If 2021 was a slow creep back into normality for the music industry post pandemic, then 2022 was an acceleration into the cultivation of something special. The rise of algorithms and automation has allowed for music to flourish and become as diverse as ever, choosing to both deviate from the norm and relish in it. Artists released albums of admirable proportions to the tune of both fans and critics. The year was full of immense creative output from industry stars such as Beyoncé and SZA, to indie darlings such as Black Midi, Alex G, and Beach House. These are KCOU’s picks for top 10 albums of the year.
- Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You – Big Thief
KCOU’s top album of the year is Big Thief’s fifth studio album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, which makes listeners feel every emotion possible through its 80 minute duration. Recorded over four separate sessions, this album goes deeper into what Big Thief does so well, which is conveying rawness to a level unimaginable. The beginning track “Change,” sets the tone for the album’s entirety – love, loss, nostalgia, and growth. From start to finish, DNWMIBIY is full of ups and downs, resulting in lead singer Adrienne Lenker’s conclusion that with all else, “the only place that matters is by your side.”
-Kenzie Ripe
2. Ants From Up There – Black Country, New Road
Is there a sunk cost fallacy when it comes to love? Should we seek a return on investment when it comes to our relationships? In the minds of band Black Country New Road, it seems as if the group and lead singer Isaac Wood try to find the answer in both despair and adoration.
The band’s second studio album was shrouded in controversy and doubt as Wood announced he was departing from the project just days before the release of Ants From Up There. Due to Wood’s public openness with his discomfort in the public eye, the opening song “Chaos Space Marine” was only fitting. Wood’s dissatisfaction with his interpersonal relationships and fame are glaring themes throughout the record and are most apparent on the album’s third track “Concorde,” which follows the same chord progression throughout and is driven but soft. Throughout the album, Wood knows these relationships are a net negative in his life, hurting him comparatively to a sunk cost or Concorde fallacy in finance. We see this return on investment theory in the songs like “Good Will Hunting” and “Haldern,” where Wood questions what benefits he is receiving from his relationship and career vs the exhaust he’s outputting. The gut-wrenching, “The Place Where He Inserted The Blade” and “Snow Globes” maintain both a triumphant and arresting ambiance in their dramatic and religious undertones. The run of tracks themselves is grand with Wood’s performance, Wayne’s drums, and Ellory’s violin. The closing track, “Basketball Shoes,” is an exhausting musical expedition that sees Wood come to terms with the themes set in the album. Ants From Up Here remains one of the most important and effective indie albums of the decade due to its musical range and emotional capacity, pushing the limits on what it means to be a post-rock record and what it means to be reflective.
-Ethan Brandwein
3. Once Twice Melody – Beach House
A mix of melancholic and wandering melodies – this is what songwriting duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally provide listeners with on their eighth studio album Once Twice Melody. Beach House combines the dreamy sound listeners have come to adore with vibrant string sections, and quaint acoustics, blending them all into one cohesive album. Split across four discs, the album comes in with eighteen tracks at just under an hour and a half.
Once Twice Melody explores themes of loss, love, and mystery. Standout tracks include “Modern Love Stories,” “Superstar,” and “Pink Funeral”. Legrand softly sings “When you were mine, / We fell across the sky, / Backlit up against the wall,” painting a vivid picture in the listener’s mind of all the people and stories that came to create these tracks. The ethereal feeling of this album is what I’d imagine living in a cottage in the south of Maine feels like…or something like that. The emotion, experimentation, and experience Once Twice Melody provides listeners with is what makes it a must-listen album of 2022.
-Jack Stebbins
4. Blue Rev – Alvvays
I received the best text message of the year from my high school best friend while driving to class one morning in September. At a stoplight, I unlocked my phone to read, “new alvvays!!” After a five-year dry spell from the band, I almost had left the possibility of new tracks Alvvays to exist only in the confines of my late high school years. I immediately turn on the new song, “Pharmacist” as the car behind me honks—the light has turned green. In the days that followed I listened to the new song “Pharmacist” over and over again. In the car, on my drawn-out walks to class from my off-campus house, and in the shower. The track reflects on returning back to one’s hometown, to find new developments from past entanglements. A reflection of time and space, moving and progressing even in one’s absence.
My fixation on the song skyrocketed my already high expectations for the full album. When Blue Revv arrived, they still were somehow exceeded. Alvvays has continued paving the way for alternative pop in this album with noisy jangle-pop tracks infused with crunchy and dynamic shoegaze sentiments. Their clever, snappy lyrics evoke public, pop-culture, and metaphorical phenomena and channel them into the personal. They utilize stark contrast to capture attention with quieter moments of reflection followed by passionate explosions of instrumentation, adding fire to the power of their original lyrical gems.
-Izzy Colón
5. Hellfire – black midi
Hellfire is one of the most dynamic albums to come out this year. Focusing less on post-punk, black midi dive headfirst into prog rock. Hellfire carries the sound of 70s progressive and jazz fusion classics like King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King and Herbie Hancock’s Thrust, while also demonstrating a juvenile and smart aleck energy that keeps it feeling new and modern. black midi is Charon, guiding you into Hell and sharing stories of the souls that inhabit it. From postmodern title fights on “Sugar/Tsu” to mafioso murders on “Dangerous Liaisons”, the band creates a violent dichotomy between musical technicality and satire unlike anything you’ll ever hear. No matter who you are or what your musical background is, Hellfire is a tight 10 track listening experience that you’d be foolish to pass up.
– JP Pierce
6. God Save The Animals – Alex G
God Save the Animals, the ninth studio album from musician Alex G (Alex Giannascoli) is a meditation on patience, forgiveness, and growth. On tracks like “Runner” and “Early Morning Waiting” Giannoscoli sings the refrain over and over again, hammering in a nail with his repetition, using his words as an undeniable drive force, calling out to anyone who will listen. Each song feels like a confessional, like coming up for a breath of air. Although he’s always experimented with the clashing of tender acoustics and electronic improvisation, the blend of the two feel strongest on this record, no thanks to his genius as a producer. God Save the Animals would be nothing, however, without its vulnerability. In the album’s penultimate track, “Miracles” he sings: “You say one day that we should have a baby, well/Right now, baby, I’m struggling, we’ll see, yeah.” He voices his fears and failures and leaves room for questions, suddenly unafraid of whatever lies ahead. Giannascoli voices his appreciation and admiration for life of all kinds in God Save the Animals, echoing the importance of lessons, learning, and letting go.
-Gillian Koptik
7. RENAISSANCE – Beyoncé
Beyoncé’s seventh album Renaissance, has a clear message — you’re that girl. Cool, confident and sexy. “From the top of the morning I shine, right through the blinds,” Beyoncé sings on the opening track “I’m That Girl.” Listening to Renaissance feels like an unhinged celebration of one’s self, just as fit for dancing alone in your room as it is for being at the club. This is intentional, as the album is inspired by ballroom culture, pioneered by Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities to celebrate identity and freedom of expression. There isn’t a dull moment on Renaissance. Beyoncé brings a plethora of genres to the table— classic four-on-the-floor house beats on “Pure/Honey, the hyperpop production style of “Alien Superstar”, and the 70’s disco-inspired “Cuff It”, which sounds like it could have been pulled from Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. Beyoncé’s experimentation with various styles and sounds paid off. Renaissance gained the attention of not only the Beyoncé stans, but also fans of electronic and others who didn’t connect with her previous releases. The album is a jubilant, fun-loving celebration of freedom, resistance and confidence, and Beyoncé invites all to participate.
-Angelina Edwards
8. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow – Weyes Blood
On November 18, 2022 Natalie Mering, otherwise known by her stage name Weyes Blood, released her fifth studio album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. This most recent expression of sentiments has enchanted and captivated audiences old and new with its succinct composition and riveting lyricism. Mering’s philosophy of song-writing echoes a sense of folklore and mysticism which she explains is because, “shared myths are part of our psychology and survival.” She employs this mindset efficiently in this album which reflects on the isolation and effects of a worldwide pandemic and the myriad issues that prevail in our modern world. How do these shared myths aid us in a time when survival is fraught with complications?
Many of her songs center upon modern conflictions, issues that have become internalized and extensive. Not enough can be said of Weyes Blood’s incredible vocal power which disrupts and reassures at the same time; she makes us acknowledge the anguish but soothes our senses in the same moment. The velvet touch of her voice is the perfect vessel for such poignant lyrics. One thing is clear: Weyes Blood/Natalie Mering is an angel on Earth. She has carved a place in KCOU’s hearts, year after year, with her eloquent albums and stunning arrangements, and I know that space will only grow.
-Molly Nash
9. Aethiopes – Billy Woods
Every emotion and action is inherently political. Late-stage capitalism creates anxiety that creeps into our daily lives and keeps us struggling for survival, let alone allowing us to thrive. Colonialism creates isolation and alienation for the vast majority of the globe. No artist is more adamant about these current struggles and questions than rapper Billy Woods.
Woods’ unconventional approach to rapping allows for an egalitarian listen between sound and lyric. He opens the album by declaring that former Ethiopian head of state Mengistu Haile Mariam is his neighbor. Mariam, a militant Marxist-Leninist politician who escaped to Billy’s home country, is a polarizing figure in history, responsible for the 1983 Ethiopian famine. He draws a comparison between his own time in Zimbabwe to that of the Ethiopian dictator in his gated Zimbabwean mansion, both living in a gilded cage. All of a sudden, the music transitions into a crackling beat, taken back to Billy’s birthplace of Washington D.C in the 1990s, where he expresses guilt over his survival at the peak of the crack epidemic. The rest of the album is full of grandiose statements of merits against capitalism and colonialism. Woods spits out bars like “End of the day, day-traders make minimum wage,” “I’m not concerned with generational wealth, that’s its curse,” and “Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx, I was in the Dollar Tree break-room playin’ cards with quarters.” This type of sentiment and expertise from Woods, one that echoes off the readings of Deleuze, Fisher, and Fanon refrains from running off course or becoming corny. The bleak militantness of the music comes from a place of personal struggle and anger. The passionate showing of skill and philosophical intricacy is what enables Aethiopes to creep into our top ten for 2022, in all its grandeur.
-Ethan Brandwein
10. The Forever Story – JID
Don’t you love it when an artist’s lyrics speak for their own greatness? JID accomplishes this with finesse on his third studio album, The Forever Story. After signing to Dreamville Records in 2017 and subsequently releasing The Never Story, the prequel album to The Forever Story, JID quickly became an Atlanta prodigy for his lyrical talent and unique flow. JID maximizes these strengths in The Forever Story with his dynamic rapping and unexpectedly melodic singing, backed by executive production from longtime producer Christo. Thematically, JID narrates the plight of the Black struggle while advocating for racial unity and equity. As he encouragingly sings on the track “Kody Blu 31,” “You know it rains for somethin’ / You know the pain’s for somethin’ / I hope a change is comin’ / Just keep swangin’ on.”
Track highlights on The Forever Story include “Can’t Punk Me” with energetic production from Kaytranada and clever rhymes from fellow Dreamville duo EarthGang, and the captivating “Lauder Too” featuring entrancing vocal performances from Ravyn Lenae and Eryn Allen Kane. The features don’t stop there with diverse appearances from Kenny Mason, Baby Tate, Lil Durk, Ari Lennox, Lil Wayne, and Johnta Austin. JID’s brilliant songwriting, inspired storytelling, and overall attention to detail on The Forever Story make it an instant classic in the current rap scene and an essential pick for KCOU’s Top 10 Albums of 2022.
–Henry Sheridan