As I continue with my challenge of finding my favourite album from every year since 1960 I also need to keep up with the present, so here we are, a couple of months late as always with 2022’s roundup. I’ll not go into my usual ‘making end of year lists at the start of December is daft’ rant, see previous posts for that, but let’s just say I wanted to give the year a chance to sink in before making this list. In terms of the year’s events it was another year of ineptness by the Tories, and Putin started a war because he’s toxic masculinity at its absolute worst. In personal news I became a father, which continues to be the most glorious thing, and I feel incredibly lucky.

This is my favourite albums of the year, so naturally it only contains ones I liked, and had something remarkable about them. Numerically, I think that’s about a 6.5/10 as the lower threshold for me. Of course these rankings are completely objective and definitive, I’ll never change my mind, and if you disagree with any of them you’re wrong.

As usual, I tried to listen to rateyourmusic.com’s, the Needle Drop’s, and Pitchfork’s top 10, as well as albumoftheyear.com’s lovely aggregation of every top 10 list, and I’m happy to say I’ve succeeded again on that front this year so you’ll see plenty of albums from those lists here. As always, there’s plenty of albums I wanted to get to but didn’t, but such is the glory of music, there’s just so much good stuff out there. That’ll do for a pre-amble, here’s the list:

This feels like the kind of album I’d get a lot more out of if I understood the words. It’s super inventive instrumentally, and spins from one style to another on a sixpence, but I find the vocal timbre is a little down the middle and unexciting, an issue that would probably be alleviated if I knew what he was saying. That’s obviously on me.

Song Picks: (track 2)

6.5/10

47. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick's rap skills are as evident as ever, but I struggled to grab onto anything here. Sometimes that's not a problem, and there's plenty of blurry, amorphous albums I've loved, but I think this feels more like a bunch of more concrete things that are just too slippery to stick, rather than something deliberately obscure. I think one day I'll have the time to get into it fully enough to do its clear scope justice, but until then I admire its ambition and craft more than I love it as an album of music.

7/10

Swift’s tenth album sounded exactly how I expected it to. And when expectations are for a really listenable pop album with relaxed bangers and top notch atmospheric production that’s no bad thing. Just don’t expect anything new here.

Song Picks: Lavender Haze, Anti-Hero

7/10

Tosin Abasi continues to be one fo the most technically brilliant guitarists working today, weaving impossible lines over intricate, clockwork riffs. You could argue the sound is overly clean, but I think it works here due to the sheer instrumental skill on display from every member of the band. It means you can focus in effortlessly on whatever wizardry you fancy. This is just really solid instrumental prog-metal.

Song Picks: Conflict Cartography, The Problem of Other Minds

7/10

New Orlean’s punk band Special Interest’s third album is an electric punk factory. It sounds like someone angry in the toilet while the bass from the house music next door rumbles through the walls. It took me a while to get into on each listen, but by the final 20 minutes I was in the groove, consumed by its industrial anger.

Song Picks: Cherry Blue Intention, Concerning Peace, Kurdish Radio

7/10

Though Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny’s fourth album has a little too much of that Post Malone auto-tune thing going on for my personal tastes, it’s still a colourful, vivacious and thoroughly enjoyable journey through the sounds of the modern Caribbean. Bad Bunny’s style is clearly heavily lyric’s focused, and I’m certain some of the emotional melodies here would hit harder if I knew what was being said.

Song Picks: Tarot, El Apacón, Un Verano Sin Ti

7/10

42. God Don’t Make Mistakes

Conway the Machine

Conway the Machine’s second album features some lovely production and refreshingly personal lyrics, it also features probably more basketball references than any album since the sport was invented. I like it.

Song Picks: Lock Load, Piano Love

7.5/10

If you want to listen to some superb sax playing from 2022, then look no further than Wilkins’ poetic playing here.

Song Picks: Fugitive Ritual, Selah

7.5/10

Placebo? A good album? In 2022? Yes.

Distinctive vocals as always, and with strong melodies. But it’s the great wall of sound production using an inventive array of instruments to build barnstorming riffs that is most impressive.

Song Picks: Forever Chemicals, The Prodigal

7.5/10

Viagra Boys’ third album is a satirical piece on the far-right that’s about as subtle as a brick falling on your head from a great height, but a lot more fun. It has probably the most catchy riff per minute ratio of any album this year.

Song Picks: Troglodyte, Punk Rock Loser, Punk Rock Loser, Ain’t No Thief, Return to Monke

7.5/10

Aethiopes is so lyrically dense I frankly don’t have the time to delve into as much as it deserves, but as an album I’ve now given 4 or 5 listens I can say Woods weaves a whole host of lyrical webs over the sparse but atmospheric production in a way that is mysterious, intriguing, and so thick with meaning that it can be intimidating.

Song Picks: NYNEX, Asylum, No Hard Feelings

7.5/10

37. Ghost Song

**Cécile McLorin Salvant**

Her sixth album is my first and it's great not only due to her superb vocals but also the songcraft on display. Though certainly playing it more safely than the artist of the opening cover, Kate Bush, Cécile has a similar ability to bewitch.

Song Picks: Optimistic Voices/No Love Dying, Ghost Song, Thunderclouds

7.5

If you’re after humongous riffs and catchy hardcore vocals, then I don’t think you can do any better than Drug Church’s Hygiene in 2022. Its 26 minutes are packed with songs hell-bent on obliterating your speakers with pent-up anxiety and cascading guitars.

Song Picks: Fun’s Over, Super Saturated, Detective Lieutenant

7.5

Alasdair Dunn contributes both of the things that make Aschenspire stand out in the metal scene: vulnurable and angry vocals unafraid to get highly political, and frantic, at times off kilter, drumming that aims not to provide a backbeat to the din created by the band’s many members, but more adds to the chaos. The title refers to architecture that stops homeless people sleeping on it and with Alasdair’s anger at society’s ills comes a whole lot of heart and empathy, which unique touches like the saxophone on Plattenbau Persephone Praxis, as well as the album’s folkier moments, help to highlight.

Song Picks: Plattenbau Persephone Praxis

7.5/10

Spoon’s 10th album sees them take their tight, minimalist style to a slightly heavier plane. It’s a prime example of how good songwriting and production doesn’t have to be particularly fancy - most songs here barely seem to use reverb, never mind any fancy effects. It’s punchy, simple, and yet very effective. There’s no need for filters when the subject is so engaging and accomplished. The best straight rock album I’ve heard for a while.

Song Picks: Held, Wild

8/10

The two-time recipient of Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year Award is back with his third album, following up the critically acclaimed Cairn (which I’ll have to listen to on the back of this). The trio is filled out with bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson who accompany McCreadie’s endless flurries with impeccable timing. McCreadie’s style could definitely be called busy, but it's busy with a purpose. His metronomically skittering notes create carpets of activity, a forest floor of leaves and insects swarming. With no space between notes for the mind to think, you’re led through his inventive, playfuly perfect world as he runs ahead of you, dragging you by the hand. Forest Floor’s most jaw-dropping moments are when these flurries are interchanged with the breather of a lovely folky melody as on the gorgeous Unforrowed Field.

Song Picks: The Unfurrowed Field, Forest Floor

8/10

Brooklyn R&B artist Yaya Bey’s second album is expertly self-produced, with beats and instrumentation as smooth as butter accompanying her airy vocal and soul-searching lyrics. It also features a whole host of satisfying mid-song switches, such as on alright, where the track seems to lead you from the ambient noise of a sunny day to a cosy underground den full of warmth and cushions. If this album were a yoghurt, it’d be thick, smooth, and taste like honey.

Song Picks: nobody knows, alright, reprise

8/10

31. And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

Weyes Blood

Natalie Mering, more commonly known as Weyes Blood’s fifth album is the second in a trilogy which began with its predecessor, Titanic Rising. Textured is the word you’ll come across the most when reading others’ reviews of this album, and it’s easy to see why. The productions here are so layered it feels like one of those albums that really needs a good sounsystem or headphones to appreciate properly. Often these layers can be used to hide mediocre songwriting, but that’s certainly not the case here. Mering’s vocals are never overwrought, always majestic, and she has a touch of Joni Mitchell about her in the way she seemingly freewheels melodies from nowhere, never to return to them again. The most impressive thing to me about And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow though, is just how timeless it all sounds. Minus the modern, crystal clear production, songs like Children of the Empire feel like they could have been floating around forever. Many others have used the word, and I’ve already used it once in this review, but I think majestic is the best way to describe this record.

Song Picks: God Turn Me Into a Flower, It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody, Children of the Empire, A Given Thing

8/10

Off the back of their wildly succesful single Chaise Lounge, Wet Leg became the first band from the Isle of Wight to have a No 1 UK album. An impressive feat considering it’s their debut.

Wet Leg is a damn solid indie-rock album. Catchy melodies, honest lyrics, and simple production leads to a really accesible album that holds enough interest for many repeat listens. Some of the post-rock elements such as on the closer Too Late Now add a sense of scale not often heard in indie-rock bands. It’s one of those albums that is not particularly doing anything new (besides perhaps the more modern social commentary), but just does what it does really well. Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian sums it up better than I can, calling it a "collection of 90s and 00s-era indie that is by turns dreamy, lush, hooky and thunderous, and layered with lyrics saturated with millennial disaffection, anxiety and overwhelm."

Song Picks: Chaise Lounge, Too late Now, Wet Dream

8/10

Probably the hip-hop album that gave me the most straight-up enjoyment this year. Some of the beats feel like they could be from Illmatic, and I could give them no higher compliment. Nas’ flow isn’t quite as smooth as it was in those days, but it still surfs over the beats with aplomb.

Song Picks: Legit, First Time

8/10

Grace Ives - Janky Star

Grace Ives’ second album packs bangers into its short 27 minute running length like the government packs dodgy people into its cabinet. It feels like an uplifting sugar hit, but one that’s wholesome and quietly sophisticated. A tiramisu perhaps?

Song Picks: Loose, On the Ground, Angel of Business

8/10

Arctic Monkey’s seventh album builds on the lounge, art-pop, baroque sound from their previous album Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino. Lead singer Alex Turner had apparently wanted to return to writing ‘riffs’ but found that the music ‘didn’t want to go there’. The band’s turn in this direction has been one that has been generally well received by critics, but less so by fans of the band. I’m with the critics, I think this direction does something that isn’t really being done elsewhere. James Ford’s production of the band’s lounge sound is as smooth as yoghurt, and Alex Turner’s lyrics have plenty of soul and melody. I’d go as far as saying his vocal performance is one of the most interesting male ones of the year, putting the lyrics front and centre, while still remaining tuneful.

Song Picks: There’s Better Be a Mirrorball, I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am

8/10

JID’s first album in four years gets personal with the precise, clear drum samples over the top of rumbling bass lines. The production is never cluttered, and yet always intriguing. Subtle creative touches, like the fact the Can’t Punk Me bass line sounds almost like someone humming, are littered throughout. Mainly though, the thing just grooves, and JID’s cadence sails smoothly over the top. It’s an album that’s a ball to listen to on a surface level, but that truly opens up when fully absorbed.

Song Picks: Crack Sandwich, Can’t Punk Me

8.2/10

25. Cheat Codes

Danger Mouse & Black Thought

Danger Mouse and Black Thought go together so well you’d be forgiven for listening to Cheat Codes and thinking they’d spent a lifetime releasing albums together. Danger Mouse’s production is drenched with so much warm, analogue distortion that it sounds like you’ve been absorbed by a J37 tape at Abbey Road. Black Thought’s meticulous delivery blends into the sumptuous surroundings, never rudely demanding your attention, but rewarding you with bright rhymes whenever you give it.

Song Picks: Aquamarine, Strangers

8/10

24. Melt My Eyez See Your Future

Denzel Curry

In Curry’s words: “this album is about me, Denzel Curry. No alter egos, no nothing. Just Denzel Curry.” His fifth album is introspective, vulnurable, even apologetic:

Recognize hidden patterns of my own demise
Why I feel like hiding a truth is finding a lie?
Dealt with thoughts of suicide, women I've objectified
Couldn't see it through my eyes so for that, I apologize

The production is softer, not quite ethereal - but not far off either. The anger from Curry’s last couple of albums has gone. His poetic growl appears plenty of times, but there’s a held back feel to it. Curry’s cadence rides the waves rather than propelling them, Melt My Eyez See Your Future is Curry lying back on the sofa, and it’s hard not to want to lay back on that chair in the corner next to him.

Song Picks: Melt Session #1, Walkin’, Mental

8.5/10

The drummer, producer, and bandleader continues to blend modern production techniques with more traditional, instrumental jazz. I’d say the tilt is towards tha latter generally, though tracks like The Fours do sound like they could be a beat for a recent hip-hop production. Generally though, he uses more modern techniques to complement the older ones, rather than vice versa. What results is an album that feels thoroughly human, with McCraven’s drumming background evident in the busy, skittering drum parts that adorn what are often calm soundscapes like crickets on a warm summer’s eve. In These Times uses a lot of complex times signatures, which is perhaps what its title alludes to, along with the human/machine theme evident from the album’s opening quote. These signatures make the alubm a satisfyingly cerebral listen, while never coming across as showy or dry. The emphasis is always on aural pleasantness and intrigue, and though the album plays it safe tonally, it does so beautifully.

Song Picks: Dream Another, In These Times, This is That Place, The Knew Untitled

8.5/10

22. Topical Dancer

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul

Infectious, spacious, groovy and so completely itself that it’s automatically one of the year’s more memorable albums.

Song Picks: Esperanto, Blenda, Ich Mwen

8.5/10

21. Ants from Up There

Black Country, New Road

Black Country, New Road’s second album is perhaps less expansive, but no less varied than their debut. In bassist and vocalist Tyler Hyde’s words: “we have figured out what we're trying to say, so it makes a bit more sense. Some of the songs are shorter. We attempted to write songs that were three and a half minutes”. This leads a cohesive and tight album, despite it’s near hour-long running length. Isaac Wood’s vocals have a vulnurability that ensures the band takes the emo turn-off, while the band’s instrumentation quietly fights that label with interesting arrangements that make great use of saxophone and violin, keeping things firmly at the very edge of the road.

Song Picks: Concorde, Snow Globes, Mark’s Theme

8.5/10

2022 felt like Jockstrap’s year. The English duo of Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye’s unique blend of scatty electronic production and minimalist string arrangements made for an album that was as accesible and visceral as pop, but hard to put in any particular genre box. It floats like a giant, amorphous pop cloud ocassionally teasing production qualities or arrangements that make you want to put it in this genre or that, before taking them away again, leaving you with a vague feeling of pop, one that disspiates with too much thought.

I Love You Jennifer B is as exhilirating as it is untouchable.

Song Picks: Neon, Greatest Hits, 50/50

8.5/10

If you need an album to soothe the mind, then this soft jazz gem is it. Charles’ playing has plenty of restraint, and more soul than Pantalaimon (sorry, His Dark Materials reference…) as he effortlessly switches between flute and saxophone. Sometimes you find a musician that just resonates with you, and Charles is certainly that, expertly accompanied here by Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan. Morgan’s deft basswork is another of the album’s many quiet highlights. I love an album that immediately creates an atmosphere, and Trios: Chapel does that with Lloyd’s first few sax notes, which seem to represent my worries tiredly buzzing away.

Song Picks: Blood Count, Ay Amor

8.5/10

Angrily obliterating fragile male egos everywhere. On the nose, bursting with truth and energy. Superb.

Song Picks: Fight for Our Lives, Violent by Design, Feed My Fire

8.5/10

Spanish singer Rosalía’s third album blends the vintage and the modern into a seamless, tight and energetic package. Her flamenco roots mix with a variety of succesful forays into reggaeton, and the vigour of the latter mixes seamlessly with the slower ballads on offer. This is one of those albums that is both very varied and yet truly cohesive. It also contains vocals engaging enough to carry the fact I don’t understand the lyrics, more so than Bad Bunny in my opinion. On G3 N15, for example, one doesn’t need to understand what Rosalía is saying for the heartbreak to hit you right in the guts.

Song Picks: Delirio de Grandeza, Hentai, G3 N15

8.5/10

The Weeknd’s fifth album’s concept is that of a radio show in purgatory. I imagine it as playing while you’re sat in a car in a traffic jam in a tunnel, at which the other end is the afterlife.

The production is heavenly, pardon the pun, with melodic, pretty atmospheres sprawling across the whole album’s 50 minute running length. The spoken word sections help add to the neon tinged philosophy of the album, with Jim Carrey’s performance of the poem in Phantom Regret by Jim being a particular highlight. It weaves between profound and comedic, ending the album with the lines:

You gotta be Heaven to see Heaven
May peace be with you

Dawn FM’s concept is executed with plenty of humour, which prevents it sinking in its own pomposity, and instead means it floats among endless pretty melodies, sugar candy production, soulful vocals, and a ridiculously consistent tracklist of pop-gems.

Song Picks: Phantom Regret by Jim, Gasoline, How Do I Make You Love Me, Sacrifice

8.5/10

Soul Glo’s fourth album is an angry barrage of brutal riffs featuring some of my favourite hardcore vocals for some time. Pierce Jordan’s shouts are self aware, political, and seemingly come from the very core of his being. The words come at a relentless pace, as if the album’s 40 minute running length is not enough for him to get across everything he’s furious about, and he delivers everything with a hyperactive cadence reminiscnent of one of those 80s electronic machine gun snares. Every word is blared as if it’s his last. Diaspora Problems is one of the year’s essential albums, not only because it’s a Black punk band finally getting the limelight, but becuase it’s as visceral as anything you’ll hear this year.

Song Picks: Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?), Driponomics, Five Years and My Family

8.5/10

Kenny Beats has been on the scene for a while, but usually as a producer for acts such as Vince Staples and IDLES. LOUIE is his debut solo album, inspired by his dad’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2021. The album was recorded shortly after Beats found out about the diagnosis, and is what he calls "something dark turned into something beautiful."

I’ve always been a believer in the fact that stories around an album can impact how much you take from them, and seeing this as a love letter to his dad definitely gives the whole thing an added glow. Full of the kind of irresistible, bass heavy beats that you’d expect from Kenny, LOUIE feels like a comforting hug. It’d have been easy for Beats to make something pretty bleak, but instead we get something colourful, infectious, and above all, warm. It also has my favourite album cover of the year, one that very much encapsulates its feel. Go give LOUIE a spin, after the shitshow that was 2022, everyone could use the musical hug it provides.

As you already know, 2022 was the year I became a dad, and dancing around the living-room to this with my son in my arms was such a glorious experience that the album had to make it towards the top end of my list. I hope that, in years to come, he’ll think as highly of me as Kenny Beats clearly does of Louie.

Song Picks: Parenthesis, Hooper, Last Words, Drop 10, Really Really, Moire

8.5/10

Fontaines D.C. continue their run of excellent albums with Skiny Fia, their third. Grian Chatten’s vocals and lyrics still create that atmosphere of gloom that is uniquely Fontaines D.C., while coming up with catchy hooks seemingly everywhere. They’ve always been slower and more melodic than the other punk bands they were lumped in with back when their debut came out, and they’ve doubled down on that in their last two albums. This is every bit as atmospheric and expansive as the excellent A Hero’s Death, but everything has just got that little bit better. Chatten’s vocals are more varied and emotive, while never losing their over-riding pessimism, and the band is better able to take advantage of the instrumental breaks to take the listener on their own journeys in between Chatten’s murky verses. The way the band explodes on Big Shot is a prime example; with a cataclysmic marching riff that backs the chorus as stadium ready as anything they’ve written. Jackie Down the Line is a future classic, perfectly demonstrating the band’s knack for an undestated hook.

Song Picks: Jackie Down the Line, Big Shot

8.5/10

Silvana Estrada’s debut album was written in the wake of the breakup of her first relationship. Performed mainly on the cuatro, a historic instrument with 4 strings like a ukulele but with a deeper sound, she effortlessly combines the vintage with the modern. Gustavo Guerrero’s production has depth and warmth, while never competing with Estrada’s gorgeous vocals and simple cuatro playing. You can imagine her leaning on the window frame Audrey Heburn style singing out quietly to the sky above and alleys below, Guerrero painting the night with stars that furnish every note with a quiet grandeur. While Marchita plays, everything feels manageable, everything feels ok.

Song Picks: Mass o Menos Antes, Te Guardo,

8.5/10

Alex G’s ninth album shows is a clear demonstration of why he’s such a good songwriter. There’s no particularly experimental song-structures or chord progressions here, or even anything all that progressive about the production, but the whole thing just sings with a compassionate beauty. Every melody is a hug, every guitar strum a supportive tap on the shoulder. Alex G apparently worked with 12 or so engineers to make these songs sound as good as possible, and that was a success. The production is impeccable, the soft snares, the clear guitars, the ting-ting of the hi-hats, everything is perfectly balanced, much like the songwriting and melodies that make the album’s crackling core.

Song Picks: After All, Runner, Ain’t It Easy, Immunity

8.5/10

Beach House’s eighth album is an 80 minute double album, divided into four chapters, and is the first produced entirely by the band.

This album initially sounded to me like bathing in the glow of some golden nebula - gorgeous but undefined. The more I listened to it though, the more it revealed to me a subtle journey, and it became less like floating, and more like effortlessly swimming from one place to another - from wherever you were when you put the thing on, to a place where everything seems to shimmer once the album’s finished.

Song Picks: Over and Over, ESP, Many Nights

9/10

Alvvays’ third studio album is a powerpop gem. Every melody sounds essential, every track an anthem, every guitar solo a new freedom, every washed out note a dream. Was there anything more triumphantly sad in 2022 than the ending to Velveteen?

Song Picks: Pharmacist, Easy on Your Own?, After the Earthquake, Velveteen

9/10

Colombian experimental artist Lucrecia Dalt’s sixth album sounds like it’s been produced by Rain Dogs era Tom Waits. There’s a sparse barroom feel to the instrumentation, with percussion playing a particularly important role, the hollow, woody rhythms adding a sense of timelessness to the atmospheric synths laying the atmospheric foundations to the tracks. Dalt’s vocals are far more tuneful than Waits’ though, and what results is an album that embraces Dalt’s Latin American roots wholeheartedly, but pushes them into the future and mixes them with other influences to create something truly unique and cosy. Pitchfork’s review makes the point that traditional and folkloric traditions from Latin America are often seen as ‘creatively stale’, and so don’t get touched due to a fear of artists being seen as too traditional. Lucrecia Dalt’s embracing and pioneering of these styles is thus not only thoroughly enjoyable and singular, but also an admirable cultural statement.

¡Ay! completely absorbs you into its world, and that is something I always love in an album.

Song Picks: Gena, El Galatzó, La desmesura

9/10

In Beyoncé’s own words: “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom.”

Indeed Beyonce’s seventh album creates just that. Everything’s cohesive, deep, pulsating, fun and accesible. It’s an irresistible, well constructed and grooving DJ set. I didn’t listen to this during any kind of lockdown, but it didn’t matter; its joy is universal and evergreen. This is a pop-star, with considerable skill and talent flexing her creative muscles free of expectation. I’ve no qualms in calling it my favourite pop record of recent times.

Song Picks: VIRGO’S GROOVE, COZY, CUFF IT, CHURCH GIRL,

9/10

6. Natural Brown Prom Queen

Sudan Archives

Sudan Archives’ (singer-songwriter and violinist Brittney Parks) second album is an ode to embracing yourself. Parks herself has talked about how she wanted to make the album her ‘homecoming’; where she could be her natural self and return to the high-school prom she never went to. The album’s wavy synths, subtle, and yet honeyed vocals, brutally honest lyrics and creamy productions all bring about this sense of self realisation, the subtle emergence from self-doubt and anxiety in a dense and slow-motion firework of pride.

Song Picks: NBPQ (Topless), Freakalizer, Homesick (Gorgeous & Arrogant), Selfish Soul, Loyal (EDD)

9/10

**5. Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam**

The Comet is Coming

The Comet is Coming people and it’s armed with a saxohpone and the world’s largest rave soundsystem. Get your neon stuff and glow sticks out the drawer, and get your arse down to the landing site, because shit is going down.

A glorious atmospheric and edgy party of a record. Sons of Kemet’s Shabaka Hutchings’ saxohpone playing might just be my favourite instrumental performance of the year, that thing sounds like it’s screaming out to any alien race who might listen as the Earth goes down.

Song Picks: Angel of Darkness

9/10

**4. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You**

Big Thief

Big Thief’s fifth album was deliberately recorded across 4 different locations, each with their own planned sonic goal, a concept conjured up by the band’s drummer - and the album’s producer - James Krivchenia.

Pulling off a 80 minute double album is no mean feat, but Big Thief manage it here. Guided by Adrianne Lenker’s accomplished songwriting and vocal performances, the band push themselves to create something expansive, affecting, an completely consuming. Little Things fuzz-laden atmosphere is a great testament to the way the rest of the band contribute to the album’s atmosphere, in its case creating a euphoric, unruly firework of a song. Other songs like Time Escaping teeter into being dissonant, but not in a way that makes the album in any way difficult or challenging to listen to, only serving to perk your ears out of the beautiful slumber the album’ sorcery has submitted them to.

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You feels like a perfect representation of everything Big Thief do best. It flutters beautifully like a firefly, playing with the crest of flame.

Song Picks: Change, Certainty, Heavy Bend, Flower of Blood, Wake Me up to Drive

9/10

3. De Todas las Flores

**Natalia Lafourcade**

De Todas Las Flores is Mexican singer-songwriter Lafourcade’s first album of completely original material in seven years, ot at least so Wikipedia tells me. I’ve been a fan of her Un Canto por Mexico volumes over the last couple of years, but this one takes things to a new level.

Sumptuous production softly lowers you into a new place, a place of timeless melodies from a voice with the honesty of someone singing to themselves, a place where arrangements complement them with an understated and twinkled beauty. Of course I’m approaching this as someone who doesn’t understand many of the Spanish lyrics, but to me every moment of this album is just bloody perfect. While her Un Canto por Mexico volumes succesfully transported me to a specific place, De Todas Las Flores transports me off the map completely, and draws its own amongst the stars.

Song Picks: Vine Solita, Caminar Bonito, Canta la arena, Pajarito colibrí

9/10

Painless was the last album I listened to before drawing a line under 2022 (for now), and I’m very glad I managed to squeeze it in. Yanya’s second album is packed with stellar songwriting, and production that is intimate while not sounding minimalistic. Most songs are accompanied by repeated drum machine beats that not only provide a nice momentum to the album but also give the tracks a cosy familiarity. Yanya’s dusky, airy vocals are always understated but carry the plethora of catchy melodies with beautiful subtlety. There’s not just more ‘bangers’ here than on any of the other pop records I listened to this year, but Painless stands out because here they’re wrapped in a way less concerned with trends of the time, or indeed what would make them sell, and more just what Yanya wants them to sound like. There’s a confidence to her refusal to ram these choruses down your throat with over-production, and her willingness to sit back, quietly hoping you’ll pay enough attention to realise this really is a glorious record.

Song Picks: the dealer, L/R, shameless, midnight sun, anotherlife

Black Midi’s third album was recorded entirely over a thirteen day period and throws new influences such as cabaret and flamenco into what was already a very dense, multi-genre sound. What you get is an album that refuses to sit still, an album that is the enemy of repetition, an album that makes for one of the best active listens of the year. You never quite know what’s coming next, something the track Welcome to Hell is testament to. The short but epic orchestral sections are unexpected enough but I was completely blindsided by a couple of bars of thrash metal followed by bouncy indie as the track closes. This all sounds like it could be a bit ‘oooo look how many genres we can fit into a song’, but it doesn’t feel showy like that at all. It merely feels like an album that constantly wants to move forward, onto something new, with minimal repeating of even the album’s recent past. It’s an album of unique moments, where the constant switching makes for an irritating background listen, where a lapse of attention leads to something extraordinary being missed, where sitting down and submitting to it fully yields the year’s most exciting record. Hellfire is the perfect advert for active listening.

Song Picks: Welcome to Hell, The Race is About to Begin, The Defence

9/10

The lists I made sure to listen to (with albums that made it into my own top 10 bolded)

Pitchfork had the most make it into my own top 10, with 6.

rateyourmusic.com’s top 10 - this was taken in January, and as it is made up of average user ratings may change over time.

Black Country, New Road - Ants from Up There
Black Midi - Hellfire
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
Natalia Lafourcade - De todas las flores
billy woods - Aethiopes
J.I.D - The Forever Story
Blue Rev - Alvvays
betcover!! 卵 (Tamago)
Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future

The Needle Drop’s top 10

Natalia Lafourcade - De Todas Las FloresJID - The Forever Story
Viagra Boys - Cave World
Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems
black midi - Hellfire
Conway the Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes
Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture
Petrol Girls - Baby
Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Silvana Estrada - Marchita

albumoftheyear.com aggregated top 10

Beyoncé - Renaissance
ROSALÍA - MOTOMAMI
Wet Leg - Wet Leg
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Alvvays - Blue Rev
Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia
Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
Taylor Swift - Midnights

Pitchfork top 10

Beyoncé: Renaissance
Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen
Alvvays: Blue Rev
Special Interest: Endure
Bad Bunny: Un Verano Sin Ti
Rosalía: Motomami
Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Lucrecia Dalt: ¡Ay!
Yaya Bey: Remember Your North Star
Alex G: God Save the Animals