Best Music 🎶 of 2022!

I'm a week late to this release (a random Bandcamp find), but I figured it was worth a share. God-Carrier is the sophomore album from Australian producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Kat Hunter, aka Lack The Low. At only 6 tracks, it feels more like an EP, but that doesn't matter. The album is difficult to pin down genre-wise, but it's art pop through and through. Hunter's voice and the compositions she creates are truly enrapturing.

 
wokeupnew said:
Update(s) in bold:

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Best of 2022:
  1. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
  2. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
  3. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  4. Thyla - Thyla
  5. Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
  6. Spoon - Lucifer On The Sofa
  7. Mitski - Laurel Hell
  8. Anaïs Mitchell - Anaïs Mitchell
  9. Pinegrove - 11:11
  10. Animal Collective - Time Skiffs
  11. Empath - Visitor

Anticipated albums from:
  1. Fontaines D.C.
  2. Yumi Zouma
  3. Hatchie
  4. Gang of Youths
  5. Porridge Radio
  6. Melody's Echo Chamber
  7. Wallows
  8. Pup
  9. Oceanator
  10. Father John Misty
Click to expand...
Updates in bold

Yumi Zouma is sitting at #2 right now, but every single song is growing on me. Honestly think it would overtake Beach House if OTM wasn't a double album.

Best of 2022:
  1. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
  2. Yumi Zouma - Present Tense
  3. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
  4. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  5. Widowspeak - The Jacket
  6. Thyla - Thyla
  7. Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
  8. Spoon - Lucifer On The Sofa
  9. caroline - caroline
  10. Mitski - Laurel Hell
  11. Gang of Youths - Angel in Realtime
  12. Anaïs Mitchell - Anaïs Mitchell
  13. SASAMI - Squeeze
  14. Pinegrove - 11:11
  15. Band of Horses - Things are Great
  16. Animal Collective - Time Skiffs
  17. Empath - Visitor

Anticipated albums from:
  1. Fontaines D.C.
  2. Hatchie
  3. Melody's Echo Chamber
  4. Porridge Radio
  5. Arcade Fire
  6. Wallows
  7. Pup
  8. Oceanator
  9. Father John Misty
 
So, update on a few listens I've undertaken.

Charli XCX - Crash. Yeah it's definitely more outwardly pop than her last two, but these songs are goddamn catchy and cool. She just doesn't miss cause even when she purposefully leans into her poppiest album, she still has a killer personality on all the songs. It's a lot of fun, and it's a great, concise listen.

Pinegrove - 11:11. So I never got super into Pinegrove, and then there was the whole...thing, but when Marigold came out I listened to it and enjoyed it a lot. But it kinda stopped there. Now with 11:11 I've actually totally fallen in love with this band and have bought every single one of their albums except the live one from last year. Anyway, 11:11 is a great record. It might be one of their best, I haven't decided yet. But I turn to it a lot, especially recently.

Yumi Zouma - Present Tense. It's been a lot of fun to see this band grow and change over the last few years. I loved their early stuff, but as they've gone on, the band as a whole unit just keep gelling even better. Truth & Consequences was a great album, but this one beats it for me. I've been listening to it a lot and find basically no fault with anything. It does exactly what you'd expect, but it excels at it all.

Nilüfer Yanya - Painless. This album is so good. I hope people keep listening to it and discovering why it's so special. Just the way these songs sound is amazing - like some of the best sonically interesting music I've heard this year. And her vocals do so much to add to the overall atmosphere that she creates. Some of it really sounds like Radiohead to me, but it sets itself apart from that, carving its own unique space right now. This is an album I could see continuing to just grow and grow on me. Finally listening to the vinyl copy the other day was such a nice experience.




It's maybe dumb to say, but looking ahead, I'm not as excited for many albums coming up as I was for the ones that have already dropped. I am most interested to see what this new Bloc Party album is like. I loved their first two so much, but from there I never found too much to be excited about. The new one sounds like it could a be an exciting return to form though.
 
These are the 2022 releases I've had on rotation throughout the first quarter. No specific order. Destroyer just made it in over the last few days.

chart (7).png

Top anticipated records in the next few months:

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Fontaines D.C.
Monophonics

EDIT: I forgot, shout out to @Hemotep for recommending The Neptune Power Federation and @avecigrec for Night Crickets.
 
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ALBUMS
SOMI – Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba
The Bogie Band featuring Joe Russo – The Prophets In the City
Olovson - Storytelling*
Nanna Barslev – Lysbærer
Mélissa Laveaux - Mama Forgot Her Name Was Miracle
Alai K – Kila Mara
YĪN YĪN - The Age of Aquarius
Sly5thAve & Roberto Verástegui – Agua de Jamaica
Lia Kohl - Too Small to be a Plain

EPs
Orion Sun - Getaway
Ego Ella May - FIELDNOTES PT II
Fatima & Joe Armon-Jones - Tinted Shades

*(no image on ostrakon)
olovson.jpg
 
Q1 Update

Total 2022 releases (albums/EPs/mixtapes) listened to as of March 31st: 191

In last year's Q1 update, I made this chart a 6x6 but I am downsizing to a 5x5 as it is a more accurate reflection of my true favorites from this year, not to mention with the opinion of '21 being off to a hot start.

In a continuation from last year, I've become detached from a number of indie acts I had been accustomed to being beholden to from the past decade and before. Either from disappointing releases, a shift in musical direction, or something an artist had spouted that may have soured my views, and it's quite eye-opening. Won't name names, but you may have seen a post or two regarding my perspective in the previous weeks on other threads.

I ensured that genre/subgenre bias would be minimized, but I found these to be broad without much cherry picking. I also have yet to find a hip hop release that I deem worthy of inclusion. A few come close (Chris Crack, Conway the Machine, Che Noir, Earl Sweatshirt), but not quite.

Without further ado, the chart below bears my 25 favorites from Q1 of this year. No entries are ranked yet; sorted in alphabetical order by band name/artist last name.

chart.png

40 Watt Sun - Perfect Light [slowcore, post-rock]
Charlotte Adigéry, Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer [tech house, art pop, new beat]
Binker & Moses - Feeding the Machine [avant-garde jazz, free jazz, post-bop]
Black Country, New Road - Ants From up There [post-rock, art rock]
The Bogie Band featuring Joe Russo - The Prophets in the City [bebop, jazz]

Cate Le Bon - Pompeii [art pop, baroque pop]
Bonobo - Fragments [electronic, tribal house]
Jeremiah Chiu, Marta Sofia Honer - Recordings from the Åland Islands [ambient, field recordings]
Dream Widow - Dream Widow [thrash metal, stoner metal, doom metal]
Ludovico Einaudi - Underwater [modern classical]

Silvana Estrada - Marchita [Hispanic folk, singer/songwriter]
Keeley Forsyth - Limbs [darkwave, gothic]
Jenny Hval - Classic Objects [art pop, ambient pop]
Imarhan - Aboogi [Tuareg blues, African music]
Immolation - Acts of God [death metal]

King Hannah - I'm Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me [slowcore, Americana, trip-rock]
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio - Cold as Weiss [soul jazz, jazz-funk]
Amber Mark - Three Dimensions Deep [alternative R&B, neo-soul]
Aoife O'Donovan - Age of Apathy [singer/songwriter, contemporary folk]
Hinako Omori - a journey... [ambient pop, ambient, ethereal]

Sly5thAve, Roberto Verástegui - Agua de Jamaica [synth funk, jazz-funk, Latin jazz]
Smoke - Groupthink [doom metal, stoner metal]
Somi - Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba [neo-soul, vocal jazz, afrobeat]
Patricia Wolf - I'll Look For You in Others [drone, ambient, field recordings]
yeule - Glitch Princess [glitch pop, ambient pop, post-industrial]
 
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Rip_City said:
Q1 Update

Total 2022 releases (albums/EPs/mixtapes) listened to as of March 31st: 191

In last year's Q1 update, I made this chart a 6x6 but I am downsizing to a 5x5 as it is a more accurate reflection of my true favorites from this year, not to mention with the opinion of '21 being off to a hot start.

In a continuation from last year, I've become detached from a number of indie acts I had been accustomed to being beholden to from the past decade and before. Either from disappointing releases, a shift in musical direction, or something an artist had spouted that may have soured my views, and it's quite eye-opening. Won't name names, but you may have seen a post or two regarding my perspective in the previous weeks on other threads.

I ensured that genre/subgenre bias would be minimized, but I found these to be broad without much cherry picking. I also have yet to find a hip hop release that I deem worthy of inclusion. A few come close (Chris Crack, Conway the Machine, Che Noir, Earl Sweatshirt), but not quite.

Without further ado, the chart below bears my 25 favorites from Q1 of this year. No entries are ranked yet; sorted in alphabetical order by band name/artist last name.

View attachment 134030

40 Watt Sun - Perfect Light [slowcore, post-rock]
Charlotte Adigéry, Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer [tech house, art pop, new beat]
Binker & Moses - Feeding the Machine [avant-garde jazz, free jazz, post-bop]
Black Country, New Road - Ants From up There [post-rock, art rock]
The Bogie Band featuring Joe Russo - The Prophets in the City [bebop, jazz]

Cate Le Bon - Pompeii [art pop, baroque pop]
Bonobo - Fragments [electronic, tribal house]
Jeremiah Chiu, Marta Sofia Honer - Recordings from the Åland Islands [ambient, field recordings]
Dream Widow - Dream Widow [thrash metal, stoner metal, doom metal]
Ludovico Einaudi - Underwater [modern classical]

Silvana Estrada - Marchita [Hispanic folk, singer/songwriter]
Keeley Forsyth - Limbs [darkwave, gothic]
Jenny Hval - Classic Objects [art pop, ambient pop]
Imarhan - Aboogi [Tuareg blues, African music]
Immolation - Acts of God [death metal]

King Hannah - I'm Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me [slowcore, Americana, trip-rock]
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio - Cold as Weiss [soul jazz, jazz-funk]
Amber Mark - Three Dimensions Deep [alternative R&B, neo-soul]
Aoife O'Donovan - Age of Apathy [singer/songwriter, contemporary folk]
Hinako Omori - a journey... [ambient pop, ambient, ethereal]

Sly5thAve, Roberto Verástegui - Agua de Jamaica [synth funk, jazz-funk, Latin jazz]
Smoke - Groupthink [doom metal, stoner metal]
Somi - Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba [neo-soul, vocal jazz, afrobeat]
Patricia Wolf - I'll Look For You in Others [drone, ambient, field recordings]
yeule - Glitch Princess [glitch pop, ambient pop, post-industrial]
Click to expand...
Very solid collection here! Glad to see such a diverse 25 albums. We share several favorites from Q1 (still debating if I will do "Q lists" this year or not 🤔). And, yes, it's been tough finding solid hip-hop/rap albums so far this year (Denzel Curry is my standout so far). Q1 has been pretty solid for metal releases 🤘 Also, I like the alphabetized listing - keeps folks like me guessing and on the edge of my seat 😅
 
So here's my Q1/2022. I've left out the very strong release week of March 25th and will include that one in my Q2 chart. I've checked out a few hundred releases and these are my favorites at the moment, in subjective order. Lots of very good releases this Q1. Enjoy 🙂 🎧

chart (2).png


1. Jenny Hval - Classic Objects
2. Rosalía - MOTOMAMI
3. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
4. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer
5. Amber Mark - Three Dimensions Deep

6. Peter Doherty - The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime
7. Methyl Ethel - Are You Haunted?
8. Bonobo - Fragments
9. Somi - Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba
10. Spoon - Lucifer On the Sofa

11. Ghostly Kisses – Heaven,Wait
12. Mitski - Laurel Hell
13. Bob Moses - The Silence in Between
14. Beach House – Once Twice Melody
15. Federico Albanese - Before And Now Seems Infinite


chart (3).png


16. Hurray For The Riff Raff - LIFE ON EARTH
17. The Delines - The Sea Drift
18. Melt Yourself Down - Pray For Me I Don’t Fit In
19. White Lies - As I Try Not To Fall Apart
20. FKA twigs - Caprisongs

21. Trentemøller - Memoria
22. Feeder - Torpedo
23. Gang of Youths - angel in realtime.
24. Boyo - Echoes Like Memories
25. The Soundcarriers - Wild

26. Che Noir - Food For Thought
27. Lucky Daye - Candydrip
28. Yin Yin - The Age of Aquarius
29. Night Crickets - A Free Society
30. Years & Years - Night Call


chart(1).png



31. Nilüfer Yanya - PAINLESS
32. Robert Haigh - Human Remains
33. Beachheads - Beachheads II
34. Blood Red Shoes - GHOSTS ON TAPE
35. Alice Glass - PREY//IV

36. Charli XCX - CRASH
37. CMAT - If My Wife New I’d Be Dead
38. Claude Cooper - Myriad Sounds
39. Cate LeBon "Pompeii"
40. Modern Studies - We Are There

41. Bas Jan - Baby U Know
42. Josef Salvat - Islands
43. Fennec - a couple of good days
44. Sasami - Squeeze
45. Sugar for the Pill - Wanderlust

46. Lady Wray - Piece of me
47. Alex Cameron - Oxy Music
48. Charlie Gabriel - Eighty Nine
49. Aurora - The Gods We Can Touch
50. KAINA - It was a home
 
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