2022 felt like the closest thing we've had to a return to normal since the mess went down a few years ago. Work became familiar again, the world began to look reminiscent, and as a result, the music scene as I knew it came back as well. Friends began to travel to congregate for events, concerts returned to the massive event status we knew them to be and musicians had the ability to record in the way that they had in the before times. As evidenced by the lists over the last couple of years, as brutal as it was overall, the pandemic wasn't necessarily a bad thing for musical output. People got creative and used the extensive downtime for all of our benefits. But this was the best year in a long time - both musically and otherwise - thanks to the comeback. Arnold may have coined the phrase, but these artists lived it. As a result, Schwartzies will be used to help show the brilliance of the return.
The Terminated (no Schwartzies given)
Ghost Funk Orchestra - A New Kind of Love
Just stumbled into this one too late. No real idea of how I'll feel about this as I've only listened to the delightful retro soul album twice. I want it here more as a thumbtack reminder to my future self that ensures a) I come back and listen to this more and b) keep an eye on these funky ghosts.
Supercrush - Melody Makler EP
EPs always feel like cheating. These guys are incredible, and every song on this luscious power pop gem is just as good as the last. The entire lineage of Byrds --> Big Star --> Teenage Fanclub is all standing and applauding. It just always doesn't feel like it's a sufficient amount of material to make the actual list. Sorry boys - do a proper LP and I can assure you, you'll be swimming in the deep end again.
MJ Lenderman - Boat Songs
Read a review about this album, (it seemed to be getting lots of press), and after a few too many sips of hop juice, I assumed it was the album of the year. Upon a more sober reflection, this clever yet simple set of recordings has a few standout moments ("Tastes Just Like it Costs", "Hangover Game") but doesn't deliver quite enough to be any higher than this.
The Lazy Eyes - Songbook
This crew has some real promise. On their debut, it's a massively fuzzed-out psychedelic garage rock romp that, when in the right mood, really clicks. The key here though is that given the wrong mood, it's just not something that works. So many of these albums can be put on at any time, in any place, with any combination of my family there to listen along. This... is not that.
Total Recall of True Lies
**Note: The number of Schwartzies an album receives is solely based on how much of a comeback it was for me and me alone. It doesn't correlate in any way to how much I liked the album. That's normally how a numerical system works when ranking things, right?
23) Kurt Vile - (watch my moves)
-43.2 Schwartzies
Can you come back if you've never left? I'm pretty sure Kurt has made the same album 6 straight times. They always manage to sneak onto my list, and usually around the back end. It's to the point where I almost didn't include this one in my set of reviews. But as I did my final re-listens, it did what a KV album ALWAYS does - it cruised along (somewhat aimlessly), delivered a few moments where I totally got lost in his stoned-out groove, and never left me anything other than pleasantly floating along a cloud of mediocrity. I'd like a little more from him at this point in his career (and in fact, the best thing he's ever done IMO is his collabo album with Courtney Barnett) but this might just be what he is.
22) Kiwi Jr - Chopper
0.1 Schwartzies
I'm not sure these guys have been around enough to be able to come back. If anything, the trajectory of their first two albums (jumping from honorable mention in 2020 to #11 in 2021) lead me to believe they were going to be cracking the top 10 in 2022. The problem is that they sanded down some of the rough edges, polished a few of the shaky bits, and in the process removed everything I really loved. The opening single "Unspeakable Things", still delivers in a way that gave me tons of hope, the guitar line of "Parasite II" is one of the more blatantly beautiful Strokes ripoffs ever and plenty of other songs work just fine for me. This is an album that is (possibly unfairly) crushed only by my own expectations of what it could be.
21) Drive by Truckers - Welcome 2 Club XIII
2.1 Schwartzies
Can you come back from your own album? The opening track, usually a real banger when it comes to DBT, is a 7-minute rambling semi-spoken word tune called "The Driver" which just doesn't work for me at all. In reading a bunch of other reviews, it seems like I am (somehow) alone in this opinion, but thankfully for them, everything only went up from there. A full resurrection all within the first two tracks! The rest of the album is a typical Hood/Cooley baton pass where each stellar songwriter has the chance to craft immediately relatable mini-worlds that their characters inhabit. There isn't much that stands out enough for me to make specific note of it but it's nice to see these guys still chugging along on album 14.
20) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Endless Rooms
0.2 Schwartzies
In a very similar sense to Kiwi Jr, these guys just haven't been around long enough to "come back". Unfortunately, it's also reminiscent of Chopper in that I went in with mile-high expectations and came away feeling slightly empty. Having released an album that may have had my song of the year ("Cars in Space") a few years back, I was hoping for more of those melodic multi-guitar masterpieces. "Tidal River" and "The Way it Shatters" come as close as anything on the album but somehow I still come away hoping for a little more. It's been said before that you have your whole life to write your first album, most of what doesn't make the first one becomes the second, and then you're stuck on the third because you have to start all over. For Kiwi Jr and RBCF, these releases certainly seem to fit the bill.
19) Pete Yorn - Hawaii
7.6 Schwartzies
Having only graced these lists once (2016) and only released one album since 2006 I enjoyed, it looked like a former favorite of mine had ridden off into the sunset. However, much like with his previous resurgence Arranging Time, he found a way to return to those melodious earworms that had me humming nonsense versions all through high school and college. Packed with simple yet infectious tunes, I found myself coming back to this album again and again. This later career renaissance came at a great time for me too because this past year I got to see him live for the first time. Throughout the night I constantly found myself thinking how much I absolutely loved his voice - and this album was a great way to reaffirm that nostalgic feeling.
18) Built to Spill - When the Wind Forgets Your Name
11.9 Schwartzies
When it comes to Dug, you just never know what you're going to get. This goes beyond choosing bandmates and album styles - there is always the chance he just straight up walks away and calls it a day. 7 years after their last release, BtS is 30 years into their career and Mr. Martsch has made it very clear he doesn't really enjoy making records anymore. As a result, I treat every release as the aural blessing that it is. It's lacking some of the brilliance of my favorite work of theirs, but it's still jam-packed with as many guitars as legally allowed by the FDA. This has been, and always will be, a band that takes me to a better place. I'll take em' for as long as they keep coming.
17) Charles Watson - Yes
5.4 Schwartzies
A truly delightful debut album 4 years ago left me wondering what in the world we had on our hands here. Even now as I listen to this lush, bass-laden white boy funky soul, I'm left wondering how it's possible I can't find a way to rank this higher. It's SO good. But alas, this is 2022, and I'm hard-pressed to drop anything above it any lower. That's far from an indictment of this glorious work. I love the layered vocals, the soothingly subtle strings, and every time a new song comes on, I think to myself "ah, THIS is actually the one I like the most" right up until the next one begins. The level of production demands headphones and I'm certain I'll come back to this years later wondering how in tarnation I ranked it so low. Sorry, Chuck.
16) Rayland Baxter - If I Were a Butterfly
-0.05 Schwartzies
Hell yeah. Rayland just oozes funky fun on an album that takes the lush orchestration of the previous one, throws it out the window, and says "let's throw a freaking fuzzed-out dance party". Perhaps the song of the year for my son, "Rubberband Man" is about as much audio joy as one can share with another human. Windows down, chorus cranked, there isn't going to be a more enjoyable tune for me in 2022. There are so many fun moments and the only thing holding this back is a lack of consistency. The high moments are so high though that they are able to buoy this up into this upper echelon. Mr. Baxter doesn't seem like a guy who doesn't anything other than what the muse tells him to - in the end, we're all better for it.
15) Toro y Moi - Mahal
9.7 Schwartzies
I always knew it was possible he might make more music I enjoy, but it never seemed like something he wanted to do. 2015's What For? was an incredible power-pop detour but beyond that, I never was able to connect with much more than a song here or there with the work of Chaz Bundick. Knowing it has been 7 years and 5 varied releases since he put out music in my sweet spot, I only gave the first single a cursory glance. But wait a minute, what's this? 3 absolutely stunning bangers released in a row? Don't mind if I do! "Postman", "The Loop", and "Magazine" all got me involuntarily doing dances I would be embarrassed to do in public. While the rest of the album doesn't always live up to that otherworldly level, it's also not bad by any stretch. One of the happier musical surprises of the year, this modern take on r&b really does it for me and has absolutely given me hope for a chance of maybe, possibly more in the future.
14) Delta Spirit - One is One
1.2 Schwartzies
After years of hearing about these guys and being told I should be digging them by many people whose musical taste I respect, last year's What Is There was the first time it all came together for me. I was lucky enough to catch them live in the spring, something that only solidified how much they had hooked me. Lo and behold, after one short year (take note Built to Spill) they were back with another collection that hit me right in the money maker again. Driving rhythms propel these songs forward in a way that reminds me some of what the best War on Drugs sounds like. It's a similar template of returning back to what the 80s sounded like but using modern technology to ensure it doesn't sound too much like it. Matt Vasquez has had a voice I've always appreciated - going back to Middle Brother - it just took until these last two albums for it to be married to a musical style that really resonated with me. Keep it coming boys.
13) Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa
0.0 Schwartzies
These guys never waver. They don't have to come back from anything because from the moment I started listening to them they have had the most stunningly consistent run of albums I can think of for any artist that I enjoy. There are so many releases that come out where you end up "worried" about whether or not it's going to be as good as you hope it'll be. Not with Spoon. All I needed to know was the album had a title and a release date. They never just coast though. To come out of the gate with the raucous headbanger "The Hardest Cut" was potentially a violation of HIPAA. These guys just have it figured out. They never sound like anyone other than themselves but somehow they also never sound stale or like they're repeating themselves. It's a miraculous tightrope to walk and I just feel lucky to get to be a fan of a band that is consistently this money.
12) Young Guv - III
8.1 Schwartzies
After absolutely blindsiding me with the dual 2019 releases of I and II, I somewhat assumed that this flash in the pan would either disappear into the ether or return to his hardcore roots. Instead, along comes album number three which is just a glorious continuation of everything I loved about the first two. Earth shatteringly crunchy guitars buoyed by 12-string acoustics dance over the top of angelic vocals. The Scottish lads from the Fanclub can't help but grin when they hear this heartfelt tribute to their perfect combination of dirty and clean. After assuming that anything more that came out from the Guv would be bound to let me down, I was delightfully wrong (only to hilariously be proven right by the significantly less enjoyable and clearly missing from this list for a reason IV which was also put out a few months later). I don't know how much longer I am going to get to grab onto the angelic horns of the power pop bull, but for the time being, I'm holding on for dear life.
11) Band of Horses - Things are Great
4.7 Schwartzies
Like many of the bands on this list, a longer-than-normal amount of time between albums was the main reason I was nervous about their new release. 2016's Why Are You OK was the first BoH album that ever truly grabbed me - plus it had the added benefit of really resonating with my wife. As a result, we were both anxiously anticipating Things are Great and the title couldn't have been more apt. This band seems extremely locked in and this output is a stellar continuation of the magic they found 6 years before. Alternating between heavy layers of guitars and airy, ethereal vocals, they combine to do an amazing job of keeping me hooked. Whereas some albums on this list suffer from having real peaks and valleys, Things is a perfect record to have on vinyl - you just drop the needle and sit back to enjoy every bit of it.
10) Jack White - Entering Heaven Alive
12.5 Schwartzies
It must be made clear from the start - the White Stripes and Raconteurs have a remarkably consistent level of excellence. Jack is without question the main driver of that brilliance and deserves all the praise he receives for doing so. However, when it comes to solo work, I've been baffled significantly more than I've ever enjoyed what he's put out. Scatterbrained, heavily electronic at times, and careening well off the melodic road, there have been moments but for me, they were few and far between. His second release of 2022 finally righted that ship - and perhaps did so by cheating. This mostly acoustic collection is, without question, the most reminiscent of his other bands that I love. It has space to breathe, it's not nearly as schizophrenic, and the songs are easily hummable. Jack reminds me of Neil Young a lot in the sense that he is going to follow his muse wherever it takes him - regardless of whether or not that's what his audience is looking for at that time. That leads to a questionable, choppy output at times but just like Uncle Neil, when it hits right there isn't much better out there.
9) Color Green - Color Green
0.0 Schwartzies
The debut eponymous LP just happened to find me at the perfect time. Stuck in a self-imposed quarantine thanks to the sweet, sweet 'Rona, I had significantly more free time than normal for about a week or so in early August. This allowed me to pop on an album I would have admittedly not given much of a chance - just letting it marinate in the background while I read. Upon the third or fourth listen, my foggy brain realized that every time it ended, I just casually reached over and started it again. Mixing the jams of Phish and the Meat Puppets with an ambling country twang, it reminds me very much of a Silver Synthetic album if they had been born in another part of the country. The vocals are probably the only area that doesn't really grab me, but thankfully the sense of melody and collection of harmonies does enough to keep me grooving along. Feeling somewhat blinded by circumstance, I'm not sure how this album will hold up for me long term, but for the time being, I find it to be the quintessential palette cleanser - always leaving me in a better place than when it began.
8) Sheepdogs - Outta Sight
-0.1 Schwartzies
These guys have a formula that has worked incredibly well and even though they haven't really strayed from it too much, I'm absolutely not getting tired of it either. Choogling boogies, southern twang rock, raucous vocals with sugary harmonies, and then did I mention guitars drenched in guitar sauce sprinkled with powdered guitars? Not quite as musically adventurous as the Bros. offshoot, these guys are the musical equivalent of shotgunning 3 Busch beers using a deer antler from the biggest buck in the Canadian woods. I finally had the pleasure of seeing them live this past fall in a really small little club after having only previously seen them once at an early time slot in a large festival setting. In-person they deliver in the exact way that you would hope they would - rowdy, tight, exuberant, and packed with more guitar solos than a whole fleet of '86 Camero's. It was an absolute blast and a complete throwback to an era of shows from before my arrival on this earth.
7) Drugdealer - Hiding in Plain Sight
8.6 Schwartzies
"Fools" was the first song I'd ever heard from these guys off of their 2019 release Raw Honey. It was so stunningly good I assumed it was going to be my album of the year - potentially on the strength of that tune alone. Were one to go back and peruse said 2019 post though, you'd be hard-pressed to find the words Drugdealer. Yikes. Understandably, I had a little trepidation after hearing, and really liking, the first single off of Plain Sight. Fool me once and so forth. Thankfully song two came along and crushed any of my concerns into the shaggiest 70s rug you have ever seen. Equal parts Steely Dan and Andrew Gold, this smooth-as-silk mellow funk finely walks the line between studio brilliance and soulful feel. As much as I love all of the music on this list, thanks to its accessibility, this might be the one I would choose to play for someone above all else.
6) Eddie Vedder - Earthling
10.2 Schwartzies
Vedder had always stayed away from doing a quote-unquote proper solo album. He did soundtrack word, created some songs here and there, dabbled with a full album of ukelele songs, and mainly kept all of the rocking and or rolling to Pearl Jam. Subsequently, I didn't think much of the fact that he was releasing another attempt at an LP. This time though, something was different. Andrew Watt was brought in to produce (and play guitar), Chad Smith (of the Chili Peppers) was signed up for the drums, and Josh Klinghoffer (formerly of RHCP) found himself a new gig as well. And then, well, they just let it rip. As absurd as it sounds, they created an album filled with the type of fun, hard-rocking bangers that have long been absent from PJ. Throw in some fun guest appearances (Elton John in a duet and Stevie Wonder playing the most absurdly awesome punk rock harmonica I've ever heard) and I'm left marveling at where this has been for his whole solo career. Perhaps the credit belongs to Mr. Watt for dragging this version out of him or maybe it speaks to how hard it is to craft songs when 5 people have lots of ideas vs. when 1 is mainly at the hem. Whatever the reason may be, it gives me great pleasure to get to hear the kind of Vedder that I fell in love with in the first place.
5) Peach Pit - From 2 to 3
6.1 Schwartzies
Sometimes an album can just hit you the right way. For my wife and I, this March release became our soundtrack to life for a good 2 to 3 months ( see what I did there?). After coming to the party late on these fellas, Being So Normal became one of my favorite albums of the 2000s so I was surprised when I dove into the follow-up (You and Your Friends) and somehow didn't have it hook its claws into me in nearly the same way. I assumed this meant these guys could just be "one of those bands" that catches a perfect album for me only to then be lost to the sands of time. But alas! Somehow they took the 2 to 3 slow songs on BSN and fleshed them out into a whole, mostly acoustic, album. The dictionary definition of airy, this light-as-helium collection of 11 tunes never crests more than the ambling pace of an octagenarian lapping the mall. The "up late at night trying desperately to find a hook-up" urgency of their early work has been replaced by a calm, self-assured set of problems that comes along with aging. While this is usually a recipe for an artist's work to fall off, in this case, it was a complete revitalization for my aural enjoyment. It also opens up a whole new avenue for them going forward, increasing the chances exponentially that they will be back on these lists in years to come.
4) Brendan Benson - Low Key
4.2 Schwartzies
Dear Life would have been off the charts on the Shwartzies scale. This may come as just as much of a shocking return to form though because my man just delivered an absolute monster follow-up. Playing every single instrument throughout this brief yet top-notch collection of 8 songs, Brendan absolutely grabs me from the opening notes. While it's only 6 originals - "Right Down the Line" is a straightforward but stellar Gerry Rafferty cover and "All In" is a truly sublime Nasty C cover (maybe the most absurd words I've ever written) - each is a walking tour through the stages of his musical life, reminding the listener that when he's right, he's one of the best pure song crafters we have. With more melodies and hooks than a crate full of old Beatles records, I would argue that this is the finest thing he's ever put out from top to bottom. I think too many of my musical friends might be sleeping on this one so I'm going to be shouting from the rooftops - please drop whatever you're doing right now, grab a good pair of headphones and let Low Key wash over you in all its glory.
3) The Berries - High Flying Man
5.0 Schwartzies
But wait, you might say, how is it possible this beauty got so many Schwartzies when you've ranked their most recent albums #3 and #6?? Great question astute reader! The skeleton key to understanding this as a possibility is knowing how much of a change-up it is to hear Mr. Berry record in a proper studio with a full band. I clearly immensely loved what he was capable of when recording in the style I had grown accustomed to in his previous work, but this opened up a whole new world for his songwriting and guitar playing. While he was never anywhere near shy about adding in as much heavy guitar as humanly allowed, having a full true rhythm section has opened up a world of possibilities - allowing Berry to turn in his best guitar work AND his most solid collection of songs to date. Gorgeous low-key sing-alongs like "Down That Road Again" and "A Drop of Rain" give the listener a great glimpse of his always-present but sometimes buried incredible sense of melody. Meanwhile, I don't think there is a more enjoyable piece of music for me in 2022 than the first 50 seconds of "Exceptional Fabric". This album is steadily entering my "replicates all the guitar sounds and solos with your mouth" hall of fame. My most listened-to album of the year, this is going to be one I surely return to for years to come.
2) Dawes - Misadventures of Doomscroller
9.3 Schwartzies
I liked Good Luck With Whatever and assumed it typified what would be the late-period holding pattern for the band - 100% solid work that keeps me extremely happy but rarely blows my socks off. In all honesty, I was fine with that. While they might not be cracking the top 5 too often, there were still multiple songs per album I truly loved and every time they released something it would mean I get the truly special joy of getting to see them live again (12 times and counting). NOTHING could have possibly prepared me for the shock I experienced when I popped on "Someone Else's Cafe/Doomscroller", the nearly 9-and-a-half-minute first single. A stunning tour de force through their entire career, highlighting the multitude of things they manage to do extremely well, I grooved to the first 1/3, jammed out with the second 1/3, and then cried my way through the final 1/3 as I happily imagined how much my dad would have absolutely loved it. Incredibly, this was the beginning of what became an entirely new sound for them. It was as if they were a Milky Way bar broken into two to see how far one could stretch it before the caramel finally tore. Song after song had a crazy intro, an extended bridge, or multiple solos that might appear once an album prior to this. Everything they did this year absolutely turned to gold - from the always welcome live streamed concerts to the release of a live in-studio version of them playing the album front to back, I didn't think they could top themselves until they casually announced they would be touring with another of my favorite artists, Bahamas. But wait, that's not all! They weren't just touring together, they were touring TOGETHER, as one band, playing each other's songs, sometimes within the same medley. It was stunning and everything I could have hoped for when I was lucky enough to see it in person. Honestly, in any other year, this would have been my clear #1. There was just one small little thing that happened though...
1) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Return to the Dream Canteen/Unlimited Love
1,368.4 Schwartzies
I graduated from college and moved from New York to North Carolina. I lived in 3 places down here - including one home for over 10 years. I've gotten married, stayed that way for 11 years, had 2 kids, had a dog for 7 years, worked 16 years as a teacher, and listened to approx 9,857 albums. This is just a small sampling of the things that happened since the last time I heard John Frusciante play guitar in my favorite band.
It's truly hard to quantify the impact this man (and as a result, this collection of 4 men) have had on my musical life. They were the first band that allowed me to find a musical community of friends. Beyond being the entire purpose of many of these write-ups, it's the reason for this blog in the first place. Frusciante and the Peppers showed me that music can be so much more. It's my roommates, my housemates, my weekends, my late-night talks, my deep dives, my long-term friends, my obsessiveness, my identity, and my litmus test for meaningful relationships. It's the first band I truly geeked out over and I've rarely stopped doing so since my very late-yet-somehow-still-early introduction to them with 1998's Californication. When John walked away (for the second time) in 2007, claiming he never wanted to play guitar again, I was crestfallen. A replacement was hired, multiple tours forged ahead, 2 albums were crafted and with each passing year (and release of each of John's synth and sample heavy electronic forays), the pipe dream that I would ever get the chance to see him back in the band began to fade.
December of 2019 brought about the kind of moment that caused me to call people on the phone who NEVER get calls from me. "Hello?" they would answer nervously, assuming I was drowning in the ocean, only for me to shatter their trepidation with an exclamatory "John Anthony Motherfucking Frusciante is back in the Chili Peppers!!" Removing the obviously bigger personal life moments, this was the single most exciting and unexpected thing that had ever happened. I had given up all hope and this was 1000% out of the blue. There was just one small problem - COVID came along and there was essentially musical radio silence from the band for 2+ years. Rumors swirled of aborted albums, potential singles, and possible tours but... nothing.
That is until I was sitting in my classroom on a morning in late Jan of 2022 when the impossible became reality. The always resourceful Melse had tracked down a leak of the first single. I knew I should wait until I was home, on a good system, but I also knew there was no way in hell I could. So there, in an empty 5th-grade classroom, on crummy laptop speakers, I heard "Black Summer" for the first time. Swirling sounds of a seemingly long-dead ghost welcomed me before the 1:50 mark brought along his first solo, a sound I'll happily admit made me cry tears of joy. It's not even that it was THAT good (it was pretty good though), it's just the weight of what it meant.
The journey I'd been lucky enough to be on with these guys for the last 24 years was suddenly not only still alive and well, but resurrected in a way that I never dreamed possible. A world tour came along, a surprise second album was announced, and the band each recorded very revelatory podcasts with Rick Rubin (including an INSANE 4-part deep dive with just John). The music itself was almost secondary (though to be fair, both albums were much better than I ever imagined they would be at this point in their career - especially RotCD).
The Peppers were back baby! The one-time ember of a spark for why I love and obsess over music in the way that I do was back. 10,000 RHCP conversations would be spawned, countless hours of listening to their work (new and old) would be born, and 36 tracks (and countless live recordings) suddenly existed with my all-time favorite musician.
Every single bit of the friendship, camaraderie, reverie, and connection that this band brings and has brought me is the reason these two albums get the top spot. There's no need to parse the actual work itself - this is about so much more than that. So with that, I'll conclude my love letter - not only to these fellas - but to everyone who has ever taken the time to listen to me ramble on, jam to tunes with me, or read this blog. Thank you for humoring me and continuing to give me the chance to enjoy the thing I love the most. Much like the Peppers themselves, it means the world to me.
