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Mike Bennett writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Mike Bennett
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ and Board Member Emeritus Mike Bennett.
Another year, and way more music to listen to than time to listen to it. I just went through the list I made of 2022 albums and EPs that I listened to this year (at least once, and most of these at least a few times), and my count came out to 245. Yeah, it was a great year for music, as I liked them all, and there are so many more things I played at CHIRP in our rotation that I never got around to fully giving a shot. (Or records I got as I was wrapping up this list, like the new SZA and Lous and The Yakuza). While I get that one should not be ranking things when it comes to art, making lists is a natural for anyone who has a sense of order (or is beholden to Nick Hornby's High Fidelity). These are the records I enjoyed the most, the ones I just kept going back to, and made it to the top of my large pile.
#1 Topical Dancer by Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul (Dewee/Because)
This Belgian duo mixes techno, R & B and funk with witty and incisive topical lyrics to make music you can think to and dance to at the same time. It never becomes strident, because it’s laced with humor, sometimes silly, often cutting. At various times, I heard things that reminded me of Laurie Anderson, LCD Soundsystem, and (an admitted influence) Talking Heads. This is all topped off by the infectious personality of Adigéry, whose singing is extremely compelling.
#2 Autofiction by Suede (BMG)
This is Suede’s (I refuse to refer to them as The London Suede!) third album since the band resumed recording, and it’s the best of those three, ranking up there with the band's first two LPs. Singer Brett Anderson doesn’t seem to have lost a thing, and the songs are razor sharp, brimming with passion, and teeming with hooks. They have maintained their ability to sound urgent without ever becoming overblown.
#3 Janky Star by Grace Ives (True Panther/Harvest)
Ives graduated to mid-fi production for her second album, and while the songs are still short sharp shocks of pop, she’s added layers to her electronic sound, while improving her melodic sense. The lyrics are fragments and phrases that stick in the brain pan, and in two or three minutes, she crams in a number of catchy parts. And her chronicling of a mid-twenties woman trying to keep her head above water resonates.
#4 Marchita by Silvana Estrada (Glassnote/AWAL)
An impressive debut solo album from this 24-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter who plays the Venezuelan cuatro guitar and sings folk-styled songs that sometimes reveal more modern inspirations. Her singing and playing are utterly captivating, with songs that are emotional and full of wonderful melodies. The arrangements and production are superb, augmenting Estrada where needed, while knowing just her voice and guitar are powerful by themselves.
#5 Hold the Girl by Rina Sawayama (Dirty Hit)
On her debut, Sawayama ingeniously melded unlikely forms into her modern pop songs. On the follow up, she reaches further back to a variety of ‘90s and ‘80s pop styles, with utter mastery of whatever she chooses to do. That she makes big, arena-worthy pop songs and melds them to personal lyrics in a way that the words aren’t essential, but sink in with further plays is quite something.
#6 And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow by Weyes Blood (Sub Pop)
Natalie Mering continues to hone her distinctive take on ‘70s AM pop and the Laurel Canyon sound, taking those warm, melodic sounds and stretching them out into songs that manage to be quite epic and intimate at the same time. This album was inspired by the pandemic, and the loss of, and need for, human connection. The songs envelope in the loveliest fashion.
#7 Steady by Sloan (Yep Roc)
Thirteen albums into their career and the Nova Scotian quartet Sloan still finds new wrinkles in its splendid take on power pop. There is no template or gimmick on this album, just four singers and songwriters coming up with even more Grade A songs than usual, and playing them with craft and inspiration so that it sounds fresh. This ranks with their best.
#8 Renaissance by Beyoncé (Columbia/Parkwood)
Queen Bey’s seventh studio album is so dense and crammed with ideas, surveying so many types of black (primarily dance) music with an inclusive bent (there are a number of queer collaborators), it was a bit overwhelming when I first started spinning it. I really liked it, but I wasn’t connecting with everything, but I now realize that there was so much to connect with, it would just take time to unfold. There are a number of great songs, and the album has a terrific flow. And almost smack dab in the middle, “Plastic Off the Sofa” offers a breather with a classic mellow ‘70s vibe.
#9 The Power in Us by Poppy Ajudha (Self-Released)
Ajudha is just as comfortable singing jazz, soul, or rock, and that also holds true for the songs she crafts, bracing numbers that cohere through her lyrical sensibility. The variety of the songs for a debut album is really impressive, and all are imbued with a fiery spirit, best exemplified by the pro-choice anthem “Playgod”. But she can be playful and tender when the occasion demands, and has the voice to make it work.
#10 I Walked With You a Ways by Plains (Anti-)
Katie Crutchfield had earlier established her duet bonafides, singing with everyone from Madi Diaz to Wynona Judd. Doing a whole album with a sympathetic singer seemed like a natural, and sure enough, Crutchfield and Jess Williamson have come up with a ‘70s/’80s-style country pop gem. The album shimmers, and each singer gets their time in the spotlight, and when they harmonize, it’s pretty killer.
Honorable Mentions
The next ten:
11. Julia Jacklin - Pre-Pleasure (Polyvinyl)
12. Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador)
13. Joan Shelley - The Spur (No Quarter)
14. Beach Bunny - Emotional Creature (Mom+Pop)
15. Rosalía - Motomami (Columbia)
16. Nina Nastasia - Riderless Horse (Temporary Residence)
17. Nora O’Connor - My Heart (Pravda)
18. Natalia Lafourcade - De Todas Las Flores (Sony Music)
19. Mitski - Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
20. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (Verve)
Other things:
TV: I don't watch a ton of TV, but my goodness, the final episodes of Better Call Saul were amazing. It's been amazing to see my college radio station colleague Bob Odenkirk accomplish so much.
Books: More commuting on the el has meant more reading time. Local author Toya Wolfe's Last Summer on State Street was a great novel. I also really enjoyed Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho. On the music tip, Brian J. Kramp's prose is workmanlike, but the loving research he put into the partial oral history This Band Has No Past: How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick not only shows how a band from Rockford, IL could make it so big, but gives a great account of what the Midwest rock scene was like in the early '70s. Finally, I'm nearly finished with the latest musical history book from Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne. It's called Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop, and it takes on pop music from the beginning of the 20th Century to the beginning of the rock era. He is a great critic, a good historian, and a witty writer.
Local music bummer: It was sad that Sunshine Boys called it a day, and even sadder that I caught COVID-19 the week of their farewell show at Space. The silver lining is that drummer Freda Love Smith may have hung up her drumsticks (or did whatever one does with drumsticks when retiring), but she is working on two new books. Music's loss is literature's gain.
Next entry: CHIRP Radio Weekly Voyages (Dec 12 - Dec 31)
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