelela submerges herself in the sanctity of raves. The record soundtracks a post-breakup night out that doubles as a Saturday night revival, an opportunity for Kelela to intimately acquaint herself with her most hidden inhibitions and a space for her to reclaim some sense of control over, and understanding of, herself in the face of a paralyzing romance. Whether she’s blending orchestral pop and ambient music on the Shygirl-featuring “Divorce” or evoking the sweaty sensuality of bashments in “On the Run,” she does it all with a reverence for the healing properties of dance music – K.D.
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Kylie Minogue, Tension
Sure, “Padam Padam” (rightly) received the majority of the attention surrounding Kylie Minogue’s studio output this year, but the Australian pop veteran’s viral hit crystallizes the self-assured song construction of its host album. A vibrant mix of synth power, disco strut, dreamy romance and sensual hooks, Tension finds Minogue in command of her dance environment, and brandishing her confidence with the ease of her Aphrodite days. We’d call Tension a late-career triumph, but let’s hope Minogue keeps this party going for many more years. – JOE LYNCH
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LP Giobbi, Light Places
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Arguably no producer swung for the fences harder this year than LP Giobbi, who’s 2023 CV includes remixing Jerry Garcia’s 1972 debut album, launching her own label, playing a dizzying list of global festivals — and, in May, releasing her debut album, Light Places. In the rollout to the project much was made of LP being raised by Deadhead parents, and the fingerprints of the band’s heady, communal culture are all over this one, with the album nodding to the safety of family and the sacred nature of ancestry, the mystery of love and the thick magic of a body moving experiences on the dancefloor. A true start to finish listen, the project includes collaborations with LP’s bffs Sofi Tukker, along with DJ Tennis, Joseph Ashworth, Caroline Byrne and more — making it all, in many ways, a family affair — K.B.
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Overmono, Good Lies
The debut album from Welsh brothers Tom and Ed Russell, released by eminent tastemaker XL Recordings, brilliantly fuses 2-step garage and techno with addictive pop hooks for a set filled with immediate rewards that reveal more depth with every listen. Those instant pleasures include irresistible standouts like “Is U,” “So U Know,” and the monumental title track – but what elevates Good Lies even further is its deft sequencing, as the Brothers Russell nestle atmospheric comedowns like “Vermonly” amid the dancefloor bliss. – ERIC BROWN
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Pangaea, Changing Channels
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo On his first album in seven years, Kevin McAuley, the co-founder of influential UK club music label Hessle who’s better known as Pangaea, reaffirms the notion that bangers can still have an experimental edge. Changing Channels‘ seven outstanding tracks, led by exceptional opener and single “Installation,” rest on a simple foundation – powerful, high BPM grooves – that Pangaea then tricks out with memorable vocal samples, drifting synths and other unexpected sonic elements. The result is a thrilling swirl of house, techno, garage and happy hardcore. – E.B.
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RL Grime, PLAY
With respect to pure ambition, RL Grime’s PLAY is major. The producer’s first album in five years is actually made from three eight-song mini-albums featuring different sounds — APEX is the pure, maximalist bass that made Henry Steinway a trap-era star more than ten years ago; GRID pushes into experimental electronica via collaborations with artists like 070 Shake and longtime associate Baauer, while RUSH is music for the comedown, and some of the lightest and most interesting work of the RL Grime catalog to date. The structure might be a gimmick if the music wasn’t exceptional, but with PLAY Steinway reminds us not only of his tremendous technical dexterity, but of worlds his work has always been capable of creating. — K.B.
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Romy, Mid Air
After a series of sneakily addictive singles — especially “Lifetime,” a club missile that came out during the first year of the pandemic when clubs were sadly closed, and “Enjoy Your Life,” a glimmering nu-disco cut — Romy finally released her solo debut in September. “Strong” with Fred Again.. is misty but bracing, and the glowing, head-over-heels “She’s on My Mind” seems made to close down an evening, sending revelers home with a smile. At its best, the album is wistful yet propulsive, good for polite mayhem on the dancefloor. – E.L.
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Skrillex, Quest for Fire
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Skrillex had one of the best comebacks of any artist in 2023, taking over the dance world for weeks as part of a DJ super-trio with Fred again.. and Four Tet, as part of the build-up for Quest for Fire, his first full solo album in nearly a decade. But it wouldn’t have mattered much if the music wasn’t good. Luckily, Quest is a near-best-case scenario for a producer synonymous with a long-gone musical moment – updating his sound with a variety of new friends and new sounds that still feel logical as part of his world, like the tremor-bass of “Rumble” and the skittering beats of “Butterflies,” while still maintaining the power and personality that made him a star in the first place. The fact that he surprise-released another pretty good set (Don’t Get Too Close) immediately after it also helped. – A.U.
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Sofia Kourtesis, Madres
With her eclectic debut album, Peruvian producer Sofia Kourtesis delivers and then some on the promise of her acclaimed 2021 Fresia Magdalena EP. The set’s nuanced, heady house channels contemporary titans like DJ Koze and Four Tet, on the spacey “Vajkoczy” and aqueous, rumbling “Funkhaus,” respectively. But while Madres evokes some of dance’s leading minds, it’s all in service of Kourtesis’ own singular, heartfelt vision. (“Vajkoczy” takes its name from the world-renowned neurosurgeon who saved the producer’s mother’s life after she extended a plea to him on Instagram; in repayment, she took him to the elite Berlin club Berghain.) The title of Madres‘ joyous centerpiece is apt: “How Music Makes You Feel Better.” – E.B.
Link to the source article – https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-dance-music-electronic-albums-2023/
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