My list will be fairly obscure, with mostly progressive, experimental and avant-garde leaning bands and material.
So, YMMV...
I will be back with even more. 2023 has started out pretty strongly for progressive genres of music (jazz, rock, classical) so far.
Billie Bottle's Temple of Shibboleth / a VERY creative mix of progressive jazz, avant-garde prog, with some skewed pop sensibilities.
Zopp - Dominion / Extremely good contemporary British prog band steeped in the Canterbury style. Like: Hatfield and the North, National Health, Soft Machine, etc. Killer!
Mike Keneally - The Thing That Knowledge Can't Eat / A bit more on the commercial sounding side for Zappa alumni, Keneally. But still creative. Not to mention Keneally's frightening levels of musicianship.
Scherani - Everything's Changing / Excellent classic sounding Italian prog band. Loaded with beautiful melodies. Touches on chamber-prog at times.
Manna/Mirage - Autobiographie / US band also in the Canterbury prog subgenre. Along with David Newhouse's earlier band, The Muffins, no US band does this style better.
More prog, jazz, and classical releases from 2023.
No archive releases, no reissues, all new music from this year.
Free Human Zoo (France) - The Mysterious Island / Firmly in the Zeuhl (Magma) influenced subgenre of prog. Really top quality stuff, with amazing musicianship.
Bob Mazurek / Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers / Exceptional avant-garde jazz, but not free jazz. Even has bits of a Bitches Brew feel that makes an appearance from time to time.
Eyeless Owl - Murmurations / Math rock, prog, jazz and hints of 80's King Crimson.
Aadal - Voyager (Norway) / This sounds like it could have been released on the ECM label. Acoustic guitar, sax, drums, bass. Contemplative, with plenty of room for creative soloing.
