Capsule reviews of each item on the list!

Beth Orton - Weather Alive

- A poetic and understated later career record from the "folktronica" singersongwriter. Tom Skinner (Sons of Kemet, The Smile) plays god-tier drums throughout and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily adds tasteful contributions across these 8 lovely compositions. There is definitely some Spirit of Eden/Laughing Stock era Talk Talk energy in the mix here, which is rarely a bad thing. "Fractals" is groovable as all get out, and "Forever Young" is trip hop adjacent in a way that had me reaching for my Massive Attack LPs.

Shygirl - Nymph

- A dense 32-minute production masterclass showcasing the different sides of Blane Muise. "Firefly" -> "Heaven" is one of the most beautiful stretches on a record this year. "Nike" reminds me of Lil Mama's "Lipgloss." The accordion on "Poison" is a clear "Stereo Love" homage. Overall, smartly referential without being schlocky, and sensual and assertive in a subtly powerful way, too.

The Sadies - Colder Streams

- RIP Dallas Good. First hearing album opener "Stop and Start" from this LP was an achingly bittersweet experience this year, as I became instantly aware of how - with the passing of Dallas Good - an institution of Canadian independent rock had been forever changed. The Sadies were a constant in folk festival lineups and tour announcement news items while growing up on the Canadian prairies and delving into independent music in the 2000s/2010s. Consummate road dogs, they dutifully played lesser Canadian markets (like my hometown of Regina, SK) reguarly, while aesthetically they pursued their singular mix of psych/folk/Spaghetti Western/surf/rock/punk/?!?!? to its own ends, unmoved by the different flavour of the week genre trends (anyone else remember PBR&B or Seapunk?) that captivated fickler minds of the indie blogsphere like mine over the same period. They were far too good to be taken for granted, which I suspect I may have at different times. Setting aside my own regrets, Colder Streams is an incredible final gesture from the band's Dallas Era.

I also highly recommend this episode (http://vishkhanna.com/2022/07/19/ep-703-the-sadies/) of Vish Khanna's Kreative Kontrol from back in July 2022 where he discusses the new LP with the remaining members of the band and how they are attempting to navigate its future together.

Stella Donnelly - Flood

- Stella's 2019 Beware of the Dogs was one of my favourite singer-songwriter releases of that year. Her literate songcraft instantly drew me in in ways both witheringly hilarious ("Old Man," "Tricks") and heartbreaking ("Boys Will Be Boys," "Beware of the Dogs"). Flood features more of this signature whipsmart writing, while expanding Donnelly's instrumental palette to include songs written primarily on the piano. "Flood" and "Cold" are two of the finest adult pop songs released this year, while a track like "Medals" adds an unexpectedly loungier element to her sound. 

Alex G - God Save the Animals

- Another singular release from one of the most idiosyncratic contemporary American songwriters. Who knew that an LP that ostensibly was heavily influenced by Gillian Welch would have a hyperpop-adjacent song where Alex's pitch-shifted addict protagonist sings "I have to put the cocaine in the vaccine / Walk out of the doctor with immunity / Life of revelation catching up with me / Go to bed at midnight, waking up at three" and it would sound heavenly? Only in the surreal world of Alex G's ouevre - one which he's prolifically built across ~8(!) albums over the past decade - does this begin to make the slightest bit of sense...

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Reset

- Hands down the best project that Noah Lennox has been involved with since Merriweather Post Pavilion. Tightly constructed, loop-based songs that blur the line between sampled and non-sampled/added sonics in fascinating ways. The run from "In My Body" -> "Danger" is some of the most sublime music of 2022.

Cass McCombs - Heartmind

- The last few LPs from American singer-songwriter Cass McCombs have been sprawling, shaggy affairs, so it was exciting to note before release that Heartmind would be clocking in at a comparatively tight 42 minutes. Still, however, so much ground is covered on this release: from note-perfect 80s power-pop homage ("Karaoke") to deep/free ensemble instrumental playing (the title track). Thematically, this album seems to be about 2 broad ideas: the power of music, and grief for what we may give up in pursuit of our passions and ideals (like music) in this life. "A Blue, Blue Band" is a funny, lovely homage to touring music making, while "Belong To Heaven" memorializes friends lost along the way. Cass remains one of our most inspiring working songwriters, I think, in large part due to his opennness to collaboration in his work. In doing so, he avoids being pigeonholed in any sense of genre, and continuously renews his own practice as a writer and musician. (Shahzad Ismaily produced 5 tracks on this LP, too.)

Alvvays - Blue Rev

- What an absurd level up from this band in a way that I didn't expect! I had listened to all of the pre-release singles, but just wasn't ready for how well everything would work together on the album proper. Super producer Shawn Everett (originally from Bragg Creek, AB!) worked with the band on this LP, getting them to record live off the floor, and the results are incredible. The guitar lines in "After the Earthquake" are probably going to be rattling around in my head for the better part of the next year, and the New Order-y synth delight of "Velveteen" bangs hard. Oh, to be 15 years old again and to be suddenly introduced to some canonically amazing guitar music through a beautiful LP like this!

Broken Social Scene - Live at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, 2003

- A triumphant hometown live set of classic YFIIP era BSS featuring the excellent unreleased track "Jimmy and the Photocall." Pretty unreal, too, to hear them casually bust out (then unreleased) material from 2005's self-titled like "7/4 (Shoreline)," the fast version of "Major Label Debut," and a 15 minute(!) closing "It's All Gonna Break."

DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - Bewitched!

- The DJSTTD Extended Universe (DJSTTDEU) is sprawling and intertextual in ways that can often feel a bit overwhelming or impenetrable to a new listener. That said, I was pleased to bask in Bewitched!'s world upon release in late August, losing my mind at how ecstatically gorgeous tune followed ecstatically gorgeous tune with seemingly no apparent end in view. Like Panda Bear & Sonic Boom's Reset, the line between sampled and "organic" instrumentation is completely and purposefully muddled on DJSTTD releases, causing you to wonder if you're actually living in some kind of afterlife celestial jukebox (enabled - it must be said - by flagrant but inspired disregard for any notion of intellectual property) where the top line in some forgotten CCM pop song from 1997 is actually the greatest piece of pop songwriting ever maybe, especially when overlaid with (now unexpectedly profound?!) dialogue from a garbage made-for-TV drama from 2002?!?!? The closest comparison to DJSTTD, I think, has to be The Avalanches, and their kind of maximalist plunderphonic worldbuilding, but the source material here is decidedly different and more coded "feminine."

Real Lies - Lad Ash

Anticipating:

- The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language

- Enumclaw - Save the Baby

- Palm - Nicks and Grazes

- Taylor Swift - Midnights

- Junior Boys - Waiting Game

- Horse Lords - Comradely Objects

- Phoenix - Alpha Zulu