The Tyranny Of Choice – Music In 2022
By Bruce D. Cummings
“We presume that more choices allows us to get exactly what we want, making us happier. While there is no doubt that some choice is better than none, more may quickly become too much,” Barry Schwartz, Scientific American, 2004.
I’ve written, rewritten, trashed, and resurrected this list more than a few times over the last couple of months. Every time I thought I had nailed down my top 10 for 2022 I would remember yet another record or three and then start the process all over again. The lengthy honorable mention list at the end here is a testament to my struggle.
It was just that great a year for music. If you didn’t find something you liked, then check your pulse.
The Jazz Butcher – The Highest In The Land
(Tapete Records – February 2022)
Pat Fish (aka the Jazz Butcher) passed away in October 2021. I was in the middle of doing my old radio show when I saw the post on Facebook. I felt like an elephant had just plopped down on my chest.
My favorite artist. His music has been a part of my life since I first heard “Death Dentist” ages ago on the Rock and Roll Alternative in Dallas. It has enabled friendships throughout the years, connections around the world, and ultimately led me to meeting my wife of 20 plus years.
I’ve only made it through this album twice in full. When it arrived in early February of last year I put it unwrapped on a shelf in my office. There it sat for the next six months. Each week I’d think about putting it on and then find a reason to not do so. I knew it would be a difficult experience, but also that once I listened to it that would be the end so to speak.
I don’t think that Pat Fish wanted to shuffle off this mortal coil, but this record makes it clear that he thought the end might come soon. It is a collection of songs about reflection, regret, and ultimately acceptance. The production is warm, the musicianship superb, and the lyrics are by turns funny, opaque, and heartbreaking.
I feel fortunate to have lived at the same time as Pat. It still makes me sad that he’s gone, but at least he left behind a final great bit of music. We should all be so lucky when we go.
Top tracks: the whole record is great from start to finish, but some favorites are Never Give Up (both the album and the Glass Version that was released later), Running On Fumes, Sebastian’s Medication, and Goodnight Sweetheart.
Plains – I Walked A Ways With You
(Anti- – October 2022)
Popular country music is just bad. But, you already knew that.
Fortunately there’s a fair amount of country or country-adjacent music out there that’s quite good. Plains, a collaboration between Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) and Jess Williamson, is one of the good ones. Crutchfield is the stronger songwriter overall, but the talents of each blend together quite well.
Good Grief – Shake Your Faith
(Everything Sucks Music – March 2022)
For some reason I set this aside after ordering it earlier in the year and promptly forgot to listen to it. Thankfully a couple of months later I stumbled across it while in the midst of one of my periodic (and always failed) attempts at purging my record collection.
It is a great mix of post-punk and indie with a bit of emo thrown in for good measure. Just a solid record and one that belongs in your collection.
Death’s Dynamic Shroud – Darklife
(100% Electronica – 2022)
My oldest son first introduced me to the vaporwave genre a few years ago. It seemed like an odd little niche at the time. That’s still my opinion of it today, but Death’s Dynamic Shroud is definitely one of the more interesting acts to come out of the scene.
The group has released dozens of installments of its mixtape series online since starting in 2014. Interspersed with those have been more structured full-length albums. “Darklife,” a double LP, follows 2015’s “I’ll Try Living Like This” and 2017’s “Heavy Heart.”
This record shows a remarkable transformation of the group from its vaporwave origins to a unique and twisted take on pop music. One of the most surprising and enjoyable albums I picked up in 2022.
Horace Andy – Midnight Rockers / Midnight Scorchers
(On-U Sound – April and September 2022)
Horace Andy is nearly 72 years old. He released his first single in 1970 and hasn’t stopped since then.
In the 90s he achieved some mainstream success collaborating with Massive Attack on their third album Mezzanine. That album featured a reworking of his song “You Are My Angel” simply titled “Angel.” Andy would go on to work with Massive Attack on five albums in total.
Midnight Rocker (released in April 2022) and Midnight Scorchers (released in September 2022) are companion albums released on Adrian Sherwood’s seminal On-U Sound label. They complement each other well and show that Andy still has a lot more to give to this world musically.
The Comet Is Coming – Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
(Impulse! – September 2022)
“Jazz is the last refuge of the untalented. Jazz musicians enjoy themselves more than anyone listening to them does.” – Steve Coogan as the late Tony Wilson in 24-Hour Party People.
I have a binary relationship with jazz. It is either love or loathe for me. Miles Davis up until the end of the 70s, Stan Getz, or Dave Brubeck? All love. Beyond that it is pretty hit and miss. Mostly miss.
This is the fourth album by England’s The Comet Is Coming. The trio of musicians, King Shabaka (tenor saxophone), Danalogue (keyboards and electronics), and Betamax (drums) know how to both enjoy themselves and make great music. Definitely worth checking out.
Tyler Childers – Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven
(Hickman Holler Records – September 2022)
See my previous comment regarding country music.
Childers first popped up on my radar with his fourth album, 2020’s “Long Violent History.” A primarily instrumental collection of fiddle tunes, it concludes with the title track which is an honest and hard look at racism from the perspective of rural whites. You can check it out here and Childers own take here. Well worth your time.
“Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven” is a triple LP collection with the same set of songs presented in different interpretations on each record. Broken into three themes (Hallelujah, Jubilee, and Joyful Noise), the takes vary from simple and straightforward, full ensemble performances with horns and strings, and finally beat-driven remixes adorned with spoken word samples.
Honestly not all of it works that well, particularly the final LP. But it is an ambitious and obviously heartfelt take inspired by Childers’ faith and experience.
Branko Mataja – Over Fields And Mountains
(Numero Group – 2022)
Branko Mataja was born in 1923 in Bekar, Dalmatia (now Croatia). He built his first guitar at age 10. During World War II he was conscripted for slave labor in Germany. After US forces liberated the concentration camp were he was being held, Mataja went on work for the US army as a cook and a barber, along with some side hustles.
Mataja emigrated to Canada in 1954, then to Detroit in 1964, and finally settled in Los Angeles in 1964. There he focused on making custom guitars for Johnny Cash and Geddy Lee, among others. He passed away in 2000 with little or no notice.
Numero Group reissued his sole album, 1973’s “Traditional and Folk Songs of Yugoslavia,” last year in their typically excellent fashion. It is an amazing collection of guitar instrumentals featuring Mataja’s unique style and sound. Alternating between grand, dramatic sweeps and ghostly runs, it is simply one of the most amazing things I’ve ever heard.
Various Artists – Under The Bridge
(Skep Wax – 2022)
I don’t remember how I came across this collection actually, but I’m damn happy that I did.
Skep Wax is an independent record label based in Weald of Kent. Their roster of artists includes Swansea Sound, the Orchids, and Heavenly.
The Quietus review of this album noted that it is “a veritable where are they now for the Sarah Records generation,” which is completely spot on. It is a fantastic collection of label artists, including The Luxembourg Signal, the aforementioned Orchids, Boyracer, and more. Just go buy it now. You’ll thank me.
Loop – Sonancy
(Reactor – March 2022)
Loop’s final album from the band’s original run, 1990’s “A Gilded Eternity,” was a masterful if somewhat unintentional exit. From the brutal pounding of opener “Vapour” to the winding, grinding closer “Be Here Now,” it’s the soundtrack of the apocalypse.
Robert Hampson, the founder and primary creative force of the band, would go on to form MAIN. In that project he explored the limits of experimental guitar music and eschewed the structured style of his previous band. Eventually he abandoned guitars all together and created some truly challenging and ultimately rewarding excursions into ambient adjacent music.
“Sonancy” is the band’s, which is really just Hampson now days, first full-length album since 1990. The songs are tighter and shorter than before, but it still sounds like Loop. And that’s more than welcome in my book.
Honorable Mentions
- Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful
- The House of Love – State of Grace
- Khruangbin & Leon Bridges – Texas Moon
- Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Reset
- Nikki Sudden – Red Brocade (reissue)
- Blondie – Against The Odds (1974 to 1982)
- Giant Sand – Tucson (reissue)
- Angel Olsen – Big Time
- Archers of Loaf – Reason in Decline
- Various Artists – To The Moon And Back – Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Various Artists – Bound For Hell: On The Sunset Strip
- Brian Eno – Foreverandevernomore
- Just Mustard – Heart Under
- Laura Jane Grace – At War With The Silverfish
- Locrian – New Catastrophism
- Camp Cope – Running With The Hurricane
- Jeanines – Don’t Wait For A Sign
- Party Dozen – The Real Work
- Garrett T. Capps and NASA Country – People Are Beautiful
- Viagra Boys – Cave World
