2022 Best of Lists
It's already past the point where we created the equivalent thread last year. Share here the things you liked best this year and the lists you find of what other folk liked best (so that we can try to avoid panic-editing our own mental lists with things we missed).
I am actually curious to see how this goes this year, because within the
little bubble of my own tastes, I feel as if this was a bit of a fallow
year. Quite a few folk I follow released their major
emerging-from-lockdown statement album last year and were relatively
quiet/back on the road this year. Of course there were things I liked,
but when I started working on my own list I found there was less that
immediately leapt out to me as having been important or a standout
release this year. I am curious to what degree that reflects just my own
state of mind (back to a full face-to-face university workload with
some of the online things added during the pandemic not subtracted). I
started listening toward compiling my own list early, and found that I
was working through dozens and dozens of albums that were perfectly ...
OK. Is it just me? Probably. I am curious what others found this year
that excited them.
Comments
Quietus Albums Of The Year 2022
(waaaaaay too many things...) for the Random Radio shows of
December 28 and January 4.
http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?ssubgenres=&salbumtypes=1&syears=2022&scountries=&sminratings=0&smaxratings=0&sminavgratings=0&smaxresults=100&x=61&y=7#list
https://whitelabrecs.com/2022/12/20/favourite-records-of-2022/
It’s a new year and it seems like time to post my own annual end of year list. I worked through various other lists and found things I enjoyed but nothing to displace what I had settled on except for the late addition of the Horse Lords album below. Like last year, I’ve proceeded alphabetically instead of ranking. These are the albums I liked best and most wanted to return to this year, out of an estimated 125-150 2023 album releases that I listened to all the way through. I have aimed to steer away from "I kind of admire this" and towards "I keep wanting to play this again." The links go to streams where I could find them.
A
Alister Fawnwoda, Suzanne Ciani, Greg Leisz – Milan (Deluxe) (ambient) Flowing, meditative soundscapes built around lap steel gestures and drifting synths. (Technically a 2021 release, but the Deluxe version came out in 2022 and was how I found it.) Link.
Andrew Tasselmyer and Blurstem - Duets(ambient) Gentle piano meditations embedded in droney textures. Link.
B
Big Big Train – Welcome to the Planet (progressive rock) BBT are often a little too close to the folky end of prog for my sweet spot, but this one had nice variety and stuck with me. Link
C
Caterina Barbieri – Spirit Exit (electronic) Eccentrically spiraling synth patterns and vocal textures that manage to be both propulsive and mysterious. Link
D
D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings - Troika (pop) Delicious vocal harmonies with catchy melodies – mostly the mellow side of Morse, in the style of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. (This year’s Morsefest release was excellent too) Link.
Dynastor – Default Mode Network (ambient) I listened to a lot of albums in this vein this year – this one caught my ear as I was compiling the list. Long-form ambient/drone, spacey. Link.
F
Bill Frisell – Four (jazz) Reflective, melodic quartet renditions of a good selection of Frisell compositions. Link
G
Grace Davidson – Sacred Chants (classical) Unaccompanied performances of chants by Hildegard of Bingen graced by Davidson’s astonishingly pure voice. Link
Grotta Veterano – Form (ambient) As noted above, I had a hard time choosing between a large number of ambient releases – I discovered Grotta Veterano this year, and the lyricism of this album pushed it ahead by a nose. Link.
H
Horse Lords – Comradely Objects (rock?) A mathy assemblage drawing from both krautrock and free jazz, inviting the brain to become absorbed in tracking minute deviations from interlocking rhythms. Link
J
John Also Bennett – Out There in the Middle of Nowhere (ambient) Lonesome lap steel notes, sometimes digitally processed, cry into the night. Austere meditations occasionally joined by footsteps and the sounds of desert creatures. Link.
K
Kham Meslien - Fantômes... Futurs (jazz) Warm-textured and tuneful solo double bass performances with a little spoken word poetry. The most evocative cover art of the year. Link.
King’s X – Three Sides of One (Rock) King’s X return fourteen years after their last album with their best release in a long time, by turns heavy and harmonious. Link.
L
Loscil – The Sails (electronic/ambient) This double album was to my ear another return to form – these compositions to accompany dance performances throb and sway with gentle insistence, built on the classic loscil blend of texture and rhythm. His best in some time. Part 1 Link. Part 2 Link.
N
Nils Frahm – Music for Animals (ambient) Three hours of long and leisurely ambient drones and burbles with the deft Frahm touch. Balm for patient ears. Link
P
Pjusk – Salt og Vind (ambient) Now reduced from a duo to solo status, Pjusk nevertheless delivered another very satisfying serving of icily atmospheric soundscapes. Link
T
Taylor Deupree - Harbor (ambient) One of the most consistent inclusions on my end of year lists, Deupree released several good albums this year. Harbor was for the me the most striking, centered, as always, on stillness but experimenting in a range of directions. Link
Tomotsugu Nakamura – Nothing Left Behind (electronic)Following in the same vein as his excellent Monologue and Literature, this release offers another round of gently fractured stutterings of processed guitar. Link
Y
Yosuke Kakegawa - Remnant (ambient) Perhaps my favorite album of 2022, wonderfully detailed collections of small sounds with a whimsical musicality that rises above average ambient fare. Link
Z
36 & Zakè - Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance Space Travel II (ambient) This sequel set new standards for an ambient album release, with a live stream accompanied by a movie-length video montage. It picks up exactly where the first episode left off, packed with rich, warm drones. Link