Yes, summer is on its way out. But don’t fear. We still have to catch up on the July edition of my quest for the 22 Best Albums of 2022!

If you missed the previous six months, you can find them here:

( January/February March/April May June )

For extra credit, you can also read my wrap-up on the search for the 21 best albums of 2021, and the round-ups of my blog series reviewing the critic’s choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and 2020.

Before we proceed with the July review, let’s do a quick overview of the three categories:

Yes– These are albums that could be in running for the year’s best. That doesn’t mean that they will. As of July, there were 103 yeses, but we only have room for 22. And that’s before we get to…

Maybe– These albums definitely have something going for them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m giving them their own category, because “maybes” sometimes linger and become “yeses”. We have 93 maybes as of July.

No– Being a “no” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re crap. To be sure, sometimes you do end up there because you’re crap. But you can also be fine, but not more than fine. Or interesting and ambitious, but not quite pulling it off. Getting to “yes” isn’t for the faint of heart.

Now that everything is squared away, boldly forward with the review of 95 new releases from July!

Amanda Shires, Take It Like a Man– Shires started off as a country artist, and there’s still more than a hint of that, but this is like haunted pop music of various genres, tied together by her plain-spoken earnest vocals and the bare emotional tales of her lyrics. Nanci Griffith’s Storms comes to mind in terms of pop smoothness combined with complicated dark depths.

Beach Bunny, Emotional Creature– There’s a bevy of younger ladies doing a kind of music that effortlessly brings together pop ballads and crunchy 90s influenced guitar rock, unspooling pop emotion and yet intelligent lyrics in the process (looking at you Olivia Rodrigo, Soccer Mommy, etc.). And hallelujah for that! Beach Bunny, a Chicago rock band formed in 2015 by Lili Trifilio, is in this vein, and boy can she work it! It may be glossy, and use pop rotes along the way, but nothing here sounds false, and every track is solid and fun.

Ben Harper, Bloodline Maintenance– Modern soul and blues master Ben Harper is back with a new album informed by, among other things, the 2021 passing of Juan Nelson, his longtime friend and bandmate. And it’s a master’s work- sometimes angry, sometimes yearning, personal, political, and musically informed by classic soul sounds and modern blues. This is an album that would have been in good company with a 70s Marvin Gaye record.

Beyonce, Renaissance– The amount of layering in the first track alone is dizzying- the personal, the political, the vocally muscular and subtle, the powerful homage to house with clever sonic details and twists, the sense of being serious and fun. And it goes on in that vein and expands on the musical front with a varied and deep celebration of 80s-90s house music and its various cousins and forebears, and on the lyrical side with raunch, snark, and an assured sense of power. There aren’t many artists around who can wield their own persona/myth for their purposes as effectively as Beyonce can, and she puts it to great use here.

Black Midi, Hellfire– The spoken word stream of the first song and weird hyper-lounge second somehow have the same voice between them. And so on with, depending on which track you’re listening to, cabaret, acoustic, crunching guitar, abstract experimental electronic, etc. I had a similar reaction to their album last year, but all the lurching around there didn’t work for me. Here it was on the edge of “too much” several times, but also the best kind of “too much”- like a later-day Bryan Ferry at his most over-the-top melodramatic, but weirder and goonier.

Florist, Florist– The elements here are simple- delicate acoustic, simple piano chords and strings, some gauzy distortion, a smattering of found sound effects, and sweetly lackadaisical vocals. If it sounds low key, it is, but it’s also hooky, intimate, and compelling. The alternation of songs featuring Emily Sprague’s mesmerizing vocals and instrumental/found sound pieces works well to keep the spell going. And this was largely recorded in a rental house in the Hudson Valley during COVID retreat, which perhaps explains the feeling of intimacy and authenticity. Producers take note!

Guided by Voices, Tremblers and Goggles by Rank– This is, I think, the 85th Guided by Voices album of the last two years? My count may be slightly off, but the point is, with them pushing out material at such a high rate, this album has no business being as good as it is. In this go, the musical chameleons seems to be channeling a “punk turning to post-punk” era, I hear many echoes of the Jam, Gang of Four, Magazine, Wire, etc. at the tipping point of the 70s becoming the 80s. Informed, for sure, by the prog rock bent of Guided by Voices. And it is a glorious noise!

Jack White, Entering Heaven Alive– This is White’s second album of the year, and consciously in a different vein than his heavier, rockier Fear of the Dawn. Against all general trends of my musical preferences, I like this better! It’s like a continued groove of the slower more introspective side of the White Stripes, and as such, is more consistent than the sometimes straight ahead sometimes weirdly veering Fear of the Dawn. But in a way that doesn’t sacrifice musical dynamism and brings a lot of emotional and lyrical depth from its greater subtlety. All right, Jack. All right!

Lizzo, Special– The opening track starts with “Hi motherfucker did you miss me?” then touts her twerk and celebrates her thickness within the first minute. So there’s that, but also, it’s vocally and musically just so fun, fun, fun! Great dance/soul music with a strong personality, musical cleverness (motifs from the 70s-90s abound), and rich buoyant vocals is a great thing. And I want to give it a medal for the way “Grrrls” samples from the Beastie Boy’s “Girls” while turning its whole concept inside out. Lizzo for President!

Mat Ball, Amplified Guitar– Every song on the record was recorded in a single take, with a guitar Bal built himself. As wonky music premises go, I like that a lot. In practice I ended up liking it a lot too! It felt in a way like a guitar playing pieces meant for other instruments- piano, I swear even shakuhachi- and doing it with waves of distorted feedback-laden sheen. All instrumental, which can be harder to make work as an album that sticks, but I can’t discount it!
  

Mush, Down Tools– This was so relentlessly retro in a very certain vein- its nervy quirky music, vocals, and lyrics reminded me of Modern Lovers, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Soft Boys, and a half dozen other things of that related era/genre. If I take points off for originality, I have to add them back because it’s very well done, and fun to listen to. This Leeds, UK group never sounds like they’re ripping off, more like they fell out of that era with a heretofore lost original work.

quinn, quinn– Three cheers for hyper-pop! This 17-year-old artist has produced a disjointed (in the best kind of way) pastiche of hip-hop that musically turn the genre inside out while being personal, hilarious, and political. This doesn’t sound like everything else out there, and it makes me hopeful that there are still ways out of the rehashed, cliched sonic mess the 2020s has become.

Superorganism, World Wide Pop– The hyperkinetic pop of this London indie group has so much going on! The first track alone was a dizzying array of sound effects, samples, beats, and musical modes. The goings-on here are equally informed by dance, indie, and a 90s slacker feeling, which makes it nostalgic and contemporary all at the same time.

The Koreatown Oddity, ISTHISFORREAL?– This philosophical, abstract, and experimental outing from LA-based hip-hop artist the Koreatown Oddity is a delight! In between an ongoing motif of claiming to be British and posing as an American and musings on the nature of reality and subjective experience are trippy vocals and a heady mix of samples. This all might be a bit much if it wasn’t also highly listenable. Which it is!

The Sadies, Colder Streams– I wasn’t that familiar with the Sadies, a fact that I’m now saddened by, since this album came out shortly after their guitarist/co-founder Dallas Good died unexpectedly of a heart ailment. From what I’ve subsequently read, since the 90s this Toronto band has plied an area informed by psychedelia, garage rock, and folk rock. I generally don’t read reviews before giving a listen because I don’t want to prejudice myself going in, so I didn’t know about either their niche or their loss. I just knew that this album sounded like a concept album from a space somewhere between the Zombies and the Moody Blues had fallen out of the late 60s and suddenly plopped down into 2022. It is a mighty fine album, and a fitting swan song.

Ty Segall, “Hello, Hi”– Segall here is in a space reminiscent of both the folkier side of psychedelic garage 60s, and the more acoustic side of grunge. With maybe a little Big Star feel as a kind of bridge between the two? I love this space! And the lo-fi production provided by his home recording the album is the perfect setting for bringing out the sound even more fully.

Maybe

• Ahmer, Azli– There’s a muscular power to the beats from this Kashmiri rapper, and the mix at times feels almost industrial, while occasionally adding in local musical forms. The vocals also carry a heavy power, you can feel the lyrical weight behind them- his subject matter revolves around the state of emergency in the disputed Kashmir region claimed by both India and Pakistan. It’s almost entirely not in English (though there are translations if you watch the lyric videos), but it somehow retains its power even so.
  
• BandGang Lonnie Bands, Scorpion Eyes– Dark dense tales, personal sounding confessions, music sparkling in its darkness. With a mumbled lurching delivery, and I mean this in a good way. There are cliches a-plenty, but there’s also power.
  
• Chat Pile, God’s Country– The first track turned me off with its ragged vocals, and I feared it would be another musically heavily but vocally screamoed into the abyss album. But I was wrong! The punk/hardcore/metal edge remained, and the vocals were still ragged, but they cohered enough to understand that the roughness was part of the point. The vocal and lyrical attack reminds me of the brutal snark of Flipper or Jello Biafra, but with a slacker undertow that leavens the whole thing out. Thank you, little Oklahoma band, for reminding us that rock can still be heavy, disturbing, serious, and funny all at the same time.
  
• Friendship, Love the Stranger– Country ballads with stripped plain vocals, rock chords, and internal tales of everyday life. The 2020s so far seems to be very heavily about musical nostalgia, but 80s/90s alt country is one thing I don’t mind being nostalgic about when it’s done this well. It perhaps lags a little toward the end, though?
  
• Ghost Woman, Ghost Woman– A kind of 70s feel, a kind of dirty jaded 2000s rock feeling, minor chords, an echoing sound, hints of the Byrds, the Kinks, Del Shannon. These are all things I love, and it was headed to automatic “yes” until the next to last track came in too contemporary sounding, which was both boring and out of tone with the rest. Still, the rest is so excellent it tempts me…
  
• Jonah Tolchin, Lava Lamp– A New Jersey-born singer-songwriter and musician who debuted at the Newport Folk Festival in 2012. The different pieces of Americana in his approach- folk, blues, country, R&B, all make an appearance here. At times it’s in a mellow burned-out vein, and times it’s heavy, electric and foot-stomping. The variability doesn’t quite feel coherent, which is the only thing here I take points off for, but I’ll definitely be diving in a second time.
  
• Katy J Pearson, Sound of the Morning– This Bristol, UK native has produced something a little folky, a little punky, a little electronic, and, if the component pieces are not super-original, her strong vocals and incisive lyrics definitely pull it together into a worthy package.
  
• Laura Veirs, Found Light– Neo-folk artist Laura Veirs has been very good since her 1999 debut, and she remains in fine form here. There are elfin vocals, multi-layered production on top of a fairly simple and spare acoustic musical base that cycles through several modes (acoustic, indie rock, pop), and emotionally intelligent, vivid lyrics. A lot of it is on the more low-key side (not unjustifiably, certainly pleasingly), which creates lulls that maybe make the difference from an automatic “yes”. Still in all, a solid and very worthy entry.
  
• Paolo Nutini, Last Night in the Bittersweet– “Scottish singer-songwriter” is always going to catch my attention. In this case, his approach goes all kinds of places- sometimes in Springsteen/U2 bombastic direction, sometimes something more like post-punk spoken word, sometimes Van Morrisonesqu, sometimes straight up hooks and high energy 80s/90s style indie rock, etc. If it lacks something in coherence and produces a kind of sprawl, the advantage is that anytime I started to waver a little on one musical approach, a fascinating one came along next!
  
• Planet Asia, Medallions Monarchy– I’ve heard this veteran Fresno rapper’s work described as “traditionalist hip-hop”, which, given that he debuted in 1997, means I’m probably a lot older than I think I am. It’s true though, there is a late 90s/early 00s muscular solidity to this mix, to his flow, to the tales of the street, to the whole damn thing. I’m not sure about “year’s best”, but it’s pretty good.
  
• The Deslondes, Ways & Means– There’s a 70s feel to a lot of this- the singer/songwriter vibe, the burned-out undertow of the vocals and lyrics, the organ and strings pop flourishes of the era. Musically, that portion reminds me more than a little of Springsteen’s first two albums, although there’s also a pinch of the Band, Dylan, and Neil Young. A significant portion of the album is also in an 80s-00s alt country-flavored vein. The two approaches of the New Orleans-based group are complementary, so it doesn’t totally clash, but it is noticeably different. Two yeses that don’t quite fit makes a maybe?
  
• The Fernweh, Torschlusspanik!– The name had me fearing some experimental German abstraction, but what I ran into was an utterly charming band playing with multiple strands of 60s and 70s pop, with a strong psychedelic and folk bent. It’s not the newest sound ever, but it is very pleasing! Also, they’re from Liverpool. I think there’s some kind of track record for good bands from Liverpool?
  
• Westside Gunn, Peace “Fly” God– The ragged vocals, the unusual sampling and playful classic jams musical mix, the swirl of braggadocio, humor, and grim storytelling in the lyrics are all working for this. The music of this Buffalo-raised rapper has recognizable debts to Jay-Z, and relation to his cousin Benny the Butcher, but not unoriginal and still very well done.
  
• Wilder Maker, Male Models– This Brooklyn-based band’s album is in that “this sounds like…” category. In this case, it sounds like several streams of classic rock, with an 80s production sheen on top of it, and some 00s indie rock polish and garage rock revival. The styles careen around kind of wildly, and the lead vocalist switches up a lot as well, but every iteration of it is hooky, and feels familiar while still being fun. I kept wondering about the coherence, but the charm of the individual songs kept winning through.
  

No

• …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, XI: Bleed Here Now– In theory I like the combination of melody, ornateness, and hard heavy music this Austin band aims for. In practice I liked it best when it led with hard and heavy, which wasn’t often enough on this album.
  
• Al Riggs, Themselves– Somewhat electronic, somewhat jazz, very mellow. The lyrics are literate and interesting, but the low-key musical and vocal approach tends to subsume them.
  
• Attia Taylor, Space Ghost– A synthy, glossy pop with psych and dance elements from this NYC-based musician. It was very pleasant, but a little too same track to track.
  
• Bananarama, Masquerade– There are a lot of people these days doing an 80s synth-pop sound. None of them have a better claim to it than Bananarama does though! Really lush and solid, and if too time capsule for my taste, it won’t lead you astray is this is a time capsule you want to open.
  
• Banks, Serpentina– Eh. This California artist is known for her electronic pop, but I found it all to be a little too dance remix and autotune.
  
• Beabadoobee, Beatopia– Their album Fake It Flowers was on my 2020 maybe list, and there is so much to like from this Filipino-British artist, especially considering how young she is. Indeed, the best songs here are great- putting together dance/electronic music and rock (with a decided 90s tilt), strong vocals, and open vulnerable emotionality. There are problems with sequencing though, a few too many slower acoustic songs in a row here and there deflating the momentum.
  
• Brent Faiyaz, Wasteland– A nice enough smooth-jams vein hip-hop/R&B outing. Nobody could accuse it of any significant wrongdoing.
  
• Burna Boy, Love, Damini– A reggae-dancehall singer/songwriter from Nigeria. Things are at their best while African rhythms and soul/hip-hop are being mixed. Things are not as much at their best while heavy autotune is going on.
  
• Candy, Heaven is Here– The metal is fast, brutal, and full of an industrial-noise edge. The vocals, though- I just can’t with the “can’t make a word out” screamo anymore. I guess I’m getting old!
  
• Carlos Truly, Not Mine– The experimentation of this Brooklyn DIY pioneer as he tries different things track by track musically and lyrically in the course of this minimal soul album is very interesting. It’s so minimal that it sometimes lapses into barely registering, but other times the results are unique, weird, and wonderful. Three cheers for experimentation!
  
• Chicago, Born For This Moment– I mean it’s the 2020’s, here’s Chicago with their 666th album, and Peter Cetera isn’t even part of the mix.
  
• Dawes, Misadventures of Doomscroller– This California indie quartet’s outing is musically layered, lyrically subtle, and vocally complex. It’s also very jazz fusiony, and I just couldn’t sustain the mellow energy.
  
• Delicate Steve, After Hours– He’s supposed to have an idiosyncratic sound, and I expect he does, but here it’s not showing up so much. What is showing up is a very lounge jazz mellow groove.
  
• Duwap Kaine, Faith Like Esther– I will say that the flow is not bad, and some of the wordplay is quite fun. But the autotunnnneeee……
  
• Elf Power, Artificial Countrysides– This Athens, GA indie band is doing a very nice thing. Indie rock, a little country twist, some 60s rock chord sensibilities thrown in for good measure. It had me on the edge for a while but falls down in being too same track to track to really keep working.
  
• Flo Milli, You Still Here, Ho?– Apparently this female led gender-cliché inverted school of rap I sometimes really like is called “pussy rap”. In this case, the cliches (although inverted) got too cliched, and it didn’t have the wit of the best examples of this, but it was fun.
  
• Gwenno, Tresor– Gwenno is a Welsh electronic musician. The first part favorably disposes me, and the second makes me instinctively cautious. As it turned out, it is an interesting mix, albeit it comes down too much on the ethereal/new age side of things. I did like that it was all in Welsh, though!
  
• Ian Daniel Kehoe, Yes Very So– Canadian indie artist who delivers many different kinds of music, but this is synth-pop on the sparer end of 80s synth-pop. Which I didn’t care for much at the time, and even less so now.
  
• Icewear Vezzo, Rich Off Pints 3– A solidly executed, very typical 2020’s hip hop album in every regard. No, please.
  
• Imagine Dragons, Mercury- Act 2– I had the same reaction to this as I had to Act 1 last year- “I like imagining. I like dragons. Look, they’re fine. They’re very radio friendly. In fact, I liked several of the singles from their 2017 album. There’s nothing wrong with the songs musically, vocally, structurally. But I never catch the sense of anything vital or real from this album.”
  
• Interpol, The Other Side of Make Believe– The nice thing about an Interpol album is you go in knowing it won’t be bad, even if it’s not quite your cup of tea. In this outing, they’re actually a good deal lighter and more in the vein of “mainstream” indie pop than they sometimes are. I like it a lot less.
  
• JayWood, Slingshot– A lot of people are doing this neo-soul nostalgia space these days. Not many of them are from Manitoba, and he does a very pleasant version of it. But it doesn’t get a lot above pleasant, or very different track-to-track.
  
• John McEntire/Sam Prekop, Sons Of– It’s a very nice sci-fi kind of electronic, with four extended pieces taking up about an hour total. A little abstract to hang one’s hat on at album length, but good if you’re in that mood.
  
• Josh Rouse, Going Places– A nice 70s mellow gold pop sound, well produced, well sung, well played, but I’m not sure it ever rises above itself.
  
• Journey, Freedom– I mean, it’s a journey album in 2022, well over an hour long, and doesn’t even include Steve Perry or the founding bass player. I guess it’s….nice? To know that somebody can still make arena rock? Just in case, you know, we need it.
  
• Ken Car$on, X – I mean, the musical mix has some interesting elements, and the lyrics are interesting too. But good God, the autottttuuuunnnneeee…
  
• King Princess, Hold on Baby– This is some good indie pop from this American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn, New York. The lyrics are literate, personal, and revealing, and the music and voice are lush, but in a smoothly produced and low key way that makes it all blend together indistinctly.
  
• Kode9, Escapology– This is an interesting electronic mix, tending toward sci-fi sound effects. Which I’m always going to like, but not enough in this case.
  
• Launder, Happening– Launder is the project of Californian John Cudlip, and they’ve produced a very nice atmospheric fuzzy layer of guitar sound, not unlike shoegaze music. Which is kind of the thing, as far as it being distinctive enough to linger goes.
  
• Lil Silva, Yesterday is Heavy– This album by an English record producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ, is certainly well produced and intelligent funk/house-infused electronic. A little too abstract to stick with me though.
  
• Lloyd Banks, The Course of the Inevitable 2– It’s a fine hip-hop album, has some definite dark drive to it. But is it doing anything especially better or different from other “street life” themed hip-hop albums?
  
• M. Geddes Gengras, Expressed, I Noticed Silence– Long abstract electronic pieces. I’m not telling you not to do it, but it doesn’t work for me.
  
• Maggie Rogers, Surrender– A lively and well produced indie-pop, somewhere between electronic and rock, with a nice emotional literacy and point of view. But just a little too slick and plastic feeling.
  
• Medicine Singers, Medicine Singers– Like the other Native American-related album I listened to earlier this year, this one makes liberal use of sound collage and modern musical forms in conjunction with traditional music. When it’s on an experimental rock/noise wavelength it actually works very well, but it sometimes got a little too experimental for me, and other times too mellow jazzed out. Still, some very intriguing soundscapes here.
  
• Metric, Formentera– Since their late-90s debut, I’ve really liked Metric when they’re on the more rock, driving side. I don’t mind, but don’t particularly care for when they’re on a more muted electronic kick. They do both here, so, I partially liked it.
  
• Mice Parade, Lapapo– A nice shimmery jangly indie rock thing. Particularly better than other nice shimmery jangly indie rock things?
  
• Momma, Household Name– This was very close, because I love my lackadaisical lo-fi rock female singer-songwriters. Clear influences here of the originals (a la Liz Phair, Juliana Hatfield, etc.) and of modern practitioners (a la Soccer Mommy), but in the end just a little too poppy and not equal to the best of this space.
  
• Moor Mother, Jazz Codes– Their album Black Encyclopedia of the Air was in my top 21 list for 2021, so I certainly went into this interested. What’s going on here is not unlike the previous album in its mix of political/social import and music experimentation. As the name implies, though, this tips in a more jazz direction that didn’t always support the sometimes electrifying lyrical and sample work. Nothing here is bad by any means, but I guess that’s the danger of comparing to a favorite!
  
• Mozzy, Survivor’s Guilt– This album is obviously indebted, musically, vocally, and lyrically to West Coast Hip-hop a la Tupac. And I liked that about it, but it doesn’t get much beyond the cliches of the genre.
  
• mxmtoon, rising– I mean, you get me a quirky YouTube ukulele player from Oakland, I’m kind of preemptively done for. What I can additionally say about her, though, is that her song-writing instincts and vocals are impeccable. And if diy homegrown music is still the heart of this, the additional production level of a studio album often enhances the verve. Other times, it blands and standards everything up a little too much, and there are some sequencing problems. It eventually gets too uneven in that way. But if we had more smart, fun, unafraid to be sweet, but still incisive purveyors of pop like this around, what a world it would be…
  
• Naima Bock, Giant Palm– She is one of the members from Goat Girl (in fact recently having left the band), whose album On All Fours was in my “honorable mention” for 2021. So I gave this a careful listen. This album is much more in an acoustic/experimental folk vein than their work. Which is a worthy experiment but ended up being a little low energy and same track to track to catch my attention.
  
• Neighbor Lady, For the Birds– It’s musically and vocally very pretty, but all too in one muted country-flavored acoustic vein.
  
• Ne-Yo, Self Explanatory– Some very autotuned contemporary R&B.
  
• Nightlands, Moonshine– I saw that this was by the bassist from the War on Drugs, which immediately put me on guard given my failed attempts to like them. As it turns out, it’s quite a different sound, and actually kind of an interesting one- a gauzy and loungy vibe whose languid air belies heavier content. Didn’t ultimately work for me, but I’m not mad at it.
  
• Nina Nastasia, Riderless Horse– This New York based folk singer has the earnestness, and a fine country-tinged sound, but it gets too same track to track to really stand out.
  
• Orbital, 30 Something– More of a re-recording/remix of orbital’s now 30-year-old (!) acid house work. It is a great sound though! Two hours+ is a little long for it to work as an album, but it’s great music to trouble-shoot financial reporting problems to.
  
• Prison Religion, Hard Industrial B.O.P.– This Virginia-based duo sounds a lot like the band and album names might lead you to believe. If you’re looking for something abrasive and unpretty, this might be for you!
  
• Rico Nasty, Las Ruinas– I do enjoy the clashy, thrashy approach of this gender-inverted hip-hop, and the point of view. It’s eventually maybe too the same musically and lyrically though. Still, I’ve got my eye out for more!
  
• Ronnie Foster, Reboot– hearing he was a 70s soul/jazz/funk artist who has been a frequent inspiration of hip-hop sampling, I tried. But instrumental jazz, I can only do so much…
  
• Sean Nicholas Savage, Shine– It’s very nice pop music. Not more.
  
• She and Him, Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson– Don’t get me wrong, I like She and Him, and this is really very good. Covering the more sunshine syrupy side of Brian Wilson is a great fit with their natural talents, and they do it well. There are flashes where you hear what this album could have been if it took a few more risks, but as is, it’s a little too reverent. However, Wilson fans, She and Him fans, and aficionados of new approaches to surf music will not be led astray by this.
  
• Stealing Sheep, Wow Machine– The fact that 30 seconds in to track one I was checking my speaker volume trying to see if the song had started yet or not is, well, not a great sign. After that, it sounded like a series of recorded sound effects played to a microphone with feedback issues. It got more songy from there, in an extremely heliumated way with amusing sound effects. That was more fun, but I’m still a “no” on balance.
  
• Stephen Mallinder, Tick Tick Tick– An album from Cabaret Voltaire’s co-founder. It’s really not bad if you want spare and somewhat sinister but oddly danceable industrial flavored music.
  
• Steve Lacy, Gemini Rights– Once this got going, it sounded like 90s soul. I found that to be upsetting.
  
• Stimulator Jones, Round Spiritual Ring– This Virginian producer’s mix sounds like a lot of the retro-soul out there. Not worse than any of it, not noticeably better than a lot of it.
  
• Tallies, Patina– A nice outing, more than a little reminiscent of a certain late 80s/early 90s space occupied by, say, the Sundays or Sixpence None the Richer. So, you might well like this if you like that reference point (heck I do too!), but I don’t know that it gets enough beyond it to be a lasting album of the year.
  
• Tatsuro Yamashita, Softly– Tatsuro Yamashita is one of the leading lights of the “City Pop” style that was popular in Japan in the 70s and 80s (and has lately been having a weird cult moment on US social media). And what you get here is indeed excellently done pop. It doesn’t necessarily make a lasting impression, but it goes down smooth.
  
• Tedeschi Trucks Band, I Am the Moon: II. Ascension– Part two of four album project, An 11-piece band, fronted by the married guitar slingers, which plays a righteous meld of rock, blues, gospel, and New Orleans funk. This more often wanders into overly-slick, or low energy drifting songs than June’s Part 1 did, and is still not working for me as an album.
  
• Tedeschi Trucks Band, I Am the Moon: III. The Fall– Part three! The sound here was very smooth, I appreciated the general musicianship, but it didn’t grab me. Maybe part IV will?
  
• The Last Goodbye, ODESZA– Some nice international sounding electronic dance music. Eh.
  
• TRAAMS, personal best– A fine album coming from a post-punk kind of place that lots of people are coming from these days and doing a fine job of it.
  
• Vladislav Delay, Isoviha– Finnish stalwart of electronic music. It’s well done, and muscular, but a little too abstract ultimately.
  
• Working Men’s Club, Fear Fear– This sounds like it exists at a late-80s/early 90s intersection of techno and industrial. It’s a good intersection, it’s a well-done version of it, and besides sounding so perfectly dated and typified, there’s nothing wrong with it.
  
• Wu-Lu, Loggerhead– The drum and bass breaks and guitar elements and low-key chant from this London artist are not bad, but it fails to really catch and hold interest.
  
• ZZ Top, RAW: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas– A semi-soundtrack recorded for a recent ZZ Top documentary, from live recordings in 2019. The band is in good form here, and reminds you, if your first introduction to them was in the slicker 80s version, what a raw honky tonk blues band they were when they started in the 70s. And still can be! Fun, recommended for fans, but not breaking new ground.
  

And so July is out, with nine days still left in September! Can we get August out too before the end of the month? Stay tuned…

We have now reached the halfway point in our quest for the 22 Best Albums of 2022! Or, at least the halfway point of the initial sorting-out portion of the search. That’s right, we’ve hereby completed six months of listening to new releases each month, and then sorting them into “Yes”, “Maybe”, and “No” contenders for the best albums of the year.

If you missed the previous five months, you can find them here:

( January/February March/April May )

I did this last year too, so you can also read my wrap-up of the 21 best albums of 2021. And for extra credit, here are the round-ups of my blog series reviewing the critic’s choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and 2020.

Before we get on with tackling June, a brief overview of the three categories:

Yes– These albums could be in running for the year’s best. If they survive the mortal combat to come!

Maybe– These albums definitely have something going for them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m giving them their own category, because “maybes” sometimes linger and become “yeses”.

No– Being a “no” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re crap. I mean, sometimes you do end up there because you’re crap. But you can also be fine, but not more than fine. Or interesting and ambitious, but not quite pulling it off. Getting to “yes” isn’t easy!

Now that we have that established, onward with the review of the 103 June new releases I listened to!

700 Bliss, Nothing to Declare– 700 Bliss is a duo made up of of Philadelphia experimental poet/rapper Moor Mother and New Jersey-born DJ Haram, who between them were responsible for two of my favorite hip-hop outings last year, so I went in interested. And my interest is well repaid! This often reads more as a densely sampled electronic album than a conventional hip-hop album, and it’s deconstructing a lot of current conventional hip hop themes as well. Sonically and lyrically challenging and interesting!

Andrew Bird, Inside Problems– This is interesting! His literate wordy lyrics and straightforwardly melodious vocals populate a range of musical approaches including swinging lounge, 70s acoustic, contemporary indie pop, even a tad Velvet Underground, and more besides. Throughout, it has a good feel for hooks. I started off unsure of the stylistic oscillation, but it rapidly grew on me. This is apparently his 16th studio album, so I guess I’m just catching up, and the excellence on display here makes sense.

Corb Lund, Songs My Friends Wrote– The title tells you what’s going on here, this Canadian musician is covering songs from a variety of contemporaries and musical fellow travelers. Along the way is some spontaneous and joyful country/Western/rockabilly/(North) American roots music and a variety of interesting lyrical takes and moods. It reminds you just how vital this kind of music can still be!

Damien Jurado, Reggae Film Star– A haunted 70s burning out into 1980 feeling, lyrics that are literate and sometimes feel achingly revealing, vocals that know how to bring out the nostalgic melancholy. This Seattle-based singer songwriter is in my age cohort, started recording in the 90s, released albums on some of my favorite labels (Sub Pop and Secretly Canadian) and this is his 18th studio album. I don’t know how he didn’t get on my radar before this, but I’m glad he’s on it now!

Fantastic Negrito, White Jesus Black Problems– This is great! Musically, it’s an R&B shakedown with edges of electronic dance, new wave, garage rock revival, 70s soul, and gospel. Lyrically it is a cycle of songs about struggle, freedom, and joy, and vocally it’s extremely playful and varied. Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, aka Fantastic Negrito, was inspired to play by listening to Prince and then taught himself. I feel like he’s teaching us now what’s still possible for an album to do!

Grace Ives, Janky Star– This Brooklyn-based musician delivers tales of internal and external misadventure, fantastically clever and lively synth arrangements, and vocals so replete with light sweetness and that they belie the wit, snark, and sometimes darkness of the lyrics. This all adds up to a fun and multi-layered pop album, and it’s especially impressive when you know that she’s home-produced and arranged the whole damn thing. Grace Ives for God Emperor!
 

Hank Williams Jr., Rich White Honky Blues– The idea is pretty simple: Have a producer known for getting good down and dirty blues performances work with an idiosyncratic country artist known for getting down and dirty. It works very well! Junior is in raw grizzled grouchy veteran form, the material is great, and the playing and production is sterling.

Hollie Cook, Happy Hour– This ska/dub/jazz mix from a British singer and keyboardist (and late lineup member of the Slits) is quite fetching! It sounds like a happy hour- not the loud obnoxious sports bar kind, but the mellow night out at a local spot where everyone is enjoying the grove. If it sometimes feels a little too smooth, it never sounds in-genuine for it, and it carries you along track to track like a warm current.

Jens Lekman, The Cherry Trees Are Still in Blossom– Technically, this is a re-production of Swedish indie artist Jens Lekman’s 2005 compilation Oh You’re So Silent.  That compilation was taken down from streaming services years ago, and this re-recorded, expanded, and re-titled version has just been released in its place. It’s a hodge-podge of fresh revisions, almost completely unaltered original recordings, and previously unreleased material with audio diaries from a personal cassette archive as interludes between the songs. And remember, this hodge-podge approach has been applied to what was originally a “greatest hits”. It shouldn’t work, and it shouldn’t sound unified, but it really does- the saccharine perfection of the pop songs vs. the extremely idiosyncratic nature of their subject matter, the variety of styles, and the stripped-down nature of the production all feel like they hold together. And they’re practically aglow with singular talent and wit!

Katie Alice Greer, Barbarism– This is the first full-length solo album from front-person of D.C. art punk band Priests, Katie Alice Greer.  Thrashing guitars, swirling metal machine noises, witty lyrics, and vocals that have at various times an arch new wave delivery, distorted psychedelic sheen, and 90s straightforwardness. This reminds me more than a bit of Bjork, but doesn’t feel like a mere copy- what I mean is the knack for songs that are catchy and fun, but experimental and challenging. Amen!

Kula Shaker, 1st Congregational Church of Eternal Love and Free Hugs– Knowing they’re an English psychedelic rock group, combined with that title, gives you some sense of the goings-on here. And, indeed, there are British psychedelic touches a plenty- a framing mechanism of a church service, a kind of through story about the fall of man, ornate musical production in parts, Indian influences, and lyrics sometimes given to extreme whimsy. What all of this doesn’t quite convey is how often it is blisteringly guitar rocking. Listening, I heard hints of all the concept album forebearers one might expect- the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Who, the Zombies. But it never felt inauthentic, or not vitally present. This band has been at this since the 90s heyday of Britpop, with a break and resurrection in the early 00s, and this 6th album shows what they’ve learned.

Lucy Liyou, Welfare/Practice– This album by a Philadelphia-based Korean-American experimental musician is, in a sense, very detached, even muted. It’s a pastiche of text-to-voice vocals, piano, and sound samples. The detachment works though, to take just enough of the edge off the confessional lyrics of family estrangement and therapy to make the content even that more raw and revealing. Yes, it tends toward the abstract and is over an hour long, but damned if my first impulse after finishing it wasn’t to immediately play it again to examine all the layers hidden therein.

Regina Spektor, Home, before and after– The literate and vivid poetry of her lyrics, the alternating softly and ardently compelling quality of her voice, and the orchestrated swell of the music behind her here are all working so, so well together! She’s been doing great work for about 20 years now, and it’s nice to see it continuing here.

Tim Heidecker, High School– Tim Heidecker is a comedian with a more than incidental side career as a musician. As in, he’s really good at it, making a philosophical kind of soft rock. This album is in that vein and lives up to its name. Musically, it almost seems like frat rock at times, but gets a hint of 90s alt guitar, and name checks music from multiple genres of the 80s and 90s. It’s full of authentic details of the travails of suburban teen youth. More than that, it evokes the sense of dusty nostalgia of teen memories, how everything seems serious and yet vague at the same time. Kind of peculiarly, it feels philosophical and shallow at the same time, all because it so authentically taps into its theme through mood and mode.

Yaya Bey, Remember Your North Star– Brooklyn singer-songwriter whose sound is a combination of hip-hop, smoky soul, dub, biting social commentary, and gender inversions. There are some things in life I’m not sure about, but one thing I am sure of is that the world needs more Yaya Bey!

Maybe

• Angel Olsen, Big Time– I’ve been favorably impressed by her on previous outings. She’s an excellent vocalist, and an honest, emotional lyricist. Both of those are on display here, in even more focused form, and the slow country-flavored background supports what she’s doing very well. It is a little bit all of a tone song to song, but a gorgeous richly sung tone.
  
  
• Art d’Ecco, After the Headrush– This is a delightful and well-done romp through classic influences a la David Bowie and Roxy Music, and the currents of post-punk and new wave that most strongly reflect them. I had this same reaction to their album In Standard Definition last year, which made my initial “yes” list. So the derivative aspects may wear thin on repeated listen, but it’s so energetic and fun on the first listen that I can’t dismiss it as a possibility!
   
• Automatic, Excess– So many people are doing this brittle post-punk 80s chilly synth early electronic thing these days. Does everybody have to keep doing this? But dammit, this Los Angeles group is doing it so well that I have to say “maybe”.
  
  
• Bartees Strange, Farm to Table– His stylistic kaleidoscope of an album Live Forever was one of my favorites of 2020, so I was looking forward to checking this out. Here he often sticks a closer to a conventional palette in terms of music and production, but still pulls surprises like the first track, where a quiet introspective examination of the past year becomes a booming indie rock song, or the great surges of synth sound and echo in what had started off as more of a conventional electronic dance song in “Cosigns”. Sometimes the surprising moments are subtle, on others they blow your socks off. If it’s a little off in pacing and not quite as dazzling as his previous outing, it’s still worth another listen.
  
  
• Cola, Deep in View– These veterans of bands from the Montreal art punk scene have produced an album that sounds like early post-punk. Spare, angular, driving, a little chill, and densely worded. There are a lot of people mining this vein these days, but I must give points for this being a well-done version of it!
  
  
• Erin Anne, Do Your Worst– Crunching guitars of power-pop, crashing synths of high-energy bedroom pop, and a ridiculous way with melody. That’s on the musical side, on the vocal side she tends between pop-punk and autotuned, and lyrically, there’s romance gone wrong with some snark and attitude thrown in.
  
  
• Horsegirl, Versions of Modern Performance– First thing to note: this Chicago-based trio recorded most of this album when they were in high school! It’s thick on guitars and fuzz feelings, both musically and emotionally, and brings to mind multiple aspects of alt/indie rock from the 80s-00s. A little samey track to track, but, return to opening note- they recorded this while they were still in high school! A very promising debut.
  
  
• Logic, Vinyl Days– There’s a dizzying kaleidoscope of styles and samples on this album from American rapper and record producer Logic, well-deployed guest appearances, and some serious wordplay amidst the flow. On the lyrical side, there’s plenty of bragging, but there’s also plenty of humor, some serious message, and wild inventiveness. At an hour ten, it’s a little sprawling, but there’s a lot of good stuff in that sprawl! 
  
  
• Nicki Bluhm, Avondale Drive– A solid set of blue-eyed soul and country with an electric stomping edge and yearning vocals. In classic country fashion, this was inspired by her divorce, and the authenticity shows up in the lyrics and vocals. The music sometimes is a tad formulaic, but damn it’s a good formula.
  
  
• Pet Fox, A Face in Your Life– I kept thinking, “This sounds like…” and could never specifically place it, because what it sounds like is so damn much from my alt 80s youth and 90s alternative still pretty youth. As this would indicate, there’s a variety of styles here. What unites them is a sense of romantic yearning throughout, and the deftness with which they’re all worked. Derivative, but it’s a great derivation.
  
  
• S.G. Goodman, Teethmarks– This Kentucky singer-songwriter is a powerhouse! Moving between folk, country, blues, and some good honest rock, with vocals sometimes powerful and driving and sometimes haunting and subtle. Her lyrics have a knack for both bare emotional and topical anthems. Some tracks get a little indistinct, and you’ll hear influences for sure- Sheryl Crow, Edie Brickell, Ricki Lee Jones, even a pinch of Janis all came to mind. But it’s not a copy, and there’s something here that catches the attention.
  
  
• Shintaro Sakamoto, Like a Fable– Shinataro Sakomoto is a psychedelic rocker from Japan known for bending genre, and that’s well on display here. You’ll find some swinging lounge sounds, some 60s pop, some psychedelia, and it’s entirely in Japanese. Despite the language barrier, it feels instantly understandable, and is like an overflowing plate of sunshine.
   
• Soccer Mommy, Sometimes, Forever– This is like the second-coming of 90s guitar songstresses! Her album color theory was a maybe in my 2020 blog. I have some of the same concerns here as I did there- a kind of sameness of tempo track to track, some pacing issues. But the dark undertones of her music, vocals, and lyrics kept pulling me through.
  
  
• The Inflorescence, Remember What I Look Like– Emotional female-lead vocals, high energy guitars with a pop-punk flavor, distortion! That’s the basic elements of what will always be a happy place for me. This particular edition is from San Diego, and while it may not be the most original formulation ever, I’m a sucker for the sound.

No

• µ-Ziq, Magic Pony Ride– As electronic music goes, this was enjoyable and interesting. Ultimately not enough…something… Structure? Lyrics? Unifying theme? To really work as an album, but not a bad listen!
  
  
• Alice Merton, S.I.D.E.S.– Smart and sophisticated cosmopolitan sounding dance-pop. I certainly didn’t dislike it but didn’t think it was enough above and beyond other examples in class to really stand out.
  
  
• Andre Bratten, Picture Music– Norwegian artist Andre Bratten’s album is certainly well done, but too much on the chilly and abstract side of electronic to hold attention at album length.
  
  
• Astronoid, Radiant Bloom– A description I ran across said, “fuses black metal’s volume and precision with the soft ambience of shoegaze and the steady repetition of post-rock”. To me, it sounded like it would have been very much at home on College Radio in the 80s somewhere between the Icicle Works and the Psychedelic Furs. It’s not bad, but not sure it’s “still talk about it in a year” good.
  
  
• Avalanche Kaito, Avalanche Kaito– Players from Brussels’ experimental scene and a Burkina Faso-born griot. It’s a winning combination in many ways, bringing to mind the fertile interplay between post-punk and African music in the early 80s. Ultimately a little same track to track, and with the language issue, it doesn’t quite come together as an album.
  
  
• Big Moochie Grape, East Haiti Baby– It’s a fine enough hip-hop album, but in a mumbly vocal style that doesn’t particularly catch my attention, and it doesn’t stand out thematically.
  
  
• Big Sad 1900, I Don’t Tap In or Tap Out– I really liked the 80s R&B-sound mix of this hip-hop album and there’s some power in the vocals, but it is a little same track to track and it doesn’t have something that really stands out.
  
  
• Bobby Oroza, Get on the Otherside– A native Finlander of Bolivian descent, his music includes elements of jazz and Latin but relies most heavily on a trinity of classic R&B, funk, and soul. So read the description, and indeed this had a beautiful honey-dripping slow 70s soul feel, with some jazz keyboard sprinkle. It’s very nice, but it got a little samey eventually.
  
  
• Brett Eldredge, Songs About You– Pop country, but with a distinctive R&B swing and call-backs to a lot of musical heritage. It’s considerably less odious than your average pop country! Eventually it gets a little too cliché-slick and packaged, but still a cut above.
  
  
• Caamp, Lavender Days– Some nice American roots music from this Ohio band. It’s more than occasionally quite charming, but it’s sometimes a little too 2020s indie folk produced slick.
  
  
• Carrie Underwood, Denim & Rhinestones– Certainly well produced pop country, but the country goes for pop country cliché, and the pop is too slick and ornate in its production.
  
  
• Charlie Musselwhite, Mississippi Son– A modern blues great, and he does some fine Mississippi Blues playing and singing here, but it feels like it leans a little too much on form versus spontaneity.
  
  
• Coheed and Cambria, Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind– Second of a five-part arc of concept albums around a greater storyline! Surging rock with prog and arena influences! Very well produced! It all feels a little plastic to me though!
  
  
• Conan Gray, Superache– A nice emoey teen angsty thing that leans in a pop direction. It’s fine.
  
  
• Day Wave, Pastlife– Bay Area band, so I’m pre-disposed to think well of them. And they’re doing a perfect shimmering jangling music with a lo-fi feeling, but eventually it gets too fuzzy and indistinct to keep working for an entire album.
  
  
• Deliluh, Faultlines– This Toronto art rock group’s album almost made it! Its combination of a spare industrial synth with occasional grating touches and spoken word almost affectless vocals was oddly compelling until the last track which meandered and bad 80s soundtrack synthed around for eight minutes.
  
  
• Drake, Honestly, Nevermind– Wait, Drake is Canadian? Why did no one ever tell me this?!?!?!? In any case, wherever he’s from he makes reliably good music with fun and clever touches, but this one was a little unfocused and way too autotuned for me.
  
  
• Elucid, I Told Bessie– Elucid is doing some interesting things here, and has collaborations with some of the best names in the darker more creative reaches of contemporary hip-hop like Armand Hammer bandmate Billy Woods, as well as Pink Siifu, Quelle Chris, the Alchemist, and Kenny Segal. And the dark undertow of his flow, spare musical background and incantatory lyrics does cast a spell, but, it’s a little too same track to track to really stand out.
  
  
• Emma Ruth Rundle, EG2: Dowsing Voice– The artistry of the experimentation here is undeniable, but it’s too much on the experimental/avantgarde side to be repeatably listenable.
  
  
• Fashion Club, Scrutiny– If you ran across a band called “Fashion Club” on a college radio station in the 80s, you would not be surprised to hear them have this haunted, dark, melodramatic and melodious synth feeling. In fact, this band is from the LA indie scene of the 2020s. It’s not bad at all, in fact it’s kind of great, but it is so of an era/vein that it has trouble escaping that context.
   
• Flasher, Love is Yours– This is a blend of post-punk/art rock I would have loved in the 80s. And it is very well done, but a little in the same vein song to song, and too bound by its time sound/genre place.
  
  
• Foals, Life is Yours– I mean, I like the post-punk, neo-new wave, pseudo-disco sound so many bands have been exploring this millennium but…so many bands are exploring it. And do many of them stand out from, or above the others? In a “will be listening to this/thinking of it” several years from now way? I wonder…
  
  
• Gaby Moreno, Alegoria– Guatemalan-born, her self-defined “Spanglish soul” sound encompasses jazz, blues, pop, rock, and R&B. There are moments when she’s simply outstanding, but there are others where the smooth jazz is too smooth, or the production is too slick. Still, for range and quality, a name to keep an eye on.
  
  
• Giveon, Give or Take– The quality of this LA-born R&B artist’s album is high, the viewpoint is laudable, but urgghhh, the autotune!
  
  
• Grey Daze, The Phoenix– If you were thinking, “I need some more post-grunge that sounds perfectly like post-grunge” this Phoenix-based band (who, to be fair, started doing it in the 90s, so they come by it honestly) has you covered.
  
  
• Hercules & Love Affair, In Amber– Spare synth sounds that straddle atmospheric and upbeat dance, sometimes dolorous vocals, emotional and deeply internal lyrics. It’s not bad, but it is kind of low key, and not different than other such outings.
  
  
• Horse Jumper of Love, Natural Part– Dreamy lo-fi pop that, on the upside, mentions tentacle porn and skunks living under the house. On the downside, it sounds a lot like a lot of other things that sound like this.
  
  
• Jack Johnson, Meet the Moonlight– It’s pretty, it’s accessible, it’s warm. It’s Jack Johnson. But it’s also something we’ve heard a lot before.
  
  
• Jasmyn, In the Wild– Somewhere between electronic, indie pop, and punk, Jasmyn’s music is fun. It’s occasionally more than fun, thrilling even, and I’d certainly want to keep an eye on her in the future.
  
  
• Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Carbon– Against my better judgement, my friend and music appreciation savant Matt had me listen to Air, and I ended up quite liking them. That French electronic outfit is where this artist hails from, and what’s on display here is a lot like their music. Ultimately a little too like to stand out. But it’s great if you’re in that mood, and there is a song here called “sex ufo” so there’s that.
  
  
• Jens Lekman, The Linden Trees Are Still in Blossom– Technically, this is a re-production of Swedish indie artist Jens Lekman’s 2007 album Night Falls Over Kortedala. Or rather, what he did is remove it from streaming platforms and replace it with The Linden Trees Are Still in Blossom. Linden Trees is one of two albums Lekman uses to revisit, partially re-record, and otherwise reconfigure older work. The other album he just did this with, The Cherry Trees Are Still in Blossom, made my “yes” list. While this contains much of the charm of that album, and originally came from a proper album as opposed to Cherry Trees “greatest hits” source material, it actually feels less unified. Among other things, it’s longer which makes an album “through line” harder to maintain, and it feels a lot more produced and less quirky, which frankly detracts. Not that there isn’t a lot of worthy material here, but it feels much less like a proper album than its companion piece.
  
  
• Jimmie Allen, Tulip Drive– I mean, having pop country that leans heavily to the pop side and sounds all the slick, packaged, and cliche one would think based on that, except with a Black male lead, is different. That doesn’t really make it work though.
  
  
• Joan Shelley, The Spur– A beautifully sung and played acoustic-oriented album, full of literate lyrics. It’s a little too all in that vein to work indefinitely, but if you’re looking for that vein, it’s beautiful.
  
  
• Joyce Manor, 40 Oz. to Fresno– 9 songs in 17 minutes! So you might argue this is actually an EP, but the Ramones first album did 14 songs in 28 minutes, so we’re in a similar timing territory here. I also like how the title is based on an autocorrect miscorrection of a Sublime album title. This is some good catchy pop-punk of the 2000s pop-punk variety, but not sure it really brings something original to that.
  
  
• Just Mustard, Heart Under– This Irish band is channeling some identifiable spirits- an angular haunted early post-punk (aka Joy Division), some industrial, some emo side of goth. It’s not a bad channeling, but it may not be new and different enough to really stand out.
  
  
• Kelley Stoltz, Stylist– This San Francisco auteur has been doing great work reminiscent of classic 70s singer-songwriter sources for decades. It’s in good form here, most every song sounds in a way familiar a la 70s pop and the Nick Lowe school of new wave/pub rock, but also new.  It’s well-done and all very pleasant, but it feels curiously emotionally detached and over-slick in production, and, at nearly an hour long, the sprawl doesn’t quite come together.
  
  
• Lil Tracy, Saturn Child– Ohhhh myyyy gawwwdddd thisss issss sssooooo autotunedddddddddddd.
  
  
• Luke Combs, Growin’ Up– Honestly, as formulaic dude pop country goes, this is top of the line. I wouldn’t throw myself onto a funeral pyre instead of listening to it again, but it still doesn’t make a “top of year” cut.
  
  
• Luke Steele, Listen to the Water– This solo debut of one half of the electro-pop duo Empire of the Sun was self-recorded in a cabin in rural Northern California, which automatically makes me favorably disposed to it. And the electro-folk goings on here are good, sometimes quirky and quite interesting. It does fuzz out into an indistinct sameness a little too much as it goes on though.
  
  
• Lupe Fiasco, Drill Music in Zion– The consciousness of this hip-hop/R&B outing is coming from an interesting place. And, about half the time, the musical and vocal accompaniment of it is great (I could have stood a lot more of the spoken word/poetic style that kicked it off), but the rest tends a little too much toward the autotuned.
  
  
• Mapache, Roscoe’s Dream– It opens with a country-style love song for the artist’s dog, and honestly, I was all in at that point. From there this Los Angeles duo starts to stylistically vary, usually to good effect, but there end up being a few too many indie folk numbers that sound like all other indie folk numbers.
  
  
• Martin Courtney, Magic Sign– I mean, it’s not unpleasant. But it is a little like some kind of cross between synth and yacht rock. If I were on a yacht, heck, it might be the prefect accompaniment!
  
  
• Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band, Dear Scott– This Liverpool-born singer/songwriter is really a pretty solid songwriter and musician. And yes, you can hear hints of the songcraft of certain Liverpool-born songwriters past. It’s a little low-key to ultimately stand out, but it’s solid.
   
• Michael Rault, Michael Rault– This Canadian singer-songwriter takes us through a sunny fuzzy slice of 70s pop sounds. As so many are doing these days. It’s well done, but it often feels like the (nearly perfect) form is coming at the cost of any emotionally vital substance to me. With so many others plying these waters, it takes something special to stand out.
  
  
• Michaela Anne, Oh To Be That Free– A little country, a little folky, a little lush poppy. Not bad, but it doesn’t feel vital or authentic.
  
  
• Mt. Joy, Orange Blood– LA band originally from Philadelphia, with the minor chords, the hooky melodies, the jangly guitars with just the right balance between indie pop catchiness, driving rock, and psyche flourish. But then it gets a little too into a bland kind of 2020s indie rock. Alas!
  
  
• Muna, Muna– Some good, sophisticated pop from this trio under Phoebe Bridger’s label, and you can understand how they appealed to her and her musical approach. But it was too slick, autotuned, and produced to ever really get its hooks in to me.
  
  
• Perfume Genius, Ugly Season– This is romantic synth pop as complex orchestral conceptual music, and as such, I can’t dismiss it as bad. I will say it tends toward a little too abstract and occasionally ethereal to really grab and hold my attention for a whole album though.
  
  
• Poliça, Madness– A nice enough shimmery electronic thing, but, eh…
  
  
• Porcupine Tree, Closure/Continuation– A reunion of sorts for this well-respected band, including founding member Steven Wilson, who’s album The Future Bites made my “honorable mention” list last year. I didn’t like this quite as well, though its mix of prog rock, semi-metal and synth/electronic provided many interesting moments and let me know why this band has the strong reputation it does. It tended too abstract too often to keep me consistently engaged, though.
   
• Post Malone, Twelve Carat Toothache– Godddddd dammmmnnnnn issss thissssss autotunnnnnned…………
  
  
• Rufus Wainwright, Rufus Does Judy at Capitol Studios– Recorded from Wainwright’s livestreaming a cover of Judy Garland’s 1961 classic Judy at Carnegie Hall with a four-piece jazz ensemble (and one appearance by guest Kristin Chenoweth). Classic American songbook source, and the material and musical setting certainly plays to his strengths. It’s a good performance, even if it is a little twice-derived to end up as a best of year.
  
  
• Sally Ann Morgan, Cups– This was described as a “blend of Appalachian folk traditions, drone music, and light psychedelia”. I think that’s true, although it’s a lot more classical sounding than that introduction gets across. Certainly beautiful, but not really compelling as an album in total.
  
  
• Saya Gray, 19 Masters– This Toronto-based singer’s album is a fascinating swirl of unusually-produced and emotionally revealing songs incorporating elements of synth, acoustic and experimental electronic. It’s never an uninteresting or unworthy listen, but in the experimental edges and variety, it never quite gels together either.
  
  
• Shearwater, The Great Awakening– This Texas-based band has an international outlook and some interesting ecological ideas. The music and vocals, however, are…not interesting. A little too far on the mellow bleeds to ambient side of electronic.
  
  
• Sound of Ceres, Emerald Sea– If you know that Sound of Ceres is a dream pop group, and if you know that they’ve extensively collaborated on this album with performance artist Marina Abramovic, you might be expecting things to be trippy and weird. And you would be right! As such, it’s always interesting, but a little too abstract and gauzy to work at length for me.
  
  
• Stella, Up and Away– I did enjoy this Greek-influenced pop as international mellow jam music. Sort of an Enya, Dido, Everything but the Girl space, but with Greek highlights. It doesn’t rise much above nice. But hey, nice is nice!
  
  
• Supersonic Blues Machine, Voodoo Nation– California’s Supersonic Blues Machine does something like the name might lead you to expect- plays loud, fast blues with a rock edge. And I was on board for most of the hour+ run-time, but toward the end it started veering too often into songs that flavored slickness and production over vitality and bruising noise. Alas!
  
  
• Tedeschi Trucks Band, I Am the Moon: I. Crescent– Part one of a four album project by this 11-piece band, fronted by the married guitar slingers, that plays a righteous melding of rock, blues, gospel, and New Orleans funk. This sounds great, a real 70s Americana R&B influenced rock sound. I’m not sure it really holds together as an album as such though. Maybe parts II-IV will tell.
  
  
• The Dream Syndicate, Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions– The Dream Syndicate is in fine form here, but the form is a little dated, and not as dreamy as it was in the 80s. Alas!
  
  
• The Range, Mercury– Electronic musician/producer/DJ James Hinton moved from Brooklyn to Vermont, fell into a depression, and then musiced his way out with this album. I mean, as someone with experience with depression, and as someone who’s experienced the lifestyle shift of big city to Vermont, I’m interested in the premise. In practice, it’s some nice, lively enough electronic music, but it doesn’t really hold my attention above a background level.
  
  
• Tijuana Panthers, Halfway to Eighty– This trio from Long Beach brings together sounds from punk, surf, garage rock, and sometimes even brought to mind The Replacements. I’m pretty sure I would have loved this in 1986. Now it’s more of a reaction of nostalgic fondness.
  
  
• Tim Bernardes, Mil Coisas Invisíveis– A beautiful acoustic album from this Brazilian artist. But, without much Portuguese on my part, and largely being in a uniform musical tone/vein on the album’s part, it never quite wowed me.
  
  
• Tony Shhnow, Reflexions– The vocal flow is sharp, but kind of all too the same. And the subject matter is a little too 2000s hip-hop standard. On the upside the cool vibe of the musical mix does work well.
  
  
• Trixie Mattel, The Blonde & Pink Albums– When I heard this was by an American drag queen, actor, and singer who was on the seventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I was definitely intrigued! I was expecting some kind of disco inferno because, you know, stereotypes. What I actually got was a fun, high energy basically emo pop album. I’m glad my stereotypes got busted, but musically, while fun, it wasn’t really distinguished from many another fun emo pop album of the past twenty years.
  
  
• TV Priest, My Other People– Their 2021 album Uppers made my “maybe” list. This has all the same charms of that album- a spare and nervy post-punk delivery with an industrial edge. But it also doesn’t sound new or different to that, or all that different from a lot of groups I’ve heard in the past year and a half who are mining that same vein. Alas! A fine example of the sound though, if you’re looking for it!
  
  
• Ural Thomas & the Pain, Dancing Dimensions– First of all, this has an interesting story- he had performed widely as a child soul singer and back-up singer for many notables in the 50s and 60s. In the 2010s a Portland DJ, learning that he was living locally, organized a band for him and got him back into regular performing. This is some good fun soul, with a jazz influence and 70s feel. I’m not sure if it adds up to a standout album, but I love the story and it works as a slice of fun!
  
  
• Various Artists, Under the Bridge– Sarah Records was a Bristol, England indie pop record label active from 1987 and 1995, and hugely influential in developing the poppier more shimmering side of indie rock through its releases, which were largely singles. This is a tribute to Sarah put out by the also indie Skep Wax label, organized around a simple premise: the current projects of various Sarah-related artists record contemporary versions of classic songs by other Sarah artists. The results are quite charming and reinforce just how influential this body of music continues to be. This is great as a sampler, but it’s a little twice-derived to be a year’s best album.
    
• Westside Boogie, More Black Superheroes– There is some freshness to this hip-hop album, and the more than occasional unusual touch, and it’s certainly well done. Some more of the more interesting parts would have put it into contention, but too much of it was focused on the now standard “street life“ clichéd material.
  
  
• XAM Duo, XAM Duo II– Hey, a XAM Duo is a pretty good duo! This Yorkshire-based pair is putting out some clean solid electronic music, even if it ultimately didn’t grab me.
  
  
• Yann Tiersen, 11 5 18 2 5 18– If you see the title, and know that he’s Breton, and much of his work is on film soundtracks, you might be expecting something quite disembodied and abstract. It does get there eventually which is why I have it as a “no”, but the first 3/4 were really solid techno with all the best butt-moving music and interesting sound effects that go with that.
  
  
• Yoo Doo Right, A Murmur, Boundless to the East– Somewhere between electronic and an 80s alt sound that combines the darker sides of synth and “big music”. Not bad, but a little swirly and unmoored.
  
  
• Young Guv, Guv IV– I liked this a lot better than III, which came out in March. It still wore thin after a while, but I did enjoy the shimmery jangly neo-psych (with occasional country dashes!) space it inhabited.
  
  
• Zola Jesus, Arkhon– It’s not the elements here- looming feeling, dark orchestral synths, operatic vocals- are in any way bad. But it is indistinct track to track, and not a whole lot different from many other examples of same.

And that’s it for June! Tune in next time for July, when we’ll be halfway plus one…

It took us three tries, but finally a single month posting, and before the end of the next month. Victory! Or at least, you know, less defeat. If you’re new here, I’m listening to new releases each month, and then sorting them into “Yes”, “Maybe”, and “No”, with the ultimate goal of finding… The 22 Best Albums of 2022!

You can find the previous not single-month reviews here:

( January/February March/April )

I did something like this last year, so if you’re curious you can also check out the round-ups of my three blog series reviewing the critic’s choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and 2020 , and my discovery of the 21 best albums of 2021.

We’ll get going in a moment, but first a brief overview of the three categories:

Yes– These albums, upon first listen, could be in running for the year’s best. If they survive the brutal winnowing to come!

Maybe– These albums have a considerable something going for them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m giving them their own category, because “maybes” sometimes linger and become “yeses”.

No– Being a “no” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re bad. Though sometimes you do end up there because you’re crap. But you can also be fine, but not more than fine. Or interesting in some way, but not quite pulling it off. Getting to yes isn’t easy!

With all that established, let’s get on with it and review the good, the bad, the ugly, and the merely insipid from the 93 May new releases I listened to!

Action Bronson, Cocodrillo Turbo– A cacophony of sound effects and musical influences (with a pleasing tendency towards good old fashioned rock) on the mix side, and some variously hilarious and scary swagger on the vocal/lyrical side. He is now my favorite Albanian-American rapper of Jewish and Muslim parentage! His food show is really fun too, although I guess that review belongs in another blog…

Alfie Templeman, Mellow Moon– Swinging indie pop that bangs its way through multiple styles and has fun the whole way through. The smooth pop production is there, but so is an indie spirit of experimentation. Here’s to more innovative 19-year-olds making bedroom pop!

Arcade Fire, WE– If there’s anybody out there on the artier side of indie rock who does a better job than Arcade Fire at making albums that are artistically deep, emotionally evocative, and have honest to goodness structure, I haven’t heard of it. With this exploration of the ends of emotion and ends of empire, I had the experience I often have with their music, of starting off not sure if I’m buying it this time and realizing by the end that I’m utterly entranced.

AWOLNATION, My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me– I am told AWOLNATION is an electronic-rock project fronted by Los Angeles-bred singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Bruno. They decided to ride out COVID by taking on a truly dizzying array of covers including songs from, for example, ABBA, Alan Parsons Project, Biz Markie, Madonna, and Midnight Sun. Sometimes their takes are more faithful, sometimes cleverly inventive, and always well done and fun.

Belle and Sebastian, A Bit of Previous– If there have been better purveyors of melodious indie pop the last twenty years than Belle and Sebastian, I’m not sure who they are. Every song here is smooth and on-target without ever sounding artificial or rote, and you only have to listen around a little to appreciate how rare that is. I also like that this album in particular feels like it has a slightly harder and driving edge than their music sometimes does.
  

Boat Songs, MJ Lenderman– The musical touchstones of this album are country-inflected heartland rock a la Neil Young, 80s/90s alt country, and seething hardcore guitar. On the lyrical side, there’s a snarky take on matters personal and pop culture worthy of classic Uncle Tupelo or Warren Zevon. This Asheville-based musician is truly producing something that honors multiple pasts and still feels individual and vital.

Boldy James & Real Bad Man, Killing Nothing– Detroit rapper James has teamed with crew Real Bad Man to produce this throbbing menacing set of songs livened by clever and unexpected mix effects. The vocal flow adds a hypnotic quality to the dark tales being told. It leans a little toward cliché at times lyrically, but for every moment like that there are a dozen where the power and musical surprise pulls it through.
  

Cave In, Heavy Pendulum– The metal crunches. The music swirls and swells in great waves. Sometimes it’s thrashy, sometimes it’s orchestral, sometimes it’s heavy. The vocals shout but you can make them out, and then another vocal which is more metal ballad kicks in. At times it becomes almost a resurrection of Soundgarden, then gets a little edgier a la the Melvins or Tad, other times I’m hearing Rush, even a distant hint of Zeppelin. Something serious is going on I think, but livened by a lot of musical fun. Even the 12-minute track at the end works!

Craig Finn, A Legacy of Rentals– A solo outing from one of the leads of the Hold Steady. Vocally/lyrically it’s pretty much spot on with the vivid tales of regular life storytelling he does, which you either like or don’t (I do!). Musically is where it gets interesting- there is a lot more variety and experimentation here than on most Hold Steady albums- it reminds me of the difference between, say, the Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie.

Gospel, The Loser– I don’t know where Gospel came from, but this is apparently their first new album in 16 years. And I think they’ve been saving up! Blistering metal, sometimes technical and prog-rocky, sometimes full of hardcore snot attitude. If you’re in the mood, it won’t do you wrong on a single song.

Joe Rainey, Niineta– Niineta, the title of Pow Wow singer Joe Rainey’s debut album means “just me” in Ojibwe, the native language of Red Lake Ojibwe in Minneapolis. If you didn’t know what to expect from a Pow Wow album, you’re just like me. It’s powerful in its own right, but is interspersed with a sound recording collage and an electronic mix that enhance it further and sends it in surprising directions. Worth repeated listens for all that’s going on here!

John Doe, Fables in a Foreign Land– John Doe has been exploring Americana/heartland/country territory off and on since the 80s, so in a sense this album is no departure. But boy has he jumped in to it here! The folk influences are in full flower, and the lyrical heft, musical excellence and dark vision all churn along.

Johnny Ray Daniels, Whatever You Need– Debut album from a 76-year-old North Carolina-based singer/guitarist who has previously been a key background figure in multiple North Carolina gospel productions? I’m in! And as it turns out, this is rocking good music from start to finish, without a hint of slickness or inauthenticity. Everyone who’s not a 76-year-old releasing their first solo album should take note and question why they aren’t doing this well.

Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers– As befits Kendrick Lamar, this is by turns hilarious, menacing, willing to explore ugly truths, and uncomfortably vulnerable and self-exposing. His customary musical and vocal kaleidoscope of approaches is there throughout, and, if anything, is more varied and experimental than ever. If it comes in a little long (1 hour 17 minutes) and isn’t as focused or structured as some of his albums, it also gets more powerful as it goes on. And isn’t the best hip-hop artist of his generation entitled to a sprawling double album now and then?

Otoboke Beaver, Super Champon– Rocking female-led bands and quirky Japanese noise-pop are two of my happy places, so… And indeed, this is brutal and hilarious. It reminds me, variously, of Bleach era Nirvana, a snotty young hardcore band, and the thrashier side of Cibo Matto. It’s a winning mix, and even the parts that are entirely in Japanese work.

Porridge Radio, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky– Wow do I love what this English group is doing here. Musically, you’ll hear some of the synth-pop 80s, some of the Cure/Siouxsie side of things, and a fair nod to the darker side of emo. Vocally, the lead singer often comes across as anguished, even harrowing at times, but it never rings false. And it’s livened by some darkly funny lyrics that have a genuine bite to them. Their album Every Bad was on my 2020 final list, and it looks like I’m still buying what they’re selling!

Steven Lambke, Volcano Volcano– This Canadian singer-songwriter’s album is mostly in an acoustic vein, but with richly supporting instrumentation redolent of classic rock. That, and the combination of Lambke’s wispy vocals and densely intelligent lyrics, casts an entrancing spell. Though spare, there are layers here that bear repeated listening.

Tess Parks, And Those Who Were Seen Dancing– This starts off with slow grooving songs, blues and R&B chord changes, fuzzy and echoey, with dark complex lyrics and languid vocals. All this is still going on, but it gets some darkly surging rock going on later without losing the flowing feeling. This Toronto singer-songwriter is someone to keep an eye on!

Yves Jarvis, The Zug– This album by Montreal-based musician Jean-Sébastien Audet is really something! In (large) part, it’s in the vein of mellower folk-tinged psychedelia from the late 60s/early 70s. But interpreted with more than a dash of bright, quirky electronic music, and sometimes the kind of fusion of philosophical flights and confessional material you might find from, say, Sufjan Stevens. Both a fun and interesting listen, and layers of what’s going on here that are well worth re-exploring!

Maybe

• Andrew Leahey & the Homestead, American Static, Vol. 2– It’s like one just accidentally tuned in to 40 minutes of AOR radio from the 70s. Which makes for a very agreeable 40 minutes! It’s not over-brimming with originality and does fall a little into sameness track to track, but it never feels false.
  
  
• Def Leppard, Diamond Star Halos– Def Leppard, who are a great band, paying tribute to the great 70s music that first inspired them (hence the T Rex lyric reference in the album title) by making songs in that vein. This is a good set-up! I don’t know that I can always hear those influences on the tracks here, but when I can, it’s amazing. The rest of the time it’s “merely” a really good Def Leppard album.
  
  
• Harry Styles, Harry’s House– Against my better judgement, I really liked this! Several different schools of pop are being explored here, from mellow acoustic, 60s Britpop, to neo-dance music, and they’re being explored well. He really has become a legit artist in his own right! The marks off, such as they are, are coming from a lack of the coherence that could have really cemented it as an album.
  
  
• Leikeli47, Shape Up– This New York musician is known for being so private she’s never performed without her face covered. That’s a curiousity, but the real deal is her strong beats, husky sensual hypnotic flow, fun musical, vocal, and lyrical twists, and delightful inversion of hip-hop gender dynamics. She sometimes waxes downright ballady along the way as well. There’s some lack of album coherence/structure keeping this from getting to “yes”, but it’s still a strong package.
    
• Let It Be Blue, !!!– The first track was a nice moody acoustic ballad, the second is a very techno electronic outing, the third is more dance club and neo-disco, and now I just don’t know what is going on! It continued in that vein, and afterward I read that they are a twenty-year-old unconventional dance-punk band. I’ll say! It’s never less than unusual, interesting, and fun the whole way through, and their cover of “Man on the Moon” as a dance club power-song is amazing. I’m still not sure about the intro track, which is so unlike the rest in tone, but I have to consider it a maybe!
  
  
• Midland, The Last Resort: Greetings From– I was favorably impressed by their album The Sonic Ranch from last year, and this neo-traditionalist country band from Texas has done it again here. It veers a little toward cliché, but if the median country band had this much respect for the musicianship and songcraft of country, along with some rock verve, we’d be in great shape collectively.
  
  
• Say Sue Me, The Last Thing Left– I think I was expecting something more…K-Poppy?… from an indie rock band from Busan, South Korea. What we have here, though, is as fine a set of shimmering, chord-working, strongly felt and sung jangle-pop songs as you could hope to find. Very much in a vein that’s not surprising from an 80s alt or 90s-00s indie rock world, but no less solid for it. Maybe!
  
  
• Slang, Cockroach in a Ghost Town– A sort of Pacific Northwest indie supergroup- composed of lead singer Drew Grow (Modern Kin and Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives), drummer Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, and Wild Flag), lead guitarist Anita Lee Elliot (Viva Voce) and bassist Kathy Foster (the Thermals and Roseblood). They’ve all learned their craft well, and they work well on it together.
  
  
• Tank and the Bangas, Red Balloon– Oh, this was so close! This new Orleans group mixes together genres, and had, at times, an almost early 80s hip-hop feeling, other times something jazzier, and sometimes verging on downright psychedelic. And the hilarious and just downright weird cutting up they do during and between pieces is a delight. There were a few spots where it became more easy listening jazz, and that’s what threw my off. But I’m surely going to listen again!
  
  
• Uffie, Sunshine Factory– This rapper, DJ, and singer/songwriter has been working furiously in collaboration with others and behind the scenes for years and has put out music on social media and via EP, but this is her debut solo album. On the one hand, it is autotuned dance music par excellence. On the other, it is utterly given to the genre, and milks it for all the glitz and tawdry afterburn it’s worth. If anything, the only thing that threw me off was a flat song or two that didn’t have the sparkle of the rest.
  
  
• VERO, Unsoothing Interior– Stockholm trio! You know how I feel about Scandinavians… Some excellent angular post-punk, moody and sometimes thrashy, a la Elastica. It’s not the newest sounding thing in the world, but it I liked it more track by track as I listened.
  
  
• Wilco, Cruel Country– Wilco getting back to their (that is, Uncle Tupelo’s) alt country roots. A lot of this sounds familiar to that era, and also hearkens back to some solid Alex Chilton. It’s very good, and the best moments are haunting and yearning. But I’m not quite sure it sustains the double-album length.

No

• Alex Izenberg, I’m Not Here– This Los Angeles musician wrestling with his diagnosis of schizophrenia is certainly interesting, lyrically and musically. It’s in a dreamy, heavy 70s pop space, which when it works, works very well with what he’s doing. It often gets a little too fuzzy and indistinct to maintain, though.
  
  
• Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti– There’s a lot in this kaleidoscope of sound and winning personality to love, but there’s also a lot of autotune, it’s closing in on an hour and a half which is a hard length to pull off, and well, I don’t understand Spanish well enough.
  
  
• Blut aus Nord, Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses– I mean, it’s a French Black Metal band, so I’m listening.
  
  
• Brandon Coleman, Interstellar Black Space– When this jazz keyboardist with a love for funk leans in a funk direction on this album, it’s excellent. When it leans a little more in the jazz direction, it’s still good, but gets a too smooth and flowy to capture attention at album length.
  
  
• Brian Jackson, This is Brian Jackson– Jackson was Gil Scott-Heron’s musical collaborator for most of the 70s. There’s no questioning the excellence, but it does sound very much of an era, and leans way too much toward smooth jazz for me.
  
  
• Bruce Hornsby, ‘Flicted– I don’t know what I was expecting from Bruce Hornsby based on my 80s memories, but it certainly wasn’t this extremely experimental outing. For the first two thirds, you can certainly hear his jazzy mellow chords here and there, but it almost feels like the whole thing was produced as electronica. It was headed toward a yes or at least a maybe before it dipped back into the conventional and expected for the final third.
  
  
• Chris Bathgate, The Significance of Peaches– This Michigan singer/songwriter certainly has some powerful songs, and they are nicely informed by Americana while at their heart being spare and driving. As a whole, though, it was a little too spare and same track to track to really sustain at album length for me.
  
  
• Dama Scout, gen wo lai (come with me)– UK indie pop band Dama Scout has produced something of quality certainly, and they make interesting use of the lead singer’s Hong Kong heritage, but it’s all a little too dreamy and gauzy musically to hold attnetion.
  
  
• Dean Spunt/John Wiese, The Echoing Shell– No Age’s drummer and a noise pop rocker collaborate. I do love No Age, and have a lot of fondness for noise pop, but this particular outing is a little too gleefully grating to work as a repeatably listenable album.
  
  
• Dehd, Blue Skies– This Chicago-based indie band has done a very fine indie rock album redolent of 80s alt at the intersection of pop and darker more haunted concerns. If it was the 80s, I would have loved it! As it is now, I like it, and can certainly recommend it to anyone in that mood.
  
  
• Dreezy, Hitgirl– Singer, rapper, songwriter, and actress Seandrea Sledge, aka Dreezy, has some strong flow here, and I enjoy her attitude. But it is a bit too one-note vocally, musically, and lyrically to work at album length.
  
  
• Ella Mai, Heart on My Sleeve– Not a bad example of 2020s soul/R&B, which is to say- holy gawd the autotune!
  
  
• Emeile Sande, Let’s Say For Instance– The first track was so autotuned to hell I could barely get through it. It got a little better from there, but not enough.
  
  
• Ethel Cain, Preacher’s Daughter– Certainly impassioned, moody, and full of feeling, with high quality production. But, at over an hour and the songs all blending together in one vein, it doesn’t work as an album.
  
  
• Florence + the Machine, Dance Fever– I mean, of course, not bad. Butalso not different from, better than or even as good as her earlier highlights. this is definitely an example of the perils of getting compared to yourself, but there it is.
  
  
• Girlpool, Forgiveness– The gauzy beauty of these songs belies the portraits of dark lives they contain. Unfortunately, it belies it a little too much, so the point doesn’t fully land.
  
  
• Grant-Lee Phillips, All That You Can Dream– Redolent of classic sounds a la Neil Young and Alex Chilton from 70s glory. However, it’s all too much in a narrow range to totally work. But if you’re looking for darkly inflected low-key songs from the heartland, this won’t lead you astray!
  
  
• HAAi, Baby, We’re Ascending– This is not bad as an electronic music album goes, but it doesn’t rise above.
  
  
• Hater, Sincere– I’m pre-disposed to love Swedes, and indeed between a shimmering 80s synth/goth sound and some jagged feedback-laden guitar parts I do like this. I would have outright loved it in the 80s, but it sounds a pinch dated now.
  
  
• Hyaline, Maria BC– This Oakland-based band reminds me at moments of Kate Bush. It’s vocally and musically lovely, but ultimately too all in one low-key vein to sustain at album length.
  
  
• Ibeyi, Spell 31– “Afro-French Cuban musical duo consisting of twin sisters who sing in English, French, Spanish and Yoruba” is a heck of a tag. And indeed, there are some very interesting genre-bridging things aswirl here. It doesn’t quite come together as a whole, and has some autotuned moments it really doesn’t need, but I’d keep my eye on Ibeyi!
  
  
• Jack Harlow, Come home the kids miss you– This latest outing from Kentucky rapper Harlow was sometimes musically surprising and dynamically flowing, but more frequently felt curiously flat.
  
  
• Jahmal Padmore, Esparanto– It’s a mellow jazzy affair that dips into multiple genres and would be great if you were looking for a mellow jazzy affair.
  
  
• Jeshi, Universal Credit– Certainly some strong beats and good flow from this UK hip-hop artist, but it never quite seems to stand out.
  
  
• Jordana, Face the Wall– It’s a little dancey, it’s a little boisterous young rock girl, it’s a little confessional. It doesn’t stand out on any of these accounts, but there’s promise here.
  
  
• Julmud, Tuqoos– I believe this is my first album from a Palestinian DJ! Hopefully not my last- while the musical mix was a little too abstract to work for me at album length, he is doing some fun and interesting things with electronic music here.
  
  
• Kevin Morby, This is a Photograph– Oh, this Texas-born American songwriter got close! Somewhere between country and singer-songwriter, musically pleasing and lyrically affecting. But, at the end of the day it was a little too production-polished at the expense of vitality.
  
  
• Kikagaku Moyo, Kumoyo Island– Japanese psych-rock group. It’s interesting, but too often too slickly produced at the expense of the vitally weird.
  
  
• Levon Helm/Mavis Staples, Carry Me Home– I think on the issue of currency I have trouble seeing it as “best of year” album (it was recorded live in 2011) but these two greats of American music do sound pretty darn good together.
  
  
• Liam Gallagher, C’mon You Know– Not a surprise, this sounded a lot like an Oasis album. And for a good long time, I thought it was an Oasis album that I really liked, then it became one that I merely liked.
  
  
• Lyle Lovett, 12th of June– Lyle Lovett has always been a) excellent and b) idiosyncratic. Both of those are on display here! While the swinging jazz lounge/standards space going on here is well done, it sounds sort of museum piece and doesn’t rise a lot above what it’s doing. A very pleasant ride on the way to that though!
  
  
• M Huncho, Chasing Euphoria– This British rapper and singer has a pleasant jazzy vibe, but he ends up being a little too autotuned and undistinguished track to track.
  
  
• Mandy Moore, In Real Life– While it doesn’t rise to what I think of as “year standout” level, it is very nice to see Mandy Moore doing so well with smart substantive pop songs. A little too produced for my taste, but there’s lots worse that can happen.
  
  
• Matmos, Regards/Uklony dla Boguslaw Schaeffer– Innovative experimental electronic duo records a reimagining and reassembling of the works of Polish composer, theoretician, playwright, critic, and teacher Bogusław Schaeffer commissioned by the Instytutu Adama Mickiewicza as part of the Niepodlegla program. I’m not sure how this made it onto my “to listen to” list, it is, exactly as the description would lead one to expect, highly abstract electronic music.
  
  
• Moderat, More D4ta– The synth and repetitive beat waves wash over me in this electronic album. It’s not a bad wash. But…
  
  
• Mono, My Story, the Buraku Story [Original Soundtrack]– Experimental Japanese indie rock soundtracks could go in all kinds of ways, but the way this one went was nearly ambient, which doesn’t hold an album’s worth of attention. The discrimination against the Buraku “class” in Japan though is a worthy documentary subject!
  
  
• Monophonics, Sage Motel– There’s a great retro-soul feeling here, but it stays a little too much in that retro groove to really kick in.
  
  
• Perel, Jesus Was an Alien– If I say this is new wave influenced electro-disco from a Berlin-based DJ, you may develop a pretty accurate sense of what it sounds like. It’s chilly good fun, well done, but doesn’t vary internally or stand out a lot from its own sound.
  
  
• Phelimuncasi, Ama Gogela– A gqom trio from the Mlaszi township of Durban, South Africa. Like me, you may not know, but I learned that “gqom” is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in South Africa, descended from local varieties of house music. Sonically this is very interesting, but the repetitive nature and the language barrier kept it from fully gelling for me.
   
• Project Gemini, The Children of Scorpio– Project Gemini is guided by the musical vision of psychedelic devotee, breakbeat enthusiast, and ’70s film soundtrack lover Paul Osborne, which gives you a fair idea of what it sounds like. It’s fun and dynamic, but being all instrumental it never quite lands for me as an album in total.
  
  
• Quelle Chris, Deathfame– There was a nice unconventionality to the music mix from this Detroit rapper, and some traces of conscious hip-hop, but it never quite gelled together in a way that helped it stand out from the low-key mellow grove it was in track to track.
  
  
• Quinquis, Seim– I saw this described in one source as “Heavy atmospheric electronica from Breton.” That’s right, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it does tend a little ethereal and is all foreign language, so it’s hard to get it to the top of my list for the year.
  
  
• Ravyn Lenae, Hypnos– This is a not bad debut R&B album, but also not one that really stands out. Glimmers of future promise though!
  
  
• Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Endless Rooms– This Australian indie rock band makes nice and jangly white boy rock. It doesn’t sound especially better or different than multiple other examples of the same.
  
  
• Sharon Van Etten, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong– There is nothing wrong with Sharon van Etten’s voice, moody music, or songwriting. The issue, I think, is that while the results can be gorgeous and moving on a single song, the songs are all so much alike that it gets difficult to sustain at album length.
  
  
• Sigrid, How to Let Go– She’s a Norwegian pop star, which makes me smile. It’s definitely good clean fun, and sometimes rises above to energetic and arresting. Not often enough, though.
  
  
• Sly Johnson, 55.4– My sources inform me that, “Hailing from Paris, Sylvère Johnson (Sly Johnson) is a major force on the French Hip-Hop, Soul and Jazz scenes.” And that’s what it sounds like, not in bad way, actually in a really well-produced way. But one that eventually feels a little more packaged and produced than vital and real.
  
  
• SOAK, If I Never Know You Like This Again– This Irish singer-songwriter is certainly talented, and the confessional personal songs and genuinely emotional vocals are affecting. As is the substantive way the lyrics deal with their non-binary identification. It does end up vocally and musically in too limited of a range eventually. But it was close!
  
  
• Soccer96, Inner Worlds– A nice electronic music album, but it eventually gets too far in the direction of post-modern lounge music.
  
  
• Stars, From Capelton Hill– This was a little confounding- some of these songs were great pop rock redolent of different eras, some of them were haunting atmospheric ballads, and then some, at regular intervals, were overproduced shallow indie pablum. Eventually it got to be too inconsistent in this regard, but the highs were great.
  
  
• Sunflower Bean, Headful of Sugar– When it has some verve to it this is really pretty good, but it too often goes downtempo and fuzzes together.
  
  
• The Black Keys, Dropout Boogie– I do love me some Black Keys, and there isn’t a bad song on this album. What there is, though, is a confusing lack of pacing. Blistering shakedowns, mellower 70s style grooves seem sprinkled around at random, and the momentum keeps getting off. This is one of the ways that sometimes, a bunch of fine songs don’t add up to a good album.
  
  
• The Chainsmokers, So Far So Good– A little pop-rock, a little electronic dance, very autotuned, please cast it into a lake of fire.
  
  
• The Frightnrs, Always– It’s a nice mellow groove from this New York City dub/rocksteady band, but it never really catches on.
  
  
• The Pineapple Thief, Give it Back– A nice British indie rock band, a very 2020s pop version of indie rock band, please no.
  
  
• The Smile, A Light For Attracting Attention– I mean, it’s a collaboration between British jazz group Sons of Kemet and Thom Yorke of Radiohead- it’s a wonder I found some songs I liked. Which I did! But too many of them background faded out of existence.
  
  
• The Stroppies, Levity– This Australian indie pop band made up of members from multiple previous bands makes music redolent of the instrumental rock & lackadaisical vocals 80s alt and 90s/00s indie schools of rock. Notwithstanding the face that I could have been listening to this at any point in the past several decades, and it does tend towards sameness at points, there is something pleasant about it. But best of year pleasant?
  
  
• They Hate Change, Finally, New– I really do appreciate how this Tampa Bay rap duo’s music is informed as much by post punk and electronic music as hip hop. And the high level of sophisticated social commentary they have going on. It was a little all too similar track to track to really work at album length though. Still, I’d like to keep an eye on them!
  
  
• Thomas Dollbaum, Wellswood– New Orleans-by-way-of-Florida singer/songwriter Thomas Dollbaum delivers some solid Americana here, but it’s so in one range vocally and musically track to track that the rough and tumble lyrics get lost in the muted flow.
  
  
• Train, AM Gold– I walked into this unsure. On the one hand, I like AM Gold as a musical area. On the other, Train, well, let’s just say when you have a vibrant and innovative local music scene and the band that makes it big from your area is something as bland as Train, it kind of sticks in your craw. Turns out this album does a decent job of channeling 70s AM Gold. But it’s still Train.
  
  
• Van Morrison, What’s It Gonna Take?– This is, musically and vocally, the best extended COVID conspiracy rant I have ever heard. Shorter than his similar album from last year, but more ranty! But the song “Fear and Self Loathing in Las Vegas” is great, I’d recommend listening to it.
  
  
• Warpaint, Radiate Like This– A little thick sensual vocals, a little melody, a little post-punk angularity and darkness. It’s not a bad combination, but it never rises above a certain track to track sameness.
  

And there you have it! May review in by the last day of June. I think we have a good shot at getting June out well before the end of July. Tune in to find out!