Best Music 🎶 of 2022!

Bennnnn said:
I never really liked Fontaines DC that much, but I keep getting drawn back into Skinty Fia. At first I thought it was basically like the last one. But then I would want to listen to specific songs again. And now I just wanna listen to the whole thing again.
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This is strangely my experience with this album as well. At first, I couldn't stop with the first track, but after a while it was "Jackie Down the Line" and now, it just migrates to my tt and I end up wanting to listen to the whole album. I don't think I've connected with a post-punk album the way I've connected to this one in a long while.
 
I didn't give a full listen to the Yard Act album until recently...and why? This is a great album. Sure sure it follows in the trend of these buzzy new UK post punk bands. But that kind of stuff just does it for me. And this one stands above many of the others. The lyrics are fantastic and the music is more energetic in a lot of places. It's a great little record.
 
nolalady said:
This is strangely my experience with this album as well. At first, I couldn't stop with the first track, but after a while it was "Jackie Down the Line" and now, it just migrates to my tt and I end up wanting to listen to the whole album. I don't think I've connected with a post-punk album the way I've connected to this one in a long while.
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I'm a fan of Fontaines D.C. and have all their records, so my experience may be a bit different. For me, what I appreciate is their progression as a band from album to album. How they evolve their sound, while still staying within whatever boundaries they established for themselves. What I mean is that the new record is different but still totally sounds like Fontaines D.C. They're experimenting with new sounds but they also constructed a solid record by interspersing faster, almost poppier tracks in there, like Jackie Down The Line, Roman Holiday and I Love You. Also, I got the 2x45 rpm edition and it sounds like a million bucks. What a great pressing.
 
Bennnnn said:
I didn't give a full listen to the Yard Act album until recently...and why? This is a great album. Sure sure it follows in the trend of these buzzy new UK post punk bands. But that kind of stuff just does it for me. And this one stands above many of the others. The lyrics are fantastic and the music is more energetic in a lot of places. It's a great little record.
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I love that album. I really wanted to see them at Coachella but they put them on at 1 p.m. on Saturday and it's almost impossible to get in that early if you're not camping.
 
Top album for me from this past Friday (May 6th) was Rashomon, the debut album from Ibaraki, the solo side project from Trivium front man, Matt Heafy.
As a casual fan of Trivium over the years, I went into this project expecting to enjoy some select moments, but, ultimately, expecting to give it a "one and done" listen. But I'm now, surprisingly, half-a-dozen listens in. The melting pot of genres and vocal styles on this record keeps drawing me back. Appropriate doses of thrash, black metal, death metal, prog metal, and metalcore mixed with a nice balance of fast-paced and slower speeds, and clean and harsh vocals (and some guest vocal features from Nergal, Ihsahn, Gerard Way) has sure been a great metal palate cleanser. To be cliché, this album really has something for everyone. Right now it's one of my top metal albums of the year (in a year that has been great for new metal releases), but we'll see how it holds up through the remainder of the year. Hot 🔥 take: this is the best thing Matt Heafy has done.

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musicjunkiegreg said:
Top album for me from this past Friday (May 6th) was Rashomon, the debut album from Ibaraki, the solo side project from Trivium front man, Matt Heafy.
As a casual fan of Trivium over the years, I went into this project expecting to enjoy some select moments, but, ultimately, expecting to give it a "one and done" listen. But I'm now, surprisingly, half-a-dozen listens in. The melting pot of genres and vocal styles on this record keeps drawing me back. Appropriate doses of thrash, black metal, death metal, prog metal, and metalcore mixed with a nice balance of fast-paced and slower speeds, and clean and harsh vocals (and some guest vocal features from Nergal, Ihsahn, Gerard Way) has sure been a great metal palate cleanser. To be cliché, this album really has something for everyone. Right now it's one of my top metal albums of the year (in a year that has been great for new metal releases), but we'll see how it holds up through the remainder of the year. Hot 🔥 take: this is the best thing Matt Heafy has done.

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I enjoyed this quite a bit. I also enjoyed the new Ufomammut
 
Ok, so I picked up Jack White new record because I saw one at a decent price and decided why not.

And, holy crap, it's like I'm listening to a completely different album than the streaming versions. I wasn't taken by it when I listened to it on streaming, partly because it sounded loud and tiring. But the vinyl is super dynamic, has great separation and just sounds great. I think this is going to grow on me because of the vinyl.
 
The solo debut from Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear is incredible. I didn't pay much attention to it when it came out a little bit a go, but I rectified that recently. It's a dense, knotty, experimental, wild acoustic album. It's maybe a little too difficult to get into initially, but it really rewards when you come back to it. I love the sound of this album with all its textures. It's like the best stuff Grizzly Bear did, so if you liked them at all, it's well worth a listen. It's also reminiscent of something like Joanna Newsom where the lyrics are layered with meaning and the music is akin to a classical piece in the sense that there is real grand arrangement going on here - but with only a handful of instruments.
 
Bennnnn said:
The solo debut from Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear is incredible. I didn't pay much attention to it when it came out a little bit a go, but I rectified that recently. It's a dense, knotty, experimental, wild acoustic album. It's maybe a little too difficult to get into initially, but it really rewards when you come back to it. I love the sound of this album with all its textures. It's like the best stuff Grizzly Bear did, so if you liked them at all, it's well worth a listen. It's also reminiscent of something like Joanna Newsom where the lyrics are layered with meaning and the music is akin to a classical piece in the sense that there is real grand arrangement going on here - but with only a handful of instruments.
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Still at the top my list for this year
 
Bennnnn said:
The solo debut from Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear is incredible. I didn't pay much attention to it when it came out a little bit a go, but I rectified that recently. It's a dense, knotty, experimental, wild acoustic album. It's maybe a little too difficult to get into initially, but it really rewards when you come back to it. I love the sound of this album with all its textures. It's like the best stuff Grizzly Bear did, so if you liked them at all, it's well worth a listen. It's also reminiscent of something like Joanna Newsom where the lyrics are layered with meaning and the music is akin to a classical piece in the sense that there is real grand arrangement going on here - but with only a handful of instruments.
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Wes C. Attle said:
Still at the top my list for this year
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I need to give this a listen
 
As expected Mr Morale has grown on me. I still think some of it doesn't really coalesce into a perfect statement where everything lines up and makes sense. There are issues I do have with it, but ultimately I think it's a really bold album. And it has some incredible stuff on it, it just took me time to warm up to it. When the beats shift and the music gets more bumping and/or experimental is when its best. Other times I do think it still just kinda falls flat. A song like Crown just isn't super compelling musically, or lyrically really with the repetition of "can't please everybody." I also think Die Hard kinda sucks. It doesn't really fit with much else, and it's one of the most forgettable songs on the album. I also just don't care for We Cry Together anymore. I mean, I never did to an extent. it's not really a song, and it's way too long for it to be an interlude. But it's also just so uncomfortable that I never want to listen to it again. I've heard it three times now, and now I think it's just gonna remain a forever skip. I get and appreciate what it's doing, but I'm good on not needing to hear it again. It's just not enjoyable.

Weirdly, that's kind of how I was feeling about the album a few days ago. But now it's much more enjoyable to me, despite still being relatively uncomfortable and off-putting. There are great moments here, and great Kendrick-isms that I look forward to on every listen. I love how he sings and raps in different styles and vocal inflections on his albums, and this one has some of the weirder ones. Like the "brother" section on Rich Spirit, or the hook on Silent Hill (and the ahuh part on the first verse). It's also pretty crazy how frequently these songs change throughout. It's something that I think held back my enjoyment initially, but now it's a highlight how much there is actually going on here.

I've seen people using their praise of this album to throw shade on DAMN. I wasn't super high on that one initially either, but it's become the one I probably just throw on and listen to whenever the most. I think it's a really great, tight album. I don't get the new/old criticism of it. I love it now. It definitely felt like a deliberate move away from the density of TPAB for something more simple. And now by comparison, Mr Morale feels like a deliberate move away from DAMN in that it's his least tight, least classically enjoyable album so far. And that's gonna put people off. I still am unsure that it's another "masterpiece" but it's definitely one of the most interesting albums of the year. There's so much to talk about with it.
 
wokeupnew said:
Updates in bold


Best of 2022:

  1. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
  2. Yumi Zouma - Present Tense
  3. Hatchie - Giving the World Away
  4. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
  5. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  6. Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia
  7. Widowspeak - The Jacket
  8. Thyla - Thyla
  9. Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
  10. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
  11. Spoon - Lucifer On The Sofa
  12. caroline - caroline
  13. Mitski - Laurel Hell
  14. Gang of Youths - Angel in Realtime
  15. Anaïs Mitchell - Anaïs Mitchell
  16. SASAMI - Squeeze
  17. Pinegrove - 11:11
  18. Band of Horses - Things are Great
  19. Animal Collective - Time Skiffs
  20. Empath - Visitor

Anticipated albums from/Need more listens before deciding:
  1. Angel Olsen
  2. Sharon Van Etten
  3. Soccer Mommy
  4. beabadoobee
  5. Say Sue Me
  6. Melody's Echo Chamber
  7. Porridge Radio
  8. Arcade Fire
  9. Wallows
  10. Pup
  11. Oceanator
  12. Momma
  13. Wilco
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Yeah this Beach House album is undefeated. I was seriously thinking it could be dethroned but I listened to it in full today for the first time since late March and "ESP" and "Sunset" floored me. "Sunset" in particular is just something else.


Best of 2022:

Updates in bold

  1. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
  2. Yumi Zouma - Present Tense
  3. Hatchie - Giving the World Away
  4. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
  5. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  6. Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia
  7. Widowspeak - The Jacket
  8. Alex Cameron - Oxy Music
  9. Thyla - Thyla
  10. Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
  11. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
  12. Say Sue Me - The Last Thing Left
  13. Spoon - Lucifer On The Sofa
  14. Porridge Radio - Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky
  15. caroline - caroline
  16. Kikagaku Moyo - Kumoyo Island
  17. Belle and Sebastian - A Bit of Previous
  18. Oceanator - Nothing's Ever Fine
  19. Mitski - Laurel Hell
  20. Gang of Youths - Angel in Realtime
  21. Anaïs Mitchell - Anaïs Mitchell
  22. Melody's Echo Chamber - Emotional Eternal
  23. SASAMI - Squeeze
  24. Pinegrove - 11:11
  25. Band of Horses - Things are Great
  26. Arcade Fire - WE
  27. Animal Collective - Time Skiffs
  28. Wallows - Tell Me That It's Over
  29. Empath - Visitor
  30. Pup - The Unraveling of PUPTheBand

Anticipated albums from/Need more listens before deciding:
  1. The Mountain Goats
  2. Angel Olsen
  3. Kiwi Jr.
  4. Julia Jacklin
  5. She & Him
  6. Soccer Mommy
  7. beabadoobee
  8. Momma
  9. Wilco
 
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