Halfway 2022 Staff Favorites
A friend recently expressed grief over feeling fatigue when it came to new art. New albums, new television shows, new movies. He felt like he didn’t have the emotional or mental capacity to keep up with everything new. But it also made him feel bad to engage in art that didn’t challenge him anymore I suggested that it comes in waves. Maybe you need to give your brain a break. You’ve always stayed engaged with the zeitgeist, I’m sure it will come back around. He was doubtful.
I would be lying if I didn’t thing this fatigue was also a fear of mine. And it’s deeper than the typical FOMO. The youngest in my friend group I always roll my eyes when others say they don’t get Playboi Carti or whatever. I always laugh at the old man, never realizing I’ll be there. At what age do you tap out? When do all your favorites starting fighting for space in your phone and on your turntable?
The first half of this year features artists just going for it. The Weeknd did a concept album about heaven. FKA twigs made you a mixtape to remember joy, Earl Sweatshirt released an album shortly after helping release a child into the world. Even Mitski emerged from her cave! And all this happened before April. Typically the first quarter is quiet, but not in 2022. Artists are keeping the momentum going, for better (Bad Bunny, Kilo Kish, Angel Olsen) or for worse (Flume, Belle & Sebastian, Future). Timing is more a feeling and less of a marketing strategy, that is unless you’re Calvin Harris and NEED Funk Wav Bounces Vol.2 to be the album of the summer.
And maybe that’s a lesson we can take from all this new music in the last 6 months: go at your own pace, don’t burn out on the stuff you love. What resonates now in the zeitgeist may not resonate later, unless you’re Kate Bush that is. - Sanchez
Album: Squeeze by Sasami
Sasami released her eponymous debut album in 2019. It’s hard to think of the project as a freshman release, considering her lengthy musical career before striking out as a solo artist. But SASAMI cemented her place among indie rock acts to keep an eye on with a brooding blend of dream pop, orchestra, and shoegaze. On Squeeze, Sasami has expanded her genre umbrella to include nu-metal and folk rock.
Squeeze is certainly not the first album to contribute to the nu-metal resurgence, nor even the use of that sound in tandem with more subdued pieces. But Sasami’s expertise performing this balancing act puts it among the best of them. The cover art depicts Sasami in the form of a Nure-onna, a Japanese yokai with the head of a woman and the body of a serpent, who prey on humans from bodies of water. The Japanese and Korean lettering on the front and back covers is in fact calligraphy by Sasami's Zanichi mother, a Korean who emigrated to Japan during Japanese occupation of Korea. With several tracks co-produced by fellow guitar plugin aficionado Ty Segall, Squeeze bounces between open-aired confessionals and crushing guitar riffs. An aesthetic return to an age of unabashed angst and plainspoken sincerity, it approaches systemic violence, heartbreak, and depression without fear of being schmaltzy, delivering grungy candor with a refined edge and a dash of electronics. Sasami has called her approach to this sound an appropriation of white male music. And the image of herself as a yokai drinking the blood of men along rural shorelines is just the right disavowal of subtlety to go with that statement. - Erick Zepeda
Single: “Misbehave (feat. Coco &Clair Clair)” by Lewis OfMan
I don’t usually respect the French, but I’ll make an exception for Lewis OfMan, a French musician who has refined his funky pastiche to create tunes that are almost criminally groovy. Atlanta rap-pop duo Coco & Clair Clair inject a breezy, charismatic flair into “Misbehave,” the single off OfMan’s debut album, Sonic Poems.
This song is a total party girl anthem. It evokes the spirit of 80s college parties, interpolates Ke$ha’s seminal anthem “Tik Tok,” has a stellar breakdown that demands a shimmy or shake or maybe both. While I don’t think I have the gusto or energy to be as carefree as this song inspires me to be, it definitely will accompany me through the summer as I endeavor to be on my baddest behavior. - Vicente Rios
Album: A Light For Attracting Attention by The Smile
Comprised of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood, along with Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, The Smile's band name actually isn't all that cheerful. "Not the smile as in ‘ahh,’ more ‘the smile’ as in, the guy who lies to you every day…” Yorke said during the band’s first performance last year. It checks out, because this trio’s debut is as uneasy as that deceitful smile.
A Light for Attracting Attention touches upon everyday anxieties, kernels of existential truths draped in discordant riffs and synths. The thirteen tracks are littered with nihilistic remarks and spitting insults about our political leaders, bouncing from post-punk guitars to gorgeous orchestral arrangements to electronic arpeggios. Feelings of helplessness are less intense here compared to the usual Radiohead record. Instead, there’s a sense of liberation. You can hear it on Skinner’s jazzy funk-influenced “The Smoke” and in the frantic energy of “Thin Thing.” It’s also Yorke’s ghostly yet angelic pleas to unite together that sets it apart. The album boasts doom and gloom, but if you accept that it all sucks, there’s peace in being in this unpredictable trashcan fire together. Perhaps “that smile” isn’t as sinister as it seems. Tonally consistent and instrumentally dynamic, A Light for Attracting Attention is a solid standout of the year already, sure to please Radiohead diehards and experimental alt-rock fans alike. - Samantha Neou
Single: “Sweetest Pie” by Megan Thee Stallion & Dua Lipa
For a minute there, I was genuinely worried that the pop mega-collab was dead. Seriously, when was the last time we got something as thrilling as “Lady Marmalade”? Where is the next “Bang Bang”? And when will the cowards in Hollywood make an original song as earnest and ambitious as “When You Believe,” the Whitney Houston/Mariah Carey duet in The Prince of Egypt?? To be clear, I didn’t expect that “Sweetest Pie” would be as good as any of those songs, but it comes pretty damn close. Dua Lipa, of “go girl give us nothing” fame, gives us everything in her sly, swaggering hook, and Hot Girl Meg serves up some completely unsubtle desert metaphors in her energetic verses. Add in a big budget music video where the girlies literally cook men and eat them, and this song is pretty much guaranteed a spot on any self-respecting pop playlist from this year. - Audrey Davis
Album: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
It’s been five years since Kendrick Lamar released his last record, the Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN. Or rather - as he pointedly puts it on the opening track — 1,855 days. 1,855 days since Good Friday, the day Kendrick died at the end of DAMN. Always having a flair for the dramatic, the cultural “prophet” has risen from the dead 1,855 days later, on the most unholy Friday the 13th, with his latest concept album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, this time packing heat.
Kendrick frames Mr. Morale as a therapy session. It’s introspective, morally questionable, and often deeply uncomfortable. He vomits out bar and bar of chaotic lyrics, trying to understand himself and his own beliefs. He confronts generational trauma, addiction, cancel culture, his own cultural perception, and through these explorations Kendrick bit-by-bit strips away all moral judgment until he is left with one thing: truth. Vice/virtue, killer/savior, sinner/saint — all the same. And as always with Kendrick, what this album is really about is the state of America. The divisions, hatred, guilt, and trauma that we bury deep inside under our masks. Maybe it’s time to stop tap-dancing around the issue, maybe we all need therapy. - Mark Metzger
Single: “As It Was” by Harry Styles
Listen, I didn't mean to fall in love with this Harry Styles song. I didn’t mean to play it more than any other song this year by a mile. I didn’t mean to tell everyone I know it is a perfect song. It just happened that way. I blame Tik Tok. I blame my younger sister. I blame everyone in the last year who told me I kinda look like Harry Styles.
“As It Was” is filled with melancholy and this bouncy, catchy ass melodic synth a.k.a. my two favorite things. My third favorite thing happens to be songs that feature lists and wouldn’t cha know, that also happens in this fuckin thing. Half the time, Harry mumbles his verses like he’s getting very personal with you, beckoning you to listen closer. You get peeks into his life — self doubt, long distance relationship, parents checking on him — stuff that I am also going through but ya know, without dating Olivia Wilde. It ends at the perfect climax, with bells and bellows and a winking synth that cuts out too quickly, giddy with the knowledge that you're gonna throw it on one more time for another 2 minutes and 47 seconds of handsome sadboi bliss. - Andrew Sanchez
Album: Laurel Hell by Mitski
Although Mitski’s sixth LP Laurel Hell technically starts with “Valentine, Texas,” it doesn’t really begin until you hit play on the following track, “Working for the Knife.” The album’s lead single starts with one of the most striking opening lines I’ve ever heard in a pop song, as Mitski grasps for ways to describe the soul-crushing, existential FOMO that we’ve all been feeling for years now: “I cry at the start of every movie/I guess ‘cause I wish I was making things, too.” Laurel Hell doesn’t get much lighter from there, but it continues to find ways to bring dark humor out of heartbreak, self-doubt, and despair. On “The Only Heartbreaker,” Mitski flips the traditional breakup narrative by blaming herself, and she balances the bitter regret of “Should’ve Been Me” with a jaunty instrumental that’s dripping in irony. But most of the tracks on this album are slow, contemplative dirges, persistently marching forward in an attempt to escape from whatever kind of hell the title is referring to. Mitski has explained that “laurel hell” is an Appalachian term for getting stuck in a laurel thicket, which is vague but appropriate. The album certainly feels like being trapped somewhere beautiful. - Audrey Davis
Single: “This is a Photograph” by Kevin Morby
In late 2019, Kevin Morby got the idea to create a book called This is a Photograph. The book would be a collection of poems that would say “This is a photograph of…” and then would describe an image, a snapshot in time painted with descriptive language. Around this time, Morby witnessed his father suffer a heart attack at the family dinner table. Shirtless and weak, carried out on a stretcher, Morby was struck by the scene’s uncanny resemblance to a photograph of his father in his youth, shirtless and ready to take the world on in the West Texas sun.
A few months later Morby’s life shut down as pandemic began, and, like so many other artists, Morby found himself deeply introspective and existential. He decided to turn This is a Photograph into an album, using the record as a chance to reflect on his life by taking family photos and painting them as songs. He kicks off the record with this piece about his dad, a wailing and explosive song about the cycle of life and death. Feel your soul quake as Morby screams, “This is what I’ll miss about being alive/This is what I’ll miss after I die.” - Mark Metzger
Album: MAHAL by Toro y Moi
7 is my lucky number. MAHAL is Toro y Moi’s 7th studio album. Is it any wonder I like this album? MAHAL is a comforting, retro-tinged album full of dizzying synths and heavy reverb guitars. It evokes the feeling of bright sunny days that glide into hazy golden afternoons. Easy, breezy hooks that sway from psychedelia to bossa nova create a glittering aura. Scattered throughout the album are the sounds of radio channels changing and car doors slamming shut, that make me feel like I’m on a road trip up north in the Filipino Jeepney featured on the album’s cover art. The vivid aesthetic and mellow tunes scratch an itch in my brain, earworms bumping and grinding against my pineal gland. There is nothing out of the ordinary here, but the mellow tunes are familiar and enjoyable, and I’ll gladly have this album soundtrack my summer. - Vicente Rios
Single: “Autonomy (feat. Lucy - Cooper B Handy)” by Boy Harsher
There’s been a growing craze for 80s nostalgia as of late, and Boy Harsher is an underrated pioneer of it. Their recent single carries influence from bands like New Order with its synth strings and buoyant rhythm. It’s quite different from their usual work. This darkwave duo often produces tracks that are seductive and danceable, inspiring images of late-night club outings or salacious meetings. Jes Matthews’ voice is sensual, and Augustus Muller’s production is minimal yet synth-heavy. Their music is goth, punk, and industrial all at once.
“Autonomy” is a much brighter endeavor, an indie-pop bop with a music video that even presents its own fun dance routine you can easily follow along to. With the help of singer-producer Cooper B. Handy, known as Lucy, the track sustains a cool, laid-back vibe reminiscent of days out with friends where adult responsibilities didn’t exist. It's a feel-good, celebratory anthem, perfect for the end credits of a coming-of-age film. If you like 80s alt and dancing, give this a listen. - Samantha Neou
Album: MOTOMAMI by Rosalía
Yes, I did write the review for Motomami by Rosalía. Yes, I did listen to it on repeat for about a week to write that review. Maybe that’s why this is my favorite album of the year so far? Or maybe its because at least once a day I hear her voice yelling Motomami in my head? It might be because Hentai still confuses me, (Rosalía, are you sad or horny? Both?) Motomami has the most range out of all the albums I’ve heard so far, and listening to it always feels cinematic with all the tone changes and extravagant sounds. I love the silliness of “Chicken Teriyaki” and the turn up vibes in “Bizcochito.” “Como un G” still gives me the urge to shed a quick tear and no matter how many times I hear it, I love hearing Rosalia chant “Saoko papi Saoko” on the first track. Motomami is one of those rare no skip albums, and I continue to play it over countless other albums. - Vanessa Sandoval
Single: “3D (feat. Smino)” by Ravyn Lenae
Whisper singing has become a contentious trend, as it veers on oversaturation in contemporary R&B. However, on “3D,” Ravyn Lenae reminds us that in the correct hands, it can still be enchanting. Her high pitched voice winds up and down atop a dreamy beat. Her delivery is simultaneously sensual and wistful, reiterating to a fling that she’s not interested in a relationship. Smino’s guest verse, though brief, is the ideal feature as he glides in with a smooth closing verse. I almost wish this song hit a higher peak, but Lenae’s ethereal flow and the song’s deliberately underplayed rhythm lull the listener into repeat listens, searching for that intoxicating, casual spell. - Erick Zepeda
Album: Ramona Park Broke My Heart by Vince Staples
There’s people in life who can be hard to love. They encourage bad habits, and catch others in the tornadoes of their own chaos. These people can be someone you’ve known your entire life, like a parent or a longtime partner. For Vince Staples, it’s his hometown of Long Beach, California. Since he started a decade ago Vince has genre hopped from Detroit house to West Coast hyphy, rapping about growing up around the perils of gang life. And while the gang lifestyle “brand” has been co-opted by many industry plants today, Vince's life was never a gimmicky marketing tool — it was genuinely scary. But recently his showmanship has slowed down. Vince is tired. You can hear it in his sighs, in his monotone flow. The energy from last year’s self-titled album carried over to this year’s Ramona Park Broke My Heart. And that’s what makes it such a captivating listen.
This project lets the production breathe more - creating a less claustrophobic but no less dangerous atmosphere. And the biggest danger is Vince’s own infatuation with Ramona Park. Standout tracks like “When Sparks Fly” and “Rose Street” emphasize how women will never take priority over homies, guns or money. “Bang That” has a glitchy, melancholy Mustard beat and a disenchanted Vince. The backing vocals and ad-libs for this track sound frantic, energized; like drugs, the rush of running the streets is still there. Even on “Slide” he further admits, “I feel nirvana when I’m in the set”. Like Scorsese doesn’t endorse the actions of his mobsters, Vince never codones his thoughts - his best quality has always been his honesty. And if Summertime ‘06 was a coming of age film, Ramona Park Broke My Heart is a memoir. 10 blocks of beautiful weather in the middle of Southern California doesn’t stop people from bringing out the worst in each other to survive. Vince Staples loves his hometown, but maybe it’s time they see other people. - Andrew Sanchez