Wait a second… It’s January… And my AOTY list is already ready? What sorcery is this?
Since I’m done so early, I hope it’s okay that I’m going back to top20 albums (cheating with 10 HMs). I definitely felt like I wasn’t really that excited about the lower half of my last year’s ranking and I might never return to any of them (except for the Dooms Children album which I should’ve put higher), and focusing on 20 should produce a significantly tighter list. I’ve also somehow reduced my top singles playlist to just 10 - I think I just forgot it used to be 20 when I was making it, but now it looks just right and I don’t feel like adding anything to it.
So with that said, let’s jump in, starting with the HMs.
30. Oneida - Success
29. The Infloresence - Remember What I Look Like
28. Niechęć - Unsubscribe
27. Imarhan - Aboogi
26. Boss Battle - Action Items!
25. Built to Spill - When The Wind Forgets Your Name
24. Porridge Radio - Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky
23. Filthy Militia - Coping Mechanism
22. Yoo Doo Right - A Murmur, Boundless to the East
21. Soothsayers, Victor Rice - Soothsayers Meets Victor Rice and Friends
And now onto the list proper (I’m gonna save the paragraph on listening habits until the end this time). As usual click the album covers to get a representative song from the album.
Over the past few years Typhoon has continued to grow on me more and more as my favorite emotional indie rock act recording today. But with this release, I wonder if they’ve reached their peak, or if it’s just a short downslope before going back up? It felt a little like an album where music serves the concept rather than the other way around, and unfortunately I’m not too crazy about it. It feels too generalized around the feelings of embarrassment, regret and drawing people away, such that I found it hard to be really engrossed in that person’s story, but at the same time it was too specific for me to be able to transpose my own feelings onto it. And as I’ve said the music feels really safe, like they were so worried about it staying consistent with the lyrical content that they minimized experimentation. It’s still in my 5% favorite albums of the year so obviously I still enjoyed it a great lot, but so far this is Typhoon’s one record I’m least likely to return to.
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My first encounter with this pretty well known singer-songwriter pianist with a big voice and knack for very poetically rhythmic lyrics. The craft and talent are impressive all around, but my favorite parts of the album are the more intense and energetic ones - like the track “Delighted” with a bunch of different styles of singing, or the weirdly lively “Genesis” with its simple but effective piano riff. Overall a good introduction to an artist I’ll be sure to follow - I’ve read that this album was intentionally lighter, and going forward his next ones will grow darker and more intense, so I’m excited to hear them.
There’s a bit of background that is almost assuredly influencing my judgment. It’s a new project started by the bassist and drummer duo of Polish alternative rock juggernaut Lao Che, which has been recently disbanded because some of their members (mostly the frontman) wanted to pursue new avenues. But for this rhythm section it was effectively losing their jobs and being forced to find something new to do, such as a new musical project. They found a guitarist and key player quickly, but they struggled to find a vocalist, to the point they debated scrapping the whole project - finally, an experimental legend Jacek Szymkiewicz aka Budyń agreed to join the project and everything clicked.
From the first track it’s clear that the band is taking a lot from the rich tradition of Polish alternative music, that fuses pop, rock, jazz and sung poetry in a very particular fashion. The album is full of interesting arrangements, jumping around many different styles of composing, with simultaneously simple and punchy, but also deceptively poetic lyrics. The music is not afraid of challenging and possibly alienating the listener. It features a cheeky reference to Cool Kids of Death’s most famous song, and if memory serves right the members of Monofon were publicly critical of CKOD 20 years ago, so it makes it an interesting inclusion. I’m mentioning this because I want to illustrate that much of this record’s appeal to me possibly comes from the fact that while I’m not super deep into the Polish alternative scene, I’m at least somewhat versed in it, and I have to wonder how much I would enjoy it without that base of reference.
There is also one more caveat - after the record was mostly finished and Budyń publicly announced his participation in the project, he tragically died of a heart attack a day later, at age of 47. I won’t lie and act like it’s some all-time great of Polish alternative music history that will become a cornerstone going forward, and it might only stay in my memory a bit longer because of its circumstances. But I’m okay with it because I think it’s some really interesting music, even if I’m not super crazy about it.
Very little to say about this one - it’s very soft, emotional and intimate, with minimalistic instrumentation and mostly quiet singing. At its most intense, the track “until the truth of you”, it reminds me a little of Frances Quinlan’s solo debut, but otherwise it’s your fairly standard singer songwriter stuff. Which is fine and neat, just doesn’t really give me much to talk about. I suppose I can note that lyrics trend a little towards illogical, dreamlike end of the spectrum, which works well with the overall tone and atmosphere and make it a neat and tight overall package.
A really curious psychedelic folk album that oscillates between the modern folk sound of something like Modern Nature, and almost like a 60s deep cut that has been dug up from archives of an abandoned recording studio and mastered by some savant sound engineer. The use of reverb, the choice of percussion, the hypnotic patterns, the drowned out singing, all the staples are here, but executed really vividly and with a particular flavor that I can’t quite put my finger on. A stoner record you don’t want to miss.
Just a really fun instrumental rock album, with a bit of classic almost rock’n’roll sound to it, mixed with some stoner sensibilities. It’s like light, inoffensive entertainment, but just really solid and with good energy when you pay attention to it. What you hear is what you get.
Psychedelic stuff feels somewhat overrepresented on this ranking, considering I wasn’t exactly seeking it out unlike certain other genres that barely got representation despite diving deep into them (sorry ska bros). El Perro’s brand is the kind that immediately hooked me, although I don’t feel like I got much out of subsequent listens - all its bluesy and funky qualities are immediately apparent and I find it hard to not be engaged with tracks like “Breaking Free”. My only criticism might be that all of the album kinda blurs together and there isn’t much variety between tracks, but that clearly didn’t stop me from placing it here.
This served as my introduction to this band and I’m definitely diving deep into them pretty much as soon as I’m done with this list. They have a sort of classic, refined indie rock sound that to me is kinda like a lovechild of Built To Spill, Weezer, Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Parquet Courts and Blur. Quite a wide net of references, I know, and of course I have no idea whether any of these were in any way inspirational or if I’m just shooting blindly. But there’s a certain lightness and catchiness, or even iconicness to some of these tracks that I can’t help but be in awe of. Especially the opener “Manny” with its peculiar song structure that teases a breakdown multiple times and utilizes a really fun countdown bridge, and really nostalgic “Weirder & Weirder”, with its blunt, naive metaphor for growing up that instills this really charming, wistful but bright atmosphere. I like the album in general, but these two tracks in particular really elevate it for me, really good stuff.
I just can’t escape this man. Even when he decides to open the album with 40-minute long ballad that starts with very minimal instrumentation, before it eventually gets to the singer describing places, roads and people, but with such a lack of focus that I can’t tell if this song actually tells any story or if it's just a meaningless string of words that sound cool and atmospheric together. It sets the tone for the album really well in that I can’t tell whether it’s meant to be about anything at all, or if it’s intentionally an incoherent mishmash of lyrical and musical ideas, just how the backpack of the person on the cover is just full of all sorts of different stuff. I wonder if this album is a way for Richard to try to sort out what his style even is. Not being bound by a concept or a collaborator, free to express whatever however he wants. I’m not even half convinced I got it right, but I find it interesting to look at that album through that lens - a journey of a hermit to find what commonalities will be present regardless of where he goes. And when it’s such a unique and talented musician as Mr. Dawson, it makes that expedition all the better.
If I had a nickel for every Nigerien desert rock artist featured in my top album lists… I wish I could give them each their own independent focus, but I just can’t help but feel “oh it’s like that other thing I like” here. But when that other thing was my album of last year, chances are I’m gonna like this one a good bit as well. Not quite as much, and I’m not sure if it’s because I prefer Mdou Moctar’s take on the genre, or because the novelty has worn off. But I would say that this one is more chill, more willing to fade into the background rather than forcefully grabbing the listener's attention. It might also be more fun - I’m not much of a dancer, but tracks like “Tarha Warghey Ichile” make it impossible to remain static. And it’s quite virtuous when it comes to instrument playing, so kudos and thanks for all the sound. Check out their live shows if you have a moment.
White Lung has lowkey been one of my favorite bands since I got into checking out new releases - and every time I’m reminded they exist and give “Deep Fantasy” or “Paradise” a listen, I feel like they still keep growing on me. And after their 6 year long break, they finally premiered their latest record, but not before announcing that it’s going to be their last. I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly poignant farewell, for the most part it feels like just one more of their albums, with their really unique soundscape and sense of harmony. Where the crazy guitars, frantic drumming and peculiar style of singing all feel like they come from their own world and all try to play the first fiddle - but somehow they don’t clash but rather work together beautifully. Lyrics about anxieties, feeling trapped and dealing with difficulties compliment the pleasantly energetic sound in a typical punk way, but it’s a very modern version of punk, complex and utilizing a plethora of effects and mixing tricks. Now, this description doesn’t exactly differ with how I’d talk about any of their previous albums, and that’s kind of the kicker here - that nothing about this album really feels final or conclusive, it’s just another one of them, and I suppose in that sense it’s kind of disappointing. On the other hand, if you’d ask me if I’d rather have the band just quietly announce that they have no plans of recording again without making this one - I definitely prefer having it over not having it, and I really like it and I’ll probably return to it as much as to the prior ones. It’s just somewhat disappointing that this record is not as big of a deal as the disbandment.
One of things of note with 2022 for me is that I got back into celtic folk music, a genre I’ve been really into in the past, to the point I got a little overfed with it. But after about a 10 year break I was really excited to revisit it and see what the new record landscape is like. There’s a lot of standards’ performances, songs I’ve heard from many artists before, often with mostly the same instrumentation. There’s also a lot of mixing with other genres, such as The Dreadnoughts’ celtic rock or Drumspyder’s celtic electronic. In the end the one album that really caught my fancy was this one - a mostly classic folk sound that borrows from many different european styles that could honestly serve as a great introduction into this style/genre as a whole. The instrumentation is here, the energy is here, the craft is here, it all just weaves perfectly together into exactly what I wanted when I decided I want to get back into this scene. No more and no less than what it needs to be.
Compared to Monofon’s more wild, modern and experimental sound, this is more on the classic end of that Polish alternative scene spectrum. In fact Voo Voo’s history goes back to 1985, but unlike some of the other acts from the time, I feel like they aged very gracefully and still find something new to say, new musical ideas to employ, or at least use in new interesting ways. Stuff like the horns in the opening track that come sort of from the outside to comment on the song and then bow back out. Tense, almost marching verse of “Się porobiło” suddenly resolving into a light blues rock chorus. The simple yet really interesting loop played throughout most of “Bez saxu” with very few changes, as the vocalist calmly laments on the wicked, two-faced nature of humanity, with just a hint of hope that there’s some good in us that makes it worth it to keep trying. It’s just a very mature, classy and refined album that you can’t help but treat with respect, like the etiquette demands it.
When a band has “Organ Trio” in the name, we are already off to a good start. And when the album is a collection of soul-funk-jazz bangers, and it’s kinda the style of music I’ve been looking for my whole life, yeah we’re eating alright. It feels like it gets down to some sort of essence, harkening back to blues and motown and adding the jazz improvisation sense to it. It feels like music that the artists really enjoy playing, that is however not overwhelming on the listener. And when there’s a really engaging progression like with the lead organ in “I Wanna Be Where You Are”, with interesting turns of phrases that take the listener on a whole journey - the rest of instrumentation plays it safe, even though they can clearly go hard when given their own spot. It’s just a great team that knows when to play lead and supporting roles in service of making the best album possible, and the results are damn impressive.
From the first sung phrases, it’s hard to not be curious about what’s going on here. A deep, nasally voice that hits some relatively high notes somehow without losing those characteristics. Indie rock instrumentation that perfectly supports it, enhancing voice’s qualities by contributing just enough at just the right time and pulling back when necessary. Unsettling lyrics clash with the somewhat pompous and simultaneously nonchalant manner of singing. But then in the second song we go much lighter and more lively, with an “indie hit of the summer” type of song that would also perfectly serve as a hymn for a coming of age movie. It’s not that the album feels incoherent as a whole, but I definitely think about it more in terms of how much I like the individual songs and what impression they leave - and that’s an impression of a really talented artist with a unique voice (both literally and figuratively) that has a lot of cool song ideas and ability to execute them well. I think she’ll do big things.
Louie is unlike most artists I listen to in that I primarily check his stuff out as a YouTuber that consistently posts his neat little musical ideas, often accompanied with cute visuals or interesting concepts (weird instruments, mashing up random records from goodwill, transposing some classic tune to a different genre). And most of them feel almost designed to listen to once, smile and move on rather than to put on a rotation. “funky friends” in some way transcends that - another wacky idea, a soundtrack to a fictional 90s cartoon loosely inspired by “Hey Arnold!”. But the way it’s executed really takes you back to that very particular funk sound that characterized the turn of millenia, seeping its way not just into cartoons but also games (reminded me of Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and WarioLand 4 for instance). It has an overall evening chill aesthetic and it’s just vibes on vibes on vibes. I hope this style makes a comeback at some point (or already has and I just need to find it).
A really interesting melding of screamo sensibilities with prog rock sound that together forms something unlike anything else I’ve heard before. Intense guitars, dominant drumming, synths that desperately try to keep up with the rest of the music and fit their phrase in, and insane post-hardcore wailing of hopelessly honest lyrics. It’s very attention grabbing, very domineering of listener’s thoughts and senses, in a good way. It’s loud and fast and energetic but also very melodic and emotional, but not necessarily over the top, but rather just up to the brim in all these areas, with enough variety to never get boring.
I severely lack context here - I don’t know much about the Chinese music scene and thus have no idea how Qi Zitan’s output fits into it. So I don’t know if what drew me to her is completely unique to her or if she’s a dime a dozen - all I know is that I can’t get enough. There’s just an absolutely intoxicating, almost otherworldly quality to her singing. Like it’s unnatural, but not in the sense that it sounds artificial or robotic, moreso supernatural if anything. Like the high notes she hits on the title track that feel like they should break the scale, but she somehow keeps them contained and pleasant. Or the vocalizations in opening “小城女孩 (Small Town Girl)” or vibrato in the 7th track “孤女情挑 (Women)”. The instrumentation perfectly compliments it, serving mostly as a minimal chamber pop backdrop, although I also found it welcome when organs and horns joined the fray in the title track to add soul energy to the whole mix. But in the end it all comes back to that voice which I just can’t have enough of.
5 years and 12 albums later, I might finally have a new favorite Gizz record. It certainly encompasses many of the things I liked about their previous output the most - epic psychedelic sound, some folk inspirations, but ultimately trying to find something new and unique. Each composition has a very unique feel and energy to it despite sharing mostly the same soundscape. Tracks are really intricately layered, they have these extended sections of noodling or maybe even improvisation that adds so much flavor to the whole thing. It’s all just so rich, but simultaneously very melodic and pleasant to listen to. It doesn’t necessarily feel like some sort of ultimate version of Gizzer though - just another well realized facade to add to their totem pole of a band identity. I’m not sure they even could contain all that in a single album if they tried at this point.
This album lands right in the particular sound that I’ve been chasing for a very long time now - a specific fusion of soul, jazz, blues and funk that I could only ever find in select tracks and wondered how come this isn’t an entire genre unto itself. And finally, I got everything I wanted - the swing and the spice, the class and the acid. Every single composition on this 33-tracks-long record is just fantastic, with amazing vocal and instrumental performances, great variety of tones and emotions, some more personal, some more epic, thoroughly exploring that sound I’ve wanted more of my whole life. There’s not much I can do to sell it with words, it’s just an extremely high quality, polished and consistent record that I just can’t imagine anyone listening to and not appreciating on some level.
***
I’ve mentioned last year that I’m planning on figuring out some triage system for checking out new music. It ended up actually working out really well - it’s my second highest number of albums checked, much fewer than the insane amount from last year and just a few more than 2020, and that’s probably the sweet spot for me. Moreover, my mean score for this year is the highest by a nice margin, and I feel like I enjoyed music a lot more in general. And I think I still check out a decent variety of artists and styles, so I still get the satisfaction of keeping my horizons relatively wide. I’m probably not changing much this year, though I’m thinking of some automation process to pull album scores from databases and generate playlists for me to check out, instead of having to manually go through release lists (and I end up picking stuff mostly by score and genre anyway). But otherwise, yeah, huge playlists with a bunch of singles to listen to and pick out albums from where the key, who knew.
In any case, it’s refreshing to put a cap on a year so early - let’s hope 2023 will be as good in terms of music and better in every other aspect.
Top singles backup list:
Kevin Morby - This is a Photograph
RIM - Tick Tock Boy
Gang Of Youths - brothers
Talco - Lo spettacolo
The Mysterines - Still Call You Home
The Lumineers - WHERE WE ARE
Death Bells - Passerby
The Skluttz - First World Problems
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Burning
QUEENDOM - Chiki Chiki Ban Ban
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