On Repeat's Top Records of 2022: Part 1

January through April

Dec 14, 2022

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Now on to the music…

Let the games begin!

It’s Best Of season. If Black Friday kicks off the holidays, Spotify Wrapped kicks off the season of lists. Top 20’s, top 50s, LPs, EPs, and more. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

2020 felt muted for obvious reasons.

2021 felt like a cautious rebirth.

2022 feels like everything is in full swing again. And it’s us- the listener- who benefited.

If I’m honest, last year felt a little lean new release-wise, and I wondered a lot if 2022 would be more of the same. It wasn’t. I think I listened to more new music this year than I had in maybe the last 20 years.

Everyone’s favorite data mining company tells me that I listened to:

41,471 minutes of music
7091 songs
2623 different bands
118 genres

And they cut off data collection for your Wrapped list around Halloween! Those numbers don’t count the time spent on Bandcamp or YouTube. Nor does it calculate things like the 2 hours I spend most Sundays listening to Red Planet, my favorite radio show broadcasting from right here in Madison.

That I listen to a lot of music shouldn't surprise anyone; I share these numbers not to boast (they’re not that high, anyway) but to illustrate just how much great music was released this year and how accessible it can be.

There was a lot, and it came from all corners.

How we consume music has been changing for years, and how it’s produced has also. Great sounds are out there; they don’t always come from where you might think.

This year, some favorites of mine came from musical hotbeds like (checks notes) Bellingham, Washington, Scotland, and Kuala Lampur. I missed Cincinnati becoming home to a thriving scene but luckily caught one of the last seats on the bus. Today, I’m all in on the Queen City.

Gone are the days of focusing on the coasts at the expense of all else. Of success solely being marked in units shipped. Today, someone can make a great record in New Mexico or Iowa, ship 1500 copies on Bandcamp, and move on to their next project. No A & R, no getting in the van, no problem.

At the same time, it feels like music discovery-at least for me- is trending back to word of mouth. I might be reading someone telling me, “check this out!” instead of hearing it, but the end run is the same.

Those sorts of endorsements beat the algorithm any day of the week.

And in that vein, I hope this is similar for you. There is something for everyone here—I didn’t realize there were 100+ genres, but Spotify says so, and I don’t make the rules. That’s partly why I ordered them by release date instead of doing a countdown. When everything’s good, force ranking becomes arbitrary and capricious.

That said, to make the cut, a record had to:

Have an impact on me
Spend a decent amount of time in heavy rotation
Been something unique (they can’t all be New Wave or Power Pop!)
Be a solid record from end to end. If it was a “no skips” album, odds are pretty good it was in the running.

So with that in mind, here are my picks for the top records of 2022.

I broke this up into three parts to give the records a little time to breathe and keep this from becoming a homework assignment.

Part 2 lands in your inbox tomorrow, with Part 3 following on Friday.

Artsick-Fingers Crossed (1/21)

After stumbling through 2020 & 2021, we needed this year to start on a bright note.

Enter Artsick. The members of the group read like a who’s-who of East Bay bands. Together they kicked the year off in style with “Fingers Crossed,” a fun burst of melodic indie pop.

With a driving sound and sharp (and occasionally blistering ) lyrics, Fingers Crossed was the record we didn’t know we needed.

Favorite Tracks: Ghost of Myself, Despise

What I wrote at the time:

This group would've been right at home on K Records roster back in the day. The trio doesn't waste time with overwrought chord structures or other fluff, sticking instead to bright sounds and upbeat melodies….30 years ago, we all thought we'd pick up guitars -or drums in my case- and change the world. And if we couldn't do that, we'd at least have a good time trying.
The world in 2022 is still a hot mess, but Fingers Crossed proves we can have fun while putting in the work.

Favorite tracks: Ghost of Myself, Despise

Get your copy of Fingers Crossed here.

patchnotes- Golden Hour (1/29)

You don’t have to be in Portland long to know there are a lot of bridges and that the traffic is abysmal. Some of the city's best views are from the tops of those bridges, and odds are good you’ll be stuck in traffic while sitting on one, so there’s that.

But there’s also another view- one right at dawn, where to your left, the city lights are still shining, the city is still quiet, and looking east, you can see the sun rising over Mt. Hood.

It’s a magical time of day few people see; it’s also what this record feels like to me (yes, I know that Golden Hour is typically at sunset. Follow me here.).

Golden Hour is 16 tracks of shimmering lush soundscapes that feel like a religious experience.

Chillwave… Vaporwave… Electro-pop; call it what you want. I call it sensational.

Favorite tracks: Baby, Homage, Closer

Get your copy of Golden Hour here.

Spoon-Lucifer on the Sofa (2/11)

Before I’d left the house to pick this up, I’d been listening to older records on lighter vinyl (the kind that kids often used to us as a substitute 3rd base at the sandlot), so I was surprised at its heft. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere, as Lucifer is a substantive record. The mesquite-flavored “Held” would’ve been right at home on ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres.

After taking a field trip to the experimental, the band returns to basics and gifts us one of the best releases yet from a band not exactly known for delivering duds.

Favorites: Wild, On The Radio

Get your copy of Lucifer on the Sofa here.

Patches- Tales We Heard From The Fields (2/25)

The record’s promo blurb on Bandcamp describes Tales We Heard From The Field “as [drawing] from a variety of indie, post-punk, and Beatlesesque rock bands. It ranges from jittery, guitar-centric rock to swirling pop-infused melodies, to vaguely experimental noise. Sometimes it jangles, sometimes it fizzes, and sometimes it whooshes. It's perfect for anyone who is a fan of the things previously mentioned being combined.”

No notes. Nothing to add. 10/10.

Favorite tracks: Plastic and Gold, A Nice Day To Orbit Saturn

Get your copy of Tales We Heard From the Field here.

Superchunk- Wild Loneliness (2/25)

The arc of Superchunk goes from angry and playing as fast as possible to politically aware—and maturing as a band— to reflective.

Thirty-plus years on, they’re elder statesmen of the indie world and don’t have much to prove. The band has gone from throwing (proverbial) bricks through the window to a much more reflective point of view.

There’s still plenty of fire here, but we’re a long way from the days of "Cool” and “Precision Auto.” Did anyone expect to see the day that a Superchunk record would have a saxophone on it?

Dear reader, I certainly did not.

What I wrote at the time:

It's hard to overstate Superchunk's influence on the indie music world. First as part of the Raleigh Durham/Chapel Hill scene and later as the founders of Merge Records. They're good at what they do, and they've been doing it for a while. They've historically been good at being angry. Wild Loneliness finds the band in a more contemplative place. Lead singer Mac McCaughan isn't railing so much as he's reflecting.
Whether he's exhausted from 2020-21 or is just mellowing with age is hard to tell…

Favorite tracks: Endless Summer, Wild Loneliness

Get your copy of Wild Loneliness here.

Tears For Fears- The Tipping Point (2/25)

In March, I reviewed this as part of a 100 records in 2022 challenge on Medium. At the time, I wrote that I enjoyed the wave of Tears For Fears memes a little too much.

As for the record?

…I don’t know if I hear a hit. That’s not to say that the record’s not good- it is- but I can’t see it eclipsing Songs as the band’s identity. Likewise, this isn’t a “for fans only” record.
It lies somewhere in between.
Which, in this case, might be optimal. I’m saying it as praise. It sounds novel yet familiar. It’s a Tears For Fears record but sounds as at home in 2022 as it might have been in 1989.
Everybody might love a happy ending, but it’s too soon to tell if this is the last hurrah or the start of a new chapter for Smith and Orzabal. I don’t know. Ultimately, this record feels like a catharsis for two people who’ve seen some things.

I’m still not sure I hear a hit, but I do hear a good record well worth the listener’s time.

And I’m still laughing at the memes. I mean, how could you not?

Favorite tracks: Break The Man, Stay

Band of Horses- Things Are Great (3/4)

If this were Facebook, I’d describe my relationship with Band Of Horses as “it’s complicated.” I like the music but often blur them in with several other bands. For every “Casual Party” that compels me to turn it to 11, there are many others I couldn’t place if my life depended on it. That changed with this album.

Things Are Great is, of course, a title said tongue-in-cheek. On many tracks, lead singer Ben Bridwell posits that he’s anything but okay (that’s the last FB analogy, I promise). But he makes it both relatable and fun.

If anything, this is a record about finding yourself in a zone flooded with shit, grabbing a passing life preserver, and riding the waves as best you can.

Favorite tracks: Crutch, In The Hard Times

Get your copy of Things Are Great here.

Good Grief- Shake Your Faith (3/18)

Listening to Liverpool’s Good Grief, you can go down the list of influences.

Bob Mould/Sugar? Check.

Early 90s emo (before it was called that)? Check

This record supposedly took a decade to make. It was worth the wait.

Favorite tracks: Statement Brickwork, Line By Line

Get your copy of Shake Your Faith here.

Mo Dotti-Guided Imagery (3/18)

Shoegaze is a musical fugu. Done right; it’s delicious. Done wrong, and it kills the record. Doing it right is more challenging than it looks, but LA’s Mo Dotti does just that with Guided Imagery. Reviewing the record, I likened them to a marriage between My Bloody Valentine’s and Lush’s best parts.

On the opening track, “Loser Smile,” Gina Negrini’s fantastic vocals are slightly obscured by a swirling cloud of guitars that would make even Kevin Shields nod approvingly. Later, they lend their energetic treatment to The 6th’s “All Dressed Up In Dreams,” with Negrini as the sun with the music orbiting around her.

Favorite Track: Loser Smile

Get your copy of Guided Imagery here.

The Linda Lindas-Growing Up (4/8)

When I was in high school, I followed Jawbreaker up & down I-5. Then they broke up for 25ish years. Today, the high school-age members of The Linda Lindas have found themselves opening for them.

Growing Up is white lightning from a trio that hasn’t graduated yet. Actually, when this came out, some of them weren’t even out of junior high!

This a band standing on the shoulders of everyone from Joan Jett/The Runaways to the Donnas and L7. Just a solid record your neighbors are sure to love. And you can’t go wrong singing about your pet cat.

Favorite tracks: Oh!, Nino

Get your copy of Growing Up here.

That’s the end of Part 1. Check back tomorrow for part 2! In the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these records. Are any of them on your list? Am I way off here? Share your thoughts!

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