Below is a list of our favorite albums of 2022. It has no set order — honestly, I’ve spent so much time listening to music this year that I can’t believe I whittled it down to a list in the first place (in fact, there is a second list of more favorites at the end of the first list). This has been an incredibly challenging, frustrating, and heartbreaking year for many — including myself— and its years like this where I am doubly relieved that artists continue to create in spite of chaos, pain, and grief, and that the constant emergence of new and beautiful music is something that never changes, no matter how much the world does. I talk a lot about catharsis, and while I know that this word is one that risks loses meaning after multiple uses, I just can’t help it; in my opinion, no other word represents the albums on this list more than this one. These are artists that — proven by their meticulous focus and passionate compositions — feel deeply and unapologetically about the world around them, and their music invites you to do the same. What more can I expect from music than an art medium aside from the chance to gather other perspectives, to identify new ways of thinking, feeling, loving? What more can I expect from music than — borrowing from the words of Chris Stewart of Black Marble — not seek to alter my emotional state, but to meet me where I am instead? These albums allowed me that opportunity — I hope they do for you, too.
If you were an independent artist, band, or record label I communicated with this year in any way, thank you. If you were a reader of this blog this year, thank you. This blog would be absolutely nothing without you! Here’s to 2023.
P.S. Most of these albums are on bandcamp. If you like these artists, please consider supporting them by purchasing a digital or physical copy of their work, either through bandcamp or on their website.
Petite League, Thrill Seekers
In October, Petite League released their sixth album Thrill Seekers, the much-anticipated follow up to Joyrider. While Joyrider felt a bit more pensive than albums past, Thrill Seekers instead triumphantly leaned into the same hurt and pain with a newfound tenacity; think: getting stitches, but with nothing to help you through it besides gritting your teeth. Although it may be tempting to read into the inherent romanticism of frontman Lorenzo Gillis Cook’s narratives and consider Thrill Seekers to be an album mainly dedicated to the trials and tribulations of falling in love, it ultimately feels like a well-orchestrated montage, a glimpse into an artist’s past and the events in their life that made them who they are. Gillis Cook has always sung of visceral moments with the images to match – bloody knuckles, chipped teeth, shin bruises, black eyes – but despite these images, there has never been a feeling of regret or shame attached to them, at least, not for very long. Thrill Seekers seeks to remind us that life is but a space to make mistakes and to learn from them, and since the release of Slugger back in 2015, Petite League has always, always made this cyclical process akin to an artform.
On repeat: “Dyslexic Poetry,” “Mets,” “Dagger Eyes”
Read our review of Thrill Seekers here.
photo courtesy of artist
Cola, Deep In View
Formed after the disbandment of post-punk group Ought (which I’m still reeling from, by the way), Cola – made up of ex-Ought vocalist/guitarist Tim Darcy and bassist Ben Stidworthy along with U.S. Girls drummer Evan Cartwright – delivered a stunning depiction of everyday human experience in Deep In View, their debut ten-track LP. Its narratives are simultaneously entranced and discouraged by the increasing presence of technology, the salvation of poetics, and the arts of pretension and cynicism. Together, they all ultimately emphasize “an aversion to superficiality,” as well as the idea that “quotidian objects and scenes are never just as they seem.” And yet, despite all these ideas, there remained a quiet, yet potent current of serenity coursing through the art-rock narratives and melodies, a desire to possess, in the simplest sense, something similar to happiness while chaotically ensconced in a blanket of absurdity.
On repeat: “Mint,” “Fulton Park,” “Landers”
Read our review of Deep In View here.
photo courtesy of artist
Orchid Mantis, How Long Will It Take
Orchid Mantis is the experimental bedroom pop project of Atlanta-based artist Thomas Howard. Since the project’s start in 2014, Howard’s signature lo-fi sound has beautifully inhabited the space that separates ambient compositional structures and pop songwriting, frequently utilizing obscure samples and unique recording techniques. He brilliantly interrogates ideas like spatiality and temporality, with previous releases like the stunning Yellow House turning it literal. Released back in November, How Long Will It Take is Howard’s seventh (!) full length album, following the equally beautiful Visitations released last year. HLWIT, primarily about the reality of loss as well as the process of letting go, contains an expanse of hope that lies just under the surface of somber wistfulness, radiating outwards in all directions like light caught under ice; ultimately, it is a gorgeous, sublime oscillation, looking back to the past as well as towards the future, but with the self-awareness that the present, too, can be its own heavy, intoxicating, all-encompassing experience.
On repeat: “Light Weight,” “Time Flows,” “It Will Be Alright”
Read our interview with Orchid Mantis here.
photo courtesy of artist
Alvvays, Blue Rev
Back in October, Toronto group Alvvays released Blue Rev, their first full-length album in nearly five years. Their sound has always been one positively drenched in texture and color, from bold vivid primary tones in their self-titled debut to the candy-like pastel palette of their sophomore album. And despite the initial sugar rush of Molly Rankin’s soft, yet piercing vocals and shoegaze instrumentals, there’s no crash; their narratives are thoughtful, earnest, and always slightly somber, due to them centering on the absurdities of desire and disappointment. The period of time elapsed since their brilliant sophomore LP Antisocialites was not exactly intentional; damaged gear caused by a basement flood, an apartment break-in resulting in stolen demos, issues at the Canadian border, and of course, the pandemic were all causes of the hiatus. Blue Rev brilliantly shows off this frustration with a newfound aggression. Described as a “nervy joyride,” the album was an expanse to show off their “ability to bridge ostensible binaries…”: “cynicism and empathy, anger and play, clatter and melody, the soft and the steely.” Unsurprisingly from this description, it genre-jumps; punk rock melts into eighties “alcopop” while dream pop merges into garage pop. It resembles something like a controlled mania, but one that transforms into an oddly beautiful feeling of resignation after the fact.
On repeat: “Tile By Tile,” “Lottery Noises,” “Pressed”
Read our mini-review of Blue Rev here.
photo by Norman Wong
CD Ghost, Night Music
Written while the duo was split between Los Angeles and Beijing, CD Ghost’s stunning debut Night Music is a beautifully haunting ode to “solitude, change, and the passage of time.” The release is the follow-up to Cody Han and Blake Dimas’s 2020 EP’s Here It Comes Again and Dreams We Share, placing more emphasis on darkwave inspired synth and reverb-heavy vocals. There is a phantom-like quality to Night Music; they mentioned that it is akin to “quietly sitting through the night, observing its changes and watching the rise of the moon as cool air begins to surround.” As advertised, each of the eleven tracks, atmospheric and otherworldly, were perfect accompaniments to my late night drives home, especially during the colder, rainier months; in fact, when taken together, the echoed vocals and frostbitten synth, ironically, ultimately possessed an aura of warmth. These tracks allow you to lose yourself in your sentimental side for just a moment, to indulge in lovesickness and wistfulness. In a fast-paced, unforgiving world, an invitation of this nature is something that I will accept every single time. Put simply, Night Music is synth pop at its finest.
On repeat: “On My Mind,” “Sleepwalk,” “Nowhere”
photo courtesy of artist
COOL HEAT, Nowhere
In June, COOL HEAT – also known as the solo project of Chicago-based musician and photographer Eden Sierotnik – released his stunning debut album Nowhere. The follow-up to his fantastic 2021 EP Levitate, the release further expounded his atmospheric, melancholic take on shoegaze and dream pop; multi-faceted and gorgeously modern, the project’s name continues to be more than apt; with every single track in his discography, Sierotnik proves with his highly meticulous, maximalist synth work that it is entirely possible to balance opposing ideas, sounds, and textures with finesse. Nowhere, perhaps alluding to a place both illusory and fantastically out of reach, nevertheless showcased its steady, unwavering foundations through the process of calculated layering, but not without, of course, its equally substantial decorative flourishes that linger well after the close.
On repeat: “No Plans,” “Paranoid,” “Bad Dream”
Read our interview with COOL HEAT here.
photo courtesy of artist
Nature TV, Nightshift EP
Back in October, UK quartet Nature TV released their sixth EP Nightshift, the follow up to their 2021 EP Heartbreak Skyline. Their previous release dealt with matters of love and the lack thereof, and so does Nightshift, but in a way that centers one within the experience. In other words: if Heartbreak Skyline is the experience of viewing one’s sorrow from far away, helplessly staring at a blur of countless tiny lights, then Nightshift is the act of facing these those same insecurities head-on, with the hopes of gaining a newfound sense of self-assurance that rivals the bright neon glow of the city scape. While they might describe themselves as “door-to-door heartbreak salesmen,” don’t be fooled by their roguish tone; these are “songs about love,” they are not “love songs.” The difference? A stunning sense of self-awareness that weaves in residual ache and learned cynicism so seamlessly that there’s no acidic aftertaste. And they don’t do away with love altogether; they hint at the inevitability of the human psyche to willingly succumb to that which makes your heart beat faster, bolder, more steadily, even if it’s just for a fleeting moment. There’s plenty of time for rumination afterwards.
On repeat: “One For The Road,” “Self Esteem,” “Treading Water”
Read our review of Nightshift here.
photo courtesy of artist
S.C.A.B., S.C.A.B.
Although they are based in Brooklyn, S.C.A.B. – made up of vocalist/guitarist Sean Camargo, guitarist Cory Best, bassist Alex Alabado, and drummer Brandon Hafetz – recorded and produced their self-titled sophomore release in Georgia due to the pandemic, and the essence of homesickness hangs heavy in the tracks. The much-anticipated follow-up to Beauty & Balance, S.C.A.B. opts for a much denser, grittier sound while still keeping intact the beautifully complex melodies and instrumentation articulated in their debut; the songs on S.C.A.B’s cathartic self-titled sophomore release are described as “snapshots of New York moments that feel hazy with nostalgia, yet are the result of being present through transformational circumstances, no matter how seemingly small.” There’s an emphasis on the last part there; even the most fleeting, mundane moments – and the emotions that come complementary – are presented here as beautiful and necessary. In short, S.C.A.B. is a love letter to the structures in our lives that fight to remain standing after the smoke clears: in this case, it’s the restorative power of friendship. As it is described in the album’s bio, “when the members of a band are this close, able to protect each other from the world outside it, they are a force to be reckoned with.”
On repeat: “Beige and Green,” “Six Songs Into Your Spotify Playlist,” “Tuesday”
Read our review of S.C.A.B here.
photo courtesy of artist
Foals, Life Is Yours
Ever since Foals released their perfect album Holy Fire in 2013 – an album that irrevocably changed the way I listened to music – I’ve considered their sound to be akin to pre-post-apocalyptic rock, always including some sort of haunting, yet impossibly beautiful imagery that seamlessly melds the vulnerable with the cathartic. The pandemic exacerbated our proclivity to consider our current day as apocalyptic, of course; in fact, regarding Life Is Yours, their sixth studio album released back in June, frontman Yannis Philippakis stated in an interview that “We’re in a time now where death isn’t a remote concept. We were trying to write something to relish and rejoice in being alive. Life is something to be cherished and enjoyed.” Despite this axiom, however, throughout Life Is Yours, there are nevertheless distinct and near tangible swaths of blight and dread that lie underneath the most vivid bursts of color, but in the most prophetic way possible; it’s a reminder that there is no joy, no comfort, without pain, and that life, while often asterisked by this pain, is still yours to live, to flourish in spite of it.
On repeat: “Crest of the Wave,” “2001,” “Wild Green”
photo by Edward Cooke
Other Favorites:
Sea Lemon, Close Up (EP)
Orion Sun, Getaway (EP)
SZA, S.O.S (LP)
Everything Everything, Raw Data Feel (LP)
Turnover, Myself in the Way (LP)
Beach House, Once Twice Melody (LP)
Fontaines D.C., Skinty Fia (LP)
Butter Bath, Kurrajong Hotel (EP)
atmos bloom, Flora (LP)
FKA twigs, CAPRISONGS (LP)
See you in 2023!
P
I’ve been intrigued by Alvvays for quite some time now. I kept seeing their debut album artwork on every music blog and site I visited, and it peaked my interest. I finally gave them a listen and I was pleasantly surprised about what I heard. The Canadian five-piece’s music sounds like a blast from the past – or almost like a happy marriage of sixties/seventies sounds with the post-punk genius of the eighties. Lead singer Molly Rankin has a voice that’s perfect for capturing this sort of ancient feeling – it’s bright yet restrained, happy yet dark, confident yet yearning – and it makes listening to Alvvays such a nostalgic experience. In their song “Party Police,” a song that I feel is one of the best off of their new album, is filled with skill and ability, both in lyrics as well as instrumentation. The guitar melody that is peppered throughout is reminiscent of simpler times, and it sounds gorgeous along with Rankin’s piercing voice telling you all about a romantic partner she wishes would just stay. I can tell right away that I will slowly get addicted to each and every song on this album, and I’m so excited to fully analyze their sound more as I discover it. “Party Police” is from Alvvays’ self titled debut album, which was released just a few days ago.
kid with a vinyl 