#12 2022 In Review
My favorite records of 2022
2022 is the year life got back to “normal”. Society seemed to get back to full speed, but to me it felt like double speed. Sitting here on the second to last day of the year, reflecting on the 22 states and 6 countries I moved through, the 12 books I released, the 15 shows I was in, and the 2 residencies I attended, I’m not sure this year reflected anything close to sustainable. And even still I have to admit I regularly wonder if I’m doing enough or any of it matters. Of course, I put normal in quotes because while I’ve returned to in person teaching and can plan parties without too much anxiety about indoor spaces, the first time I left home this year was for a wedding that had already been rescheduled twice and was happening when things seem still iffy because of familial urgency, and my final travels of the year turned into an unexpected 3 week cross country journey including 7 airports and an 11 hour drive home from Phoenix thanks to The Great Southwest Meltdown of 2022.
This year in music felt similar. The music industry is crashing down to earth and being a working musician is becoming as precarious as being a visual artist, yet the ease of home recording possibilities and the democratization of distribution means more music is being released than ever before. After a few years of new music being ground zero for urgent and earnest reflections on living through a global pandemic, artists I’m sure were sitting on nearly completed records until they knew they could confidently tour and promote their new records seemed to release them all at once. Narrowing down to even 35 records I want to share and remember from this year was incredibly difficult, as there are at least 100 records from this year I actively listened to and enjoyed.
With this much music having been released this year, my list is far from definitive and exhaustive. I was gone almost as much as I was home this year and when I was home I was almost always working in the studio. I saw a lot of beautiful things this year but also experienced a sizable amount of loss. These are the records that stuck with me the most this year, many largely due to coincidence. There are alot of great records that came out that I just didn’t give the time or they didn’t stick because I wasn’t in the head space for them. If you have some favorite records from this year I didn’t include, I’d love to hear about them.
This year I once again drifted towards female fronted indie and folk, with heavy doses of post punk, nuevo country, and electronic house music. The top 20 are ordered, with the final 15 some sort of ambiguous honorable mention of records I enjoyed but in such specific contexts it was hard to quantify. In lieu of an essay this time around, I’ve opted to write about each record to provide additional context.
#12 2022 Year In Review
Listen here on Spotify
Florist - Sci-fi Silence / Florist
Alvvays - Velveteen / Blue Rev
Carly Rae Jepsen - Surrender My Heart / The Loneliest Time
TV Priest - It Was A Gift / My Other People
The 1975 - Looking For Somebody / Being Funny In A Foreign Language
Orville Peck - Lafayette / Bronco
Harry Styles - Daydreaming - Harry’s House
Yumi Zouma - In The Eyes Of Our Love / Present Tense
Tomberlin - born again runner / i don’t know who needs to hear this.
Fontaines D.C. - How Cold Love Is / Skinty Fia
Carly Cosgrove - The Cooliest? Don’t Ruin It / See You In Chemistry
Caroline Spence - Clean Getaway / True North
The Beths - Best Left / Expert In A Dying Field
Sylvan Esso - How Did You Know / No Rules Sandy
Tess Roby - Eyes Like Babylon / Ideas Of Space
Hot Chip - Not Alone / Freakout/Release
Widowspeak - Everything Is Simple / The Jacket
Donovan Woods - No Time Soon / Big Hurt Boy
Mitski - The Only Heartbreaker / Laurel Hell
Frontperson - Fastest / Parade
Living Hour - Middle Name / Someday is Today
Trentmoller - No More Kissing In The Rain / Memoria
Wild Pink - Hold My Hand / ILYSM
Los Bitchos - Pista / Let The Festivities Begin
Lil Silva - Backwards / Yesterday is Heavy
Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes / Cheat Codes
The Comet Is Coming - PYRAMIDS / Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
George Fitzgerald - Passed Tense / Stellar Drifting
Kaitlin Butts - she’s using / What Else Can She Do
Pinegrove - Habitat / 11:11
Young Jesus - Ocean / Shepherd Head
Pale Sketcher - Rollercoaster / Golden Skin
Rubblebucket - Cherry Blossom / Earth Worship
Phoenix - Season 2 / Alpha Zula
Bibio - Lost Somewhere - BIB10
Florist / Florist
It’s difficult to put into words how special this record is. I have always enjoyed Emily Sprague’s sparse, folky Florist albums in the past, but mostly in passing. This record was released the day I arrived at ACRE, a residency on a farm in rural Wisconsin, and these 19 tracks of atmospheric interludes and gentle field recordings will forever be my time machine to Stueben Wisconsin. I would put this record on and just listen on repeat for the entire day. It’s a truly perfect record.
Alvvays / Blue Rev
Blue Rev is probably the best record released this year. It’s steeped in fuzzy 80’s jangle pop ala The Smiths and The Cocteau Twins, but in my belief these 14 tracks mostly ranging between 2.5 to 3 minutes in length is a punk record at its core, while sounding nothing like a punk record. It’s a record that makes me want to start making music again.
Carly Rae Jepsen / The Loneliest Time
If you know me in real life, you know my deep allegiance for Carly Rae Jepsen. While I think Call Me Maybe is still a perfect pop song, I’ve come to resent it’s cultural ubiquitousness because of how it has pigeon holed her music to the casual observer. Emotion is arguably the best pop record of the last 10 years and she is so confident in what she makes. However, I was incredibly nervous about this record. The singles were bland out of context and the art direction for it’s promotion was concerning (which is saying something, because Carle Rae is so painfully Canadian and sweet and normal but wants to be sexy and fashionable and is just lacking in anything resembling aesthetic taste, a trait I genuinely love about her). Then The Loneliest Time was released (the same day as Taylor Swift’s newest album), and I got it. This record isn’t the pop banger I expected it to be. It’s an introspective record by a pop artist who’s main venues were spaces we couldn’t inhabit for two years, while living in a city it appears she hates. This is her best record as a complete package, even if it’s not as jam packed with bangers.
TV Priest / My Other People
My Other People is hands down my favorite Rock and Roll record of the year. It feels like if The National made post punk music, but were UK expats living in Seattle in the early 2000s. If those references make an ounce of sense to you, you will also love this record.
The 1975 / Being Funny In A Foreign Language
I have loved The 1975 and their brand of 80’s inspired indie pop rock since they began making music and only feel shame about it when I listen too close to the lyrics. That said, even the most casual listener could probably deduce this band is fronted by folks with self destructive tendencies and substance abuse issues who has zero interest in being told what to do. 20 song albums that meander through nearly unlistenable territory highlighted by moments of absolute pure genius are have been the norm for The 1975. However, on Being Funny In A Foreign Language, the lads deliver 11 songs across 43 minutes that never even tempt you to skip a track. This is another record the time to slow down, get clean, and be more intentional really paid off. This is easily The 1975’s best album, 5 albums in.
Orville Peck / Bronco
I put this record on for the first time as I was landing in Dallas, and proceeded to listen to it almost exclusively for the week we were in Texas for the first of two trips this year that lead to unexpected familial health emergencies. Orville Peck’s dramatic nuevo western crooning seemed like the perfect enhancing (or maybe escapist) companion. Once back home and listening more seriously, I understood more of the beauty of this record in it’s counter culture effort to create a collection of earnest western gay love songs. It’s a record that is simultaneously a ton of fun and constantly heartbreaking.
Harry Styles / Harry’s House
I knew nothing about Harry Styles before Harry’s House besides the fact he was in an English Boy Band and had a penchant for taking out smaller indie artists as openers for his arena tours. I didn’t really give this record a chance until a lot of convincing from members of the Tipping Pitches Slack channel (a baseball podcast about labor economics?) that Harry does infact turn out some jams. You likely exist in the world and have heard these songs, and if you have not listened to this complete record of indie, 80s, soul, pop jams, take the time to do so. Hot Tip: If you collect vinyl, the Target Exclusive is the best pressing of this album in the US, which I still don’t fully understand myself.
Yumi Zouma/ Present Tense
Yumi Zouma has become one of my favorite most consistent bands of the last 5 year. This New Zealand quartet creates breezy albums featuring songs made for a contemporary John Hughes film.
Tomberlin / i don’t know who needs to hear this.
As mentioned in the intro, I spent a lot of time traveling, having clocked more flights this year than in probably 5 years. I’ve become a nervous flyer, and have a collection of records I retreat to to relax and escape. IDKWNTHT has become my go to flying record, a collection of beautiful minimal indie folk songs dealing with faith and love and life.
Fontaines D.C. / Skinty Fia
I didn’t get Fontaines DC when they first arrived to critical acclaim. I admit I only listened to Skinty Fia as an obligatory “maybe I’ll get it this time”, and dear reader, I now get it. It may admittedly be because they have completely chilled out and their brand of post punk seems exponentially sadder than before. A friend described this record as “a more boring radiohead” which I completely resent, but find humorous.
Carly Cosgrove / See You In Chemistry
The deluge of Emo revival waves usually wash right past me, sounding mostly like the bands that came around right as I stopped touring and I felt resembled pop punk more than what I had considered emo. But occasionally a band like Carly Cosgrove catches my ear and restores my faith in the next generation that they’ve found many of the same inspirations I had at that age, and figured out how to make their own version thats even better than what existed before. This record covers it all from angular to punk to shoegaze indie.
Caroline Spence / True North
True North is one of the first records I truly loved of this year. It’s 90’s americana (this Sheryl Crow) indie folk was the soundtrack to the first trip of the spring up to Mt Shasta with a collection of friends and has maintained repeated listening as a companion for exploration.
The Beths / Expert In A Dying Field
The Beths are another band from New Zealand just churning out incredibly consistently strong and enjoyable records. Expert In A Dying Field takes their power pop songwriting into a more mature and experimental direction with more songs that stretch out into the atmosphere and push forward introspective lyrics that seem to resonate with the same emotional plane I find myself in these days.
Sylvan Esso / No Rules Sandy
This record was basically shadow dropped after the band loved the record so much they just decided they wanted to get it out there and do the PR for it later. It’s their most experimental record to date, with a lot of the beats existing in a space similar to glitchy jungle, but with an undeniably beautiful through line. Far from their easiest listening record, I think the effort pays off with some of their best songs to date.
Tess Roby / Ideas Of Space
Ideas Of Space is another of those go to flying records for me, especially around hour 2 of the flight when my edibles have really kicked in. This record is expansively spacious while general only involving Tess’ voice, a keyboard or two, and some extremely light percussion. It sounds like what I imagine the best hypnotic guided meditation must feel like.
Hot Chip / Freakout/Release
I’ve been a fan of Hot Chip’s awkward electronic indie dance music since being ultimately flummoxed the first time I saw the video for Over & Over in an Old Navy somewhere on tour in 2006, but admit their new music fell off my radar a few years back. Freakout/Release is another of the records that benefited from the slower process Covid allowed, being the first record they wrote fully as a band over an extended period of time, and it allowed for what i believe is a complexity and depth to their songwriting that makes this record feel more like a work by a band, not a project, which is incredibly satisfying.
Widowspeak / The Jacket
The Jacket is one of a few records that came out in March while I found myself drifting through the midwest after my grandfather’s death. It’s somber tone and guitar jangle that sounds like its coming from the corner of a dark dive bar was a perfect companion for driving through agricultural regions in late winter.
Donovan Woods / Big Hurt Boy
Big Hurt Boy is the second record that came out during the aforementioned period after my grandfather’s death. It’s only 6 songs, but Donovan Woods has a gift for creating alt country / pop folk songs that feels instantly familiar and relatable that you can listen to on repeat, stretching out an economic 18 minutes.
Mitski / Laurel Hell
It may have had something to do with this record releasing around the same time as the Winter Olympics, but this record was made for Ice Skating. Mitski’s brand of sleek dramatics is begging to be accompaniment to choreography, and the smooth upbeat 80’s new wave inspired tracks on Laurel Hell would fit Johnny Weir or Alysa Liu like a costume pear of leg warmers.
Frontperson / Parade
Frontperson includes the keyboardist from the New Pornographers and sounds like if the New Pornographers wrote slightly more straightforward songs with a little less ego, because only two people are involved instead of a super group of contributors. Parade is easily my most “why isn’t everyone listening to the record?” record of the year.
Living Hour / Someday is Today
This record is great entirely in spite of itself. What begins as an admittedly impressive attempt to be a Beach House tribute band opens up into a really interesting low key indie rock album of beautiful hooks, but weighed down by lyrical content made up of mostly stream of consciousness the band is apparently young enough to think is groundbreaking. I love this record but also find myself really wondering if it’s a “good” record, but if I’m enjoying it I guess that doesn’t really matter.
Trentmoller / Memoria
Trentmoller sounds like the soundtrack to my most scorpio fueled fantasies of urban European winter nights. Think early/mid M83 expansive darkwave.
Wild Pink / ILYSM
Wild Pink’s A Billion Little Lights was my favorite record of 2021, by a mile. Shortly after releasing that record, songwriter John Ross was diagnosed with cancer. ILYSM is a record about fighting and ultimately recovering from that diagnosis, full of songs about fear, relief, and reprioritizing whats important in life. The opener of his last record was about someone plotting to jump off the golden gate bridge, and this record is still a heavier and more somber journey.
Los Bitchos / Let The Festivities Begin
Los Bitchos is four women living in London making instrumental music that sounds like surf rock and cumbia fell in love in the middle east and everyone is invited to the party. This record is the most surefire crowd pleaser of the year.
Lil Silva / Yesterday is Heavy
I have a dream of living in the UK for 6 months just so I can understand better what is going on in the underground electronic R&B scene. Lil Silva is another artist amongst a cohort of incredible musicians who don’t release records often enough like Sampha, serpentwithfeet, and a parade of guest artists who appear on this record.
Danger Mouse & Black Thought / Cheat Codes
Danger Mouse making densely sampled hip hop beats to accompany The Roots’ Black Thought’s lyrical skills. No Brainer.
The Comet Is Coming / Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
The Comet Is Coming is a keyboardist and a drummer making mathy electronic rock ala early Battles, accompanied by a guy just going WILD on the sax. This record is weird and wonderful and will definitely freak out the squares. All three musicians are apparently extremely well respected English Jazz Musicians in their own right, but I admit that is not my forte.
George Fitzgerald / Stellar Drifting
Stellar Drifting is an aptly names ambient electronic record with just enough beat and character going on to keep you feeling good without compelling you to give up what you’re working on to hit the dancefloor.
Kaitlin Butts / What Else Can She Do
Country has reached a point I can’t tell what’s Pop Country, what’s Indie Country, what’s Folk Rock made by someone who grew up listening to George Strait and Garth Brooks, and where Zach Bryan fits in to any of this. What I do know is Kaitlin Butts is very good, and if you remotely like any of that Country gray area, you will like her too.
Pinegrove / 11:11
If this record came out earlier in the year it would probably be higher on this list, as it was a constant listen the first few months of the year, but across the full 12 months of 2022, alot of the things I loved about this record, like the airy arrangements and field recordings of many songs, records like Florist did better for me. It’s still a great Pinegrove record and is more of Pinegrove’s signature indie folk punk emo thing.
Young Jesus / Shepherd Head
In my teenage years, Saddle Creek was the record for the most mature and interesting indie and emo bands, bands like Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley and Cursive. Young Jesus is a perfect example of the niche Saddle Creek has found themselves in now, which still fits the mature indie/emo band but with contemporary production embracing slight electronics and general psyche weirdness.
Pale Sketcher / Golden Skin
I found myself listening to alot of house, jungle, and other electronic music that reminded me of 90’s techno this year. Pale Sketcher happened to be one of those records I listened to the most.
Rubblebucket / Earth Worship
Rubblebucket is the most masochistic band out there and I’m just so glad they exist. They are/were a married couple who’s last record, 2018’s absolutely incredible Sun Machine, was all about processing their choice to have an open relationship and it ultimately torpedoing their relationship, like Fleetwood Mac writing multiple records in which Stevie Nicks sang songs Lindsey Buckingham wrote about cheating on her with Christine McVie. Fast forward to 2022, and they release Earth Worship, a dancy art rock record full of brass and wind instruments all about protecting the environment. It’s still largely about sex, just like, bug sex?
Phoenix / Alpha Zula
Phoenix is a band I have loved for over 2 decades. For their 20+ years, they have never released the same record twice, resulting in the casual listener not realizing they’re the band behind both many beautiful scenes in Sofia Coppola films and the 2009 hit single Lisztomania. Their newest record, Alpha Zula, is admittedly not their best record, but even a middling Phoenix record is better than the vast majority of records released every year.
Bibio / BIB10
Similar to Phoenix, Bibio is one of my absolute favorite artists. His brand of yacht rock guitar solo driven folk-tronic just gets me, and similarly expands to never really sound like the same record twice. This, his 10th record, feels like his funkiest yet.