My 100 favorite albums of 2022
plus: some albums that weren't released this year that I nonetheless listened to a lot
If you were to ask me why I always compile these lists at the end of every year, I would probably have a hard time coming up with an answer. I’ve never seen the value in any system of ranking music, and I’ll be the first to tell you that my opinion - which is shaped by the many uncontrollable factors and life circumstances that shape every individual’s opinion - is pretty much meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Case in point: this year it felt like I actually did a much better job of keeping up with new releases than I typically do, and there’s still a ton of albums that I just didn’t get the chance to listen to. If there’s anything you feel was snubbed from this list, chances are that’s why.
That being said, I still make these lists, and I think the reason why is that I see it as a form of bearing witness and keeping a record of how things change over the years. I, along with everyone reading this, survived another shitshow of a year, and I listened to a lot of really great music in the process! I can’t imagine how depressing it must be to genuinely believe that the entire concept of music “isn’t as good as it used to be.” The fact that music is constantly expanding and changing and showing the beauty in even the darkest aspects of life, and will never cease to do so, is one of the things that helps me make it through every year.
So with that in mind, here’s my (roughly) 100 favorite albums that I heard this year, along with a bunch of albums that didn’t come out this year but nonetheless were greatly appreciated.
* = composer
Favorite albums of the year:
Abadir - Mutate (Svbkvlt)
Afrorack - S/T (Hakuna Mulala)
Ahleuchatistas - Expansion (Riverworm)
Akira Sakata / Takeo Moriyama - Mitochondria (Trost)
Alexi Baris - Support Surfaces (Soda Gong)
Angles - A Muted Reality (Clean Feed)
Asher Gamedze - Out Side Work | Two Duets (Astral Spirits)
Anteloper - Pink Dolphins (International Anthem)
Antti Tolvi - Spectral Organ / Feedback Gong (Room40)
Atte Elias Kantonen - Pop 6 Susurrus (Mappa)
Autumn Fair - S/T (Recital)
BBM - GALA~ (Superpang)
Bill Orcutt - Music for Five Guitars (Palilalia)
Binker & Moses - Feeding the Machine (Gearbox)
Bitchin Bajas - Bajascillators (Drag City)
Brandon Seabrook - In the Swarm (Astral Spirits)
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay - Withering Field (Crónica)
Charles Curtis / Terry Jennings* - Piece for Cello and Saxophone (Saltern)
Chris Abrahams - Follower (Room40)
claire rousay - Everything Perfect Is Already Here (Shelter Press)
Clara De Asis / Ryoko Akama - sisbiosis (elsewhere)
Coby Sey - Conduit (AD 93)
Crazy Doberman - Devils Daughter Sings Her Hybrid Poem (workingman laydown)
crys cole - A Piece of Work (Second Editions)
CS + Kreme - Orange (Trilogy Tapes)
Dania - Voz (Geographic North)
Dave Rempis / Elizabeth Harnik / Michael Zerang - Astragaloi (Aerophonic)
Deize Tigrona - Foi eu que fiz (BATEKOO)
Devin DiSanto - Waiting and Counting: Domestic Ritual for the Stereo Field (Rope Editions)
DJ Travella - Mr Mixondo (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Ensemble Nist Nah - Elders (Black Truffle)
Forbes Graham - Another Day, Another Vector (Relative Pitch)
Forest Management - Floor 9 (Towhead)
Francis Plagne - The Refrain (Black Truffle)
Fred Moten / Brandon Lopez / Gerald Cleaver - S/T (Reading Group)
Gabby Fluke-Mogul - Love Songs (Relative Pitch)
Gamelan Salukat / Dewa Alit* - Chasing the Phantom (Black Truffle)
Germaine Sijstermans - Betula (elsewhere)
Greg Stuart - Subtractions (New Focus)
Keiji Haino / SUMAC - Into This Juvenile Apocalypse Our Golden Blood to Pour Let Us Never (Thrill Jockey)
Heart of the Ghost - Summons (No Quarter)
Horse Lords - Comradely Objects (RVNG)
Jamal Moss - Thanks 4 The Tracks U Lost (Modern Love)
Janel Leppin’s Ensemble Volcanic Ash - S/T (Cuneiform)
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy (Eremite)
Jeremiah Chiu / Marta Sofia Honer - Recordings from the Åland Islands (International Anthem)
John Dikeman / Stefan Gonzalez / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Jonathan Horne - Texas Butt Biters (Astral Spirits)
John Zorn - Spinoza (Tzadik)
Julia Reidy - World in World (Black Truffle)
Kali Malone - Living Torch (Portraits GRM)
Klein - Star in the Hood
KMRU / Aho Ssan - Limen (Subtext)
Lady Aicha & Pisko Crane's Original Fulu Miziki of Kinshasa - N'Djila Wa Mudujimu (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Lasse Marhaug / Jérôme Noetinger - Top (erstwhile)
Leila Bordreuil / Biliana Voutchkova - The Seventh Water (Relative Pitch)
Leo Okagawa - Minato (Unfathomless)
Lia Kohl - Too Small to Be a Plain (Shinkoyo)
Loraine James - Building Something Beautiful For Me (Phantom Limb)
Lucrecia Dalt - ¡Aye! (RVNG)
M. Geddes Gengras - Expressed, I Noticed Silence (Hausu Mountain)
Marja Ahti & Judith Hamann - A Coincidence Is Perfect, Intimate Attunement (Second Editions)
Mark Harwood - Offering (Penultimate)
Mark Vernon - A World Behind This World (Persistence of Sound)
Marty Holubek - Trio III (Apollo)
MAZE / Annea Lockwood* - Bayou-Bourne; Jitterbug (Moving Furniture)
Moor Mother - Jazz Codes (ANTI-)
Moth Cock - Whipped Stream and Other Earthly Delights (Hausu Mountain)
Norman W. Long - Return and Recovery (Line)
NUG - Napping Under God (3XL)
Nuke Watch - S/T (Trilogy Tapes)
Okkyung Lee / Jérôme Noetinger / Nadia Ratsimandresy - Two Duos (OTOroku)
Olli Aarni - Loput (Laaps)
TIE: Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin - Ghosted; Oren Ambarchi - Shebang (Drag City)
Pan Daijing - Tissues (PAN)
ANOTHER TIE: Patrick Shiroishi - Evergreen (Touch); Patrick Shiroishi / Dylan Fujioka - No-No
Phelimuncasi - Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege)
Picnic - Creaky Little Branch (Daisart)
Pontiac Streator - Sone Glo (West Mineral)
Pulse Emitter - Dusk (Hausu Mountain)
Punkt.Vrt.Plastik - Zurich Concert (Intakt)
Raven Chacon / Tatsuya Nakatani / Carlos Santistevan - Inhale / Exhale (Other Minds)
Roméo Poirer - Living Room (Faitiche)
RXM Reality - Sick for You (Hausu Mountain)
Ryu Hankil - 6 (dingndents)
Saint Abdullah & Eomac - Patience of a Traitor (Other People)
Sam Prekop / John McEntire - Sons Of (Thrill Jockey)
Sarah Davachi - Two Sisters (Late)
Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker - Canti di guerra, di lavoro e d’amore (Unseen Worlds)
Slikback - Condense
Smoke Point - S/T (Geographic North)
soft tissue - hi leaves (Students of Decay)
Survival Unit III - The Art of Flight: for Alvin Fielder (Astral Spirits)
Tatsuhisa Yamamoto - Recycling (Dasa)
Tomas Fujiwara - March (Firehouse 12)
Tongue Depressor - Burnish (XKatedral)
Ulla - Foam (3XL)
Valerio Tricoli - Say Goodbye to the Wind (Shelter Press)
Vanessa Rossetto - The Actress (Erstwhile)
Venus Ex Machina - Doxa (AD 93)
Weston Olencki - Old Time Music (Triptych Tapes)
Albums not released this year that I nonetheless listened to a lot:
Tal Farlow - The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow (Verve, 1957)
The Jimmy Giuffre 3 - The Easy Way (Verve, 1958)
David Fathead Newman - Fathead (Atlantic, 1960)
Dionne Warwick - Make Way For Dionne Warwick (Scepter, 1964)
Lucky Thompson Quartet - Lucky Strikes (Prestige, 1965)
The Jimmy Owens - Kenny Barron Quintet - You Had Better Listen (Atlantic, 1967)
Larry Williams & Johnny Watson - Two for the Price of One (Okeh, 1967)
Sonny Phillips - Sure ‘Nuff (Prestige, 1970)
Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees (Reprise, 1972)
Human Arts Ensemble - Under the Sun (Freedom, 1973)
Joe Farrell - Moon Germs (CTI, 1973)
10cc - Sheet Music (UK, 1974)
Frank Foster - The Loud Minority (Mainstream, 1974)
Marion Brown - Sweet Earth Flying (Impulse, 1974)
Motoharu Yoshizawa - Inland Fish (Trio, 1974)
The Headhunters - Survival of the Fittest (Arista, 1975)
Michael Carvin - The Camel (Steeplechase, 1975)
The New Tony Williams Lifetime - Believe It (Columbia, 1975)
Joe McPhee - The Willisau Concert (HatHut, 1976)
Oliver Lake - NTU: Point From Which Creation Begins (Freedom, 1976)
Alberta Hunter - Amtrak Blues (Columbia, 1980)
Muhal Richard Abrams - Spihumonesty (Black Saint, 1980)
Steve Lacy Five - The Way (HatHut, 1980)
Kanda Bongo Man - Iyole (Afro Rhythmes, 1981)
Cecil Taylor - Garden (HatHut, 1982)
Merzbow - Rainbow Electronics (Alchemy, 1990)
Richard Youngs - Advent (No Fans, 1990)
John Duncan - Klaar (Extreme, 1991)
The Sallie Martin Singers - Throw Out the Lifeline (Speciality, 1993)
Lee Konitz - Live at the Half Note (Verve, 1994)
John Coltrane Quartet - Complete Africa/Brass Sessions (Impulse, 1995)
Roha Band - Tour 1990 (AIT, 1996)
Roscoe Mitchell - Nine To Get Ready (ECM, 1999)
Triple Six Mafia - Underground Vol. 1: 1991 - 1994 (Smoked Out, 1999)
Transllusion - Opening of the Cerebral Gate (Supremat, 2001)
Werner Durand - The Art of Buzzing (X-Tract, 2001)
Kevin Drumm - Sheer Hellish Miasma (Mego, 2002)
Mike Cooper - Rayon Hula (Hipshot, 2004)
The Cortet - HHHH (Unsounds, 2005)
Klangforum Wien / Georg Friedrich Haas* - In Vain (Kairos, 2005)
Vladislav Delay - The Four Quarters (Huume, 2005)
LaDonna Smith / Michael Evans - Deviant Shakti (TransMuseq, 2009)
Whiteout w/ Jim O’Rourke and Thurston Moore - Senso (Ecstatic Peace!, 2009)
Nicole Mitchell - Awakening (Delmark, 2011)
DJ Stingray - Psyops for Dummies (Presto!?, 2012)
Jeff Carey - [3:30] (Forwind, 2013)
Mark Templeton - Jealous Heart (Under the Spire, 2013)
Eric Frye - Some Consequences of Four Incapacities (Salon, 2015)
Jim O’Rourke - Steamroom 17 (2015)
Equiknoxx - Bird Sound Power (DDS, 2016)
Jaap Vink - S/T (Recollection GRM, 2017)
Max Eilbacher - Dual Monologues in Parallel (Mondoj, 2017)
Will Guthrie - People Pleaser (Black Truffle, 2017)
Autechre - NTS Sessions (Warp, 2018)
Eiko Ishibashi - The Dream My Bones Dream (Felicity, 2018)
Jos Smolders - Spaces (Moving Furniture, 2018)
Low - Double Negative (Sub Pop, 2018) RIP MIMI PARKER
RP Boo - I’ll Tell You What! (Planet Mu, 2018)
Scordatura Ensemble / James Tenney* - Harmonium (New World, 2018)
Thomas Ankersmit - Homage to Dick Raaijmakers (Shelter Press, 2018)
Hieroglyphic Being - Synth Expressionism / Rhythmic Cubism (On the Corner, 2019)
Konx-om-Pax - Way of Seeing (Planet Mu, 2019)
Luc Ferarri - Photophonie (Transversales, 2019)
Guy Birkin - Liminal Kicks (Superpang, 2020)
Rian Treanor - File Under UK Metaplasm (Planet Mu, 2020)
Werner Dafeldecker - Parallel Darks (Room40, 2020)