Al's Best Albums of 2022

 Arcade Fire -WE (Columbia) - Coming after the half - brilliant Reflektor and the not-at-all brilliant Everything Now, Arcade Fire has enough self confidence to make you believe again

Andrew Bird- Inside Problems (Loma Vista) Bird has had a long and extremely varied career but if you liked My Finest Work Yet, this continues to focus on clever and witty (and quirky) pop music.


Calexico- El Mirador (Anti) Calexico has been doing this for so long now that it’s hard to separate how truly revolutionary they felt. On El Mirador, they feel like they are sending a reminder to anyone who hasn’t listened to them in awhile.

The Cult- Under the Midnight Sun (Black Hill/ Round Hill). The 21st Century iteration of the Cult has been a welcome surprise. Seemingly artistically spent in the 90s, Billy Duffy’s inspired riffs connect a straight line back to the band who made Love almost 40 years ago.

John Doe- Fables in a Foreign Land (Fat Possum) I have followed Doe’s solo career from the start and while he has put out some very good records, I feel this is his first truly great solo record. It has a bit of a late 19th century motive at times and is hard to classify. I also think it benefits from being a constant trio (with a great guest list) with Kevin Smith on upright bass (Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, Willie Nelson) and Conrad Choucron (Patti Griffin, NRBQ) on Drums.

Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo -The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime (Strap Originals) It’s not so much we didn’t think Doherty could make his “Vauxhall and I” - a mature indie rock musing- we just didn’t think he would live long enough to do so. This album isn’t quite as good as 2019’s Puta Madres album which suggests Pete is still best being a rocker, but it is a fine showcase for him anyway.

Dream Syndicate-Ultraviolet Battle Hymns (Fire) We have seen a few different sides of the Dream Syndicate since they reunited. This album harkens back to the band’s debut sound of sparse Velvet Underground influences that would inspire a generation

Gogol Bordello-Solidartine (Cooking Vinyl) This album was recorded before the Russian invasion of Ukraine but of course, the themes were always part of Gogol Bordello’s music. Producer Walter Schriefls (he of Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand) finding a way to bring back the punk feel for an album that ranks as their best in some time

The Interrupters - In the Wild (Hellcat) - Ska and punk don’t usually get critical acclaim but there’s something special about the Interrupters. In this case, they are cementing their legacy by honoring the legacy of their guest list (members of the Bodysnatchers, Hepcat and the Skints)

Johnny Marr- Fever Dreams Pts. 1-4 (New Voodoo/BMG) Marr’s solo career has been quite enjoyable for fans. This was released as a series of four EPs. Overlong at 16 tracks, but the highlights more than make up for it.


Layla McCalla- Breaking the Thermometer (ANTI) - The one time Carolina Chocolate Drop and classically trained cellist makes some of the most interesting music going. This album is part of a larger Duke University project about Radio Haiti and McCalla draws in her own heritage as a Haitian American, how deeply Haitian culture influenced New Orleans and the love between Jean Dominique and Michele Montas who used the radio station to fight corruption and dictatorship and suffered for it. Which is all pretty ambitious, but the album holds up on its own.

Mystic Braves- Pacific Afterglow (5 Records) - One of my favorite garage rock revival bands that tend toward a smoother sound like the Allah Las. This chameleonic band dipped into that early 60s sound on their 2014 debut, but aren’t afraid to draw from other time periods, and this album feels like it could be an early 1970s gem with the likes of Gerry Rafferty an unexpected influence. One of my favorite albums of the year

The Ninth Wave - Heavy Like a Headache (Distiller) - Critics did not like this album which is also hurt from the fact the Glasgow duo broke up on the album’s release. Yes, it is uneven and yes, it pulls from very standard influences like Joy Divison, Echo & the Bunnymen and (if you can’t guess) Kate Bush, but the album has some great moments that fall anywhere between insular Goth ballads and soaring U2 style arena rock

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Unlimited Love (Warner) - Like Alice Cooper and KISS from the generation before, the Chilis will be doing their schtick well into their eighties. Your mileage on “mature” RHCP may vary, but it’s really John Frusciante’s guitar melodies that shine here for me

Sea Power- Everything was Forever (Golden Chariot) - Modernizing the name and reuniting with Producer Graham Sutton (leader of Bark Psychosis who produced Sea Power’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th albums) this truly feel like a relaunch for one of my favorite bands.

Soundcarriers - Wilds (Phosponic). - I wasn’t aware of this band who returned after a seven year hiatus to release their fourth album. Spiritually (if not necessarily sonically) similar to Stereolab, the band plays music that draws from baroque pop, psychedelia, garage rock, tropicalia, lounge, folk, movie music, jazz, Krautrock and other “found sounds”.

Spiritualized - Everything was Beautiful (Fat Possum) Not much stylistically different from their previous few albums, this does feel like the moment Jason Pierce has been working towards. A bit psychedelic, a bit gospel blues, and even a bit noisy (Iggy Stooge gets namechecked) and alt Country (Nikki Lane guests).

Swami John Reis- Ride the Wild Night (Swami Recordings) - This is Reis’s first “solo” album but what does that mean for someone so prolific that fhey perform with Rocket From the Crypt, the Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, Plosivs, the Night Marchers and others. Like his contemporary Jon Spencer, Reis has been charting his own path for years playing raw rock n roll his way. Unfortunately, this didn’t get the attention that Spencer’s latest did which is a shame because it’s fantastic.

Tejon Street Corner Thieves - Thick as Thieves - This Colorado based band plays what they call “trashgrass”. Punky spins on Alt Country and Americana were novel 20 years ago but now dozens of band do it. So it comes down to charisma of the frontman and well, the tunes to separate the wheat from the chaff, but these guys are the real deal.

Yard Act - The Overload (Island) - “Dark Days” was my favorite song of 2021 but it’s not here. I expected Franz Ferdinand style post punk, but despite a few Lydonesque moments, it’s got more in common with the Streets, Scroobius Pip and Half Man Half Biscuit. All that aside, it is still quite a breath of fresh air

Album Review: Bruce Springsteen- Only the Strong Survive

The Onion/AV Club used to make a list of least essential albums and at first glance, Bruce Springsteen’s Only the Strong Survive feels like a modern day example. It has a lot to overcome. It is a Motown and soul covers album released after one of the most successful Springsteen albums of recent years. A good way to approach the album is by examining the Four Tops “Seven Rooms of Gloom”. I am a big fan of the band, the song is classic and literally no one can sing it like Levi Stubbs. Not even a belter like the Boss. So why try? But why not try? It’s a labor of love project. These are good songs. Bruce can bring some gravity to a song like “The Sun Ain’t Going to Shine Anymore” or the Commodores’ “Night Shift”. Critics seem to love the “Karaoke Springsteen” line and they’re not wrong. If you are a music critic (or a wannabe like myself) you can dig pretty deep on this. Wouldn’t this work better in a live context? Wouldn’t this be better fleshed out by the E Street Band instead of just with Ron Aniello doing all the work? Wouldn’t this have been better 30 years ago? Yet it’s Springsteen and if you’re a fan of his, you probably are of the mindset that there is more to rock than what a critic thinks. So it is with this album, if you can spend any time with it. Would I rather hear Diana Ross or Bruce sing “Someday We Will Be Together”? Well, my answer is Diana, but it’s a great song and Bruce sings it with passion. And you could probably have that conversation 15 times. This album is likely to be one that leaves sound systems in a few months, but who knows - some may really enjoy this if they give it a chance.

What i am Listening to: Squeeze

“Greatest Hits are for housewives and little girls”. This line from the Kids in the Hall sketch about the Doors may be the best one line of music criticism ever written. It’s a good line for many reasons, primarily being you have to be a certain age to say it. Greatest Hits are generally the way we discover our favorite artists. I suppose these days it could be a “Greatest Hits Playlist” but the concept is the same I could name my lifelong favorite artists and in nearly every case, I had their greatest hits album in my formative years. So here goes: Ramones, the Clash, the Jam, Soft Cell, the Stranglers, REM, the English Beat, Buzzcocks, the Damned, Roxy Music, Siouxsie and the Banshees, OMD, the Cure, New Order, the Police, Joy Division, David Bowie, Psychedelic Furs, Queen, Bob Marley, Tom Petty, XTC, the Who, the Rolling Stones, and come to think of it, the Doors. In this process, surely some great bands are lost. For example, I probably should not have skipped “Natural History” covering Talk Talk or “History Never Repeats” from Split Enz. Maybe if I had “The Whole Story” I would have gotten into Kate Bush much sooner. There’s no reason that I never purchased “Musiquarium” and as far as classic artists go who I only recently gotten into, well I can’t believe I never picked up Gold and Platinum (Skynyrd) or The Very Best of Jethro Tull, nor retroactively fill a gap I lived through like Tupac’s Greatest Hits. To get to my belabored point, I never did pick up the ubiquitous Singles - 45 And Under by Squeeze. I have written about Squeeze before- a band that did get a bit of airplay in the US and I enjoyed. Yet I never went very much farther. In the modern world of nostalgia radio, certain artists and songs have went up in value and some down. Squeeze only put three songs on the US Billboard Hot 100, yet just about all of the 12 songs off “Singles” are staples of this nostalgia wave. There is just something timeless about the greatest moments of Difford and Tillbrook. It’s smart pop. For me, it means I am finally getting around to the bands classic run of albums -79s Cool for Cats, 80s Argybargy and 81s East Side Story. Better late than never. And that’s what I am listening to this week. 1979 - A&M

What I am Listening to: Matt Berry

I don’t remember where I first heard Matt Berry (some streaming platform like Spotify or Pandora) but I quickly fell in love. Now, my friends were already fans, but it took me a bit. I don’t watch a lot of TV and in comparison to the average American in 2022, I am a Luddite. But I have watched the British sitcom The IT Crowd and I do know Berry in his role as Douglas Reynholm. I don’t feel like I can talk about Berry without some comparison to Jack Black. Black is definitely a huge fan of the rock songs of his youth, but he celebrates them with a knowing smirk. Berry as musician is weird, because well, it’s not weird. It doesn’t come across as parody or satire, he legitimately is trying to make 70s style progressive rock and psychedelic folk. Maybe it is because that era provided unintentional laughs that when Berry sings “There'll be smoke and lots of magic Cinder, too, and acrobatics”, it’s hard to decipher if he is aiming for a chuckle or not He’s now 9 albums in and though I am new to the discography, any amount of reading about his career reveals each album gets better and he’s dropped in influences like jazz, funk, and country rock. All of this leading to 2021s The Blue Elephant showing up on Best Ofs While Berry continues to grow, his best moment surely is his signature song -2011’s “Take My Hand” and rightly so - it feels immediately recognizable and yet doesn’t feel derivative. In short, while trying to copy the great masters, he made a masterpiece of his own.

Album Review- The Newtown Neurotics- Cognitive Dissidents

A favorite band of mine that is a bit on the obscure side is the Newtown Neurotics. I discovered them on one of the many low budget Punk CD compilations in the 90s. The obvious introduction to the band is the compilation “45 Revolutions per minute” which collects their debut album (1983s Beggars Can Be Choosers and a few early singles). (As an aside, 45 Revolutions per Minute surely should be on the Album Covers with Sunglasses Rushmore with "Bikini Red" by the Screaming Blue Messiahs, "Short Back N Sides" by Ian Hunter and any Graham Parker album) The band fits into the British punk bands that would sprout up in the late 70s and early 80s with similarly underappreciated groups like the Lurkers, Chelsea, Penetration and Anti-Pasti. The band had a strong socialist messages like Billy Bragg and the Redskins. The band’s strength besides the personal political angle was a tremendous sense of melody- continuing from the melodic punk of the Jam and the Buzzcocks I did not and have not done much more than exploring the album but the band did continue, at least somewhat, dropping “Newtown” and releasing at least two studio albums as the “Neurotics” and leader Steven Drewett releasing at least one Afro punk album in the early 90s as the Indestructible Beat and a solo record credited under his own name in 2014. Like so many similar bands, it’s hard to determine the correct number of albums because of the possibility of compilations, EP releases and live albums. I have seen “8 albums” listed in reviews but I believe the number of proper recordings from all the above projects are four. The Neurotics aren’t entirely off the radar in America. My favorite Music writer (certainly in terms of having the most similar tastes) Jack Rabid has covered them in detail over the years in his magazine The Big Takeover. In 2022, the band reunited to release the fantastically titled Cognitive Dissidents. If you have a live music venue around you, you probably know punk bands never die and tour forever and maybe even release new albums. Though there are exceptions (there are some great late era New Model Army songs) these albums are not generally very ground breaking. Cognitive Dissidents isn’t much different than expected but it is a fun record. The political lyrics are still very much in play (opening track is called Climate Emergency for a start. “Dumb” creates a word “conspirituality”) and melodic punk is still the forte (“I Get On Your Nerves” and “Liar Liar” could fit easily on the new Diggle-led Buzzcocks album). None of the songs reach the heights of the band’s classic singles, but it is hard to complain about Cognitive Dissidents which is a better late era punk band albums and is a fitting additional chapter to an unique band.

Album Review- Leyla McCalla - Breaking the Themometer

Another of this year’s finds from Uncut magazine. McCalla played in the Carolina Chocolate Drops (the band fronted by Rhiannon Giddens- and after spending time with them, then focused on a solo career. Breaking the Thermometer is her fourth album. It is an ambitious project that I hope I can explain well enough in a few words- that celebrates Radio Haiti - not for simply being the first Haitian radio station, but also for its stands against corruption and stance for democracy. (Google Jean Dominique and Michele Montas, as well as the Fort Dimanche prison for a better job of understanding the gravitas of what this all means). Also, of course, McCalla’s personal journey as a Haitian American. From my understanding, drawing from a larger Duke University theater project about Dominique and Radio Haiti- it is a mix of traditional Haitian tunes, original music, interviews and personal insights. Of the many take aways, one is “how deep the Haitian roots of New Orleans (run)”. At the risk of sounding crass, all that is fascinating but is the album any good, and here’s the thing, it is. The “documentary” style format make it feel like it wouldn’t hold up for repeat listenings but it’s no bother. McCalla of course is fantastic. A classically trained cellist, she also plays banjo and guitar here. The songs are often minimal but still quite powerful. It almost seems counterintuitive that such an ambitious project could succeed in the space of a traditional album that one would want to listen to again and again in whatever day to day format they choose, but she truly did.

Album Review- The Cult- Under the Midnight Sun

It sort of feels odd discussing the Cult in 2022. For a band who played seemingly simple songs, they have built up quite a legacy. They were criticized at times for AC/DC style sameness, but talented to deliver at least one album that is considered a classic (Love). They arrived to their big moment in 1989 with a sound that fit in easily with alternative, rock, pop and metal audiences. They broke the radio and seemed to have a wide open future. Sonic Temple took their sounds to commercial highs. But the music industry constantly is evolving and the 80s changed irreversibly to the 90s and things didn’t ’t pan out as planned. (You could probably right the same paragraph about the Smithereens who released the album 11 the same year). The Cult’s story became one of diminishing returns- commercially and artistically. But the story takes an unexpected turn. In 2007, a reunited band released Born Into This. Instead of a band chasing past glories, the band sounded strong. Critics stood up and took notice. 2012s Choice of Weapon is the best of the 21st Century albums. An album that is on par with the Love/Electric/Sonic Temple trilogy. Under the Midnight Sun follows the template for recent Cult albums. I find the album cover striking and fitting for the music inside. It’s not all straight ahead rock but a lot of atmospheric goth rock. Credit to Billy Duffy and/or Producer Tom Dalgety (Ghost, recent Pixies and recent Killing Joke) for really producing ambitious background music for frontman Ian Astbury. The album does feel like a continuation of those first Cult albums, and manage to sound more organic than say, the clunkier self-titled 1994 album, to sound like a modern evolution. That said, the album isn’t perfect (Choice of Weapon remains the best recent release). Perhaps, it could use a bit more arena rock sound dropped here and there, but for a band that is 11 albums in, it really feels fresh.

What I am listening to: Maher Cissoko

I have talked at length about how I discover new music. One of my biggest resources is Uncut magazine and their sampler Cd. I have been to the newsstand lately and Uncut may be the only magazine doing the CD sampler. In recent years, it was becoming limited to British magazines Mojo and Classic Rock. But Mojo which gave me some of my favorite compilations has seemed to discontinue. It’s fair, CDs are becoming obsolete. Still, this strikes me as one of the technological changes I am not quite ready for. The benefit of someone like Uncut is that they are listening to a bunch of new music and opening me to bands I would otherwise not hear. This means a variety of genres, labels and so on, that might escape my radar, since other traditional means might be too narrowly focused. So definitely have found some great music that way and today, I am focused on Maher Cissoko and his album from 2021 “Cissoko Heritage”. Maher generally plays with his wife as Sousou and Maher Cissoko. I am not sure that there is much difference in this record, except as it is considered a follow up to 2017’s Koda Fo, but the music is made by both husband and wife, as well as daughter. I’m not an expert but I will take a stab at it. Cissoko plays the Kora- a combination of lute and harp with 21 strings generally associated with West Africa that dates back over seven centuries. Maher is from Casamance, Senegal). The music he plays is traditional of his home, but at the same time combines Afrobeat, Dancehall, Reggae and other influences. Maher is also known as a talented percussionist as well. I just really dig everything about this album, and hope you enjoy a song from it too.

What I am listening to: The Make Up

The late 90s were not a good time for me but there is always a bright side and for me it was music. I would read the British magazine Uncut and the American CMJ New Music Monthly and listen to their CDs which I could find at a traditional local small town newsstand. A fun musical question is what bands did you not like at first but grew to love. For me, the Smiths and the Dead Kennedys stand out as my answer. I must admit these are teenage choices and I don’t do a fair job of going back to reappraise a band. The Arctic Monkeys are a band that could fall in this category of enjoying, but surely I have shut out dozens of worthy bands. One band that was near the top of critics lists in the late 90s was The Make Up. They were not a band that I was interested in 20 some years later, I have come around. It’s possible that the band was before their time. Listening to them now, they sound an awful lot like the Swedish hardcore band Refused spin-off The International Noise Conspiracy who popped up slightly after the Make Up broke up. That’s the first comes to mind, but there’s a whole list of bands who fit that description that pulled the same influences appearing after the Make Up- bands like At the Drive In, the Detroit Cobras, The Dirtbombs, the Black Heart Procession, the Mooney Suzuki, King Khan’s various projects and then of course, the more well known bands of the Garage Rock Revival explosion around the corner from that. I wouldn’t have my eye on the band in the first place. I am not very familiar with Nation of Ulysses - from which 3/4s of the Make up came. Nor am I usually a huge fan of Dischord Records- the noisy DC hard core punk record label. With plenty of hindsight now, it’s clear that the band’s nearest contemporary comparison was probably the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. There is an obvious debt to James Brown and gospel music, and a clear MC5 influence, and there were few bands that could accomplish mixing those styles. The sound of the Make Up was also surely influenced by the sound of Spencer’s previous band Pussy Galore and other raucous noisemakers like Royal Trux and the Laughing Hyenas. (There also was a political element like the International Noise Conspiracy which somehow adds even more artistic flair). I’m mostly drawn to the bands 4th studio (and final) album 1999’s Make Up, which I think is the cleanest version of the band’s work. Critics everywhere called it a “party album”, but somehow I feel like that is a slight to how multi faceted is. A knee jerk reaction is to compare them to Beck- one of the rare artists who were doing what they were attempting- but otherwise, I don’t really find much similarities sonically. Anyway, there you go- that’s a recent discovery. Maybe it will hit your ears like mine back like it hit mine back then and you won’t like it, but maybe it will hit your ears in 2022 like mine did as something still fresh two decades later.

What I am listening to: The Peacocks

I still learn about new bands in very traditional ways, but in 2022, streaming and the algorithm sites are part of my musical diet. I don’t think that I find as many new bands this way, but for some of the niche genres I love like surf, rockabilly and garage rock, it’s a good way to get exposure. The Peacocks are a Swiss rockabilly trio with 8 albums since 1995. While rockabilly is a seemingly easy style to play, it’s still a matter of how some bands click with me more than others. One of my most favorite artists is Lee Rocker. What I like about his solo albums is that he pulls the best from the traditional 50s stars like Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, and the pop radio sound from the band he played in, the Stray Cats. I became a fan of the Peacocks right away, specifically 2011’s excellent record After All. The Peacocks are definitely descendants of the Stray Cats with a strong ear for melodies. Allmusic probably isn’t wrong when they compare the band to early Elvis Costello or “third wave ska”. Nor would it be necessarily wrong to say the band is sonic cousins to 90s bands like Rocket from the Crypt, Social Distortion and Rancid via a shared love of the 50s and Clash influence. I suppose it’s one of the credits to the “new normal” that I can find a band that is seemingly hidden from view and then discover a whole discography that I wouldn’t know about. That seems incredibly unlikely from tuning into the usual sources. It is also interesting to look at the stats on Spotify (where I discovered the band). The Peacocks have a song with a million streams. While when I look at their other songs and compare them to what I would consider bands with “regional followings”, their numbers are much less. Similarly, the song's YouTube views are barely in the thousands. But all of this is uncharted territory and at the end of the day, I found a band I loved, and many more songs than that.