Jish’s Best Albums of 2022

Three Dimensions Deep
Amber Mark

A really good sophomore album! Amber Mark continues to showcase her soft and sweet vocals over a variety of musical styles. Amber is an exciting R&B talent with a dynamic skillset.

Remember Your North Star
Yaya Bey

Strong themes of Black womanhood, generational trauma, and anxiety on Yaya Bey’s second album. Remember Your North Star is intimate and personal, but doesn’t lose the listener with its short bursts of R&B, soul, and jazz. “keisha” is one of the best songs I’ve heard in 2022.

Ali
Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin

Vieux Farka Touré enlists Texas outfit Khruangbin to help him reimagine a collection of his father’s (famed Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré) songs. A surprising collaboration, but one to welcome with open arms and a glass of wine ready. Khruangbin’s psychedelic sound only adds to the beautiful guitar riffs of the source material.

Dawn FM
The Weeknd

Dawn FM has a cool concept of taking place between a car crash and death. The first half is loaded with pop tracks that are some of the best songs released this year. The run from “Gasoline” to “Out of Time” is incredible! Unfortunately, that’s where the quality ends and Dawn FM ends up as a top heavy album with a second half that’s completely forgettable.

Un Verano Sin Ti
Bad Bunny

The world’s arguably biggest music star puts quantity over quality on his fourth solo studio album. While there are some huge hits on Un Verano Sin Ti, most of the tracks should’ve been left on the cutting room floor, instead of bloating up what could’ve been a great album. Perhaps it’s a strategy to increase streaming numbers—and if it is, it’s working (just take a look at the Spotify numbers). The number of duds on this album won’t phase Bad Bunny one bit. “Me Porto Bonito” is good enough to carry the album far enough.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Kendrick Lamar

Another Kendrick Lamar album, another instance where I can’t get on the same page with K.Dot. I certainly appreciate the concept of a narrative therapy session, but I disagree with the execution. I can already hear the “you just don’t get it” comments—I’ve heard them all year. It’s not the worst Kendrick Lamar album, but it’s far from the best (Section.80, let’s fight about it).

Harry’s House
Harry Styles

Harry’s House has been shoved in our faces since its release. The attack has been spearheaded by the ever-present “As It Was”. There are some real fun pop cuts on this album, but most of the songwriting makes you want to bang your head against the upside down walls of Harry’s House itself. Harry’s House is great when you listen to the upbeat tracks and turn off the part of your brain that focuses on lyrics.

Honestly, Nevermind
Drake

A valiant effort to create a dance album by Drake here. My initial reaction was “wtf?”, but after getting over the hump of “wtf? Drake made a dance album?”, some of the tracks clicked with me pretty well. As inexperienced the producers on Honestly, Nevermind were with dance music, and specifically Baltimore club, the execution was admirable at the very least. It speaks volumes that the best track on the album is the one that isn’t a dance song, but a hip hop song (CC 21 Savage). God, I hate that bed creaking sound.

Midnights
Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift follows up her two nice folk pop records with… 1989 part 2? The excitement for Midnights bubbled over, but this is just disappointing. Taylor said the concepts of theses songs are inspired by terrors and sweet dreams—it seems like she wrote some of these songs in her sleep too (karma is a cat??). Look “Anti-Hero” is one of the best songs of 2022 and “Snow on the Beach” is a solid Lana Del Rey song, but what the hell is “Vigilante Shit”?

Her Loss
Drake & 21 Savage

It’s mid. Not much else to say. Onto The List.

20.

Dance Fever
Florence + The Machine

Florence + The Machine deliver an energetic and dancey pop record. One of their best to date. The scintillating melodies on the album matched with Florence Welch’s impeccable vocals make for a fun time start to finish.

19.

The Alchemist Sandwich
The Alchemist

Steady Uncle Alc! Over 20 years in the game, and still full of surprises that don’t sacrifice the product. The compilation of Alchemist’s Lunch Meat and Bread come together for a tasty meal.

18.

RENAISSANCE
Beyoncé

RENAISSANCE is raw, unabashed, and pure energy. Beyoncé’s seventh album is her least sterile and spotless release. Blemishes and hiccups are left in recordings to keep the album natural and not synthetic. The result is a lovely dance product that pays homage to the forebearers of the music that inspired RENAISSANCE, while still keeping things fresh and not simply a nostalgia trip.

17.

And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Weyes Blood

A competent follow-up to the universally acclaimed Titanic Rising. Weyes Blood’s is still at the peak of her powers in terms of songwriting. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow further cements Weyes Blood at the peak of chamber pop.

16.

The Forever Story
JID

JID continues his trail as one of the hottest rappers around. The Forever Story is a dynamic piece of work that showcases JID’s well-roundedness. Even with well-placed features and solid production, the Atlanta native shines on this record.

15.

10
Westside Gunn

Westside Gunn caps off his HWH mixtape series with a bang. The two HWH 8 records were a bit bloated, but 10 is much more concise. A definitive quality of Westside Gunn projects are the features, and boy are these some of the best. This is no clearer than on the dessert of this album—a decadent 10 minute Griselda Records megacut.

14.

CAPRISONGS
FKA Twigs

My favourite FKA Twigs project to date. CAPRISONGS is sexy, ass shakey, and hip swingy. The dancehall moments cut through the intimate moments really well for a nice balance of movement and slowness.

13.

King’s Disease III
Nas

They did it again! Nas has found his 21st century producer in Hit-Boy and it continues to work. King’s Disease III is almost as good as King’s Disease II, but it’s up there.

12.

Laurel Hell
Mitski

Laurel Hell is beautiful piece of synth-pop. As Mitski fans begged for more soul-wrenching soft songs, Mitski does a 180 and puts out a wonderful synth-pop album. She does this while maintaining her strong and personal songwriting. “I cry at the start of every movie / I guess ’cause I wish I was making things, too” hits home and hits hard.

11.

Preacher’s Daughter
Ethel Cain

Biggest surprise of the year for me. The Floridian singer-songwriter was an unknown figure to me going into this album, and I’ve been blown away. Preacher’s Daughter is an album that lives in contrast to modern music habits as its long running songs aren’t playlist heavy and the album demands you listen to it through. It’s hard to ignore the Lana Del Rey undertones here, but Ethel Cain is distinct enough for this to be her own thing. Southern Gothic Americana, baby!

10.

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong
Sharon Van Etten

The words that come to mind when I think of We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong are “dark electricity”. There’s a certain darkness in the production of this album. Everything is either in a minor key, or feels like it’s in a minor key. This is countered by an electricity throughout the album that keeps things moving and interesting. Another notch in the seasoned singer-songwriter’s belt.

9.

2000
Joey Bada$$

How do you follow up a record as good as ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$? Furthermore, how do you do so after anticipation has been building for five years? This is how. 2000 was worth the wait and Joey shows he hasn’t missed a step.

8.

God Don’t Make Mistakes
Conway the Machine

Yet another hot Conway the Machine record. Conway is firmly my favourite Griselda rapper, not due to any faults of Westside Gunn or Benny the Butcher, but because Conway has that it factor. He finely balances a commercial sound and that old school boom bap sound, so well that his appeal touches all rap fans alike. It’s incredible how consistent Conway has become dropping heat year after year.

7.

SOS
SZA

Just as with Joey Bada$$’ 2000, SZA made us wait five years for the follow-up to Ctrl, and it was worth it. SOS is everything fans wanted from SZA and more. She continues to be poignant and emotional over wonderful R&B production. SOS is chock full of love songs to sing at the top of your lungs in the car.

6.

It’s Almost Dry
Pusha T

The Ye vs. Pharrell production concept is super cool and something I want to see more of in hip hop. Pusha T is often criticized for almost exclusively delivering coke bars, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

5.

Simple.
IDK

The KAYTRANADA production here is mindblowing. IDK glides through the record effortlessly for an upbeat rap and dance hybrid project that begs you to put it on repeat. The seamless transition from the last track to the first helps this even further. The short album length requires you to spin it at least twice each time.

4.

Melt My Eyez See Your Future
Denzel Curry

Absolute talent Denzel Curry is. The in your face energy Zeltron brings on each track keeps you head boppin the entire 45 minutes and 10 seconds. While Denzel isn’t the most mainstream artist, it’s time for the world to see the power he holds.

3.

Big Time
Angel Olsen

Angel Olsen is in her country bag. The genre hopping singer-songwriter has now sojourned to the frontier realm of country music. Big Time is a horse ride into the sunset fit for John Wayne or Doc Holliday. Like 2019’s All Mirrors, Big Time is stylistically very specific, so it could take some time for it to sink in. For me, however, I was drawn into this album right off the bat. On the tail end, the orchestral denouement is an elegant way to cap off the cinematic aesthetic established early in the album. Big Time is warm and bright, it feels like the sun shining on your face.

2.

MOTOMAMI
Rosalía

A traditionalist early in her career, Rosalía maintains the roots of her musical journey while pushing the envelope to become a true pop innovator. She was always going to dive into the world of reggaeton as that’s focal point of Spanish-language music, and she’s dived in without making a single splash—simply stabs right into the water. MOTOMAMI is a historic piece of art. With most artists who produce a project to this degree, you’d wonder how they could top it, but there’s zero worry with Rosalía because she’ll keep being forward thinking and creative.

1.

Blue Rev
Alvvays

Wow! Back to back years with shoegazey albums that include “blue” in the title at the number one spot! As time passes, Blue Rev gets better and better, and you discover something new that you can love in it. Alvvays for years, have been a hidden gem in indie bubbles with genre classics in Alvvays (2014) and Antisocialites (2017). With Blue Rev, they’ve soared to the top of the indie world and the wider world of music. Molly Rankin’s vocals are sweet and pierce through the driving guitars and synths. Move over Abel, Canada’s got new musical royalty.