Spoon - Lucifer On The Sofa
Just a great indie rock band doing what they do best and killin’ it. From track to track just Spoon layin’ down one catchy tune after another. Highly recommended for my indie fans out there. Then again, if you’re an indie fan chances are you either already know about this one or the second I said it was a Spoon album you were sold. 
If you like funk or just pop in general I recommend checking out this album:
Ok, so I went thought the new release section of Bandcamp so that you don’t have to. It took me a while but here is the nice sounding & well recorded stuff I found in no significant order:
Sylvan Tunnel by Ross Martin - bluegrass/folk/jazz
Heat! EP by DEADLETTER - Art Punk/Dance-Punk/Post-Punk
Present Past and Future by Eric Hilton - Downtempo/trip-hop
MydWynter by Mediæval Bæbes - Neo-Medieval Folk/Female Choral
Exotic Creatures and a Stolen Dream (24-48) by Sunchild - Progressive Rock/Neo-Prog
Wooden Music I by Tomasz Stańko Quintet - Free Jazz
The Take Vibe E.P. by - Cool Jazz
Thought, Action, Reaction, Interaction by Work Money Death - Spiritual Jazz
KALAK by Sarathy Korwar - Hindustani Classical Music/Spiritual Jazz
Feorm Falorx by Plaid - IDM
Changing Earth by Matthew Halsall - Spiritual Jazz
Flaming Swords by Fievel Is Glauque - Progressive Pop/Jazz Pop/Jazz-Rock/Art Pop
ATALAYA by Dezron Douglas - Post-Bop/Spiritual Jazz
Suddenly by Krystian Shek - Ambient Dub
Piano Collections: CHRONO TRIGGER by Trevor Alan Gomes - Piano Soundtrack
And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow by Weyes Blood - Baroque Pop/Singer-Songwriter
Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy by Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - Jazz
Watchhouse (Duo) by Mandolin Orange - Contemporary Folk/Americana
The Homing Bird’s Trace by River Flows Reverse - Psychedelic Rock/Jam Band - FREE!
ラストチャンス by Macroblank - Downtempo/Plunderphonics/Barber Beats/Nu Jazz - FREE!
OCCULT by Macroblank - Downtempo/Barber Beats - FREE!
痛みの永遠 by Macroblank - Barber Beats/Downtempo - FREE!
Despite mainstream popularity, I found SZA’s most recent album to reinvent the showcasing of her spectacular vocal talent: SZA - SOS (Audio) - YouTube
She’s such a good singer to begin with that she deserves more than simple pop beats and backgrounds, so I felt this album a step forward with her continued journey for new sounds with use of familiar musical textures. As a modern R&B album, it doesn’t feel too pigeonholed into pop or trap influences in the beats and musical aspects, it feels like they were simply songs written for SZA to lay out her narrative and consistent vocal talent, intimacy, and reinvention. It’s cool to see (budding) pop stars continue to attempt new moves musically and I felt she did not stagnate with this album, especially in light of the popularity of her last album. Just my 2 cents! Anyone else care to share per their own listen of it?
Spoon has held their relevance through decades of popular releases. A good example of “they don’t make em like that anymore” bands. Excellent mention. I have yet to listen to that album but am stoked to add to the listening list.
You’ll dig it for sure! I actually think it’s one of their best albums and it has definitely been one of my favorite drops of 2022 for sure.
BTW, it’s nice to meet someone who appreciates the greatness of Spoon. Most people, even some claiming to be fans, don’t realize that these guys have been throwing down sick albums as one of the leaders of the indie rock scene for more than three decades at this point. The crazy thing is that they’ve been relevant and productive that whole time. There aren’t many bands who can say they’ve stayed at the top of their chosen genres that long or been that consistent.
To make this post totally topical I’ll add a few albums:
Pure Reason Revolution - Above Cirrus: This is a good one for my neo-prog, prog-metal, rock, and good music fans.
The Mars Volta - Self-titled: A return album after a decade away from producing new music. This is a very good album to come back on. A bit more coherent, with a happier feel…but that’s what happens when you kick you coke and heroin habits and stabilize your lives (speaking from experience here) which is what they spent their hiatus doing.
Interpol - The Other Side of Make Believe: Interpol’s last couple albums have been hit or miss and many feared they were losing their direction/identity after bassist Carlos D left and were set to fade into irrelevance and obscurity. TOSMB is, IMO, a complete refutation of those critiques, showing a reenergized and creatively reinvigorated band with hooks as sharp as ever. I was very happy that this album came out as good as it did.
These three albums along with the Spoon’s album that I posted before are definite 2022 highlights in my book.
It would be really fun if everyone could post a top ten album list for 2022. And maybe not just albums released this year? Ten, new to you albums that blew your mind this year.
In the next 7 days…
I don’t have a top 10 yet, as I must trim my Best Albums of 2022 playlist to just 10 records with some listening over the next week or so. But I doubt anything will dislodge my top two:
More to come …
Some interesting collabs on this one, Lustmord has always been in the rotation
Thanks for the Pure Reason Revolution recommendation! I’d never heard them and now their song Phantom is my new iem test song. Great band…tight rythmically…crunching guitars…deep bass…and some good choir-like vocals at times. I just learned my ie600s have slightly better vocals and my Variations show a lot of bass that didn’t exist on the Sennheisers.
PRR is such a ridiculously good band. I love bringing their music to new fans because pretty much anyone who likes any kind of rock and/or appreciates great musicianship can find something to like in their work. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I was going to wait until the weekend to write up a list, but them I figured anything that I get between now and saturday night won’t have time to settle anyway.
Top 10 2022 Releases
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Return of the Dream Canteen.
If you loved the The Getaway, you will love this. If you thought that was a horrendous detour by the band, you might want to check out Unlimited Love from earlier this year.
Bywater Call - Remain.
A new discovery for me, is this Canadian blues-rock outfit. Still playing this album to death.
Marcus King - Young Blood.
Guitar blues done right. I discovered him a while back, went thought his back catalogue and bought about half of each album. The rest was too much country for me. The new album is Great, start to finish.
Larkin Poe - Blood Harmony.
Another band with bluesy leanings that I pick and choose with, but this new album is their best and most complete album yet, IMO.
Two Feet - Shape and Form.
I am addicted to this guys music. It is a mix of blues guitar, strong bass sound and raspy vocals. I am buying everything this guy puts out.
Makaya McCraven - Deciphering the Message.
He is a jazz drummer that specializes in recording music/sessions and editing them, like a Hip/hop artist. In this case he got got access to the Blue Note archives. If you listen to old be-bop and hard bop jazz, you will recognize some of the call-outs. Really cool execution, to me!
Beth Hart - A tribute to Led Zeppelin
This album really surprised me. Led Zeppelin was my favourite band growning up and I am not really big on covers, athough Encomium was pretty good. I have listened to Beth Hart several times and just thought “Meh”, more of a growl than a voice. But WOW, is this album awesome. She is not not trying imitate or copy Plant. She just gives her version of his songs. And it is really impressive. I have heard these songs thousands of times over the last 40 years and I still want to play this.
Trombone Shorty - Lifted.
This is, I believe, his fifth album and I have them all. 
He is classified as jazz because he plays the horn, but he is more pop/rock/R&B. I heard of him several years ago when he was touring with DMB. If you like fun, up tempo music with horns, this is it.
The Blue Stones - Pretty Monster.
Bluesy grooves, a bit of an R&B feel and some rock tossed in. Great music for sitting around and zoning out.
Big Wreck - 7.2-EP
If you like their trademark sound, this is a great album (EP). Just straight ahead rock.
My favourite new music of 2022. Although I must admit I have bought some older albums that are getting even more play than these. But this post is already too long. 
Totally agree with The Blue Stones and Larkin Poe picks. Great stuff!
NAS - King’s Disease III
Here’s one that I just discovered recently. Kinda indie meets art rock. Interesting sound and influences combined with a lead vocalist whose voice I find to be hauntingly beautiful in some of these tracks. Overall, definitely worth a listen. The album is entitled Firmament by Dim Gray. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this group in the future.
Also, I have to recommend the new solo album from Haken guitarist Charlie Griffiths entitled Tiktaalika. It’s definitely prog-metal and you can hear some of the crossover influences from his work with Haken (a group I’m also a fan of) though I would say that this album hits a bit harder than Haken’s material. Overall, this album is chock full of top notch musicianship, ripping guitar riffage, and a deep, heavy, and tight rhythm section driving the whole sound. If this kinda music is up your alley, there’s a lot to sink your teeth into here. Let me be so bold as to recommend you listen to the hi-res version if it’s available to you from your download or streaming service of choice (it’s on Qobuz for example) as this album is VERY well mixed and mastered and that combined with the musical prowess on display makes this one of those releases that can really capitalize on higher resolution formats and resolving signal chains, IMO.
Louis Cole - Quality Over Opinion
DOMi & JD BECK - NOT TiGHT
Anomalie - Galerie
Julian Lage - View With A Room
In a year filled with so much new music for me, a lot stood out. But I have to say - the absolute biggest surprise was listening to the new Lupe Fiasco record.
I very rarely listen to Rap or Hip-Hop now a days. Going back to middle school and high school, that was pretty much all I listened to, along side EDM, Dance, Electronic ect. I was a fan of Lupe in those days. But I haven’t heard a single song by him in probably 10 or so years, omitting the occasional listen to ‘Kick, Push’. (Being a skater back in the day, this song was always one of my favorites.)
Fast forward to 2022. This new record is actually fantastic. A real surprise.
KIOSK is a stand out track.
