Top 20 electronic music albums of 2022: Shelley Parker – Wisteria

Choo choo! The albums of the year train chugs on. All aboard! Wait, sorry, this service is cancelled. You'll have to get on the replacement coach service of bloggery. Here's another instalment in the Top 20. 

See the full countdown here.

Shelley Parker: Wisteria (Hypercolour)

I’m never quite sure what wisteria is. A plant? A disease? My neighbour’s pet cockatoo? I feel a sense of uncertainty, which is quite appropriate considering the unease of Parker’s second album. From the threatening gasps that open the album to the tense drum and bass ducking beneath industrial clanging, it’s a troublesome listen. Even when delivering rolling breaks, the album crumbles and sags until its own audio weight. In short, it’s delightful fun. 

The Royal Horticultural Society website tells me it’s a climbing plant. This album doesn’t just climb. It crawls up from the deep, melting yet rising, pulsing yet decaying; building layers and layers of subterranean techno. It’s making me feel all… um… wisteric. That’s a thing, right?

From another website: It’s an album which celebrates and contextualises the heritage of rave while offering a different way to experience it. (International Orange)

This is part of a series of the Best Electronic Music Albums of 2022. Read it all here.