July 4, 2022

Best of 2022 (so far)


Presenting my favorite music of the year (so far).

There have been plenty moments this year when I've wondered if writing about music was still something to do when society collapses around us. However, while we watch the world burn and our country crumble, music has been a constant source of happiness and pure joy and I think we need those things more than ever. Here are my favorite albums, songs, EPs, reissues, and soundtracks of the year so far. It's been a great year for new music and I hope you find something new that makes you feel euphoric, even if only for a moment. 

Also, I've included links to purchase the albums, EPs, reissues, live albums, and soundtracks. If you can, please support these artists. There's a Spotify playlist of the songs as well.


BEST ALBUMS




Following two outstanding albums in 2019, Big Thief double-downed with an impressive, sprawling record packed with twenty songs and at times, it sounds like it easily could've been a compilation album of some of their most earnest, challenging, and scattered songs yet, but instead the result is their best work to date, an impressive feat in a sprouting career.



02.  BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD | Ants From Up There

Taking queues from the communal vibes of Arcade Fire's Funeral era, adding elements of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's divine force and their styling of the U.K.'s growing post-punk revival scene, Black Country, New Road built a lot of hype around their sophomore record only to find their frontman exit the group the week of its release leaving this as an instant archive of a band that we'll never get to know.



03.  ANGEL OLSEN | Big Time

Angel Olsen went back to her roots for her latest album, Big Time, and delivered one of her most impactful, emotional, and brilliant records to date full of country twang beauty. It shines just like the golden-hour it's meant to soundtrack.



04.  SHARON VAN ETTEN | We've Been Going About This All Wrong

Sharon Van Etten didn't release any singles prior to dropping her new album, We've Been Going About This All Wrong, and instead encouraged her fans to listen to the record as a whole upon its release. Experiencing it in one fell swoop was ride of emotions that ebbed and flowed with the power of her songs climaxing with the bombastic "Mistakes," one of the best pop tracks of the year.



05.  BEACH HOUSE | Once Twice Melody

It's easy to take the best band of the last twenty years for granted, but on their eighth full-length album, Beach House prove they're still at the top of the game and capable of delivering a staggering double album full of even more wonder than we could've hoped. 



06.  WIDOWSPEAK | The Jacket

On The Jacket, Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas bring a western tinge to their New York noir vibes for blissed-out, homespun jams that put a darkness around their usual dreamy edges for some of their most captivating work in their career.




It's been 6 years since we heard a new record from Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and on their first album as The Smile. their new group that includes Tom Skinner on drums, the trio continue to defy expectations and drop yet another stunner in a long list of incredible albums. It's another expertly-produced record that furthers their exploration into future-thinking guitar and electronic music, but also proves they can still rock out when and if they feel like it.



08.  PUSHA T | It's Almost Dry

Pusha T's DAYTONA was without question the best thing to come out of Kanye West's Wyoming projects and on its follow-up, King Push barks back with perhaps his strongest solo work yet and delivers an album equally produced by Ye and Pharrell, an opportunity he says he used to get each to try and outdo the other. It worked!



09.  BILLY WOODS | Aethiopes

After two incredible records as one-half of the rap duo Armand Hammer, billy woods dropped his first solo record since 2019 and it's the best in an already impressive career. Hard hitting bars offer no rest for the weary, his delivery is sharp and relentless, without question one of the most ruthless MCs in the game.



10.  SPIRITUALIZED | Everything Was Beautiful

Decades into his career and J Spacemen continues to dream-up stunning works of gospel rock and roll that somehow still feels larger than life. Few have ever operated at this level and even few have delivered with such consistency time and time again. Each Spiritualized record is a new gift, but this one goes toe-to-toe with some of his best.


(11-30 in alphabetical order)

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE | Time Skiffs
CAROLINE | caroline
CAROLINE NO | Caroline No
CLOAKROOM | Dissolution Wave
HARRY STYLES | Harry's House
THE LINDA LINDAS | Growing Up
MITSKI | Laurel Hell
MJ LENDERMAN | Boat Songs
MOOR MOTHER | Jazz Codes
NILÜFER YANYA | Painless
PAN•AMERICAN | The Patience Fader
RAUM | Daughter
REDS, PINKS AND PURPLES | Summer at Land's End
WET LEG | Wet Leg


BEST SONGS

ANGEL OLSEN | "All the Good Times"
THE AFGHAN WHIGS | "I'll Make You See God"
ARCADE FIRE | "Lightning I, II"
BARTEES STRANGE | "Heavy Heart"
BEACH HOUSE | "Modern Love Stories"
BEYONCÉ | "BREAK MY SOUL"
BIG THIEF | "Red Moon"
BILL ORCUTT | "At a Distance"
BILLY WOODS | "Remorseless"
BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD | "Snow Globes"
BRAXE + FALCON | "Step by Step " (ft Panda Bear)
BURIAL | "Shadow Paradise"
CAMP COPE | "Running with the Hurricane"
CAROLINE POLACHEK | "Billions"
CASSANDRA JENKINS | "Pygmalion"
DRUGDEALER | "Madison"
EARL SWEATSHIRT | "Titanic"
ENUMCLAW | "2002"
ETHEL CAIN | "American Teenager"
FRED AGAIN.. | "Lights Out" (ft Romy + HAAi)
HARRY STYLES | "Late Night Talking"
HATCHIE | "Quicksand"
HORSEGIRL | "Anti-glory"
JAZMINE SULLIVAN | "Selfish"
KAMASI WASHINGTON | "The Garden Path"
KENDRICK LAMAR | "Mother I Sober" (ft Beth Gibbons)
KEVIN MORBY | "This is a Photograph"
KOKOROKO | "We Give Thanks"
THE LINDA LINDAS | "Growing Up"
MAGGIE ROGERS | "That's Where I Am"
MITSKI | "Love Me More"
MUNA | "Anything But Me"
NILÜFER YANYA | "the dealer"
OLIVER SIM | "Hideous"
PORTICO QUARTET | "Youth"
PUSHA T | "Dreaming of the Past" (ft Ye)
THE REDS, PINKS AND PURPLES | "Let's Pretend We're Not in Love"
ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER | "The Way It Shatters"
SABA | "Come My Way" (ft Krayzie Bone)
SHARON VAN ETTEN | "Mistakes"
THE SMILE | "You Will Never Work in Television Again"
SOCCER MOMMY | "Shotgun"
SPIRITUALIZED | "Crazy"
SPOON | "Wild"
TOMBERLIN | "happy accident"
TWO SHELL | "Pods"
WIDOWSPEAK | "Everything Is Simple"
THE WEEKND | "Less Than Zero"
WET LEG | "Angelica"
YEAH YEAH YEAHS | "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" (ft Perfume Genius)




BEST EPS

BRAXE + FALCON | Step by Step
GREET DEATH | New Low
HELPFUL PEOPLE | Broken Blossom Threats
PORTICO QUARTET | Next Stop
TWO SHELL | Icons


BEST REISSUES, LIVE ALBUMS, SOUNDTRACKS

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR | All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling
SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) [Original Soundtrack]
MILEY CYRUS | ATTENTION: Miley Live
MINIONS: RISE OF GRU  [Original Soundtrack]
NEIL YOUNG | Citizen Kane Jr Blues [The Bottom Line, 1974]
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION | Live [Syracuse Live 1985]
SONIC YOUTH | In / Out / In
YASUAKI SHIMIZU | Kiren
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)