My favorite records from 2022
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).
- Aldous Harding — Warm Chris
- ★ Alex Cameron — Oxy Music
- Angel Olsen — Big Time
- Anna Calvi — Tommy
- Arcade Fire — We
- Arctic Monkeys — The Car
- ★ Balmorhea — Solanales
- Beach House — Once Twice Melody
- ★ Beth Orton — Weather Alive
- Biosphere — Shortwave Memories
- ★ Boby Oroza (feat. Cold Diamond & Mink) — Get on the Otherside
- Brian Eno — FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE
- CARM — CARM II
- Daniel Avery — Ultra Truth
- Daphni — Cherry
- ☞ Daniel Lanois — Player, Piano
- Florence + the Machine — Dance Fever
- Florist — Florist
- HAAi — Baby, We're Ascending
- Hagop Tchaparian — Bolts
- Jean-Michel Jarre — Oxymore
- Jóhann Jóhannsson, Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier, ACME — Jóhannsson: Drone Mass
- Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Emile Mosseri — I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon
- ★ Kali Malone — Living Torch
- Kramer — Music For Films Edited By Moths
- Library Tapes — Sunset
- ★ Lisa Gerrard & Marcello De Francisci — Exaudia
- Madrugada — Chimes at Midnight
- ★ Matthias Gusset — Burden
- Metronomy — Small World
- Nils Frahm — Music for Animals
- Nosaj Thing — Continua
- Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin — Ghosted
- Perfume Genius — Ugly Season
- Roger Eno — The Turning Year
- Rosalía — Motomami
- ★ Sarah Davachi — Two Sisters
- Sevdaliza — Raving Dahlia
- ★ Sharon Van Etten — We've Been Going About This All Wrong (Deluxe Edition)
- Sudan Archives — Natural Brown Prom Queen
- Sun's Signature — Sun's Signature
- The Smile — A Light for Attracting Attention
- Tindersticks — Stars at Noon (Original Soundtrack)
- Vanessa Wagner — Mirrored
- ★ Vanessa Wagner — Study of the Invisible
- Various Artists — A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto: To the Moon and Back
- WhoMadeWho — UUUU
- William Basinski & Janek Schaefer — “...On Reflection”
- 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.