I haven’t been able to do much on my list because I usually do it at work, and my work’s IT security has classified the ol’ soapy as…pornography. Thanks, Lino.
Spoiler alert: no appearance from van Morrison this year!
I haven’t been able to do much on my list because I usually do it at work, and my work’s IT security has classified the ol’ soapy as…pornography. Thanks, Lino.
Spoiler alert: no appearance from van Morrison this year!
You don't need to compose your actual list in a post, with The Soapbox open. Just do it in Notepad or Word, then it's just a copy n paste job, innit?
On the subject of the lack of album lists coming from Canada, how is Giz_A_Hug not producing one after the amount of time spent in the 2022 album discussion thread last year? What's going on over there?
Forgive any formatting errors, as I’m copy/pasting from my email.
Another meh year for new albums for me.
10. Jack White – Fear of the dawn. I had to look up which one was which when I started writing this, but given I *hated* his last album, the fact that I at least tolerated, and in some cases, actually enjoyed some of the electric one was a bonus. I really did like the acoustic one, so maybe he’s gotten the ‘weird for the sake of weird’ out of his system.
9. Jim Bryson – Country wifi. A local hero in these parts, Jim’s been putting out consistent folk-rock for the better part of two decades, alongside producing for various Canadian luminaries. This was a nice quiet piece of work I came back to a few times this year.
8. Jack White – Entering heaven alive. See above.
7. Neil Young – Toast. I fucking *hated* his new album with Crazy Horse this year, but I *loved* his archival release with Crazy Horse this year. Blame it on Nils Lofgren, I guess?
6. The Smile – A light for attracting attention. (Insert “why isn’t this a radiohead album?” comment here).
5. Elvis Costello – the boy named if. I’ve quite liked a lot of ol’ Nerdlinger’s output over the last few years, but I could not name a song off any of them if you held a gun to my head. Nevertheless, I really liked this one.
4. Sloan – Steady. Another 12 great power-pop songs by my favourite purveyors of said.
3. The Black Keys – Dropout boogie. I remember around the time brothers and el camino came out, that I *really* liked them, but by the time the next album came out, I couldn’t even bother going to see them when they came here. So it’s nice that they’ve somewhat returned to form. Great album.
2. The Sadies – Colder streams. They finally put together the complete album of everything they’ve been building towards for 20 years…and then Dallas Good goes out and dies. FFS. An absolute goddamn shame, but a great farewell nonetheless.
1. Calexico – El Mirador. Another band that I fell in love with around 2012, but whose last few albums have disappointed me. The first half of this album is up there with any album I’ve heard in at least five years, the 2nd half less so, but the sum total is the best thing I heard this year.
(not listed) – Liam Gallagher – c’mon you know. IT SUCKS. STOP PRETENDING ITS GOOD IT FUCKING SUCKS.
Favourite gigs of the year
5. Emmylou Harris 4. Kamasi Washington 3. Sarah Harmer 2. Paul McCartney 1. Ringo Starr & his All-Starr Band.
It’s really Paul, but the experience of taking my daughter to her first concert, and it being a Beatle (and Colin Hay!) was my favourite thing about 2022 by a wide margin.
30 - Black Thought & Dangermouse - Cheat Codes 29 - Regressive Left - On The Wrong Side of History EP 28 - Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen 27 - Wet Leg - Wet Leg 26 - Sea Power - Everything Was Forever 25 - Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful 24 - Jaywood - Slingshot 23 - Gilla Band - Most Normal 22 - English Teacher - Polyawkward 21 - Robocobra Quartet - Living Isn't Easy 20 - Horsegirl - Versions of Modern Performance 19 - Joyeria - FIM 18 - Wu-lu - LOGGERHEAD 17 - Automatic - Excess 16 - Tapir! - Act 1 (The Pilgrim) 15 - Gabriels - Angels & Queens Part I 14 - Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers 13 - Beak> - Kosmik Musik 12 - Horse Lords - Comradely Objects 11 - Shake Chain - Snake Chain 10 - Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer 9 - The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention 8 - PVA - Blush 7 - Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork 6 - Katy J Pearson - Sound Of The Morning 5 - The Cool Greenhouse - Sod's Toastie 4 - Aldous Harding - Warm Chris 3 - Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B 2 - black midi - Hellfire 1 - Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
Horrible year for me listening wise. I know I am missing a few albums off of this list but I can't remember now ffs.
One of my goals of 2023 is to try and listen to more music (especially when at work) - my turntable's needle and speakers went to shit so I've gone ahead and ordered new ones and hoping to get more spinning done this year as well ... as I really miss that
Hello and welcome to the 2022 Columbia_rocks_man 'album of the year and token old band recommendation awards'
TOKEN OLD BAND WHO I ONLY HEARD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE LAST YEAR AWARD
Red Red Meat - Jimmywine Majestic (1994)
Chicago-based '90s SubPop slacker rock dudes. They sound painfully of their time but when they get going, they are really great. Check out Stained and Lit to hear what I mean.
EP OF THE YEAR AWARD AS EPs ARE NOT ALBUMS AND ANY FORUM MEMBER WHO PUTS THEM IN THEIR ALBUMS LIST SHOULD BE BANNED Joyeria - FIM A great selection of songs on an EP, which is not an album.
*****FAKE EDIT**** PLEASE NOTE BARNY THIS IS NOT AN ALBUM
THE FALL ALBUM I LIKED MOST OF THE YEAR AWARD The Fall - The Marshall Suite (1999) The opening three songs are as great as anything they did. Just brilliant. AH-F'OLDIN MONEY, UH!
TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2022 20) Working Men's Club - Fear Fear 19) Horace Andy - Midnight Rocker 18) Jockstrap - self/titled 17) Bob Vylan Presents: The Price of Life 16) BODEGA - Broken Equipment 15) Beach House - Once Twice Melody 14) Charli XCX - CRASH 13) The Cool Greenhouse - Sod's Toastie 12) Marlon Craft - While We're Here 11) Viagra Boys - Cave World
10) Action Bronson - Crocodile Turbo He's not released a bad album! Ok, he has. But this is great fun. 9) Yard Act - The Overload I went right off Yard Act about a year ago after seeing them play a pretty mediocre live show. But the album is a lot stronger than its critics (Mahoney, Kburg) will admit. 8) Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers Not his best. But still plenty to chew over. 7) Liam Gallagher - C'Mon You Know I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed this record. It's properly silly in places, which is part of its charm. Another massive win, etc. 6) Sweaty Palms - The Pursuit of Novelty Yes! It's the token little-known Glasgow band album. But srsly this is great, even Karl liked it! 5) Gilla Band - Backwash I missed their only Glasgow live date as it clashed with my wedding anniversary. Thanks, Mrs Rocks_man! 4) Warmduscher - At the Hotspot A proper party album. One of the best bands I saw live this year. 3) Spiritualized - Everything was Beautiful It's J Spaceman, you know the drill. But maintaining this level of quality, 30 years on, is seriously impressive. I feared the worst when I went to see them tour this album and Karl told me that Spaceman was now so frail he sits down when playing. But it was genuinely my gig of the year. The live versions of both Hey Jane and Shine A Light give me chills just thinking about them.
2) Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
A real step-up for the band. One of those albums that reveals its depth of quality every time you listen. Equally great on record and performing live. The album artwork is stinking, mind, but you can't have everything.
1) Dangermouse / Black Thought - Cheat Codes An easy choice. The album is an instant classic, imo. I've been a fan of Dangermouse for years. He's a real talent, so to see him work with Black Thought and a selection of top-rank guest MCs was always going to be top class. I think the first time I heard Raekwon drop the line "boy's grown, hands like Roy Jones / King Tut bracelet on, encrusted, flooded in stones," I thought this could be epic.
