Monday, December 12, 2022

Favorite 25 Albums of 2022

Here we are again.  I don't want to wax too poetic about 2022, a year that started off with the whole house getting COVID.  There's been plenty of bad shit to go around, but hopefully plenty of good shit too.  I want to focus on that stuff: playing basketball in the driveway with my kids, my oldest son performing in a school play, my youngest son learning to ride his bike, seeing two of my oldest friends for a great, beer-filled weekend in Seattle, watching movies and working on house projects and everything else with my wife.  That kind of stuff.  And of course, all of the wonderful music i got to listen to over these past 12 months.  Here are my favorite 25 albums of the year (in alphabetical order)...


1. Alabaster dePlume - GOLD

Experimental, no-wave jazz and folk that feels like it's from the earth, from the stars, from the body and soul.


2. Alto Arc - Alto Arc

A dark and swirling mix of haunting electronics, growling and ghostly vocals, and dread from a "supergroup" featuring members of Deafheaven and Hundred Waters.


3. Author & Punisher - KRULLER

Strangely beautiful and noisy industrial metal.


4. Backxwash - His Happiness Shall Come First Even Though We Are Suffering

Dark and heavy, both thematically and sonically, hip-hop with an industrial metal bent from a trans artist working through her life and trauma.


5. Beach House - Once Twice Melody

The dreampop mainstays biggest and most ambitious release to date.  Positively gorgeous.


6. Crime of Passing - Crime of Passing

Cincinnati blue collar post punk.  It's a whole scene, and it rules.


7. Devil Master - Ecstasies of Never Ending Night

Crusty, punk-infused black metal for that special dirt bag in your life.


8. Final Light - Final Light

The synth wave and techno of Perturbator's James Kent and the dark and heavy metal of Cult of Luna's Johannes Persson, two great tastes that taste great together.


9. Sam Gendel & Antonia Cytrynowicz - Live a Little

LA experimental jazz musician and composer Sam Gendel made a record with his creative partner and girlfriend's kid sister Antonia Cytrynowicz, an alien, otherworldly combination of avant-jazz, dreampop, and eerie weirdness.


10. Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals - King Cobra

Cool as hell hip-hop collaboration between producer Infinity Knives and Baltimore rapper Brian Ennals that's full of humor and righteous anger, electro synth, funk, post punk, and more.

 

11. Just Mustard - Heart Under

Shoegazey, trip-hoppy post punk from Ireland, my favorite from SXSW.


12. Kikagaku Moyo - Kumoyo Island

A wonderful swan song from the Japanese psych rock icons.


13. Lalalar - Bi Cinnete Bakar

A body-moving, head-bobbing mix of Anatolian rock and Turkish pop.  This one gets the blood pumping.


14. Mapache - Roscoe's Dream

Dusty sunshine folk and country psychedelia, a kind of country-fried Laurel Canyon thing that centers around the duo's 14-year old dog Roscoe.


15. The Mellons - Introducing...The Mellons

Like a long lost Elephant 6 record full of '60s sunshine pop and Beach Boy harmonies.  Perfect from start to finish.


16. Old Fire - Voids

Ambient Americana from Abilene artist John Mark Lapham with a little help from Bill Callahan, Julia Holter, and more.


17. Misha Panfilov - The Sea Will Outlive Us All

An intoxicating mix of ambient, lounge, jazz, psych, folk, and library sounds from Estonia.


18. Mark Peters - Red Sunset Dreams

Mark Peters of the UK band Engineers crafts a sprawling and wistful mix of ambient country and dreampop on this solo effort, a cosmic country soundtrack to watch the setting sun to.


19. Principles of Geometry - ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

The French electronic duo return with 26-song album of IDM, retro synths, and modulators.


20. Sault - 5 Albums (11, AIIR, Earth, Today & Tomorrow, UNTITLED (God))

Cheating just a little bit here, but UK outfit Sault dropped five new albums on the same day last month, and they're all fantastic.  And this is on top of an album and EP already released earlier this year.  Really digging the prolific output.  The collection is full of soul, gospel, hip-hop, cosmic jazz, psychedelic rock, and more.  I'll probably be listening to these deep into next year too.


21. The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention

While the new project from Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and former Sons of Kemet member Tom Skinner really just sounds like a new Radiohead album, that's not a bad thing.


22. Stomp Talk Modstone - Mew

Swirling, reverb-drenched, delirious shoegaze from Japan.


23. Unloved - The Pink Album

An absolutely massive alt-rock album from LA based band Unloved featuring assists from such luminaries as Jon Spencer and Jarvis Cocker.


24. Billy Woods - Aethiopes

New York rapper Billy Woods released two albums this year, a great collaborative effort with producer Messiah Musik called "Church," along with the potential album of the year with the earthy, jazzy, soulful, and entrancing "Aethiopes."


25. Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor

Pummeling death and black metal paired with haunting spiritual soul.  This is one of those things i never would have thought i needed in my life until hearing it.

And there you go.  I don't think i have a number one this year, and i'm not about to start doing a "Sophie's Choice" with these.  They're all wonderful.  They're all worth you time and money.  And they all made 2022 a little better.  Be back tomorrow for my favorite songs of the year.


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