On Repeat's Top Records of 2022: Part 3

September through today

Dec 16, 2022

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Now on to the music.

Good morning!

This is Part 3 of On Repeat’s Top Records of 2022. You can check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Stay tuned for recaps of the year’s top songs and EPs as well!

In the meantime, let’s pick right back up where we left off yesterday:

Expert Timing-Stargazing (9/23)

My on-ramp to the Orlando-based band was 2017’s Selective Hearing EP. Opener “Sleep” set up shop in my head, did some remodeling, and never really left. I love what it’s down with the place.

This year’s Stargazing finds the band now a quartet. Husband and wife duo Jeff & Kristina Snyder (bass & guitar), along with Gibran Colbert on drums, have added 2nd guitarist Nik Sedella, which means a good thing only getting better.

On Stargazing, the couple continues to trade off lyrics. Opener “Special Hell,” is a “Jeff song,” and the catchy AF chorus will grab you.

Don’t be surprised to find yourself singing Yeah, I took a long hard look at myself /Now I’m down in my special hell /I’m going down to my special hell as you move through your day.

“Hey Friend” is pop perfection that will have you digging out That Dog’s Retreat From the Sun. The parallels between both bands’ sounds are legion.

Stargazing is eleven tracks of self-described “bubble grunge/power pop” that will keep you moving from start to finish.

Note: Look for an interview with the band coming soon!

Favorite tracks: Special Hell, Hey Friend, Homesick Hearts

Grab your copy of Stargazing here.

High Vis-Blending (9/30)

Like Fear Fear in Part 2, Blending was another follow-up I was worried I wouldn’t like. If I’d made a Best Of list for 2019, High Vis’ No Sense, No Feeling would’ve topped it.

So would Blending meet the bar? Not only did it meet it, but it also cleared it with room to spare. Again, no idea why I fret about these sorts of things.

The band has used the time between releases to mature. Lyrically, they’re still the blue-collar counterpart to the Dropkick Murphy’s—frontman Graham Sayle is fighting back against class warfare as much as ever—but they aren’t afraid of taking on heavier issues, either. Sonically, they've pushed the envelope and are better for it.

Favorite tracks: 0151, Fever Dream

Grab your copy of Blending here.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Cool It Down (9/30)

A record sure to be on countless lists this year. When Garage Band was a thing, my brother-in-law’s (then ) wife would sing “Maps.” Every time. It took a long time for me to associate the band with anything other than that (FWFIW, she sang it well). A couple of mediocre albums didn’t help. Then came Cool It Down.

What I wrote originally:

After 9 years, it would’ve been easy for Yeah Yeah Yeahs to mail it in; to play the hits, as it were. It also would’ve been easy to go the other way and become grievance merchants. The band has always been a little bit restless anyway.
Cool It Down is neither of those things. Sure it rails against climate change and Karen O. sounds as incisive as ever, but the band has managed to thread the needle and make a record that sounds both “like a Yeah Yeah Yeahs record,” and brand new all at once. The performance art chaos is no longer front & center, but the edge is as sharp as ever. No easy feat.

Everything you’ve always loved about the band, but with better lighting.

MAPS cast a long shadow. Cool It Down is the record that got them out of it for me.

Favorite tracks: Spitting Off the Edge of the World, Different Today

Grab your copy of Cool It Down here.

Alvvays- Blue Rev (10/7)

If my content diet is anything to go by, Blue Rev was easily the most anticipated record of the year. I couldn’t open my inbox without seeing someone waiting with bated breath for it to drop. I rarely believe the hype—and as I’ve noted before, I wasn’t exactly an early fan of the band—but Blue Rev delivers. And makes a strong case for AOTY.

In October, I described Blue Rev as a record…

…where the chords are all in the right spots. Where the bridge on a track like “Belinda Says” is exactly as it needs to be. The sound is joyful and chaotic, but economical too. Rankin’s vocals also take a more prominent role with her vocals closer to the front instead of smothered in reverb they way they might’ve been previously.
You can hear vestigial traces of the usual suspects here (Lush, MBV, etc.), but nothing is derivative. Alvvays have taken their influences to heart, but take care to reimagine them in their own style.
Blue Rev takes the best parts of power pop, dream-pop, shoe gaze, and whatever’s going on in lead singer Molly Rankin’s mind and just makes it work. The result is an album with no skips.

Favorite Tracks: Pharmacist, Belinda Says

Grab your copy of Blue Rev here.

Enumclaw- Save the Baby (10/14)

If your tagline is “the best band since Oasis,” you better be ready to back it up. Luckily Enumclaw (arguably the best thing to come out of Tacoma, Washington) does just that. Last month I described Save the Baby as “…sounding like an homage to your favorite 90s college rock band, the record has bits of emo, jangly pop, and sugar-sweet riffs in equal doses sprinkled throughout.

The band might compare themselves to the brothers Gallagher, but to my ear, they sound like a 2022 version of The Veldt.”

Favorite tracks: Jimmy Neutron, 10th & J2

Grab your copy of Save The Baby here.

Plains-I Walked With You A Ways (10/14)

On paper, there is no reason this record ever makes my list. I’m not too big on country or Americana. I’ve never been that into Waxahatchee. I honestly didn’t know that much about Jess Williamson.

And yet…

I might not be a fan of those things, but I am a fan of a good story. And Walked has those for days. Perhaps more than any other record on this list, this feels like, well, a record. It has a definite arc to it, and pulling tracks out alone doesn’t make sense the way it normally does.

From my original review:

Plains is Katie Crutchfield (who performs as Waxahatchee) and Jess Williamson. The two were raised in the deep south (Alabama & Texas, respectively), and I walked With You A Ways sings like a postcard from their formative years. The songs are from a place where everyone has a front porch, a truck, and sweet tea is the drink of choice. No one tries to downplay their drawl here. Crutchfield and Williamson's styles and voices mesh perfectly with one another and the music. The songs check the usual boxes; heartbreak, patience, resolve, resignation, weather, and long drives to nowhere.
Many traditional country songs are about running from something or running toward it. I Walked With You A Ways is the sound of two singers running toward the record they've always wanted to make.

Favorite tracks: Problem With It, Abilene

Grab your copy of I Walked With You A Ways here.

Young Gun Silver Fox- Ticket to Shangri-La (10/21)

An argument often made in the court of public opinion is that AOR & AM Gold are dead and live on solely in childhood memories or as something you can only enjoy ironically. Young Gun Silver Fox is Exhibit A for the defense.

I first fell in love with the band’s 2018 West End Coast

On West End Coast, they have put together a fantastic homage to the Gold Coast, with every song taking the listener back to the days of analog AM radio classics in the mid-to-late 1970s. Listening to West End, it doesn’t take long for the influences to start jumping out.
Ambrosia, America, Firefall — they’re all here. “Abandoned Luncheonette”-era Hall & Oates comes through as well.
It’s easy to compare this record to those bands, but may be a little unfair. Platts and Lee are clearly talented musicians. They have taken a classic sound and made it their own.

With Ticket to Shangri-La, the duo continues to carve out their own sun-kissed, blissed-out niche.

Ahead of the record’s July release, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to speak with them.

Andy Platts described their sound similarly, saying:

“I always come back to [the band] like taking a drive to the coast, and I just smell the ocean and the air and it’s like ‘wicked I’m back here again’ and I can just kick back and enjoy it.”

As much as I detest describing anything as “vibes,” it’s hard to avoid here. I could go to great lengths to talk about how tight the sound is, how well the vocals lay over the top of it all, production qualities, etc., but it’d all just come back to that same feeling of heading down the Pacific Coast Highway, top-down, on a beautiful summer day.

Look, at any point, there’s a good chance this page will shapeshift into a YGSF fan page. Their blend of AOR, AM Gold, and West Coast Golden Radio is unlike anything else out there. The weather is beautiful. Wish you were here.

Favorite Tracks: Westside Jet, Rolling Back

Grab your copy of Ticket to Shangri-La here.

Dot Dash- Madman in the Rain (11/3)

There are two things wrong with this record:

It ends too soon.
It took me so long to find this band

What I wrote originally:

Fantastic pop from Washington D.C. by way of whatever your favorite British post-punk/new wave of the 70s/80s is.

I hear some mid-career Wire (it’s not lost on me that the band shares its name with a Wire track), The Jam, and more. And you gotta love anytime a band can work in a reference to Candy-O. The closer “Dead Gone” could just as easily been made by The Housemartins.

On the track “Space Junk, Satellites,” frontman Terry Banks sings It’s no different/but it’s not the same. He’s right. Madman In The Rain is standing on a LOT of shoulders here, but they’ve taken that gumbo and made a sound all their own. Highly recommend.

Favorite tracks: Space Junk, Satellites, Dead Gone

Grab your copy of Madman in the Rain here.

Brothertiger-S/T (11/4)

As I’ve worked my way through Brothertiger’s catalog, I’m convinced each one is his best yet. Then he releases another one and proves me wrong.

This album is self-titled but is actually his fifth record (not counting a fistful of EPs, compilations, and a record of Tears For Fears covers).

The tracks here are evocative, expansive, and expressive. Whatever you’ve got going on, the record will make it a little bit more bearable.

This album showcases his progression into the clean, rarefied air of Sophisti-pop. The technical prowess is apparent immediately, as is his ambition. It would be easy for him to devolve into noodling or another tangent. Instead, the record is his most ambitious yet. "I'm really proud of the level of detail," Jagos says. "There's a lot of ear candy everywhere."
Its sound is maximalist and impeccable, the mood optimistic and overflowing with contagious feel-good energy. Just the thing for the restless masses riding out the five-alarm fire on social media. In a recent interview, he explained:
"I'm not trying to conform to the specific ideals the algorithm machine wants me to be a part of; I'm just trying to make music that sounds good."

When you need to exhale, put this on and let the sweeping sounds carry you away.

Favorite tracks: Tangerine, Torn Open

Grab your copy of Brothertiger here.

Non Plus Temps-Desire Choir- 11/4

Hypnotic, bass-heavy sounds from the East Bay. A logical progression of Tom Tom Club at their trippiest and Consolidated at their collective-ist, but with none of Chris Franz’ attempts at singing. Desire Choir will make you want to dance but is best heard sitting down with good headphones on or really loud speakers.

Take a seat and enjoy your trip to space.

BTW, if you’re interested, the band made a “statement pamphlet” discussing the record. You can check that out here.

Favorite track: Continuous Hinge

Grab your copy of Desire Choir here.

Honorable mention:

Hurray for the Riff Raff- Life On Earth (2/18)
Loop- Sonancy (3/25)
Confidence Man- Tilt (4/1)
50ft. Wave-Black Pearl (4/15)
Bleeding Hearts-Riches To Rags1 (4/23)
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever- Endless Rooms (5/6)
GBV-Tremblers and Goggles by Rank (7/1)
Kiwi Jr.- Chopper (8/12)
Rachika Nayar-Heaven Come Crashing (8/26)
Beth Orton-Weather Alive (9/23)
Dry Cleaning-Stumpwork (10/21)
Ribbon Stage- Hit With The Most (10/21)

And that’s a wrap! If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I hope you’ve found some new favorites to love and share.

As always, I want 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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