Death By 100+ Cuts: Every Album I Liked In 2022!

2022 was a good year for music dude. I mean, I think it was... it doesn't seem like people are really upset at least. Maybe at Drake actually I dunno. 21 Savage helped. This year I compulsively catalogued every album I listened to and enjoyed, and I ended up with so much stuff I wanted to talk about that I decided to just dump it all out and see what stuck. Intro-ing this post at the beginning of the blogging process, I saw it as sort of lower effort, less creative, auto-generated year-end content, and I wrote a very self deprecating paragraph to match. But you know what, I think a lot of it stuck, not sucked! This time around we do some crate digging, drift down the chill jazz lazy river, get into some Toro y Moi lore... I daresay this post earned its spot in the Creative category. And if you don't have the stamina to read everything (it took me more than a month to write it all), there's always the Henry-appointed album vibe to skim, and a good old top ten list at the very end, for tradition's sake. Thanks for taking this journey through 100+ albums (or death by a hundred cuts) with me, and I hope you find something new to listen to!

Italicized = Came out this year
Underlined = Henry's favorites

Head Hunters – Herbie Hancock (1973)

Starting things off this year with some Herbie– Mr. Hands himself! (Don't look that album up, um..) I got this record for Christmas last year but I think it counts as a January 2022 cut. If it didn't it wouldn't get to be on any list! Head Hunters deserves better. I must've heard most of this album pre-Christmas but it hits different on wax! Maybe. I can't really tell the difference anymore.

Old folks at a block party vibe

Hollow  Knight OST – Christopher Larkin (2017)

Okay, yeah, Hollow Knight's also kind of from last year, but I didn't really listen to it when I wasn't playing the game till 2022 so it counts, whatever. This stuff is so somber, and it hits in January. These albums are listed in the order I wrote them down in the notes app, but I probably spent the most time with Hollow Knight's score (outside of the game, I guess) in the spring, after I got the sheet music book for my birthday. Man, that's nerdy as hell. I probably shouldn't include that I played Crossroads before Pfrancing at a recital. I promise there's only like two more video games listed here.

Lost and cold in the dark vibe

Wet Land – Hiroshi Yoshimura (1993)

Damn Hiroshi Yoshimura really chills me the hell out. Wet Land's got super good rainy January vibes, and I listened to this a lot looking out the window in the library at school. It's about that time of year again, so this might be re-entering my rotation soon. I associate a lot of music with specific times of year, now that I think about it... I'll keep that in mind over the course of this list. Hey also, the title track reminds me of The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess a lot, do you hear it? Might be that dark choir sound.

Chill, primordial solitude vibe

Live From Trona – Toro y Moi (2016)
 
The first of many Toro cuts on this list. I think the sounds from all his prior albums came together really well and a lot of them (What For specifically, which is very over-represented here) sound better live. The concert video on YouTube is worth watching too, if you aren't butt hurt about listening to music through your TV. Get a sound bar.

Chilling in the post-apocalypse nuclear desert vibe

What For? – Toro y Moi (2015)

A little melancholy, but also optimistic in a this too shall pass sorta way. I'm gonna start keeping these shorter cause I have about a hundred more to do and it's already tomorrow morning. A MONTH LATER EDIT: That's funny

High energy January, low energy August vibe

Anything In Return – Toro y Moi (2013)

I think this was the biggest Chaz Bradley Bear Bundick grower for me. The fade out is special at the end of a road trip, in the rain, waiting to go inside till the track's over.

Dancey nap vibe

Outer Peace – Toro y Moi (2019)

This would be my biggest CBBB grower if had actually grown on me, which it hasn't really. Half the album is solid and pretty fun, and the rest is sorta dumb. A revisit may be warranted with MAHAL to make me feel better.

Caring too much about not caring vibe

Paradise – The Mattson 2 (2019)

The other half of Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2 Presents Star Stuff! That made my list of favorites last year, and I went deep on both sides of the collaboration. This album was nice when we learned Clover had a heart thing and would maybe live another year about a year ago, which felt worse than it sounds I guess. (She's doing pretty OK.)

Paradise vibe

Gongjoong Doduk – Mid-Air Thief (2015)

This album is a headache. I listened to a bugged out Japanese-localized version Spotify recommended out of curiosity and kind of liked it a lot! The strangeness was what grabbed me, but once I dug deeper into Mid-Air Thief (also known as Hyoo, Gongjoong Doduk, and Bird's Eye Batang)'s catalog, (who changes his name more than a DID TikTok-er,) I unearthed a lot of good, weird finds.

​Static shocks under a fuzzy blanket vibe

Dr. Octagonecologyst – Dr. Octagon / Kool Keith (1996)

This album was one of the first I had on vinyl, courtesy of my dad, who shares an affinity for LPs you can't play in the living room. (Dr. Octagon opens with audio from an Adult Film, These Walls opens with Kendrick Lamar having sex, etc.) I always liked the top streamed Dr. Octagon tracks on Spotify, but the entire project ended up taking a couple years to warrant repeated front to back listens, for some reason. Still a classic.

Just happy to be here vibe

Bar Slut – Crack Sabbath (2004)

I saw a Crack Sabbath show with my dad in February and I still stand by their Milestones cover vs Miles Davis's. The original sorta drags in comparison, I think! Crack Sabbath's only studio outing is a highly Gen X album, and so fun to see in person.

Biker club book club vibe

Mwandishi – Herbie Hancock (1971)

My piano teacher / guru's favorite Herbie album. Really lush. I put this on in the car for my grandparents on the drive back from Portland to Boston and we vibed out, so 5 stars. Classic.

In a clearing, in a rainforest vibe

Crossings – Herbie Hancock (1972)

Basically more Mwandishi. A little more melodic. Classic.

Ancient mystery vibe

Crumbling – Mid-Air Thief (2018)

The second Mid-Air Thief project on this list is smoother and more chilled out than Gongjoong Doduk, losing a little of its predecessor's unique sound. While Crumbling's probably the better record of the two, and I dig Summer Soul's vocals, this one didn't push my ears as hard and was less memorable as a result.

Under a blanket vibe... I listen to a lot of music in bed OK

Live! – Bob Marley & The Wailers (1975)

As an entry-level enjoyer, this is what I put on when I want to hear some Bob Marley. LIVE‼️ has scored a couple step family bonding sessions and the hits have pretty good intergenerational reach.

The right kind of night vibe

Underneath The Pine – Toro y Moi (2011)

Either Underneath The Pine or MAHAL is my favorite Toro album. Not counting the one with the Mattson 2. Or the live one. That makes Underneath The Pine my favorite... solo, studio, classic, Toro album. And it's always given me really strong Pacific Northwest vibes, I'm not sure why. Not just cause I live in the Pacific Northwest though. Man I'm just full of riveting takes today.

Looking up at a tree vibe

Selected Ambient Works – Aphex Twin (1992)

The Aphex Twin guy really should have done the Half-Life soundtrack. This album sounds so much like the original Half-Life music... sort of sterile. But calm and brain-smoothing where Black Mesa's frenetic and unsettling.

Hanging out in an alien's room

Rabbit Songs – Hem (2002)

Maybe it's just cause I got to see my friend's dad play their music as a kid, but Hem is deeply soothing to my rabbit brain. For years, my mom would put on their album Departure and Farewell to get my brother to stop crying. I could be associating their sound with that sweet relief, too. Whatever the explanation, this stuff has special properties.

Brooklyn, nearly winter vibe

Is This It – The Strokes (2001)

I was trying to find the song Take It Or Leave It by Cage The Elephant when I accidentally played the Take It Or Leave It off of this album instead. Then I played the rest on purpose, and it was pretty good. My dad said people only got so hyped over The Strokes when this came out cause it had been forever since anyone'd heard guitar, and I told him he was a contrarian, so that I could also be contrary.

Suburbs vibe

Michael – Les Sins (2014)

Starting an album off with the most hype track is super messed up, and so many people do it. There's literally nothing worse than knowing you've already heard the best an artist has to offer, and there's still at least a half hour left. This secret Toro y Moi project is not an egregious example of this disturbing trend by any means, but I still wish there were a couple more solid dancey standouts on display here.

He named the album after his dog vibe

World Clique – Deee-Lite (1990)

I would like to have been around when this was playing everywhere. I know people kind of append "Bubblegum" to random genres instead of just saying the music makes them happy, but this has gotta be bubblegum dance music. I wanna join the world clique.

Apartment party vibe

Vince Staples – Vince Staples (2021)

A good formal introduction to Vince Staples, and I missed it last year. I was familiar through his features, but his features made me really familiar... cause... like his face is smushed onto the album cover... um. This is good commute music, I think. The bus kind of bums me out and I had to take it to school last year, and this was about as long as the ride to school. It's low-key mad at the world, appropriate for a shitty morning.

​I gotta get out of here vibe

Black Focus – Yussef Kamaal (2015)

I learned about the UK's jazz scene this past year, and how there's nothing quite like white boy Islam-convert music. OK. I am now officially deep down the contemporary jazz rabbit hole, and happy to be here. My uncle Gary sent me this album, I'm very thankful.
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White dude pulling off a Black Panther cosplay vibe

Trio Live in Gdynia – McCoy Tyner (2021)

My dad got two Gdynia records and gave me one, which is a cool way to listen to a jazz album for the first time, if you can. Ahmad Jamal recorded my gam gam's favorite Poinciana rendition, but I like the one here, too. Any track that stays good for 10+ minutes is impressive.

Meeting God... and he's The Real McCoy vibe

Big Fish Theory – Vince Staples (2017)

If Vince Staples' Vince Staples is for headphones, Big Fish Theory is for the car. I'm only confessing cause we're at least twenty paragraphs deep into this thing, but while I was in L.A. looking at schools last April I blasted "Big Fish" off this album driving through Compton. I know, he's from Long Beach, and I'm a white ass dude applying to colleges... It was the perfect crime.

I was up late night balling counting up hundreds by the thousand vibe

Kirby and the Forgotten Land OST – Yuuta Ogasawara, Yuki Shimooka, Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa (2022)

Okay I think I need to make a rule here: No video game music I didn't listen to outside of the game. That's gonna hurt, but I don't want this to turn into a Games I Played This Year list, especially cause so many soundtracks are hard to talk about without acknowledging their games. Different list. That said... Kirby's gotta be my favorite game from 2022, which is an opinion I would stick to even if a Kirby plush wasn't staring me down from across the room as I wrote it. I didn't listen to the music very often while I wasn't playing the game, but it goes really hard. Man I love Kirby, and I'm frothing at the mouth for the remaster of my favorite one (or old favorite after Forgotten Land, I guess) to drop on the same day as the new Gorillaz album, and right after my birthday! 2022 is the year of the rabbit for sure. Okay no more video games.

Cute new world vibe

Ray Barbee Meets The Mattson 2 (2009)

​Here is another album that really chills me out. I almost underlined it but that would've been too many favorite Mattson 2 projects, and there's more coming anyway. I think the best, most cultured way to describe the sound here is... those big band Mario 3D World tracks but for an entire album. I don't know enough about music to know what kind this actually is, other than that it was maybe in The Incredibles, too. Is that just 50s swing? I don't listen to that stuff dude I have no idea. My main take is that if you liked the music from the Mario level where they're going up the cake with the double cherries, but played by a super skilled jazz trio, you might want to give Ray Barbee Meets The Mattson 2 a listen.

Golden Sunday morning vibe

Bright Size Life – Pat Metheny (1976)

We've just lazy-rivered down a chill jazz rabbit hole, and it looks like Pat Metheny's here too. Hey, my dad interviewed him! That first paragraph's a little rough but otherwise good job dad. This was a recommendation algorithm listen for me, which isn't as cool as finding it in my dad's records, but I bet he or Darryl has it or has had it at some point. More chill jazz to come, but first, a weird intermission...

Peace in Middle America vibe

Soul Trash – Toro y Moi (2019)

The B-sides off the worst TYM album actually do its whole vibe better, I'd say. Soul Trash really does sound like he doesn't give a shit, cause the tracks are all file names and like a minute long. Also, it's less than a half hour and goes down smoother. And there's a companion movie thing? I'm taking a look at that after I finish this paragraph. I really like this mixtape. I found a 7" single with drip_bounce and a MAHAL demo buried on his website for $10, and I bought it cause there were only 1000 of them and I thought they might be rare. They're still in stock cause I guess a lot of people didn't buy them, but it's still cool to get a look into the direction Outer Peace could have gone in, and proto-MAHAL. Some of these mid-2010s acoustic demos sure sound like MAHAL cuts, and I guess he started on that album right off of What For?, so the timing checks out. Well, I'm glad we got to do some digging today. On to more lazy day jazz dreams.

Dizzy melting universe vibe

Mattson 2 Play “A Love Supreme” – The Mattson 2 (2018)

I like this rendition of A Love Supreme a lot, even if it sometimes feels a little like watching the live action remake of a classic Disney movie. Like the Lion King one where the cast was stacked with actors you liked but the original was still gonna be better, obviously, cause it's animated (played by John Coltrane). This is still a really nice cover album though– I feel like we don't get these often for entire recordings. The Mattson 2's sound welcomes Coltrane with open arms. A worthy, smooth tribute, I say.

I need to listen to A Love Supreme but I only have 24 minutes, not 32... vibe

​Vaults Of Eternity: Japan – The Mattson 2 (2019)

And now, pleasantly adrift down the jazz lazy river, softly beckoned towards the sea of other music by the Clown Core estuary on the horizon, we arrive at my favorite Mattson 2 album. Well, non-collaborative, cover... No, I'm not putting us through that again, I like them all. And Vaults Of Eternity: Japan (joining Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez as the first and last installments in their respective prospective series) is a weird one. Apart from consisting (nearly) entirely of covers of (nearly) entirely Japanese pop standards, this release is only available on YouTube, probably due to all those covers of Japanese pop standards. Time traveling forward for a second, to a future lazy river, the two Mattson originals off this record also made it onto December 2022's Bohsheekwo, which I discovered existed a couple days after it stealth dropped, scrolling through new releases notifications in the bathtub. Going off on another side tangent, (these trans dimensional lazy rivers are getting out of control!) being a Mattson 2 fan isn't simple. Between every collaborative album obscured under a different profile on streaming services, a one-off cover series only available in the depths of their label's YouTube channel, and this album that I just found out existed, buried with a link at the bottom of the "albums" tab on their website, leading to a separate Japanese page with nested options to listen to a handful of singles and a Japanese Apple Music listing, the only place I've found with the entire project, for $11.61. My notion is that the deeper you dig with these two, there's even niche-r gems to find. Vaults Of Eternity's one of them, and after the few listens it took to realize I really liked it, I resorted to piracy because there was an unskippable ad after, like, every track. Hit me up if you want the Google Drive link with the tracks. Just make sure you buy something off their Bandcamp or stream an album two thousand times first. And I'll get back to you if I ever get to hear Chocolat and Akito Meets The Mattson 2. Like I said, it's not easy being a consumer.

Guided tour through a musical alternate reality vibe

RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART – Vince Staples (2022)

Here's our last bank along this lazy river of jazz. It's more Vince Staples, sounding like Vince Staples (the album), but a little less exciting over the course of 40 minutes. After an intro track I really liked, our guy Vince settles back into more of the same since 2021, expanding upon the same style and themes, for better or worse. For my money, his self-titled work checks RAMONA PARK's boxes faster, and with less fat, so it's what I default to when I want to hear this sound, but at the end of the day if you liked one you'll like the other. Or at the beginning of the day, on the bus, I dunno. I heard he's cooking up something Chappelle's Show-style at Netflix. 60/40 chance it actually happens, 50/50 chance it's good, and pasty white basement-dwelling YouTube video essayists will 100% weigh in. Guess I'm being summoned.

California ghost story vibe

Painting With John Soundtrack – John Lurie (2022)

This just barely, borderline, counts as an album, for my money, but it was my introduction to John Lurie so I'd like to bring it up. Spanning past soundtrack work to Marvin Pontiac, back to reworked soundtracks under the John Lurie National Orchestra, watching the show or checking out the official playlist is as good a place as any to sample this weird ass jazz. The lazy river continueth.

A John Lurie tour, guided by John Lurie vibe

African Swim and Manny & Lo – John Lurie (1999)

Still getting around to watching these. I can't vouch for their source materials in the way I can Painting With John, but if you're set on hearing these tracks through your TV with my explicit approval, Fishing With John is another good option. Some African Swim and Manny & Lo makes it in. These are two totally separate albums by the way, I don't know why they're always smushed into a double album. I guess cause they both came out on the same CD, or just cause they were short, or something? My head is hurting pretty bad right now. Do you think anyone is going to read this paragraph? Comment the secret phrase if you're reading this.

African Swim: A weird ass day vibe
Manny & Lo: A miniature life vibe

The Invention Of Animals – John Lurie National Orchestra (2014)

The Invention Of Animals is sort of another Best Of John Lurie record, this time pulling original tracks from Fishing With John. Once again, that show is a classic, and is the genesis of the off-beat, meditative TV genre as far as I'm concerned. Also watch How To with John Wilson and Chillin Island.
Shit, a line break. Dunno if that's allowed in this list or not. Feels like a dangerous precedent to set, cause it lets these potentially get reeeally long... Right, just this once. What I meant to say was, as per usual, the music here stands up on its own. I didn't even know it was made specifically for Fishing With John until I looked the album up for this blog post! The lushest of the lush of his work, The Invention Of Animals makes you feel like you're in your very own nature documentary, and that's cool. (And so concludes the chill jazz lazy river... for now.)

At ease in its natural habitat, the wild Moonrabbit gently floats out from the lazy river and into the vast lazy sea vibe

MAHAL – Toro y Moi (2022)

Alright, my mind's made up. Underneath The Pine is my favorite Toro y Moi joint, not MAHAL. Sure, getting into him right at the start of this album cycle made it more special, it's closer sonically to the Mattson 2 one, and... No, I like Underneath The Pine better. Stop. And no more semantics or I'll be in college before this blog post is over with. (It is now February.) MAHAL falls towards the rock end of Chaz Bear/Bundick's sound continuum, but things aren't played as straight here as on What For?. If that album's sound is maybe more consistent, for better or worse, MAHAL really experiments, but doesn't always have the commitment to fleshing things out. Mississippi, a minute and a half plus Jeepney noise, blooms within its interlude-y scope (and resembles Soul Trash's opening track). I don't think it needed to be longer, but could it have been? Postman calls back to Outer Peace's nonchalance (see: "I don't / Give a / F**k"), but it does feel a little demo-y. Bouncing but flat, with an awkward bridge, that bassline feels like the main idea on display. And take The Loop, one of my favorites, with a verse dropping off abruptly at "Damn!", then some wandering bass fill. Mr. Bear said somewhere he writes his lyrics last, and I gotta say they can feel like afterthoughts. However! I think this is intentional. Toro y Moi always brings the vibes, and the breezy quality of what he's saying (or not saying) serves a unified vision of chillness. It could be cool to hear something dense in the future, but for now I think Chaz has crafted some damn good car music. Okay, I just spent like ten minutes trying to find the article where he said he wanted to make an album people could listen to in the car and I can't find it. That would go really well here. He did it.

My favorite album from 2022 vibe!
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Machine Dreams – Little Dragon (2009)

If you liked Gorillaz' Plastic Beach, check this out. I remember hearing somewhere Little Dragon had no idea who Damon Albarn was when he reached out to collaborate on the album, and didn't really care. Damon must have been a fan though because I think Plastic Beach takes a lot of cues from Machine Dreams, especially noting their shared dearth of synthetic, clicky synths. Did I really just use "dearth" right? Nice. I need to... start cutting these down a little or I'll never finish.

'Puter party vibe

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers – Kendrick Lamar (2022)

Mr. Morale is maybe the purest Kendrick Lamar concept album yet. The striking new production direction is here, the bars and the songwriting are here, the narrative arc is here. And we've even been treated to another helping of controversy, for flavor. I think what we got this time around was great, and a gratifying send-off to Kendrick's TDE canon. Mr. Morale ties up a lot of these albums' themes nicely, and fits snugly in my record crate next to them. That said, I think this is the last time a project like this, from Kendrick, is gonna work. At least all the way, because for as much growth as Mr. Morale shows, it's also clearly laid out some of the boundaries of the K.Dot schtick. If that makes sense. This album has the provocative, moody, opener, the hard to listen to but narratively crucial closer(s), that one weird ass track that pushes it but ends up being fire... all the ups and downs we've come to expect from his formula. I feel like I'm describing something invisible here, but hopefully you can see it a little. I'm starting to see the trappings of such cinematic works as these, and I hope this new era at pgLang sees something looser, and less harshly defined, than what we're used to from the king. I think we're ready, judging by this album's lack of staying power in the hip-hop conversation. Does Mr. Morale really fall back into a well worn groove, placing Kendrick's most exciting work behind him? I don't know, but I'm down for the ride either way.

A hall of mirrors, abstracting and reinterpreting an artist vibe

Dummy

As a Mother I Sober sympathizer, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers sent me down a Portishead rabbit hole. This began with Dummy, and will conclude with Third and the live album when I get to them. So the Portishead bender is forever continuing, is what I mean.

Antique Halloween vibe

Portishead

Hello! You have reached the end of this list for now. Come back tomorrow and I'll have more filled out. This might take awhile.

II (Unknown Mortal Orchestra)

Clown Core

Satin Doll (Sam Gendel)

Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar

Causers Of This

June 2009

Boo Boo

Freaking Out EP

Tape 4

Jaco Pastorius

OK Computer

Honestly, Nevermind

Like A Ship (Without A Sail)

Superfly

Mordechai

Kraftwerk 3-D Catalogue

Desert Sand Feels Warm At Night

SAM GENDEL & SHIN SASAKUBO

Louis Cole LIVE 2019

untitled unmastered.

Lonerism

DAMN.

Journey to the West

Clara Rockmore’s Lost Theremin Album

NOT TiGHT

An Evening With Silk Sonic

Cheat Codes

Sea Of Bliss

You’re Dead!

Melody’s Echo Chamber

Dots And Loops

Musik von Harmonia

Vernal Equinox

Bon Voyage

Computer World

Animals

Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Harlequin

Debussy: Suite bergamasque… etc.

Speakers In The House

Unfold

Un Verano Sin Ti

SEYCHELLES

Thousand Knives

PACIFIC

Quality Over Opinion

Classics

blueblue

In These Times

Luv 4 Rent

Her Loss

Yasuke

Symbol Land

Sundays

My Feelings Be Peeling

Time

Circles

Shiroi

DRM

Afrikan Culture

Take Me To Your Leader

Yesterday Is Heavy

Anyhow

Flamagra

Reset EP

Live Sesh and Xtra Songs

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Bohsheekwo

Selected Ambient Works Volume II – Aphex Twin (1994)

One of only a few albums I am comfortable... SHUFFLING! Gasp. My Uncle Gary says he only listens to albums on shuffle which is just psychotic. He's sitting down for the same length of time either way, needlessly wrecking the intended experience. Maybe if the album's really good every track will hold up out of order? I don't know dude. This one is chill though and it's like three hours, so putting it on shuffle you kind of get Aphex Twin radio. Nothing wrong with that I guess. Maybe Uncle Gary's the only sane one out of all of us.

Ancient underground winter vibe

Still Way (Wave Notation 2)

Hallucination Engine

Vaudeville Villain

Well, I never made it through to all 100 albums. I really tried but it turned into such a big project, um, shockingly. The blurbs got longer and longer and I wanted to write more and more to the point where I was doing full essays! And that kind of thing got me into college. But also I never finished this post. I guess I'll keep the unfinished stuff up as a headstone marking how far I got. lol. 100 cuts will get you in the end. Thanks for checking this out.
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And now, 10 Favorite Singles From 2022:


The Loop

The Heart Part 5

Greener

(!) Rose Street

(!) I WANT YOU BUT YOULL NEVER KNOW

(!) Because (Cheat Codes)

Thousand Knives

I'm Tight

(!) Like A Fable

(!) Comfortably Numb 2022

​Skinny Ape

(Take one off, reconsider !s)