Album of the year 2022
This year, I'm especially excited to post my favourite albums. Not just because 2022 was much more to my musical taste than 2021, the long awaited and worthwile return of Kendrick Lamar, but also; I'm posting it on a new website!
It might still look a little barebones at the moment, but this rebuilt version of my personal website should allow me to make changes more easily. And post hopefully a little more freely (I know, I know, that hasn't been the case much before).
There are some albums of particular note this year. Firstly, Kendrick's latest is a true grower, a deeply poetic and complex work of art that takes many listens, and reads, to understand and appreciate. There was little that came close to it this year in terms of this culmination of personal stories, musical depth and variety, lyrical excellence, and not to forget its conceptual role in a multi-album journey of self understanding, self realising and arguably self appreciation.
Zeit was to me a perfect farewell (or "Adieu") from Rammstein, showcasing their ability to combine shocking (well, maybe not as much anymore) musical, lyrical and visual elements with a subtle but nonetheless very thought-through message.
What I cannot tie to one particular album, but have nonetheless noticed, is a strong presence and growth in hip hop, jazz (improvised music), soul and crossovers (often combined with elements of electronic) of those genres. Inside and outside of this top ten, I have listened to a lot of these and discovered lots of artists, many of them new!
My final list came out looking like this:
- Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
- Rammstein - Zeit
- Confidence Man - Tilt
- Black Thought & Danger Mouse - Cheat Codes
- Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum
- Honningbarna - Animorphs
- Melt Yourself Down - Pray For Me I Don't Fit In
- Sea Power - Everything Was Forever
- Ibibio Sound Machine - Electricity