These end-of-the-year lists are usually labeled "Best Albums of the Year" - Best Ambient, Best Jazz, Best Indie, etc. I have been doing that for years. It has been pointed out that calling a list the "Best of the Year" is not only a bit snobby, it's also a little ridiculous because there is so much ambient music released every week that it's impossible to keep up. Plus this list is just my opinion, how can it possibly qualify as the "best"?
With that in mind I was moving towards labeling these as my favorite albums of the year. In this case I called it "2023 Rewind" simply because I found a cool stock photo for the cover art. Anyway, on to the mix.
These lists and mixes are tough to compile. It's so easy for even good albums to get lost in the shuffle. The ones that definitely did not get lost are my top 5 albums:
future days
porch music
graceful silence
an uncharted sea
the stars above us
songs for staying in
undiscovered soundtrack
evening sky
Venice
distant transmissions
Quintessential Jazz
television sky
slow & sleepy
obscured by time
pno 2010
subatomic dubscapes
in foreign lands
positively ambient
far from home
vox electronix
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
Immediately Kinfolk
Turned On
Resident by Hernan Cattaneo
Markus Schulz presents Global DJ Broadcast