Music Spotlight: My Top Album 2022

The hype is real. I only recently wrote last years, so I bet your hype - is nonexistent but for me I was writing that knowing full well there were - some bangers waiting to be unleashed in this year end review!

If you hadn’t read my previous post for 2021 the link is at the - bottom:

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The winner was “KANGA - You and I Will Never Die”
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The album pool

As always the criteria:

it was released in 2022
it wasn’t a single
if it was an EP it has to be substantial and intentional

And the albums are…

Amining for Enrike - The Rats and the Children
And So I watch You from Afar - Jettison
Astronoid - Radiant Bloom
Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
Cult of Luna - The Long Road North
Dance With the Dead - Driven to Madness
Elder - Innate Passage
Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice
Giraffes? Giraffes! - Death Breath
God Mother - Obeveklig
Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres (and various other releases)
Long Distance Calling - Eraser
Ludovico Technique - Haunted People
MWWB - The Harvest (Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard)
MØL - Diorama (Instrumental)
Psychostick - … and Stuff
Russian Circles - Gnosis
SIERRA - See Me Now
Starcadian - Shadowcatcher
Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk
Toundra - Hex
Waveshaper - Forgotten Shapes

2022’s playlist (+ 2 albums from bandcamp not on Spotify):

The Top 5

In alphabetical order:

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
Elder - Innate Passage
Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice
Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres (and various other releases)
Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Some metal infused synthwave, Carpenter Brut managed to release a - catchy and heavy banger of an album. Featuring a few guest performers, - each of these tracks are unique and catchy in what I would consider a - very “same-y” genre. It’s nice having an infinite supply of retro synth - tracks to drive to, but sometimes it’s hard for one to really break - through into “oh shit yes!”. Typically, Starcadian is the one to do that - for me, as they add an extra layer to their tracks through their music - videos (each track being an “ear movie”).

Throughout the year I found myself coming back to a few tracks over - and over - especially when I was showering or doing some other short - activity and I just wanted something upbeat and fun as heck!

Some call out featured songs are The Widow Maker featuring Gunship, - Imaginary Fire featuring Greg Puciato, and Lipstick Masquerade featuring - Persha. I looped these three songs quite a bit. But there are quite a few - more to checkout.

Favorite Track

This is tough, as I looped those three songs quite a bit - each - bringing their own unique energy. So I’ll pick all three - my list my - rules:

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The Widow maker - feat. Gunship This track is representative of - the genre. It’s synthwave to the core.
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Imaginary Fire - feat. Greg Puciato This is a metal track with - synths. Greg Puciato (of The Dillinger Escape Plan fame) is one of my - favorite vocalists and is immensely talented. This is probably my - favorite because I can’t get enough of his vocal style - the screams - and the clean vocals!
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Lipstick Masquerade - feat. Persha This is a modern 80s track. - This is what retrowave was designed around and while tracks like The - Widow Maker are more typical of the genre, this is the song they all - are basing their sound off of. This is kill pop song.
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Special Commendation - Non Stop Bangers

You throw this album on and it hits you with just banger after banger. - I can’t keep myself from dancing. Even as I listen back as I write this - gemlog I am grooving in my chair! Like Kanga last year, this is just a - series of tracks that just make you dance.

Album Link

- [spotify] Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Elder - Innate Passage

I toot’d a bit about this album, a later release in the year, this - took this year end review and flipped it on its head. I thought it was - wrapped up already with a separate release this year, but this makes the - decision so hard.

Elder came at us with what feels like a return to form. Having - previously released Omens in 2020 and a collaboration album in 2021, - Innate Passage takes the best parts of those two albums and builds on-top - of more “classic Elder” albums like Lore. Elder has carved out their own - niche in the genre making a blend of psych rock and stoner metal, with - each release leaning harder and harder into psychedelic realms. Innate - Passage has this almost ethereal feeling - especially in their opening - track Catastasis.

I think, however, they’ve left the doom and stoner metal behind. Dead - Roots Stirring and Elder (self titled) were certainly “Doomy” and in that - “doom/stoner” metal overlap. Lore, Reflections of a Floating World are - both still very “stoner metal”. But is playing psychedelic-metal with a - big muff automatically stoner metal? I think since Omens they’re - probably, as a band, firmly outside of the stoner metal field - and more - soundly in some psychedelic/prog metal genre?

They introduce themselves as such in their website actually!

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genre-pushing rock band that melds heavy psychedelic sounds - with progressive elements and evocative soundscapes.
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- — https://beholdtheelder.com/elder-bio/ -

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“Merged In Dreams - Ne Plus Ultra” is the track that flips this whole - argument on its head and shows that regardless, they’re still very much a - metal band and one that you’ll absolutely be head banging too, horn up - \m/.

Favorite Track

I think “Merged In Dreams - Ne Plus Ultra”. A nearly 15 minute track - that has everything in it you expect from Elder.

Special Commendation - Excellent Vinyl Record Cover

I LOVE their record covers when they do the circular inserts. You can - display this vinyl with having 3 separate views through the port, which - while purely aesthetic - it’s very nice!

The quality of the vinyl release was great, though I find any - non-black Vinyl has a 33% chance of being slightly warped upon arrival. I - am going to stick to traditional black vinyls from now on sadly. It’s too - freaking often

Album Link

- [spotify] Elder - Innate Passage

Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice

Her second album in her “Electric Guitar” series - Emma Ruth Rundle - (ERR from here on out) has released “Dowsing Voice” a haunting follow-up - to last years Engine of Hell. Holy holy HOLY hell, this album is an - impactful, artistic, just WOW. It’s hard to describe. I was listening to - it for this review and my partner, sitting behind me relaxing, said “What - the hell are you listening too, this is scary!”. And scary, emotional, - and difficult it is. ERR stretches the use of the “electric guitar” - title, as the focus here is the additional layers and voices added on-top - of the main tracks.

An experimental release that, at this time is only available on - bandcamp, is one I don’t put on frequently, but when I do am fully - captivated. If you like artistic records - please check this out.

Favorite Track

Probably: Keening into Ffynnon Llanllawer - I love the guitar(?) part - and the wailing/vocalization. It’s haunting. As a recording is - amazing.

Though “In the Cave of The Cailleach’s Death-Birth” is the /best/ - track. Put some headphones on and give this a listen! Just amazing.

Special Commendation - Album Art

This album, IS ART, but the album art is just… really suiting the - music.

Album Link

[bandcamp] - Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice

Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres (and various other releases)

This is an interesting pick. Having released JUST in time for this - year, this is an album I have been engaging with in many, many ways. - Firstly, I am a patron of this performer via Patreon. They make music - videos (audio only performance videos of the songs) that they compile - into albums. Last year’s album is probably my actual favorite and likely - SHOULD’VE snuck into the top 5 because of the final track alone, which - was an emotional and just epic banger of a track (Linked at the bottom of - this review).

Celestial spheres is a compilation of 8 synth jams. Jay bills these as - semi-improvisational, and while the YT channel is a synth nerds dream of - these informative performances, the songs stand on their own. This one is - no exception. Using various different pieces of hardware synths, - grooveboxes, drum machines and traditional instruments - each track is - unique while still carrying this /energy/ and style. It’s so easy to hear - Jays tracks and know it’s him.

I’ve been following him for years and really enjoy the music he makes, - and the community he’s built up around his music. Due to the disconnected - nature of the singles (releasing effectively as YouTube videos prior to - the album drop) it’s difficult to ultimately rate these in these lists - since I don’t get a chance to really enjoy them /as an album/ until the - end of the year (the past two times happened like this where they came - out around the end of the year). And on my playlist “Future, Tense” is - present as it’s a “2022” album according to Spotify, but was out on - bandcamp in 2021, and that’s when I was gifted it by Jay.

So yeah - this whole section is like “disclaimer disclaimer” but if - you like groovy, typically instrumental synth music - check it out.

The various other releases

This year Jay released a few albums actually which I didn’t want to - include separately. If you enjoy this album (which was mostly comprised - of 2022 music, so was the primary focus) check out the other albums:

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/cinematic-works - https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/away-music-for-a-productive-day - https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/home-music-for-a-productive-day

Favorite Track

Without out a doubt it’s Nychthemeron. It’s truly a wild track, with - so much happening in it. I suspect it was his favorite too since he made - an actual music video for it:

[youtube] Jay - Hosking - Nychthemeron (Official Music video)

Special Commendation - Each track has a live performance attached to - it!

If you enjoy videos - these each have a corresponding YT video linked - at the bottom of the bandcamp page.

Album Link

[bandcamp] - Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres

Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk

Tina Dickow (sometimes credited as Tina Dico, depending on the - release) is a fantastic Danish singer songwriter. Since her first solo - album she’s really found a way to elevate what is just folk indie pop. - Her songwriting, arrangements, and performances are always so rich. She - knows when to strip the song back - like Chefen Skal Ha' Fri - while, - has certainly a lot happening beneath the lyrics - mixes them back a bit - to let the layered vocals cut through as the song builds. Each song has - so much to listen to! Picking out various instruments, layers, yet every - song would work performed just her and her acoustic guitar. I find her - style of pop music to be very engaging for that reason. I don’t often - listen to this style of music, but the production behind each track is so - good it hooks me in. That and her beautiful voice - which drew me in - first.

It’s a bit harder to talk about this album given the language barrier - (I do not speak Danish!) Which is a shame, since her lyrics are often - what I love about some of her previous albums. I’ve read the translations - and done my own as a learning exercise, but there is a layer missing - which is a shame given how strong this album is as whole.

I’ve spoken about Tina before in two previous gemlogs (Music - Spotlight: Awesome EPs and 5x5 - Playlists (both gemini:// links)) and is one of my absolute favorite - artists of all time. I’ve been slowly collecting her entire discography, - which can be tricky, given a lot of copies are out of print and the - remaining stock/used copies are often in Europe. (And that 5x5 playlist - is very telling given most of those artists have been featured in my top - albums lists and were winners! Is this foreshadowing?!)

Favorite Track

I shouldn’t have introduced this section - it has been so hard each - time! I think the title track, Bitte Små Ryk. It’s got everything there, - and is representative of the albums sound.

Special Commendation - Lovely

This whole album is lovely. There is emotion here too, and while I - don’t speak the language its often very clear. But I love Tina and her - music. It’s lovely and hits this spot in me thats just warm.

Album Link

- [spotify] Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk

My Top Pick

This year has been especially hard, since I spent so much time - listening to 2021s releases which are some of my favorite of all time. - And between 2021 and 2022 (and mentioned in my 2021 spotlight) nearly - every one of my favorite artists released an album. So I have been - blessed with a lot to listen to.

Anyone following me on mastodon may have seen Tina Dickow just owning - my entire wrapped campaign, but with Elder releasing their album after - the data collection stops for wrapped, that certainly isn’t telling the - whole story.

And it wouldn’t be a top album list if I didn’t mention Starcadian - being consistently in the top 10 year after year, just narrowly missing - the top 5 - though technically, this release was in my 2020s list, as it - was available then, but had since been pulled, and was released - “officially” in 2022. Looking at what I can see it’s the same tracklist, - but the “inspired by” credits are entirely gone from the 2022 - release.

Elder - Innate Passage

Each year picking the winner is hard. Part of the reason I do this is - I don’t really add stuff to the list I don’t like. A LOT of music comes - out each year, and I add what I listen to. I don’t listen to music I - don’t like - so by nature of the process - each album is a “top album” - for me.

But the top 5 is usually a mix of “omg obvs” and “yeah turns out I - threw that on way more than I expected” (Carpenter Brut). But its really - always a fight between those “obvs” - this year was Elder and Tina - Dickow. Their releases were seriously top tier and repeat listens.

Tina came in with the advantage of releasing in April, and Elder JUST - released theirs at the end of November. But I did some math on my - mastodon breaking down the comparison. Elder came at us with a longer - albums, under half as many tracks, and over 2x the average song length - (about 10min/track).

They didn’t waste a single second (neither did Tina) but just being - such an accessible album - just direct pure energy and power - BOOM! It - was great.

This should’ve been a tie

Honestly, I was ready to call it a tie. I am actually writing this - minutes before posting it, because that’s how undecided I am and how - close this is.

Tina Dickow deserves the number one slot any other year, and both her - and Elder’s albums I hope to see more of in the next few years! Both are - classic albums in their discographies (both albums of which I own and - spin regularly). I forced myself to pick, and just knowing me, my tastes, - and all the stuff I said above - I went with Elder. But seriously, listen - to this record - Tina manages to pack so much musicality in carving out a - unique sound and just amazing style. I love her <3 :)

And if her music isn’t your jam - check out her guest tracks on the - Zero-7 stuff - angelic voice.

Conclusion

I am REALLY disappointed I had to choose between Elder and Tina Dickow - this year. Similarly, last year I had Raised by Swans, ERR, and Kanga! - And our winner in 2020 was Bell Witch. These ARE my top six favorite - musical artists currently active.

I’ll talk about music trends and my tastes later on. But I just wanted - to emphasize how much of a banger these last 3 years have been musically - and I am grateful I get to share these with you here.

I am really excited for 2023!

This year’s playlist (2023)

- [spotify] senders' Releases 2023 Playlist

Music Spotlight: My Top Album 2022

The album pool

The Top 5

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Favorite Track

Special Commendation - Non Stop Bangers

Album Link

Elder - Innate Passage

Favorite Track

Special Commendation - Excellent Vinyl Record Cover

Album Link

Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice

Favorite Track

Special Commendation - Album Art

Album Link

Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres (and various other releases)

The various other releases

Favorite Track

Special Commendation - Each track has a live performance attached to - it!

Album Link

Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk

Favorite Track

Special Commendation - Lovely

Album Link

My Top Pick

Elder - Innate Passage

This should’ve been a tie

Conclusion

This year’s playlist (2023)

Links