The Top 50 Albums of 2022
Presenting the Osmosis Tones Top 50 Albums of 2022, an annual list curated by Zach. Click on the titles below to be taken to the album's corresponding Bandcamp or Spotify page.
Another year gone. Another list written. Another annual reflection.
50. Songs Without Jokes - Bret McKenzie
Flight of the Conchords hold an undoubtedly nostalgic, undeniably comforting place in my heart. Having grown up on their music and HBO series, I’ve always had an attachment to the stylings of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie - the latter an Academy Award winner. With his first solo record of “serious material,” McKenzie pays homage to his songwriting influences (Randy Newman, Bruce Springsteen) using simple yet baroque arrangements, all while boasting a whimsical spirit. To hear him craft earnest, endearing and Chantilly light songs is certainly a sign that I have aged - but in the best possible way, growing with the artist as life has progressed.
The South African trio Phelimuncasi are at the forefront of gqom, a subgenre of house music that’s equal parts irregular and infatuating. The experience of their second record, Ama Gogela, at times feels like oil rising through the derrick. Its thick, bass-heavy sludge flows in one pulsation throughout, but when the right spices season a track, the group strikes it rich with rewarding dance jam after dance jam.
48. THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND - PUP
Endearing anthems with sing-at-the-top-of-the-mall-balcony choruses? Sincere melodies and rambling deliveries backed with clean-cut chords and up-to-eleven volume? Raucous riffs, acerbic anger and some humor to boot? Yep. PUP keeps doing PUP things, and doin’ ‘em well.
The most recent album from Nick Hakim is his most intriguing sonic experiment yet. His songwriting may be fair by most modern psychedelic standards, but he continues to distance himself from the barrels of the Spotify algorithm with his mastery of sound. From its bass-heavy bed of geysers rises its mystifying aura, entrancing the listener with its textures and calls from behind the curtain.
Silvana Estrada’s debut LP translates to “Withered” in English - a word that often suggests something torn, aged, and beaten. Estrada’s voice is anything but: it is young, vivid, thriving. Yet her words hold a weight only those broken and wise could carry, and with accompaniment to bare instrumentals that flow like the gales of late autumn, Estrada commands an experience one will not forget.
The latest record from the slowcore legends is their most direct, accessible and synthetic record to date. As a result, their knack for wringing emotion out of every tone becomes all the more apparent. Not as meditative as prior works, the washed out, melancholic atmosphere of the record is nonetheless a triumph for the group.
There’s plenty of sonic, textural and musical variety throughout Jane Inc.’s second LP, creating an experience that is anything but disjointed. With lyrics donning personal narratives and pastel imagery, the songs are unified with coherence and consistency. But it's her voice, pillowed in cashmere, that elevates these tracks’ flavors with notes of sweet citrus.
Mallrat’s debut LP sees the Australian bedroom artist making her big pop splash, and it lands with bountiful aplomb. Equally ethereal and effervescent, the fusion of trap, cloud rap, synth pop and psychedelia delivers serotonin to the brain instantaneously.
With an emphasis on jamming and a full-fledged jump into retro-psychedelia, Chaz Bear has released one of Toro y Moi’s grooviest and classicist records to date. Whereas the sense of nostalgia in prior albums was embedded in the production, the music of MAHAL reflects a naturalistic quality, with a deep and profound love of Bay Area legends.
Lina Tullgren & Alec Toku Whiting
I often speak of texture when writing about music, as I tend to find it amongst the most compelling aspects of sound. On Unfamiliar Ceilings, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Lina Tullgren and musician Alec Toku Whiting create one of the most texturally frightening records of the year, building Tullgren’s experimental catalog in the process. With Tullgren on violin and Whiting playing the koto, the unfamiliar abounds through their twisted free improvisation, all the while ascending to a creative ceiling that may not exist.
Barrie Lindsay’s magnificent voice - tender, lush and sincere - perhaps sounds its most gorgeous on her latest album. And gorgeous Barbara is: an album as saccharine as the Orange Crush shade adorning its cover. Lindsay’s songwriting talents continue to grow, and the syrupy nature of the music never ceases to spoil the feast that is this record’s euphoric indie pop and synth-folk.
Immersing yourself in the waters of Sofie Birch’s Holotropica is to traverse unto the unknown of a coral reef. There’s a vast complexity to these arrangements and their progressions, never feeling rushed nor misguided. It’s a dastardly colorful record that utilizes its collaborators to the fullest effect, stewarding an environment that’s both tranquil and terrestrial.
Through the past decade, Roc Marciano cemented himself as one of the undisputed kings of the modern underground with his unrelenting style and indisputably signature sound. He continues to remain calm and collected, but his cool raps contain the heat of a thousand suns. His latest album not only benefits from a full slate of beats from co-credited producer Alchemist, but from the most murderous attitude, belittling bars and consistent track flow of his legendary career.
One of the most vital new punk bands to drop this year, Upchuck’s Sense Yourself tackles - rather, slobberknocks - the topics most pertinent to those facing our impending man-made apocalypse. Vocalist KT is brutal and brazen, while instrumentally, the band’s grimy garage riffs and pounding drums induce violent reactions in the listener. The album makes you feel like the cover: smeared in blood, calling out to the world with empowerment.
At this point in their career, Metronomy’s Joseph Mount has taken full reins of the band, refining his songwriting and escaping trappings of his previous work. With ringing acoustic guitars and punching drums throughout, the songs of Small World aren’t the synth pop you’ve grown to know from the group, but rather unfeigned odes of a Technique-era New Order bend.
Thus far the magnum opus of the reggaeton superstar’s career, Un Verano Sin Ti is the collagist wonderland its cover suggests. This record is simply imbued with culture: from its worldwide impact to its sonic palette, rich in history, pride and progress.
The Baltimore post-punk duo’s fourth album mixes the theatrical and the frightening, the performative and the occult. The vocals of Schrader often evoke the ghostliness of late career Bowie, particularly when complemented by the searing riffs and sparkling synths. Whether esoteric as on “European Moons” or evocative as on “Black Pearl,” this record offers a compelling introspection that makes it a tunnel worth entering.
PENDANT’s Harp may be one of the most refined, impressive and delicious hyper pop records of recent memory. It’s an album willing to be patient when matching the soul of its R&B influences, but not afraid to be abrasive with its shoegaze-esque glitching when necessary. PENDANT’s vocals are truly the highlight, however: shots of syrup that melds into the seltzer foundation like a Shirley Temple.
Cork-based musician Elaine Howley has found the balance of a fascinating contradiction in her debut solo album. While intimate and rife with emotion and texture, there’s an unprecedented sense of detachment in Howley, as though she has found a separation between creator and viewer within herself. With its mesmerizing flow and baffling tape effects, The Distance Between Heart and Mouth offers an anomaly of an album experience.
Darkwave, new wave and pop intwine in dance on the latest record from Sally Shapiro, a sultry black album dashed with blinding lights and siren coos. Shapiro’s voice is remarkably soothing, sensational atop the wonderfully mastered synths. It’s easy to say Julee Cruise is an influence, but rather than comparing directly, this album is grounded with a songwriting sensibility akin to that of the classic, ethereal pop greats.
Akron, Ohio’s K. Freund says he was “after something tangible” with his album Hunter on Wing, desiring to achieve an emotional resonance where one would “feel yourself grounded in a real place.” In spades he achieves this, juxtaposing scraping electronics against pensive piano chords, bird calls and the occasional tenor sax. Presenting an unparalleled degree of contrasting beauty, this album will introduce itself to you as an ambient excursion of human undertaking.
Poet, spoken word performer and rapper Kae Tempest demands your attention with their class-conscious and queer-centric odes. Scored against synthetic beats and dramatically built soundscapes, their words land with perhaps their greatest force thus far on The Line Is A Curve. With the likes of Lianne La Havas and Kevin Abstract featured, their musical progression and cosigning from peers continues to be of further note.
Estrela Acesa isn’t brokenhearted so much as it understands love’s potential for ephemerality. Sung in Portuguese against beautiful, simple and sensual arrangements, Sessa’s melodies enter the listeners ears only to unfold their pining souls. Burning with a passion that leaves residue like a star in the stratosphere, the Brazilian artist’s second record is an utter triumph.
Beach Bunny continues to rise in name recognition while crafting pop, rock and punk bangers with astute writing, measured perspectives and infectious hooks. Lily Trifilio continues to make her mark as one of rock’s best contemporary songwriters, finding the words to phrase difficult sentiments with pinpoint accuracy. For all of us who feel like emotional creatures, Beach Bunny has made the ideal record to just enjoy our time with.
Talae Rodden describes their latest album as “naturecore,” and while genre names are irrelevant, it’s quite fitting. In Valley has the free-spirited naiveté of your early twenties, the feeling of a never-ending story around the campfire. With his signature lo-fi drums, blissful acoustic guitars and smokily sung vocals, RICEWINE continues to make sunshine music that captures the iridescent existence of youth.
Jade Lilitri has always worn their heart on their sleeve, conveying difficult desires and emotions to listeners with an irresistible melodic cheerfulness. It has led the band Oso Oso to be adored by fans and critics alike, and with their latest record sore thumb, they continue to prove why they're at the forefront of their scene and movement. Willing to be abstract while honing in on their signatures, the group delivers a well-written next chapter in their ever-expanding book.
In its purest expression, Beyonce’s RENAISSANCE is the singer/songwriter/performer’s celebration of dance. Body movement is as crucial to this music as it is to a film like Beau Travail, or the mere act of walking. Endlessly creative and collaborative, Bey opens up her musical palette and expands to every crevice of the Earth, embracing all those who are down to groove and boogie.
This ain’t your dad’s easy listening, bucko - despite the Philly power-pop group now being able to claim direct lineage in the canon of greats that inspire them. Easy Listening is one of the most euphoric pop and rock records of the year, blessing the listener with every spin as though it’s the Church of the Holy Riff. Peter Gill’s songwriting flourishes here, building on his previous foundations and expanding scope while maintaining his soft n’ sweet simplicity.
“Good things don’t come to those who wait. They come to those who agitate.”
- Julian Bond
Totally Real is the vestige of vapor, the morning dew dissipating as the first rays of sun crack the sky. There are times when this record emits nothing more than the creak of a whisper, whether it's the sleepy, 5AM vocals or the specters of the synths. But there is always a moment where you are enticed, where a fine line between dreaming and driving awaits.
No Age drummer Dean Spunt and harsh noise musician John Wiese are a match made in R’lyeh. Unfurling a metallic mass, The Echoing Shell saws and scrapes through its half hour runtime. It’s a tumultuous experience, but one that carries composure against the percussive chaos and impenetrable noise. Rarely does a record this harsh leave a lasting impression for the better, yet somehow, someway, Spunt and Wiese’s foray into fright dares to be withstood again.
“I have done a couple bad things.” He sang it with a howl. And with it, it fell into place. The skepticism had evaporated. An understanding of aesthetic, perspective and importance had been reached. An appreciation, perhaps even a love, had washed over, and left behind the lacquer of a true believer. If you are to enter into the world of Alex G - let God Save The Animals be where he guides you first.
The Mexican artist Caloncho has gathered renown for the eternal optimism he carries with himself. On his latest album Buen Pez, he continues to build on this to satiating result. You’ll feel it in every note, every melody, every single second, even if Spanish isn’t your first language. Not only are the songs sung gently and with care, but the music is a kaleidoscopic assemblage of tropical flavor, a trio of sorbets to accompany your lime and Corona.
NYC-based composer/multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells has been releasing music for more than two decades, but with her twelfth LP, she’s created some of her most extravagant and mesmerizing work. Thematically apocalyptic, lyrically minimal and musically lush, Wells’ arrangements swell against the backdrop of impending demise, summoning animate beauty in our earthly decay. Consistent and classical, pristine and potent, Regards to the End is an exceptional example of how the baroque can blister with life and longing.
Denzel Curry has most often stood out among his peers through his unrelenting rage. From the Soundcloud stylings of Imperial to the South Florida supernova that is ZUU, his music has frequently been abrasive, charging, and decidedly hardcore. On Melt My Eyez See Your Future, his inward turn towards introspection and analysis has warranted a refined, restrained, near relaxing record - one jazzy and soulful, with influences more akin to spoken word than southern trap. Denzel continues to deliver bars that pummel deep into the psyche of the listener, maintaining his embattled spirit and gravel-torn throatiness. It ultimately leads this record down a road that is not a detour, but a new freeway into an ever-expanding sound and scope.
It may be hard to lay claim that the latest LP from these icons of aughts indie is essential listening. Well beyond the glory years of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the band’s sound has continued on in its sleek, danceable and universal ways. So what makes Alpha Zulu special? Frankly, it’s through how their formula adapts so seamlessly with contemporary sound, and how the maestros know the best ways to produce and mix their vision. With synths that sizzle and fry throughout, Thomas Mars and co. range from sinister to giddy with ease, reminding the listener that melodies like this can’t come from just anyone.
What made Horsees’ debut record special was how raw the sadness was, how the depression seeped through every track’s fragments of situations and imagery. A Superior Athlete is a slightly more jovial record, less hand-over-face and more tongue-in-cheek. What becomes most apparent in frontman Alex Delamard’s songwriting is not how entrapped by his emotions he is. Rather, it’s how the most inane of items (blue pants, rain coats, cream and onion chips) can lend their influence into the most introspective of songs. In a way, both lyrically and musically, the record draws more from the nostalgic well of the nineties than prior; but the band nonetheless advances their sound and progression, due to their opulence of ability and assurance.
For the past decade plus, Josh Hwang has had his finger on the pulse of bedroom and dream pop, whether by promoting signature slices of the movement with his label Spirit Goth, or through his own project as CASTLEBEAT. Half Life, his fourth record under the moniker, may be his most well-written offering. Crisper than his albums past, Hwang places stronger emphasis on theme and vocal performance while maintaining those sun-stricken guitar tones that ring throughout. There’s no ephemerality with this record, as the songs take root in the mind as a result of their clarity and precision. Even through the moments of haze, the neon trees of this record offer vibrance in the dark.
I can’t think of another album catered to me in as much of a niche manner as Joseph Shabason and Andre Either’s collaborative album, Fresh Pepper. A record combining the narrative experiences of the kitchen against a calmingly jazzy, adventurous and sultry soundscape? That’s morphine. Each song tackles a different subject pertinent to the life of a hospitality worker, but emphasis falls most often on the ambience (dijon) mustered. There’s humor here, as on opener “New Ways Of Chopping Onions,” but beyond the goofs, these tracks emotively pair to their titles like wine with dish, as on “Prep Cook In The Weeds'' and “Dishpit.” I often found myself cooking to this record, whether when opening the restaurant or prepping for the big rush. Gentlemen, your audience has been reached.
When I listen to MTV, the fifth record from the Portland power pop savant, I can’t help but think of Andrew W.K. Not his musical career, but his stint as host of Cartoon Network’s Destroy Build Destroy. I see his Cheshire grin of pearly whites as a children’s paramilitary unit, deep within the Nevadan desert, detonates C4 on robotics club projects. I hear his gargantuan laugh barrel from his orangutan chest. And then I’m brought back behind the wheel of my truck, sobered by the words “they’re better off without you and you’re better off without them.”
There’s something about MTV that’s broken, but it's by design. When crafting the perfect song becomes an obsession, at what point do you blow it all up and assemble the detritus as you so choose? Under a veneer of radio static and burning sugar, Troper does this at his best, fleshing out the inklings of ideas into their most enchanting forms. Flowing through the stream of consciousness comes moments of riveting intimacy, perspicacious thoughts that penetrate and pierce. Even through intentional destruction, Troper can’t help himself from making a hit in the most interstitial of moments.
Charli claims that CRASH is her mainstream sellout record, her goodbye to hyperpop and hello to Hollywood. Yet she also claims that David Cronenberg’s Crash influenced the work, as if to equate the album’s experience to that of an erotic thriller. In reality, the outcome is somewhere in the middle. Her turn back towards the “Boom Clap” days may frighten some, but in her conquest to be the contemporary queen of pop, Charli claims the throne like LeBron returning to Cleveland.
While not on the experimental bent of previous work, CRASH still lingers on the outskirts of town with its unordinary textures and assemblage thereof. If there’s one thing Charli proves, it's that she is the one hook master general to rule them all. She sells each chorus with dazzling performance and unquestionable sexuality, buoyed by a confidence that only the true icons possess. With an album solidifying her status as a generational star, Charli has returned from her forty days and nights in the desert with a testament of holy proportion. For this writer, it’s her finest work.
The greatest monster on film? The Blob. Oh, you disagree, punk? Go ahead, sit there thinkin’ that the Blob ain’t no all time movie monster. Godzilla, Frankenstein, they wouldn’t stand a chance. The thing about the Blob is that you can’t stop it. It just consumes and consumes and consumes and consumes….
Now, I’m not saying James Goodson is The Blob; he seems like a healthy, happy and relatively fit human being. I guess what I’m attempting to get at is how, much like the fictitious Steve McQueen nemesis, OUTOFBODY by Dazy eats up everything in its path. For a power pop record, that is to say, it unleashes unto the listener an unrelenting blast of distortion, hooks, and riffs that cannot be replicated, cannot be matched. It eats at you with its charms and devours you until there is nothing left. You have been intoxicated by jubilance in its purest form. You’ve transcended, out of body, into the music of Dazy. Have I convinced you yet?
You notice a glint in the grass far away. Your curiosity can’t help itself as you walk towards it. What is it? Jade? Amethyst? The stardust of Saturn’s rings? Whatever it is, you’re taken aback with its magnetic force. It's a mystery. It's whimsy. Something erupts within you that cannot be defined; could it be you have discovered something unlike any earthly delight?
Your hysteria fades away. You realize now that whatever it is, it is composed of matter we know, matter we can identify. But you have traveled far into the world of dreams with its grasp, having explored it with the eyes of an infant and the soul of a sprite. You have become acquainted with Die Welltraumforscher. You have fallen for Liederbuch. You live with knowledge of a galaxy, lightyears from ours, that nevertheless can be inhabited with the press of a button and release of a note.
There’s bravery in admitting what you love. Will you be subject to the judgment of others? Their ridicule? Will your thoughts lead you to be ignored? Seen as irrelevant? In many ways, Cheem embodies bravery. Having formed in the mid 2010s, they’ve always stood adjacent to their scene, the red-headed stepchild to any band looking for blog clout with an emo tag. With the scene’s self-seriousness and “cool kids table” tending to dictate aesthetic and perception, the mere thought of Limp Bizkit having music that slaps could get you a one way ticket to deplatforming.
Against the grain of it all, Cheem stands steadfast with Guilty Pleasure, doubling down on their ethos and producing their most authentic work yet. Wearing their influences like an Ed Hardy shirt, the band weaves BNL harmonies, 311 bass-lines, nu metal verses and hyperpop blitzkrieg into a twenty-two minute party you’re invited to. The interplay between vocalists Sam Nazz and Skye Holden remains the focal point of the group, while their schizophrenic songwriting lands with its strongest, bluntest force. This is the kind of record, now more than ever, we need: unabashed, unashamed, and unpretentious, challenging others to let go of restriction and embrace revisionism.
Happening is an album over an hour in length. For most ships in the modern sea of shoegaze, defying this maelstrom is a death sentence, an exercise in irrelevance with washed out reverb and uninspired distortion. Yet John Cudlip has been building towards his full-length debut as Launder with an unprecedented astuteness. Through endless EP releases, he’s gradually whittled his sound to its most essential elements, honing it into a blade sharper than the rest. As a result, it’s one of the rare shoegaze records with a vintage bend that still feels enthralling, important and essential.
There’s a level of abreaction in the songwriting, where catharsis can be found atop the drones in the wistful themes. With a thick, meat-on-the-bones rhythm section pummeling onward throughout, the vaporous melodies are always sustained with depth, emotion, and poise. There’s also a flawless sense of sequencing to the project that keeps the attention throughout, each song knowing how long to hold on before letting go into the ether. Ultimately, it leaves an impression long-lasting, one that proves that when done right, albums of this nature aren’t tears in rain.
Our freak folks, who art from Pittsburgh, String Machine be thy name. Thy second album has come, and your masterpiece is now done, gifted to this Earth having descended from Heaven. You provide us sustenance akin to bread. With the guilt of your transgression forgiven, you offer forgiveness to those who have trespassed against you.
Your pleasures are enrapturing, as if we have succumbed to temptation, but say; here you have led us not. With your heart, your grace, your will and your vision, you have delivered us from the evil of our mortal world.
Hallelujah, hell yeah.
It’s all in how you frame it. A question, a situation, a sound, is entirely dependent on that which places it. Elizabeth Stokes frames sentiments that, in the hands of lesser artists, would otherwise be abstruse. Finding through lines between esoteric concept and digestible imagery, Stokes captivates with a literary grasp of the universal, articulating our indefinable dreads in ways that exude solace.
It’s the weight of what’s being said, paired against its harmony and splendor, that makes Expert in a Dying Field so remarkable for a pop rock album. What could potentially be a grueling recounting of lovelorn trauma juxtaposed inadequately turns instead into medicine, the remedy for a broken spirit and saudade existence. It restores hope in the nonbeliever, acting twofold as prophet of jangle and patron of the recovering heart. The Auckland band continue to ascend with each subsequent record, but Expert In A Dying Field sets a new standard for what can be achieved, by them and others.
“Believe you madam yon building of ice was built for thy pleasure?
I do.
Yu’re right.”
- Barbara Guest
I can’t think of an album that captures the thesis of Osmosis Tones quite like The Modern Western World. Beyond an homage to the classique de cinema, I chose the title for the blog as a reflection of how, in the age of the Internet, all music is absorbed through osmosis. We were never meant to know there were this many people on our Earth, let alone that each was capable of great thought. In the expression of art and culture, in our human desire to endlessly connect with one another, this has led to a truly stateless, borderless world. Genre is meaningless. Cross pollination is everything.
The Minnesota duo of Josh Augustin and Sam Winemiller have been crafting dreamy, lo-fi bedroom pop since the mid-2010s. While polite and inoffensive, their early work initiated as something rather by-the-numbers, so imitable it was uninspiring. But then they began expanding. Augustin began tinkering in beat-making and hip hop production, leading the group to collaborate with the likes of Mick Jenkins. They embraced the folk of their heartland as much as the pulse of contemporary online culture, giving platform to poets and voices round the world within the structure they built for themselves.
Now on their third album, what the group has been amounting towards has been realized at its zenith. Beginning in pastoral landscapes, biotic environments where the birds fly free, the first half of the record is the best dream pop of the year. Mellow, impassioned, and gossamer, songs and styles flow into one another seamlessly, from folk and French pop to the horn accented hits. Once the halfway point is reached, we enter into a world where vaporwave, trap, and K-Pop lend their hands. It creates a dichotomy of the organic against the industrial, the agrarian against the urban, the man-made against the God given.
Whether a pedal steel or Guilty Simpson verse, a Japanese interlude or samba-esque strut, The Modern Western World is the melting pot its title suggests. Vansire, in their humble glory, achieve the near impossible feat of crafting an album as innovative as it is universal. If one album is to reflect what this blog has aimed to express with my writing, let it be this monolith.
Osmosis Tones Top 50 Albums of 2022
- The Modern Western World - Vansire
- Blue Rev - Alvvays
- Expert In A Dying Field - The Beths
- Hallelujah Hell Yeah - String Machine
- Happening - Launder
- Guilty Pleasure - Cheem
- Liederbuch - Die Welttraumforscher
- OUTOFBODY - DAZY
- CRASH - Charli XCX
- MTV - Mo Troper
- Fresh Pepper - Fresh Pepper
- TILT - Confidence Man
- Half Life - CASTLEBEAT
- A Superior Athlete - Hoorsees
- Alpha Zulu - Phoenix
- Melt My Eyez See Your Future - Denzel Curry
- Regards to the End - Emily Wells
- Buen Pez - Caloncho
- God Save The Animals - Alex G
- The Echoing Shell - Dean Spunt and John Weise
- Totally Real - Total Heat
- Diaspora Problems - Soul Glo
- Easy Listening - 2nd Grade
- RENAISSANCE - Beyonce
- sore thumb - Oso Oso
- In Valley - RICEWINE
- Emotional Creature - Beach Bunny
- Estrela Acesa - Sessa
- The Line Is A Curve - Kae Tempest
- Hunter on the Wing - K. Freund
- Sad Cities - Sally Shapiro
- The Distance Between Heart and Mouth - Elaine Howley
- Harp - PENDANT
- Nightclub Daydreaming - Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
- Un Verano Sin Ti - Bad Bunny
- Small World - Metronomy
- Sense Yourself - Upchuck
- The Elephant Man’s Bones - Roc Marciano & The Alchemist
- Holotropica - Sofie Birch
- Barbara - Barrie
- Unfamiliar Ceilings - Lina Tullgren & Alec Toku Whiting
- MAHAL - Toro y Moi
- Butterfly Blue - Mallrat
- Faster Than I Can Take - Jane Inc.
- Together - Duster
- Marchita - Silvana Estrada
- COMETA - Nick Hakim
- THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND - PUP
- Ama Gogela - Phelimuncasi
- Songs Without Jokes - Bret McKenzie
HONORABLE MENTIONS OF 2022
Excess - Automatic
U Wasn’t There - Camron & A-Trak
Songs of the Recollection - Cowboy Junkies
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers - Kendrick Lamar
Ugly Season - Perfume Genius
Motomami - Rosalia
Conditions - Sakkaris
Squeeze - SASAMI
Heterosexuality - Shamir
Like A Fable - Shintaro Sakamoto
OVERRATED LPs OF 2022
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You - Big Thief
Gemini Rights - Steve Lacy
The Car - Arctic Monkeys
Wet Leg - Wet Leg
Lucifer on the Sofa - Spoon
DISAPPOINTING LPs OF 2022
Hella - JF Crew
Cool It Down - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Hold the Girl - Rina Sawayama
Laurel Hell - Mitski
$oul $old $eparately - Freddie Gibbs
TOP SINGLE OF 2022: “Pressure Cooker” - Dazy & Militarie Gun
THE WORST LP OF 2022 (THE WOMP WOMP)
Yes, it’s low hanging fruit. But you know what can’t ever be forgiven?
