Curious what notable personalities in the scene think was great this year? So is TGEFM! So we reached out to some of our favorite luminaries ranging from musicians, label personnel, and more for their “Best of 2023” lists. Now, listen: TGEFM is not a taskmistress. Contributors can write these out however they want. So if it doesn’t actually look or read like a list… and sometimes it really is just a list with no other observations! Who cares?
Cross-country skate punks Bridge The Gap dropped this year’s outstanding LP, Secret Kombinations on People of Punk Rock and followed it up a few months later with the standalone single “Revenant.” Frontman Chad Jensen was kind enough to share his favorites of 2023 with TGEFM. Check out the band here and see what got Chad moving below.
2023 has been a great year in more ways than one. My favorite movie this year is Napoleon. As a history buff of sorts, I went down a rabbit hole on the French Revolution and the Jacobins last year, which gave rise to Napoleon Bonaparte. It’s an interesting subject, the Revolution, and has a striking number of parallels to today’s sad state of affairs. The movie may focus too much on Napoleon’s marriage and romantic relationship, but a Ridley Scott film starring Joaquin Phoenix has no problem bandaging plot holes and covering over historical inaccuracies.
I’m a voracious reader, but none of the many books I’ve read this calendar year were actually released in 2023. For what it’s worth, I read The Rock-N-Roll Singer’s Survival Manual by Max Baxter after hearing a glowing recommend from Chuck Ragan, and I highly recommend it to any vocalist, whether you’re just starting out or if you’re a veteran. You’ll learn a lot about where vocal power comes from and how to preserve your voice (live and in-studio), as well as many different techniques to make you better and more efficient. It’s a lifesaver.
For me, the best album of 2023 is actually quite a surprise, but I have to be honest. It’s Out of Isolation by Sam Hauge. Check it out. I’m not a fan of pop punk, per se, though I still love Green Day. Those bands that exploded post-Blink-182 in the early 2000s aren’t my cup of tea (not throwing shade, I’m just more of a skatepunk purest), and while Hauge wears his influences on his sleeve, his record is unique. He played all the instruments, but that’s not why I love it. This dude can write a song. Great songwriters are few and far between these days, but Hauge brings it in spades. Check out “Never Find Me” and “Mindless Fiction” as a jumping-off point, but the whole album rips, and it’s very melodic.
My favorite EP this year is Thiev’s Break. It’s great melodic punk from New Jersey.
2023 has been a big year for Bridge The Gap. After 15 years of dormancy, we all picked up our instruments and made music together again, we dropped our debut album as BTG, although we put out a lot of music together back in the day under a different band name. 2023 has been cathartic and energizing for us, with many, many highlights, but our first show ended up being the record release for Secret Kombinations. That one will headline 2023 for BTG and stick as an indelible memory.
