My favorite records from 2022

Published

December, the month of dwindling daylight and obligatory retrospection, is upon us once again. Here are my favorite records of the year 2022, ordered alphabetically. My top ten are marked with a ★ (star).

  1. Aldous Harding — Warm Chris
  2. ★ Alex Cameron — Oxy Music
  3. Angel Olsen — Big Time
  4. Anna Calvi — Tommy
  5. Arcade Fire — We
  6. Arctic Monkeys — The Car
  7. ★ Balmorhea — Solanales
  8. Beach House — Once Twice Melody
  9. ★ Beth Orton — Weather Alive
  10. Biosphere — Shortwave Memories
  11. ★ Boby Oroza (feat. Cold Diamond & Mink) — Get on the Otherside
  12. Brian Eno — FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE
  13. CARM — CARM II
  14. Daniel Avery — Ultra Truth
  15. Daphni — Cherry
  16. Florence + the Machine — Dance Fever
  17. Florist — Florist
  18. HAAi — Baby, We're Ascending
  19. Hagop Tchaparian — Bolts
  20. Jean-Michel Jarre — Oxymore
  21. Jóhann Jóhannsson, Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier, ACME — Jóhannsson: Drone Mass
  22. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Emile Mosseri — I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon
  23. ★ Kali Malone — Living Torch
  24. Kramer — Music For Films Edited By Moths
  25. Library Tapes — Sunset
  26. ★ Lisa Gerrard & Marcello De Francisci — Exaudia
  27. Madrugada — Chimes at Midnight
  28. ★ Matthias Gusset — Burden
  29. Metronomy — Small World
  30. Nils Frahm — Music for Animals
  31. Nosaj Thing — Continua
  32. Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin — Ghosted
  33. Perfume Genius — Ugly Season
  34. Roger Eno — The Turning Year
  35. Rosalía — Motomami
  36. ★ Sarah Davachi — Two Sisters
  37. Sevdaliza — Raving Dahlia
  38. ★ Sharon Van Etten — We've Been Going About This All Wrong (Deluxe Edition)
  39. Sudan Archives — Natural Brown Prom Queen
  40. Sun's Signature — Sun's Signature
  41. The Smile — A Light for Attracting Attention
  42. Tindersticks — Stars at Noon (Original Soundtrack)
  43. Vanessa Wagner — Mirrored
  44. ★ Vanessa Wagner — Study of the Invisible
  45. Various Artists — A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto: To the Moon and Back
  46. WhoMadeWho — UUUU
  47. William Basinski & Janek Schaefer — “...On Reflection”
  48. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Cool It Down

Live shows I've attended this year: Tindersticks in Lisbon; Dead Can Dance and Arctic Monkeys in Bucharest; Altın Gün and WhoMadeWho in Cluj.

Timeline of favorite records: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.

Other 2022 lists: Bleep, Rough Trade UK, The Quietus.