Pre- (r)amble: It always bums me out when people say there’s no good new music anymore. It’s still there, you’re just not going to get it handed to you on the radio or MTV anymore. You have to do the work to find it, and I enjoy doing that work. This year-end list is kind of like a report on my findings for 2022. As always, music isn’t a competition, and it feels cheap to treat it as such with rankings. But it’s also nice to show some appreciation for the artists that inspired me this year, and in turn maybe this list will inspire someone to check out some of the music that made the cut. Enjoy!
- Robyn Hitchcock – Shufflemania! (Tiny Ghost)
Robyn Hitchcock has never made a bad album, and at age 69 he just might have made the best of his career! A little psychedelic, a little folky, and a little rockin’, the album covers a lot of bases, but it’s always very much Robyn, with his unique lyrical blend of poignancy, and absurdity as sharp as ever.
2. Ty Segall – Hello, Hi (Drag City)
Ty turns down the volume on Hello, Hi for an album dominated by acoustic guitars and great harmonies. Ghosts of T. Rex, The Beatles, and The Pretty Things circa-SF Sorrow swirl throughout with song after song of timeless rock goodness.
3. Trupa Trupa – B Flat A (Glitterbeat)
Poland’s Trupa Trupa hit me hard in the guts with this album of war-haunted post punk and fantastic excursions into disassociated no wave (“Lines”) and ’60s sunshine-pop (“Uniforms”).
4. Danger Mouse & Black Thought – Cheat Codes (BMG)
Black Thought is one of the best lyricists in hip-hop history, but I never quite got into The Roots. On Cheat Codes he and producer Danger Mouse keep it lean and mean with a twelve song, thirty-eight-minute masterclass in how to MC.
5. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees (A Recordings)
Back when Covid first hit BJM mastermind Anton Newcombe responded by creating a song a day for something like seventy days. Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees is the first album of these songs to get released (the next one, The Future Is Your Past comes out in early-’23) and it slays. I probably listened to opener, “The Real,” more than any other song in 2022, and I’m still marveling at its dense tapestry of sound.
6. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Reset (Domino)
I admittedly never paid much attention to Panda Bear but whenever Pete Kember (aka Sonic Boom) shows up on a record I take notice. I’m really glad I did because, at its best Reset sounds something akin to Brian Wilson singing over psychedelic minimalist drone rock, and if that isn’t a good selling point, then you’re on the wrong website, pal. Troggs-sampling “Go On” is the jam.
7. Warhaus – Ha Ha Heartbreak (Play It Again Sam)
Maartin Devoldere of Belgian group Balthazar has put out three albums as Warhaus, and if you like Cave/Cohen/Tindersticks type of stuff, then you need to check these records out. Ha Ha Heartbreak does the same kind of darkly elegant stuff as the first two records, but I detect a ’70s soul undertone here (think Bill Withers or Al Green) that really works well with Devoldere’s smoky voice.
8. Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful (Bella Union)
After thirty years it can be easy to take Spiritualized for granted. Sure, they’ve got a very familiar formula, but when that formula produces material like “The Mainline Song/The Lockdown Song” or “Best Thing You Never Had,” you have no choice but to love every second of it.
9. Tess Parks – And Those Who Were Seen Dancing (Fuzz Club)
After two collaborative albums with The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe Toronto-born singer Tess Parks goes back on her own with a fantastic album of psych jams that squeeze sparks out of simple chords and Parks’ half-swoon/half-gravel voice. Top track: “Suzy and Sally’s Eternal Return”
10. Melts – Maelstrom (Mother Sky Records)
I strongly disliked the Fontaines DC record that came out this year, so I guess that makes Melts my favorite Irish band right now. They’ve got big, ambitious tunes, sprinkled with a little majestic fairydust from Echo and The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, and The Mighty Lemon Drops.
11. Your Old Droog – Yodney Dangerfield (Nature Sounds)
12. Michael Beach – EP (Goner Records)
13. Your Old Droog – YOD Stewart (Nature Sounds)
14. The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention (XL Recordings)
15. Osees – A Foul Form (Castle Face)
16. Bent Arcana – Live At Zebulon (Castle Face)
17. Yoo Doo Right – A Murmur, Boundless To The East (Mothland)
18. Thee Headcoats Sect – A Tribute To Don Craine (Damaged Goods)
19. Your Old Droog – YOD Wave (Nature Sounds)
20. Guided By Voices – Tremblers and Goggles By Rank (Guided By Voices Inc.)
21. Thee UFO – Ponderous Fug (Fuzzed Up and Astromoon) Full Review
22. Your Old Droog and Tha God Fahim – Tha Wolf On Wall St. 2: The American Dream (Nature Sounds)
23. Guided By Voices – Crystal Nuns Cathedral (Guided By Voices Inc)
24. Wand – Spiders In The Rain (Drag City)
25. Westside Gunn – 10 (Griselda)
26. Ecstatic Vision – Elusive Mojo (Heavy Psych Sounds)
27. The Guy Hamper Trio featuring James Taylor – All The Poison In The Mud (Damaged Goods)
28. Boldy James – Mr. Ten08 (WavGodMusic Inc.)
29. William Loveday Intention – Cowboys Are SQ (Liberation Hall) Full Review
30. The Black Angels – Wilderness of Mirrors (Partisan)
Midnight To Six 