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. ☞ Daniel Lanois — Player, Piano
  17. Florence + the Machine — Dance Fever
  18. Florist — Florist
  19. HAAi — Baby, We're Ascending
  20. Hagop Tchaparian — Bolts
  21. Jean-Michel Jarre — Oxymore
  22. Jóhann Jóhannsson, Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier, ACME — Jóhannsson: Drone Mass
  23. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Emile Mosseri — I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon
  24. ★ Kali Malone — Living Torch
  25. Kramer — Music For Films Edited By Moths
  26. Library Tapes — Sunset
  27. ★ Lisa Gerrard & Marcello De Francisci — Exaudia
  28. Madrugada — Chimes at Midnight
  29. ★ Matthias Gusset — Burden
  30. Metronomy — Small World
  31. Nils Frahm — Music for Animals
  32. Nosaj Thing — Continua
  33. Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin — Ghosted
  34. Perfume Genius — Ugly Season
  35. Roger Eno — The Turning Year
  36. Rosalía — Motomami
  37. ★ Sarah Davachi — Two Sisters
  38. Sevdaliza — Raving Dahlia
  39. ★ Sharon Van Etten — We've Been Going About This All Wrong (Deluxe Edition)
  40. Sudan Archives — Natural Brown Prom Queen
  41. Sun's Signature — Sun's Signature
  42. The Smile — A Light for Attracting Attention
  43. Tindersticks — Stars at Noon (Original Soundtrack)
  44. Vanessa Wagner — Mirrored
  45. ★ Vanessa Wagner — Study of the Invisible
  46. Various Artists — A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto: To the Moon and Back
  47. WhoMadeWho — UUUU
  48. William Basinski & Janek Schaefer — “...On Reflection”
  49. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Cool It Down

The manicule ☞ marks retroactive additions of favorite albums I’ve discovered after having made the initial list.

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, 2023.

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