TOP ALBUMS 2022

ELECTRONIC: The Soft Pink Truth - Is it Going to Get Any Deeper Than This

The Soft Pink Truth is one half of Matmos - & “Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This” is his more accessible release so far, a more house-oriented affair that goes through sections of glitzy disco & some lush ambient sections with the help of a good amount of guests such as Angel Deradoorian, Andrew Bernstein (Horse Lords) Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu).

Runner up: Sam Prekop & John McEntire - Sons Of

Honorable Mentions:

Axel Bowman - Luz / Quest for Fire

James Krivchenia - Blood Karaoke

Bjork - Fossora

Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul - Tropical Dancer

Rachinka Nayar - Heaven Come Crashing

Daphni - Cherry

yeule - Glitch Princess

Apparel Wax - 001 MIX

Skee Mask - A / B

Sylvan Esso - No Rules Sandy

HIP HOP: Billy Woods - Aethiopes

Billy Woods has been releasing some truly great records on his label Backwoodz Studioz for over a decade now (both solo records and with his project with Elucid, Armandhammer) - Aethiopes is, in my opinion, the best album he’s put out so far. Lyrically very dense, and musically atmospheric & spacey (produced by Preservation) - highly recommend for any heady hip-hop head.

Runner-Up: Black Thought & Danger Mouse - Cheat Codes

Honorable Mentions:

Roc Marciano & The Alchemist - The Elephant Man’s Bones

Earl Sweatshirt - Sick!

MIKE - Beware the Monkey

$ilkMoney - I Don’t Give a Fuck About This Rap Shit, Imma Just Drop Until I Don’t Feel Like It Anymore

Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See You

Conway the Machine - God Don’t Make Mistakes

Quelle Chris - Deathfame

Vince Staples - RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART

Freddie Gibbs - $oul $old $eparately

E L U C I D - I Told Bessie

Your Old Droog - Yodney Dangerfield

Pusha T - It’s Almost Dry

Leikeli74- Shape Up

LustSickPuppy - As Hard as You Can (EP)

MAVI - Laughing so Hard, it Hurts

Billy Woods - Church

JID - The Forever Story

JPEGMAFIA - Offline! (EP)

Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

The Koreatown Oddity - ISTHISFORREAL?

Nas - King’s Disease III

Moor Mother - Jazz Codes

Open Mike Eagle - Component System with the Auto Reverse

R.A.P. Ferreira - 5 to the Eye with Stars

Saba - Few Good Things

FOLK / SONGWRITER: Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

A twenty song, double album that’s more diverse, more experimental, & better than anything they’ve done before. It’s the first entirely produced by James & his production makes this freewheeling album all work in a kaleidoscopic mixtapesque way.

Runner Up - Alex G - God Save the Animals

Honorable Mentions:

Florist (self-titled)

Hurray for the Riff Raff - LIFE ON EARTH

Billy Strings - Me / And / Dad

Aldous Harding - Warm Chris

Adeem the Artist - White Trash Revelry

Bill Callahan - Reality

Cate Le Bon - Pompeii

King Princess - Hold On Baby

Destroyer - Labyrinthits

Timberline - I don’t know who needs to hear this

R&B / POP: Beyonce - Renaissance

Beyonce’s club / dance / house record is filled with fucking bangers. There’s nothing that hasn’t been said about this album that I can say - it’s her best & is a landmark for pop music.

Runner-up: Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen

Honorable Mentions:

Steve Lacy - Gemini Rights

SZA - SOS

The Weekend - Dawn FM

FKA twigs - CAPRISONGS

ROCK: The Smile - A Light for Attracting Strangers

The Smile is Thom Yorke & Johnny Greenwood teaming up with jazz drummer Tom Skinner - it’s easily the best side project that has come out of Radiohead. Their debut combines elements of alternative, progressive rock, electronic music, & post-punk.

&

Black Country, New Road - Ants from Up There

Baroqued emotional indie-rock with post-rock influence. The second album from London’s Black Country, New Road is a large improvement from their debut. Isaac Wood’s (who quit the band days prior to the release of this album) songwriting is cathartic as fuck & truly top-notch.

Honorable Mentions:

Caroline (self-titled)

Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork

Horse Lords - Comradely Objects

Sonic Youth - In/Out/In

Guerrilla Toss - Famously Alive

Alvvays - Blue Rev

Beth Orton - Weather Alive

Black Midi - Hellfire

The Mars Volta (self titled)

Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful

JAZZ: The Bad Plus (self-titled)

When you’ve been a piano trio for over 20 years then change to a quartet replacing the piano with guitar (Ben Monder) and sax (Chris Speed) and self-title the first album with this ensemble…bold. Ben Monder’s playing on this especially stands out.

Runner Up - The Comet is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam

Honorable Mentions:

Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, & Brian Blade - LongGone

Bill Frisell - Four

Brad Mehldau - Jacob’s Ladder

John Scofield - John Scofield

Anteloper - Pink Dolphins

Julian Lane - View With a Room

Charles Lloyd - Trio of Trios

Kurt Rosenwinkel - Berlin Baritone

Ethan Iverson - Every Note is True

Malaya McCraven - In These Times

Cecile McLorin Savant - Ghost Song

Immanuel Wilkins - The 7th Hand

Portico Quartet - Terrain (Extended - live in Studio One)

Kneebody - Live at Le Crescent

GoGo Penguin - Between Two Waves

Kurt Rosenwinkel & Jean-Paul Brodbeck - The Chopin Project

Mark Guiliana - the sound of listening

Nduduzo Makhathini - In the Spirit of Ntu

Tigran Hamasyan - StandArt

MODERN CLASSICAL:

Steve Reich - Runner / Music for Ensemble & Orchestra

If you’re into Reich’s work from the 70s, this is worth checking out as it’s closest to this phase of his work than anything he’s done since then. It’s still working more within his more recent realm of harmony which is more influenced by Stravinsky & such, but still feels very classically minimalist.

&
Johann Johansson - Drone Mass

A posthumous release that’s a mix of strings, choral arrangements, & electronics. The text for the piece draws from ancient writings on creation, faith & salvation (such as from ancient Egypt) - it’s a swan song that is spiritual & haunting.

Runner-up - Terry Riley & Bang on a Can All-Stars - Autodreamographical Tales

Anyone who knows me will know that this shit is waaaay up my alley. Terry Riley’s Autodreamographical Tales is a musical dream diary - Terry Riley narrates & sings his dreams, accompanied by the Bang on a Can All-Stars

Honorable Mentions:

Caroline Shaw / Attaca Quartet - Evergreen

John Luther Adams - Houses of the Wind

Kali Malone - Living Torch

Julius Eastman / Wind Up - Julius Eastman, Vol. 2: Joy Boy

Third Coast Percussion - Perspectives

Andrew Bernstein - A Presentation

EXPERIMENTAL / AMBIENT: Oren Ambarchi - Shebang

Oren Ambarchi is an Australian composer / instrumentalist. His piece Shebang is a “long-form rhythmic workout” mixing detailed composition with improvisation - landing somewhere between classical minimalism, ECM jazz, & electronic music.

Honorable Mentions:

William Basinski & Janek Schaefer - “…On Reflection”

(*this wins for our cat Poppy’s favorite record of the year - plenty of birds :)

Duval Timothy - Meeting with a Judas Tree

OHYUNG - Imagine Naked!

Nathan Salsburg - Landwerk No. 3

Glen Jones - Vade Mecum

Huerco S. - Plonk

Pulse Emitter - Dusk

Tenka & Meitei - Hydration

You Onodera - Too Ne

PUNK / HARDCORE: Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems

Soul Glo are a hardcore group from Philly - their breakthrough record is incredibly raw & visceral. Lyrically it tackles subject matters such as abuse, poverty, & institutional violence with a intense urgency. Truly a milestone record for hardcore.

Honorable Mentions:

Off! - Free LSD

Gospel - The Loser

Octoboke Beaver - Super Champion

Black Dresses - Forget Your Own Face

METAL: Chat Pile - God’s Country

Chat Pile are a Sludge metal group from Oklahoma with influence from post-punk, noise-rock, & nu-metal (the bassist unapologetically sighting Korn as an influence). The band has described their sound as "trying to capture the anxiety and fear of seeing the world fall apart," and "very consciously try to express and represent the feeling of living in the southern plains."

Honorable Mentions:

Artificial Brian (self-titled)

Unending Dream - Songs of Salvation

Boris - W

Wormrot - Hiss

Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture

Cave In - Heavy Pendulum

Vein.fm - This World is Going to Ruin You

Zeal & Ardor (self titled)

INTERNATIONAL: Vieux Farka Toure & Khruangbin - Ali

Named after Vieux Farka Toure’s father (one of the most influential guitar players from Mali who shaped the sound of music there) - Vieux collaborated with Khruangbin, recreating / reimagining some of his work.

Runner-Ups

Ibibio Sound Machine - Electricity

&

Natalia Lafourcade - De Todas la Flores

Honorable Mentions:

Asake - Mr. Money With the Vibe

Vieux Farka Toute - Les Racines

Bad Bunny - Un Verano Sin Ti

ROSALIA -MOTOMAMI

Koffee - Gifted

MUSIC I RELEASED / WAS A PART OF RELEASING THIS YEAR:

2020