Keeping with the pattern I started in 2020 and continued in 2021, I had an awfully tough time narrowing down my 2022 albums of the year to just 22, but here it goes: my best attempt at doing so.

22. Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

The latest chapter in Kendrick Lamar’s illustrious career, everything on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is executed with purpose and poise. While some might deem it foolish trying to compare this to Kendrick’s earlier work, it’s fascinating to consider when using the rest of his discography as a frame of reference, as he channels different aspects from each of his three other major label LP’s. It really doesn’t matter which Kendrick era you prefer because with his fifth studio album, you get a little bit of everything, including something new.

21. Young The Giant – American Bollywood

Four years removed from their spectacular fourth effort Mirror Master, Young The Giant finally returned in 2022. The Irvine-based alt rockers’ fifth full-length was released in four different acts over the second half of the year before the entire sixteen-track album dropped last month. While this unique release method did put a slight damper on the record’s overall potency that wouldn’t have happened for me had all sixteen songs been released at once, there’s still a lot to offer on American Bollywood, and I can appreciate why they did it this way.

20. Djo – DECIDE

Known both for his role as Steve Harrington in Stranger Things and his synthwave-leaning music project, Joe Keery is nothing if not ambitious, and his second release under the Djo moniker is simply further proof of this. DECIDE takes listeners on a brief but relatively comprehensive journey that ventures from electronic dance music, to industrial, to indie pop. Layering is the name of the game here, both instrumentally and vocally, something which leads to powerful highlights like “End of Beginning,” “Figure You Out,” and even the driving opener “Runner.”

19. St. Paul & The Broken Bones – The Alien Coast

Thanks to new pairings which together result in a sometimes smoother, sometimes vibier, but always better-rounded sound, The Alien Coast somehow feels firmly planted in the past, present, and future—both sonically and thematically. It is the stunning next step in the Alabama natives’ musical evolution, taking the signature sound from their first three efforts and rendering it simply as a stepping stone to their next great moment, which is now. And while some artists who “never make the same album twice” can regress on later releases, St. Paul & The Broken Bones just continue to level up.

18. Spoon – Lucifer on the Sofa

I’ve really enjoyed the last several Spoon albums, so when I heard “The Hardest Cut” for the first time last October, I had a feeling that the rest of the record would sound right on par with its roaring lead single, and sure enough, the long-time rockers did not steer me wrong. From the Bill Callahan cover “Held” to open up the record, to the Steve Berlin assist on “The Devil & Mister Jones,” to the Jack Antonoff co-write on the grooving “Wild,” to the smooth title track that doubles as the album’s closer and peak standout, everything about Lucifer on the Sofa is fantastic, just as I had anticipated. In fact, as time goes on, I think it may have actually exceeded my expectations.

17. Bad Bunny – Un Verano Sin Ti

Bad Bunny has described his latest effort as “a record to play in the summer, on the beach, as a playlist,” and with the album clocking in at a whopping 82 minutes from 23 tracks, it certainly does feel that way. In many ways the record feels like a love letter to the music of the Caribbean, with many of the tracks taking me back to my time spent living in the Dominican Republic. Although there is a bit of filler interspersed throughout, Un Verano Sin Ti packs plenty of standout moments that together still compile a longer runtime than many of the other releases on this list.

16. Arctic Monkeys – The Car

Evolution looks good on the Arctic Monkeys. While many will (if they haven’t done so already) decry the Sheffield natives as having compromised, I personally found their seventh LP to be a refreshing example of how a band can evolve and mature without forsaking their artistic integrity. Am I aware of the potential flack I could get for this take? Absolutely. Do I care? Absolutely not. And with nodes of lounge, jazz, and even progressive music woven in at certain points, it’s no wonder I keep coming back to The Car, even in spite of its overshadowed release date.  

15. Making Movies – XOPA

With their fifth studio effort, Making Movies has somehow managed to craft a record more varied and wide-ranging than ever before, and that’s saying quite a bit considering just how much ground was covered on ameri’kana three years earlier. XOPA takes a look back over the course of the band’s decade-plus career, doing so with a renewed sense of insight and perspective. Their shortest LP to date successfully packs in a myriad of sounds and themes, all within a span of just over forty minutes.

14. Hembree – It’s A Dream!

Dreamy as ever and significantly wide-spanning sonically, Hembree’s sophomore LP sees the Kansas City natives easily outdoing their 2019 debut full-length House On Fire. Sometimes bright and sometimes bouncy but never a bore, there’s just something supremely special about It’s A Dream! that sets it apart, not only from its 2019 counterpart but also from its many stylistically-similar peers as well. At the risk of sounding redundant, yes, truly, it’s a dream!

13. Interpol – The Other Side of Make-Believe

Interpol is one of the more consistent bands of their caliber: ever since their 2004 sophomore effort Antics, the New York City-based trio has dropped a new full-length every three or four years, many of which have been top-tier releases, and their seventh offering is no exception. What sets The Other Side of Make-Believe apart from its predecessors is the subtlety and the decidedly more optimistic tone, both of which pair well with the band’s signature post-punk sound.

12. Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE

Six years removed from the massive global success of Lemonade, Beyoncé finally returned in July with RENAISSANCE, the initial installment in her trilogy of studio albums aimed at reclaiming the Black experience through music. Heavily entrenched in dance, this first act is as liberating as it is invigorating, ebbing and flowing just so effortlessly that it’s easy to get lost in the hour-long runtime without realizing it. As a result, it’s really no surprise that the album received a record nine combined Grammy nods. 

11. Daniel Rossen – You Belong There

While his band Grizzly Bear may be on hiatus currently, that hasn’t stopped Daniel Rossen from writing and releasing new material, nor has it stopped him from collaborating with fellow band member Chris Bear. In fact, Rossen’s debut solo effort is among some of his strongest, most gripping work to date. The ten-track journey You Belong There takes nods from both indie folk and chamber pop, making for a lush, full-bodied listen that doubles as great background music.    

10. Perfume Genius – Ugly Season

Perfume Genius is a name with which I’ve only recently become familiar in the past couple of years or so, but am now wondering how it took me so long. His sixth studio album Ugly Season was initially written as the musical backdrop to a dance piece, but it also plays like a film score. I envision it as the soundtrack to an unsettling flick such as a thriller or other similar motion picture that would keep you on the edge of your seat throughout its entire duration.

9. The Smile – A Light for Attracting Attention

With the fate of Radiohead left hanging in the balance, The Smile finds two of the band’s core members teaming up with Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. The result is their debut full-length A Light for Attracting Attention which, not surprisingly, feels like Radiohead’s spiritual successor in more ways than one. The connection between Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood is still apparent, even many albums and a new project later. It’s a connection which turns out to be of great benefit to all of us, from the dynamic, slow-burning opener “The Same” to the pensive closer “Skrting On The Surface.”

8. Father John Misty – Chloë and the Next 20th Century

With his fifth LP, Father John Misty has crafted this gorgeous, grandiose body of work that feels like a comprehensive journey through the past, taking inspiration from the sounds of the many decades before it. Boasting a heavy 1920s influence and numerous standouts, such as the album bookends from which its title is derived, the smooth “Olvidado (Otro Momento),” and the booming penultimate cut “We Could Be Strangers,” the fifty minutes of glorious euphoria is easily his most stellar, well-rounded effort to date.

7. black midi – Hellfire

When I first listened to black midi, it was actually in the context of one of these lists last year, with their 2021 album Cavalcade landing them in the same conversation as Black Country, New Road, but I didn’t actually give them a fair shake like I did with their English post-punk peers. That all changed this year, however, when “Welcome to Hell” demanded my attention. The lead single from Hellfire serves as the perfect introduction to the record’s rambunctious instrumentation and its vivid imagery, a combination which helps it eclipse Cavalcade in my view.

6. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There

Speaking of Black Country, New Road, the Cambridgeshire-native sextet blew me away with their full-length debut at the tail end of last year, and while their sophomore effort released 364 days later lacks much of that same staying power that makes For the first time so special, Ants From Up There is still a fantastic record with many high points, especially at its back half. In particular, the 1-2-3 of “The Place Where He Inserted the Blade,” “Snow Globes,” and “Basketball Shoes” to close out the record continue to stick with me.

5. Ethel Cain – Preacher’s Daughter

A concept album of cosmic proportions, the full-length debut from Ethel Cain is this dynamic collection of songs that showcases this spectacular rise-and-fall throughout, embodied in the record’s music, lyrics, and vocals. Its constantly-evolving nature in every aspect makes this whopping 75-minute epic a riveting listen which rouses the senses in the same way a horror film would.

4. ROSALÍA – MOTOMAMI

Her most diverse offering yet, MOTOMAMI takes its cues from all of Rosalía’s styles and influences, from reggaeton to hyperpop and everywhere in between. It boasts highlights such as the booming, cruelly-brief title track, the film score-ready, Soulja Boy-sampling “DELIRIO DE GRANDEZA,” and the avant garde-adjacent “CUUUUuuuuuute,” all of which help make the album’s 42-minute runtime fly by… as if it needs to (it doesn’t).

3. WILLOW – <COPINGMECHANISM>

While WILLOW is often attributed to this recent so-called “revival” of pop punk and emo, it would be grossly inaccurate to categorize her music as only that. Her latest studio album <COPINGMECHANISM> takes cues from many different genres, offering new takes along with a notable amount of nostalgia. The end result is both engaging and exciting, and at less than thirty minutes in length, over far too soon. It’s a wholly enjoyable listen, even for folks like yours truly who wouldn’t consider themselves fans of pop punk.

2. SASAMI – Squeeze

On her sophomore full-length, SASAMI traverses genres so seamlessly that it’s often difficult to determine where one style or sound ends and another begins. Yet, somehow no single track on the album sounds like any of the others, from the Helmet-tinged opener “Skin a Rat” all the way through the orchestral closer “Not a Love Song.” She packs in elements of nu metal, country, industrial, thrash, dream pop, folk, classical music, and shoegaze, all in just over half an hour of music. Squeeze is at the cutting edge of everything I’ve heard in recent memory, and I contend that it will be looked back on years from now in the same light.

1. Gang of Youths – angel in realtime.

Right from the first time I heard those opening notes of “you in everything,” I couldn’t believe my ears. How could a band craft such catchy indie rock tunes while simultaneously spotlighting these lush string arrangements? How could a lyricist tell a story so vividly that it makes you feel all of these conflicting emotions, all at once? This is true not just of the stellar opener, but of the album in its entirety. angel in realtime. is not a record that can simply be listened to, cast aside, and ultimately forgotten about over time. Instead, Gang of Youths has crafted an opus with ornate, soaring melodies that will, in spite of their intricacies, consistently pop back into heads long after finishing the closing notes of “goal of the century.” I declared this as my album of the year back in my June review, and I’m happy to say that this assertion still holds true six months later.