Here we are at the top five albums I reviewed in 2022. It was a great year for music, and these are what stood out for me among all the good stuff out there.
As I’ve mentioned before, 2022 was a great year for electronic music, and this EP from Jacques Greene topped my list of that kind of music. It mixes house, drum and bass, ambient, and a bit of synth wave into a luscious brew.
This reissue of classic gospel funk tracks by The Staples Jr. Singers is stunning. The amount of groove and friskiness in these songs is almost overwhelming. The instrumentation and harmonizing are outstanding, and there’s enough soul for two churches.
This is the best post-punk album I heard all year. Everything on it is razor sharp: the wit, the guitar angles, the grooves, the drum sounds, and the slightly snarled tongue-in-cheek vocals.
The Black Angels‘ new album was a great return for them. It explores the stress of modern times through walls of distorted guitars, reverb-laden vocals, powerful drums, and mind-warping sound. The Black Angels have yet to put out a bad record, but this one somehow set the bar even higher for psych-bands to follow.
#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – See Through You
A Place to Bury Strangers came back with a new lineup and some of Oliver Ackermann‘s most revealing lyrics about the end of friendships, loneliness, grief, over-reliance on technology, and the overall anxiety everyone’s been feeling since 2019. Ackermann put it all out there and walloped us with more honesty and distortion that you can almost stand.
It’s time for the top ten live shows I saw in 2022. These shows were mind-bending in multiple ways.
#10: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Levitation Austin / Stubb’s – October 29th
This was the second of two sold-out shows from KGATLW at Stubb’s. The line to get into this show stretched for almost three blocks. The crowd was fired up and the prolific psych-rock Aussies played everything from thrash metal to electro. It’s amazing that they can keep so many different types of songs in their heads.
It’s always good to see APTBS. Their shows are like endurance workouts that push you into a runner’s high. This was the first time I saw them with the new lineup and they seemed even louder than they’d ever been. The Empty Bottle could barely contain them.
#8: Moon Duo – Levitation Austin / Feels So Good Records – October 30th
This was the loveliest show of the year, and the most hypnotizing. Playing in their “Lightship” projection box stage, Moon Duo would become lost in the light show that beamed from behind them, onto the screen around them, and into the audience. I’m not joking when I tell you it was trance-inducing. You had to be careful not to zone out and fall onto the floor.
I’ve never seen Osees put on a bad show, and this one, albeit a shorter set than normal, was another solid performance. It was the second of their four-night residency at Austin’s Hotel Vegas, and the crowd was the perfect size – not so big you couldn’t stretch your arms, and not so small that you felt bad for the band. The weather was also about perfect. All you needed was a light coat, a hat, and a drink and you were ready for the mosh pit.
This was the best set of the entire Levitation Austin festival last year. It was also the last show of Slift’s U.S. tour, and they unloaded everything they had left in the tank, and then borrowed from the audience’s tank, and then somehow still had enough to leave orbit. I was surprised Elysium was still standing afterwards. It spoiled us a bit for the rest of the weekend, because no one could top it.
Up next, the best five shows I saw last year, which include some legends.
As soon as I heard “Shoo-In,” I knew this was going to be one of my favorite records of the year. These Austin, Texans play fuzzy garage rock that covers such subjects as drinking, sex, partying, break-ups, jerks, and weirdos. In other words, everything.
Cosmic rock keeps expanding, which is great news for people like me who love psychedelic sounds that are fit for exploring the desert or other planets. King Buffalo’s newest album fits the bill and sends you into orbit into the surprisingly warm void of space.
This is the best dance-rock record I heard all year. It’s a groove-filled EP with scathing lyrics about politicians, consumerism, the internet, celebrity, toxic masculinity, and sex.
And here’s the best punk record I heard all year. The Chats came back with a new guitarist and a renewed anger (and sense of humor) after the pandemic and gave us this wickedly sharp and funny album of barn-burners about the price of cigarettes, hot rods, and, of course, getting drunk.
#15: Primus – Clyde Theatre / Ft. Wayne – May 10th
It’s a bit baffling that it had taken me this long to see Primus. I’ve been listening to them since 1991. I caught them on their “A Tribute to Kings” tour, in which they played Rush‘s entire “A Farewell to Kings” album as the second set. It was a mind-altering show that mixed Rush’s material with Primus’ own stuff.
#14: Gary Numan – Park West / Chicago – March 21st
This was a loud, powerful set in a smaller venue than the last place I saw Gary Numan (Chicago’s Thalia Hall), so it felt more visceral. It was a jam-packed crowd, too, with everyone anxious to finally be out of the house and seeing live music again. Numan played a great mix of new and old material that had everyone buzzing.
The Black Angels never disappoint, and this hometown / home festival set was another solid one. Coming on stage in matching “Black Angels” jackets, they got down to business and killed it with a lot of excellent material from their new album, Wilderness of Mirrors, and classic material.
#12: Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Levitation Austin / Stubb’s – October 30th
One of the bands opening for The Black Angels that night was Frankie and The Witch Fingers, who were dressed for the Halloween weekend in zombie makeup and ready to tear into us like a pack of ghouls. They had the crowd moshing, throwing stuff, and crowd-surfing before the set was halfway done.
#11: Earthless – Pierre’s / Ft. Wayne – September 13th
Shame on you if you missed this show because it was practically a private concert. A small crowd had gathered to see Earthless unload their cosmic rock in a small space. It was the last show of this leg of their tour, and they held nothing back for the enthusiastic fans who were there.
Who’s in the top ten? Come back tomorrow to learn!
Another excellent EP that came out this year (and there were several). Lu.Re’s EP of house music mixed with a bit of dark wave was an EP that made me sit up and think, “Oh, I need more of this.”
Seriously, there was a ton of great electro and house music released last year. I’m sure I barely heard the tip of the iceberg, and yet there were great finds like this EP from Abdul Raeva that hits heavy and with undeniable grooves.
It wouldn’t be a “best of the year” list for me without some doom metal, and Frayle‘s newest album fits the bill. Described to me as “Black Sabbath meets Portishead,” I knew I was going to like it. Imagine the ghost of a witch fronting a doom band, and you’ll get the idea.
As weird and wild as the cover depicts, Goat‘s new album covers death, transcendence, and sex – three of their favorite topics – and was a great return for them. Their psychedelic voodoo sound was sorely missed.
Who makes it in to the top half of my best records of the year? Tune in tomorrow!
Keep your mind open.
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Wild, weird, and wonderful, Gustaf put on a fun late afternoon set under the Angers sun. You could tell they were having a great time. I spoke with Lydia Gammill after the set and she told me they still couldn’t quite believe they’d just played a set in France.
This was the second time I’d seen Death Valley Girls in the same year, with the first being at Levitation France just two months prior. This set was more up close and personal (which is every show at Chicago’s Empty Bottle) and a bit more dangerous to boot. Lead singer Bonnie Bloomgarden delighted in walking out into the crowd to sing and mingle with fans.
Speaking of dangerous shows, Warm Drag‘s set at Levitation Austin was sexy and deadly, not unlike a panther. Blending dark electro with sultry vocals, the set had a lot of people grooving and trembling at the same time.
This was the second time I saw Automatic last year. Yes, the first time was in France in June. The trio had only improved in that short time, and they wowed the Austin crowd. The number of Automatic band shirts and tote bags we saw after their set was extensive.
This short set from Welsh power trio The Joy Formidable packed more wallop than most sets I saw from other bands that were twice as long. They were so fierce that lead singer / guitarist Ritzy Bryan headbutted bassist Rhydian Daffyd in the chest twice during the set.
Who’s in the top 15? Well, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out!
2022 was a great year for electronic music, and this EP from Adam BFD was among the best pieces of EDM I heard. It thumps from beginning to end and should be in every DJ’s toolbox.
Another album that blends electro well (with dream-pop in this case), is Primer’s Incubator. It’s a fun listen, even though a lot of it is about a break-up.
16: BODEGA – Broken Equipment
I think it’s a guarantee that anything released by Brooklyn post-bunkers BODEGA is going to end up in my top 20 of any year. Broken Equipment was another solid album from them, with great beats and sharp, biting lyrics about everything from consumerism to British disaster movies.
Who’s in the top 15? Come back tomorrow to find out!
It’s time for a look back at my top live shows of last year. I saw 51 bands last year, some of them multiple times, and a good amount of them at the Levitation Austin and Levitation France music festivals. Here’s the start of the list…
25. The Well – Levitation Austin / Antone’s – October 29th
The Well are one of the best doom bands out there right now, and their live shows never disappoint. They were damn loud in Antone’s and walloped the place with thundering sound. They also played some new material, which bodes well for a new album from them in the future.
24. The Psychedelic Furs – Andrew J. Bird Music Center / Cincinnati – July 20th
My friend described the venue as “the Borg Cube of music venues,” but the Furs filled the place with gorgeous sound, playing a good mix of old and new material. Richard Butler sounded as good as ever and everyone on the band was clicking.
#23. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Levitation France – June 05th
“You don’t need more drugs, sir, you need better drugs. If you had better drugs, you’d be mellowed out and not yelling.” Those words from band leader Anton Newcombe pretty much summed up the trippy feel of their set to close the 2022 Levitation France music festival.
#22. La Femme – Levitation Austin / Stubb’s – October 30th
Sexy, sweaty, sizzling, and super, this set from the French quintet had the Stubb’s crowd go from, “What is happening?” to “Wow! This is amazing!” by the end. The whole place was bouncing and even yelling back French lyrics they didn’t understand.
#21: Pelada – Levitation France – June 04th
Booked somewhat at the last minute for the 2022 Levitation France music festival, Pelada closed the Scène Elevation (Elevation Stage) one night to a gobsmacked crowd who was bowled over by their fierce industrial-tinged electro. Everyone was in their hands for the entire set, and everyone left with a crush on singer Chris Vargas.
Who makes the top 20? Come back tomorrow to find out!
Proving once again that “power trio” isn’t just a descriptive handle from the distant past, but a louder-than-God 21st Century reality, New York’s Skull Practitioners release their first full-length album, Negative Stars, for In the Red Records on January 20th. The album is the second release for Los Angeles-based In the Red by the trio — guitarist Jason Victor, bassist Kenneth Levine, and drummer Alex Baker, following the band’s acclaimed EP, Death Buy, issued in 2019.
Previously, Victor had established himself as the dazzling co-lead guitarist for Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three -when Wynn revived his ‘80s L.A. Paisley Underground consortium The Dream Syndicate in 2017, Victor took the guitar chair previously occupied by Karl Precoda and PaulCutler. Levine was playing in DBCR, a three-piece unit. “We wanted to go to a five-piece, and needed a drummer and another guitar player,” he says. “We put an ad out on Craigslist and met Jason and Alex that way. Alex was just two weeks into living in New York. We played together for a while, and then it just sort of dissolved. Jason, Alex, and I actually had more of a shared, common musical perspective, and the three of us decided, ‘Let’s stick together with just us three.’”
Skull Practitioners recorded a limited cassette-only debut, st1, which they self-released in 2014. The four-song collection, on which Baker was the lone band member to take a vocal, marked the start of a long hunt for the right voice. “We kept looking for a new singer, and that person never came,” says Victor. “None of us wanted to sing at all. After a while, we had been together as a three-piece for so long that we had our thing, and it became difficult for someone to fit into it. So we pulled a Genesis! The best thing about it is that now all three of us will sing, and that takes the pressure off just one of us.” Levine adds, “Whoever writes, sings. It’s their expression, so they should say what they have to say.”
On Negative Stars, Levine performs “Dedication” and “What Now,” and Victor sings “Exit Wounds,” “Leap,” “Intruder,” and “Ventilation.” The album’s expansive instrumental tracks are “Fire Drill” and Skull Practitioners’ longtime club highlight “Nelson D,” which first appeared on st1 in a live version. You can hear a multitude of influences coming off each other in Skull Practitioners’ music, ranging from TheGun Club to Sonic Youth to Joy Division, Black Flag, and beyond. Each player brings something uniquely his own to the mix.
“Black Flag was huge for me,” says Victor. “There is that element of improv, and of aggression, that I was attracted to in that band. With our band, there’s definitely an aggressive angle there, and absolutely an improvisational one. We’re all willing to give everyone the space for contributing ideas. This band really does function as a democracy, which is nice.” Levine adds, “All of us were into different things, and there’s some kind of overlap and we kind of influence each other, and there’s stuff that we turn each other on to.”
Everything on Negative Stars coheres so seamlessly, but like with so many others, its recording was hampered, and protracted, by the COVID-19 pandemic.“The main album session was a few years ago,” Baker says. “That was when we went into the studio for a couple of days with our friend, engineer Ted Young, and we tracked the bulk of the album there. We recorded the instrumental parts first, then started vocal tracking in January of 2021. It took us so long to decide that all the instruments were done at that point. The vocals were actually done at our practice space. We just set up the mics and did that ourselves.”
Levine adds, “The record was in mid-flight, and then the pandemic hit, so we were just sitting around for six months or a year, and we said, ‘Well, we may never finish this.’ So we wound up literally sitting in a room with masks on during most of the vocal tracking. If we’d waited to go into a real studio, it would have come out even later. Alex did all the engineering on that, and we’re very appreciative of all his engineering prowess.”
With their album finally complete and the pandemic lifting, Skull Practitioners have begun to take to the stage more regularly: they have opened shows for Lydia Lunch, Hammered Hulls, Live Skull, and In the Red label mates the Wolfmanhattan Project (Kid Congo Powers, Mick Collins, and Bob Bert). They plan to get on the road in the near future.
Says Levine, “I think the band is represented at its best in a live setting. That’s where we’re in our element. Playing live, we’re out for blood.” Victor adds, “With the live thing, we just want to destroy, in the nicest, most friendly way — we’re nice people. Someone said about us, ‘These guys look like a bunch of accountants.’ People don’t really know what to expect before they hear us. I think they’re all a little surprised, maybe, and we like having that element of surprise — ‘We’re gonna blow your minds a little.’”
Greg Puciato, who has released both his critically-acclaimed debut and sophomore solo albums in the short span of two years, has set a Dec. 20 release date for his inaugural live album, 11/11/22 Los Angeles.
“You don’t get many first shows,” says Puciato of his Nov. 11 outing at Los Angeles’ Don Quixote. “Having the ability to properly document one and get high quality audio and video…I didn’t wanna regret not doing that. It’s gonna be killer to look back at this 100 or even five shows from now and see how much further along the live versions of these songs are. When I hear these recordings, I instantly feel transported to that room, that night, with my bandmates onstage and friends and everyone there in attendance. A lot of love and support and passion and hard work and talent in the room. I hope it does the same for you if you were there, and resonates as strongly for people who weren’t able to attend. I can’t wait to do more of this and see everyone again and more of you in other places down the line.”
A preview of the 11-song collection arrives today with the Jim Louvau and Tony Aguilera directed video for “Deep Set (Live)” (https://youtu.be/6U3IGUQmV1o). Puciato noted: “’Deep Set’ feels good to lead with. One of my favorite memories of the tracking of Child Soldier: Creator of God were the vocals to this song…incidentally recorded at the same time of year as this show. The song was always meant to feel loose and live; the recorded vocal was a front-to-back one-take that we did in a shed in Nick Rowe’s (producer and live guitarist) backyard…so bringing it to life onstage with him, and Chris (Hornbrook) for the first time felt like a nice, symbolic full circle.”
11/11/22 Los Angeles will be available exclusively via Bandcamp, with the album streaming on Dec. 20, and vinyl pre-orders launching the same day. The collection will arrive on additional streaming services following its vinyl release in the Spring.
Joining Puciato for the live performance, and featured in this video, are the aforementioned Nick Rowe (guitar), Chris Hornbrook (drums), James Hammontree (guitar), and Jeff “Manwolf” Geiser (bass).
