ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2022 - 21st Anniversary Edition

I think I've probably voted for every The Garden album since "Mirror Might Steal Your Charm" in these polls. So this feels good. I also somehow missed the fact that the Arctic Monkeys sound like a totally different band now. This song is sounding pretty good.

You won't find much contemporary classical or tejano or C-Pop or Norwegian rap in the mix

or american rap!

https://i.imgur.com/v7iC0zh.png
#72: Burna Boy - Love, Damini - 162 points - 6 votes
here comes the AFRICAN GIANT / Burna Boy (2019)

An album for the ages, as well as being an awards season shoo-in, it is sure to succeed in doing precisely what Burna told Billboard his music is all about – “bringing people who don’t even speak the same language together to dance.

Despite its panoply of styles and personnel, the album remains consistently interesting while still adhering to the Afro-fusion vibe that is his hallmark.

I don't think I've even heard of the Ravyn Lenae one - any stans want to wax lyrical about it?

― emil.y, Monday, January 30, 2023 10:29 AM

I was a huge proponent of her track "Sticky" whichever year that dropped, but I only skimmed Hypnos once and intended to go back for a more thorough listen. I guess today's the day.

Sticky made it into our top 2017 tracks iirc?

Just checked #66 in 2018

I loved Sticky but ultimately couldn't get into Hypnos

Burna placing is a bit of a surprise! Should be an indication of several more afropop albums to come

Hypnos is an album I enjoyed when I heard it and kept meaning to go back to all year, but somehow never did. Definitely going to throw it on in the next couple of days.

https://i.imgur.com/NbTq3MB.png
#71: Loraine James - Building Something Beautiful For Me - 166 points - 7 votes
rolling careerist hacks, awkward pandering, transparently manipulative thread 2022

Building Something Beautiful for Me adds to a legacy by connecting it to another. Rather than tidy Eastman’s music into a neat little box, she leaves it unravelled for the next person.

Her light, airy palette, punctuated by arresting stabs and scattershot rhythm, is informed by vintage Squarepusher and Plaid - but Eastman's pioneering work as a black, gay musician operating in challenging times clearly resonates with James.

enjoyed the loraine james album, good time to revisit it

Think I voted for Venom not the album, but Hypnos is an awesome. Production from Steve Lacy, Kaytranada, Teo Halm (SZA, Rosalia), and Monte Booker (Smino, Vince Staples) is diverse but the overall sound of the record is very Chicago.

i actually didn't hate the Simple Minds album!

didn't get round to hearing this one unfortunately, but loraine james has made some brilliant records in the past. gonna listen via her bandcamp:

https://lorainejames.bandcamp.com/album/building-something-beautiful-for-me

Love Loraine James, she's very prolific and I haven't kept up with everything, so now's a good time to listen to the new one.

I don't know what I thought Arctic Monkeys sounded like, but it wasn't this...it's a very tasteful palette at least.

xxp there literally was, AND i heard it too!

Ah, Building Something Beautiful For Me is a really lovely listen. It's based on the works of Julius Eastman, so is fairly low-key musically while simultaneously mining deep veins of meaning. Only made it into the non-ordered section of my ballot but glad to see it here.

well that sold me on giving it a spin.

https://i.imgur.com/JH17VGQ.png
#70: Stromae - Multitude - 176 points - 5 votes
Stromae : C/D ?

Multitude is the perfect return for such a formidable musical talent, serving not only as a reminder of his innovative talents, but also highlighting how much richer his soundscaping and storytelling has grown over his hiatus.
With biting humor and striking intimacy, the Belgian pop singer’s adventurous third album examines how we humans care for one another—or don’t.

i did a small albums ballot, but watching this very intently nonetheless! thank you again to poll runners. graphics look great!

(also yes, the ravyn lenae album is fun and worth listening to if you haven't heard it yet)

her whatever the weather album from last year was great too, v different ambient-ish with occasional break-age

(Lorraine James)

wasn't that enamored with the stromae album, will give it another go tho

Looks like a bunch of us are listening to the LJ right now!

Yes! The Whatever the Weather album is great too! Not much discussion on it on ilm but one of my favorite albums this year.

I like James' bleepier stuff the most but pretty much everything she does is great, it's all worth checking out.

Stromae is another one I know nothing about - looks like there wasn't even any discussion of the album on the dedicated thread, was there any on a rolling thread somewhere?

don't think i saw it anywhere on here - iirc i came across it via a quietus review

big Eastman fan here and was unfamiliar with Lorraine James, poll delivers already

a lot i haven't heard! nothing i've voted for yet.

for the ones i have heard

arctic monkeys - the car - just missed my ballot. beautiful album, but not quite as good as tranquility base in my mind. it's a bit drippier, bit more sincere. the string arrangements are uniformly great, but they largely replace the smoky, noirish, roubaix-esque sound that defined its predecessor.

ravyn lenae - hypnos - been a fan of hers for a long time, but the songs on this one were not quite so, ahem, "sticky"

burna boy - love, damini - half of a great album with many beautiful moments. much preferred the asake, fireboy, rema albums this year. "last last" will undoubtedly place in the singles poll, and it deserves to!

stromae - multitude - liked this one a good deal, but the singles ("l'enfer," "sainte") towered over the rest

Discourse I saw on the Stromae album was limited to the controversy around its rollout. The singles jumped out whenever they'd come up on playlists, but the album fell a bit flat for me.

https://i.imgur.com/GUAFqch.png
#69: Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa - 177 points - 6 votes
Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa

Lucifer on the Sofa is a once-in-a-lifetime album, that succeeds in resuscitating moribund aesthetics in the best possible way.

Ten albums and nearly three decades in, Spoon still sound fresh, with swing and swagger – and there isn’t a dull moment.

nice

https://i.imgur.com/QdAmZEa.png
#68: Angel Olsen - Big Time - 183 points - 6 votes
Angel Olsen

The album as a whole is a strong argument for Olsen being her generation’s finest songwriter; perhaps now, the rest of the world will recognise that, too.

A record that’s testament to going through hell and coming out the other side, and one that confirms its author as one of the foremost singer-songwriters of her generation.

These linked reviews are rather hyperbolic lol

Nice! This album impressed the heck out of me.

I've tried several times with Olsen.

She'll have a very nice best of record one day

Very ILM-y choices, these last two.

https://i.imgur.com/PBMX2he.png
#67: Florist - Florist - 189 points - 7 votes
thread of Florist

Recorded in a rented house in the Hudson Valley, and weaving together found sounds with spontaneous music-making, the quartet’s self-titled album is as much an audio documentary as it is a folk album.

On the next quiet summer evening you can find, spend an hour within the album. You may find that everything else just feels a million miles away.

don't know this one at all, sounds intriguing

Thought Florist would be higher! Great album, mostly for the feeling and instrumentals. I almost never remember the songs but, like, in a good way. I always want to play it again immediately.

Adore this album. A serene listen.

liked the previous one and emily sprague's solo stuff, haven't heard this though. to bandcamp!

https://florist.bandcamp.com/album/florist

ooh Friday is a bandcamp Friday

https://i.imgur.com/z0RYKjt.png
#66: Little Simz - NO THANK YOU - 190 points - 6 votes
Thread of Little Simz

The brilliance of No Thank You is how Simz uses her brazenly unapologetic narrative to spin out larger points about institutional and generational racism, the danger of business practices indifferent to their human impact, and links all of that to contemporary mental health crises.

The Mercury winner’s surprise-release album finds her going in on mental health and the music industry, in a deep collaboration with Sault’s Inflo.

I didn't think Spoon would make it this year, glad it placed.

Love the Florist album (and as NickB says, Sprague's solo stuff is superb).

Mostly blanks for me elsewhere. Lots of stuff to catch up on.

Which Sprague solo album would people recommend? I like the Florist so far—it's very pretty but maybe a touch twee for my tastes—but I'm curious about the ambient stuff as I like the overall sound world a lot

For Sprague, I'd go with *Hill, Flower, Fog* or *Water Memory*. Both lovely.

liking the florist album

https://i.imgur.com/ydT9bXr.png
#65: Kabza De Small - KOA II Part 1 - 196 points - 5 votes - 1 #1 Vote
drowning in a blissful ocean of log drums and keys: 🎹🎹 amapiano a-z 🎹🎹 an ilm poll
🎹🎹PİANO! PİANO!🎹🎹 - a song appreciation thread for “eMcimbini” by Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa ft. Aymos, Samthing Soweto, Mas Musiq & Myztro

For an 18-track album that spans over two hours, there is no boring moment on the project. Every spin feels like a swanky walk up Mount Olympus. Being the seasoned DJ that he is, he ramps up the tempo and ambience as the project progresses, it slowly morphs from the supple soulful sound that flagged it off to a gritty ominous sound that leans into Gqom and Tech Piano. Towards the last lap of the project, Kabza breaks down all barricades and leans into a concoction of experimental sounds.