Music Reviews

After what’s been what I honestly consider one of the best years for music in recent memory, I am finally happy to present my personal picks (so keep in mind that these are objectively correct and any other opinion is automatically false and invalid) for my TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2022! No but honestly though, I know this probably won’t reach a single musician out there, but a special thanks to everyone that contributed to the musical sphere this year, it really has been a hell of journey and here I’d like to show you some of my favorite moments from it – so without further a do, let’s get into it, starting off with…

10.) Björk – Fossora (strong 8/10)

Strange hearing all this fuzz about the Queen dying when Björk is still here releasing some of the finest albums of the year. In all seriousness though, this album is pretty fantastic – the psychedelic elements are through the roof with this one and there is always just this feeling present throughout this whole album of something just feeling a bit off but in like the best way possible. Björk really shows here that even after all these years she is still capable of releasing a conceptual masterpiece – check out the title track to see what I mean.

9.) Denzel Curry – Melt My Eyez See Your Future (strong 8/10)

On what is arguably his most cohesive and lyrically impactful album yet Denzel defends his status as one of hip-hop’s finest in the last few years – not only that but this album has my favorite song of the entire year „Walkin“ on it so yeah, the rest of it is bound to be at least great. If this peaks your intrest I’d also recommend you checking out the Extended soul edition of this album, just to answer your question if this album can even get any better.

8.) Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (strong 8/10)

I know right, what a shocker this ended up on here. What can be said about this album that hasn’t been said a milion times throughout this year already – it’s Kendrick’s most human most voulnarable and flawed album to date and that’s what also makes it one my absolute favorites from him. I really think this is a serious step up from DAMN. and I can’t wait to see where his musical trajectory takes him next – check out „N95“ and „Mother I Sober“.

7.) Viagra Boys – Cave World (light 9/10)

Now we’re getting into the big ones, the 9/10s and so on – starting off with Viagra Boys’s Cave World and I have to say this is the most musically colorful and tasteful album I’ve heard probably the entire year – the album cover strangely reflects that almost alarmingly well. There are like one or two tracks that weight this thing down from being basically flawless but besides those yeah, this thing is basically flawless and more importantly, just so much fun to listen to – go listen to „Troglodyte“ and „Return To Monke“ to get a taste.

6.) Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (light 9/10)

This album is the musical equivalent of a long warm hug. I swear find me an album this year that’s as just warm as fuzzy or as welcoming as this one is – and Big Thief still manage to sneak in some really intresting experimentation here and there without it sounding odd or out of place, everything on this album is just so natural, so non-forced, so just incredibly relaxed. I can’t recommend this album enough to basically anyone, I can’t really see how anyone can dislike this – some highlights definetly include the title track and the stunningly beautiful „Simulation Swarm“

5.) JID – The Forever Story (decent 9/10)

(sorry for the low quality picture on this one, I’m too lazy to find a better pic lol) Yeah this is my rap aoty and it’s not even close. This thing just absolutely never stops punching you in the face the entire way through, whether it’s the lyrics or the at point insane sampling and instrumentation or just the insane consistency this album keeps all the way through – there just is not a moment to breather with this thing, you’ll just be constantly hitting these different musical peaks that just never stop coming. This is also JID’s best album hands down and I have no doubt in my mind that he is only going to continue to deliver this quality of music even more – you don’t wanna miss out on banger such as „Surround Sound“ or “ Kody Blu 31″.

4.) black midi – Hellfire (decent 9/10)

I mean if you know this band you really don’t need me to tell you how good they are – the’ve come out with some exceptionally great stuff over the years but ladies and gentlemen I gotta say this one right here tops all of that of. The sheer insanity that’s just condensed into this 39 minute literal hellride is overwhelming even for someone who is used this kind of stuff let alone for someone who just found about these guys – either way it’s definetly worht giving it a shot, like if you don’t wanna miss out on a record this year than this one right here is that record, try „Sugar/Tzu“ or „Welcome To Hell“.

3.) Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems (strong 9/10)

Yeah for the longest time this has been my number 2 pick, when at the last second a truly unexpected album swooped in and took that spot, however that still doesn’t mean this album doesn’t absolutely kick my ass everytime I listen to it and I listen to it A LOT. This right here is just pure agression in musical form and all the proof in the world that punk is not dead and very much alive and well. „Coming Correct Is Cheaper“ and „Spiritual Levels of Gang Shit“ are my personal favorites.

2.) Quadeca – I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You (strong 9/10)

Never in a milion year would I have expected a fricking Quadeca album to even make such a list let alone be this high but here we are. I mean if you’ve read my glowing in-depth review for this thing you already know that I’m pretty much in love with this project, like besides like a cut or two all the songs here are flawless masterpieces which makes it all that impressive that it’s all been recordered by just some dude who used to make corny youtube raps. But yeah, nothing I can say about this record can really do it justice, if you want some key tracks then try „tell me a joke“ or „house settling“ but honestly just listen to the whole album.

Now before we get to the number one spot I’d like to just breefly introudce some

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Pusha T – It’s Almost Dry

-key tracks: Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes; Diet Coke

Beach House – Once Twice Melody

-key tracks: Superstar; Over and Over

Black Thought & Danger Mouse – Cheat Codes

-key tracks: Because; Aquamarine

Saba – Few Good Things

-key tracks: 2012; Few Good Things

FKA Twigs – CAPRISONGS

-key tracks: meta angel; tears in the club

And now finally for the number one spot – the number one best album of 2022, in my eyes, is…

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

Yeah, big surprise there right? This album is flawless for me – from the minute I put this thing on I knew that this was gonna be something special. I enjoyed the band’s last album „For the first time“ well enough but I just had a gut feeling that they were capable of making something even more ambitious and even more mind-blowing and low and behold I was right – this album is everything and more than that. This album means quite a lot to me – it was there for me during some really tough times this year and for that it hold quite a special place in my heart. Normally I’d recommend you like a track or two to check out but with this album I really can’t recomment enought just sitting down and listening all the way through – it may not be ompletely your thing at first but trust me when I say this album really grows on you with each and every listen until you just can’t stop listening at all.

So yeah, there you have it, a complete list of my top 10 favorite albums from this year with some honorable mentions thrown in there aswell (this honestly took way longer then it should have to make lol). Don’t really have much of an outro plan here, so let’s just say see you all here in another year!

Let me just start off by saying that 2021 has been an INCREDIBLE year for music – I honestly think the best one since like 2018 and that was one hell of year for music. For many people, to some extent including me, music was one of the few things that kept them going through this hellish year – we can only hope that 2022 will be better for all of us. Now let’s talk administration: this list will NOT be including EPs, only studio releases released between January 1st and December 31st of this year. Also if some of these scores are different then in my original reviews of these records, then that’s not a typo, but the fact that opinions do indeed change overtime, a hard pill to swallow for so many people for some reason.

10.) Porter Robinson – Nurture (decent 8)

Yep, this electronic yet very human album takes up the 10th spot at this list and I feel like I shouldn’t really have to explain why – this album alone is for many people what gave them hope this year and it is indeed a very hopeful album, but it’s also so much more than that. You leave it feeling like you’re floating on a cloud, it’s such an up-lifting surreal expirience, it’s beyond me – Porter Robinson just has such an ear for catchy tunes that just click. Key tracks include „Something Comforting“ and „Look At the Sky“.

9.) JPEGMAFIA – LP! (OFFLINE) (strong 8)

Oh yeah, I’ve heard this thing a million times over and I honestly remember very little from it, but I STILL keep coming back – that’s the JPEGMAFIA effect. Peggy comes through with an amazing effort, combining elements from all of his past efforts into one cohesive mess of an album, that you just can’t help but keep coming back to. Definetly one of the albums that’s more about the whole feeling and vibe of the record, then each individual track’s greatnest. Also listening to this on acid must be something else. Check out „REBOUND!“ and „WHAT KIND OF RAPPIN‘ IS THIS?“.

8.) Spelling – The Turning Wheel (strong 8)

Oh yeah, Fantano fans are gonna want my head off for this one, but even though I find this to be a magical and gorgeous expirience like the rest of you, I honestly don’t see this as a 10 – it definetly has it’s flaws, but who am I to complain about them, when they are mostly just nit-picks or stuff that entirely depends and your current mood – that’s also a thing with this album, being patient gives BIG pay-offs, but if you’re in the mood for something more instant, then maybe try listening to this record another time. It also get progressively more dark throughout and I find that to be a very nice touch. „Little Deer“ and „Boys At School“ is where it’s at.

7.) Tyler, the Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost (strong 8)

Tyler’s been on a roll with these past few projects, like from Flower Boy to this album here is one of the most impressive 3 album runs I’ve seen in music in a while. This new installment in the Tylerverse sees Tyler teaming up with DJ Drama who mostly just shouts all over the record, be he is doing great as a hypeman – it gets me pumped everytime I hear him come on, which is a lot of this record. Anyways Tyler does great as per usual, he seems to be in a better place in his life then he was the past few records and seems to be just enjoying life while he still can – some bangers you can’t miss out on are „WUSYANAME“ with NBA Youngboy who KILLS IT vocally and „JUGGERNAUT“ with Lil Uzi Vert and Pharell Williams, who does surprisingly well too.

6.) black midi – Cavalcade (strong 8)

Yeah, I was prett late to the party with this one, but over the past few days this has become an instant favorite of mine. The so unhinched spirit this record has, it in a strange way reminds me of Radiohead’s „In Rainbows“, one of my personal favorite albums, in a sense that everything just sounds so natural and dare I say human – though this album is much more abstract and harsh than that record is. It also has a really nice pacing to it, you constantly feel like you’re moving through an expirience, it never gets tiring nor overbearing, it keeps it at the right amount of insane. Listen to „Slow“ and the opener „John L“ to see what I mean.

5.) Silk Sonic – An Evening With Silk Sonic (light 9)

Oh yeah, I’ve been DYING to hear this one the past couple months and when it finally came out, people went sicko mode over it – and you can’t really blame them, this thing delivers exactly what it promised, two great musicians colaborating and having some fun in the studio while creating some of the catchiest, slickes music of the whole year, nothing more, nothing less. You really can’t call yourself a fan of music this year if you haven’t heard tracks like „Leave The Door Open“ or „Fly As Me“ – see? Even the titles just scream so much fun, so stop what you’re doing and treat your ear drums with this goddamn record (it’s only about half an hour short).

4.) Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (light 9)

This record prooves two things – b***h can rap and conscious hip-hop is still alive and well. I love this record with all my heart, I mean you already know I do, but I just want to express how much. This album makes any rap song by any artist this year look like a kindergarten lullaby. My mind is just blown by how well-executed and also articulated this record truly is, like she is SPITTING on this album. Also yaass Queen but unironically. PLEASE, for the love of god, give „Introvert“ and „Woman“ a listen, you won’t be disapointed, I promise.

3.) Parannoul – To See the Next Part of the Dream (decent 9)

Hey, what’s this shoegaze stuff, it sounds pretty good, huh? But for reall, this record is amazing. I fell in love with this album the moment I heard it, it grabbed me and then just refused to let go, but I honestly just wasn’t even resisting, because I would forfeit all my mortal posessions to this album if I could. Okay well maybe that’s a bit exaggerated, but you see what I mean, this album is like a musical hug. This is THE most underrated album this year, spin „Beautiful World“ and „Yout Rebellion“ to see for yourself. I’m gonna go listen to right after I finnish writing this honestly.

2.) Black Country, New Road – For the first time (decent 9)

The only good thing to come out of Brittain this year – doesn’t change the fact that it still doesn’t exist though. Now for the longest time, this album was my album of the year, no questions whatsoever – it really is like everything I like about music in one album. It packs an emotional punch, it has sax, it has ambition and flow, sax, it’s simple yet really detailed, THE GODDAMN SA- but most important of all – it’s not boring. Good god, this album is many things, but not boring. More than anything though, it showed potential – I have no doubt that this group will only get better as time goes on and seeing as this is their DEBUT ALBUM, I have some really high expectations. Your high expectations will certainly be met with tracks such as „Sunglasses“ and „Opus“. But one album last minute decided to change that number one placement and before I tell you what that album is, here are some few honorable mentions.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

-key tracks: it’s a GY!BE record, you don’t listen to „tracks“ on here, just listen to the whole thing

-key tracks: „You Loose!“ (god I love this song) and „Chaeri“

-key tracks: „Welcome To the Internet“ and „Bezos I“

-key tracks: „Welcome To Horrorwood“ and „Hip To Be Scared“

-key tracks: „All My Favorite Songs“ (NOT THE AJR REMIX for Christ’s sake…) and „Aloo Gobi“

-key tracks: „Off The Grid“, „Come To Life“ and „Jesus Lord“

-key tracks: the same as for the offline version

-key tracks: „Happier Than Ever“ and „Getting Older“

Now: without further ado, my no. 1 album of the year 2021 is…

1.) Injury Reserve – By the Time I Get to Phoenix (10)

Yeah, if you’ve read my review for this thing then you’ve probably seen this coming. This album takes my breath away everytime I hear it – not even the mention of 5G towers can ruin my expirience of this album. I haven’t had this good of a cry as I had to „Top Picks for You“ in ages – that would also be my pick for a song to check out from this album, aswell as „Knees“, both spectacular songs, but the whole album is just otherworldly – metaphorically and literally, because this album sounds like it was made on another realm of existence. Also it’s a 10 for those of you who are just here to see the score, so just go stream the damn thing, if you feel like you can handle it.