Rain Henderson’s Favorite Albums of 2022

As we spin the final grooves of 2022, JME Contributors are recapping their favorite music of the year.

My listening habits tend to be littered with repetition. I’ll find one song or one album and let that sucker play over and over (and over) for days, sometimes weeks. If a sound clicks with me in a moment of time, it embeds itself into my inner being and goes to work, a plus when the music itself is repetitive. My brain gets pleasure out of redundancy. (Like I assume most people do, I listen to music most while I work.)

Though I generally find myself indulging in earlier tunes by the likes of some twee icons of yore, 2022 did provide me with some good hyper-fixations. Reviewing my 2022 listenings again proved my magnetized mood for all things familiar. A lot, if not all, of the albums bounce between some “existential” notion of questioning social structures. Searching, then disconnecting, transcending, then escaping the seemingly unreasonable nature of life as we know it. I guess that’s post punk for you. 

While I generally like to argue that lyrics outshine sound in the creation of connection to a piece of music, funny enough, all my most listened to albums sound the same: diary-cribbed phrases deployed in an un-enthusiastic manner, jammy breakouts, a sort of psychedelic thorny bit, melodic harmonies, very well-played guitar and tension. Lots of tension. Most of my previous crushes showed themselves on my top 2022 but two newcomers made their way into my heart via their yearning for human connection: Fontaines D.C. and Cola (previously disbanded members of Ought). 

Here’s my tops list, which, if nothing else, convinces me that I should get out more:

Stumpwork, Dry Cleaning

• Stream Stumpwork

Skinty Fia, Fontaines D.C.

• Stream Skinty Fia

Warm Chris, Aldous Harding 

• Stream Warm Chris

Deep in View, Cola

• Stream Deep In View

Sympathy For Life, Parquet Courts

• Stream Sympathy For Life