path: root/posts/music-spotlight-my-top-album-2022.html

--post-date: 2023-01-03
--type: blog
    <article>
      <h1>Music Spotlight: My Top Album 2022</h1>
      <p>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!</p>
      <p>If you hadn’t read my previous post for 2021 the link is at the
      bottom:</p>
      <blockquote>
        <p>The winner was “KANGA - You and I Will Never Die”</p>
      </blockquote>
      <h2>The album pool</h2>
      <p>As always the criteria:</p>
      <ul>
        <li>it was released in 2022</li>
        <li>it wasn’t a single</li>
        <li>if it was an EP it has to be substantial and intentional</li>
      </ul>
      <p>And the albums are…</p>
      <ul>
        <li>Amining for Enrike - The Rats and the Children</li>
        <li>And So I watch You from Afar - Jettison</li>
        <li>Astronoid - Radiant Bloom</li>
        <li>Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror</li>
        <li>Cult of Luna - The Long Road North</li>
        <li>Dance With the Dead - Driven to Madness</li>
        <li>Elder - Innate Passage</li>
        <li>Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice</li>
        <li>Giraffes? Giraffes! - Death Breath</li>
        <li>God Mother - Obeveklig</li>
        <li>Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres (and various other releases)</li>
        <li>Long Distance Calling - Eraser</li>
        <li>Ludovico Technique - Haunted People</li>
        <li>MWWB - The Harvest (Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard)</li>
        <li>MØL - Diorama (Instrumental)</li>
        <li>Psychostick - … and Stuff</li>
        <li>Russian Circles - Gnosis</li>
        <li>SIERRA - See Me Now</li>
        <li>Starcadian - Shadowcatcher</li>
        <li>Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk</li>
        <li>Toundra - Hex</li>
        <li>Waveshaper - Forgotten Shapes</li>
      </ul>
      <p>2022’s playlist (+ 2 albums from bandcamp not on Spotify):</p>
      <ul>
        <li>
          <a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
              target="_blank"
              href=
              "https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2TCd910OyZcTjQ8l8Dc0Jy?si=efd0dc6286b84062">
          [spotify] senders&#39; Releases 2022 Spotify Playlist</a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
              target="_blank"
              href=
              "https://emmaruthrundle.bandcamp.com/album/eg2-dowsing-voice">[bandcamp]
              Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice</a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
              target="_blank"
              href=
              "https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-spheres">[bandcamp]
              Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
      <h2>The Top 5</h2>
      <p>In alphabetical order:</p>
      <ul>
        <li>Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror</li>
        <li>Elder - Innate Passage</li>
        <li>Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice</li>
        <li>Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres (and various other releases)</li>
        <li>Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk</li>
      </ul>
      <h2>Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror</h2>
      <p>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”).</p>
      <p>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!</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>Favorite Track</h3>
      <p>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:</p>
      <ul>
        <li>
          <p>The Widow maker - feat. Gunship This track is representative of
          the genre. It’s synthwave to the core.</p>
        </li>
        <li>
          <p>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!</p>
        </li>
        <li>
          <p>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.</p>
        </li>
      </ul>
      <h3>Special Commendation - Non Stop Bangers</h3>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>Album Link</h3>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://open.spotify.com/album/37PW0ipoWcjx3APS1MN0ql?si=HE0-siOqTsqVlJrlL9MWTw">
      [spotify] Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror</a></p>
      <h2>Elder - Innate Passage</h2>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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?</p>
      <p>They introduce themselves as such in their website actually!</p>
      <figure>
        <blockquote>
          <p>genre-pushing rock band&nbsp;that melds heavy psychedelic sounds
          with progressive elements and evocative soundscapes.</p>
        </blockquote>
        <figcaption>
          <cite>— <a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
             target="_blank"
             href=
             "https://beholdtheelder.com/elder-bio/">https://beholdtheelder.com/elder-bio/</a></cite>
        </figcaption>
      </figure>
      <p>“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/.</p>
      <h3>Favorite Track</h3>
      <p>I think “Merged In Dreams - Ne Plus Ultra”. A nearly 15 minute track
      that has everything in it you expect from Elder.</p>
      <h3>Special Commendation - Excellent Vinyl Record Cover</h3>
      <p>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!</p>
      <p>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</p>
      <h3>Album Link</h3>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://open.spotify.com/album/5XClGjeje4c3qPjbtT898K?si=PFgsT8S_TD6hu4dwbFp3Jw">
      [spotify] Elder - Innate Passage</a></p>
      <h2>Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice</h2>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>Favorite Track</h3>
      <p>Probably: Keening into Ffynnon Llanllawer - I love the guitar(?) part
      and the wailing/vocalization. It’s haunting. As a recording is
      amazing.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>Special Commendation - Album Art</h3>
      <p>This album, IS ART, but the album art is just… really suiting the
      music.</p>
      <h3>Album Link</h3>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://emmaruthrundle.bandcamp.com/album/eg2-dowsing-voice">[bandcamp]
         Emma Ruth Rundle - EG2: Dowsing Voice</a></p>
      <h2>Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres (and various other releases)</h2>
      <p>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).</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>So yeah - this whole section is like “disclaimer disclaimer” but if
      you like groovy, typically instrumental synth music - check it out.</p>
      <h3>The various other releases</h3>
      <p>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:</p>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/cinematic-works">https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/cinematic-works</a>
         <a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/away-music-for-a-productive-day">https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/away-music-for-a-productive-day</a>
         <a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/home-music-for-a-productive-day">https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/home-music-for-a-productive-day</a></p>
      <h3>Favorite Track</h3>
      <p>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:</p>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka-xE3Qo3dA">[youtube] Jay
         Hosking - Nychthemeron (Official Music video)</a></p>
      <h3>Special Commendation - Each track has a live performance attached to
      it!</h3>
      <p>If you enjoy videos - these each have a corresponding YT video linked
      at the bottom of the bandcamp page.</p>
      <h3>Album Link</h3>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-spheres">[bandcamp]
         Jay Hosking - Celestial spheres</a></p>
      <h2>Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk</h2>
      <p>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&#39; 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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>I’ve spoken about Tina before in two previous gemlogs (<a href=
      "gemini://senders.io/gemlog/2021-04-27-music-spotlight-awesome-eps.gmi">Music
      Spotlight: Awesome EPs</a> and <a href=
      "gemini://senders.io/gemlog/2021-05-18-5x5-playlists.gmi">5x5
      Playlists</a> (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?!)</p>
      <h3>Favorite Track</h3>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>Special Commendation - Lovely</h3>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>Album Link</h3>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://open.spotify.com/album/6YV4Gomk4iy0dUyVqPDN7T?si=e3wO7G3XTI-ZIwhOSCswJA">
      [spotify] Tina Dickow - Bitte Små Ryk</a></p>
      <h2>My Top Pick</h2>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>Elder - Innate Passage</h3>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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).</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <h3>This should’ve been a tie</h3>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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 &lt;3 :)</p>
      <p>And if her music isn’t your jam - check out her guest tracks on the
      Zero-7 stuff - angelic voice.</p>
      <h2>Conclusion</h2>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>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.</p>
      <p>I am really excited for 2023!</p>
      <h2>This year’s playlist (2023)</h2>
      <p><a rel="external noopener noreferrer"
         target="_blank"
         href=
         "https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4zgdFBZslkcEq0xYFyME7U?si=4bc2bf7d015c4254">
      [spotify] senders&#39; Releases 2023 Playlist</a></p>
      <h2>Links</h2>
      <p>If you use gemini:// you can check out my previous posts (until/unless
      I decided to port those over too)</p>
      <ul>
        <li>
          <a href=
          "gemini://senders.io/gemlog/2022-11-30-music-spotlight-top-album-2021.gmi">
          [gemini] Music Spotlight: Top Album 2021</a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href=
          "gemini://senders.io/gemlog/2021-03-21-music-spotlight-top-album-2020.gmi">
          [gemini] Music Spotlight: Top Album 2020</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
      <p>Thanks for reading! I don’t always crosspost - I am trying something
      out :)</p>
    </article>