2022 was an exciting year in many respects, the music world being no exception. If you’re looking for recommendations of what to listen to, the following are ten of my favorite albums released last year, plus several honorable mentions. The top five will have longer descriptions, while the rest of the main list will just have overviews.

#10  |  death’s dynamic shroud – Darklife (9.1/10)

Genre: Glitch Pop

Even though I call this album glitch pop, really its genre is impossible to pin down. Regardless of which genre it is though, one thing I can say for certain is that it has absolutely insane production and sounds like nothing else released in 2022. It’s super addicting to listen to and instantly replayable. I was actually shocked to realize that this album is over an hour in runtime, as it feels so easy to just get lost in it and pay no mind to how much time has passed. Not every song hits in the same way, but it’s consistent enough overall for me to consider it a real album experience. It’s a close call, but I think my favorite song is the multi-phased “Judgement Bolt”; I’ve listened to it on its own more than anything else.

#9  |  Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems (9.1/10)

Genre: Hardcore Punk

One of the ways in which my own music taste changed over 2022 is that I came to appreciate punk music a lot more, in no small part because of Diaspora Problems. Right from the moment when the drums come in on the opener, it is some of the hardest-hitting music you’ll hear from 2022. This album is non-stop insanity, but also has a lot of really interesting musical ideas as well as social commentary. Really, the only complaint I have about this album is that it’s a bit too sonically consistent at times, and I sometimes get tired listening to it. That being said though, I can always appreciate this album in smaller doses. My favorite song has to be the opener “Gold Chain Punk”. This is the clear winner for my favorite punk album of the year.

#8  |  Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (9.2/10)

Genre: Indie Folk

One of the biggest compliments I can give to Big Thief’s Dragon New Warm Mountain is that, even at 20 songs and a combined runtime of an hour and 20 minutes, it never once feels stale. From the first moments of the opener “Change”, one gets a feeling of warmth; the music is reminiscent of exactly what the cover depicts: a night spent sitting around the campfire with friends. While this album maintains a similar vibe throughout, it expresses it through a variety of genre blends, which keeps things interesting yet consistent. The first five songs are all perfect in my books, but my favorite overall has to be “Simulation Swarm”, which ups both the lyrical interest and catchiness from other songs, while maintaining the beautiful instrumentation. This is easily my pick for folk album of the year.

#7  |  Denzel Curry – Melt My Eyez See Your Future (The Extended Edition) (9.2/10)

Genre: Conscious Hip-Hop

Denzel Curry released one of the best hip-hop albums of the year in March. He then performed one of the best Tiny Desk Concerts of the year in June, which used more live instrumentation than the original songs, thanks to help from the Cold-Blooded Soul Band. Then, as if all of that wasn’t enough, he released an extended version of the original album, adding on ten songs that all featured the Cold-Blooded Soul Band. The original album would’ve placed a bit lower, but the extended version is just too good. My favorite song on the original album is “Walkin”; my favorite extended version song is a toss-up between “Chrome Hearts” and “X-Wing”. This album is amazing, go listen to it if you haven’t already; as Curry himself said, “This is not rap… [it’s] more like bebop”.

#6  |  Weyes Blood – And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow (9.3/10)

Genre: Baroque Pop

This Weyes Blood album is absolutely ethereal. Each song feels like its own journey that builds up to sheer bliss. The instrumentation is (mostly) consistently stunning. My favorite song has to be “God Turn Me Into A Flower”, as I think its build-up is a tier above any other song, but it’s a close call with the opener, “Grapevine”, and “Hearts Aglow”. This album also was surprisingly dynamic, including a range of sounds and doing almost all of them well. While I think it dips in quality a bit with “Twin Flame”, the entire first half of the album is a work of art, and it sticks the landing well too. I would strongly recommend this album, even if you don’t typically like slow-burner-type tracks.

#5  |  DOMi & JD BECK – NOT TiGHT (9.3/10)

Genre: Jazz Fusion

One of my favorite things in the music world is when a new artist gains attention with a sound that is very much not at the forefront of the industry. Another one of my favorite things is when said artist wins “Best New Artist” at the Grammys… Oh wait, DOMi & JD BECK didn’t win. Grammys complaint aside, NOT TiGHT, the debut album from the jazz duo DOMi & JD BECK is everything I want and more from a jazz album in 2022. I would also recommend listening to their Tiny Desk Concert to get a sense of what they’re all about (and to have your mind blown by their insane talent). Though I love many of the vocal performances on this album, I’m very glad that they decided to make 7 out of the 13 main songs purely instrumental, allowing them to just showcase the raw creativity and talent that they both have. 

Songs like “WHATUP”, the title track, and “SPACE MOUNTAiN” are some of my favorites on the album, and feature no vocals. That being said, the songs that do have vocals are very hit-or-miss for me, either being some of my favorites or least favorites. Both of the songs featuring Anderson .Paak, for example, are absolutely stunning, though this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has listened to Paak. I especially love “TAKE A CHANCE”, which has an otherworldly groove in the verses, made up of both upright bass and synthesized bass, syncopated keyboard hits, and a distinctive drum pattern. When the instantly catchy hook comes around, the drums lighten up, and much of the space that had been taken up by the keys is replaced with stunning vocal harmonies. This song is really something not of this world. On the other side of songs that feature vocals, there’s “BOWLiNG”, which doesn’t feel like it has the strongest sense of direction, as well as “MOON”, which features legend Herbie Hancock. I love Hancock as much as anyone, but the weird Daft Punk-esque vocals he gives on this song are really just a non-starter. Despite these relative lows, the grooves are always there, and I am always beyond words for the amount of talent these two have. Seriously, listen to this thing and see for yourself.

#4  |  Ghais Guevara – There Will Be No Super-Slave (9.4/10)

Genre: Experimental Hip-Hop

Ghais Guevara is another artist that I hadn’t heard before 2022, but has quickly become one of my favorites to listen to. It’s not hard to get why, though. From front to back, There Will Be No Super-Slave is written, produced, and performed by Guevara; this adds a lot of character and personality to the music, which allows it to stand out against a lot of other hip-hop. Personally, I think this album’s greatest strength is that it feels impossible to stop listening to. Not only are there very few misses in the tracklist, the songs flow together in such a way that makes the album feel like a complete experience. In terms of the actual music, the beats on this project are some of the most interesting out there, exemplified by songs like “This Ski Mask Ain’t For COVID” and “Luminescence Peers Thru Their Confinement”, and Guevara has a real knack for sampling, showcased excellently in songs like “Patrisse Cullors Stole My Lunch Money” and “I Personally Wouldn’t Have Released John McCain”.

While I’m not as sold on some of the beats, notably the one on “Mimicry of the Settlers”, they’re at least excellent overall. Lyrically, this album covers relevant topics–mainly racism–from a personal and often cleverly written perspective. The way Guevara writes about these issues while staying witty (and sometimes humorous) really is impossible to describe. The lyrics aren’t the main factor that have me returning to the album as much as I do, but each time I come back to it, I notice a clever and/or socially relevant hidden gem that I hadn’t caught before, so they certainly aren’t a downside. My favorite song on the album has to be the opener #FREEMIR, which features Guevara rapping some of his most potent writing over eerie strings, one of the most standout lines being “When they said to die in a war / but when my body becomes an example they profit, they padding the score / salt in the wound that was given by poverty”. This album is amazing, but it isn’t my favorite hip-hop album of the year.

#3  |  Grace Ives – Janky Star (9.5/10)

Genre: Indie Pop

When assessing the list of my favorite albums of 2022, Grace Ives’ Janky Star is a bit of an outlier. It isn’t particularly experimental, nor is it the most conceptual, nor does it have very grand production. I think its simplicity is actually its biggest strength, though. At under 30 minutes in total runtime, there’s no time for filler, and there certainly isn’t any. If simplicity is Janky Star’s greatest strength, then its second-greatest has to be its production. This is one of the best-produced pop albums I’ve heard in a while, and Ives isn’t afraid to let the unique production take center stage for a lot of the album. Although I initially didn’t care for some quirks in Ives’ vocal delivery, they grew on me a lot throughout my first listen, and I now can’t picture this album with anyone else singing on it. 

Lyrically, this album isn’t too deep; it’s not bad by any means, but it also isn’t anything crazy for the indie pop world. I don’t see this as a huge detriment to the album though, as, like I mentioned, the production and Ives’ delivery are really what appeal to me. Additionally, to put it simply, this album has some great hooks. The chorus of “Angel of Business” has been in my head in some form since I first heard it, and even on songs like “Back in LA”, which I don’t think has a strong hook, the production is enough to keep my interest. My favorite song overall has to be “Lullaby”, which features another great hook and lyrically digs deeper with the repeated line “What a mess, what a lovely mess / What a lie, what a lie / I watch that movie ten times a day / I can recite it, you press replay”. This album is pretty easily my favorite pop album of the year, and at such a brief runtime, there’s no reason not to give it a listen.

#2  |  JID – The Forever Story (9.8/10)

Genre: Conscious Hip-Hop

This album is another one that, at the beginning of the year, I would not have expected to place as highly as it did on this list. I wasn’t a big fan of JID prior to hearing The Forever Story, but I can confidently say after listening several times that I have been converted. This is everything I want in a hip-hop album: great production, great lyrics, and great performances across the board. The beats are consistently memorable on this album, and each song has really dynamic production that leads to not a single song becoming boring. Also, the production is varied enough that all 15 songs feel unique, but still connected under the same umbrella. The lyrical content that JID goes into on this album on songs such as “Crack Sandwich”, “Kody Blu 31”, “Sistanem”, and the closer “Lauder Too” portray his relationship with his family as well as greater societal issues, such as poverty and racism.

To compliment these socially conscious songs, JID keeps the energy high with some straight-up bangers as well.. Some of my favorites are “Raydar”, “Can’t Punk Me”, “Surround Sound”, and “Dance Now”, which is also my favorite song on the album. JID’s overall performance on this album might just be what makes it for me, though. I’m not one to typically notice when rappers switch their flows, but I’m certain that JID doesn’t use the same flow for more than a part of a verse a single time on this album. To top this off, if JID wasn’t talented enough as a rapper, he’s also a great singer and isn’t afraid to show this on songs like “Kody Blu 31”. The features he brings in also do a nice job of adding a lot to the songs they’re on, most notably EARTHGANG on “Can’t Punk Me” and Yasiin Bey (AKA Mos Def) on “Stars”. In terms of negatives, all I have on this album are nitpicks. I’m not crazy about “Just In Time” or “Better Days”, but I wouldn’t call either a skip by any means. It’s closer than I like to admit, but this is my favorite hip-hop album of the year. Also, this is another one where I would highly recommend the Tiny Desk Concert.

#1  |  Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There (10/10)

Genre: Art Rock

I would be lying if I said that any other album released last year had a good chance against Ants From Up There. In fact, I myself was shocked at how close The Forever Story managed to come. But while there are moments (granted, few and far between) on The Forever Story that I personally don’t think add to its overall experience, the same can’t be said for Ants From Up There. Every moment on this album has intention, from the minute-long intro track to the final moments of the 12-minute closer “Basketball Shoes”, which, as an aside, features a reappearance of the prominent motif of the intro.

The lush instrumentation on this album makes some of the most stunning music I’ve heard, contrasted with the pained vocal delivery to create a wholly unique experience. The 5/8 meter intro immediately brings the listener in, and the whole thing builds up very effectively for the song’s short runtime. It all leads into the following song, “Chaos Space Marine”, which I think is one of the more replayable songs on the album. It features lines such as “So I’m leaving this body and I’m never coming home again, yeah, I’ll bury the hatchet between the window and the kingdom of men” that just leave me at a loss. It ends by referencing future songs on the album, a touch that adds so much to it feeling like a holistic experience. The following song, “Concorde”, features stunning lyrics comparing the narrator’s love to a plane reaching the light of the sun. I could go into every song on the album, even the instrumental “Mark’s Theme” (especially that one, actually), but to not spoil the album, I’ll leave it there. If I had to pick a favorite song from it, I would have to go with “The Place Where He Inserted The Blade”. The lyricism on it is somehow a tier above the already brilliant lyricism of the rest of the album, and it instrumentally builds up to a gorgeous climax. There really is nothing negative I can say about this album; I simultaneously am completely awed and anguished by it. I can easily say that this is my album of the year.