2022_well: >NO< ||albums||
Hello and welcome to the annual dumpster of well, where I take every single release I have rated throughout the year and reduce the whole lot garbage one-liners. Let's freaking go etcetc. This is the first list and it is for NOs, which here means anything south of a 3.5. Some of these albums are awful, most are overhyped, many are almost good and the most interesting ones are either from artists I like who dropped the ball or from artists I hate who have stepped their game up but not enough! Sooooooooo... |
| 107 |  | brakence
hypochondriac
#227
emorap glitchpop deathbaby
this album is so irredeemably terrible that it (and it alone) forced me to listen to Donda 2 before wrapping this list and still could not break itself out of the bottom slot. worthy winner of 2022's absolute worst.
1% |
| 106 |  | SageEast
Winter is Cold, a Girls Gotta Laugh
#226
ambient glitchshit
bad computerbreak music don't let your kids on bandcamp
1.5% |
| 105 |  | Norma Jean
Deathrattle Sing for Me
#225
mxc
*idiot metalcore noises* etc
1.6% |
| 104 |  | Interpol
The Other Side of Make-Believe
#224
indierecticle dysfunction
more like can't MAKE-BELIEVE how boring this is ha ha someone defibrillate this dead band
2% |
| 103 |  | Shinedown
Planet Zero
#223
butt rock radio
vote cancel culture 2k22
2.1% |
| 102 |  | Kanye West
Donda 2
#222
uncooked hip-hop
Okay hear me out, this album is undoubtedly absolute dogshit and I understand how it has caught so much anti-hype *but* I do think there's more to be said for the fascinating/unsettling psychological havoc presented across these poor prematurely exported demo tracks than the five dead-on-arrivals that sit below it. I want someone to make a case for this beating Donda 1 at its own calamitous game, but I'm not quite brave enough to go there (yet)
2.5% |
| 101 |  | Dance Gavin Dance
Jackpot Juicer
#221
post-goodcore
disgusting creep band make half-arsed turd record, needs less spin the bottle and more russian roulette
3% |
| 100 |  | Muse
Will of the People
#220
conspiracy radio meme rock
legend has it george orwell also inhaled like a crackhead diva every time he was poised to drop a zinger
3.1% |
| 99 |  | Esoctrilihum
Consecration of the Spiritus Flesh
#219
deathened black metal
the tryhard brvtality on this has me even more triggered than those dorkhead blastbeats
3.3% |
| 98 |  | Jockstrap
I Love You Jennifer B
#218
art/indie/glitch/chamber/fart/wank pop
atrocious lawful evil artpop masquerading as inspirational chaotic neutral
4% |
| 97 |  | Northlane
Obsidian
#217
industrial metalcore
deeply confused by how this band made it so high but good for them ig loving this development hope they split up soon
4.1% |
| 96 |  | Coheed and Cambria
Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind
#216
butt prog pop
live show banged hard enough to make me believe these tunes are redeemable = avoids bottom-10 placement by the skin of its teeth
4.4% |
| 95 |  | SZA
S.O.S.
#215
R&B
like finding every ex you never wanted to see again simultaneously asleep in your own lukewarm bathwater: complicated to deal with, unhealthy as a fantasy, and mainly very very bad
4.5% |
| 94 |  | Kim Petras
Slut Pop
#214
slut pop
criminally underrated
4.6% |
| 93 |  | hiro
Zero
#213
Jpop
zero earworms uh
4.7% |
| 92 |  | Zach Bryan
American Heartbreak
#212
commercial country
remember when the face of american heartbreak was will.i.am fuck me this decade has gone to shit
4.8% |
| 91 |  | Underoath
Voyeurist
#211
whiny core shit
Albums That Everyone Has Given Up On Pretending Are Good By The End Of The Year
4.9% |
| 90 |  | Comeback Kid
Heavy Steps
#210
hardcore
break all boundaries vent all rages CLONE ALL HARDCORE SONGS
5% |
| 89 |  | Wild Pink
ILYSM
#209
indie "avant folk" indie folk
was going to make a joke about anaemia but this is probably unfair given that this guy has barely recovered from cancer um let's end this blurb there
5.2% |
| 88 |  | Chelsea Monteiro
My Mind's on Fire, and There's No Driver at the Wheel
#208
IDM/drill n bass
NO GODSPEED FANFIC but more seriously this is the only album this year i've felt bad for reviewing negatively, sorry Chelsea Monteiro you didn't deserve this (but your album still does not deserve better)
5.5% |
| 87 |  | Tomberlin
i don’t know who needs to hear this...
#207
post-boygenius mop bucket
fuck phoebe bridgers for creating a universe in which this album could ever become popular
5.6% |
| 86 |  | Taylor Swift
Midnights
#206
popular pop
the two good things about midnights:
1) MIDNIGHTS BECOME MY AFTERNOONS
2) FAMILIARITYBREEDSCONTEMPTDON'TPUTMEINTHEBASEMENTWHENIWANTTHEPENTHOUSEOFYOURHEART
5.8% |
| 85 |  | Gang of Youths
Angel in Realtime
#205
indie indie
beautiful intercultural intergenerational grief opus and one of the best records of the year *turns Imagine Dragons way up*
5.8% |
| 84 |  | Noah Cyrus
The Hardest Part
#204
commercial country
celebrity is a curse feelsbadman bad pathos album
5.8% |
| 83 |  | Animal Collective
Time Skiffs
#203
indie rock
the fact that people have been calling this snoozer an unironic ComeBack still makes me giggle
6% |
| 82 |  | Deathspell Omega
The Long Defeat
#202
nazi trash black metal
the haste with which the do-we-cancel-this prerelease debate on was upended by the wow-this-sucks-anyway initial reception was one of my favourite 2022 vignettes i cannot lie
6.1% |
| 81 |  | The Wonder Years
The Hum Goes on Forever
#201
POP PUNK
quarter-life crisis band playing mid-life crisis anthems 10/10 classic sputcore R~ock music
6.2% |
| 80 |  | Electric Callboy
TEKKNO
#200
selectively ironic metalcore / danceshit / electronicore / pasta
tfw you try to meme on a meme genre and end up as part of the machimeme don't risk it kids
6.3% |
| 79 |  | Counterparts
A Eulogy for Those Still Here
#199
take your meds metalcore
i refer verbatim + with affection to a load of folk music as Dead Cat Tunes but this both takes the cake and SPOILS THE BRAND
6.66% |
| 78 |  | Bjork
Fossora
#198
*that* kind of art pop
the mighty boosh season 4
7% |
| 77 |  | Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Let's Turn It Into Sound
#197
i fucking quit
single-handedly put me off the RYM frontpage for at least two months
7.1% |
| 76 |  | Archive
Call To Arms and Angels
#196
every single genre milquetoast political alternative rock can sponge off
literally how dare this band spread the worst vocal mix of the year over a tracklist this bloated i am seething having unforgotten that this existed
7.5% |
| 75 |  | 4s4ki
Here or Hell
#195
bad J-hyperpop
unfortunate bearer of the second-best and first-worst telephone meme song of the year
7.7% |
| 74 |  | Joyce Manor
40 oz. to Fresno
#194
pop punk
why is 90% of pop punk post-WORRY made by depressed saps who sound like they plan on graduating directly from their parents' basement to a retirement home?
8% |
| 73 | | Arcade Fire
WE JOKE
#193
indie failure
the awful bits on this really are absolutely fantastically awful and i love it for that (mostly) alone
8.1% |
| 72 |  | Lorna Shore
Pain Remains
#192
symphonic deathcore
cheese sandwich but THE FLOOR IS LAVA and the bread is dynamite this album sunk the Titanic it is very dumb
8.2% |
| 71 |  | Hatchie
Giving the World Away
#191
derivative dreamgaze revival pop
If I squint hard enough to render everything in this tracklist other than Quicksand invisible, this does bop a little mmmhm
8.4% |
| 70 |  | The Smile
A Light For Attracting Attention
#190
indie alternative altrock
Probably the first album here that I'll settle for being kinda-okay, Free in the Knowledge and Thin Thing all day baby
10% |
| 69 |  | The 1975
Being Funny In A Foreign Language
#189
milquetoast poprock
THE 1975 ARE NOW BETTER THAN RADIOHEAD THE 1975 ARE NOW BETTER THAN RADIOHEAD holy shit what a year, first *pleasant* surprise of the list this is sometimes terrible but mostly inoffensively nice put it in my soap opera
10.1% |
| 68 |  | Kaizo Slumber
The Kaizo Manifesto
#187
breakcore
machine girl at home:
10.6% |
| 67 |  | Sasami
Squeeze
#186
whole lotta shit ngl
I still have absolutely zero idea what the fuck this album is supposed to be, but it is oddly entertaining in a mostly mediocre way
10.7% |
| 66 |  | Pinegrove
11:11
#185
indie emo nap
remember the time we went camping and there were actual birds in the sky and the dog was drinking whiskey out of the bottle and your inbred cousin fell in the swimming pool gosh i love american indie in 2022
10.8% |
| 65 |  | daine
Quantum Jumping
#184
EMO RAP POP
BEST INSUFFERABLE ZOOMER 2022
10.9% |
| 64 |  | The Weeknd
Dawn FM
#183
boring retro pop shit
jfc imagine listening to this record in a universe in which city pop exists fuck the 1980s we have killed them jim carrey is the best part of this record and i usually loathe him how could this be
10.95% |
| 63 |  | Paranoid Void
Travels In My Universe
#182
math spacerock jam
good zazzy fun math band makes atmospheric HUH? sophomore siesta
11% |
| 62 |  | Kilo Kish
American Gurl
#181
retro retro electroropop
think i've been a bit harsh on this it's like a VHS tape you can dance to mmmhm
11.3% |
| 61 |  | Ibeyi
Spell 31
#180
art pop
forgettable art pop moment #2293
11.4% |
| 60 |  | Caroline (UK)
Caroline
#179
postrock experimental rock air
black country, where the fuck is the road oh no
11.5% |
| 59 |  | Maria BC
Hyaline
#178
boring dreamshit
psst BC stands for barely conscious pass it onnnnzzzzzz
11.6% |
| 58 |  | sonhos tomam conta
maladaptive daydreaming
#177
everything+kitchen sink 5th wave emogaze
cannot think of a single record this year more simultaneously impenetrable to a second full spin, i simply cannot make it through this in one sitting
11.9% |
| 57 |  | Antigama
Whiteout
#177
grind
do you like grind hey here's a grind cliche
11.99% |
| 56 |  | NAYEON
IM NAYEON
#176
KPOP
this is garbage do not trust me party ON
12% |
| 55 |  | Ethel Cain
Preacher's Daughter
#175
slowcore americana pop long pop long southern gothic opera pantomime sadcore
[spoilers] Sput Staff lists are vindictive psy-ops if this album-shaped mess of over-reverberated fanfic was a TV show none of you would make it through the pilot
12.1% |
| 54 |  | Mild Sorrow Integrated
arbol.
#174
IDM
indie gamer -type beat
12.5% |
| 53 |  | Bliss Fields
Slowly, Forever
#173
shoegaze/dream pop
Hello mum yes Jesper reviewed another forgettable dreamgaze album yes I did listen to it no it did not make the YES list yes I am a dick bits of this are quite nice no I will not relisten to them
13% |
| 52 |  | Kairi Yagi
水気を謳う (Mizuke o utau)
#172
random jpop
who is Kairi Yagi what is this okay-pop she is making will she make great-pop one day? STRONG MAYBE not bad not bad
13.1% |
| 51 |  | Beyonce
Renaissance
#171
beyonce pop
Beyonce is good she released many bangers they were mostly okay anyone who calls this an AOTY is a vapid shill
13.7% |
| 50 |  | Lack the Low
God-Carrier
#170
?artpop?
wHaT iS aN aRtPoP
14% |
| 49 |  | Mitski
Laurel Hell
#169
tepid 80s beverage pop
mitski is in the 80s when will she come back can you make it to the end of this episode we can all do better
14.3% |
| 48 |  | JYOCHO
Let's Promise to Be Happy
#168
acoustic twinkle math emo
The kid from the American Football house if they were a well-adjusted Japanese girl from a stable family in a cute town and grew up dishing out wholesome tunes to sappy mopes who will remember none of them beyond the 5 second margin.
15% |
| 47 |  | Soft Replica
Only Ever In Dreams
#167
gaseous dreamstuff
i will eat reverb and this zoomer lovesliescrushing candyfloss yumyum
15.1% |
| 46 |  | Porcupine Tree
Closure/Continuation
#166
progressive comeback comedown rock
the point of a comeback should never under any circumstances to make you question whether a band you used to like have ever been interesting in the slightest. Major bonus points for Dignity, goodsad song classic SW
15.3% |
| 45 |  | Blut Aus Nord
Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses
#165
experimental black metal
atmospheric guitar tentacle porn ft. the most off-putting drum mix the year has seen, so close and yet so far :[
16.2% |
| 44 |  | Krallice
Crystalline Exhaustion
#164
experimental black metal
title-track will wipe out your entire DnD party and freeze your gametes into icepixels as an encore. rest exists.
16.4% |
| 43 |  | Red Vox
Visions
#163
adequate alternative rock
i sat by the ocean??????????????±!
16.7% |
| 42 |  | Unknown Damage
Third Summer of Love
#162
trance
when this shit finally drops the kaleidoscope and pacmans the dancefloor, it's big fun
16.9% |
| 41 |  | Charli XCX
Crash
#161
wish i was popular pop
Charli XCX forever a 4.5/5 artist making 3/5 albums hehe this is fun though I won't be mean hmmmmhmmmmmmmmmmBABYimmafuckyouup etc
17% |
| 40 |  | nowisee
8
#160
j-indie pop
hit-or-miss songs dodgy Japanglish 発音 fun mix of ideas not a keeper will pay attention to act in future Blue Moon big goodsmooth
17.5% |
| 39 |  | Wovenhand
Silver Sash
#159
country rock
Wovenhand make a drab rock record and it is just_fine. +++++++ for Duat Hawk
18% |
| 38 |  | Viagra Boys
Cave World
#158
post punk large penis
loud postironic testosterone diasterband do louder postironicker funner things and *some* are borderline fab
18.4% |
| 37 |  | Tricot
Fudeki
#157
math rock
Tricot get LOUDER and NOISIER but somehow no less overly polished grrr, bring back those crisp guitar tones and stop staring at the Oricon
18.5% |
| 36 |  | Kelly Lee Owens
Lp.8
#156
post-industrial ambient tentenkocore
probably the worst part of making year-end lists is that you have to have to relisten to records you knew from the start had no replay value goddamn. this is a near triangle of grating-pretty-interesting (only two at a time!) and i should have given it more attention whoops
18.8% |
| 35 |  | Vansire
The Modern Western World
#155
all the photogenic indies
civilised coffeehouse shorttunes for beige gang everywhere FEATURING ASEUL mmmmyes
19% |
| 34 |  | Soccer Mommy
Sometimes, Forever
#154
indie pop dream folk
first half of this is indie trash and belongs in a flaming dumpster, second half is a lovely surprise. hard to rank.
19.4% |
| 33 |  | Destroyer
LABYRINTHITIS
#153
sophistipop diminished returns
in which good Dan Bejar becomes indistinguisable from self-memeing Dan Bejar and the result just reeks of solid 3.0
19.5% |
| 32 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Omnium Gatherum
#152
everything psych
imagine dropping an opener as fire as The Dripping Tap and following it with an album as sloppy and overlong as this wait what band is this again
20% |
| 31 |  | Imperial Triumphant
Spirit of Ecstasy
#151
dissoblackdeath avantmetal retread
Imperial Triumphant pass their creative peak and dip into streamlining and self-aping in a way several critics have misplaced for sharper songwriting inspiration. Still an engaging listen, but
20.2% |
| 30 |  | Sharon Van Etten
We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong
#150
indie
indie flick
20.3% |
| 29 |  | ZOMBIE-CHANG
STRESS de STRESS
#149
inspirational meme pop
DON'T CALL ME
20.5% |
| 28 |  | Blood Incantation
Timewave Zero
#148
emphatically ambient
album is a closet 5 that becomes substantially worse when you remember that it contains music
20.6% |
| 27 |  | Smidley
Here Comes The Devil
#147
emo pop
sentimental apocalypse music for sad bad catholics everywhere
21% |
| 26 |  | Gospel
MVDM: Magick Volumes Of Dark Madder
#146
post-hardcore prog
jank noodle talent
21.3% |
| 25 |  | The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta
#145
art pop?
the mars volta subvert all expectations by 1) making music in 2022 2) that is not stupid jank 3) but instead is economical art pop 4) and is neither very good 5) nor very bad. give me literally all my rugs back, my feet are doing a floaty anime pose rn and i am confusion
21.5?%?? |
| 24 |  | PUP
The Unraveling of PUPTheBand
#144
pop punk / poop punk / altrock
relationship with glossy self-evisceration Morbid Stuff ended, now murky self-parody is my best friend
22% |
| 23 |  | Crippled Black Phoenix
Banefyre
#143
postrock postdoom longrock blueballs
post-rock quality control filter malfunction conspiracycore for stoner casuals
22.2% |
| 22 |  | Fleshwater
We're Not Here To Be Loved
#142
""heavygaze""
worst Bjork cover of all time + above average compilation of deftonescore gg
22.4% |
| 21 |  | Gatherers
" ( mutilator. ) "
#141
post-hardcore
dance gavin dance are dead, can the 2nd wave posthxc revival wave also be less dead please. this is a respectable effort but
22.7% |
| 20 |  | Mass of the Fermenting Dregs
Awakening:Sleeping
#140
loud indie / shoegaze / post-hardcore
opener is a MassDregs all-timer and a SOTY highflier, rest happens and rocks and is acceptable
22.9% |
| 19 |  | Perfume
Plasma
#139
popular hasbeen jpop
best Perfume since LEVEL3, am maybe underrating this a little but my favourite thing about it is still the hype it's set up for whatever the *next* Perfume record is
23% |
| 18 |  | Claire Rousay
everything perfect is already here
#138
ambient sound collage selfcare space
psych perfect doesn't exist good bait Claire Rousay i still love you
23.3% |
| 17 |  | Burial
ANTIDAWN EP
#137
emphatically extra ambient
all Burial is ambient music if you're built of the right stuff, this is just less exciting than it was before
23.7% |
| 16 |  | Rachika Nayar
Heaven Come Crashing
#136
cinematic bedroom shit
devastatingly pertinent showcase of pristine engineering as a vehicle for naff production choices
23.9% |
| 15 |  | Aurora (NOR)
The Gods We Can Touch
#135
pop (many of them)
middle of the road derivative art pop with a couple of zingers
24% |
| 14 |  | Trudge
No More Motivation
#134
Techno
beats beats beats beats bests motivation NEW FONE HU DIS
24.3% |
| 13 |  | Flume
Palaces
#135
Synth pop / glitch pop
probably the closest not-quite-great pop record to greatness this year; hooks and prod are 110% there, song development feels underdone. +++++++ Go (one of the catchiest cuts of the year for me)
25% |
| 12 |  | Caracara
New Preoccupations
#134
emo
sputcore emo pout i am maybe overrating this
25.1% |
| 11 |  | Japanese Heart Software
SOFT
#133
dream reverb stuff
Mum please ask this Jesper kid to leave me alone im scared
25.6% |
| 10 |  | Boris
W
#132
ambient dream pop drone experiment thing
W is for Worst_Boris_of_the_year_in_a_year_FULL_of_Boris
25.9% |
| 9 |  | Black Dresses
Forget Your Own Face
#131
queer industrial deathnoise pop
I WILL ENJOY A BLACK DRESSES ALBUM I WILL I WILL
26% |
| 8 |  | Quadeca
I Didn't Mean to Haunt You
#130
experimental hip-hop
Would have loved to put this one higher - loved the concept and ambition behind it, and definitely found it touching at points (end run esp). Sadly, few of these tracks brought it in hard for me and (spoilers) there is much better experimental grief hip-hop out there this year...
26.4% |
| 7 |  | Parannoul
White Ceiling / Black Dots Wandering Around
#129
5th wave emogaze
parannoul is nice and cute this outtakes/demos ep is very nice (but i will never listen to that extended White Ceiling demo again jfc it is long)
26.7% |
| 6 |  | Beach House
Once Twice Melody
#128
Dream constipation
First third = grandiose upscaling of everything smart they learned from 7 || Everything else = increasingly embarrassing sequence of all the stupid shit I thought they'd finally grown out of
27% |
| 5 |  | Caroline Loveglow
Strawberry
#127
dream pop
i initially wrote this off as overly smooth and saccharine, but it has a load of lovely moments and will probably go up the ranking in time (psych it won't this is final but mmm nice album anyhow)
28% |
| 4 |  | Black Midi
Hellfire
#126
post-post-punk
Black Midi grow up from making shit gimmick music and make sometimes-okay gimmick music I am proud second half>>first half fuck this band etcetc
28.3% |
| 3 |  | Metric
Formentera
#125
indie pop
33% indie pop gold 33% they sound bored 33% i am bored
28.9% |
| 2 |  | Haru Nemuri
Shunka Ryougen
#124
J-hiphop
Oh no oh no [anime betrayal pose] Haru Nemuri's long-hyped sophomore longboi is packed FULL (21 trax boi) of wonderful impassioned sympathetic sophomore mini-slumps, and the best tracks (which i do like a lot) are still a step down from her sensational debut. mild disappointment, still rooting for her though
29% |
| 1 |  | JJ Allin
Hypomania
#123
dissonant sporkcore
wasn't sure whether to put this as the best NO or the worst YES, but this placement feels the most appropriate. AOTY 2022
101% |
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