Favorite Releases of January
- jessiehirzel
- Feb 10, 2023
- 3 min read
The first month of the year was FULL of great music.
Keep reading to find out two of my favorite singles and two favorite albums released in January.
Lookaround - Edgehill
This Nashville group knows how to make an indie pop tune.
Lookaround is a deeply personal and relatable track that hits every single time. I listen to this track on repeat, and it never gets old.
This is the third track released to streaming services by Edgehill, and every single one is great. I can't wait to hear what they release next. If this single is an example of what's to come, it's safe to say Edgehill will run the Nashville indie scene in a few years.
The People's Champ - Quinn XCII
I've been listening to Quinn XCII for years, and he keeps getting better with every album. Each release shows a growth and maturity that I haven't heard from very many artists.
The People's Champ is the fifth album from Quinn. In my mind, nothing will beat his second record, From Michigan With Love. With that said, though, this album is pretty great.
The front half of this album is stacked. With features from Big Sean and Chelsea Cutler, Quinn XCII pulled out all the stops. While the back half is lacking, the front half is solid enough to carry the album.
Favorites include Common (with Big Sean), Black Porsche, FOMO, and The Lows. The best song on the album by far is Let Me Down (with Chelsea Cutler). I'm a big fan of everything Quinn XCII and Chelsea Cutler do together, but this track takes the top spot.
Body Better - Maisie Peters
The hook of this song is addictive. Despite the rocking beat and grooving production, the lyrics are heartbreaking. "Loving you was easy/That's why it hurts now/The worst way to love somebody's to watch them love somebody else and it work out" is enough to make someone cry while they dance to the synths and driving drums behind the lyrics.
The bridge of this song is one of the best I've heard. Seriously, it's so good. "All the hows and the whens and whys/I thought it would be us for life/Was I wrong and is she so right?/Is her body better than mine?/All the clothes and the warning signs/How's it feel to have made me cry?/Will you tell me just one more lie?/Is her body better than mine?" hurts just in the right way.
Maisie Peters has a way of making heartbreak sound great. She's the next big thing in traditional pop music.
Maryland House - The Crystal Casino Band
I love Washington, D.C.-based The Crystal Casino Band. While they make music and have released multiple albums, they still work day jobs. They're just so cool!
This album is a solid piece of work by TCCB. My favorite tracks are the first two: Curfew and Twenty-something Socialist. Curfew is a rocking, sonically full track about living in D.C. during the 2021 Capitol insurrection. Twenty-something describes the dread many recent college graduates feel. This track features some of my favorite lyrics ever: "I think this life's much more/Than leading families still built for the nuclear war", "Now the billionaires are up in space/To run away from all the flames/We can't make the front page", "You don't want to conform/So quit your 9-5 if you're aware of your self worth".
The Crystal Casino Band is perfectly political. If you want a band who writes about thngs they care about (and does it well), TCCB is right for you.
January gave us a taste of what the music of 2023 has to offer. I can't wait to see what else comes from this year.
Comments