2022 Top Albums
Album PuppyA great album tears open the space-time continuum and creates a new dimension of sound for your ear to inhabit. Whereas a great track can just follow one line to completion, a great album needs an up, down, left, right, floor, ceiling. Some albums are extroverts, welcoming you at first listen. Other albums are introverts, taking their time to warm up. Either way, you want to spend time with them. Genre and rank are a shitty way to divvy up music, so we’ve included some “vibe clouds” below to help you navigate 20 albums to take with you into 2023.
Don’t miss the rest of the 2022 Year In Review.
Electro Flair Beat Salad Moon Coke Beam Voice Magic Cloud Shake
Not necessarily “electronic” music, but these are sounds that could have never manifested before the microchip. Shout out: Claire Rousay and More Eaze, NNAMDÏ, Loz Goddard, Living Hour.
Claire Rousay and More Eaze: Never Stop Texting Me
Claire Rousay and More Eaze: Never Stop Texting Me
The pair goes hunting for Ke$ha epiphanies.
NNAMDÏ: Please Have A Seat
NNAMDÏ: Please Have A Seat
Please Have A Seat is an invitation into the artist’s world of anxiety, ambition, and relentless creativity.
Loz Goddard: Balloon Tree Road
Loz Goddard: Balloon Tree Road
Goddard’s latest full-length Balloon Tree Road honors the Madchester tradition.
Living Hour: Someday Is Today
Living Hour: Someday Is Today
The gazey, dreampop excursion takes us into a fantastic interior world of emotional introspection.
Pop Roxx Key Ensemble Crab Appetizer Shell Craft Line Metrics Wink
All the music on Top Albums strive to be popular, but the Pop Roxxx Stanza selections pay a little more attention to the written and unwritten rules of the game. Sometimes just to turn them upside down. Shout out: Dear Nora, Aldous Harding, Wilder Maker, Mamalarky.
Dear Nora: human futures
Dear Nora: human futures
HDN belabors a hermit-crab analogy to eff’ this ineffable album. One of the year’s best.
Aldous Harding: Warm Chris
Aldous Harding: Warm Chris
Her fourth album presents a confident songwriter in full possession of a sense of adventure and experimentation.
Wilder Maker: Male Models
Wilder Maker: Male Models
An album of the moment that speaks in pandemic parlance, wherein finding a foothold in common with others is paramount.
Mamalarky: Pocket Fantasy
Mamalarky: Pocket Fantasy
The band wants to envelop listeners within a gauzy aural womb, and then poke and prod them once they’ve arrived.
Mood Zone Jazz Edge Void Instrumental Rain Nimbus Perc Tab
Music is always a mood. With these albums, mood is a person, place, thing, and flower on the windowsill too. Shout out: Iceblink, Mayaka McCraven, Keeley Forsyth.
Iceblink: Carpet Cocoon
Iceblink: Carpet Cocoon
A time will come when the ice cube of “ambient” will melt into the rest of the drink for pop music at large.
Makaya McCraven: In These Times
Makaya McCraven: In These Times
McCraven deploys his signature percussive chiaroscuro to draw high contrast beatscapes and ambitious improvisation out of the jazz ether.
Keeley Forsyth: Limbs
Keeley Forsyth: Limbs
In lithe arrangements located at the margins of classical music and minimalist spoken word, Forsyth invites the silence to come in from out of the cold and stay a while.
Vintage Lever Day Dream Hi Five Shot String Cable Couch
Like Hobbits on Ents, musicians are all standing on the shoulders of giants. These albums make the tradition matter. Shout out: Twen, Kitner, Beat Radio, Pet Fox.
Twen: One Stop Shop
Twen: One Stop Shop
The urgency of the moment percolates throughout the album, as does a healthy dose of classic FM radio.
Kitner: Shake The Spins
Kitner: Shake The Spins
The hard-drinking album knots together creative threads drawn from various quarters of the tippler universe.
Beat Radio: Real Love
Beat Radio: Real Love
An introspective album that uses jangly hooks and intimate lyrics to reel the listener into frontman Brian Sendrowitz’s meditative mindset.
Pet Fox: A Face In Your Life
Pet Fox: A Face In Your Life
The delectation is in the details: it’s the light touch that lifts this album from post punk pablum to a standout in 2022.
Heavy Flavor Shotgun Taxes Balloon Slop Grind Knee Apple Core
Burning tire fire glory, love letters to brick walls, ideological breakdowns to blow out your speakers. Shout out: Kal Marks, Maneka, Already Dead, Green/Blue.
Kal Marks: My Name Is Hell
Kal Marks: My Name Is Hell
The album envisions a cosmos generous enough in its proportion to accommodate all that is human. Even the freak shows.
Maneka: Dark Matter
Maneka: Dark Matter
A three-pronged attack of artistry, cultural commentary, and personality does not always fit together into one tidy package.
Already Dead: My Collar Is Blue
Already Dead: My Collar Is Blue
The New England band explores class consciousness as the centerpiece of their punk identity.
Green/Blue: Offering
Green/Blue: Offering
The songwriting is taut, trim punk and post-punk rockery with a minimum of fuss.
Thanks to all the artists for being awesome. Catch more of HDN’s 2022 Year In Review. See you in 2023 with more Album Reviews from Hump Day News…
