No Taylor Swift. No Kendrick. No The Weeknd. This is a list of the albums I have had on repeat throughout the year and will not fall into the popular categories you would generally find on a list like this. The albums ahead fall into a number of genres. I listen to pretty much everything and while I don't offer up the entirety of my list ahead, I am offering the musicians, songs, and albums that I can't stop listening to. Hopefully you'll find one or two you enjoy in the following list. But if you don't, it's all good. Music is an expansive, far-reaching, subjective, and beautiful medium and no list will ever be quite right except your own.
Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
Coming out of nowhere and becoming an instant favorite, “Ants From Up There” is a melancholic album reminiscent of the best of Sufjan Stevens. Husky vocals combine with gorgeous melodic pieces that can quickly go from serene and beautiful to repetitive and almost violent. It's an album full of thoughtful earworms. I found myself returning to Ants From Up There throughout the year moreso than any other album in 2022 and have to say each revisit was better than the last. "The Place Where He Inserted The Blade" is a perfect indication of what the rest of the near hour-long album has in store.
Black Midi - Hellfire
Black Midi’s sophomore album is best described as angry, dissonant, and weird. Very much in the same vein as Captain Beefheart or Zappa but with the bass stylings of Les Claypool and lyricism of a medieval bard from a Bosch painting, Hellfire is probably the most difficult album on this list. There are moments of head-bopping fun but then some anxiety inducing sections where the singing becomes a rapid fire assault on the senses accompanied by instruments bleating with a kind of chaos that is reflected in the album’s cover itself. There are also dramatic moments reminiscent of a stageplay, especially in the last track “27 questions”, perhaps the funniest of all the album's offerings. I have to be in a certain mood to listen to something like this but the amount of craftsmanship (giving order to seeming chaos) makes this one of the top albums of the year.
Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
Lo-fi hip-hop comes back with a vengeance in Danger Mouse and Black Thought’s fantastic album Cheat Codes. The twelve songs feature a handful of rap favorites (including a song with the legendary MF Doom – one of the highlights of the album). Rap isn’t my genre by a longshot (the fact I’m missing Kendrick and Denzel on this list has probably discounted my opinion for a few), but I love the sound of an album like this. Musically, this is head bobbing, easy listening. Add to that some fantastic lyricism and you have an album I can’t get enough of. My favorite rap album of the year.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's Extensive 2022 Album Releases
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is, admittedly, my favorite band at this moment. They released a whopping five albums this year. They’re well known for their proliferation of music so this wasn’t too much of a surprise. And, surprisingly, most of the music they’ve released this year has been excellent. In fact, three of their albums could be placed on this list. But it’s unfair to give three spots specifically to one band so here’s one spot dedicated to three very different albums.
Changes
Inspired by R&B, jazz, and with a hint of chiptunes and old video game soundtracks, “Changes” is the least interesting of the three albums detailed here but a ton of fun regardless. Opening with the 13 minute “Change” which sets the stage for the style of music to expect (very heavy on that synth keyboard), King Gizzard meanders through a chill, jazzy 40 minutes of soothing ear noise.
Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava
This album of immaculate titling is an hour of tunes ranging from fine to great. Sadly it opens with possibly the weakest song on the album, Mycelium, but it picks up with Ice V and Lava especially. There’s a lot going on here, with influences from funk, R&B, jazz, and African music.
Omneum Gatherum
Consider this a sampler platter of King Gizzard’s offerings. Opening with the 18-minute The Dripping Tap before giving an hourlong buffet of rock, hip-hop, psychedelia, and thrash. For a band known for the way they switch genres every album, this is perhaps the best introduction to them.
Sigh- Shiki
Japanese black metal band Sigh hasn’t been on my radar – till I listened to Shiki. This album has the heavy guitar riffs and throaty vocals you’d expect of this genre but also a smattering of prog rock in its jazzy and techno moments. Headbangers abound but I found myself more intoxicated by those quieter sections, especially the song Fuyu Ga Kuru. The sheer range of the album, never coming across as a barrage of angry, loud noise (this isn’t my genre of choice by a long shot) makes Sigh my favorite metal album of the year.
The Dear Hunter - Antimai
The Dear Hunter has never had an album I would say is wholly great – though each album has some good to great songs that wind up on my playlists. They are prog rock but a little poppier. Antimai is a weird outlier in their discography, less rock and more inspired by 80s synth and funk. It’s a concept album based on the lead singer’s 1984-esque fantasy world where society is stratified, the castes each living on a certain ring. Every song gives a peek into that ring’s society and culture. Dream Theater has done a similar type of album based within the artists’ fantasy world and that one was rough. Antimai, though, is tighter and whenever the lyrics do get into weird terminology pertinent to that world, they make some form of sense. If you invest yourself into the story it’s interesting enough and while there are some questionable moments that come across like the cheesier parts of a My Chemical Romance album, the overall record is unique, fun, and ultimately one of the better ones I heard this year. And Ring 7 may be one of my favorite songs of the entire year.
Johnny Marr - Fever Dreams Parts 1-4
The London Suede released a pretty good album earlier this year with some New Wave/goth vibes recalling the music of the late 80’s/early 90’s. But of all the New Wave inspired albums of the year, Johnny Marr (former guitarist for The Smiths) wins out with his Fever Dreams Parts 1-4. While the front half of the album may be the stronger, the back half has some good alt-rock sound more in line with modern day favorites like The Killers. But you will still hear The Smiths and The Cure flavor throughout. Marr isn’t nearly the lyricist as Morrissey, though he’s nowhere near as brooding or depressing making this a more jubilant, albeit less thoughtful, piece than his former bandmate. Nonetheless, I found myself jamming out to plenty of songs on the album throughout 2022.
Viagra Boys - Cave World
Punk rockers Viagra Boys are one of the more unique bands I’ve heard this year. The lead singer has a powerful, almost old-school country voice, the music jumps around from classic punk to dance music to blues. This album feels very much like a lamenting of simpler times, with lyrics about our primitive ancestors and ADD being prominent throughout. Plus, usual punk staples like drugs, social issues, and being an outsider.
Starting with Baby Criminal, essentially saying we all start as a blank slate and then can grow into a monster and continuing with songs asking if there was benefit to having primitive short-term memory, before ending by deciding why not just leave society and become a monkey (chanted like a kind of mantra).
As with most punk, it’s tinged with irony and political anger. That is a double-edged sword as it inevitably angers those who don’t agree with its message and invigorates those who do. But, it’s an entertaining album with some head bobbing ear worms.
