2022 AOTY So Far

Spent some time today perusing a handful of recently published "Albums of the Year So Far" lists: Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Spin, Stereogum, The Guardian, Exclaim, and Vulture. Merged with an existing list I had of Pitchfork 8.0+ and Metacritic 85+ scored albums and came up with the following. Thought others might be interested in seeing and discussing the critical consensus, as well as discovering some of the more obscure selections.

Artist - Title (Appearance Count)
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (9)
The Weeknd - Dawn FM (9)
Rosalia - Motomami (8)
Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems (8)
The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention (8)
Earl Sweatshirt - Sick! (7)
Wet Leg - Wet Leg (7)
Angel Olsen - Big Time (6)
Cate Le Bon - Pompeii (6)
Charli XCX - Crash (6)
Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The BIg Steppers (6)
Pusha T - It's Almost Dry (6)
Vince Staples - Ramona Park Broke My Heart (6)
Bad Bunny - Un Verano Sin Ti (5)
Black Country, New Road - Ants from Up There (5)
Destroyer - Labrynthitis (5)
FKA Twigs - Caprisongs (5)
Jenny Hval - Classic Objects (5)
Nilüfer Yanya - Painless (5)
Aldous Harding - Warm Chris (4)
Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future (4)
Koffee - Gifted (4)
Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa (4)
Animal Collective - Time Skiffs (3)
Axel Boman - LUZ / Quest for Fire (3)
Beach House - Once Twice Melody (3)
Billy Woods - Aethiopes (3)
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer (3)
Father John Misty - Chloë and the Next 20th Century (3)
Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia (3)
Huerco S. - Plonk (3)
Mitski - Laurel Hell (3)
MJ Lenderman - Boat Songs (3)
Oso Oso - Sore Thumb (3)
Saba - Few Good Things (3)
Sharon Van Etten - We've Been Going About This All Wrong (3)
Tomberlin - i don't know who needs to hear this… (3)
Toro y Moi - Mahal (3)
Yeule - Glitch Princess (3)
Alabaster DePlume - Gold - Go Forward in the Courage of Your Love (2)
Arcade Fire - WE (2)
Camp Cope - Running with the Hurricane (2)
Cave In - Heavy Pendulum (2)
Drug Church - Hygiene (2)
Empath - Visitor (2)
Girlpool - Forgiveness (2)
Harry Styles - Harry's House (2)
Horsegirl - Versions of Modern Performance (2)
Hurray for the Riff Raff - Life On Earth (2)
Kevin Morby - This Is a Photograph (2)
Kurt Vile - (Watch My Moves) (2)
Leikeli47 - Shape Up (2)
Let's Eat Grandma - Two Ribbons (2)
Maria BC - Hyaline (2)
Miranda Lambert - Palomino (2)
Ravyn Lenae - HYPNOS (2)
Redveil - Learn 2 Swim (2)
SAULT - Air (2)
Silvana Estrada - Marchita (2)
Stromae - Multitude (2)
Undeath - It's Time...To Rise From the Grave (2)
Yard Act - The Overload (2)

Daniel Rossen - You Belong There
MJ Lenderman - Boat Songs

one of these i think. or maybe big thief. i haven't heard a lot of that list though, mostly been in the mood for this indie folk/country stuff this year

glad that some places highlighted the excellent silvana estrada album

Kendrick so far. Nothing has really hit me hard yet this year aside from that and maybe some interesting instrumental records (Croatian Amor - Rainbow Bridge and Black Flower - Magma)

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul and Cate Le Bon are ones I keep coming back to, though I'm starting to wonder if the former has slid from delightfully cheeky to sorta annoying.

One not on the list is P.E.'s 'The Leather Lemon,' which I enjoy a great deal.

Revisited the Big Thief album last weekend (after a long break), and it sounded better than ever. Pretty hard to imagine anything topping that for me this year.

MJ Lenderman for me.

I would add Rema and Carla Morrison to the list and wonder about the sources later

Rema for me.

Rema, absolutely: REMA : days of Rave & Roses (& of course Bangers)

I also love Fameye's Songs of Peter album.

The brand-new Kabza De Small album, KOA II, Part 1, is a likely candidate too.

The Shearwater album is AOTY so far for me, and tbh I can't see anything else topping it in the next six months.

have heard a fair few of these but Topical Dancer is the only one I really love at the moment. Ravyn Lenae record is pretty nice too, still digesting it.

Not on the list: Utada Hikaru - Bad Mode

My AsOTYSF (everything rated 8/10 or above, yes ratings suck but you gotta have your methods), bold not listed by (more than one of) teh zinez:

VR SEX - Rough Dimension
Half Man Half Biscuit - The Voltarol Years
Patricia Taxxon - Visiting Narcissa
Craig Fortnam - Instrumental Music 1
Fievel Is Glauque - Aerodynes
Holy Scum - Strange Desires
Ada Rook - UGLY DEATH NO REDEMPTION ANGEL CURSE I LOVE YOU
Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory
Radioactive Boss Baby - Radioactive Boss Baby
MWWB - The Harvest
Elucid - I Told Bessie
Black Dresses - Forget Your Own Face

Currently listening to the new SB The Moor (In Babylon!) that came out today and it has a very good chance of joining this list, and Stabscotch - PRISON JAR comes out next week, honestly a near-guaranteed masterpiece.

And I'm just one person with one taste. There is SO much music coming out, most of the most interesting of which will never trouble lists such as these, because it just doesn't fit with the milquetoast lifestyle branding the publications peddle. If like to hope that ilxors know better - that they're constantly discovering new, exciting music that lies at least partly without the monstrous reductions of the canon-formers (nothing against liking the albums listed above, even if most of them play it safe to a degree). So c'mon, this is all a bit reticent so far. Not calling you all boring or unimaginative - I wouldn't dream of it! - but light, bushel, etc

P.S. I guess one problem is that a list of largely unfamiliar names is no real enticement. So...

unbelievably kinetic hardgoth synthpunk Real England: an elegy your favourite hypermelodic pop producer achieves Autechre chamber-folk legend records album of instrumentals, typically heartbreaking melodies the Fievel is Glauque album has been taken offline but will return, it's so gorgeous insane noise-rock given the full psych remix treatment by one of the dudes from Dälek, best Gnod-related project yet triumph in industrial deathpop overwhelming Bradcore radioactive boss baby sci-fi melodoom deluxe wildly inventive art-hop triumph in industrial deathpop (but there's 2 of theml wildly inventive rap/pop/cybertrash uncategorisable fever-dream the experimental rock magicians' eternal jamboree

Pusha T for me.

It's between these 3 for me

Real Lies- Lad Ash
Cloakroom - Dissolution Wave
Mr Fingers - Around The Sun pt.1

Tell us more!

good shout on cloakroom, amazing album

i’ll mention these rap albums, off the top of my head

realyungphil - dr. philvinci
quelle chris - deathfame
central cee - 23
los - kareem from new orleans
mercury - tabula rasa
lil bean - forever grateful
defcee & boathouse - for all debts public and private
daboii - can’t tame us
tony shhnow - reflexions
nocap - mr. crawford

The correct answer is of course Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, Real Lies and Confidence Man

I’d probably go with cloakroom too. I love that album. I’d also put a vote in for della zyr - truly lovely calming dream pop.

i need to hear that elucid album!

Mary Halvorson - Amaryllis

Charlotte Adigery + Bolis Pupul
Rosalía
Jack J
Axel Boman
Omar S

Pretty certain I’ll love the Nailah Hunter, CRJ and Caroline Polachek whenever they come out.

I need to listen to Real Lies and Confidence Man

xp I thought you only liked a handful of the Rosalía tracks (like myself)!

Both great Moka xp

Real Lies an evocative and melancholic paean to London and clubbing in the past whilst Confidence Man is brash, dumb, OTT pop put through a 90s house wringer that's enormous fun.

another shout for Rema i think

Very much agree on the Cloakroom album.

Others:

Negative Plane – The Pact…
Vórtize – ¡Tienes Que Luchar!
Satan – Earth Infernal
Ghost – Impera
Moon Tooth – Phototroph
Voivod – Synchro Anarchy

Just Mustard

Big Thief remains at the top of my list. A handful of other great albums (Pusha T, Erin Rae, Dehd, Kendrick) but I have hopes some more will come along to place higher on my list.

Big Thief also my #1, without question. Been some time since I played a new album as frequently for this long after release.

Maybe it was obvious but the 62 albums listed above were the ones that showed up on more than 1 of the lists/sources I mentioned. Here are the ~100 that only appear on 1 list (with their source following). Haven't heard most of the suggestions in the thread so far and am adding them to my hopelessly long to-do list.

700 Bliss - Nothing to Declare (P4k 8+)
Amber Mark - Three Dimensions Deep (P4k 8+)
Anitta - Versions of Me (RS BSF)
Anxious - Little Green House (SG BSF)
Asa - V (RS BSF)
Astrid Sonne - Ephemeral Camera Feed (P4k BSF)
Avril Lavigne - Love Sux (RS BSF)
Bad Boy Chiller Crew - Disrespectful (P4k 8+)
Becky G - Esquemas (RS BSF)
Binker & Moses - Feeding the Machine (Metacritic 85+)
Black Star - No Fear of Time (RS BSF)
Bladee / Ecco2k - Crest (P4k 8+)
Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero (Vulture BSF)
Bob Vylan - Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life (Metacritic 85+)
BTS - Proof (RS BSF)
Camila Cabello - Familia (RS BSF)
Caracara - New Preoccupations (Spin BSF)
Caroline - Caroline (P4k 8+)
Cécile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song (Guardian BSF)
CMAT - If My Wife New I'd Be Dead (Metacritic 85+)
Coi Leray - Trendsetter (RS BSF)
Conway the Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes (SG BSF)
Craig Finn - A Legacy of Rentals (P4k 8+)
Daddy Yankee - Legendaddy (RS BSF)
Duster - Together (SG BSF)
Earth Gang - Ghetto Gods (RS BSF)
Eddie Vedder - Earthling (RS BSF)
Eliane Radigue/Frederic Blondy - Occam XXV (P4k 8+)
Ella Mai - Heart on My Sleeve (RS BSF)
Eric Chenaux - Say Laura (Guardian BSF)
Fana Hues - Flora + Fana (Guardian BSF)
Finally, New - They Hate Change (P4k 8+)
Fivio Foreign - B.I.B.L.E. (RS BSF)
Florence and the Machine - Dance Fever (RS BSF)
Fransisca Valenzuela - Vida Tan Bonita (RS BSF)
Fred Moten / Brandon Lopez / Gerald Cleaver - Moten/Lopez/Cleaver (P4k 8+)
Future - I Never Liked You (RS BSF)
Gang of Youths - angel in realtime. (SG BSF)
Grace Ives - Janky Star (P4k 8+)
Guerilla Toss - Famously Alive (SG BSF)
Haru Nemuri - Hunka Ryougen (P4k 8+)
Hook - From, Hook (P4k BSF)
Horace Andy - Midnight Rocker (Guardian BSF)
Ibibo Sound Machine - Electricity (Metacritic 85+)
Jeshi - Universal Credit (Guardian BSF)
Joe Rainey - Niineta (P4k 8+)
Joel Ross - The Parable of the Poet (Guardian BSF)
Joshua Hedley - Neon Blue (P4k BSF)
Junglepussy - JP5000 (P4k BSF)
Just Mustard - Heart Under (Metacritic 85+)
Kathryn Joseph - his World Is Going to Ruin You (Metacritic 85+)
Kiren - Yasuaki Shimizu (P4k 8+)
Latto - 777 (RS BSF)
Les Louanges - Crash (Exclaim BSF)
Levon Vincent - Silent Cities (P4k 8+)
Leyla McCalla - Breaking the Thermometer (Guardian BSF)
Lil Durk - 7220 (RS BSF)
Los Bitchos - Let the Festivities Begin! (RS BSF)
Lucky Daye - Candydrip (Spin BSF)
Luna Li - Duality (Exclaim BSF)
Maren Morris - Humble Quest (P4k 8+)
Marina Herlop - Pripyat (P4k 8+)
Mary J Blige - Good Morning Gorgeous (RS BSF)
Mattie - Jupiter's Purse (P4k 8+)
Melt Yourself Down - Pray for Me, I Don’t Fit In (Guardian BSF)
Messa - Close (Spin BSF)
Molly Nilsson - Extreme (Guardian BSF)
Obongjayar - Some Nights I Dream of Doors (Vulture BSF)
Omar Apollo - Ivory (RS BSF)
OMBIIGIZI - Sewn Back Together (Exclaim BSF)
Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin - Ghosted (P4k 8+)
Perfume Genius - Ugly Season (P4k 8+)
Phife Dawg - Forever (RS BSF)
Pierre Kwenders - José Louis and the Paradox of Love (Exclaim BSF)
Praise - All in a Dream (SG BSF)
PUP - THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND (Exclaim BSF)
Quelle Chris - Deathfame (Vulture BSF)
Raveena - Asha’s Awakening (RS BSF)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love (RS BSF)
Richard Inman - Come Back Through (Exclaim BSF)
Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Endless Rooms (SG BSF)
Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory (SG BSF)
SASAMI - Squeeze (SG BSF)
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks (P4k 8+)
Shamir - Heterosexaulity (RS BSF)
Shawny Binladen - Wick City (P4k BSF)
Silverbacks - Archive Material (SG BSF)
Sister Ray - Communion (Exclaim BSF)
Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever (SG BSF)
Sonic Youth - In/Out/In (P4k 8+)
Sophie Birch - Holotropica (P4k 8+)
Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful (SG BSF)
St Paul & the Broken Bones - The Alien Coast (Guardian BSF)
Syd - Broken Hearts Club (RS BSF)
Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder - Get on Board (RS BSF)
Tess Roby - Ideas of Space (Exclaim BSF)
The Black Keys - Dropout Boogie (RS BSF)
The Linda Lindas - Growing Up (P4k 8+)
The Weather Station - How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars (P4k 8+)
Two Shell - Home EP (P4k BSF)
Trueno - Bien O Mal (RS BSF)
Various Artists - Summer of Soul, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (RS BSF)
Véhémence - Ordalies (Spin BSF)
Vein.fm - This World Is Going to Ruin You (Vulture BSF)
VNTAGEPARADISE - Parable of the Sensei (P4k BSF)
Warpaint - Radiate Like This (SG BSF)
Wilco - Cruel Country (RS BSF)
William Basinski/Janek Schaefer - ...On Reflection (P4k 8+)
Yumi Zouma - Present Tense (SG BSF)
Yung Kayo - DFTK (P4k 8+)

Cloakroom, Loop, or PLOSIVS

Daddy Yankee - Legendaddy (RS BSF)

xp I thought you only liked a handful of the Rosalía tracks (like myself)!

― Bunheads Pilot Enthusiast (morrisp)

I did! It has grown on me.

think i’m the only one who thinks the sharon van etten is her best work yet but that’s at the top of my list

real lies is my other fave. after that: rema, tears for fears, angel olsen, mr fingers

i know i’ll love the rosalía but i still haven’t had the chance to listen

been listening to almost no new music this year so i could be out of touch but i’m a little less cumulatively blown away by music this year than in previous, even though it seems like vinyl manufacturing and promotional tours are finally aligning in such a way that all of my favorite artists are putting out music again. i guess it’ll be a stacked fall

AOTY is going to be the new Soccer Mommy, based on the singles

Real Lies, out of the small handful I've heard. Extraordinary album

xp was only on one list because it's not out til next week but expect it to do well at year end

the big thief album is often awesome but it’s no capacity, that’s my story

The new Mr Fingers is pretty much what youd expect from a Mr Fingers album made in '22 but I dunno its all I want to listen to

probably voivod

Moon Tooth – Phototroph

Also one of the albums I've been listening to most tbh

For me so far it's either Nduduzo Makhathini's In the Spirit of Ntu or the posthumous Eric Wagner album, In the Lonely Light of Mourning. Runners-up: Maule, s/t; Loop, Sonancy.

Ibibio Sound Machine could be up there for me

I think the destroyer album is the one I've listened to most so far. Still waiting for an album to truly amaze me though. I've been mostly going on some deep dives on much older stuff in the last couple of months though.

Real Lies,
Modern Nature,
Mr Fingers,
Duncan Marquiss,
Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice,
Ethel Cain.

Also one of the albums I've been listening to most tbh

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Friday, June 17, 2022 1:26 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Did you notice they're playing here in Sept?

would be shocked if anything beats out Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

Top 20 so far

1. Maya Shenfeld - In Free Fall (Thrill Jockey)
2. Kevin Drumm - Future When It Comes (Self-Released)
3. Sheng Jie & Shen Jing - Parallel Weaving (WV Sorcerer)
4. Tanya Tagaq - Tongues (Six Shooter)
5. Éliane Radigue & Frédéric Blondy - Occam XXV (Organ Reframed)
6. Elías Merino & Daniel del Río - Structures for Wave Field Synthesis (Superpang)
7. Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Kaiser & Alex Varty - Pacifica Koral Reef (577)
8. Laura Cocks - Field Anatomies (Carrier)
9. Flower-Corsano Duo - Halcyon (VHF)
10. Bondi D'Incise/Blutwurst Ensemble - Zgodność (Insub)
11. Jóhann Jóhannsson - Drone Mass (Deutsche Grammophon)
12. Gábor Lázár - Boundary Object (Planet Mu)
13. Phelimuncasi - Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
14. Fulu Mziki - Ngbaka EP (Moshi Moshi)
15. Keiji Haino - My Lord Music, I Most Humbly Beg Your Indulgence In The Hope That You Will Do Me The Honour Of Permitting This Seed Called Keiji Haino To Be Planted Within You (Black Editions)
16. Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi & Joe Talia - Patrick (Self-Released)
17. Infernal Mosquitos - Antigua (Superpang)
18. Imarhan - Aboogi (City Slang)
19. Patrick Shiroshi & Jeff Tobias - Patrick Shiroshi & Jeff Tobias (Topos Press)
20. Biosphere - Shortwave Memories (Biophon)

I don't think I've heard any of that shit upthread but Huerco S. and Sault.

13. Phelimuncasi - Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege Tapes)

Oooh, new Biosphere.

I dig some of the OP albums but Cloakroom is the one I come back to the most.

my 2022 aoty is probably _dots and loops_ by stereolab

Did you notice they're playing here in Sept?

No!

Something I didn’t mention - because it isn’t out yet - is the Prekop/McEntire LP.

Real Lies by an absolute mile. Also really like Hatchie, Melody's Echo Chamber, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, Foxes, Raveena, Charli XCX, Destroyer and Nilüfer Yanya.

Listening to the whole Phelimuncasi catalog right now — they're amazing.

Emily Wells' Regards to the End is worth spending time with.

while we’re doing Nyege Nyege Tapes, DJ Travella’s Mr Mixondo album is quite something too. (Tanzanian) singeli this time, not (South African) gqom.

To my amazement, there’s an actual, quite extensive Pitchfork review:
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/dj-travella-mr-mixondo/
(context: I remember reading something about the Phelimuncasi album, but that “review” didn’t mention anything about the kind of music it involved)

did anyone mention finally, new by they hate change? so good

ooh this Emily Wells album is extremely my shit

I love the Taj Mahal/Ry Cooder album.

Real Lies - Lad Ash
Vitesse X - Us Ephemeral

^ this is a very bad description but the second one of those is vapourwave-adjacent dreampop meets 90s ravey stuff

Amber Mark - Three Dimensions Deep (P4k 8+)
Anitta - Versions of Me (RS BSF)
Anxious - Little Green House (SG BSF)

I assume P4k and RS is Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, but what is SG and BSF?

I think SG is Stereogum, and BSF means that the site included it in their “Best (of 2022) So Far” feature

ten I love: Mitski, Rosalia, Let's Eat Grandma, Nilufer Yanya, Adigery/Pupul, Girlpool, Billy Woods, Etran de L'Air, Tears for Fears, Amber Mark. and the 1/3 of Lad Ash I've heard, of course. also didn't get to Jazmine Sullivan or Tinashe last year so I've sorta been pretending the deluxe versions are all new.

New lists from NPR:

ALBUMS: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/28/1107438039/npr-music-favorite-albums-of-2022-so-far

TRACKS: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/27/1107322225/npr-musics-36-favorite-songs-of-2022-so-far

Factoring in NPR's list, here's how the top of my previous list changes:

Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (10)
The Weeknd - Dawn FM (9)
Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems (9)
Rosalia - Motomami (8)
The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention (8)
Earl Sweatshirt - Sick! (7)
Wet Leg - Wet Leg (7)
Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The Big Steppers (7)

Here are the albums that are only on NPR's list:

Dan Romer - Station Eleven Soundtrack
Girl Ultra - El Sur
Guitarricadelafuente - La Cantera
Harvey Sutherland - Boy
Immanuel Wilkins - The 7th Hand
Jogging House - Weight
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Drone Mass
Kojey Radical - Reason to Smile
MUNA - MUNA
Peter Cocooma - A Place to Begin
Samm Henshaw - Untidy Soul
Saya Gray - 19 Masters
Shortie No Mass - here goes nothing.
Straw Man Army - SOS
Swsh - Goodboy
X Alfonso - Ancestros Sinfónico
Yeat - 2 Alive

a lot of these don't seem like AOTY material (DawnFM? Seriously) But maybe people don't really make those anymore. I figure Kendrick will top a bunch of lists and people will complain about it.

Dawn FM is pretty good! Lopatin worked some magic. Easily the most compelling stuff I've heard from The Weeknd since the initial EP mixtapes. Agreed it won't be many people's AOTY but there are always near-universally "liked" albums that bubble to the top in group voting exercises.

i checked, it's still Rema

Straw Man Army rules! Good job, NPR.

AOTY is going to be the new Soccer Mommy, based on the singles

― boxedjoy, Friday, 17 June 2022 16:03 (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was so right about this

you were!!!

wifigawd - chain of command

The 50 best albums I've heard so far this year.

Maybe it's not AOTY level, but I want to take a moment to rep for Flasher - Love is Yours which is, at the very least, a better post-punk-pop record than Wet Leg's debut (and I *like* Wet Leg). Their last one, Constant Image was my most-played album of 2018. This band is perennially under-praised, IMO.

That's a good list unperson, a few more I need to check out now and glad to see some love for that Ecstatic Vision record. I've been a big fan of them and I think the new one is one of their best.

The ILM outlier at the top of this list appears to be Soul Glo. The last post I found on the band was from 2019.

Soul Glo’s rise to hardcore heroism would be greater cause for celebration if it weren’t such a damning indictment of American society. Since forming in 2014, the Philly quartet has garnered modest acclaim for airing their righteous grievances against being both tokenized and ostracized as a Black punk band, all while sparing no detail on hypocrisy within their own community, our broken health care system, generational trauma, and the false promises of higher education and upward mobility. By the time Americans en masse were starting to admit that things were as fucked up as Soul Glo had been saying, they’d put out their first widely distributed release, Songs to Yeet at the Sun, in November 2020. The message hadn’t changed, but more people were actually willing to listen. Nearly two years later, none of Soul Glo’s calls for political action have been answered in a meaningful way. “It’s been ‘fuck right wing’ off the rip/But still liberals are more dangerous,” Pierce Jordan snarls midway through Soul Glo’s staggering new album, Diaspora Problems, a ticking time bomb hurled by a band tired of waiting on solutions and taking power into its own hands. - Ian Cohen @p4k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4vNQ3vEy24

The brand-new Kabza De Small album, KOA II, Part 1, is a likely candidate too.

― butt-mooning is a polysemous word, hoss! (breastcrawl), vrijdag 17 juni 2022 10:18

no kidding

Wormrot are an amazing grindcore band from Singapore; Hiss, which came out on Friday, is their first album in six years, and it's definitely going to be on my year-end list. This video is for three tracks from the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVk_C_wp1j0

Sick video.

if you're excited by the prospect of Ron Trent making a gorgeous balearic album then you're in luck with his latest

Enjoying the Mr Fingers album, tis the season

try that Kabza De Small album next, you might like it

Cheers

I just don't keep up any more but I was dipping into Amapiano stuff last year and I'm very up for it

cool - the chances of you liking it have gone up significantly!

listening now - sold

not just sold, this is fire

Surprised not to see Nicola Cruz - self oscillation anywhere in this thread. Top ten for me for sure

ok that sounds great too

not just sold, this is fire

More vocals than I expected and it really works, whole lush vibe to it

The 5 best things I listened to in the past month:

01 Gavilán Rayna Russom - Trans Feminist Symphonic Music
02 Kali Malone - Living Torch
03 E L U C I D - I Told Bessie
04 yoo doo right - A Murmur, Boundless to the East
05 Extra Life - Secular Works, Vol. 2

damn didn’t realize there was a new yoo doo right album!

Ooh, given I love two of those, will make sense to check out the other three

I love the Taj Mahal/Ry Cooder album.
enjoyed the singles will check out

Real Lies and Big Thief made great albums but I mostly listen to selected tracks from them

enjoyed the Kurt Vile album but stopped listening to it after a while

other faves
Fresh Pepper - s/t
Charles Lloyd, Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan - Trios: Chapel
Joan Shelley - The Spur

Really surprised to see so much critical love for Dawn FM. I've listened a couple of times and found it bland and sterile. Even OPN's input can't save The Weeknd from himself. And I'm a huge OPN stan.

Real Lies I also found very monochrome tbh.

I've been giving Big Thief and Cloakroom a go based on this thread. Both are really growing on me. I need to give the new Sharon Van Etten a proper spin too.

My picks so far:
Soccer Mommy
Horsegirl
Emily Wells
Charli XCX (not her best but still a banger)
Wet Leg

Oh shit and the new Beyonce of course. Can't see that not topping a shitload of year-end lists.

Holy shit this Yeule album is good. Missed it when it first came out. Can't stop listening now. Really surprised there's not more hype around this one.

Big Thief, Real Lies and this new Chat Pile album are going to be hard to top

here are some of my faves so far

https://stabscotch.bandcamp.com/album/prison-jar
https://vrsex.bandcamp.com/album/rough-dimension
https://extralife.bandcamp.com/album/secular-works-vol-2
https://craigfortnam.bandcamp.com/album/instrumental-music-1
https://scarcity-nyc.bandcamp.com/album/aveilut

see also: imperial triumphant, patricia taxxon (for 'visiting narcissa'), half man half biscuit, of montreal, sb the moor, fievel is glauque, elucid, holy scum, baby zionov, adigery/pupul etc etc

pleasantly surprised by horsegirl, lots of promise here, we needed a new swirlies tbh

do fievel is glaque have a new album out?

i meant the aerodynes ep, which is incredible but has been temporarily removed from streaming due to 'exciting developments'

https://thenativemag.com/best-african-projects-2022-so-far/

have only heard about half of these, so there’s some exploring to do, but they’ve got my number one and two *almost* right

Dunno if this will even end up in play for my EOY favorites, but right now I'm really loving it. Did a search and she's been mentioned in our jazz threads for several years, but this is the first time I've ever noticed Cécile McLorin Salvant. What a good fuckin record!

https://cecilemclorinsalvant.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-song

Just heard the new Lucius today. Not sure whether it's AOY material, but I really dig it. I love their aesthetic.

Posted this in the indie thread but fans of the Big Thief should also check out the new Florist s/t. More intimate and so maybe reminds me more of The Glow, Pt II but will appeal to the same crowd, I think.

Yeah, loving the new Florist album

saw them play last night and it was really great. Emily is very charming on stage! the whole band ended up at the bar my friend and i went to afterwards and it was fun to sneak looks of them just having a grand ol' time together

A few current picks in absolutely no order:

Megan - Traumazine
Beyonce - Renaissance
Mr Mitch - WORK!
Soccer96 - Inner Worlds
Kylie Minogue - Infinite Disco
Real Lies - Lad Ash
Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer
Somi - Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba
Koffee - Gifted
Syd - Broken Hearts Club
Sault - Air
Immanuel Wilkins - The 7th Hand
Nduduzo Makhathini - In the Spirit of Ntu
Germán López - Alma
Miranda Lambert - Palomino
Burna Boy - Love, Damini
Viagra Boys - Cave World
PUBLIQuartet - What is American
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers
Mu-Ziq - Magic Pony Ride
Cecile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song
Julius Rodriguez - Let Sound Tell All
Sam Gendel - Superstore
Hollie Cook - Happy Hour

Nice forks. Is the Hollie Cook any kind of departure for her? I always like her stuff but it never quite transcends its roots for me

did anyone mention finally, new by they hate change? so good

― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Saturday, June 18, 2022 12:34 PM (two months ago)

listened to half of this earlier and it was kind of amazing? I'm going to resist trying to sum it up until I hear more but it deserves more ILM attention for the production alone (essentially: jungle + Miami bass)

I keep meaning to do a list of albums & tracks but never feel like I'm caught up enough

hollie cook's new one is basically more of the same, but that's good enough for me

This is more like rolling favorites than AOTY and in no particular order, but:

Rema - Rave & Roses
Sofie Birch - Holotropica
Simon Hunt - the hiatus
OKI - Tonkori in the Moonlight (kind of cheating as this is a comp, but it's great: reggae-influenced Ainu folk)
Naima Bock - Giant Palm
Nilüfer Yanya - Painless
Loris S. Sarid - Seabed-Sunbath
Koffee - Gifted
Gwenno - Tresor
Daniel Villareal - Panamá 77
Axel Boman - LUZ/Quest for Fire
The Ano Nobo Quartet - The Strings of São Domingos
Anna Butterss - Activities
Moor Mother - Jazz Codes
Burna Boy - Love, Damini
Sessa - Estrela Acesa

EPs of note:
Skillibeng - Mr Universe
Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice - To Live & Die in Space & Time
Flo - The Lead
BNXN - Bad Since '97

I love these lists because I don't know 95% of these albums. I like waiting until the end of the year and scanning all these personal faves for the albums that pop up on multiple lists, to give me a good point of entry.

I forgot that there was another new giant Sam Gendel album.

I haven't been particularly on it, but here are some favorites so far:

De Grandi x DJ JM - Catherine Tracks EP
Le Dom - Caesura EP
La Roche - Liye Liye (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Church Andrews & Matt Davies - AXIS
Daniel Rossen - You Belong There
Siete Catorce - Cruda
Tony Rolando - Breakin’ is a Memory
Caterina Barbieri - Spirit Exit
DOMi & JD Beck - NOT TiGHT

that sessa album is something special!

Sessa was all new to me, so I have to admit I think I like his previous one more out of the two (the original Os Afros Sambas being one of my all-time favorite albums), but yeah he's doing really cool stuff!

One album I couldn't decide on was the new Kokoroko. Both times I listened, I liked the start, started to find it kind of anodyne in the middle, and then liked it again at the end

i'll check out os afros sambas, thanks rob

Oh man that's classic, though you might only be able to find the inferior re-recording on streaming

thanks for the warning, i will try to hunt the original down

you want the 1966 one: https://www.discogs.com/master/256527-Baden-E-Vinicius-Os-Afro-Sambas

The Aluminum Group - s/t is hovering around my 2022 top spot. Def the most play, next to Marconi Union - Versions.

A few other contenders not mentioned so far -

Caroline Loveglow - Strawberry
Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band - Dear Scott
Momma - Household Name
beabadoobee - Beatopia
Band of Horses - Things are Great

Thought maybe Working Men's Club - Fear Fear would jump on this list, but its highlight "Circumference" >>>> rest of the album

Thought maybe Working Men's Club - Fear Fear would jump on this list, but its highlight "Circumference" >>>> rest of the album

this album hits a lot of my sweet spots, so yeah, it is totally on my list.

700 Bliss

Cut is probably my favourite xxp

Came here to mention the beabadoobee album - definitely a grower

Didn't realise there was a new Band of Horses album (or that it was any good)

I've certainly written off Band Of Horses ever since their first album. Assumed they just settled into this sort of boring mid level touring modern americana-ish rock band thing along with My Morning Jacket and Blitzen Trapper (the most disappointing of all... remember how weird and fun they were when Wild Mountain Nation came out? Alas)

new Band of Horses is quite good, imo ... not as good as their first two (or even three - I like the third, many people don't) but it's good.

Bridwell has more or less said "i let too many cooks in the kitchen on recent records, so for this one i tried to just recreate the early magic."

i think he got close.

though i wouldn't say it's "2022 AOTY So Far"-level good!

best album of the year 2022 so far that was released on 17 December 2021 is Kelvin Momo’s Ivy League. jazzy, soulful, lush, lush!, propulsive amapiano, 21 8-minute-on-average tracks of it, you do the math. fans of Larry Heard and Kabza De Small can start licking their fingers on a corner called jazz.

https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e025760d5c3fa4aac1b32f4b5bd

try “Madlamini”, “Thomas” - for example

Im way behind but heres a quick list from me

1 Melt Yourself Down, Pray for Me, I Don't Fit In
2 Kikagaku Moyo, Kumoyo Island
3 Artifacts & Uranium, Pancosmology
4 AUA, The Damaged Organ
5 They Hate Change - Finally, New
6 Wovenhand, Silver Sash
7 Moor Mother, Jazz Codes
8 Vaqo, The Land of Kartvelians
9 Niechec, Unsubscribe
10 Rosalia, MOTOMAMI
11 Oneida, Success

Haven't heard a single one of those! Will have to get on it...

This MYD is cool! Bruising clever-dumb Britpop swagger thinly disguised as jazz

xp Its cool I dont think Ive listened to anything else here myself :/

(incl yr big ones--Stabscotch/VR SEX/deaths dynamic shroud/WGWGSA)

Lol, those are indeed my big four as it stands

For Real especially bringing that 1997 spy chic kickassery

Or...who knew that Kasabian but with jazz instruments would be so cool

Oumou Sangaré – Timbuktu
Mr. Fingers – Around the Sun pt.
Ari Lennox - Age/Sex/Location
Charlotte Adigéry/Bolis Pupul- Topical Dancer
Amanda Shires - Take It Like a Man

why have I still not listened to Timbuktu?

new additions since my last post:

They Hate Change - Finally, New
Beth Orton - Weather Alive
Makaya McCraven - In These Times
Ari Lennox - Age/Sex/Location
Rachika Nayar - Heaven Come Crashing
Asake - Mr. Money With The Vibe (not really AOTY but promising)

I’d say Asake is very much AOTY material.

perhaps. I meant that parenthetical to be more ambivalent: I thought it was brilliant on first listen, but that impression has faded a little since

myd album was ok i thought but pray for me is 10/10

but I'll give the whole record a relisten, might work better in the autumn

Thanks, Alfred. Wouldn't have checked out the Amanda Shires album otherwise.

A few of my favs that I haven't seen mentioned:

Tomberlin - i don't know who needs to hear this..
Two Shell - Home & Icons EPs
Sudan Archives - NBPQ

Beth Orton def deserves to be in the running.

I'm still hyped about that Yeule album. It may end up being my top pick. It's just everything I love about music in 2022.

I think the MYD might be the best dancepunk album but admittedly Ill be a little disappointed if its still my #1 of the year by Februaryq

several great albums this past week, all of which deserve serious consideration here:

Camron and ATrak - U Wasn't There
Alhaji Waziri Oshomah - Muslim Highlife of...
Vieux Farka Toure and Khruangbin - Ali
Makaya McCraven - In These Times
The Comet Is Coming - Hyper Dimensional Expansion Beam

I listened to that Comet is Coming; its def in my top 10 now for sure

death's dynamic shroud - Darklife is an instant contender.

I'll need a few more listens to fully absorb it (there is a LOT going on) but it's already resonating big time. Maximalist hyperprog feels like an apt descriptor.

Very into Cola (pka Ought)'s 'DeepnIj View' album

omar s and ron trent both need a mention here if no-one said them yet

Very into Cola (pka Ought)'s 'DeepnIj View' album

would hesitate to say that cola is "fka" as ought so much as it's the guitarist/singer and bassist from ought's new band, not a direct continuation. also deep in view is really great

Sorry folks, my stupid phone (and stupid me for never spellchecking posts)

Well... Cola really don't sound too different from Ought, and they formed pretty much as soon as Ought disbanded. They're like a more stripped-down and minimal version of themselves and it works as a trio

I can't get excited about this Cola record. I think Tim Darcy's voice just does nothing for me.

Thanks for the tips on Makaya McCraven and The Comet Is Coming. Both these albums are great, need to give them a few more spins.

The Shygirl album has vaulted into AOTY contention for me. 33 minutes, 12 tracks, mostly bangers.

whoa, this Death's Dynamic Shroud is most definitely *not* normally my thing, but i'm digging it

ILM singularity! ILM singularity!!

I mean, Ms ILM Singularity has an album coming out next month, so hold your horses etc

Obviously gaining my approval is a key constituent of the ILM Singularity

idk if you mean swift or crj

i mean someone who has won ILM AOTY more times than either of those two :p

(you knew this obv)

oh i genuinely forgot that it's both october and that there's a new weyes blood album soon because the single did absolutely nothing for me

underwhelming weyes blood single causes poster to forget month

Have been listening to this Jockstrap album a lot lately. "Concrete Over Water" in particular is really doing it for me.

Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals - King Kobra

Bracing, inventive political raps, like a more musically adventurous Run the Jewels but better

brent faiyaz - wasteland
hikaru utada - bad
civilistjävel - järnätter
tops - empty seats
fireboy dml - playboy
stereolab & nurse with wound - simple headphone mind
big city - liquid times
cash cobain & chow lee - 2 slizzy 2 sexy
genius of time - sunswell
d. tiffany & rosa terenzi - edge of innocence
eiko ishibashi - for mccoy
soccer mommy - sometimes, forever
beth orton - weather alive
dj_2button - transient communications
john carrol kirby - dance ancestral
space ghost - private paradise

Music for Four Guitars by Bill Orcutt is the best new thing I've heard this year

Yeah that is great

Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals - King Kobra

Bracing, inventive political raps, like a more musically adventurous Run the Jewels but better

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, October 12, 2022 6:50 PM

Very much seconded

Yeah thanks, that one rules

god the Bill Orcutt album is excellent

good list from flopson

flopson and ums, you guys might like the album ‘finally new’ by they hate change

is this where we talk about the new shabason & krgovich album?

Cool voodoo I'll check it

Also, The Elephant Man's Bones by Roc Marciano and Alchemist is a new classic for me

Only 2/3 of the new Dawn collaboration has been released but it's been on heavy rotation recently

https://dawnrichard.bandcamp.com/album/pigments

Yeah that Dawn Richard album is already shaping up to be AOTY material. Most exciting 21/10 release imo. But I'll also give Taylor and Carly Rae a spin.

xp love the Shabason & Krgovich. "I am so happy with my little dog" is stuck in my head constantly

Will also be voting the Bill Orcutt album very highly. What a beautiful sounding thing.

Jolly Mare - Epsilon
Front De Cadeaux - We Slowly Riot
Civilistjävel! - Järnnätter
¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U with Friends – Midnight is Comin'
Suso Saiz - Resonant Bodies
Geier aus Stahl – Strapazen und Genesung
Stacks - Love and Language
Volodymyr Gnatenko - Rainalice
Jimmy Smack - Death is Certain
Tapan - Novi Svet
Aldous Harding - Warm Chris
VR Sex - Rough Dimension
Real Lies - Lad Ash
Dazion - Grooveboxxx
Inre Kretsen Grupp - Raoul
ISOR29 - Moon Phase Gardening

black midi - Hellfire
Garcia Peoples - Dodging Dues
Hazy Sour Cherry - Strange World
Imperial Triumphant - Spirit of Ecstasy
Satan - Earth Infernal
The Garden - Horseshit on Route 66
Upchuck - Sense Yourself

Both new Ka albums have hit streaming now

This is incredibly slamming. I mean check out the last track
https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/album/ndjila-wa-mudujimu

otm

otm🕸

Paging new Junior Boys album to thread

i did a rummage and am putting this here for future reference

1. Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer
2. Somi - Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makes
3. Koffee - Gifted
4. Syd - Broken Hearts Club
5. SAULT - Air
6. Immanuel Wilkins - The 7th Hand
7. Germán López - Alma
8. Nduduzo Makhathini - In the Spirit of Nut
9. Viagra Boys - Cave World
10. Hollie Cook - Happy Hour
11. Johnny Gandelsman - Complete Bach Cello Suites for Violin
12. Julius Rodriguez - Let Sound Tell All
13. Burna Boy - Love, Damini
14. Mu-ziq - Magic Pony Ride
15. Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers
16. Miranda Lambert - Palomino
17. Sam Gendel - Superstore (et al)
18. PUBLIQuartet - WHAT IS AMERICAN
19. Cécile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song
20. Orbital - 30 Something
21. Mr Fingers - Around the Sun pt 1
22. Saba - Few Good Things
23. Kylie Minogue - Infinite Disco
24. Soccer96 - Inner Worlds
25. Kadhja Bonet - JGS EP
26. Real Lies - Lad Ash
27. DOMi and JD BECK - NOT TiGHT
28. Amythyst Kiah - Pensive Pop EP
29. Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn - Pigments Movement 1
30. Beyoncé - RENAISSANCE
31. Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine
32. Mr Mitch - WORK!
33. Roomful of Teeth - Catherine Called Birdy OST
34. Vicky Chow - Philip Glass Solo Piano Etudes v1
35. Theo Parrish - DJ Kicks
36. Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
37. Mach Tommy - Duck Czn: Tiger Style
38. Cam’ron - U Wasn’t There
39. Protoje - Third Time’s the Charm
40. Alhaji Waziri Oshomah - World Spirituality Classics 3
41. Vieux Farka Toute and Khruangbin - Ali
42. Makaya McCraven - In These Times
43. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper Dimensional Expansion Beam
44. Terri Lyne Carrington - New Standards v1
45. Jazmin Sullivan - Heaux Tales, Mo Tales Deluxe
46. Julian Lage - View With a Room
47. Alabaster DePlume - GOLD
48. Amanda Shires - Take It Like a Man
49. Nicola Cruz - Self Oscillation EP
50. Samora Pinderhughes - Grief
51. Danish String Quartet - Prism IV
52. Prince and the Revolution: Live, March 30 1985

(if we do a poll this year, i am increasingly thinking lad ash may win best album)

is this where we talk about the new shabason & krgovich album?

Some discussion of their previous album in the sophistipop thread. New one is not AOTY material for me, but I do love "I Am So Happy With My Little Dog", like Bernard

i am increasingly thinking lad ash may win best album

as it should

real lies detected

Six Sault albums to vote for now.

What's the record for most albums in the 77 in a single year?

:(

Real Lies winning would be excellent even if it's not really my bag, but it would be a unique ilm pick in a year with so many huge & obvious contenders in it

doubt all 6 sault albums will make it *famous last word*

Just a suggestion to give the Rachel Podger Bach-cello-suites-on-violin a shot. Gut strings, recorded in a big room, and a superior (in my opinion) performance to the Gandelsman

interesting! Is the -on-violin approach something people have done before with the suites (I am a classical naif)?

follow-up q: did this come out in 2019?

my money's on renaissance tbh

Yeah, would love Real Lies to win but can't see past Renaissance claiming the prize

i will spin that podger album

oh, also the babyface album of duets is real good for the most part

renaissance over big thief? 2022 has been long tbf

I'm not personally aware of too many violin recordings of the Bach cello suites. Podger's was the first I heard, and I think it's divine. Gut strings really seal the deal for me, steel E-strings are just too strident for my taste for this kind of adaptation.

Podger cheats in the 6th suite; she overdubs viola notes for the missing lower C-string stuff. Gandelsman, in contrast, performs the "4-string viola adaptation", but up a fifth (in D-major, i.e. the original key).

Rather than type forever about it, I'd just recommend to also check out Lillian Fuchs's wonderful performance of the cello suites on the viola. Her 6th suite in particular is miraculous; Pablo Casals is said to have remarked that it was, at the time of its recording, the best rendition of it, and superior to his own. Her performance is Romantic in technique but unsentimental, sits nicely next to the Milstein recording of the violin sonatas and partitas imo

thanks for that, fgti!

i think big thief still surely have to be the favourites?

i think their flirtation with radical zionism may have hurt them a bit, i know my read on a lot of their lyrics/vibe went from "hmm, gnomic" to "oh these guys are actually dumb."

alright kanye

I'm not sure scheduling, then canceling amidst the inevitable backlash, a couple of ill-advised shows in Israel (where, incidentally, one of the band members actually lives) is the same as a "flirtation with radical zionism" but go off.

Still leaning towards Cloakroom for my personal album of the year.

I refuse to start making lists until both my current favourite songwriters have dropped albums on the 18th

But I'm constantly discovering a lot of incredible things vying for upper placement in any hypothetical list. It has been a very, very great year - last year was a relative lull imo, probably Covid-relatedly

if I were to summarize my Big Five so far:
Mr. Money, Boy Alone & King Of Amapiano II With The Rave, Roses & Renaissance Vibe, Part 1

My top 4

Battlelore - The Return of the Shadow
Brymir - Voices in the Sky
Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl
Archers of Loaf - Reason in Decline

bc: I'm curious to see if/how you'll work in Love & Ego on friday :)

I'm disconnected from most new music as usual but I really liked:

Animal Collection - Time Skiffs
death's dynamic shroud - Darklife
Junior Boys - Waiting Game
Magma - Kartehl

‘more love, less ego’ would be a perfect description of said Rave, Roses & Renaissance Vibe, methinks

xp

My top 5 AT THE MOMENT, in chronological order of release, definitely subject to change (newest addition to the list is Ariel Zetina):

Big Thief
Nova Twins
Nina Nastasia
Shygirl
Ariel Zetina

Kangding Ray - ULTRACHROMA (my favorite of his by a wide margin)
Sofie Birch - Holotropica
Kuedo - Infinite Window
Brian Eno - FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE

yes that's two all-caps album titles

I keep hearing about how economically unfeasible it is to be a musician these days (which it is), yet there's already too many good albums to keep up with. I don't know what I'd do if the world started caring about the treatment of artists again.

Yeah, the sheer number of releases I've been curious about this year has been exhausting. I think it's pretty much all an after-effect of the pandemic, for various reasons:

1. bands/artists that held on to finished albums until they could tour again
2. bands/artists that had to wait for pressing plant delays to clear up to release their new stuff
3. bands/artists that had a lot of extra time to write new material that sped up their usual cycle

list of records that have stuck with me for the year, sort of in order, obv i have so much to catch up on and i never will:

junior boys waiting game
lambchop the bible
beth orton weather alive
rosalía motomami
perfume plasma
real lies lad ash
the 1975 being funny in a foreign language
soccer mommy sometimes, forever
caracara new preoccupations
mr fingers around the sun pt 1
carly rae jepsen the loneliest time
arctic monkeys the car
brent faiyaz wasteland
sharon van etten we've been going about this all wrong
ari lennox age/sex/location
willow <copingmechanism>
circa survive two dreams
underoath voyeurist
cloud rat threshold
panic at the disco viva las vengeance
maren morris humble quest
dawn richard and spencer zahn pigments
sam prekop & john mcentire sons of
autopsy morbidity triumphant
tegan and sara crybaby
tears for fears the tipping point
wilco cruel country
björk fossora
no devotion no oblivion

13 albums from this year that I will ride or die for

Real Lies - Lad Ash
Mr Fingers - Around The Sun pt. 1
Cass McCombs - Heartmind
Billy Woods - Aethiopes
Destroyer - Labyrinthitis
Cloakroom - Dissolution Wave
Arctic Monkeys - The Car
Scarcity - Aveliut
Black midi - Hellfire
Danger Mouse/Black Thought - Cheat Codes
Double Virgo - Foolish Narratives
Sophie Royer - Harlequin
Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia

I think the Naima Bock album might end up my AOTY. Somewhat out of character for me, but it's so beautiful and intricate. I took me a while to hear the Brazilian influence all the reviews mentioned, but I hear it in the way she arranges and combines instruments

One that needs to be mentioned is Lorraine James’ Whatever The Weather album. Superb ambience broken up by crispy breakage

Oh yeah, that Lorraine James is really good.

At the moment (in roughly descending order):

Oren Ambarchi - Shebang
Lucrecia Dalt - ¡Ay!
Beth Orton - Weather Alive
Real Lies - Lad Ash
Lady Aicha and Pismo Crane's Original Fulu Miziki of Kinshasa - N'Djila Wa Mudujimu
The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language
Puscha - Etterath
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Pigments
Junior Boys - Waiting Game
Rema - Rave and Roses
Rosalía - MOTOMAMI
Au Suisse - Au Suisse
Brent Faiyaz - Wasteland
Taylor Swift - Midnights
Arctic Monkeys - The Car
Perfume - Plasma
Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers
Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loneliest Time
Jenny Hval - Classic Objects
Ethel Cain - Preacher's Daughter
Makaya McCraven - In These Times
Shackleton - The Majestic Yes
Omay Lay - Boy Alone
Ari Lennox - Age/Sex/Location
Maren Morris - Humble Quest
Sam Prekop & John McEntire - Sons Of
Emeka Ogboh - 6°30′33.372″N 3°22′0.66″E
Miranda Lambert - Palomino
Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
Obongjayar - Sometimes I Dream of Doors
Somi - Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba
The Soft Pink Truth - Is It Going To Get Any Deeper Than This?
Beyonce - Renaissance

But there's so much I still need to hear or need to spend more time with.

I was having a typically depressing conversation with my dad about politics and he asked, "Does anything seem good now?" I said, "Well, there's a ton of great music ..."

This is practically my only resource for finding new music at the moment, so I think my list'll be pretty hive-mindey this year:

Real Lies - Lad Ash
Croatian Amor - Remember Rainbow Bridge
Time Wharp - Spiro World
Junior Boys - Waiting Game
Big Thief
Beth Orton
Modern Nature - Island of Noise
Florist - s/t
Sam Prekop & John McEntire - Sons of
Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture
Duncan Marquiss - Wires Turned Sideways in Time
Makaya McCraven - In These Times
Kali Malone - Living Torch
Jake Xerxes Fussell - Good and Green Again
Lambchop - The Bible
Bennie Maupin & Adam Rudolph - Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef
Etran de L'Aïr - Agadez

And aye, xp, good year IMO.

Realizing from Brad & Tim's lists that I somehow still haven't listened to the Maren Morris album. Thanks both.

Teri Gender Bender - COMPLEXIFY EPs (putting them all together, they will easily be my #1 for the year)
Boris - W
Automatic - Excess
Deep Water - s/t
Hedgehog - Crow Valley It's All Connected
J. Zunz - Del Aire
Amateur Hour - Krökta Tankar och Brända Vanor
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Reset

Roughly in order

Real Lies - Lad Ash
The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field
Hatchie - Keep Giving The World Away
Junior Boys - Waiting Game
Alvvays - Blue Rev
Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loneliest Time
Stella Donnelly - Flood
Melody's Echo Chamber - Emotional Eternal
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Pigments
Destroyer - Labyrinthitis
Caroline Loveglow - Strawberry
Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever
Say Sue Me - The Last Thing Left
Tallies - Patina
Charli XCX - Crash
The Orielles - Tableau
Björk - Fossora
Nilüfer Yanya - Painless
Suede - Autofiction
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer
Gwenno - Tresor
Angel Olsen - Big Time
Beyoncé - Renaissance
Altered Images - Mascara Streakz
Foxes - The Kick

Definitely feels like a stronger year than 2021 overall.

I'm going to use a real broad brush and assume that 2021 was the year of everyone's pandemic album and 2022 is a year of looking outward/pushing forward. Feels like everyone's creativity is freed up.

Fuck, forgot Anteloper - Pink Dolphins. rip jaime

2022 albums I haven't gotten to yet/haven't been released yet: The Stargazer Lilies, Carla Dal Forno, Eno, Lucrecia Dalt, Hermanos Gutierrez, S.G. Goodman, Fenella, Christina Vantzou

I don't know what my favorites are in general yet, but here is what I've bought physical copies of this year

Horsegirl - Versions Of Modern Performance
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer
P.E. - The Leather Lemon
NoSo - Stay Proud Of Me
Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever
Kat Frankie - Shiny Things
Yumi Zouma - Present Tense
Jackie Cohen - Pratfall
Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
Tallies - Patina
Twen - One Stop Shop
Phoebe Green - Lucky Me
Flasher - Love Is Yours
Mitski - Laurel Hell
Maita - I Just Want To Be Wild For You
Maren Morris - Humble Quest
The Afghan Whigs - How Do You Burn?
Cécile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down

Oh, and these, which haven't arrived yet...

First Aid Kit - Palomino
Julianna Riolino - All Blue
Warhaus - Ha Ha Heartbreak

An adjunct list to the immediate ones I mentioned upthread. Unranked because haven't really listened to them repeatedly:

Beach House - Once Twice Melody
Blushing - Possessions
Cloakroom - Dissolution Wave
Elkhorn - Distances
Ghost Woman - s-t
Gwenno - Tresor
King Hannah - I'm Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me
Loop - Sonancy
Marisa Anderson - Still, Here
Naujawanan Baidar - Khedmat Be Khalq
Onyon - s-t
The Routes - The Twang Machine
Sault - everything they've released this year
Shearwater - The Great Awakening
The Soundcarriers - Wilds
Viagra Boys - Cave World
Wet Leg - s-t
50 Foot Wave - Black Pearl

There's a lot more I've bought and listened to this year, but they're all folks who just keep on keeping on. Sure, I like the new BJM, Spiritualized, Robyn Hitchcock, Graham Day, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, albums a lot but it's not like I'm going to put them on a list.

In lieu of posting a first draft of my ILXOR ballot I'll pretend this is the "77 voting recommendations" thread and mention a few albums that have received little to no attention here or elsewhere (as far as I know):

Lady Wray - Piece Of Me - Nicole Wray of "Make It Hot" fame continues what she started with the Lady s/t in 2013 and her own album Queen Alone in 2016 - comforting, warm, accomplished soul.

Eliza and the Delusionals - Now And Then - I started a thread for this and unfortunately it received no replies, but despite that silence I am continuing to enjoy this debut from these Australian nostalgists. Widescreen dreampop that takes the Sixpence None The Richer sound and runs with it, as many others have this year.

Say She She - Prism - I've found it hard to place this, but I feel like it sits at the intersection of a host of ILM vectors - Lady Wray herself might be one, but also Natalie Prass, We Are King, Emily King, Kadhja Bonet, that short-lived band Juce, Esperanza Spalding when she's in a more straightforward mode, etc. Their band name is horrible and the album is on the short side, but it's lovely to listen to and hard to fault.

renforshort - dear amelia is my pick for 2022's best imitation of Olivia Rodrigo's SOUR.

Finally, Javiera Mena - Nocturna has the feel of a compilation for me as I'd previously rinsed so many of its component tracks, some of which were released years ago, but at the same time I wouldn't begrudge anyone calling it her best album and if pushed I might give it that description myself. A banger-a-thon that concludes with the song she tried to enter Eurovision with and its spooky-ooky organ solo.

Xp Elvis Telecom thanks for the Teri Gender Bender rec. This shit is unreal.

Still mulling my list but it will def include:

Yeule - Glitch Princess
Death's Dynamic Shroud - Darklife
Arp - New Pleasures
Emily Wells - Regards to the End

Plus previously mentioned Richard/Zahn, Soccer Mommy, Horsegirl, Beth Orton et al.

Definitely a strong year for releases.

Teri Gender Bender - COMPLEXIFY EPs (putting them all together, they will easily be my #1 for the year)

Ooh, didn't realize she had something new out.

My longlist at the moment (mostly metal-adjacent)

Autopsy – Morbidity Triumphant
The Beths – Expert in a Dying Field
Chat Pile – God’s Country
Cloakroom – Dissolution Wave
Cloud Rat – Threshold
Desiccation – Cold Dead Earth
Early Moods – Early Moods
Fellowship – The Saberlight Chronicles
Ghost – Impera
Martha – Please Don’t Take Me Back
Moon Tooth – Phototroph
Moonlight Sorcery - Piercing Through the Frozen Eternity
Negative Plane – The Pact…
Satan – Earth Infernal
Sloan – Steady
Sumerlands – Dreamkiller
Sunrise Patriot Motion – Black Fellflower Stream
Voivod – Synchro Anarchy
Vórtize – ¡Tienes Que Luchar!
Wormrot – Hiss

Favourite tracks: “Toma Acción” by Vórtize, “Wolven Hour” by Moonlight Sorcery

Xp Elvis Telecom thanks for the Teri Gender Bender rec. This shit is unreal.

I need to start a thread. I love the Le Butcherettes albums, but these new EPs are something else

My favourite 2022 album that hasn't been mentioned on this thread is Marlon Williams' My Boy. Up until now, he's been a serious-minded country crooner, but on his third album, he's discovered a sense of fun.

This is one of my favourites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhaZBN3m2EI

nice, alex cameron vibes

I don't believe the new Cass McCombs has been mentioned?

apart from that I highly recommend Glass Horizon by Precipitation, lovely ambient bobbins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEdP99xQCEM

In no particular order,new records by:

Weyes Blood
Big Thief
Black Midi
BCNR
Alvvays

Honorable mention:

Ethel Cain

Wizkid - More Love Less Ego
Homeboy Sandman - Still Champion
Horse Lords - Comradely Objects
Floating Points - Whatever the album is called, the EP of singles is great

I just got through a second play but Nicola Cruz's Fabric mix is a motherfucker and likely to get in the mix

Also big late pass but I've got Ryuichi Sakamoto's Revenant OST on heavy play the last two weeks

Finally checking out the Guitarricadelafuente album that was only listed on NPR's Mid-Year list, and it's a really lovely, unassuming folk pop record with a unique mix of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, mostly in Spanish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aA90hkaCXs

Couldn't put my finger on it at first, but reminds me of C. Tangana's El Madrileño. Traditional Spanish music with modern updates that are mostly successful.

I haven't played anything else as frequently as Loop's Sonancy all year.

In lieu of posting a first draft of my ILXOR ballot I'll pretend this is the "77 voting recommendations" thread and mention a few albums that have received little to no attention here or elsewhere (as far as I know):

Lady Wray - Piece Of Me - Nicole Wray of "Make It Hot" fame continues what she started with the Lady s/t in 2013 and her own album Queen Alone in 2016 - comforting, warm, accomplished soul.

Eliza and the Delusionals - Now And Then - I started a thread for this and unfortunately it received no replies, but despite that silence I am continuing to enjoy this debut from these Australian nostalgists. Widescreen dreampop that takes the Sixpence None The Richer sound and runs with it, as many others have this year.

Say She She - Prism - I've found it hard to place this, but I feel like it sits at the intersection of a host of ILM vectors - Lady Wray herself might be one, but also Natalie Prass, We Are King, Emily King, Kadhja Bonet, that short-lived band Juce, Esperanza Spalding when she's in a more straightforward mode, etc. Their band name is horrible and the album is on the short side, but it's lovely to listen to and hard to fault.

renforshort - dear amelia is my pick for 2022's best imitation of Olivia Rodrigo's SOUR.

Finally, Javiera Mena - Nocturna has the feel of a compilation for me as I'd previously rinsed so many of its component tracks, some of which were released years ago, but at the same time I wouldn't begrudge anyone calling it her best album and if pushed I might give it that description myself. A banger-a-thon that concludes with the song she tried to enter Eurovision with and its spooky-ooky organ solo.

― monotony, Friday, November 4, 2022 2:39 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hey monotony! I saw an upcoming listing for Say She She at a local club, and for whatever reason decided to check out their record. Holy shit, I love this album! Then I came to see if anyone at ILM had been talking about them and it turns out that it's pretty much just you. As a gesture of solidarity, I'll check out your other picks from this post.

Anyone else who's reading the 2022 AOTY thread in 2023, give Say She She a shot!