Top 50 electronic music albums of 2022: Salamanda, Ani Klang, T Gowdy

    

Here are more of my 50 favourite electronic music albums of 2022, taking us from number 50 to number 21, although not individually ranked within that grouping. In other words, here are some boss albums in no particular order. I'm blogging a handful at a time, and here's your latest lot.

See the full countdown here.

Salamanda: ashbalkum (Human Pitch)

“Can this Seoul pair do no wrong? …At its core are gently palmed drums: meandering marimbas and toms that are an utter sunny delight. Think Facta on a deck chair, Pantha du Prince in a Hawaiian shirt, or a factor-50 slathered Ultramarine. A soft bass adds affable depth; a click snare introduces a perfect level of nod-ability. Such minimalist niceties.”

Ani Klang: Ani Klang (New Scenery)

Klang calls her sound “kickmusik”, a compound noun which makes linguistic sense considering the Berlin influences of her club noises. These energetic, uncompromising dancefloor attacks are indeed like being kicked in the shins, by industrial bass drums, metallic loops and shuddering shrapnels of sound. It’s Slam getting slammed. Kick music? Kor blimey music.

T. Gowdy: Miracles (Constellation)

This blog post’s selections have been a rhythmic affair. The Montreal sound artist opens Miracles with an excoriating burst of rising static, where the rhythm comes from colliding soundwaves. A bitey, corrugated album of throbbing techno, often beatless, always furiously beating. Originally recorded to accompany surveillance footage, which may explain the superbly sinister overtones.

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

Top 50 electronic music albums of 2022: Kuedo, 96 Back, Robert Ames & Ben Corrigan

   

Let's get into the top 50 bestest favourite electronic music albums of 2022. Although they're not presented in any particular order, this next series of blog posts feature albums inside my top 50 but outside the top 20. The kind of chart position that would have been disappointing for Lisa from Steps, but would have been brilliant for H from Steps. I'll blog a few at a time. Here goes!

See the full countdown here.

Kuedo: Infinite Window (Brainfeeder)

I’m not sure an infinite window would work. Where would you put the walls? Despite its architectural impracticality, Jamie Teasdale delivers a stunning selection of keyboard wizardy. From beatless synth shininess to bass-heavy slo-mo electro, this first Kuedo album in six years crosses the full spectrum from noon-bright prog electronics to, er, more noon-bright prog electronics.

96 Back: Cute Melody, Window Down! (96 Music)

I always thought 96 Back was some moody anonymous geezer, until I saw him in Manchester recently and he chatted excitedly between tracks like a wedding DJ. Lovely guy. He follows a productive 2021 with further forays into synth fun. An ever-inventice collage of beat-bustin’ bangers and Lorenzo Senni-style synth noodles. Plus a more responsible attitude to windows.

Robert Ames & Ben Corrigan: Carbs (Nomad Music Productions) 

There’s a touch of Kiasmos to this collaboration between two esteemed contemporary classical composers. Or perhaps Rival Consoles or Max Cooper. It’s a synth album, but these graceful pieces could easily have been played on a church organ. Listen to the swells, the emotion, the rich dynamics that could only come from a couple of classical kids. Gorgeous.

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

Commended electronic music albums of 2022: part five

  

And now the final set of Commended albums of the year. After this, it's the Top 50, so don't read this blog post too much otherwise you might spoilt your appetite. See the full countdown here.

Pole: Tempus (Mute)

New glitchy noises from the innovative German composer Stefan Betke. This is a dubbier direction for this uber sound manipulator. It’s like a jazz concert performed in one of those Mission Impossible laser-trip rooms. No sudden moves or the alarms will go off.

Walton: Maisie By The Sea (Lith Dolina)

Another album that so nearly made my top 50. The Manchester producer steps far away from his Hyperdub bangers. See-sawing ambience morphs into stripped-apart electro morphs into paddy, glitch-hopping drum and bass, and back into shimmering, precise ambience. 

Nosaj Thing: Continua (LuckyMe)

Ah, nice to see Nosaj sticking his, er, nose in. It’s been a while. This is a softer sound than I’ve come to expect from the LA producer. There are nice instrumentals, chilled trip hop, synth-rich ballads. And Coby Sey’s second appearance in this album countdown. Hey, Coby!

Pacced Rock: Chapter One - Sonic Levitation (Ilian Tape)

The album tracks give a clue. Lotus Root. Levitation. Chilled. A thoroughly retro collection of smokers beats, complete with jazzy loops and full-on head-nodders. Think Rae & Christian, Hudson Mohawke and Prefuse 73. It even comes with Rizla packaging.

Michael J Blood x Rat Heart: Nite Mode Vol.1 (BodyTronixxx)

Hey, it’s Mr Heart again! Do you reckon that’s his real name? Anyhoo. Mr Blood adds oodles of smooth vibes to this selection of good natured, urban soulbeat instrumentals. Extra points for tracks named after south Manchester streerts. I suspect this will be a staple for party stereos.

HiTech: Hitech (FXHE Records)

Finally for this list of not-quite-top-50 recommendations, we have a pleasingly breezy album of footwork jams. Imagine Dam Funk after eating a little too much chocolate. The lazy vocals add a repetitive charm, and the energy doesn’t let up. Shouldn’t have mentioned chocolate. Dammit. Someone give me chocolate.

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

Commended electronic music albums of 2022: part four

 

Here are more Commended albums. This is the fourth of five such blog posts, after which we'll get into our Top 50. See the full countdown here.

Kemetrix: Here and Now (100 Limousines)

This is ace. An industrial cybertronic journey into killer robo-beats and movie soundtrackery. Plus the occasional synth stab. Imagine Robocob as lead singer of a disco act. No. Less sexy than you’re imagining. I’d love a list of its 1980s samples. Truly the dark side of Detroit.

Zombie Zombie: Vae Vobis (Born Bad)

 “Taking their cue from Dutch philosopher and Latin purist Erasmus, the electro trio delve deep into the Middle Ages for an album of… let me just check my notes… er, black mass Latinate prog techno-opera. With tonnes of vocoders. Crumbs.” How is this not in my top 50?

3Ddancer: new exciting toys (3Ddancer)

“Rusted synths pound the dancefloor with little let-up. So much dirty electro. Depraved acid lines catherine-wheel over industrial rhythms. At one point, the beefcake electro of single ‘Botanical Sports’ deflates in a balloon fart of its own eroded ecstasy.”

Richie Culver: I was born by the sea (REIF)

The following line is all you really need to know about this album. “There’s more mobility scooter repair shop and bookies, than there are bookshops.” This Withernsea-themed debut album is full of gruff Blackhaine-style macho ambience. Dark, biographical, essential.

The Ephemeron Loop: Psychonautic Escapism (Heat Crimes)

We’ve had some real experimentalism in this lot. Brace yourself. On Psychonautic Escapism we have apocalyptic screaming, dubby drones and Blanck Mass-style euphori-noir. The blurb compares it to Cocteau Twins and Napalm Death. It’s addictive, and puts the zen into brazen.

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

Commended electronic music albums of 2022: part three

 

We march on with the countdown. These are commended albums, which is a polite way of saying they didn't make my final top 50. You should listen to them anyway, to avoid social embarrassment more than anything.

This is the third of five Commended blog posts. See the full countdown here.

33: 33-69 (C.A.N.V.A.S.)

This so nearly made the top 50. It’s a bewildering listen. Choral slowness over jagged strings, machine-gun electro undercutting an undecipherable tannoy blah, something that sounds like Bjork using a dance pad made of knives. I mean, yikes. So very nearly.

Ailie Ormston and Tim Fraser: It Changes (Bison)

Proper composers, these two. Here we have complex, tangled classical music inspired by dance music, although the references are suggested rather than upfront. Apparently, the UK rave anthem Can Set You Free is a musical motif, although it would be a while before you’d notice.

Chouk Bwa & The Angströmers: Ayiti Kongo Dub (Les Disques Bongo Joe)

Haitian hardcore dance music. Let’s type that again. Haitian hardcore dance music. Delivered in two volumes, these beats are equally uncompromising as they are cheery. The melodic vocals are pure Caribbean sunshine, yet the sunshine is submerged in an underground warehouse. Brill.

Coby Sey: Conduit (AD 93)

Sey’s deadpan spoken word is our hook into what otherwise would be album of obscure, narcotic Tricky-style loops. “Marking the past,” he says over and over again. You can really feel London DIY culture writ large and presented without polish. V. real.

Kakuhan: Metal Zone (NAKID)

Classical music is merely a jumping off point on an album in which strings are pitched into a deep chasm of warped, broken electronics. One online commenter describes it as “Someone handed Arthur Russell a bunch of Photek records.” Not easy, always interesting.

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

Commended electronic music albums of 2022: part two

 

Here are more commended albums that didn't quite make my top 50. Each one is a peach, or a pair, or a pineapple. You pick the fruit, I'm not fussy.

This is the second of five Commended blog posts. See the full countdown here.

Caterina Barbieri: Spirit Exit (light-years)

This is the third album from the acclaimed synth experimentalist, and this time it’s inspired by female mystics. Despite being produced during the introspection of lockdown, Barbieri is typically light of touch. Elegiac, worshipful and drifting, and wonderfully listenable.

Rat Heart Ensemble: A Blues (Shotta Tapes)

Mr Heart abandons the dancefloor for a long, post-disco sleep. Boomkat gave this Mancunian’s Tascam driftings their Album of the Year accolade. Dark ambient pieces drifting from littered side alleys, echoing drones reverberating from smoking manholes. 

Waves: Low Altitude (self-released)

“This is a coastal collection of cockle-shelled ambience, barnacled synth meditations and sea-bound drones as wide-reaching as far-flung fish. There are lapping shorelines, seagulls, even a humming lighthouse… Manchester finally has its beach.”

Romance & Dean Hurley: In Every Dream Home A Heartache (Ecstatic)

Speaking of ambient. David Lynch collaborator Dean Hurley produces an album of hazy, filmic ambience. Each set of wandering loops will run a movie reel in your head: abandoned beaches, sun-dappled forests, buffalo doing a tango. Okay, maybe not that last one.

Ulla: Foam (3XL)

This has been a really woozy set of recommendations, and this product of the US Midwestern ambient scene is no less heady. Imagine setting off a synth arpeggio, but then feeding the audio through a mincer, then making a lovely lemon mousse with the remains. That.

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

Commended electronic music albums of 2022: part one

 

Before we get to the top 50 best albums of 2022, here are some records that didn't quite make the cut. No particular reason. It's just how it all shook down when I was compiling stuff. Everything here is 100% worth your time, energy and ears.

I'll split this into five blog posts, with about four or five in each. See the whole countdown here.

Stephen Mallinder: tick tick tick (Dais Records)

“Its headline instruments are gorgeous bristly basslines that sometimes lead the march, and sometimes get caught in swirls of equally rhythmic lead synth…. Thank goodness Mallinder has rediscovered his solo groove. This ticks the boxes. All three of them.”

Soichi Terada: Asakusa Light (Rush Hour)

Festival-friendly house music from a Japanese video game soundtracker. Imagine playing an immersive game but wrapped in cotton wool and there’s an especially friendly manatee giving you a foot massage. Simply a whole bunch of nice.

Brassfoot: SWEAT (NCA)

Brassfoot runs a cassette tape label for experimental music, so this scuzzy techno has all the hissy roughness you’d expect. Warehouse bangers, chopped synth loops, lots of claustrophobia. You could probably play it on a 78 as well as cassette, I’d imagine.

Decius: Decius Vol. I (The Leaf Label)

The newly formed Decius would make a great accompaniment to Mallinder. Mechanical beats meet clipped acid and pumping electronic disco. Features Lias Saoudi from Fat White Family. Keyboard workouts to keep you going until the milkman delivers.

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

Best electronic music albums of 2022: an introduction

 

Welcome to the Best Electronic Music Albums of 2022.

2022 was a year which saw poverty go through the roofs no-one can afford, war writ ugly and large across our TV screens, and Twitter implode into a chasm of patriarchal billionaire sludge. The last thing we need is someone waffling about his favourite albums of the year, right?

You're wrong! We need this kind of blather more than ever. My best-of album countdown returns. I'm about to plonk 36 blog posts on your computer / Nokia / abacus screen. Here's what you can expect.

This is a list of my favourite electronic music albums of the year. I will mention 75+ albums, although the list is not complete nor authoritative. I will omit obvious choices, and I will make mistakes. I'm writing this within minutes of the first blog post going online, and it's all pretty much written (a) as live and (b) as a first draft. Expect it to be an absolute cack-pot of steaming gunk, and we can take it from there.

I will present you with the following sexy selections. Within each section, I won't rank each album in order. Gone are the days of sorting these numerically. What's the point: if I was blogging this next week, the whole order would shuffle anyway.

Commended Electronic Music Albums – albums that didn't make my final top 50

Top 50 Electronic Music Albums – what would have otherwise been numbers 50 to 21

Top 20 Electronic Music Albums – what would have otherwise been numbers 20to 11

Top 10 Electronic Music Albums – what would have otherwise been numbers 10 to 2

The number one best electronic music album of 2022

This will be laid out as 36 blog posts publishing between now and 9pm today, then resuming on New Year's Eve starting in the morning and ending at around 6pm. Plenty of time after that for you to get all dressed up for Jool's Hootenanny. Holland loves his glad rags.

It's important that this album countdown doesn't take over my entire life, so I will probably do fewer graphics and slightly shorter write-ups. It was a bit stressful last year. If a review is "written in speech marks, like this", the text is taken from my Electronic Sound magazine review of that album.

This all said, every album on this countdown is something I have properly liked or appreciated in 2022, so it's all pucker and brilliant and thank you in advance for wiping your reading eyes across my hastily written words.

Let's go. See the full countdown progress here.

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