THE TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2022

Welcome one and all to The Top Albums Of 2022!  We're here to celebrate music and the joy it brings us.  More specifically, I'm here to share with you the albums that brought me varying levels of joy throughout the year.  (If you have a list of your own, or even just one specific album that brought you joy, I wanna hear about it!  Drop a comment below or hit me up on Twitter @NicholasNutter !)

But I don't just do a countdown and Honorable Mentions in a given year, oh no!  I catalogue every album I listened to and put them in a tier.  In 2022, that means 178 of 'em.  (Don't worry, I don't write about every single one; that'd be ludicrous.)  The Top 10 Worst Albums Of 2022 is already up if you wanna see what ended up at the bottom or in the "Meh" category.  This time around, we're covering the "Okay", the "Pretty Good", the "Honorable Mentions" and of course, "The Top 20".  Let's get it started!

(P.S.: All these rankings are my opinion, and for entertainment purposes only.  Don't think I'm claiming to be an expert or trying to state these as fact.  This is all in fun.)

OKAY

The "Okay" tier is where I kinda liked the albums therein, but they weren't fully my jam.  Maybe they had a really steady average and never got much over that level.  Maybe it was front or back loaded and half of it was really good, but it peters out/takes too long to get going.  Y'know, these are all right.  They're not 100% recommendations, but it couldn't hurt to check them out.

Amber Mark "Three Dimensions Deep"

Anais Mitchell

Animals As Leaders "Parrhesia"

Arrested Development "For The FKN Love"

Beach Bunny "Emotional Creature"

Benee "Lychee"

Billy Idol "The Cage"

Billy Talent "Crisis Of Faith"

Bjork "Fossora"

Blood Command "Praise Armogeddonism"

The Callous Daoboys "Celebrity Therapist"

Cameron Graves "Live From The Seven Spheres"

The Chainsmokers "So Far So Good"

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul "Topical Dancer"

Congotronics International "Where's The One?"

D'Virgilio, Morse & Jennings "Troika" 

Destroyer "Labrinthitis"

Elvis Costello & The Imposters "The Boy Named If"

The Fixx "Every Five Seconds"

Flume "Palaces"

Foals "Life Is Yours" 

Gayle "a study of the human experience volume two" 

Gen and The Degenerates "Only Alive When In Motion"

Harry Styles "Harry's House"

Hudson Mohawke "Cry Sugar"

Illicit Eagle "Eatin' Dinosaur Meat" 

Iron & Wine "Lori"

Jensen McRae "Are You Happy Now?"

John Scofield

Kikagaku Moyo "Kumoyo Island" 

Kokoroko "Could We Be More" 

Lava La Rue "Hi-Fidelity"

Left At London "Transgender Street Legend, Vol. 3"

Mabel "About Last Night..."

Mitsky "Laurel Hell"

Moon Tooth "Phototroph"

Nonpoint "Ruthless"

Onyx "1993" 

Otoboke Beaver "Super Champon"

The Physics House Band "Incident On 3rd"

Pictish Trail "Island Family"

Primus "Conspiranoid"

Qveen Herby "Mad Qveen"

Shirley Davis & Silverbacks "Keep On Keepin' On"

Sigrid "How To Let Go"

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators "4"

Sofie Birch "Holotropica"

Stella Donnelly "Flood"

Steve Lacy "Gemini Rights"

Tank And The Bangas "Red Balloon"

That Mexican OT "Nonsense And Mexican Shit"

The Toadies "Damn You All To Hell" 

Yellow Days "Inner Peace"

• Amber Mark had three really phenomenal songs and 17 others that ranged from average to forgettable.  But those three really helped me tolerate the rest more, I tell you what.  They're white hot.
• Cameron Graves made a project that is insanely intense and virtuosic, and doesn't let up at all so you get pretty numb to it by the end.  If he had more dynamics, this could've contended, but it's not bad overall.
• Fossora is my favorite Bjork album in 15 years.  I came real close to clicking with it, but it just kind of vibrated away again out of this reality.  Eh, maybe next time.
• The only reason I listened to Yellow Days is because I wanted to have an artist that started with every letter of the alphabet in this year's list.  (Ditto X-Band from the "Meh" section.)  (Though I realize now with album titles I missed out on V and X.  Dinger.)
• Albums that I was really into after first listen but didn't quite get there for me in the end:
• Amber Mark, Arrested Development, Bjork, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, D'Virgilio, Morse & Jennings, Flume and Jensen McRae (seriously, that one hit like a ton of bricks first time I heard it and did almost nothing for me second time around; I'll keep checking back in to see if it stays that way).
• Album I didn't get enough time with but suspect more might be there: Stella Donnelly "Flood".  (Not based off anything I heard, it's just that "Beware Of The Dogs" took me a few years to click with.)
• Albums I heard of through AOTY's Worst Albums Of 2022 list in this section: Billy Talent, Mabel and Pictish Trail.  (Thanks AOTY!  These albums were alright!)

PRETTY GOOD

From here on out, I'd at least lightly recommend everything here.  I like it all.  (I'd certainly like to come back to them all.)

Alex Isley & Jack Dine "Marigold"

Alice Merton "S.I.D.E.S."

Andrew Bird "Inside Problems" 

Ann Wilson "Fierce Bliss"

Asher Roth & Heather Grey "Why Is It So Grey Out?"

Barrie "Barbara"

Bas Jan "Baby U Know"

Bruce Hornsby "'Flicted"

Cave In "Heavy Pendulum"

Church Of The Cosmic Skull "There Is No Time"

Clutch "Sunrise On Slaughter Beach"

Cypress Hill "Back In Black"

Daniel Rossen "You Belong There"

Destrage "So MUCH.  too much."

Devin Townsend "Lightwork"

The Fearless Flyers III

Frou Frou "Off Cuts"

Ghost "Imperia"

Gwenno "Tresor"

Ibibio Sound Machine "Electricity" 

Jethro Tull "The Zealot Gene"

JiD "The Forever Story"

Kenny Mason "Ruffs"

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard "Made In Timeland"

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard "Omnium Gatherum"

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava" 

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard "Laminated Denim"

Kirk Hammett "Portals"

Korn "Requiem"

Kurt Vile "(watch my moves)"

The Lazy Eyes "Songbook"

Louis Cole "Quality Over Opinion"

Machine Head "Of Kindom And Crown"

Macross 82-99 "Sailorwave III"

Mega Ran, Penny The Great & Slopfunkdust "Protoculture Season"

Melody's Echo Chamber "Emotion Eternal"

Melody's Echo Chamber "Unfold"

Methyl Ethel "Are You Haunted?"

Metric "Formentera"

Nilüfer Yanya "Painless"

OFF! "Free LSD" 

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Unlimited Love" 

Roc Marciano & The Alchemist "The Elephant Man's Bones"

Sabaton "The War To End All Wars"

Santigold "Spirituals"

Sasami "Squeeze"

Shadow Academy 

Soilwork "Övergivenheten"

Tella "Boar"

Toro Y Moi "Mahal"

Two Door Cinema Club "Keep On Smiling" 

2mello "this year I lose my mind" 

Ukandanz "4 Against The Odds"

VOLA "Live From The Pool"

Wet Leg

White Lies "As I Try Not To Fall Apart"

• Yes, you read that right.  That's four King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard albums that came out this year, and they were all at least "Pretty Good".  (Spoiler alert: They released five albums this year.)  (Also, fun fact: Out of those five albums, there were only 32 songs.  16 of them were on Omnium Gatherum.)
• "Yo lemonade, my girl, what it is?" is probably the lyric of the year.  Thanks, Kurt Vile!
• Albums I heard of through AOTY's Worst Albums Of 2022 list in this section: Ann Wilson, Methyl Ethyl and White Lies. (The Red Hot Chili Peppers one was in there too at some point.)  (Mucho thanks for these!)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

This and The Top 20 are basically one tier, but there were more than 20 albums in it, so I put the ones here that would've made it if it had been numerically convenient.

The Beths "Expert In A Dying Field" 

Cheekface "Too Much To Ask"

Daisy The Great "All You Need Is Time"

Ghost Funk Orchestra "A New Kind Of Love"

Spoon "Lucifer On The Sofa"

Σtella & Redinho "Up And Away" 

• Y'know what?  No.  "I'm standing in the Wendy's drive-thru screaming 'Fuck all the transphobes'" is the best lyric of the year.  Thanks, Cheekface!

THE TOP 20

20. Lake Street Dive "Fun Machine: The Sequel"

A sign that I'm getting older: an EP of adult contemporary-ish covers made my Top 20.  (And one of the artists covered is two positions up from here, so make of that what you will.)  If you saw my Top 20 Songs Of 2022, you already know how much I adore their cover of The Cranberries, but the opener is great too, and the cover of "Nick Of Time" is spot on.  (Turning "You're Still The One" by Shania Twain into a soul song was also fun).

19. Christine And The Queens "Redcar les adorables étoiles (Prologue)"

Redcar has more of a live music feel than their previous work, and leans more into post-punk and even goth than the 80's inspired bops of 2018's Chris, though make no mistake the 80's still hang heavy like smoke in the air.  It's what I imagine going to see a post-punk band would've sounded like in the waning days before MTV debuted.  So if you're into that vibe, get into this club.  No cover charge and no dress code.  Come hang out.

18. Bonnie Raitt "Just Like That..."

Bonnie Raitt has been a mainstay of the Nutter household since I was a wee lad, and fittingly enough my first exposure to this album was listening to it with my mom after I gave it to her for her birthday.  Even at 73, she's still got it.  Glad I could finally put her on a best list proper.

17. KMFDM "Hyaena"

Despite never being much of a fan of theirs in their heyday (I was a bit too young when they started and by the time my friends were listening to them I'd fallen down the prog hole so they were a little too simplistic), their last two albums have both made my Top 20.  Kinda kooky, right?  What's also a little kooky (or maybe not, given my lack of familiarity with the FDM fam) is the really tasty guitar work on this one.  The riff on the title track has like three parts to it and is sneaky difficult.  A lot of the leads have scrumptuoscity to them too.  The production might feel a tad dated in places, but since I come from the 90's, I felt right at home (even if a little square for liking it).    

16. The Comet Is Coming "Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam"

The Comet Is Coming continue to bring you tight Afro grooves, wailing saxophony and electronic funk jazz of the highest caliber.  Get ready to bob your head, space out and then make the screw face when they hit you with another nasty turn.  (Those are good things, btw.)

15. Action Bronson "Cocodrillo Turbo"

I just really liked the vibe of this one.  Even I'm kinda sick of boom bap at this point (after 30+ years of it), but when it hits it hits!  And it hits like a motherfucker on this one.  The beats are all nice, Bronson's curse-laden verbiage is drizzled on the track with perfection like a stupefyingly high-end gravy, and it's a bite-sized 30 minutes to prevent you from feeling bloated and making you want to come back for more.

14. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard "Changes" 

Yes, out of the Gizz Blizz that was 2022, this was the album that caught my attention the most.  Specifically for the title track.  I thought "The Dripping Tap" would be their high water mark for the year, but though "Kepler 22b" was my favorite, "Changes" the song was their most distinguished.  The modal, spaced out, intimate in setting yet epic in scope lead off song from their late-October entry puts me in a different place, and it sets the tone for the other four tracks on this 40 minute jam factory.

13. Soccer96 "Inner Worlds"

The two members of Soccer96 are also in The Comet Is Coming.  I just happened to like these songs a little more than the ones on Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam.

12. Open Mike Eagle "Component System With The Auto-Reverse" 

Open Mike Eagle trucks in lo-fi music, but not Lo-Fi in the "Beats to study to" way (which is ironic because the album cover is a guy with a Hi-Fi for a head).  This album in particular is nostalgia, history and anemoia in even measure.  Things that have passed, whether they be old dreams, mistakes looked back upon, references to a pop culture that's been sold back to us in multiple formats, places we used to hang out, people that aren't here anymore...even places that aren't here anymore.  Trying to make sense of it all.  Component System feels lived in; it doesn't feel like a funeral, it's not a mere catalog of the past, but it has real memories and the positive and negative feelings attached.  Repeated listens will reward you with further layers.  (I also popped for the Aesop guest verse.  I wasn't looking at the track listing and that was an awesome surprise.)

11. Lizzo "Special"

Lizzo is a treasure to be protected at all costs.  Not that she can't take care of her own business, mind you; she handled plenty this year, notching her second #1 single with "About Damn Time" (which was the last cut I made for my Top 20; that one kinda hurt).  The positivity, the singular wit, the personality and the bops to back it up.  This album is a good time.

10. Taylor Swift "Midnights" 

This one was hard to place because to me it feels incomplete at thirteen tracks but too bloated at twenty (the difference between the "regular" and "3AM" editions).  If there'd been fourteen, fifteen tracks, it could've been a lot more solid.  Like, I'd dump "Snow On The Beach" (not that it's bad, it's just made of vapor and nothing else), the more I listen to "Question...?" the less I like it, "Labyrinth" musically is a less good "Sweet Nothing" so if I never heard it again I wouldn't notice, "Karma" would have made my Worst Songs Of 2022 list if I'd made one (that chorus drives me up a fucking WALL), and out of the bonus tracks just pitch "High Infidelity" and "Glitch" (probably the second worst on the album, but at least tolerable).  The remaining 14 songs wouldn't even have to be re-ordered.  Problem solved.

Why do I lead with all the flaws, all the negative points when talking about an album I ranked in my annual Top 10?  Because the rest is that good.  The theme of being at Midnight lands a lot more than it doesn't.  Everything on here is a slow burn in a way I (an admitted beginner) haven't heard Taylor Swift concoct before.  "Lavender Haze" is a perfect tone setter, because it doesn't really get more hype than that, but it also doesn't need to.  This album is trying to sonically sculpt a liminal space between the waking and dreams (like you do at Midnight), but do it in a context of a precisely composed pop album.  It succeeds more often than not, and when it does it HITS [*taps "Anti-Hero" repeatedly as a prime example*].

9. Zeal & Ardor

Black Metal and Gospel aren't two genres I listen to much, but apparently when you mix them with Groove Metal and an alternate history mythos about Black people in the Reconstruction Era turning to Satanism and wanting revenge instead of turning to Christianity and fighting for equality, apparently you get some pretty provocative results.  This album smashes shit into the dirt.  Its punches are focused and hard.  But the violence is backed with soul, exacting a toll for the trials and tribulations of the last 400 years.  And even if you don't know that going in (I had to be told), even if you don't pay attention to the lyrics at all, you're still gonna hear a high quality metal album that has an appetite for throats.

8. The Night Howls "Love Over Fear"

A pain in the ass to make, an underperformer, and no shows to support it...yet it still has a pretty solid place in my heart.  I'm still proud on some level of what we did here.  I don't even do this out of ego, I just like listening to the album.  If I'm gonna do a list, I'm gonna put what I actually connected with on here.  You think I wanted to put David Crosby in my Top Ten last year?  Fuck no!  But no matter how square, I've got to tell the truth.  Should I disqualify it on the grounds that it's my band?  Probably, but like I said, my list, my rules.  

7. Denzel Curry "Melt My Eyez See Your Future"

Took we awhile to get into this one, but that's more because of the density of the material.  "Walkin'" and "Zatoichi" both rule (in retrospect, "Walkin'" should've been an honorable mention for the songs list).    The run of "John Wayne" through "Mental" paints a dark picture with masterful strokes of what it's like to live in the inner city in 2022.  And the beats on this thing fucking wreck, dude.

6. Carly Rae Jepsen "The Loneliest Time" 

Yeah, she did it again; what else would you expect?  (And this is coming from someone who didn't really click with CRJ until 2020.)  The best Pop album of the year, for sure.  Some people slept on it because A) The singles were all growers not showers and B) it had the misfortune of dropping the same day as Midnights, but trust me, it's well worth your time, Lonely or otherwise.

5. The Mountain Goats "Bleed Out"

My favorite Mountain Goats album, but the only Mountain Goats albums I've heard are three out of their last four, so take that with a grain of salt.  It's definitely the most consistent set I've heard from them.  Catchy hooks, quirky lyrics, but with a bit more urgency and energy than usual.  

4. Demi Lovato "Holy Fvck"

It was a tough decision between this one and number three, since it's two women getting into Drop D hard rock and succeeding wildly.  The first time I heard Holy Fvck I was so impressed I considered it a contender for number one.  She went for broke on this one.  It's not just hard-charging rock and roll, but it's capped off by Demi Lovato getting really personal with a sardonic wit that makes everything relatable.  Her voice fits this kind of music shockingly well and I hope she sticks with it.

3. Willow "<CopingMechanism>"

The two things that gave Willow the edge over Demi were catchier vocal harmonies and less pop sheen.  You can see your reflection in Holy Fvck, whereas <CopingMechanism> is a bit murkier.  It's a breakup album, so RIP "Meet Me At Our Spot", I guess.  There's even elements of J-Rock, with high jangly riffage to counter the low end punches that get thrown.  Willow is two for two in consecutive years.  I'm really impressed with what she's been doing and I hope she keeps it up!

2. Kendrick Lamar "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers"

Yyyeah.  So.  I gave this album the longest review I've ever written and I was pretty much convinced this was the unbeatable lock for Album Of The Decade.  But every time I listened to this album, I liked it a little less.  For every amazing thing about it, its flaws still remain, specifically because they are intentional.  The conceit of Mr. Morale is that Kendrick is not your savior, so most of its problems are on purpose.  But the good is still that great, so after much agonizing, I decided to put it at number two.  I highly suggest listening to it at least once.  Whatever you think of it, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is thought provoking; it inspires discussion.  We need more works like that.

1. Florence + The Machine "Dance Fever" 

Florence managed a feat no one else has ever accomplished: The Number One Song and the Number One Album in the same year.  As a matter of fact, she's the first artist that has had a Number One Song in any year that has gone on to have a Number One Album ever (Company Of Thieves got close twice).

Florence Welch is my favorite singer, this album is beautifully orchestrated, the lyrics grip me, it gets better every time I listen to it...kinda the opposite of Kendrick.  I learned to love this album even for its flaws.  It's amazing.

And that will do it for 2022.  What a strange year.  Kind of in-between feeling, but I think it's one of those that when we look back it'll have been a set up for the bigger things to come.  Its consequentiality has yet to be felt (which can be inspiring or terrifying).  I hope 2023 is a great one, because we could all use better days.  Keep your head up, your mask on and your heart in the right place.

Love Over Fear.