Welcome to the second part of Extended Play’s top 100 albums of 2022, covering the top 50 albums of the year. If you missed part I, read it here.
All year-end lists must begin with some grand statement reflecting the essence of the year, but they always go on for far too long, try too hard to make each year significant and unique despite doing this every year, and usually get skipped despite their best efforts to paint themselves with the utmost grandiosity as canonizers and narrativizers of the present. So all I will say is that 2022 saw some of the best releases in recent memory that will be (in a just world) considered classics for far into the future. Themes, parallels, trends, I will leave for you to decide. Hopefully you will be able to find, appreciate, and take issue with the placements of your favorite albums as well as albums you despise, and even to discover something you haven’t heard yet. This post also passes the email length limit, so you can click on the title to view all of the listings. The version available in the email will be a truncated version.
Listen to the complete playlist here:
Soul Glo — Diaspora Problems
Maggie Nicols — Are You Ready?
Pusha T — It’s Almost Dry
Courting — Guitar Music
Dry Cleaning — Stumpwork
Open Mike Eagle — Component System with the Auto Reverse
Daniel Rossen — You Belong There
Natalia LaFourcade — De Todas las Flores
caroline — caroline
JID — The Forever Story
death’s dynamic shroud — Darklife
Kardashev — Liminal Rite
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard — Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava
Björk — Fossora
Gilla Band — Most Normal
Širom — The Liquified Throne of Simplicity
Claire Rousay — Everything Perfect is Already Here
Weyes Blood — And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Anne Malin — Summer Angel
Mizmor & Thou — Myopia
Richard Dawson — The Ruby Cord
Sigh — Shiki
Drowse — Wane Into It
The Smile — A Light for Attracting Attention
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard — Omnium Gatherum
Fontaines D.C. — Skinny Fia
Quadeca — I Didn’t Mean to Haunt You
Messa — Close
Cheekface — Too Much to Ask
Little Simz — NO THANK YOU
Oxbow & Peter Bröntzmann — An Eternal Reminder of Not Today - Live at Moers
Imperial Triumphant — Spirit of Ecstasy
Chat Pile — God’s Country
Perfume Genius — Ugly Season
Alvvays — Blue Rev
Anna von Hausswolf — Live at Montreux Jazz Festival
Billy Woods — Aethiopes
Viagra Boys — Cave World
Yard Act — The Overload
Backxwash — HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING
Diamanda Galás — Broken Gargoyles
Moor Mother — Jazz Codes
Jockstrap — I Love You Jennifer B
Ashenspire — Hostile Architecture
Big Thief — Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Danger Mouse & Black Thought — Cheat Codes
Scarcity — Aveilut
Hatis Noit — Aura
Black Country, New Road — Ants From Up There
black midi — Hellfire
Comment your personal favorites and opinions, as well as your most anticipated albums of 2023.