Rockshot Magazine Albums Of The Year 2022
While not in any particular order and by no means an exhaustive list of our favourite records of 2022, here are a handful of those that stuck out in what has been a massive year of music. From earworm-filled LPs and thought-provoking records to the banger-laden spinners that promise to have clubs to festival fields bouncing next year, here are a few of our favourite things.
Maya Hawke - Moss
Maya Hawke’s sophomore record Moss comes in a year where the multi-talented singer-songwriter and actor’s career is in full-flight as one of the highlights of Netflix’s runaway hit Stranger Things. Moss takes the foundations laid in 2020 debut Blush to the next level with its delicate and melancholic folk stylings. Guitars provide the rhythm throughout, and the 24-year-old’s double-tracked and whispery vocals easily become stuck in your head. Luna Moth’s sad prettiness seems simple but is ridiculously effective. Crazy Kid brings in additional vocals via Okkervil River’s Will Graefe while Thérèse is the standout highlight.
Placebo - Never Let Me Go
Placebo don’t follow the rules. So much so that this year’s fantastic Never Let Me Go came out nine whole years after the core duo’s seventh record Loud Like Love; Brian Molko and Stefan Olsal the remaining heart of the group. Their signature industrial rock sound shines through from the opening bars of Forever Chemicals but while this is clearly a Placebo record, it transcends “more of the same”. Beautiful James is a delicious outing that has you strumming those guitar parts on air guitar as synths flow elegantly over. Hugz ups the tempo, while Happy Birthday In The Sky is a classic slow-build, thoughtful tune with lush instrumentation. Strings adorn The Prodigal while Surrounded By Spies raises interest with its lyrical repetition.
Rockshot Magazine went down to London’s Brixton Academy to check out Placebo’s live show in November. Read what went down here.
Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler - For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
Foals - Life Is Yours
Foals had geared up for a massive 2020 and 2021 courtesy of 2019’s (effectively) double record Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, foundations laid to send the Oxfordshire band into the stratosphere. But, as for everyone, COVID-19 put paid to that. And so was born Life Is Yours in 2022, a proper dance party of a rock record, seemingly an antithesis for that intervening period. Known for their energetic live shows, it’s easy to see what was going through the minds of Yannis Philippakis, Jack Bevan and Jimmy Smith as they crafted the record. Title track Life Is Yours sets the scene, but the Chic-style disco guitar work which careens through the record is front and centre for single Wake Me Up. There’s something a little Daft Punk’s Around The World about the bassline hook that emerges in the late stages of 2001. Short instrumental break (summer sky) splits the record in two. Looking High has that ethereal summertime feel. Under The Radar is Philippakis & co. going new wave while closer Wild Green is the party tune that keeps the night moving.
Beyoncé - Renaissance
Beyoncé’s seventh studio album, and her first solo studio release since 2016’s Lemonade, is a multi-layered, disco and house-tinged adventure that offered up a safe place for us to let go in 2022; to feel free, unrestricted and liberated from the hardship of the past couple of years. To celebrate under the glow of a sparkling disco ball.
The first instalment of a trilogy project, Renaissance features production and songwriting collaborations with Nova Wav, Honey Dijon and more and vocal appearances from Grace Jones and Tems.
The tracks flow seamlessly, like a pulsating DJ set, and sound utterly delicious when played at full volume. The record fuses post-1970s Black dance music styles and pays homage to the Black and queer pioneers of those genres. Highlights for me are the infectious Cuff It (which has its own TikTok dance challenge), Church Girl with the 1981 gospel tune ‘Center of Thy Will’ by The Clark Sisters as the base, the lush Plastic Off the Sofa and the dizzying, effortless Virgo’s Groove.
With Renaissance, Beyoncé proves, once again, that she’s otherworldly. Care to dance?
– Nicola Greenbrook
Paolo Nutini - Last Night In The Bittersweet
Eight years on from Paolo Nutini’s third record, Caustic Love, comes this year’s Last Night In The Bittersweet. From the opening beats, bassline and Nutini’s vocal growls across Afterneath to the track’s vocal overlays including spoken words from Nutini in his thick Scottish drawl, intent is laid out. Radio builds on that intent with the perfect demonstration in pop-rock mastery, coated in lush guitars. Through The Echoes is reminiscent of 1970’s folk-rock while Acid Eyes jolts us back into the present day. The menacing swagger of Lose It is immediately countered by the jangly punk-rock of Petrified In Love, another ‘70’s hark-back. Everywhere takes a left-turn in a folksy-blues direction. Slow-drive, psychedelic album closer Take Me Take Mine, is almost seven minutes in length, leaving you with a sense of journey rather than a departing blast.
Paolo Nutini played London’s Alexandra Palace in October and Rockshot Magazine went along.
King Princess - Hold On Baby
Fickle Friends - Are We Gonna Be Alright?
Editors - EBM
Tom Smith-led, Birmingham-hailing Editors returned in 2022 with seventh LP EBM, and truly delivered. From opener Heart Attack, with its storming beat and new wave-influenced synths, brought to a crescendo with screeching guitars, through the nine tracks which stretch to over 50-minutes of runtime, EBM is a pulsating ride of a musical journey. Benjamin John Power – AKA Blanck Mass – who worked with Editors on 2018’s Violence LP joins the troupe as a full time member this time out. Picturesque leans on the industrial rock foundations of the six-piece, while storming second single Karma Climb demonstrates the intent Smith’s men have laid out, pounding drums and moody guitars overlaid with signature synths and Smith’s instrumental vocals swelling into a classic comfortable on the dance floor or festival field. Haunting Kiss makes way for punchy Strawberry Lemonade via Silence, a tune that showcases either ends of the frontman’s vocal range perfectly. Vibe might be reminiscent of a vibrant Depeche Mode but it would be lazy to classify Editors as derivative, EBM showcasing the musical innovation they bring.
Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
Brilliant third album. The boys throw everything in from gaelic folk, industrial punk, telephone stories, guitar psyche riff pop and bringing shadows of late Clash with Jackie Down The Line.
– Simon Jay Price
Kokoroko - Could We Be More
British jazz soul funksters Kokoroko sound like they have come out of the Sly or Parliament era. Could We Be More plants them firmly at the head of the British led “new funk” movement.
– Simon Jay Price
Whatever The Weather - Whatever The Weather
Each track on Whatever The Weather’s eponymous record is named after a degree in temperature. Wonderful floating, absorbing and pitchy from the ambient-minded alias of British electronic producer and musician Loraine James. Find of the year!
– Simon Jay Price
The Big Moon - Here Is Everything
A number of records were written and recorded while bands had their touring plans put on indefinite hiatus through the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with The Big Moon’s Jules Jackson becoming pregnant and having her first baby during this time, while the band themselves adjusted to the new dynamic, Here Is Everything became the perfect vehicle to put out all of that emotion. The indie-rockers’ third record is resplendent in its unabashed recording of these times via eleven fantastic tunes. 2 Lines is a reference to the pregnancy reveal. First single Wide Eyes is seeing life through the eyes of others. But the outpouring of raw emotion doesn’t take anything away from why we listened to the London-based quartet in the first place, it just brings us closer to them.
Silversun Pickups - Physical Thrills
Wet Leg - Wet Leg
Chaise Lounge. Now we’ve mentioned it, we can move on. Ok, so the banging novelty tune might have made people pay attention to the Isle Of Wight-hailing indie rock duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers but their debut is worth a spin for the body of work on offer here. Angelica’s driving beat and guitars echoing Teasdale’s vocal melody, I Don’t Wanna Go Out’s lush vocals decorated with a guitar hook reminiscent of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World. But with song names like Wet Dream, Ur Mum and Piece Of Sh!t, it might be easy to put the record down without even listening. But do your ears a favour and think twice. They might be a little in your face, but the writing is filled with the kind of wit that will entice a cheeky smile more than a few times throughout.
Phoenix - Alpha Zulu
For a band that had always created music while in the same physical space, the forced distancing imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic saw frontman Thomas Mars in New York while his Phoenix bandmates remained in their native France. Mars leaned into this by collaborating with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koening for lead single Tonight. But the electro-pop outfit did eventually converge in their homeland to record the record together, in none other than Musée des Arts Décoratifs, a wing of Paris’ historic Louvre. And their seventh L.P. didn’t disappoint, its 35-minute runtime very Phoenix-like. Title track Alpha Zulu has Mars evoking his inner Busta Rhymes as he sings “Woo ha, singing hallelujah”. Airy The Only One is a fresh summer breeze while uptempo After Midnight brings a bounce-along 80’s throwback vibe. Artefact throws in delicious, jangly guitars and sway-along beats but is immediately countered by the jarring, paranoia-evoking All Eyes On Me, itself underpinned with harpsichord notes. Closer Identical restates the French group’s purpose powerfully, over two decades into their career. Where 2017’s Ti Amo may have stalled, Alpha Zulu flourishes.
Rockshot Magazine caught Phoenix at their November Brixton Academy show. Read the review with loads of photos here.
Tedeshi Trucks Band - I Am The Moon
There are albums, and then there are albums.
It’s been said that the way we listen to and absorb music is becoming lost; we have access to millions of tracks at our fingertips, immediately, and we can skip through or discard album tracks within seconds, if we choose.
To be absolutely clear, I Am The Moon is not for skipping, it’s for savouring.
Another album created out of the pandemic, the Jacksonville, Florida based twelve-piece rock and soul band has poured their heart and soul into creating 24 beautiful tracks which they delivered across four instalments this year.
Blending Americana, roots and blues-rock and amplified by Susan Tedeshi’s sultry vocals, I Am The Moon in its entirety is ambitious, provocative and compelling. From the opener Hear My Dear on Part I: Crescent, to Rainy Day on Part III: The Fall and through to the closing track Another Day on Part IV: Farewell, this is music that can both uplift and soothe my soul. Tedeshi Trucks Band is my go-to when I want to feel connected again to music and I Am The Moon was by far one of my sonic highlights from 2022.
– Nicola Greenbrook
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