Taylor Swift (Eden Senigo)
2022 was actually the real post-corona year in everything related to the expression of all the meanings of the epidemic in musical works.
The waves of shock, the internalization of the cumulative effect, the mental scars that will probably never really heal, all of these seeped into the infinite (literally - the amount of music that comes out regularly has dimensions that cannot be contained) the albums and songs that graced the past year.
Like the chaotic and eclectic life that has become a routine for most of us, this list, of the albums I liked the most in 2022, is also chaotic and eclectic.
It crosses genres and is free of high-low wishes and definitions.
Everything goes.
But if I do have to point to a significant motif that I realized when I chose the dozens of songs that I heard the most in the past 12 months, and from them the albums, it would be this: the powerful dominance of female creation in general and of female rock and roll in particular in my musical menu.
For the first time since I've been choosing my albums of the year, the list has a majority of female musicians.
It's a phenomenon that is intensifying, and the bottom line is simple: since the beginning of the decade, they have simply been making more interesting, meaningful, intelligent and effective music than their male colleagues.
And it's happy and fun.
So here are my 12 albums of the year, and God and Spotify only knows how many others could have been here if only I had been aware of them and/or managed to listen to them.
And here are also my 70 songs of the year on Spotify or Apple Music.
12. Taylor Swift - Midnights
Swift's tenth album is not her greatest album, but still one that both grows on you from listen to listen and includes enough songs - there is a return to the synth-pop worlds produced by the talented Jack Antonoff - that you find yourself singing to yourself without prior preparation like this What a random morning.
I love her and her writing, the indie world loves her and she is always one of the singers I listen to the most throughout the year.
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11. MorMor - Semblance
An album that arrived towards the end of the year and I find myself spending quite a bit of time with it.
Seth Nyquist makes beautiful, mostly gentle pop that deals with themes like loneliness and questions of self-esteem.
There are hints of Prince here, also Future Islands and Frank Ocean, and although the album is not uniform in its level, there are some songs here that will continue with me.
10. Alvvays - Blue Rev
The Toronto group's third album is a sizzling indie-pop storm, a collection of uplifting melancholy tailored to the here and now and smartly produced by Shawn Ebert, who has already smartly produced Lada War on Drugs and The Killers.
9. Phoenix - Alpha Zulu
A magnificent comeback of the old French band that came back with the most fun album of the year, an intelligent hit celebration that respects both the head, the heart and the feet, with stroking touches.
8. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
Hype warning: Wet Leg are one of the hottest names born this year in the indie universe.
Hester Chambers and Rhian Tisdale are friends from the Isle of Wight, and if I were 28 their debut album is all I would listen to.
Smart, funny and exciting songs about boys, dates, heartbreaks and unnecessary parties.
7. Wild Pink - ILYSM
Although one-hour albums are a problematic concept in this day and age, who has the time and patience for such a binding relationship, John Ross and his band Wild Pink have created an hour of gentle and sentimental indie that touches on existential questions of life and death and also offers optimism and self-love.
There is an impressive display of abilities here, equal guest appearances and an offer for intimacy.
You will receive it.
6. Muna - Muna
The queer trio from California, signed to Phoebe Bridgers' label, range from dance anthems to country songs, and are much darker and deeper than their great beats.
This is what America needs right now, women who don't see anyone from behind and sing whatever they want.
Look for the stunning music videos for their songs.
5. Porridge Radio - Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky
One of the most beautiful albums of the year, not least thanks to the extraordinary voice and lyrics of Dana Margolin.
The quartet from Brighton makes rock that is both cloudy and clear, both loud and melodic, both intense and gentle.
Love this album.
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool it Down
This year's comeback title goes to Lea Ya Yaz, who returned after almost a decade of silence with an album that reminds why they are a truly important band in the musical history of the 2000s in general, and of New York City in particular.
Mature in a good section, smart, exciting at times, contagious.
What a wow Karen O and what a song "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" is.
This is not nostalgia, this is the present for the face.
3. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - When the Lights Go
One of the three albums I spent the most time with this year and the furthest from rock and roll possible: Orlando Higginbottom makes emotional, emotional, beautiful, aesthetic, effective dance music.
A tremendous album, and an example of an hour-long work that does well.
2. Maggie Rogers - Surrender
The 28-year-old American is a gifted writer and bombshell of talent, and in her second album she bombarded with an indie-pop creation that is hard not to succumb to and songs like "Horses" and "Anywhere With You".
Honesty, intelligence, nostalgia, a bright present and future: the female rock album of the year.
1. Fontaines DC- Skinty Fia
Irish Fontaines DC's first two albums starred in my 2019 and 2020 year summaries, but it's their third album that won far more hearts.
A little bit of the Smiths, a little bit of the Stone Roses, a little bit of the Cure, a little bit of Nirvana, Irish atmosphere and melancholy and wisdom, with a great singer named Gerian Chattan, who comes with all the necessary attitude.
Here you can listen to my 70 songs of the year on Spotify
and here on Apple Music
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