Hi,

You like music? Me too. It’s good, aye. Here is a casual look at my favourite albums of 2022. Emphasis on the casual. I’m not bothering with fancy. Or proper grammar. This isn’t a review of these albums, nor is it really a coherent collection of thoughts. It’s kinda just like a list of albums and then me very much struggling to describe why I love them. You might find something that sounds interesting to you! It’s all really good. I promise.

I’ve stolen the genres from Album of the Year, listed a track to get you into the album along with five favourites, and linked the Apple and Spotify thingys. If you use something outside of these two services, I’m sorry, but you’re on your own.

This isn’t in order. But…

Ants From Up There – Black Country, New Road

Art Rock, Post-Rock, Chamber Pop – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Concorde

This album. Wow.

This is going to be about five times the length of the other ones. Ever since its release in February, I’ve been dying, DYING, to write this piece.

Black Country, New Road are a bunch of British boys and girls who make good music. We got Issac Wood on guitar and vocals, Luke Mark on the other guitar, Tyler Hyde on the bass, May Kershaw on the keys, Georgia Ellery on the violin, Lewis Evans on the Sax, and Charlie Wayne on the drums. They’re all like 22-23 years old, which is crazy because that is super young, you know? This album, to me, is as perfect as an album can get. I’m just gonna go through it track by track because it is my birthday party and I get to do what I want.

Intro is the perfect intro. It is short but frantic and introduces an excellent motif that pays off big time by the end of the album. From Intro, we jump right into Chaos Space Marine, a silly but unbelievably fun track. Everyone gets their moment to shine with their instrument. Good lord, they are tight performances.

Concorde is an unbelievable track and the one you should probably try if you want to give the album a taste. This track perfectly encapsulates everything that makes BCNR great. Every instrument gets a chance to shine, Issac’s lyrics are heart-wrenching, but it is contrasted by this plucky, Animal Crossing type instrumental which builds and builds to a soft explosion that has me in pain every time I hear it. I can’t think of a more perfect song, and it’s not even in my top five for this album.

Bread Song is a beautiful contrast to the opening tracks, it’s somewhat low-key, with a superb switch halfway through that gets me every time. Issac’s Lyrics again are just so great, exploring a relationship through particles of bread in bed. Once this track ends, BAM, we’re teleported into Good Will Hunting, which is the most traditional of the tracks on this album, but that doesn’t make it any less spectacular in its presentation. Lyrically my favourite track too, I couldn’t agree more about phones.

Haldern. My song of the year at eighty-eight listens. I don’t even. I can’t listen to this and write. You listen to it. It’s just so. Like. The way the piano, sax, and violin play with each other is just so stunning. The build. The build! And the lyrics. Okay, enough of that. Great track. And the ending!

Mark’s theme is a hugely important instrumental at the halfway point of the album, a beautiful sax solo a tribute to Lewis’s uncle. Aside from being absolutely stunning, it gives a moment of pause before heading into the final three tracks.

The final three tracks. Wow.

These last three tracks run over the last half hour of the project. The Place Where He Inserted the Blade at 7:13 minutes, Snow Globes at 9:13, and Basketball shoes at 12:37.

And they’re the three best tracks on the album.

The Place Where He Inserted the Blade is my runner-up for tracks to try first. Very similar in structure to Concorde, but more. A grander build, even more heart-wrenching lyrics, and an even bigger explosion that has me yelling “GOOD MORNING” every single time. This is the band at their very best, so much passion, so much skill, all out on the line for this track. I spent nine hours and thirty minutes of my year listening to it.

Snow Globes. They must have had me in mind when composing this one. If it isn’t clear already, I love a slow build, and I LOVE a big ending, and this track is as close as you can get to perfection here. I still don’t know what he is talking about, but it doesn’t matter. Charlie is an absolute animal on the drums. Animal would be proud. Listened to for ten hours twenty six this year.

If Snow Globes is a nearly perfect build and finish, Basketball Shoes is beyond perfect. And while Haldern is my track of the year, Basketball Shoes might be my track of all time. This is a few songs in one, tying together the themes of the album in one brilliant package. Issac pulls out the line of the year with your generous loan to me, your crippling interest. But beyond the metaphor, the way he screams it, good lord. There isn’t a whole lot else I can say about this track other than eighteen fifty-five.

Damn. That was all a little over the top. Thanks for letting me get that out. I needed that. This album will absolutely not be to everyone’s tastes. But if it connects with you, it CONNECTS with you. What an album. Thanks Issac, Luke, Tyler, May, Georgia, Lewis, and Charlie.

Bestest tracks: Good Will Hunting, Haldern, The Place Where He Inserted the Blade, Snow Globes, Basketball Shoes

Expert In A Dying Field – The Beths

Indie Rock, Power Pop – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Expert In a Dying Field

This lot have to be the most likeable artists in the country. How good are The Beths?

Expert In a Dying Field and Knees Deep were the two tracks outside of BCNR to make my top ten most listened-to tracks of the year, with Silence Is Golden not far off. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better opening three tracks to an album, they’re all just so irresistibly catchy. And jeez, Liz can write.

As you will see a whole lot in this list, closing an album well is just as important to me as opening it well, and they nail that too with 2Am. It’s such a simple song technically, but Liz’s lyrics, performance, and that slow build create a flippin’ unbelievable vibe. You gotta give this one a listen at 2am one day, it’ll touch you.

The writing, the production, and the performances are all consistently great across the album. It is as good as it gets in indie rock this year. They are a class act live too, do yourself a favour and head along next time they’re near you.

Bestest tracks: Expert In a Dying Field, Knees Deep, Silence Is Golden, When You Know You Know, 2Am

Cave World – Viagra Boys

Dance Punk, Post-Punk – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Troglodyte

Absolutely hysterical. There isn’t an album out there that comes as close to summarising the absolute state of human beings in 2022.

The pace here is just so electric, Baby Criminal and Ain’t No Thief are running tracks if I’ve ever heard them. And the scary saxophone throughout this album is something I’ve come to realise is an instant hit with me. The first in a trilogy of albums in this list with this intense sax. What they do with it is not what was intended for the instrument, that is for certain.

I’ve put Troglodyte as the song to try, but you also have to listen to Creepy Crawlers. Inspired by this Channel 5 interview, this song is just too funny. When we’re telling our grandkids about the pandemic, it will be a lot easier to just show them this song. It’s essential listening (and has been banned from youtube). And Return to Monke, if we didn’t have Basketball Shoes, this would be the closing track of the year. If you like loud, you will like this.

Bestest tracks: Baby Criminal, Troglodyte, Creepy Crawlers, Ain’t No Theif, Return to Monke

Sometimes, Forever – Soccer Mommy

Indie Rock, Dream Pop – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Unholy Affliction

Soccer Mommy rocks. This album rocks. And her previous album Color Theory rocks. I ended up listening to that one more than this year’s one. Flippin excellent album and if you’re in need of another indie rock dream pop fix, either album is an easy pick.

There is an awesome grimy texture to a few of these tracks like Unholy Affliction and Darkness Forever that works so well. The drumming across the album is especially excellent, and not the thing I thought I’d be highlighting. That is not to take away from the production of everything else, which of course is stellar.

Bestest tracks: With U, Unholy Affliction, Shotgun, Darkness Forever, Fire In The Driveway

I Love You Jennifer B – Jockstrap

Glitch Pop, Art Pop – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Greatest Hits

Georgia Ellery’s second appearance on this list! Opening the year with BCNR, and ending the year with something completely different. Imagine being this absurdly talented. Not to take away from the other half of Jockstrap, Taylor Skye, who has created some sounds I can’t comprehend. Good job dude.

I gotta be honest with you, the first time I heard this I thought it was pretty average. But over the following days, specks of different songs came to mind, and I gave it another go. Then it clicked and clicked hard. This album is wild in all the right ways, each track is unique in its approach to the genre, and Georgia’s vocals are beyond perfect every damn time.

Greatest Hits is likely the easiest song to digest, almost a traditional pop song, with some glitchy elements to ease you in. If you’re after more of the glitch pop, Neon or Debra are flippin’ excellent, and if you’re after more of a ballad, What’s It All About and the outstanding Concrete Over Water are must-listens. Greatest Hits, I tell you what, song of the year.

Bestest tracks: Neon, Greatest Hits, Concrete Over Water, What’s It All About?, Debra

THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND – PUP

Pop Punk, Indie Rock – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Totally Fine

PUP are my favourite Canadian boys, and this is my comfort album of the year. This album is absurd and loud and high pace and pretty bad but also pretty amazing. I have loved every single track PUP has released and I will love every single one they release till the end of the world in four to five years. Totally fine is my anthem of the year.

If you’re after some beautiful piano ballads, then Four Chords, Four Chords Pt. II: Five Chords, and Four Chords Pt. III: Diminishing Returns are all stunning. Just a really beautiful performance. It is incredible how much they can pack into nine seconds with that third one. Really profound stuff.

And once again, the closing track makes this album. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good closer. PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy is everything I love about PUP. It’s silly but self-aware, intense as all hell, and to top it all off it has an insane saxophone? You gotta be kidding me. Song of the year.

Bestest tracks: Totally Fine, Robot Writes A Love Song, Habits, Cutting Off The Corners, PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy

NO THANK YOU – Little Simz

Conscious Hip Hop, UK Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Neo-Soul – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Heart on Fire

The last thing I was expecting musically this year was a follow-up to last year’s masterpiece Sometimes I Might Be Introvert from Little Simz. If you haven’t heard that record yet, you MUST get on to it as soon as possible. Not only the album of the year last year, but it will go down as an album of the decade. Just wait.

NO THANK YOU almost acts as an epilogue to SIMBI, and I mean that with the highest of praise. Reflections on success and mental health stand out here, Heart on Fire and Broken are outstanding tracks, add them to your playlists now. Tracks like Angel are super low-key instrumentally, but Simz draws you in with every word. It is relentless. The only other artist who I think matches her this year is Kendrick, but only one of them made my main list.

An unbelievable surprise for the end of the year.

Bestest tracks: Angel, Gorilla, Heart On Fire, Broken, Control

Duality – Luna Li

Indie Pop, Psychedelic Pop, Art Pop – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Silver Into Rain

Luna Li! She was high on my list of people I wanted an album from in 2022. Then bam, early March it happened, and I tell you what, it is a goodie.

Before this album, Luna Li would probably be categorised as bedroom pop, but here she goes beyond the bedroom, with lavish orchestral moments, and a few tracks with some superb grand finishes. Silver Into Rain is a real standout, with a chorus sung by Beabadoobee (who also released an excellent album this year, shout out to Beatopia).

Luna Li is growing from strength to strength, and I am super excited to see where she goes next. She also released a second Jams EP, which if you haven’t listened to Jams one, stop what you’re doing and add it and two to your library immediately. Song of the year.

Bestest tracks: Cherry Pit, Afterglow, Trying, Flower, Silver Into Rain

40 oz. To Fresno – Joyce Manor

Indie Rock, Power Rock – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Gotta Let It Go

Joyce Manor fans waited four long years for this album, and here we finally have it, nine tracks and sixteen whole minutes of Joyce Manor. Yeah, it’s kind of on the short side, but boy, they pack some electricity into what they have. There is not a single wasted moment, one good idea after another until the excellent closing track Secret Sisters.

Pop punk is a tension release for me, whenever I needed some quick relief this year, this album would go straight on. PUP and Joyce Manor in the same year? You gotta be kidding me, flippin’ excellent year for pop punk. And you know what? This one could be your gateway drug.

Bestest tracks: Souvenir, Don’t Try, Gotta Let It Go, Dance with Me, Secret Sisters

if you put together all of the singles from Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus, you almost have a boygenius EP – boygenius

GUYS. There might be a whole boygenius album coming out like really soon. I saw a tweet about it. Meanwhile, they all released singles this year, and they were all great. I listened to all of them a lot this year and dreamt of another boygenius ep. I swear to God if we get a whole album in 2023 I’m going to explode. That and Paramore? You have GOT to be kidding me.

Bestest tracks: Mental Math – Julien Baker, Sidelines – Phoebe Bridgers, Kissing Lessons – Lucy Dacus

Hellfire – Black Midi

Avant-Prog, Brutal Prog, Experimental Rock, Jazz-Rock – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: Sugar/Tzu

I’ve left this to the lower end of the list in case it scares anyone away. Here is the final scary saxophone album, Hellfire. Although it is so much more than scary crazy saxophone. This thing is scary guitars, scary drums, scary bass, and scary voice. This album is very spooky and scary. I would be careful if I were you.

I’ve said this a few times, but stop what you’re doing right now and listen to Sugar/Tzu. I don’t understand this song. How do they play so fast? And how does it still sound incredible despite sounding almost incomprehensible? It’s a flippin’ technical marvel. Would you believe they’re 23?

There are so many unbelievable moments throughout the album. The chaos of Eat Men Eat, 1:40 through to 2:04 of Still, the pure speed of The Race Is About To Begin, and Dangerous Liaisons, unbelievable stuff, song of the year for sure.

Bestest tracks: Sugar/Tzu, Eat Men Eat, Still, Dangerous Liaisons, The Defence

And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow – Weyes Blood

Baroque Pop, Singer-Songwriter – Apple – Spotify

Song to try: God Turn Me Into a Flower

There wasn’t a better way to end the year than this album. It was a big stressful year, and the night I lay down and put this on for the first time, I just about left my body.

The opening track It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody is beyond stunning. My body sinks into the earth when I hear it, it touches my very soul. If the opening track is beyond stunning, God Turn Me Into a Flower is Transcendent. If you’re going to listen to any of the songs I’ve listed in this piece, listen to that. It’s the song of the year. And if we’re talking tracks of the year, then The Worst Is Done needs to be talked about, because it is 2022, the song. I couldn’t agree more, Natalie.

Bestest tracks: It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody, Children of the Empire, God Turn Me Into a Flower, Hearts Aglow, The Worst Is Done

Other albums and EPs that I also loved and listened to quite a bit but to be honest couldn’t really be bothered writing about. How good was that Kendrick album though?
Beach Bunny – Emotional Creature
Beabadoobe – Beatopia
Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
Denzel Curry – Melt My Eyez See Your Future
The Front Bottoms – Theresa
Faye Webster – Car Therapy Sessions
Guerilla Toss – Famously Alive
White Lotus theme song (enough with the jokes, this is the song of the year.)

That was a good music year. I entered it worried there wouldn’t be as many great albums as last year, but I think it surpassed it. And now we’re entering 2023 with a Paramore album like 37 days away from release?! I have nothing to worry about.

The end : )