Oh, I've Got a List... Vol. 1
Recapping a year of movies, music, video games, and the madness of 2022.
It’s that time of year again when a year of media consumption goes by and many only give it value through where it ranks on a list. Fortunately for those who like lists, I also like lists! And I’ve consumed a lot of media. Probably too much, but I think I was somehow more physically active than ever before, so I don't know how that math works out. I guess I’m always on. Either way, it’s always fun to build these lists and in some cases, I keep track throughout the year so I’m constantly revamping it and then going back and trying to recalibrate from recency bias.
Photo: The Ocean Collective live at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver, BC.
Where to start though? Well, it makes the most sense to start with the one form of entertainment I was most attentive to this year: music. Every Friday when new albums dropped, I’d compile a playlist of all the titles that looked remotely interesting to me via a couple of websites. Now, mostly this skews more metal than any other genre because that’s just what I’ve always liked most, but I try to dabble in everything even if I know the likelihood of me enjoying it is low. That mentality stems from my days working at HMV and I have a lot of time to listen to music while working my current day job, so it’s no bother to listen to a few albums I might hate.
My process begins with the weekly playlists - which are also made because Spotify is really bad at surfacing new music for me to discover - and is then filtered into a new playlist of the best music of the year. I pick one song from an album and put it on the playlist. I keep all my weekly playlists so at the end of the year I can just play them all shuffled and see if anything stands out that I didn’t quite acknowledge previously. The result is a playlist I can easily turn on at any point and enjoy every piece of music included and keep myself conscious of what I dug throughout the year.
So for those who are interested in just hearing the playlist of my top songs from 2022, you can do so here.
The list is 184 songs at the time of this writing, though I may add a couple more if I discover some missing. It’s a playlist I usually hit shuffle on as well otherwise you’re just going through a chronological list of music I liked as I liked it.
The real work was putting together a list of my favorite albums of the year, which I have learned to stop ranking because I rank enough things to have to worry about this as well. I love music and every year the albums in my top five are all probably tied for #1 so why bother ranking them at all?
chat pile - God's Country
Anxious - Little Green House
Wormrot - Hiss
arm's length - Never Before Seen, Never Again Found
Brutus - Unison Life
White Ward - False Light
Venom Prison - Erebos
Absent in Body - Plague God
HATH - All That Was Promised
Author & Punisher - Krüller
Immolation - Acts of God
Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
Gillian Carter - Salvation Through Misery
Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future
GAEREA - Mirage
Cloud Rat - Threshold
Celeste - Assassine(s)
Gospel - The Loser
Asunojokei - Island
Sonja - Loud Arriver
Wake - Thought Form Descent
Scarcity - Aveilut
conjurer - Páthos
40 Watt Sun - Perfect Light
Drug Church - Hygiene
An Abstract Illusion - Woe
oso oso - sore thumb
Orville Peck - Bronco
Allegaeon - DAMNUM
Panzerfaust - The Suns of Perdition - Chapter III: The Astral Drain
Toadeater - Bexadde
Doldrum - The Knocking, Or The Story of the Sound that Preceded Their Disappearance
Liminal Shroud - All Virtues Ablaze
Freddie Gibbs - Soul Sold Separately
Hussar - All-Consuming Hunger
Sidus Atrum - Spiral of Life
ARÐ - Take Up My Bones
Izthmi - Leaving This World, Leaving It All Behind
Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
PUP - The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND
Above is the list, in no real order, just the feeling of where I’d place them without being too scientific about it, other than the top five which are pretty close to the order I might put them in if I was grilled on it. Nothing to say about these other than some of them are bands I just really enjoy the vibes they’re putting off even if the album doesn’t land as well as their previous works (PUP, Drug Church, oso oso, for example). That Chat Pile record is something special, I think, but definitely not going to work for everyone. The track “Why?” is the song I always recommend because it’s just so hostile in a constructive manner. I am planning to see them next year with Lingua Ignota who is another artist that is doing something just remarkable.
Meanwhile, I was also on a bit of an emo kick this year and the Anxious record probably kicked that off in a huge way. Then that Arm’s Length record came out recently and while I don’t think it breaks new ground, I think it stands tall among many of its contemporaries and obvious influences.
Photo: Anxious live at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver, BC.
However, as you can see, there’s a lot of metal. There are a few that in my head I feel would be higher with more listens and there are plenty of albums that I like but just didn’t crack the top 40 for me (the new Aara and Crowbar come to mind). Then there’s some where a recent relisten really skyrocketed it up (that 40 Watt Sun record was solid on first listen but the melancholy really crept into me upon revisit). And some are friends’ bands that released albums that I think do some very interesting work within their respective subgenres (Hussar and Liminal Shroud). I’m always just happy to not have to be awkward and pretend to like albums because I know the people who made them. It’s a very fortunate situation to be in when you’re surrounded by creative people who excel at what they’re doing.
Everything else definitely deserves a listen, especially if you enjoy metal - though some albums are obviously not (see: Orville Peck, Denzel Curry, Freddie Gibbs, and others). I also attended a bunch of concerts this year, including Wu-Tang Clan with Nas, PUP, Oso Oso with Anxious, Katatonia with The Ocean Collective, Wake with Liminal Shroud, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Shad, along with some other smaller shows, and maybe something I’m forgetting. I usually see more, but being in Victoria instead of Vancouver or Toronto, you get a little pickier about what you’re gonna travel to see.
I was going to share my favorite movies and video games in this post, but I honestly think I’ve written enough for one day here. I’ll post my movies and video games at a later date, though I just submitted my favorite movies to Tilt Magazine so you can look out for the sitewide picks there.
Otherwise, I hope everyone enjoys their holidays whatever they may entail. I’ve got my annual Christmas dinner to make where I become closest to emulating Bob Belcher’s love of cooking during the holidays.