Top 10 Albums of the First Half of 2022
Big Thief — Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
More isn’t usually better with albums, but Big Thief is the exception. After their great second album Capacity, I was in the camp that their subsequent albums with shorter, rapid releases always had highlights, but didn’t hang together as great albums on their own. It turns out with Dragon New Warm Mountain that extra space and time serves Big Thief incredibly well — DNWMIBIY’s double-album length let them experiment and fully explore various approaches to their sound. The result is brilliant from start to finish. It’s the rare long album that you want to spend an hour-plus with over and over. It’s easily my favorite album so far in 2022.
Lydia Night nails it for the 3rd time in a row, with a different sound each time. She’s officially one of the best songwriters on the planet at this point.
Incredibly creative indie rock with a ton of other influences. She should be a huge star soon.
Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Another great one from Kendrick, and his most personal, which is really saying something.
Daniel Rossen — You Belong There
Hot take: Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear were 90% of the greatness of Grizzly Bear. So they made a “solo” album together. Lo and behold, it’s an awesome not-technically-Grizzly-Bear album, just like Rossen’s 2012 solo EP.
There’s always a hilarious and catchy album I love almost every year, and it’s likely this one this year. Though the CMAT album listed below is also great.
His tour supporting Denzel Curry is a must-see. He won’t be supporting other artists for long.
Instrumental albums generally don’t make my lists, but this one is particularly entertaining.
Do you like Outkast? Then listen to these guys. The knock on them is that they’re *too* similar to Outkast, but I think that’s a bit unfair at this point. They’ve carved out their own space a few albums in.
Elvis Costello — The Boy Named If
I thought Elvis was going to bring back the new wave rock last album based on the opening single No Flag, but I’m glad he did it in this one instead.
Bonus Hip-Hop Recommendations
Denzel Curry — Melt My Eyez See Your Future
The Buffalo Trifecta: Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, Westside Gunn (technically 2021)
Bonus Metal Recommendations
Undeath — It’s Time…To Rise from the Grave
Rolo Tomassi — Where Myth Becomes Memory
Animals As Leaders — Parrhesia
Bonus Indie Recommendations