The 8 Best Songs of March 2023
All the tracks you should be listening to!
There are two, 100-per-cent certified hot takes I have about music:
- It’s good!
- There’s a lotttttt of it.
So it’s only natural that I’d want to highlight the first one and solve the second by creating this monthly music series, talking about the best songs of the past month.
You can check out all the songs I chat about today, as well as some additional picks in the expanded Spotify playlist here:
08 I’ve Got Me
Joanna Sternberg
“Showing up for yourself” is a sentiment I’ve only stumbled across recently, and nowhere has it sounded better than on this delightful Joanna Sternberg tune.
Minimally scored, I’ve Got Me sonically could fit snuggly in an A24 produced coming of age flick. Earnest and charming, Joanna’s compassion is expressed with a wise, warm delivery — as if the sage advice is being passed down by a beloved family member.
If I were a betting man, I’d put money on no track overtaking this for Most Wholesome Song of 2023.
Best Bit: When the tune takes a jaunty turn in the closing seconds — puts a smile on my face everytime!
07 Good Time
The Dare
One listen to this tune by The Dare will show how indebted they are to that wave of mid-noughties dance punk, to the point it wouldn’t surprise you if their full-length release ended up being called ‘Noise of Sterling’.
But if you’re looking for a tune that will fill that James Murphy-sized hole in your heart then Good Time is a pretty good substitute. It’s hard not to fall for its sleazy “wandering into the nearest takeaway at 3 am” charm, the stench of adrenaline and whatever the hell they’re drenched in being positively overwhelming.
Hedonistic, horny and a hell of a good time — oh, so that’s why it’s called that!
Best Bit: How is not gonna be that electro breakdown?!
06 Bang Bang
Momma
If you were to have a guess about this track’s nature based on its title, your mind is either going to be cowboy-pilled or heading straight for the gutter.
And while it’s firmly the latter — explicit and erotic at every opportunity -, it does happen to be as cool as it is crude. Bang Bang is the kind of song that sees in the warmer, brighter months upon its arrival.
You have those shimmering opening synths, feisty, 90s-adorned scuzzy guitars, and vocals whose fidelity is scattered all over the place like clothes on the floor.
Best Bit: The climax from 2:30 onwards when the harsher guitar line punches through.
05 If Looks Could Kill
Destroy Lonely
From a song that could soundtrack your Summer to one that could score an early hour ride on Halloween.
That’s not to say Destroy Lonely is taking a page out of Clipping’s book, there’s just a dark, ominous vibe radiating from this self-assured stunner.
It’s not the type of song that will blow your mind lyrically, nor is it Destroy Lonely’s intent. Instead, spinning a braggadocious song about a lavish lifestyle and contrasting it into something that feels derelict and sinister is the real appeal.
Also: props to this Genius comment.
Best Bit: That Lil Peep-esque guitar, drenched in emo vibes, is what pulled me back time and time again.
04 Lean Beef Patty
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown
By now, the discourse surrounding Scaring The Hoes has — hopefully — died down. If I had to take a shot every time I read a tweet about how “the mixing is so bad” or “this is a glorified JPEGMAFIA album”, I’d be like John Marston at the end of Red Dead Redemption.
With the dust having settled, we can now focus on the key question: is it any good? Yes. In fact, in the case of Lean Beef Patty, it exceeds the expectations of a collaboration between two of hip-hop’s most eccentric minds.
As you can expect from the album title, Lean Beef Patty does have that internet brain rot with Peggy especially sounding like he’s become possessed by his Twitter feed. Side tickling bars a plenty, there’s plenty to admire production-wise too with that energetic Diddy sample.
Best Bit: Could choose any number of lines but “First off, fuck Elon Musk” wins it for me.
03 Nurse!
bar italia
Any song that can make me feel the same type of dreary excitement I had when I first heard King Krule back in 2013 is one worth taking note of.
While it may be indebted to a litany of moody rock heavyweights — take a shot every time you see this band compared to The Cure or Joy Division — I don’t see that as a downside so long as an act weaves something interesting with those influences.
And with Nurse, we get just that! The onus of delivering the goods is shared amongst this trio who all shine on their respective parts, especially the dream-poppy intro from Nina.
Factor in some mysterious lyrics and you’ve got yourself a cool little number from an act well worth getting on the ground floor of.
Best Bit: That closing, morose minute where Jezmi shifts back and forth from humdrum to bellowing. Big “James Blake fronting a Post-Brexit Post-Punk band” vibes.
02 Dumbest Girl Alive
100 gecs
You would think that after four years — during which countless artists rode their Doritos-laden coattails — that 100 Gecs whole shtick would be wearing mighty thin.
You would be wrong.
Sure, anyone who thought Money Machine and Stupid Horse were gimmicky at best, migraine-inducing at worst, is not going to be converted by 10,000 Gecs. Dylan and Laura seem well aware of that as the tongue is so in cheek this time around that it’s burst through like some Eldritch abomination.
And while there are moments on their new LP that walk that thin, ironic line dangerously — here’s looking at you Frog On The Floor — opener Dumbest Girl Alive is the kind of banger that could only come from the internet-poisoned minds of 100 Gecs.
‘Sicko Mode For People Whose Childhood Was Forever Changed By Newsgrounds’ if you will.
Best Bit: “Text, text, text, text, like you’re tryna start a fight” and the following acoustic solo scratches my brain in a way I can’t put into words — but it’s cool!
01 Not Strong Enough
boygenius
A common observation made of Boygenius’ debut EP was that each song felt like a Baker/Bridgers/Dacus track with the remaining two there to assist.
For the record, I don’t think this is a criticism as that release lived up to the hype expected of an indie rock supergroup. And for The Record — heh heh — Boygenius seem to have taken that feedback on board, as is the case with Not Strong Enough.
This feels like the perfect amalgamation of all three members, as well as the manifesto that birthed the band’s namesake in the first place. That’s especially true on one of the song’s many standout bits, the fantastic bridge which packs in all the rage and desensitisation of being devalued to male counterparts.
And while I can’t relate to that sentiment — though I greatly admire the execution — the Baker x Bridgers combo analysis of depression (“Half a mind that keeps the other second-guessing”) certainly cut through. A tour de force of three of the best singer-songwriters of our time.
Best Bit: The harmonies on the closing chorus — absolutely stunning.
