“YOU COME RIGHT OVER HERE AND EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE HAVING ANOTHER YEAR”
-Dorothy Parker in a telegram to humorist Walter Benchley, December 31, 1929
(via the inimitable @letttersofnote on Instagram)
Well kids, here we are. The next year is upon us whether we like it or not. As much as we all tried to just pump the brakes and take a brief look around, time waits for no man, and Tom Waits wrote the lines:
And a Wisconsin hiker with a cue-ball head
He's wishing he was home in a Wiscosin bed
But there's fifteen feet of snow in the East
Colder then a welldigger's ass
And it's colder than a welldigger's ass
SO in the spirit of the inevitable march of all time forever that never ceases even for one goddamned minute, here are some records that Brian and I missed in 2022 that we intend to listen to and, presumably, opine upon in 2023.
Bryce:
I’m already looking at Brian’s list and finding other records I should add to this list. If you need me I’ll be in my basement staring at the ceiling with headphones on just blasting music.
My friend Brian Moss (The Ghost/Great Apes/etc.) hipped me to this record in early December. Equal parts catchy and dissonant, melodic and pissed off. That’s my shit.
Outsider, OG screamo comeback record. I never really got into this band when they were putting out records in the early 00s but so far this reunion record rips.
Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
Another record I found out about on a year-end list. J Spaceman can do no wrong.
British dub prankster Adrian Sherwood did a full remix album of the new Spoon record. That’s like if you did a Mad Libs of things that I like.
Psychedelic Italian doom with the vocals buried so far down in the mix they’re more texture than anything. Ideal writing music.
Ripping East Coast hardcore. Spun it a few times this summer but feel like it needs a revisit.
All my friends love this record. Philly hardcore with the right attitude.
Nathan Salsburg - Landwerk No.3
Almost put this on my year-end list. Have listened to it a fair bit, but only discovered it at the end of 22 so I will plunk it here instead. Ruminative guitar and sample meditations from a master of his craft.
Fleshwater - We’re Not Here to Be Loved
Hazy grunge revival from some of the cats in Vein.FM (aka the band that’s making the best case for actually revisiting nu-metal as an influence). I have listened to this record a couple times. It is very good.
My friend Shane (who also plays drums with me in Belonging) sent me this record a while back. I remember being pretty stoked on it, but it kinda fell off the map. Need to give it a few more spins. Someone once called Belonging “punky rock” and, while I hate that term, I feel like it applies here.
Brian:
Basically everything on this list, I first heard in listening through other 2022 best-of lists over the last month. I started a playlist and added everything I got recommended to it, started at the top and worked my way through. It came to a whopping NINETY-FIVE hours of music. I've been deleting stuff as I go, and it's down to FIFTY hours. I'll probably find 11 more to round us out to a tidy 22.
Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers: I listened to a lot of Kendrick a long time ago. I've listened to this all the way through just once. It's great. I'd be a dummy to not listen to it a bunch more.
The Smile, which, when I first listened to it, left me wondering why some dude was trying so hard to sound like Thom Yorke. Hint: it's Thom Yorke.
The new Spiritualized album, which sounds like every Spiritualized album, but new, which is just what I want from a Spiritualized album.
If you don't like Freddie Gibbs, you probably haven't listened to Freddie Gibbs. The samples, beats, and production on his new record are stellar as ever.
I had never heard the name MJ Lenderman before seeing on some list, but this weird folky-rocky-schlocky album starts out with lyrics about Michael Jordan choosing between signing with adidas and Nike, and the rest of it is great, too.
I'm excited to see Militarie Gun in a few weeks here in Portland. This is one of the best songs I've ever heard.
This Pez album is hard to listen to in the best way possible. Maybe my brain is broken, but this tickles something deep in one of the hemispheres (and the album art is sexy).
The Italian weirdos known as Messa apparently call the music they make "scarlet doom", which is tight, as is this entire album.
Did someone ask for psych-tinged, fast-as-fuck punk? SPACED apparently heard you, and Spaced Jams is sick.
The paced, melodic dirges of Cult Of Luna are amazing.
I just got this Charles Stepney record from Mississippi Records, and it's a treasure I'll listen to a bunch for sure.
(Ed. Brian and I said the same thing about the new Spiritualized album. God I love Spiritualized.)
That’s all for today. Thanks for listening.