Best Music 🎶 of 2022!

wokeupnew · Sep 25, 2022

McGlam said:
Honestly can't believe how good the new Suede album is. May be their best album since 1994.

I had no intentions of checking this out but based on this I may have to now. I’m not a huge fan, I like their first 2 albums but that’s about it.

wokeupnew · Sep 26, 2022

wokeupnew said:
I had no intentions of checking this out but based on this I may have to now. I’m not a huge fan, I like their first 2 albums but that’s about it.

Update: It's pretty damn good. It sounds fresh for a 90s band still making music today.

Also... good thing I still have a last.fm because apparently I was a huge fan of "Bloodsports" from 2013. I listened to it again today and yup-- "It Starts and Ends With You" is a JAM and a half. I also listened to Coming Up a lot so "I like their first 2 albums but that's about it" is not correct!

McGlam · Sep 26, 2022

wokeupnew said:
Update: It's pretty damn good. It sounds fresh for a 90s band still making music today.

Also... good thing I still have a last.fm because apparently I was a huge fan of "Bloodsports" from 2013. I listened to it again today and yup-- "It Starts and Ends With You" is a JAM and a half. I also listened to Coming Up a lot so "I like their first 2 albums but that's about it" is not correct!

Glad you gave it a shot! I like Coming Up a lot and Bloodsports is great too. In fact, all four of the post-hiatus albums have been strong. Super excited that they are touring in the states for the first time in 25 years!

I wouldn’t put this new one on the same level as the first two but I’m definitely glad they are still making music and have something to say.

Rip_City · Sep 30, 2022

Q3 Update

Total 2022 releases (albums/EPs/mixtapes) listened to as of September 30th: ~~191~~ ~~320~~ 424

Been slower in getting around to newer releases than even last quarter, but I've struck a string of luck with the majority of what I've tried. However, the memorable gems to me were fewer, and I ultimately slashed a column from Q2's 4x5 into a 4x4.

Women reign supreme, much like last quarter. Genre distribution remains roughly the same, with a few more excellent art pop and ambient-adjacent entries making their presence felt. Recent hip hop drops were very needed with my current top50 list deficient in that genre.

Like before, I'm leaving the last Friday drops of the quarter to be eligible for the next quarter chart; just listened to Björk's newest to start Q4 and that one already has a reservation. No entries are ranked here; sorted in alphabetical order by band name/artist last name.

Felicia Atkinson - Image Langage [electroacoustic, ambient, spoken word]
Caterina Barbieri - Spirit Exit [progressive electronic, ambient trance]
Beyoncé - Renaissance [dance-pop, contemporary R&B, house]
Chat Pile - God's Country [noise rock, sludge metal]

Madison Cunningham - Revealer [singer/songwriter, folk rock]
Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes [conscious hip hop, boom bap]
J.I.D - The Forever Story [Southern hip hop, conscious hip hop]
Kali Malone - Living Torch [drone, electroacoustic]

Moor Mother - Jazz Codes [jazz poetry, abstract hip hop]
Rachika Nayar - Heaven Come Crashing [electronic, ambient]
Beth Orton - Weather Alive [art pop, singer/songwriter]
SRSQ - Ever Crashing [art pop, shoegaze, gothic pop]

Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen [experimental R&B, art pop]
Szun Waves - Earth Patterns [nu-jazz, ambient]
Tomu DJ - Half Moon Bay [downtempo, ambient house]
Wake - Thought Form Descent [black metal, atmospheric sludge metal]

Q1 Update
Q2 Update

musicjunkiegreg · Sep 30, 2022

Rip_City said:
Caterina Barbieri - Spirit Exit [progressive electronic, ambient trance]

Wake - Thought Form Descent [black metal, atmospheric sludge metal]

Glad to see these two albums here. These are also two of my top albums from Q3. Stay tuned for my September and Q3 lists (hopefully) by the end of the weekend

avecigrec · Oct 1, 2022

Have a few things to revisit over the weekend in order to put Q3 together, but here's September in the meanwhile.

*(no image on ostrakon)

ALBUMS
Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
Tales Of A Liquid Dawn - Fall Of The Xafyre Dynasty
Saib - Unwind
The Comet is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
Björk - Fossora
Greentea Peng - GREENZONE 108
Makaya McCraven - In These Times
Psalm One X Custom Made - Bigg Perrm
Danielle Ponder - Some Of Us Are Brave

EPs
Blood Orange - Four Songs
Kevin Haynes Grupo Elegua - Egbe Alaragbo
Crow Billiken - If I don't have red I use blue

musicjunkiegreg · Oct 1, 2022

In the final leg of Q3, I was treated to a pretty healthy balance of releases, that balance being between anticipated, more well-known releases and RBFs. Overall, September 2022 ended up being a solid month, but the standouts were a bit less than most months this year. The majority of albums I checked out this month were average to good (somewhere between a 6 and 7.5 for perspective). But these 10 albums here stood out above the rest, and I could easily see a few end up on my AOTY list at year's end.

What were your favourite albums from September? What did I miss? Have you checked any of these out, and what did you think?

Barn - Habitat (Death Metal)
Björk - Fossora (Art Pop, Experimental, Alternative, Electronic)
Built To Spill - When The Wind Forgets Your Name (Alternative, Indie Rock)
GAEREA - Mirage (Post-Black Metal)
Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B (Glitch Pop, Alternative)
Madison Cunningham - Revealer (Alternative, Indie Pop)
Miya Folick - 2007 EP (Alternative, Pop, Rock)
Revocation - Netherheaven (Death Metal, Thrash Metal)
Sarah Davachi - Two Sisters (Experimental, Ambient, Drone, Neo-Classical)
Searows - Guard Dog (Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic)

musicjunkiegreg · Oct 1, 2022

I am happy to present my 16 favourite albums from Q3 (July, August, and September 2022)! All of these albums were featured on their respective monthly recommended lists (which I've posted previously in this thread), so I'm not going to go into them here. I also shared a YouTube video for a song from each of these albums (within the list below) if you care to check them out

What were your favourite albums from Q3?

Bring on Q4!

Autoneosis - Moon Of Foul Magics (Thrash Metal, Black Metal)
Barn - Habitat (Death Metal)
Björk - Fossora (Art Pop, Experimental, Alternative, Electronic)
Built To Spill - When The Wind Forgets Your Name (Alternative, Indie Rock)

Caterina Barbieri - Spirit Exit (Experimental Electronic, Ambient, Drone)
Chat Pile - God's Country (Sludge, Noise Rock)