After taking a year off, now’s the time to dust off the danger zone and bring Kenny Bloggins back with 10 albums you absolutely need to hear—all released in 2022. Without further delay, here are the best and most important records of the year (according to a recovering music addict).
Curated Playlists:
- Listen to the Best Songs (Standout Tracks) of 2022: Apple Music | Spotify
- Listen to all the Best Albums of 2022: Apple Music | Spotify
1) The Mars Volta – The Mars Volta
Standout tracks:
- Blacklight Shine
- Graveyard Love
- No Case Gain
- Equus 3
The Mars Volta have a history. Those who need a quick lesson can continue reading here, while TMV theologians can fast forward to the next paragraph. In 2000, the band At The Drive-In released a critically acclaimed post-hardcore album and were on the precipice of becoming widely successful when suddenly, they called it quits (seemingly out of nowhere, but tensions in the band had been brewing for some time). Out of the ashes were born a pair of bands, splitting the group into two factions hereafter known as The Mars Volta and Sparta. The Mars Volta became well known for exploring complex storylines, atypical time signatures, and unique melodies while Sparta chose to produce more straightforward post-hardcore rock.
22 years later, The Mars Volta have released a new self-titled album, the first in 10 years (Sparta also put out a new record in 2022, which is also self-titled, and also great). Shimmering with golden album art, this is easily the most accessible collection of The Mars Volta songs, with listeners being rewarded by the bands ability to be more direct as the occasional oddity hits even harder than on previous work. Yet, this is not The Mars Volta “lite” nor does it travel down the same path as Sparta. Plenty of rapturous convolutions lurk from beneath the floorboards, likely since the material was born out of anger, danger, and fear stemming from trauma experienced by lyricist/singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s family as portrayed via a public trial of assault, Scientology, and conspiracy caused by a has-been 90s sitcom actor making very poor life decisions. This is dramatic, poignant, Latin-infused progressive rock at its best.
2) Anthony Green – Boom. Done.
Standout tracks:
- So It Goes
- Pleasure of the Feast
- Center of It All
- Maybe This Will Be the One
Boom. Done. dances in arduous circles around addiction—tales of how the entanglement of dark thoughts can break us down, how overindulgences can be used to heal, and how we can find light on the other side through the love of healing. While chemical dependency might be the primary muse, the lyrics can be interpreted through the lens of any form of addiction. There is pain throughout but also much to celebrate. Anthony Green’s heavy words are crooned with heady falsetto, creating tension. Masterful instrumentation coming from Tom Goodwin and Tim Arnold (longtime collaborators of Green’s, from the band Good Old War) then help to revitalize. Boom. Done. is a challenging excursion, especially if you pay close attention to the stories being told, but it’s ultimately an astonishingly rewarding undertaking for those who take a ride.
3) St. Paul & The Broken Bones – The Alien Coast
Standout tracks:
- Bermejo And The Devil
- Minotaur
- The Last Dance
- Love Letter From A Red Roof Inn
St. Paul & The Broken Bones are new to me. All I knew was how groovy and unique their sound was (imagine if Cee Lo Green could actually rock and could get as gritty as Tom Waits, with backing from a band nearly good enough to give The Funk Brothers a run for their money). I recently learned that St Paul & co. are an eight-piece group from Birmingham, Alabama and have been around for some time, releasing their first record in 2014 and appearing on nearly all the late-night shows. What makes The Alien Coast stand out from other more traditional funk rock records are the uses of psychedelic textures, fuzzed-out synths, modern hip-hop production, and ultra-heavy rhythms. This is an explosive, soulful rock record from front to back.
4) The Smile – A Light for Attracting Attention
Standout Tracks:
- The Smoke
- We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Brings
- Free in the Knowledge
- Pana-vision
Endless magic seems to consistently flow from the boys in Radiohead. But with only two-fifths of the Kid A stalwarts here to form The Smile, you might expect a partially guillotined Radiohead. That’s just not the case—A Light for Attracting Attention may echo past work but with a more limited roster, including jazz drummer Tom Skinner, Johnny Greenwood’s arpeggiated genius shines even brighter without being abstracted, and perhaps Thom Yorke is able to deliver his classic howls more candidly in a groovier, less melancholic manner. It might seem like a patchwork group of songs upon first listen, but culminates into a spellbinding and cohesive collection of music over time.
5) Bartees Strange – Farm to Table
Standout tracks:
- Heavy Heart
- Mulholland Dr.
- Hold the Line
- Escape This Circus
Let’s clear the air—the hype surrounding Bartees Strange is justified. Listening to all of Farm to Table takes just 34 minutes and comes through like a journey across a vast valley of musical lexicons; rock, neo-soul, R&B, and even Midwest emo. This means Bartees carefully chooses which form each song should take based on the story he wishes to tell, and he does it well. Listeners who can break down the compartmentalization of styles will most enjoy Farm to Table for what it is—a fantastic genre-bending album from an artist who is just getting started. The resulting beauty of Farm to Table is heard in how full these songs sound, with moments of vulnerability ending in grandiose exclamations, and cautious falsettos leading to invigorating choruses.
6) Death Cab for Cutie – Asphalt Meadows
Standout tracks:
- Rand McNally
- Fragments From the Decade
- Pepper
- Here to Forever
Existing fans of Death Cab for Cutie will love Asphalt Meadows (you can even stop reading now and put the record on if Transatlanticism or Plans are still in your constant rotation). It’s been accurately hailed as a mature midlife work that’s among their best. I’ve personally been watching Ben Gibbard grow from quirky indie rocker during the early aughts into a well-respected songwriter, which has been one of my favorite music encounters—all this in parallel with finishing college, starting a family, and moving away from California to make my homestead in Death Cab’s stomping grounds near Seattle, Washington. Asphalt Meadows became the perfect soundtrack for my daughter and I this winter while driving her to school on white snow-covered streets, smiling at horses covered in heavy blankets as we passed, and breathing in the cold winter air. These songs bring me back to the first time I heard Death Cab but also benefit from Gibbard’s improved songmanship over the years, and are sure to be at the top of the DCFC cannon.
7) Anchor & Bear – No More Nights On the Roof
Standout tracks:
- I’ll Give You Fire
- Red Ink
- Glad It’s Over
- Red Letter Days
There’s no need to hide my connection to Anchor & Bear, a band created by my older brother and sister-in-law, which I have also had the opportunity to play in. There’s also no need for me to feel obligated to include their latest release No More Nights On the Roof on this list other than the fact that this is a masterwork in power pop that deserves significant recognition. No More Nights sees the California outfit painting a portrait that takes the best elements of their previous works (beautiful bridges, tasteful echo/reverb, crafty songwriting) and lifts them to new textures on a canvas that is uniformly enjoyable and unbelievably catchy, sometimes brilliantly so. This is the record for late nights, on the roof or not.
8) Andrew Bird – Inside Problems
Standout tracks:
- Underlands
- Never Fall Apart
- Make a Picture
- Faithless Ghost
I’m new to Andrew Bird and it’s clear to see I’ve been missing out on an extraordinary artist. Inside Problems is chock full of some of my favorite folk-rock musical elements; featured throughout are punchy and warm 60s bass, smooth drumming, string accompaniment (the violin playing is handled by Andrew himself), and well-constructed melodies. This would be much higher on the list had I discovered Bird earlier in the year and I’m sure this vinyl will eat away at my record player needle in the decades to come.
9) Brent Faiyaz – Wasteland
Standout tracks:
- Price of Fame
- Dead Man Walking
- Role Model
- Bad Luck
Wasteland is a brutally honest R&B album from Columbian-born artist Brent Faiyaz with heavy beats and frictionless vocals. The guest spots (Alicia Keys, Drake, The Neptunes) are notable but aren’t particularly even album highlights. Wasteland really excels when Brent Faiyaz’s soulful, smooth, and slippery hymns are front-and-center in the mix, sliding alongside remarkably fresh production.
10) Frontperson – Parade
Standout tracks:
- Ostalgie (Fur C. Bishoff)
- Messy Roomz
- Parade
- I Fall Out
Parade comes off like a Sangria Lemonade, or maybe a fresh Bellini during Sunday Brunch. Kathryn Calder (The New Pornographers) and Andrew Hamilton (Woodpigeon) make up the Canadian indie pop duo Frontperson; they are like two simple ingredients that when mixed together create something fizzy and refreshing. The songs here twinkle and shine, but are by no means simple, having enough underlying rock tension to keep you curious about what’s to come after Parade.
KennyBloggins 