On Repeat's Top Records of 2022: Part 2
April to September
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Today we’re looking at Part 2 of my my top records for the year. If you missed it, Part 1 is here. Part 3 lands in your in your inbox tomorrow morning.
We’re back! Today picks up right where we left off:
Crime Of Passing-Crime Of Passing (4/22)
Am I the only one who never saw Cincinnati's thriving indie scene coming? With everyone from Wussy to post-punk’s Crime of Passing calling it home, the Queen City is staking its spot in the music world. On tracks like “Off My Shoulder,” Andie Luman’s vocals combine with icy rhythms and motorik beats to create a gritty look into a future that looks sketchier with each passing day.
I don’t know what’s going on in Cincinnati, but I did not have “thriving post-punk scene” on my bingo card.
Crime of Passing is the latest Queen City band to fit the bill; think Joy Division meets Missing Persons with a dash of Bikini Kill to taste. After a couple of demos and an EP, they’ve dropped a fantastic full-length LP.
There is a tendency for bands like this to go off on tangents and risk becoming tedious. That doesn’t happen here. Lead singer Andie Luman’s vocals alternate between anthemic and commanding and the music never stops running.
Favorite tracks: Off My Shoulder, Midnight Underground
Get your copy of Crime In Passing here.
My Idea- Cry MFer (4/22)
Tired: Writing a breakup album as a post-mortem.
Wired: Write a breakup record together in real time as your relationship is imploding.
In 2021, Lily Konigsberg’s Lily, We Need To Talk Now, was one of my top 3 records of the year, along with Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee and Dry Cleaning’s New Long Leg. Neither of those is back for 2022, but Konigsberg sure is. My Idea is a collaboration between her and Nate Amos. And it is a ride.
Splitting up is rarely a clean break, and this record explores every sharp corner along the way. There’s blunt honesty, misery, and longing—but also hope. The lyrics are sometimes awkward and unpolished, but so is real life. Breaking up might be hard to do, but it rarely sounds this good.
Favorite track: Cry MFer
Get your copy of Cry MFer here.
Nu Genea- Bar Mediterraneo (5/13)
When I was younger, I was something of a travel snob; it wasn’t a vacation unless you checked a whole lot of boxes and made sure to strike the perfect balance of seeing the popular tourist sites but also the “real” part of wherever I was. It was go! go! go! all the time. I took every trip at 110 mph. Stay at a resort? Are you kidding? That’s for old people I’d sneer at any suggestion of just, well, relaxing.
Today I am old people. And what I like to do more than anything on a winter vacation is sit on a beach, watch the turquoise waves, and maybe-maybe- read a book. Sometimes even that seems like too much.
Living on the frozen tundra in the dark months can be hard. Those shores feel a million miles away. With it’s bright sounds and languid rhythms (and shades of Italo-disco), Bar Mediterraneo goes a long way toward closing that gap.
Favorite tracks: Tienate, Marechia
Grab your copy of Bar Mediterraneo here.
Fanclubwallet- You Have Got To Be Kidding Me (5/20)
The 90s were a dueling biosphere of pop and more introspective work. You Have Got To Be Kidding Me honors both, with “55” serving as a de facto dividing line. The first side is more sunny & light. The back half takes a more introspective stance, dialing down the bpms, and turning toward the acoustic.
YHGTBKM (am I too old to use acronyms like this?) is at its best when it’s at its poppiest. The record is stuffed with hooks and hints of sounds that will have you scrambling to your own records to think of who inspired them.
Favorite tracks: Gr8 Timing!, Toast, 55
Get your copy of You Have Got To Be Kidding Me here.
The Loyal Seas- Strange Mornings in the Garden (5/20)
The Loyal Seas are Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, Breeders, Belly) and Brian Sullivan (Dylan In The Movies). When I first reviewed this record, I compared it to enjoying a leisurely outdoor breakfast in Door County, Wisconsin, during the summer. Full of light, gentle breezes, and buzzing sounds — all before the humidity kicks in.
It’s a clunky analogy. But what is clear is that almost anything Donelly touches turns to gold. Strange Mornings in the Garden is no exception.
Favorite tracks: Driving with A Ghost, You, Me, and the Sea
Grab your copy of Strange Mornings In the Garden here.
Soccer Mommy-Sometimes, Forever (6/24)
If there is a silver lining to the advent of iTunes and later streaming, it was the end of buying an entire record to get one song. I’ve written about that before and used it for years as a real-life talking point.
And yet, I picked this record up more or less sight unseen, solely on the strength of the lead single, “Shotgun.” With Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin behind the soundboard, I felt like it was a safe bet but still wondered what I might be in for. It was all for naught.
With Sometimes, Forever, Sophie Allison pushes up on the corners of her style. The result is a much more expansive, fleshed-out sound. Striking the right note between just enough and too much, the results are fantastic all the way through.
Favorite tracks: Shotgun, Feel It All the Time
Get your copy of Sometimes, Forever here.
Working Men’s Club- Fear Fear (7/15)
If it was possible to wear a digital recording out the way we used to do with tapes, I would’ve done it with Working Men’s Club’s self-titled debut.
Over and over, I listened to the record. So with a little trepidation, I picked up the band’s follow-up, Fear Fear. Had I set my own expectations too high? I mean, sophomore slumps are real, right?
It was all for naught. This record is just as good as its predecessor. A solid album all the way through from a band I’ve struggled to describe accurately. If pressed, my elevator pitch would be: “PCL-era New Order with Mark E. Smith as a vocalist.” It’s worth noting this time around, frontman Syd Minsky-Sargeant tries his hand at actual singing and holds his own.
If brutalist architecture has a soundtrack, opener 19 is it. The record only builds from there. Fear Fear is a throbbing, propulsive record full of tracks sure to fill the dance floor. I’m not sure how the band would take that, but it’s meant as high praise.
Favorite tracks: 19, Circumference
Get your copy of Fear Fear here.
The Paranoid Style-For Executive Meeting (8/12)
What can you say about a record that features a duet with Drive By Trucker’s Patterson Hood (the John Prine tribute “I’d Bet My Land and Titles”), ends with a cover of Roseanne Cash’s “Seven Year Ache,” and is nonstop kicks rock from start to finish? You call it smart and sophisticated while making sure to note that singer Elizabeth Nelson is one of the best songwriters of our time. This record is just one heckuva a good time. Have fun.
On a side note: Nelson’s record reviews on Twitter are one of the bright spots on the platform. Enjoy them while we still can.
Favorite track: I’d Bet My Land and Titles., The worst of my Love
Get your copy of For Executive Meeting here.
Dendrons- 5-3-8 (8/26)
On New Year’s in 2018, most of us were either nursing a hangover, watching a bowl game, or both. It’s a tradition. So too are the half-hearted attempts to join a gym and get in shape.
The members of what would become Dendrons got together and instead resolved to start a band. They’ve been making music ever since while all those Planet Fitness cards gather dust.
5-3-8 won’t get you a six pack, but your ears will thank you just the same.
Picture Wire’s Colin Newman, Joy Division (in a good mood), and High Vis all stuck together making an album during the pandemic—and they’re listening to Pavement for inspiration. The result is first rate post-punk from America’s Second City.
For a band used to relentless touring (“I would just email as many people as possible,” says Jarvie on their Bandcamp bio “I’m like, ‘Can we open this?’ It didn’t matter if it was in Dallas or New Orleans or Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was like, let’s go.”) being stuck in one place must’ve been hard, and it would’ve been easy to make a record full of frustration.
5-3-8 —an inside nod to a musical form the band doesn’t bother adhering to—stays on the right side of the line, the result being a charged up record full of the right kinds of energy.
Favorite tracks: People Scare me, Octaves Only, True
Afghan Whigs- How Do You Burn? (9/9)
Exactly three months ago, I reviewed this record.
…How Do You Burn feels much more introspective—like what you might see once the party stops, the mask drops, and he’s alone with a stream of his own thoughts. Gone are the white suit of Gentlemen, impish grin and sneer. In their place are themes of revelation and redemption.
30 years is a long time for anything. Congregation felt like the Dulli and the band making a statement to the world. How Do You Burn? feels like they’ve made peace with their place in it.
That’s not to say that they’ve mellowed; they haven’t. These ten tracks are a ride. The fury sounds more confident than performative and better than ever.
If anything, the last 90 days have seen me double down on those words. I loved How Do You Burn? right away, and it’s only continued to grow on me since.
Favorite tracks: I’ll Make You See God, JyJa, Domino and Jimmy.
Get your copy of How Do You Burn? here.
That’s the end of Part 2. Check back tomorrow for part 3!
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!
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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So much I do not know at all! You've extended my list of must listen 2022 well into 2023! I heartily agree with Afghan Whigs which blew me away. Another band that goes way back --almost as far of Afghan -- that put out a great record this year is Archers of Loaf.
An embarrassment of riches! Love that you have My Idea on here - "Cry MFer" is easily one of my most listened to songs of the year. Also, Afghan Wigs and an obsession with Working Men's Club? Yes, please. As for The Loyal Seas, I didn't know Tanya Donelly had a new project! I just thrifted Belly's Star on CD yesterday as I work towards picking up all of those discs I gave away 10-plus years ago. Just as amazing as I remember and well worth the $2.