Top 25 Albums Of 2022
Greetings, my fellow machines. DalekTurret32 here, and we will be looking at my Top 25 favourite albums of 2022.
I don’t know how long I’m going to keep doing this, because more often than not, everything I wanted to say about an album I have done so on my AlbumOfTheYear reviews. There are also times where my ranking of albums of a certain year changes overtime, due to albums growing on me or gems I checked out after I put up my countdown. For 2019, I put Brockhampton’s Ginger as an honourable mention, but if I had made that list now, I would have put it on the actual list. That’s not to say all the greats I’ve checked out this decade so far that I missed out on, from the likes of Marlowe, Joy Crookes, Pottery, Swindle and Duke Dumont, or the occasional December release that I check out only a few weeks before finalising my list. I might put up some Best Albums Of Each Year list on RateYourMusic some day, but for now let’s get into the list
My main rules for this list:
- This list will mainly focus on studio albums, but starting this year, mixtapes will be accepted.
- There is a 'one entry per artist' rule. That way, the list will have as much variety as possible.
- For an album to be eligible for this list, the artist must have at least 300-400 monthly listeners on Spotify.
#50. Cheat Codes by Danger Mouse & Black Thought
#49. Dance Fever by Florence + The Machine
#48. GREENZONE 108 by Greentea Peng
#47. froge.mp3 by Piri and Tommy Viliers
#46. Actual Life 3 (January 1 - September 9 2022) by Fred Again
#45. A Light For Attracting Attention by The Smile
#44. Forest Floor by Fergus McCreadie
#43. Harry’s House by Harry Styles
#42. Gemini Rights by Steve Lacy
#40. Ultra Truth by Daniel Avery
#37. Reeling by The Mysterines
#34. Once Twice Melody by Beach House
#31. God Don’t Make Mistakes by Conway The Machine
#30. Let The Festivities Begin by Los Bitchos
#29. No Thank You by Little Simz
#28. Night Call by Years & Years
#26. Raw Data Feel by Everything Everything
#25. It's Almost Dry by Pusha T
Despite offering more of that good stuff than Daytona, I don’t know if it has reached the exhilarating highs yet. That being said, the way Pusha T raps about cocaine on this album is interesting, whether he’s calling himself the Dr Seuss of the drug business or questioning people who order Diet Coke. The beats can either be as menacing as Pusha’s flow or can have an easier, more soulful sample-driven vibe like on “Dreamin’ Of The Past”.
Fave Tracks: "Diet Coke"; "Let The Smokers Shine The Coupe"; "Brambleton"
#24. Reason To Smile by Kojey Radical
I have been familiar with Kojey Radical for quite a few years now, first checking him out in 2017 through his song “After Winter” as well as many of his singles over the coming years. I was looking forward to what he would have to offer when his debut dropped and I got a shot of some truly uplifting and soulful rap. The elements of funk and jazz thrown in there help too, and “Gangsta” rounds off the album on a high note.
Fave Tracks: "Gangsta"; "Payback"; "Solo"
#23. Alpha Games by Bloc Party
I remember when Hymns came out and a lot of Bloc Party fans were disappointed. For me, I liked it, but after having listened to all of their studio albums. It’s not as good as their previous albums. Six years later, and after a few solo efforts from Kele, the party’s back up again. This has some of the vibes of 2012’s Four, where it brings back that energetic rock palette from their acclaimed debut, but this time there’s some electronic elements every now and then.
Fave Tracks: "The Girls Are Fighting"; "Rough Justice"; "In Situ"
#22. 2000 by Joey Bada$$
.jpg)
It’s hard to believe that Joey was only 17 when he dropped 1999. Fast forward ten years later and we have seen more maturity from him, as well as becoming more reflective on his life and career. The album for the most part sounds quite chill, but the systemic issues in society that Joey tackles brings some depth to this album
Fave Tracks: "Survivor's Guilt"; "Zipcodes"; "One Of Us"
#21. Renaissance by Beyonce
Listening to this album makes you feel like you’re at this lavish party that feels like the past coming back and being converted into the modern. Offering up not only house music, but also a wide range of styles such as afrobeat and funk.
Fave Tracks: "SUMMER RENAISSANCE"; "VIRGO'S GROOVE"; "CUFF IT"
#20. At The Hotspot by Warmduscher
I remember checking out a few of this band’s songs back when they were in their Tainted Lunch era, but it was when this follow-up came out that I started to become invested in them. Their blend of post-punk with blues rock and funk is intriguing, only further helped by the occasional Western vibes. Oh, and the lead singer has such a cool name (Clams Baxter Jr)
Fave Tracks: "Fatso"; "Super Cool"; "Baby Toe Joe"
#19. Fear Of The Dawn by Jack White
A continuation of the garage rock of 2018’s Boarding House Reach, with more distorted guitar synths thrown in, as well as some dub elements. All of these make for another explosive effort from Jack White.
The album also has a track where he brings in that one band whose vinyl I keep seeing in the charity shops, an esteemed writer from the 20th century and the Don't Worry Be Happy guy. What is this Infinity War you speak of? "Into the Twilight" is where the true crossover event is at.
Fave Tracks: "What's The Trick"; "Fear Of The Dawn"; "Hi-De-Ho"
#18. North East Coastal Town by LIFE
Yeah, there’s gonna be a lot of post-punk on this list. While 2021 gave us the holy trinity of For The First Time, Bright Green Field and Cavalcade (and for me, it’s a quadrilogy, since I consider Crawler on that same level), 2022 was when more gems started showing up.
The album evokes a gloomy vibe to fit with the cynical lyrics, and the guitar riffs help keep the energy going.
Fave Tracks: "Friends Without Names"; "The Drug"; "Big Moon Lake"
#17. Dawn FM by The Weeknd
Abel has dived into funk and 80s style synthpop before, hinting at it in the mid-2010s with “Can’t Feel My Face” and “False Alarm”, but 2020’s After Hours was when this transformation started to take place, offering the world the phenomenon of “Blinding Lights”. Dawn FM is when the transformation becomes complete, diving into darker production and adding a hint of synthwave to the mix.
While Mitski’s Laurel Hell made me feel like I uncovered a lost episode of Top Of The Pops, this album made me feel like I was listening to an 80s radio station late at night, and Jim Carrey’s narration helps add to the aesthetic.
Fave Tracks: "Sacrifice"; "Take My Breath"; "How Can I Make You Love Me"
#16. The Forever Story by J.I.D.
First time I listened to J.I.D. was when I checked out the “Ed, Edd n Eddy” music video back in 2018 after it showed up on my YouTube feed. Since then, he’s been building up a career of rap that slaps like “Off Deez” and “151 RUM”. This made for a great first J.I.D. album listen, offering an eclectic mix of soul, trap, boom bap and funk, with a really compelling dive into systemic racism and the deconstruction of the glorification of certain rap lifestyles.
Fave Tracks: "Can't Punk Me"; "Sistanem"; "Dance Now"
#15. Alpha Place by Knucks
This relative newcomer from Kilburn already offers some hooky drill beats, but look into the lyrics, and there’s a gripping glimpse into street life.
The pop culture references don’t distract, there’s even an album closer sampling dialogue from an episode of Breaking Bad (And just a few months after listening, I started watching Breaking Bad, and I was metaphorically pointing my finger like Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood when I eventually got to hear the dialogue in its original form).
Fave Tracks: "Hide & Seek"; "Die Hard"; "Nice & Good"
#14. The Overload by Yard Act
There’s some cynical tones like on North East Coastal Town, but Yard Act back them up with a lot of wit. Whether he’s telling you to kick ‘that dickhead singer’ out of your band or managing to find more wars than hot dinners, lead singer James Smith comes up with many humorous situations.
Fave Tracks: "The Overload"; "Tall Poppies"; "Dead Horses"
#13. Fear Fear by Working Men's Club
Working Men’s Club’s impressed me with the synthpop of their eponymous debut, and that album has grown on me even more as time has passed. Follow-up Fear Fear doesn’t quite match these highs, but offers up an amazing new wave palette to go with the Manchester style of alternative dance.
Fave Tracks: "Money Is Mine"; "Rapture"; "Cut"
#12. Natural Brown Prom Queen by Sudan Archives
The music and Brittney Parks’ vocals together already evokes a mix reminiscent of both SZA’s sensual vibes and M.I.A.’s glitchy production elements, but the enthralling lyrical content elevates this LP even further, with themes of black identity and colourism tackled excellently.
Fave Tracks: "#513"; "Selfish Soul"; "Freakalizer"
#11. Mr Morale And The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
His first new music as a lead artist since the Black Panther soundtrack in 2018, and his final project released on TDE. The jazz rap of To Pimp A Butterfly and trap elements of DAMN coalesce to form a delicate soundscape, and the choral and orchestral effects also help. Not just that, but the concept is thrilling as it usually is in a Kendrick album, not only looking at systemic racism, mental health and relationship issues, but also deconstructing the whole saviour character many of us have viewed Kendrick as.
Fave Tracks: "Mother I Sober"; "United In Grief"; "Rich Spirit"
#10. Melt My Eyez, See Your Future by Denzel Curry
Like Mr Morale, this is an album blending jazz rap and trap wonderfully. Denzel shows a more reflective and spiritual side as opposed to the intense vibe of his previous works in his lyrics, as he tackles systemic racism and police brutality. We still get some energetic bangers every now and then like “Zatoichi”.
Fave Tracks: "Zatoichi"; "Walkin"; "Melt Session #1"
#9. Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam by The Comet Is Coming
If Trust In The Lifeforce took the Comet’s jazz and made it more psychedelic, then the expansion beam teleports that style further into space. The sustained guitar drone on “ANGEL OF DARKNESS” adds to the eerie feel of the piece, and “TOKYO NIGHTS” takes a brief venture into synthwave, offering potential to break the boundaries of the stylistic elements of jazz (Shame it wasn’t a little longer!).
Fave Tracks: "ATOMIC WAVE DANCE": "CODE"; "MYSTIK"
#8. Life Is Yours by Foals
Foals started off with an energetic math rock album before going for a mellow rock route for most of the 2010s. A new decade comes and they switch it up again, and with a burst of new wave joy. The whole vibe of this album feels like live music at a beach bar party is taking place and a round of strawberry daiquiris just got ordered. The more I think about it, the more it reminds me of another time an indie rock band from the late 2000s went full summer breeze, that being Friendly Fires’ Inflorescent from 2019.
Who knows where their sound will go in the 2030s, maybe they will suddenly go full deconstructed club.
Fave Tracks: "Wake Me Up"; "2001"; "The Sound"
#7. Skinty Fia by Fontaines DC
A Hero’s Death saw Fontaines DC’s brand of post-punk step into gloom territory. This one feels even moreso, treading into an 80s goth rock aesthetic and bearing an atmosphere that’s even more bleak. “Bloomsday” has a bit of that Joy Division vibe to it, “I Love You” takes on a poetic love song form in the vein of The Smiths while sounding like an 80s Cure song, and the production of “Nobokov” feels like a Sisters Of Mercy cover of Streets by Doja Cat.
The lyrical themes are also compelling as Fontaines explore their Irish roots, such as in the album opener which, according to bassist Conor Deegan III, is about a woman who wasn’t allowed to have ‘In ár gCroíthe go deo’ (meaning ‘in our hearts forever’) on her gravestone because the council viewed the Irish language as political.
Fave Tracks: "Jackie Down The Line"; "I Love You": "Skinty Fia"
#6. Mellow Moon by Alfie Templeman
Picks up where Forever Isn’t Long Enough left off with its retro synthpop style, and feels just as dreamy and colourful. There are, however, some more modern indie pop elements on tracks like “Folding Mountains” that remind me of the Happiness In Liquid Form EP, bridging the gap between the retro and the modern. “Broken” sees him open up about anxiety over funk guitars and 80s synths that are quite reminiscent of The 1975 (and Wild Youth’s “Champagne Butterflies” in some places). The sweet synthesised bliss reaches another peak on “Candyfloss”, where the ad-libs help give the lyrics and sound a lot of flavour.
This album further solidifies Alfie as one of the most shining newcomers of the decade.
Fave Tracks: "Colour Me Blue"; "Broken"; "Candyfloss"
#5. Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road
The departure of frontman Isaac Wood just before this album’s release came as a shock to the [fans and music reviewers alike], but this LP was a good way to close off this chapter of BCNR with a bang. It had already ended up on the AlbumOfTheYear community’s Top 100 Albums Of All Time list after just two months, which further shows how it resonated with listeners alike. Black Country, New Road gave us one of the golden post-punk albums of 2021, but the following year sees them opt for a more art rock lane. I thought it was quite cool when the band switched between 6/8 and 4/4 time signatures on “Good Will Hunting”, and Isaac occasionally sings about a girl having ‘Billie Eilish style’ on the first half of this album.
After a short tribute to Lewis Evan’s uncle, we get to the ultimate high point. The last three tracks, which make up an exuberant, dramatic movement of progressive rock that come with a lot of tension building up throughout. The elements of this album coalescing together marvellously near the end remind me a bit of Abbey Road’s closing medley on Side B.
Fave Tracks: "Snow Globes"; "The Place Where He Inserted The Blade"; "Basketball Shoes"
#3. Hugo by Loyle Carner
Since I started following Loyle Carner’s material in the late 2010s, I viewed his music as breezy, down-to-earth and a real nice vibe, but for this album, he switches up drastically, opting for a darker aesthetic.
The atmospheric piano on the opener “Hate” sets the tone excellently and Madlib steps in as a welcome addition as he cooks up a gloomy organ beat on “Georgestown”. The lyrical themes are really compelling as Carner discusses racial identity and life as a mixed-race person, as well as the struggles and stereotypes they face.
Fave Tracks: "Plastic"; "Hate"; "Blood On My Nikes"
#2. Blush by PVA
If Working Men’s Club’s 80s alternative dance throwback didn’t already impress, then PVA go even further, by throwing some dark, industrial tones into the mix. The lyrics can get repetitive at points, but the way it’s done is really interesting as it fits with (and amplifies) the building tension of the music.
Fave Tracks: "Bunker"; "Hero Man"; "Transit"
The number one spot would have either gone to Blush or this next album, but in the end, I thought that since there was more to say about this pick, it would be at the top. And by doing so, this band would be the first act to top an end-of-year albums countdown of mine more than once.
There’s no denying that King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard have had a big 2022. After dropping five albums in one year back in 2017, they do it again five years later. On one hand, putting out this large amount of musical content in the span of just a single year can be a bit too much to handle, let alone three albums in one month (Though it’s little compared to SAULT releasing five albums in one week, and by doing so, they beat King Gizzard’s record by one album, since AIR came out that same year), but on the other hand, all five of these albums were excellent. From the through-composed sound collages of Made In Timeland and Laminated Denim to the improvisational jazzy psychedelia over stories of mythology on Ice, Death, Planet, Lungs, Mushroom And Lava to a more simplistic, funky record in the form of Changes. But the one that gets the trophy in the end is Omnium Gatherum.
It’s a jack of all trades album like Rina Sawayama’s SAWAYAMA and Genesis Owusu’s Smiling With No Teeth, blending many different styles and genres into one mixing bowl, including jazz, funk, dream, pop soul and hip hop, as well as a welcome return to the thrash metal from Infest The Rats Nest. All the more intriguing are the themes of corruption, climate destruction (they did it on Fishing For Fishies so the Gizz are no stranger to this topic) and tabloid journalism.
Fave Tracks: "The Grim Reaper"; "The Garden Goblin"; "Evilest Man"
And that's it!
Thanks for reading
Comments
Post a Comment