It’s that time again: lists, lists, lists! 60 Dutch pop journalists, radio DJsand prominent music followers submitted their top 10 and the best album of2022 is… Big Thief’s kaleidoscopic masterpiece: Dragon New Warm Mountain IBelieve In You . Read all about it in our special Christmas edition (orderhere) and watch EAR’s Final List 2022 below.
20. Spoon – Lucifer On The Sofa
Album number ten from the indestructible indie rockers from Austin, but theystill don’t give up. On the organic rocking Lucifer On The Sofa theysmoothly capture the live feeling on record, while frontman Britt Danielsounds endlessly inspired. Spoon simply seems unable to disappoint.
19. The Weeknd–Dawn FM
on Dawn FM plays Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye radio station. On the playlist,of course, only songs by The Weeknd himself: romantic R&B and polished dancepop, but also panoramic beats and edgy electronics (from co-producerOneohtrix Point Never). A concept album that is as ambitious as it issuccessful.
18. Bill Callahan – YTI⅃AƎЯ
Darkness has crept back into singer-songwriter Bill Callahan’s work: the dreamimages he created on YTI ⅃ AƎЯ are feverish, brooding and clammy. Theresult is his most psychedelic and perhaps best record. Anyway, a more thanvaluable addition to Callahan’s gloomy oeuvre.
17. Taylor Swift – Midnights
on midnight we hear what Taylor Swift has left over from her ‘indie folkperiod’: a refined sense of musical detail and nuance. Curiously enough, thesound is therefore suddenly reminiscent of ‘our own’ maker of majesticmasterpieces: Eefje de Visser. Taylor Swift reinvents herself all over again.
16. Danger Mouse & Black Thought – Cheat Codes
After classic The Mouse And The Mask (with MF DOOM) producer Brian ‘DangerMouse’ Burton thought it was time for a new hip-hop alliance. With The Roots’Black Thought this time (plus a group of guests). The result is a gloriousrichness, full of powerful melodies, clever samples and surefire raps.Colorful and soulful.
15. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul – Topical Dancer
The artsy kids on Soulwax’s DEEWEE label. A duo packed with musical ideas,worldly interest and biting irony. In concrete terms: electropop withcrossovers to R&B and new wave, full of self-mockery, bizarre twists and_inside jokes_. And with international potential. An album to cherish and stepinto the future with.
14. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
The year 2022 couldn’t get around him: Harry Styles. Heartthrob with boyband past, gender fluid role model, ruler of the charts, fashion icon, moviestar ( Don ‘t Worry Darling, My Policeman ), peace activist, feminist andoh yes, he also made an album full of pop songs that nobody can go wrong with.
13. Beyonce – Renaissance
In sixteen seamlessly transitioning tracks, Beyoncé Knowles – singer, worldstar, figurehead, political commentator – jumps from R&B to house, from neo-soul to gangster rap and from sun-drenched funk to synthpop with reggaevocals. Unlimited genre hopping as a revenue model for an all-rounder.Logically? Logically.
12. Paolo Nutini – Last Night In The Bittersweet
Wash breakthrough plate Caustic Love (2014) a first step towards realmusical craftsmanship, with the craft Last Night In The Bittersweet PaoloNutini provides proof of his versatile talent. There is passion, there issoul, there are flirtations with indie and kraut rock and he makes noconcessions. Man after our own heart.
11. Nilüfer Yanya – Painless
She works with the autonomy of a PJ Harvey and integrates indie rock, dance,new wave and trip hop into her organic pop songs just as easily. In short,this 27-year-old Londoner shows herself on Painless indeed the ‘great newBritish talent’ we know at the time of her debut album __ (2019) alreadyobserved.
10. Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
No repeat moves on this fifth album by the Californian rapper. on mr. Morale& The Big Steppers you hear no hero, savior or spokesman. The faithful Lamar(now 35) is now rather searching and unsure. But all these layers, which heprovides with a lot of depth, led to his umpteenth beautiful album.
9. Stromae–Multititude
On his long-awaited new album, Stromae again came up with cheerful soundingsongs – fresh, creative and challenging – about big and sometimes verypersonal subjects. It is a pleasure for the ear how, with his timbre andphrasing, he makes the French language sparkle on the rhythm of the music.
8. Personal Trainer – Big Love Blanket
How do you capture the sound of an erratic, hyper-energetic Amsterdam indieband with constantly changing line-ups on a representative debut album?Simple: by writing ten extremely good songs. Foreman Willem Smit did it. Therewas no indie pop record this year that splashed more joy and brilliance.
7. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
On the debut album of this British septet ( For The First Time , 2021) post-rock, post-punk, folk, klezmer, jazz, minimal and avant-garde rubbed againsteach other nicely. This successor is more accessible, without the bandsurrendering to idiosyncrasy. That first record was a good one, this is also avery good one.
6. Arctic Monkeys – The Car
Into the holiday Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino (2018) liked the ArcticMonkeys so much that Alex Turner aimed for the same moody atmosphere for TheCar. And so the British – a crooning Turner in front – usually keep it_tranquillo_. Strings, jazzy drums, visual lyrics and strong songs do therest.
5. Wet Leg – Wet Leg
One single ( chaise longue ) it took this British duo to grow from insecureteenage girls to darlings of the club and festival circuit. This debut albumfurther fills in the picture. ‘Party music for gloomy people’, they call itthemselves. We mainly hear the perfect, humorous soundtrack of the summer of2022.
4. Rosalia – Motomami
The biggest Latin pop star in the world came out with her best work this year.Rosalia finds out Motomami one perfect balance after another: between oldschool and hypermodern, between drama and production techniques, between pop,reggaeton, hip-hop and dancehall. She doesn’t even shy away from a Burialsample. Completely unique.
3. Fontaines DC – Skinty Fia
The Irish Fontaines DC moved from Dublin to London, as did the perspective andthe musical approach: compared to their two previous albums, we now hear moreinfluences from British electronica and American noise, but otherwise theirnice and dramatic post-punk – with singer Grian Chat in rehearsal mode –remained intact, looking for renewal and refreshment just enough times.
2. The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention
The creative nucleus of Radiohead (Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood) plus ajazz-trained top drummer (Tom Skinner). What could possibly go wrong? Well,nothing. The layered and sometimes downright majestic A Light For AttractingAttention became one of the best records Radiohead never made. A record onwhich so much happens – melodic, rhythmic, production-technical – that youwill not soon get tired of listening to it.
1. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
‘While The Beatles are perhaps the best band of all time, Big Thief is withouta doubt the best band of today’, we wrote at the beginning of this year whenthe Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. And now look: record of theyear. The intention of the New York band around Adrianne Lenker was to explorethe outer limits and possibilities of the band with the twenty songs on thisdouble album. They succeeded with verve: it became a kaleidoscopicmasterpiece, full of controlled sound magic on the cutting edge of indie popand Americana.
Order the ChristmasEAR!
Of course takes EAR out this festive month with many more lists, Big Thiefand Fontaine DC respond to their high rating, while Piper Bloom andWilliam Smith (met Personal Trainer the highest Dutchman) take a closerlook at the Final List. Also in this edition: Gold band , Harry Styles,Bono , Son Mieux an ode to Mimi Parker from Low , Terrie & LenaHessels, Jools Holland cartoonist Jip van den Toorn a tribute to thedeceased with Anthony Corbin and much more.