This is always a difficult list to compile because the word “experimental” so often connotes music that is hard to categorize. Or hard to describe. Or just difficult. But these are some of our favorite unknown, unsettling, provocative, transgressive, divisive, psychedelic, surreal, meditative, confrontational, and, most definitely, difficult albums of the year. This is just a small fraction of all the music concrete, neoclassical, avant-garde and ambient jazz music released this year. And hopefully this can be a starting point for discovering artists that don't quite fit on this list, or anywhere else for that matter.
Listen to selections from this list on your Spotify playlist and Apple Music playlist.
See all of Pitchfork's 2023 coverage here.
(All releases featured here are independently selected by our publishers. However, when you purchase something through our retail links, Pitchfork may earn an affiliate commission.)
André 3000: New Blue Sun
Consider the qualities we associate with André 3000: his dynamite conviction, eagerness to channel the moods around him, and that unabashed tendency to chat outside the lines. Doesn't he sound exactly like the guy who would lay down 87 minutes of prismatic flute improvisation, new-age synth washes and ayahuasca growls? All those times you went out to “BOB”, which Three Stacks were they exactly? No doors are closed, but many windows have been opened, and the breeze – accentuated by the floral notes of Yusef Lateef, Hiroshi Yoshimura, Laraaji and the Leaving Records community with whom he has spent many years – is joyful. New Blue Sun it doesn't even need a bar to get its message across: that side quests are often the most memorable part of the entire game. – Gabriel Szatan
Listen/Buy: Raw Trade | Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal
Arooj Aftab / Vijay Iyer / Shahzad Ismaily: Love in Exile
Five years after they first performed together on an improvised set, the immensely talented musicians Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily hit the studio for Love in Exile, an LP they recorded in long takes with only light editing. Its six tracks unfold as riveting meditations, with the artists drawing from wells of jazz, Urdu poetry and spirituality. Aftab's vocals speak to themes of love and loss, while Ismaily and Iyer surround her with flowing piano and gently undulating bass. Iyer described Love in Exile as part of a deeper personal account surrounding South Asian culture and society, and the trio's compelling chemistry serves as a beacon of unspoken connection. –Alison Hussey
Listen/Buy: Raw Trade | Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal
Bill Orcutt: Jump on him
The freewheeling noise-rock guitarist's first solo acoustic record in a decade finds him in spry picking mode, exploring far-flung corners with earnest curiosity. A victory for the best side of the American guitar revival. –Alison Hussey
