bandcamp:best of 2022

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 Considering that Todd Sickafoose’s crucial 2008 release Tiny Resistors presented a groundbreaking direction to a novel modern jazz future, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that his 2022 offering would further muddy the concept of a jazz identity even further. Cinematic, expressive, and unpredictable, Sickafoose’s soundtrack to the podcast Threshold is all genres at once—and also none at all, as much defining the moment as descending into it undisturbed. Joined by violinist Jenny Scheinman, drummer-percussionist Mathias Künzli, and guitarists Jonathan Goldberger, John Schott, and Kyle Sanna, Sickafoose continues to forge new paths on the modern jazz scene.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 Melody and groove fuel one another on this deliriously fun session from the Gdynia, Poland-based quintet Jutra. The brisk pace keeps the foot tapping compulsively. The splashes of harmony are the sonic equivalent of roll tides crashing upon the shore and then whispering back out to sea. Melodic phrasing gets its hooks in and won’t let go. Drummer Jacek Rezener, guitarist Artur Bieszke, synthesizer player Maciej Szkudlarek, B-3 organist Marek Kostecki, and saxophonist Michał Jan Ciesielski offer up one of 2022’s more compelling enchantments.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 The case could be made that no album in 2022 offered up a more vibrant, kaleidoscopic array of sonic imagery than Gilad Hekselman’s Far Star. The guitarist switches up sounds between pieces as if examining how sunlight bends through each facet of a gemstone. Never once is there a moment where the experiment is met with less than brilliance. At its core, it’s Hekselman and drummer Eric Harland, joined by keyboardist Shai Maestro, bassist Oren Hardy, violinist Nathan Schram, drummer Ziv Ravitz, keyboardist Nomok, and percussionists Alon Benjamini and Amir Bresler. This album is breathtaking.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 On her 2022 release, Patricia Brennan clears a simple path to connect with complexity. The pieces on More Touch give the impression of the vibraphonist—joined by drummer Marcus Gilmore, percussionist Mauricio Herrera, and bassist Kim Cass—building puzzles and then solving them in real-time, sometimes to the point where the former bleeds into latter. It’s during those moments that the listener can choose to engage with the music as an intellectual exercise or a visceral one, to immerse oneself in the details of the construction or simply allow the moment to wash over them. Brennan’s 2021 release (deservedly) received plenty of year-end Best Of attention; More Touch is evidence that the vibraphonist’s creative trajectory is a trend.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 When I first wrote about Constelaciones back in August, I said it was a straightforward recording that delivers countless moments of exhilaration and beauty. I really have no choice but to lead with that statement again, because it sums up this album’s defining characteristics. The bursts of drama and tension; the sudden drops and rises of melodic serenity; the interludes of calmed aggression and borderline restraint—it all leads to a listening experience not unlike a ship being tossed across a tumult of waves upon a stormy sea: Sometimes violent, sometimes tranquil, always endlessly captivating. Helping make this happen are the Argentinian quintet of guitarist Gastón de la Cruz, contrabassist Martín de Lassaletta, drummer Nahuel Flores-Catino, pianist Javier Caire Paulino, and saxophonist Federico Viceconte (plus guests José Marín and Valentín Garvie).

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 The season of spring brings with it a surge of positive emotions, a visceral reaction to a warm breeze, the bloom of trees and flowers, and a bright, bold, yellow sun gently touching everything in its reach. Even though spring’s gifts are predictable, the intense reaction to them is always surprising, as if the memory of spring never truly captures the glory of the season. That preamble could easily be applied to the music of Anat Cohen. The clarinetist’s expressionism tends to hit upon influences from Brazil to Israel, New York City to New Orleans, some old-school bop and its new-school post-bop counterpart, and her 2022 release Quartetinho doesn’t stray to new ground. But its liveliness, its joyfulness, the music’s power to rejuvenate and delight, as if it were the first day of spring given life as music—it’s a gift that, though familiar, feels completely new each time it’s received. Cohen’s music transcends as something more than just a listening experience; it speaks to why Cohen is a special musician and, tangentially, what makes art essential to all of humanity. Joining Cohen on this wonderful recording are bassist Tal Mashiach (who adds guitar), pianist Vitor Gonçalves (who adds accordion), and vibraphonist James Shipp (who adds glockenspiel, analog synthesizers, and percussion).

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 Just as its older music thrives decades after originally recorded, the Sun Ra Arkestra continues to exert its influence on the modern scene. Under the stewardship of Marshall Allen, the ensemble is as relevant to the music of today as it was when Sun Ra was the guiding force breaking ground in new directions in jazz. Their 2022 release Living Sky is a gift of serenity, creating a mesmerizing effect even when the music bubbles up with liveliness and volatility. Living Sky is unequivocally one of the year’s best recordings, but not to get lost in the praise of this specific music is the celebration of Sun Ra Arkestra as one of jazz’s enduring legacies.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 Marta Sanchez’s music is always a journey. I said this about her 2022 release SAAM back in February, and I’ve probably written the same in so many words for each of the pianist’s prior recordings. Because it’s true. An intro’d melody is like Sanchez throwing open a door to a path that leads into undiscovered lands, and inevitably the pianist goes about mapping out every inch of that new territory, bringing the listener along for a very thrilling ride. With alto saxophonist Alex LoRe, tenor saxophonist Román Filiú, bassist Rashaan Carter, and drummer Allan Mednard (plus guest spots by Camila Meza, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Charlotte Greve), Sanchez offers up more evidence of why she’s one of the preeminent pianists on the modern jazz scene.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 Hert beats with a storyteller’s heart, building a narrative through resonant imagery and leading the way with warm, embraceable melodies. Bassist Lara Rosseel (who also adds violin, percussion, and vocals), along with trumpeter Sam Vloemans, guitarist Vitja Pauwels, percussionist Sep François, and drummer Angelo Moustapha, paint in bold colors and broad strokes—the kind of music you can just drop off into, immersing yourself in the music and drifting away. There are schools of the modern jazz scene dedicated to this approach; Rosseel’s Hert did it better than any other in 2022.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 Silke Eberhard’s collaboration with Youjin Sung, and its collisions and cohesions of modern jazz and Korean musics, rates as singular on a best-of list that is pretty much defined by its creative individualism. But aside from this recording’s unique traits, thrilling lyricism, and dramatic reveries, Gaya also speaks to the fascinating evolution of Eberhard’s ensemble Potsa Lotsa. What began in the group’s earliest formations channeling the inspiration sources of jazz trail-blazers Eric Dolphy and Henry Threadgill has ultimately become an adoption of the experimentalism that fueled their guiding touch. It’s as much evidence of what elevates Gaya to something quite exceptional as it is symbolic of an approach symbolizing one of the modern jazz scene’s greatest strengths.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 On 2022’s Atlas of Sound, Elsa Nilsson brought her music to nature with the goal of communion and, in turn, carried some of that connection back into the recording studio. The flutist’s 10-movement suite, including improvisations recorded at Redwood National Forest and the Grove of Old Trees, captures the heart of the prevailing tranquility as it courses into the flow of the trio session. Joined by pianist Jon Cowherd and upright bassist Chris Morrissey, Nilsson has created one of the most sublime recordings of 2022.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 The music of Arun Ghosh is some of the most exciting music on the modern jazz scene. The Calcutta-born, London-based clarinetist’s Indo-jazz is melodically charged and enchantingly tuneful. Along with tabla player Aref Durvesh, alto saxophonist Chris Williams, tenor saxophonist (plus bass clarinet) Idris Rahman, and drummers Dave Walsh and Myke Wilson, Ghosh offered up in 2022 an album that trades in a gallop for an easy groove, and lets the melody gently settle into the surface of the song. The end result displays new facets of Ghosh’s Indo-jazz, and a promising sign of what can be expected in the future.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 There’s no end to the melodic intensity of Ensemble Volcanic Ash. Even at its lushest and most approachable, Janel Leppin delivers the music with a resolute force of will. A mix of chamber jazz, art rock, contemporary classical, and electronic music, this music manifests not so much as the byproduct of its influences but more as an evolutionary process, where the direct line between cause and effect isn’t nearly so clear. Joined by bassist Luke Stewart, harpist Kim Sator, guitarist Anthony Pirog, drummer Larry Ferguson, alto saxophonist Sarah Huges, and tenor saxophonist Brian Settles, the cellist delivers one of the most dramatic recordings of 2022.

评语：The Best Jazz Albums of 2022 These best-of lists are as much about recognizing a point on the trajectory of preeminent musicians as it is masterful recordings released during a particular year. In the instance of Mary Halvorson in 2022, both considerations apply. There is nothing normal or conventional about the creative visions of Mary Halvorson, but on Amaryllis, the guitarist endows it with a clarity unlike anything prior. Melodic subtexts, rhythmic sleights of hand, and harmonies blurred at the edges are given life as escape velocity torrents, surrealistic ballads, and winding narratives. Joined by vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, bassist Nick Dunston, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, trombonist Jacob Garchik, and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill , and the Mivos [string] Quartet, Amaryllis is arguably the album of the year; that Halvorson also released in 2022 the excellent Belladonna (with the Mivos Quartet) and Multicolored Midnight (with the Thumbscrew trio) makes the achievement all the more remarkable.

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 Once in a while, a band bursts onto the scene fully formed, ready with a fresh, cohesive sound. Croatia’s Mižerija is such a band, playing a singular sort of anarcho-pop with dark, post-punk hooks. The higher-register vocals crucially tie the sound together, from the infectious opening track to “Gradski Cvjetovi,” with its bratty shouts and matter-of-fact spoken word. The band tackles politics, from ecological devastation to the chains of patriarchy, with vociferous energy. “This is not the end,” they declare on the noisy closing track, “Youth is bringing a new world/ World that wants the change!”

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 Made up of tracks previously released on a variety of cassettes and singles, the debut album from Chile’s long-running Ignorantes hits hard. With a fat, steady bassline and pissed-off vocals, these tracks are noisy and raw; production is beside the point. This is pogo punk with relentless fury; the vocal style switches between low growls and strained shouts. “Shit” is undeniably heavy, while “Vida Aburrida” opens with a fiery yell. “Tiempo de Destrucción” is one of the most interesting, with the distorted guitar a bit more audible as it rises above the fray in a piercing solo.

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 NYC quartet Hysteric Polemix play a distinctive blend of aggressive peace punk, with elements of emotional post-hardcore and post-punk. The vocal style harkens back to the finger-pointing attitude of ‘80s NYC hardcore, but the lyrics are lengthy, poetic ruminations a la Crass. Half the tracks here are sung in Portuguese, such as the melodic closer “Fortaleza de São Miguel,” which has a bouncy bass and a jangly, phaser-laden guitar. Named for a fort in Angola that’s centuries old, dating back to when the Portuguese first began laying claim to the area, the song instead hints at the Angolans’ long struggle for liberation.

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 Self Improvement have the chops to play spotless, Pylon-style angular post-punk, but instead they’ve opted to do something much weirder. No song here is straightforward—indeed the fare seems to get further out there as the album progresses. Formed during the pandemic as a long-distance project, the four-piece is now based fully in Long Beach. Frontperson Jett Witchalls has a breathy speak-sing vocal style, with irregular phrasing, sort of like Algebra Suicide; it’s captivating enough to keep this music interesting. The buzzing “Fear and Power,” which ends with psych guitar futzing, and the garagey, rocking “Filling Time” are two of the strongest songs here. But don’t overlook the slowed-down, minimal Prodigy cover, a sort of mash-up of “Firestarter” and “Smack My Bitch Up.”

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 Any record that starts with a clip from Desperate Living (1977), which is arguably John Waters’s most bonkers film, has got my attention. It’s a fitting intro for “Race to the Bottom,” the brutally unhinged opening track on PersonⒶ’s debut record. The NYC five-piece plays thrashing peace-punk at lightning speed, with lyrics that are politically brash enough to back up all that noise. Whether calling for the death of America or warning that you’re gonna leave a worse world than the one you were born in, Persona isn’t worried about causing offense. “Getting Fucked,” which starts as a slow dirge, is full chaos, with echoing, scratchy vocals and a loud wall of distortion and noise. But it’s not all hopelessness here. Closing track “Moment of Silence” calls for burning the current world down, rightfully noting that there’s “Nothing to lose but a desolate future.”

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 The stripped-down offbeat punk spirit of K Records lives on in Vienna, Austria quartet Lime Crush. The band has been finding joy in the collective act of songwriting for nearly ten years. Their latest 7-inch is glinting art punk, filled with cool, grooving basslines that have a jazzy, ‘90s feel. “Téléphone” is part spoken word, part sing-song, with a chorus whose intensity builds up and then subsides, and a guitar that cuts in with jagged flourishes. The band’s lyrics have an idiosyncratic storytelling aspect to them, as on the jammy closing track “Park.” By its end, the lead vocalist is ecstatically shouting her lines on top of sweet girl-gang style backing vocals; the devil-may-care attitude and energy of this band are irresistible.

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 On this follow-up to 2020’s self-titled release, Leeds trio Nape Neck are more keyed up than ever. On the Lithics-esque opening track, the guitar sounds like it’s being pumped up and then deflated. Nape Neck doesn’t play no wave–influenced post-punk so much as they build cacophonous layers of sound, all with just a bass, guitar, drums, and their own voices. “Warm Air” is built around the bass, which the guitar sometimes wraps itself around, at other times it’s just adding dissonant shards of sound. Claire Adams’s impressive, punchy bass brings to mind Kira Roessler’s daredevil lines on The Process of Weeding Out. On several songs, the band members sing or shout over one another, as on “Kiss Me Boy, I’m Dying.” The result is vital and energizing, a reminder of how far the limits of punk can be stretched.

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 Before the internet, stumbling upon music you really liked often felt magical, particularly if you weren’t into radio-friendly fare. Listening to The Hazmats, a project from members of Chubby and The Gang, Big Cheese, and GAME, feels like you’re back in that time period, discovering a new favorite band on a mixtape. They perfectly conjure the fuzzy, jangly pop sound of ‘80s UK acts like The Jesus and Mary Chain, with bright, infectious hooks and understated vocals. The title track is romantic power pop that’s full of yearning, while the B-side is more urgent, with tight drumming. I’ve been hoping all year for a full-length!

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 “Imagine the possibilities, redefine the barriers,” Malflora chants on “Emergent,” a trippy incantation that calls into being “Black and Brown achievement” as both a visionary future and a threat to anyone who dares stand in the way. One of New Orleans’s finest punk outfits, Malflora plays heavy dirges and weirdo no wave jams, channeling the breathy deadpan of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. Using gasps and barks, repetitive riffs, and bass so heavy it seems to reverberate in one’s chest, the trio excels at unsettling. The album was released by Thrilling Living, and recorded with Alphabet Sound Observatory, “an audio engineer library for Black and Indigenous women and LGBTQIA+ artists of color” which also provides audio engineering training.

评语：The Best Punk of 2022 On their sophomore album, UK trio Big Joanie build a lush, expansive world in which to explore the idea of home, from the comfort of a relationship to the uncertainty of one’s life path. Playing with repetition and catchy melodies, Big Joanie uses layers of vocals and instrumentation to create a moody, melancholic vibe. Over the course of almost a decade, Big Joanie have forged their own unique Black feminist punk path, undoubtedly making it easier for bands to come through their organizing efforts with the Musician’s Union and Decolonise Fest. That sort of encouragement to stand in solidarity seems echoed here in the lo-fi “What Are You Waiting For?” with vocalist Stephanie Phillips urging you to “give into it,” singing “There’s no time for standing on your own/ So what are you waiting for.”

评语：The Best Electronic Music of 2022 Amapiano, having exploded out of South Africa to a global audience during the first COVID-19 lockdown, continues to be one of the most influential genres in electronic music. And while people from just about every country on Earth are adopting its influence, thankfully S.A. producers are continuing to get heard. Teno Afrika made one of the earliest ampiano albums of 2020, and thanks to the Awesome Tapes From Africa label, his latest has a bigger platform still. The brilliance of this album lies in how little it diverges from the fundamental template. Shakers, a steady kickdrum, gentle vocals, warm chords, a refusal to rush anything, and then that huge, syncopated “log bass” taking the lead—and no matter how many times it’s repeated, it retains its power. This style dominates for a reason!