The 2022 End of Year music lists thread

Yeah, the new Alex G is annoyingly good. Like a post-late-Low version of slacker-indie.

Love love love "ChevyS10" and think it serves as the natural peak when listening to the album - good choice, Time

NYT (Pop): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/arts/music/best-albums-renaissance-bad-bunny.html

NYT Jazz: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/arts/music/best-jazz-albums.html

Yeah, the new Alex G is annoyingly good. Like a post-late-Low version of slacker-indie.

This is literally the first time I've heard his music described in a way that makes me mildly curious!

Critic Gene Seymour's jazz list is better than the Times jazz list, even though it has a Keith Jarrett album on it.

I think Gene Seymour and I like totally different jazz.

I don't agree with him about much — I'm doing a list of 20 albums for Stereogum, and the Shipp album will be on it and I'm considering the Salvant, Sorey and Turner discs, though I'm less sure about them. The Mary Halvorson album he cites as an honorable mention will definitely be on my list.

Excited for your list!

Yeah, the new Alex G is annoyingly good. Like a post-late-Low version of slacker-indie.

guess i have to check it out then, what i've heard of his previous stuff was just fine

yeah that's the first description of Alex G that sounds palatable to me

https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-albums-of-2022/
https://thequietus.com/articles/32400-the-quietus-top-100-albums-of-2022-norman-records

weirdly they have the same #1

someone needs to let the gvb guy know about real lies

ok this alex g album is nice, he's foregrounded all his production eccentricities, at least since the last album of his i heard which was a while ago.

the late-period low comparison holds up only in a few places but i get it. i'd more directly say it's a slacker-indie take on 'hyperpop', reminds me of the fantastic dltzk album from last year. would love to hear what he'd come up with working with bj burton

like it only really delves into something that actually sounds 'hyperpop' occasionally but just the general way it hangs together is fairly reminiscent of what those sort of artists are doing

I listened to the Jockstrap the other day. It isn't remotely AOTY lol

And the h word has been uttered so I'd best get around to Alex G at some point

Was the Quietus list all Sleaford Mods records and unlistenable art metal again? Last year’s list was abysmal

xp you might be disappointed by the alex g idk but it's at least adjacent to that whole area

i also disliked the jockstrap album but maybe listening to it again would make me hate it

i don't think there was a sleaford mods album this year so you may be in luck

seems like there is a bunch of art metal though, have not tested its listenability yet

Quietus list has disappointed me for a while, so much noodly nothingness, this year no different. Also Fontaines fuckin DC over so many better rock choices, what is it with that band and critics

Also, some actually great Quietuscore - like, tailor-made for them - came out in the form of Holy Scum and it isn't even in their 100. But why list the best thing any member of Gnod has ever done when you can just list yet another fuckin Gnod album?

And as for Jockstrap, yeah it's some diverting and occasionally effective modern production wedded to some truly lumpen songwriting by a BCNR member, embarrassing how that bunch have taken over

I don’t think the Jockstrap will age well at all, it has some great moments tho.

i listened to the caroline album that's on all these lists bc the descriptions were interesting and it sounds like christmas music

I like the GVB list but I rarely coincide with him on albums. His songs list is usually more up my alley. I suspect half of his top 20 tomorrow will be songs I loved this year.

xp I mean, that could be a good thing!

The lists I most look forward to are Raven Sings The Blues and Aquarium Drunkard.

AD and Bandcamp's various lists were great last year iirc

I'm really liking the June McDoom off the GvB list though

I don’t think the Jockstrap will age well at all, it has some great moments tho.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, December 1, 2022 7:55 AM (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

Nice to see the Carmen Villain album on the Quietus list, it's super! And also Darklife by Death's Dynamic Shroud. And of course Real Lies.

Although as the years go by I care less and less about these lists. I used to get FOMO at this point of the year and think I had to catch up on all the great music I missed, only to later realise most of it was shite.

I listen to Alex G infrequently but I would have never thought to use any of those descriptors upthread about him.

Caramanica NY Times list has Nigerian Asake and Pareles list of additional top albums has Malian Rokia Kone ( w/ Jackknife Lee)

i listened to the caroline album that's on all these lists bc the descriptions were interesting and it sounds like christmas music

Yeah, I don't get this one at all, even though I do like some of the adjacent stuff that came out this year.

caroline is like the only artist on these lists whom i adore!
the record is just fantastic
"christmas music"??? like - is Palace Music or Songs:Ohia or even like early Mogwai christmas music? it's definitely not an in-vogue style though

Rolling Stone’s 100 best albums of 2022: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-2022-list-1234632387/

xp
heh I listened to the first song on that and was like "woah this sounds like 1999" so yeah

Is Rolling Stone even trying to have a point of view or is the intent of the magazine simply to document for historical record what the popular masses consumed in a given year

Probably just a copy editing oversight but it made me laugh that the Lizzo blurb is uncredited.

Midnights at #3 – LOL

Glad tQ gave some props to the Širom album, putting it #11— it is a genuinely excellent record, been playing it a lot.

That Rolling Stone list has Tove Lo fairly high, which I haven't seen on many other lists. I love that record and was beginning to wonder if I was the only one.

Is Rolling Stone even trying to have a point of view or is the intent of the magazine simply to document for historical record what the popular masses consumed in a given year

― Indexed

I was trying to think of the last time their number one wasn't a big selling number one album. All I could come up with was that U2 album that invaded everyone's iTunes. Before that maybe TV On The Radio in 2008.

A few good tracks but I was disappointed with the new Tove Lo album xp

caroline not normally my sorta thing but really enjoyed the album
fav bit is when good morning (red) falls apart

Also, some actually great Quietuscore - like, tailor-made for them - came out in the form of Holy Scum and it isn't even in their 100. But why list the best thing any member of Gnod has ever done when you can just list yet another fuckin Gnod album?

― imago

I missed Holy Scum at Torfest to see another act and supposedly they were one of the best things at the festival. I should probably check out the album. Though tbf I'm perfectly happy for them to not list every band's side project in their EoY chart (unless it's mine, lol). Anyway, it's a good list and if all you're seeing on it is art metal then you're massively overlooking a whole lot. I can see a few things that will/might make my own ballot and I'm not even halfway through.

I will say I liked the Quietus list better than last year, tho I just cannot with the noise and metal they prefer— maybe I’m getting old, but most of it truly sounds like shit to me.

complex - https://www.complex.com/music/best-albums-2022/

First Sault appearance?

second Wizkid one, once again at #26

However you feel about Gioia's taste (and personally I find I have a good amount of overlap), you have to hand it to him for providing an informative one-line description of each item on his honorable mention list. I hope he sticks with this format for his best-of list. It's the perfect amount of information to quickly digest. I don't want to read an essay, just enough information to give me a hint of whether it might align with my own taste, and not meaningless buzzwords:

https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/the-best-recordings-of-2022-honorable

Brainwashed readers poll

Nice.

if you like those mostly artsy and art rocky types (some of which I do) . Interesting how Horace Andy, thanks to new records, is top reggae act in that Brainwashed poll

really like that list from the stuff I've enjoyed
Will deffo deep dive

Yeah likewise. The Brainwashed list has a lot of overlap with my own faves, with several previously unheard RIYL titles. This Ak'Chamel album, for instance, is a treat.