Mireya Ramos

The Top Kansas City Albums, EPs and Reissues of 2023

The Top 25 Kansas City Albums of 2023

1. Matt Otto- Umbra*

Plastic Sax review.

2. Mike Dillon and Punkadelick- Inflorescence

Plastic Sax review.

3. Adam Larson- With Love, From New York City*

Plastic Sax review.

4. Ampichino and Rich the Factor- Midwest Tygoons*

Real orcas.

5. Stik Figa and The Expert- Ritual*

“It’s Stik Figa, mayne!”

6. Enzo Carniel, Hermon Mehari, Stéphane Adsuar and Damien Varaillon- No(w) Beauty

Plastic Sax review.

7. Pat Metheny- Dream Box

Plastic Sax review.

8. Janelle Monaé- The Age of Pleasure

Decadent.

9. Torches Mauve- Volume Two*

Plastic Sax review.

10. Flooding- Silhouette Machine

Dark shadows.


11. Mireya Ramos & the Poor Choices- Sin Fronteras

Cantinas and honky tonks.

12. Sweeping Promises- Good Living Is Coming For You

Look out below.

13. Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton- Death Wish Blues

A blaze of glory.

14. The Floozies- Porty Hord

Gort dorn.

15. Kansas Virtuosi- Luis Humberto Salgado

Ecuadorian expedition.

16. Tech N9ne- Bliss*

Bliss-ish.

17. The Whiffs- Scratch n' Sniff

Pub rock.

18. Krista Kopper- Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

There Stands the Glass review.

19. The Count Basie Orchestra- Swings the Blues*

Plastic Sax review.

20. LaVelle- Promise to Love

Between the sheets.

21. Danny Embrey- Orion Room

Plastic Sax review.

22. Bach Aria Soloists- Le dolce sirene

Siren songs.

23. Nick Schnebelen- What Key Is Trouble In?

There Stands the Glass review.

24. Heidi Lynne Gluck- Migrate or Die

Rumours.

25. Kelly Hunt- Ozark Symphony

Polished folk.




The Top 10 Kansas City EPs of 2023

1. Midwestern- Cartoon Network

There Stands the Glass review.

2. Missouri Executive Order 44- Seventeen Dead in Caldwell County

Savage.

3. SleazyWorld Baghdad- Debo Baghdad*

Shooter.

4. Weaponize Chomsky- Time Destroys Everything

Dialectical materialism.

5. Conductor Williams- Conductor We Have a Problem

The preferred sound of 2023.

6. Kevin Morby- Music From Montana Story

Big skies.

7. Spine- Raîces

Furia.

8. Alyssa Murray- Scrollin'

Plastic Sax review.

9. The Bitter Lake Association- My Life Inside a Movie Scene

A one-person greeting committee.

10. Eggs on Mars- Warm Breakfast

Tasty.



The Top 5 Kansas City Reissues of 2023

1. SleazyWorld Go- Where the Shooters Be 2

Star light, star bright.

2. Charlie Parker- Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings

Refreshed sound for the storied 1953 date.

3. Fred Davis- Cleveland Blues

Buried treasure.

4. Basie All Stars-  Live at Fabrik Hamburg 1981, Vol. 1

Shiny stockings.

5. The Noise FM- Deleted Scenes: Unreleased Hits 2013-2023

Appropriately titled.

*One or more of the musician’s additional 2023 recordings were excluded from these listings to make room for titles by other artists.

Last year’s rankings are here.

September 2023 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of Opéra de Lille’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of September (through 9/22)

1. Angelika Niescier- Beyond Dragons

Monstrous fire.

2. Yeule- softscars

Are friends electric?

3. Escher Quartet- Terra Incognita

Unexplored territory.

4. Tomas Fujiwara- Pith

With Patricia Brennan and Tomeka Reid.

5. Willie Nelson- Bluegrass

Pleasing redundancy.

6. James Brandon Lewis- For Mahalia, With Love

Wade in the water.

7. Mireya Ramos & the Poor Choices- Sin Fronteras

Possibly the year’s best non-jazz album out of Kansas City.

8. Irreversible Entanglements- Protect Your Light

My least favorite album by my favorite band.

9. Laufey- Bewitched

My review.

10. The Count Basie Orchestra- Swings the Blues

My review.


Top Ten Songs of September

1. Yahritza y su Esencia- "Rositas"

Cool kids.

2. Cultura Profética- "Para Mi"

My kind of Margaritaville.

3. Camilo and Diljit Dosanjh- "Palpita"

Culture clash.

4. James Blake- "Fall Back"

Tripping.

5. Tirzah- "Stars"

Outer space.

6. Tinashe- "Uh Huh"

Validated.

7. Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist featuring Vince Staples- "The Caliphate"

Haram.

8. DOE- "Holy Hands"

Sanctified.

9. Bad Bunny- "Un Preview"

Unstoppable.

10. Carrie Underwood- "Drunk and Hungover"

Formulaic fun.

Top Ten Performances of September

1. RP Boo at the Encore Room

My review.

2. Thee Sinseers, The Altons and Alanna Royale at Lemonade Park

My review.

3. Mahani Teave at the Folly Theater

My review.

4. Queens of the Stone Age, Viagra Boys and Jehnny Beth at Starlight Theatre

My review.

5. Alan Voss Quartet at Swope Park Pavilion

My review.

6. Dan Clucas at World Culture

My review.

7. OJT at the Prairie Village Jazz Festival

My Instagram clip.

8. Electric Blue Yonder at Tin Roof

My Instagram clip.

9. The Jazz Disciples at the Blue Room

My Instagram clip.

10. Hudspeth & Taylor at Ward Parkway Shopping Center

My Instagram clip.



The previous monthly survey is here.