I made it! Just in time.
Spotify playlist for My Top 10 Albums can be found here.
Perhaps the most surprising entry on the list the year, this LA-based indie rock trio stumbled onto my radar randomly with the amazing single “Medicine”, and then grew on me even more after I decided to check out the full album. Their third studio release, Household Name is a brilliant, tightly-constructed showcase of founders Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten’s intuitive and unique dual vocal delivery, backed by huge crunching guitar hooks. Definitely an artist I’ll be keeping an eye on in the future.
9. Never Had To Leave – Matt Maeson
Virginia Beach-based singer-songwriter Matt Maeson’s sophomore follow-up to 2019’s Bank on the Funeral is more epic in every way — bigger production, bigger hooks, bigger risks. “Blood Runs Red” sets the tone from the jump, and generally doesn’t disappoint from there on out. The introduction of more hip-hop and electronic influences are mostly well-done (though “Cut Deep” falls flat to me), but belting out sincere, heartfelt folk rock anthems is still Maeson’s bread-and-butter (“Lonely As You” is a classic, “Nelsonwood Lane” is a triumph). Definitely on my must-see-live list.
I hadn’t listened to Maggie Rogers much before hearing this album, but I was blown away by the singer-songwriter’s sophomore release. This is a sensational album from a bona fide rock star that oh, by the way, also somehow earned a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School this year (what?). Rogers has an instantly captivating voice and knows how to craft a killer hook, which she does many times on this album (check out jams like “Want Want,” “Anywhere With You,” “Shatter”). Her songwriting skills shine on the quieter moments too (“Begging For Rain,” “I’ve Got A Friend”); this is an album that I’ll probably still be listening to years from now.
7. No Rules Sandy – Sylvan Esso
Amelia Meath and Nick Sandborn already make electronic pop that sounds like nothing and no one else, so what happens when they set out to make an album with “no rules”? Possibly their best record to date. The songs experiment with unique forms and structures, shifting seamlessly from one to the next with the help of brief interludes of “found” audio from their recording sessions to create a cohesive and consistent whole that’s more than the sum of its parts. There aren’t really many traditional singles here (possibly with the exception of “Sunburn” or “Echo Party”) but that somehow doesn’t make it less catchy. “Your Reality,” the album’s brilliant centerpiece, doesn’t even really have any percussion to speak of, letting sparse staccato synth and string samples and Meath’s hypnotic vocals carry the rhythm. It’s an album that stuck with me and kept me coming back for lots of repeated listens.
6. Dropout Boogie – The Black Keys
The Black Keys have consistently been one of my favorite bands since college, and even when I haven’t loved every musical evolution they’ve attempted, I’ve always been impressed at their valiant effort to Keep Rock Alive. They definitely do that with Dropout Boogie, which I think is their best album in 10 years (though I did love the delta blues detour of last year’s Delta Kream). Finally getting to see these guys live this year was a highlight — it’s really hard to overstate how mind-blowingly insane Dan Auerbach’s guitar skills are when you see them in person — and they hit all the right notes with this record. “Wild Child” and “It Ain’t Over” blow the doors off at the start, and even though it can be a little inconsistent (I see “Your Team Is Looking Good” trying to make that TV sports broadcast royalty money…), when it’s good, it’s very good (“Good Love,” “Happiness,” and the excellent closer “Didn’t I Love You”).
All hail the greatest songwriter of our generation — or at least the last decade. Taylor loves to keep fans guessing about which of love interests her various songs are about, but the truth — the one she admitted in that award acceptance speech — is that she’s completely, head-over-heels, obsessively in love with the craft of songwriting. It shows: Midnights is a masterpiece from a master talent. Her storytelling is exquisite. The turns of phrase are unparalleled. The melodies are instinctive. I personally think the production partnerships and musical direction she’s taken since Folklore have produced my favorite Taylor era to date sonically speaking, and I’m enjoying every second of it.
How do I put this? This is the most fun I you’ll have listening to music this year. Like, laugh-out-loud, hitting-rewind-immediately-to hear-that-line-again-type fun. This Isle of Wight-based duo’s debut has topped all sorts of charts and lists this year (and racked up 5 Grammy Nominations to boot), and for good reason: Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers are turning the indie rock world completely on its head. Chock full of fearlessly irreverent, razor-sharp humor, extremely dry wit, and nonstop infectious indie guitar rock, you get the feeling this self-titled debut is just the tip of the iceberg for what these two are capable of. Come for the raw, suggestive slapstick of “Chaise Longue” and “Wet Dream,” enjoy savage breakup jams like “Loving You” and “Ur Mom”, detour into the internet fever dream of “Oh No,” stay for the genius of “Angelica” and “Convincing”.
3. Un Verano Sin Ti – Bad Bunny
It’s hard to dispute that Bad Bunny is the biggest pop star in the world right now (he’s the most-streamed artist worldwide on Spotify for 3 consecutive years), and this album deserves every bit of the smash success it’s been. It’s a lot of things at once: simultaneously an irresistibly fun dance album for the beach, full of banger after banger, and also deeply introspective and boldly political. Basically the soundtrack of my summer, it managed to do something very rare: completely transcend the language barrier. My Spanish comprehension is mediocre at best, and even less so when it comes to understanding all the nuances of his (many) Puerto Rican cultural references, but you don’t even need to understand a word of Spanish to fall in love with this album.
2. Expert in a Dying Field – The Beths
The Beths first made my top albums list with their 2020 sophomore effort Jump Rope Gazers (#9) and this Auckland indie rock quartet’s third release has cemented their place as one of my favorite bands at the moment. The album pulses with sunny, infectious energy (“When You Know You Know”), huge shredding guitar riffs (“Silence Is Golden,” “A Passing Rain”), and instantly singable hooks (“Knees Deep” has one of the best choruses of the year, hands down). Elizabeth Stokes’ vocals are as magnetic as ever — I smile every time I hear the heavy Kiwi accents on the vowels in “Best Left” — and Expert in a Dying Field is an impressive statement by a band just beginning to hit their stride.
1. Being Funny In A Foreign Language – The 1975
There was never any doubt. The 1975’s fifth studio album is a masterpiece. Where 2020’s Notes on a Conditional Form pushed boundaries with its relentless experimentation, manic genre-hopping, and indulgently excessive run time, BFIAFL is far tighter, more focused, and polished to a fine sheen. Matty Healy sounds the most confident, relaxed, and (finally) content he’s ever been in his own skin. The 1975 is always brilliant, but never with the consistency that they showcase here — the guys just find a perfect groove and then proceed to crush it from start to finish, with not a single weak track to be found. Lyrically, it’s brilliant. Production? Brilliant. Orchestration? Brilliant. They named their latest tour “The 1975: At Their Very Best,” and…well, it’s pretty hard to argue with that.
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Honorable Mention:
Unwanted – Pale Waves – Their 00s alt nostalgia turn from last year’s Who Am I? gets a darker, edgier dose of the current pop punk revival wave. A killer breakup album.
Hell on Church Street – Punch Brothers – A reverent, gorgeous “reimagining” of Tony Rice’s classic 1983 album Church Street Blues.
HOLY FVCK – Demi Lovato – One of the boldest and most stunning reinventions I’ve seen any pop artist attempt–much less successfully pull off. I found myself raising my eyebrows and applauding throughout…a triumph.
V I N C E N T – FKJ – Something about this album makes it incredibly effective at reducing stress. Perfect production choices, effortlessly smooth, coolness personified.
Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind – Coheed and Cambria – I’ve never been a huge Coheed fan, and I found the cryptic space-opera narrative hard to follow, but this one kept me coming back repeatedly.
MAHAL – Toro y Moi – Genius sound design and typically phenomenal production made this a great album to just put on and play all the way through. Some bangers on here too.
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Top 40 Songs of 2022 (Spotify playlist)
- Happiness – The 1975
- Angelica – Wet Leg
- Knees Deep – The Beths
- Church Street Blues – Punch Brothers
- Way Out – FKJ
- Want Want – Maggie Rogers
- Holding Back – BANKS
- Light Switch – Charlie Puth
- Better Times – Audiostrobelight
- Medicine – Momma
- Wild Child – The Black Keys
- SUBSTANCE – Demi Lovato
- Anti-Hero – Taylor Swift
- Silence Is Golden – The Beths
- Despues de la Playa – Bad Bunny
- Living My Best Life – Ben Rector
- Up The Mountain – Regina Spektor
- Your Reality – Sylvan Esso
- Another Sketch – Lil Silva
- Oh Caroline – The 1975
- Clean – Pale Waves
- A Real Thing – The Beths
- Free – Florence + The Machine
- About You – The 1975
- Happiness – The Black Keys
- Talk – beabadoobee
- Nelsonwood Lane – Matt Maeson
- How Did You Know – Sylvan Esso
- I’m In Love With You – The 1975
- graves – Purity Ring
- CHILDREN OF LIGHT II – Meg Myers
- The Liars Club – Coheed and Cambria
- Question…? – Taylor Swift
- Ojitos Lindos – Bad Bunny
- Burning – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Window – Dehd
- Little Things – Big Thief
- Postman – Toro y Moi
- Baby Blackout – Daisy Grenade
- boy – The Killers
Alex's Top Albums 