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The CHIRP Blog
Patchouli Cyanide writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Juniper Balbus-Holmquist
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from volunteer Juniper Balbus-Holmquist.
2022 was a really solid year for music across a bunch of genres so deciding on just ten is really difficult. However, there are some that I love enough to make this list easy enough.
I’ll probably change my opinions ten minutes after I publish but that’s music for you. Disagree, be mad but all opinions ARE my own.
#1 Ants from up there by Black Country, New Road (Ninja Tune)
Okay if this doesn’t win the CHIRP overall poll I’m gonna riot. This is without a doubt one of the top 100 albums ever released and probably my third favorite post-rock style post-punk album ever behind F#A#8 and soundtracks for the blind. It’s just that good.
If you somehow have never heard it, check it out. I think it’s a perfect mix of chamber, post-punk and and post-rock. My mom likes it, my dad likes it, I like it, RateYourMusic likes it. You’ll probably like it too. End rant.
Chris Siuty writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Chris Siuty
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ Chris Siuty.
Wild year! I had back-to-back-to-back respiratory infections, bought a ton of records, watched my kid start her second year of pre-school and after a very long absence from CHIRP, I returned to the airwaves.
Ups, downs, goods, bads, whatever. Music really kept it together for me if I'm being honest, so here's a totally unranked list of albums I thought killed it this year.
Drugs by MEDICINE (MPLS Ltd)
Long running dream pop/shoegaze/noise pop/psych rock/experimental mad man Brad Laner returns as a two piece to put out another fantastic Medicine album.
Included is the fourth version of their minor hit, "Time Baby." ("Time Baby 2" was on The Crow soundtrack and they made a cameo in the film.)
If I were pressed to say what's my favorite album this year, I'd probably say this one (or maybe Syndrome 81 or Yard Act, but we're getting there.)
Heathen Disco with Doug Mosurock writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Doug Mosurock
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ Heathen Disco Doug Mosurock.
Saw too many lists this year that were, like, dozens of releases. It's OK to like a lot of stuff but there's value in editing. There's also value in looking beyond what's in front of you, so once again the diligent listener is the one who's listening. The pandemic is still with us, the mere effort of creating isn't an act to applaud. You gotta come out on top. Here are the records that did that.
Offed by Roller (Radical Documents)
Stunning debut from this electroacoustic noise/claustrophobia duo out of Los Angeles, the group's first release after 15 years of playing together. The cream rises to the top.
Glorious brain snags of synth/twang, alien maze soundscapes, abrupt rhythms and an oddly danceable presence. Maybe the only noise you need from 2022.
Owen Harris writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Owen (Kiwi Brunch)
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from Owen (Kiwi Brunch).
Warm Chris by Aldous Harding (4AD)
Tony Breed writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Tony Breed
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ and Board Member Emeritus Tony Breed.
Single of the year: Spoon / I Can’t Give Everything Away At the beginning of the year, Spoon released this excellent cover of this song from David Bowie’s last album. It is gorgeous and arresting and was the song most likely to make me cry back in January
Runner Up: Jinkx Monsoon / Looking at the Lights The song most likely to make me cry this December is this sweet song about managing when things get difficult during the holidays. We knew that Jinkx Monsoon was a very versatile drag queen; here she proves herself here to be a talented singer and songwriter.
#1 OCUPAÇÃO by Fado Bicha (self-released)
I never told me grandmother I was gay… how could I explain that to a deeply Catholic octogenarian from Portugal? But Portugal is different today; it’s a country where tradition and modernity sit side by side.
Fado Bicha Blends the two artfully. The duo roots their music in fado, the traditional Portuguese music of lamentation, often compared to the blues—but the blues were never co-opted and sanitized by a dictatorship the was fado was.
Fado Bicha returns fado to its gritty roots and infuses it with queer themes, singing about sex, dysphoria, and being queer and transgender. (My grandmother would be scandalized.)