This list is extremely late, but I thought I would tie this loose end up before putting out my year-end lists in a couple of weeks. As I noted in my list of the best songs, 2022 was an exceptional year for Electronic music. As such, that ever-expanding genre has a sizable presence here as well. However, the real story of this list is the sheer volume of excellent pop music that, I hope, will soon penetrate into the mainstream. Rina Sawayama was in John Wick 4, so maybe there’s hope? Speaking of whom…
#10: Hold The Girl by Rina Sawayama
The…room temperature critical reception of this album often misses its thematic cohesion. While Sawayama continues the thoughtful genre-blending that defined her self-titled debut, the sonic influences she pulls from are relevant to its themes. The sound of this album juxtaposes more conservative eras of pop music (’80s metal and Bush-era pop country) with the periods more progressive and especially queer artists dominated the airwaves (in so many words, dance music). This in turn frames the album’s exploration of the artist making peace with her younger self and her conservative, religious upbringing. The title track also has the greatest key modulation of the decade thus far, and the bonus tracks from a few months ago are both excellent!
#9: The Body Never Lies by Krewella
Krewella’s best album to date. A modernization of the duo’s sonic palette by way of Drum N Bass, without the lyrical missteps of their previous project and not a single bad track to speak of. It’s quick, cohesive, and has some of the best hooks that EDM could offer in 2022.
#8: Cartel II (Remixes) by Boombox Cartel
This was released as a series of EPs over the span of two months, so I am slightly cheating by including it, but I simply had to. These remixes give a thorough exploration of all of the musical descendants of EDM Trap circa 2014. Flosstradamus, Good Times Ahead, and of course Boombox Cartel all influence the artists who bring their sounds to these tracks, with splashes of Drum N Bass, Dubstep, and Bass House here and there. Definitely the highlight of that summer.
#7: CAGE SCRIPT by k?d
Hindsight really grew my appreciation for this album. When I described the artist as the good version of ILLENIUM, I was being a bit unfair. More than the meatier takes on Future Bass, k?d should be commended for the groovy, well-crafted electro-house that forms the core of CAGE SCRIPT‘s sonic palette. Furthermore, I have to give k?d props for being slightly ahead of the curve, as this album presaged the direction that much of EDM was going into 2023. You can draw a straight line from elements of this album to several albums from 2023 likely to be highlighted by me in a few weeks. While the anime aesthetics still aren’t for me, they can also be completely disengaged with. All-in-all, a worthwhile listen with some of the best house music of 2022, and a window-shattering banger in BACK AGAIN.
#6: Palaces by Flume
I’m going to keep this one brief. Palaces owes a great debt to SOPHIE. While it is heartbreaking that we will never get more music from the greatest to ever do it, it has been beautiful to watch her sounds and her aesthetics show up in so many different contexts. This is possibly the most obvious example(and most intentional, as Flume was a frequent collaborator with the best to ever do it), augmented by outstanding vocal contributions from Caroline Polachek and Damon Albarn. The explosive, offbeat cacophony showcased throughout this project displays a promising vision for what the future of popular electronic music could be.
#5: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
I have to confess that I don’t revisit this album as often as some of the other entries on this list; “warts and all” doesn’t even begin to describe it. Much like the other TDE record on this list, it’s long, messy, and ugly at times. What makes Kendrick’s latest as rewarding as it is challenging is not only his prowess as a storyteller, but the murderer’s row of producers he tapped for an album that welds the darker, soulful melancholy of untitled, unmastered in particular with DAMN.‘s monochromatic-yet-cathartic Trap palette. The Alchemist, boi-1da, Pharrell, and especially Sounwave all pitch in, crafting Kendrick’s most sedate album of his career while still preserving a rich, textured backdrop for a thorough recounting of the artist’s relationship with patriarchal masculinity and how that relationship has poisoned both his interpersonal and romantic life, with a clear-eyed look at the self-perpetuating cycle at the center of it all. A pity that it features a rapist two times.
#4: comfort noise (Music Inspired by the Motion Picture) by umru
In 2021, Lady Gaga and Bloodpop released a remix album that catapulted the vanguard of Hyperpop into the spotlight. This remix album does that for the second wave of that burgeoning movement, or at least the EDM-adjacent side of it. Himera, GRRL, both members of food house and more take an already excellent EP from umru and supercharge it with heavy infusions of Hardstyle, Breakcore, and good, old-fashioned Bubblegum Bass. Honest and the title track, two songs I wasn’t wild about, both get outstanding reimaginings, with Himera’s remix of Honest counting among my favorites of the year.
#3: MOTOMAMI by ROSALÍA
Yeezus for people who can get laid. ROSALÍA can fucking sing, and with his album her sound reaches it’s final form, a fusion of Reggaeton, Flamenco, Trap, and experimental Hip-Hop that is at times both abrasive and inviting. Standouts include a gorgeous Bachata duet with The Weeknd, a gorgeous ballad about sucking dick, and COMO UN G, a masterpiece I have already praised to high heaven previously. This project was absolutely robbed by the GRAMMYs and I hope the artist gets the recognition she has earned several times over soon.
#2: Sable Valley Summer Volume 3
It would seem that I will be including this record label’s yearly compilation album on every one of these lists. This one is, much like #8, a delightful survey of the current state of the house that DJ Snake built. RL Grime’s Sable Valley imprint continues to recruit and develop a healthy roster of promising, dynamic Trap & Drum n Bass producers. 2022’s standouts include Ivoryghost and SSOS whose contributions here are unmatched. Label mainstays Holly, Jon Casey, Remnant.exe & juuku also deliver in spades, making this collection of bangers the best one to date.
Honorable Mentions:
Dawn FM by The Weeknd
Jim Carrey is an anti-vaxxer.
TM by BROCKHAMPTON
75% of a BROCKHAMPTON album is still a pretty solid album. I’m gonna miss these guys.
Gemini by Lizdek
What a truly bizarre project, wonderfully idiosyncratic and completely disinterested in easy consumption, aside from the singular banger MUCUS. I remain a tremendous fan of what this guy is doing in his lane.
CRASH by Charli XCX
If you can ignore that this album sounds like it was made at gunpoint, there’s some bops here!
Church Clothes 4 by Lecrae
I was surprised by how much this moved me. This man has been hurt, repeatedly, by his white audience and he continues to dare them to be better. Maybe one day they will be.
Belated Suffocation by Chace
A perfect synthesis of the ideas Chace has been playing with for half a decade. His vocals are beautiful, sensual, and expressive, and the production is inviting and danceable with a dark, seductive edge.
paper eater by Gupi
If I had a nickel for every time an electronic music producer began the year by releasing a contender for best album of that year and then followed it up with a markedly inferior album later in that same year, I would have two nickels! Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice (ooooo, foreshadowing!)
Loner by Alison Wonderland
A victim of bad singles and the artist making vastly superior music both before and after (oooooo, foreshadowing again!)
SOS by SZA
If you cut like, 7 tracks from this album, its a 10. Also, it frustrates me to no end that she keeps choosing the least interesting singles!
Nymph by Shygirl
I’m still trying to make peace with the apparent reality that we’re never getting the abrasive, in-your-face Shygirl of BAWDY or SLIME back, but Woe & Shlut are both great!
#1: you’re it by gupi
If I had a nickel f-oh wait, I already made this joke. No skips, no wasted space, just a breakneck sprint through the wild world of sounds at the fringes of electronic music, infused throughout with gupi’s playful vigor. The few conventional hooks are expertly constructed, as on spiralcourse, and the repeated contortions of melodic fragments across multiple soundscapes are endlessly engaging. This is what electronic music ought to be at its best: euphoric, dynamic, and animated with little regard for genre conventions and limitless potential.
intentionalnachos 