well_2023: "NO" albums (1/2)
hey alexa give me another gag about the writers who burn out at the end of the year and dive headlong into quantity over quality haha. this is the worse half of everything I heard this year please enjoy it. |
134 | | KILLING JOKE KILLING JOKE
IRREDEEMABLY AWFUL ALBUMS |
133 | | Sleep Token Take Me Back to Eden
#256
All the genres you never needed to hear together
Proud of (most of) you for this |
132 | | Thirty Seconds to Mars It's the End of the World But It's a Beautiful Day
#255
Stooge pop
Jared Leto climbing the Empire State Building to promote this hunk of nothing reflects his greater destiny to suck your dick in return for bumping up your Letterboxd scores |
131 | | Morgan Wallen One Thing At A Time
#254
Country
a cornucopia of things i would *love* to try in a small town |
130 | | NF HOPE
#253
Hip-hope
minortimbo almost changed my life |
129 | | ezra varier estonian snow
#252
Atmoblack
the fate awaiting 9/10 of the users commenting "I wanna make this kinda music" in the Panopticon thread |
128 | | Periphery Periphery V: Djent is Not a Genre
#251
DJONT
We are not going through this shit again. |
127 | | Alice Longyu Gao Let's Hope Heteros Fail, Learn, and Retire
#250
can-it-still-be-pop-if...?
I love a good so-bad-it's-good kick more than most, and the irony of Oli fucking Sykes guesting on an EP named as a declaration of war on hetero trash is one of the best terrible things to happen in any year, and well yeah you get where this is going my expectations pwned me so hard in so many orifices that I'm not convinced I even have a sexuality anymore. Checkmate. |
126 | | HEALTH RAT WARS
#249
Kerrang Industrial
one of the most exciting bands active today in an oversaturated market filled with a dime-a-dozen bands and artists all replicating the “hip” thing in their respective fields |
125 | | Ava Max Diamonds and Dancefloors
#248
Pop
A stain on the otherwise precious name of Pop Garbage |
124 | | Beach House Become
#247
Dream pop
bankruptcy of drem |
123 | | M83 Fantasy
#246
Dream pop
bankruptcy of d[2]em |
122 | | Adjy June Songs Vol. 1
#245
Concept emo
Rare band that has both tried and succeeded in specifically targetting this site for their clicks & cash, and every single warning flag you can possibly extract from that claim is exactly as bad as it sounds. June & July can go fuck themselves - stick to Coheed & Cambria for your high-concept dork operas. |
121 | | Vylet Pony Carousel
#244
'music'
swings and roundabouts innit |
120 | | Zach Bryan Zach Bryan
#243
Country
Look, I love it as much as the next guy that Zach Bryan discourse has hit its long-overdue reckoning over whether or not he qualifies as bro country, but let's not get distracted from the core points: this guy sings like a bag of dicks, thinks midwestern emo is the best genre of music (not a bit!) and writes a million songs you'll never tell the difference between because he's tricked you into thinking you're spinning on the same tune on repeat while his copious Spotify royalties harvest your fucking soul. The fact that people are saying his sound has been *improved* by collaborating with fucking Bon Iver tells you all you need to know here - get out. |
119 | | blink-182 One More Time...
#242
Pop punk
Glaring case-in-point as to why retirement projects should never be obsessed with recapturing your glory days |
118 | | SZA S.O.S.
#241
R&B
heard this in time for it to make my 2022 list, but Pitchfork naming it AOTY is as healthy a reason as any to remind everyone that it still sucks arse |
117 | | Chamber (USA) A Love to Kill For
#240
Metalcore
always good to find a kindred spirit who feels strongly enough about shitting out mindless jank that they would literally fight to the death for it |
116 | | Paramore This Is Why
#239
Pop rock
whoever deleted my soundoff is a perfect illustration of the thin-skinned spirit of brittle indignation that made this record such an embarrassment to sit through |
115 | | The National First Two Pages of Frankenstein
#238
Indie
Distressingly limp in every single respect - the urge to delete this from my library for the sake of the band's dignity is about the only trace I've got left of any residual attachment to them |
114 | | KILLING JOKE KILLING JOKE
PRETTY BAD RECORDS |
113 | | Crosses Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.
#237
Alternative whatevers
Anyone who swiped right on this is dead to me |
112 | | Katatonia Sky Void of Stars
#236
Gothic wimp shitmetal
Worst metal frontman/lyricist of all time performs fresh overproduced babygoth snooze |
111 | | Humanity's Last Breath Ashen
#235
Deathcore
Some of the worst production I've heard in my life (THIS is Will Putney's legacy on heavy music) + arse-first djunz un-songwriting, but this was a bit of an easy target and I'd be lying if I said it didn't have a couple of slappers |
110 | | Ashnikko WEEDKILLER
#234
Bratty zoomershit
too polished for its own good - ditch ethel cain and the trent reznor bootsniffing and lean back into the chaos plz. honestly distressed this one can't go any lower *or* higher |
109 | | Metallica 72 Seasons
#233
Thrush infection goes harder than this -metal
i simply cannot decide on the right retirement barb to lay here |
108 | | Ruston Kelly The Weakness
#232
Country
the world's least significant R. Kelly gives up on disguising butt country as drab emo and hits a minor identity crisis |
107 | | Underneath Nothing Here is Held Sacred
#231
Deathcore
some glimmers of potential at the backend of this, but otherwise new dxc band playing the same old shite |
106 | | Scalp Black Tar
#230
Grind
bargain bin beatdowns in an otherwise largely excellent year for grind |
105 | | Narrow Head Moments of Clarity
#229
Grungegaze
pallid grungegaze at its most forgettable. feed that vocalist some vitamins |
104 | | Explosions in the Sky End
#228
Post rock
"Just listen to it even if it’s dead or not dead who gives a shit, it’s music." |
103 | | Animal Collective Isn’t It Now?
#227
Bullshit psych
Enfeebled mess that makes it that much easier to regret that this godawful tumour of a band didn't cease its existence years (maybe as many as 20 of them) ago |
102 | | In Flames Foregone
#226
Melodeath / alt metal
"great return to form" |
101 | | Balance and Composure Too Quick to Forgive
#225
Emo
emoGBT throwaways disguised as a comeback -- i mean, "Swallowing my pride / You're out the door, so I'll spare you all my emotions this time / This time / Now that you might die / I find it selfish to pain you with wanting closure / 'Cause it's closed, I know"? urgh. |
100 | | Caroline Polachek Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
#224
New wave of gentrified spa pop
unfairly talented vocalist gives up on music and suggests her true calling lies in a hideously-packaged luxury soap brand |
99 | | Nightosphere Katabasis
#223
Slowcore
jespercore's version of sleep paralysis |
98 | | Black Country, New Road Live at Bush Hall
#222
Spiralling Windmillcore
100% of songwriting talent fucks off to sell cakes; band promptly plummets |
97 | | Magdalena Bay mini mix Vol. 3
#221
Synthpop
vapid trendbait duo almost make bangers |
96 | | Yellowcard Childhood Eyes
#220
Pop punk
Gotta concede it's a huge accomplishment for any 00s pop punk band to pull off an EP title involving children and not have it read incredibly sus: wholesome victory? |
95 | | Enter Shikari A Kiss For The Whole World
#219
Post-hardcore / alt rock
my one spin of this album somehow secured these guys a slot in my spotify wrapped (which was topped by sleep token), and fwiw i appreciated their video message too much to shade this album. cute gang drops ball cutely. |
94 | | Lana Del Rey Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
#218
Coma pop
LDR sneaks about 25% of a decent album into a gruelling marathon of her classic foibles |
93 | | bread experiments Breadgaze
#217
Breadgaze
haha breadgaze |
92 | | De Staat Red Yellow Blue
#216
Alternative dance dance stuff rock
KOOKY!!! |
91 | | Johnny Booth Moments Elsewhere
#215
Metalcore
the least offensive showing from the year's most bafflingly awful brand of sputhype? apparently not quite! |
90 | | END The Sin of Human Frailty
#214
Metalcore
visceral allstar hardcore reduced to plasticated jank. fuck will putney with a rusty spoon |
89 | | The Callous Daoboys God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys
#213
Mathcore
everyone's favourite metalcore breakthrough act drinks one too many milkshakes and shits their pants in the nearest hot topic |
88 | | Spanish Love Songs No Joy
#212
Alternative doomrock
no comment |
87 | | Total Downer Caretaker
#211
Pop punk / Emo
screwball aping of most of Jeff Rosenstock's worst qualities somewhat redeemed in the lyrics dept |
86 | | Model/Actriz Dogsbody
#210
Post-everything throb jank
tfw dickriding p4k is the most straightforward answer to your tasteless album-long manifesto of plz-get-me-laid |
85 | | Wisteria Lodge Spoken Secrets
#209
Dream Pop
are lynchian vibes still lynchian if they come with next to no mystique? |
84 | | Wayfarer American Gothic
#208
Post-metal / black metal / americana
Butt boring post-metal repping deeply weathered cowboy boots = dusty, dusty snooze |
83 | | Jeff Rosenstock HELLMODE
#207
Pop punk / power pop
The DIY man-of-the-moment slogs out another set of pithy spleeny woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-bed-(that's-ur-life!) whatevers, almost all of which are distressingly piecemeal |
82 | | Hannah Diamond Perfect Picture
#206
Synthpop
one of PC music's oldest and most deservingly forgotten mascots is slowly getting better at vapid squeak pop: she'll have a 3.5 for us by 2030 |
81 | | The Republic of Wolves Why Would Anyone Want To Live This Long?
#205
Alternative
underproduced attempted exorcisms of patently Catholic upbringings like it's 2000 and fuckin 6 Perfect Picture |
80 | | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of...
#204
Thrash bong
if one more person tells me that Actually These Guys Are Great Musicians we are all going to find out precisely how many diplomas you have to burn to get incarcerated for arson |
79 | | Poppy Zig
#203
Idiot pop
about as (very) stupid and (moderately) entertaining as every any Poppy full-length - not feeling this as a 'step down', but it sure as shit ain't making the good list either |
78 | | Ayumi Hamasaki Remember You
#202
J-Pop
With a score as high as 2.7, I apparently felt at some time that this was the best full-length I have ever heard from Ayumi Hamasaki and boi oh boi do I wish I could remember the reasons why |
77 | | The Ocean Holocene
#201
So over it it's not even post -metal
Metal band listens to Mezzanine one time and thinks they're suddenly masters of slowburning atmosphere. Unfortunate record |
76 | | Beach Fossils Bunny
#200
Dream pop
Hilariously vapid dremshit, so much so that it almost hits so-lame-it's-good territory. Almost. |
75 | | KANGA Under Glass
#199
Synthpop
gamerboi-harvesting edgelord switches tracks to disappointing vanilla synthpop. a sad day for Perturbator worship the world over! |
74 | | Nicole Dollanganger Married in Mount Airy
#198
Dream pop
Creep pop for those who like their room temperature frigid and their vocals constantly on the brink of asphyxiation |
73 | | The National Laugh Track
#197
Indie
A respectable effort from indie's ailing maestros, but not enough to hide that they're just one Lana del Rey feature away from the end of the road. |
72 | | Invent Animate Heavener
#196
Metalcore progshit whinge
Tbqh, I think this album has been slightly overly maligned by metalcore haters this year - its chronic dependency on idiot chugs and questionable clean vocals may be as useless as anything else on this particular hype circuit, but the band's emphasis on atmosphere and occasional flashy leadwork are a cut above. There's a decent melodic record buried under all that polish and djunz. That feels nice to say! Band are still criminally atrocious lyricists and would be better off writing in, idk, French or Mandarin or some other language where their garbage word fumbles are easier to ignore, but tentative peace out? Bye! |
71 | | Sufjan Stevens Javelin
#195
Indie folk
Audible proof that you can add as much nuance and experience as you like to your basic pocket handkerchief, and it ain't gonna fit the brief of your own portable mop bucket any better or worse |
70 | | Fall Out Boy So Much (For) Stardust
#194
Pop punk / pop / pop pop
A few legitimately fun bangers don't quite offset the rank obsequiousness of this album's pop wing. Acceptable return to form? Probably - this boi took a pass on FOB's entire pop-pop era, so we'll let that one fly |
69 | | Indigo De Souza All of This Will End
#193
Indie pop / indie rock
Major disappointment for me - Indigo de Souza's 2021 record had some of the most enduring indie tracks of the last few years, but this is a crass, sawn-off flop in comparison that frequently devolves into the wrong kind of ugly mess and mistakes its notions of rawness and catharsis for the substance of good songwriting in a way that IdS once seemed to have such a remarkable knack for *not* doing. Still some good tracks here, but ugh |
68 | | KILLING JOKE KILLING JOKE
"MEH" TIER! ALL THESE ALBUMS HAVE QUALITIES OF GOODNESS AND, UH, DO I WANT TO BE REMINDED OF THEM? |
67 | | Molly (AT) Picturesque
#192
Post rock? Dream pop? Slowcore? No fucking way am I revisiting this lol
Jesper's early-year pitch played me like a sock and now I am full of holes. Unsure whether this record ever truly existed. |
66 | | Squid O Monolith
#191
Neo-sporkcore
The third (or maybe fourth) most popular band in nu-UK dorkwave drop another compendium of useless irregularities |
65 | | Fireworks Higher Lonely Power
#190
Alternative
*adequately produced attempted exorcisms of patently Catholic upbringings like it's 2000 and fuckin 6 |
64 | | Covet catharsis
#189
Math rock / 'shoe''gaze'
elevator rock act tries and largely fails to spice up their game |
63 | | Young Fathers Heavy Heavy
#188
Neo-psych woohoo bullshit
Get promised a subversive pop masterclass // get dumped with a bunch of wavyshit hippy-baiting Anco B-sides. Waste of great artwork. |
62 | | Blut Aus Nord Disharmonium – Nahab
#187
Avant-black metal
A perfect illustration of why gravely staring into the void makes for boring af cosplay |
61 | | Hammock Love in the Void
#186
Post rock
Even I don't nap enough to get sparks flying with this one |
60 | | Yoasobi The Book 3
#185
Yakousei / J-pop / K-pop bait
YOASOBI's meteoric rise continues on an (apparently) international level, which apparently means leaning even harder towards pandering to vocaloid fans (the sanitary ones) and K-Pop fans (all of them?), while losing sight of the majesty they commanded for a few crucial moments on their first EP. First track gets points for landing the opening to Frieren but loses them immediately for being a poor fit. Lotta these choruses already feel like self-aping and they haven't even dropped a full-length yet: the future of J-Pop, I, uh, guess. |
59 | | Overgrow This All Will End
#184
Emo
This style of whingy emo vox is long overdue for permanent abolition, but the songwriting + band performances are at least strong enough to deserve better |
58 | | Kylie Minogue Tension
#183
Pop pop
The kind of singles album that makes you remember how important it is to, uh, listen to a singles album once in a while? Yknowwhatimean? |
57 | | Swans The Beggar
#182
Retirement home post-noise postrock
""michael is done"" |
56 | | Slayyyter Starfucker
#181
Pop
There are so many reasons why this should be good/fun trash, but whatever the star factor needed to see it off as a bona fide keeper is, I'm not convinced Slayyyter has it |
55 | | Big|Brave nature morte
#180
Drone metal
This on paper is all things excellent: sludge, drone, doom, bracing vocal performance, bold narrative, sympathetic band. Something about their sound doesn't hit right though - the production is far too dry for its own good and the atmosphere rarely sticks the landing for me, feels airless where it should be gritty. Too bad! |
54 | | Flyying Colours You Never Know
#179
Shoegaze
New palatable immemorable tepid gazethings 4... u? |
53 | | Thantifaxath Hive Mind Narcosis
#178
Avant-psych-black metal dissoshit
Mercilessly proficient (read: frequently dull) dissonant EVIL metal - these guys almost have it, but the psychedelic end of their sound and the wavy key changes that accompany it both strike me as procedural and overbearing. Fix that major-ish pitfall and this might have been worth some hype. |
52 | | Home Is Where The Whaler
#177
Emo vermin
nu-Pitchfork darlings pivot from enjoyable Cap'n Jazz ripoff bangers to convoluted Cap'n Jazz ripoff shrapnel that runs the gamut of every emo-adjacent style in the textbook without ever landing an essential statement (sorry, my bar is not low enough for "Every day feels like 9/11" to qualify). Definition of an ambitious flop. |
51 | | Xiu Xiu Ignore Grief
#176
Post-industrial / avant-classical / dualitycore / halfism / fuckoff
Some of the industrial tracks on this are pretty cool, but for the most part it's Xiu Xiu at their most macabre, contorted and, uh, dull |
50 | | Kassem Mosse Workshop 32
#175
Techno
Plainest techno I've heard this year, nothing offensive though |
49 | | The Clientele I Am Not There Anymore
#174
All of the indies chamber pops things
Pondorous baroque reflectionpiece that never quite finds its groove |
48 | | Lotus Eater Machine Prisoner to Seven Demons
#173
Mathcore
Unsure whether this is the best of the bad or the worst of the decent for the year's brvtal mathy/(vaguely) grindy beatdowns - struck me as belaboured and not nearly as visceral as it very clearly sets out to be |
47 | | Mitski The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
#172
Emphatically songwritery music (singing optional)
most memorable part of this album is how every single thing I've read on it *either* hails Mitski as a genius songwriting *or* critiques her songwriting as piecemeal half-arsery. guess which side is on the money... |
46 | | Logan Ledger Golden State
#171
Country
SPOILERS: by the maths of this list and the next, this thing did in fact turn out to be a strong contender for the best country album of 2023. Sowing my angel my broken clock. |
45 | | Queens of the Stone Age In Times New Roman...
#170
Custody rock
DAD GOALS = get divorced, beat cancer, churn out perfunctory set of midtempo snooze rockers, go grey in style |
44 | | Thy Catafalque Alföld
#169
Avant-garde black metal (+stuff)
this guy is way too talented to waste himself on indistinct dm riff compilations this way. thy catafalque is firmly in its flop era (but i have faith there'll be a comeback) |
43 | | Water From Your Eyes Everyone's Crushed
#168
Post-industrial art pop
o trendy artfarts, how i love thee |
42 | | Mareux Lovers from the Past
#167
Darkwave
This is seven layers of morose kitsch too far for me *in theory*, but my taciturn teenage gothself feels thoroughly catered to and I am NOT okay with this!! |
41 | | Deerhoof Miracle-Level
#166
Indie pop / art pop / not pop / huh
Cult classic weirdo pop act decide that now is the time for a Japanese language debut, and back it up with one of the least remarkable tracklists I've heard from them |
40 | | Enslaved Heimdal
#165
Progressive blackened spork metal
A few fun moments on this - "Kingdom" and BEHIND THE MIRROR??? really gun for it, almost enough to camouflage that the rest is mostly cheesy flatulence |
39 | | There Will Be Fireworks Summer Moon
#164
Now! That's What I Call Music!
Too precious to live, too corny to die: Sputcore in 2023, y'all (and yes, the Fray did do it better) |
38 | | Dai Dai Dai 滅滅滅
#163
J-Pop / Synthpop / Alt-idol
One of the funnest chaos jank projects in pop drops an EP of odds and ends, and, uh, the highlight is a remake of an old single(?)? Thrills n spills :/ |
37 | | Steven Wilson The Harmony Codex
#162
Porgressive Rock
as someone who has paid as little attention to the lyrics on this thing as possible, i view it as a largely background cocktail of ponderous space opera and vapid We Live In A Society potshots. does it deserve a deeper dig? has a GOOD closer so will leave the door open, but you'd better speak up soon because my mind has already wandered |
36 | | Rebecca Black Let Her Burn
#161
Post-disasterpop
rebecca black making a good mid pop album is tbqh the feel-good story of the year |
35 | | Portrayal of Guilt Devil Music
#160
Black metal skramz chambershit
hevyshit's edgiest bunch of stoner dorks drop their tightest set of rippers since their debut and then ruin it all with a chamber-themed reskin. |
34 | | Gazelle Twin Black Dog
#159
Art pop
creepy arthouse jank that brings about as much horror as, i dunno, finding your partner's fingernails in the bathroom sink. once is enough and anything further has no claws |
33 | | Better Lovers God Made Me an Animal
#158
Metalcore
the worst halves of two metalcore titans drop a timely reminder that both their original bands washed up before they broke up, and then throw will putney into the mix as an added fuck-you to anyone who believed in their creative potential regardless. this EP doesn't suck, but its hype would never have taken off if it weren't helmed by genre celebs. |
32 | | The Tallest Man on Earth Henry St.
#157
Folk
The 21st century's stomping, bleating folk goat delivers his most innocuous record to date, and tbqh he has never sounded better. |
31 | | Nathanael Larochette Old Growth
#156
Folk
Musk Ox guitarman weaves together a string of pastural vignettes - all are pleasant, few make a deep impression. |
30 | | Baroness Stone
#155
Sludge metal ~kinda
Baroness take a gamble on good production: enjoy the novelty of being able to kick back, take in every instrument in rich fullness of great musicianshiply friendly dadmetallic tone, and making your own damn mind up about whether the notes themselves are- |
29 | | Yorushika Magic Lantern
#154
Yakousei / J-Pop
less peppy though no less pleasant than everything else i've heard from this group, enjoyably harmless |
28 | | Triangulo de Amor Bizarro SED
#153
Shoegaze / Noise pop
a solid middle third can't disguise the pretty major step this takes back from these guys' upside-down record (one of the most inspired and engaging gaze albums of recent memory) to their years of noise pop shrapnel |
27 | | Kalmah Kalmah
#152
Melodeath
This level of cheese doesn't quite hit like it used to and the production is slightly off the mark, but this is still a proficient showing from these melobois of deaf |
26 | | Olivia Rodrigo Guts
#151
Pop / pop 'punk'
Catchy enough to get away with being completely insufferable - O Rod may not have a single original idea as a songwriter, but she knows her source texts well enough to land them hits where they count |
25 | | Closure in Moscow Soft Hell
#150
Alternative funk fart
this is a silly album make your own apologies for it you callous bitch |
24 | | oedipus apartment complex The Blissful Sounds of Miracula
#149
Ambient
Bit vaporous, but these ambient bleeps and bloops are surprisingly endearing across repeats |
23 | | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard The Silver Cord
#148
Progressive electronic
I flame this band a lot and for good reason, but the extended mix of the t/t is a huge highlight and up with "The Dripping Tap" as one of the few heavily worthwhile things I've heard from them since Mind Fuzz. The synths 'n' shades look in general is far from their worst, but the short version is all piecemeal choruses and the extended mixes are infrequently worth the extra mileage. Decent release all in all. |
22 | | Danny Brown Quaranta
#147
Hip-hop
Erratic first half with a few truly bad tracks, but once this thing settles into more pensive territory it holds its own. Solid backend, and (bar that cringe "Celibate" chorus) rarely so drawn out that it demands much patience
Soft Hell this is a silly album make your own apologies for it you callous bitch |
21 | | Phoxjaw notverynicecream
#146
Post-hardcore
3/5ths of this have vaguely annoying screwball post-punk overtones, but when it goes it goes. "icecreamwitch" is a never-skip banger and probably my favourite song from this entire lower stretch of the list, really tight shit |
20 | | Mayu Tsuruta and Haruka Nakamura Archē
#145
Ambient / chamber
Nice album, but majorly handicapped because I do not own a conservatory to play it in. Get onto this, houseplants gang! |
19 | | 100 Gecs 10,000 gecs
#144
Post-internetcore
The meme remains the same(ish), but it ain't as fun now that we're braced for impact. The gecs have done good work streamlining their brand of chaos for the vast lost_generation//audience they've conjured out of nowhere, but they ain't demolishing my braincells with quite the same delight as they used to |
18 | | Yaeji With A Hammer
#143
Weirdo electronix pop zing
Scatty and occasionally aggravating, Yaeji has just enough personality to get away with a pop-adjacent-ish meander through whatever electronic palettes cross her mind |
17 | | KILLING JOKE KILLING JOKE
'GOOD' ALBUMS THAT AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO BELONG ON THE GOOD LIST BE SAD FOR THEM |
16 | | Panopticon The Rime of Memory
#142
Atmospheric black metal
I stg for a solid fortnight now this entire site has been a mix of a) whingy comments complaining that this was released too late in the year to get the acclaim it supposedly deserves and b) endless NPC yearlists with guess which fucking album almost invariably in the top 10. It's... fine. It's fine. Some of the metal drags its heels, some of the transitions are jank, almost all the folk is great, the last song is a new genre template, the runtime is very nearly worth it. Keep the change. |
15 | | Carly Rae Jepsen The Loveliest Time
#141
Pop pop
Last year, Carly Rae Jepsen came in swinging with the worst album on my good-2022 list; this year, she contents herself with my strongest 3.0. Frankly, she's unstoppable at this point. |
14 | | daine shapeless
#140
Zoomer bullshit
One of *the* best awful artists in the game right now, daine keeps getting better while I'm praying they get worse |
13 | | Ruby Haunt Between Heavens
#139
Dream pop
A more immediate angle for these rainy-day bringers of Mellow - not sure it's their best look though, their tones n vibes are competent as ever but the songwriting feels underbaked here |
12 | | Domestic Terminal The Flooded Basement EP
#138
Emo
intriguing teaser cannot wait to hear this band dive headlong into Halo lore on their next one |
11 | | Khanate To Be Cruel
#137
Drone metal
This one filtered the balls off me and I guess I'm proud to be left thinking it's still decently cool regardless? |
10 | | Oneohtrix Point Never Again
#136
Sappy glitch
A few significant saving graces here, but this is mostly a tossup between Lopatin's most glitched-out indulgence and his most sentimentalist cornballs |
9 | | Complete Mountain Almanac Complete Mountain Almanac
#135
Folk
This is SO CLOSE to being a gorgeous understated knockout, and I'm trying to pin down exactly where it falls short - there's something a little demure, a little too slight that sends it through one ear and out the other, but it's still pretty as hell and *almost* a great record? Came here ready to argue that it's secretly underrated, but ended up relucantly dropping it a few places :[ |
8 | | Lamp Dusk to Dawn
#134
Shibuya-Kei / Jazz pop
I can vibe with Lamp on a good day and can hardly deny their mastery of their craft, but this slog of hazy lounge/jazz pop sugarthings gets me all indistinct in the most wrong kind of nap music -way. Hmmm |
7 | | Kelela Raven
#133
R&B / garage
extremely high on style, relatively strong for consistent v i b e s, paper-thin on the songwriting front: a flattering indication of this year's standard for almost-greatness |
6 | | Anunaku 063
#132
Techno
Bit plain in places, bit sparse in others, but this lovely, gentle album has a load of delicate melodies and really lovely highlights ("Dorothy Bay"!) - shame to see it miss the main list 063 Backloaded but pretty fun at its best. "Venus" is a sweet highlight, enjoy how close this one gets to trance at points |
5 | | Tiny Ruins Ceremony
#131
Indie folk
Bit plain in places, bit sparse in others, but this lovely, gentle album has a load of delicate melodies and really lovely highlights ("Dorothy Bay"!) - shame to see it miss the main list |
4 | | Zutomayo Jinkougaku
#130
Yakousei / J-pop
ACAne + co. make a fun bounce back from their underwhelming sophomore album, but still nowhere near to the magic of their 2018 debut. definitely this year's best outing from the core yakousei trio though |
3 | | Hail the Sun Divine Inner Tension
#129
Post-Swancore
Pretty cool surprise from a band I'd written off by now - vocalist still sounds like he's gargling nail polish, but this is about the tightest songwriting and highest ratio of bangers I've heard from these guys. Kudos babies |
2 | | Billy Woods and Kenny Segal Maps
#128
Hip-hop
Not sure what it is about this that never clicked with me - I dig Billy a lot, loved Aethiopes and Hiding Places, appreciate the relatively understated scattergun storytelling at play here, but it just doesn't add up to a wow. Kenny Segal's production is reined way in compared to Hiding Places, and I miss a lot of the flair he brought to that record even if the beats here are still tight. Has its moments though and I can't hate on it, so let's blame all my scruples on that one stinker of a Danny Brown verse and call it a day |
1 | | Actress LXXXVIII
#127
IDM / Microhouse
Look'ee here, this is a cool record and I am going to pull a bunk and admit that a) it should be much higher on not this list but the GOOD list, and b) that I am not cool enough to click with it. Huh. There's a lot to like here, from screwy vocal samples (opener and "Its me ( g 8 )", hello there) to murky ambience ("Green Blue Amnesia Magic Haze ( d 7 )" is a great highlight), but it never comes together as an album-spanning vibe and the lack of cohesion narrowly withholds the 3.5-shaped blessing of GOODness from it. And so here it is. The best NO album of the year. Listen to it? Please |
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