STE's Best New Albums of 2022

At least the best ones that I heard.

Usually, I preface my end-of-the-year list—call it the Best of 2022, if you will—with some sort of capsule overview of the last year. I'm not quite up for that this year for a variety of reasons, including how the year has seemed nebulous, at least from my vantage. Several albums ate up oxygen throughout the year—the Beyonces, Taylors, and Alvvays of the world, maybe Wet Leg and Spoon too—and they also occupy considerable space on the various year-end lists but they do not dominate. Read enough year-end lists and the constant shifting presence of the same familiar titles gives the impression of a faint consensus: one staff falls for the charms of the Smile, another rallies for Black Country, New Road, and so on and so forth. 

A few of these albums pop up on my EOTY list, so I'm not sure how idiosyncratic it actually is. I'm not especially bothered by thist—why should I be if it's a reflection of my own personal taste? I did find some old favorites delivered strongly for me this year: Suede had their richest, rawest record in eons, Miranda Lambert fused Wildcard and The Weight of These Wings, Elvis Costello conjured the ghost of the Attractions without succumbing to nostalgia. I was charmed by the dreamy garage-pop of Breanna Barbara and the wry storytelling of Aaron Raitiere, thought Easy Eye Sound's salute to John Anderson is one of the best tribute albums I ever heard and I still can't believe that Gilbert O'Sullivan makes better albums now than he did back in the glory days of "Alone Again (Naturally)."

This year, I shamessly lifted the category "Subjects for Further Research" from Robert Christgau, using it as a way to classify albums I either didn't hear or didn't hear enough to get a good read on my own opinion. After that, there are a handful of artists who simply are not my thing: I can understand why others may did them but there's something that keeps me at a distance. 

1. Joshua Headley—Neon Blue

2. Suede—Autofiction

3. Miranda Lambert—Palomino

4. Elvis Costello & the Imposters—The Boy Named If

5. Aaron Raitiere—Single Wide Dreamer

6. Spoon—Lucifer on the Sofa

7. Wet Leg—Wet Leg

8. Charley Crockett—The Man from Waco

9. Weyes Blood—And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

10. Neil Young & Crazy Horse—World Record

11. Ashley McBryde—Presents Lindeville

12. Breanna Barbara—Nothin' But Time

13. Charli XCX—Crash

14. Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute to John Anderson

15. Courtney Marie Andrews—Loose Future

16. Eli Paperboy Reed—Down Every Road: Eli Paperboy Reed Sings Merle Haggard

17. Wilco—Cruel Country

18. The Beths—Expert in a Dying Field

19. Amanda Shires—Take It Like A Man

20. Willie Nelson—A Beautiful Time

21. Jon Pardi—Mr. Saturday Night

22. Jack White—Entering Heaven Alive

23. Beyonce—Renaissance

24. Taylor Swift—Midnights

25. Gilbert O'Sullivan—Driven

26. The Cactus Blossoms—One Day

27. Sharon Van Etten—We've Been Going About This All Wrong

28. Tyler Childers—Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?

29. Alvvays—Blue Rev

30. Bill Callahan—YTILAER

31. Soccer Mommy—Sometimes, Forever

32. Makaya McCraven—In These Times

33. Nikki Lane—Denim & Diamonds

34. The Regrettes—Further Joy

35. Sunflower Bean—Headful of Sugar

36. Miko Marks—Feel Like Going Home

37. Jack White—Fear of the Dawn

38. Dry Cleaning—Stumpwork

39. Lainey Wilson—Bell Bottom Country

40. Eddie Vedder—Earthling

41. Lizzo—Special

42. Elvis Costello & Rust—The Resurrection of Rust

43. Ingrid Andress—Good Person

44. Urge Overkill—Oui

45. Ty Segall—Hello Hi

46. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros—Live in Colorado

47. Todd Rundgren—Space Force

48. Old Crow Medicine Show—Paint This Town

49. Walker Hayes—Country Stuff: The Album

50. The Claudettes—The Claudettes Go Out!

51. The Black Keys—Dropout Boogie

52. Kelsea Ballerini—Subject to Change

53. Megan Thee Stallion—Traumazine

54. Watkins Family Hour—Watkins Family Hour, Vol. 2

55. Lyle Lovett—12th of July

56. Lera Lynn—Something More Than Love

57. Midland—The Last Resort: Greetings From

58. Liam Gallagher—C'mon You Know

59. The Deslondes—Ways & Means

60. Father John Misty—Chloe And the Next 20th Century

61. Bruce Hornsby—'Flicted

62. Maren Morris—Humble Quest

63. Hurray for the Riff Raff—Life on Earth

64. The Comet is Coming—Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam

65. Cass McCombs—Heartmind

66. Spiral Stairs—Medley Attack!!

67. Andrew Bird—Inside Problems

68. Pixies—Doggerell

69. Paul Cauthen—Country Coming Down

70. Def Leppard—Diamond Star Halos

71. Mandy Moore—In Real Life

72. Early James—What A Strange Time to Be Alive

73. Madeline Edwards—Crashlanded

74. Zach Bryan—American Heartbreak

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Bjork—Fossora

Black Country, New Road—Ants from Up There

The Delines—The Sea Drift

Drive-By Truckers—Welcome 2 Club ZXiii

Brian Eno—Forever and Ever No More

Craig Finn—A Legacy of Rentals

FKA Twigs—Caprisongs

Fontaines DC—Skinty Fia

SG Goodman—Teeth Marks

Robyn Hitchcock—Shufflemania!

Kendrick Lamar—Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers

Cate Le Bon—Pompeii

Tove Lo—Dirt Femme

The 1975—Being Funny in a Foreign Language

Angel Olsen—Big Time

Beth Orton—Weather Alive

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever—Endless Rooms

Rosalia—Motomami

Caitlyn Rose—Cazimi

Sault

The Smile—A Light for Attracting Attention

Harry Styles—Harry's House

Weezer—Seasonal EPs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs—Cool It Down

NOT MY BAG

Big Thief

MJ Lenderman

Mitski

The Weeknd