Global Garage’s Favorite Records of 2022

What even was 2022? A war broke out and dominated the news cycle for a few months until the global consciousness generally forgot about it (yeah it’s still going on), the US Supreme Court is a farce in the face of human rights, and Elon Musk bought Twitter – to name a few things. Fortunately, there was some DAMN FANTASTIC music put out into the world this year to help us cope through the chaos. As usual, we put together are far-from-comprehensive list of a few of our favorite records from this year. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

Besvärjelsen – Atlas (Sweden)
Heavy earworms with a comforting familiarity of a really solid rock’n’roll record. – Ryan

Black Lung – Dark Waves (United States, Maryland)
With Dark Waves, Black Lung offers a compelling rock’n’roll composition that ranges from danceable grooves to epic swells. – Ryan

Blackbraid – Blackbraid I (United States, New York)
Indigenous atmospheric black metal with a heavy groove and folk undertones. – Ryan

Bob Vylan – Bob Vylan Presents… The Price of Life (United Kingdom)
This fresh and scathingly honest rap and dub-fueld punk rock opus might be Queen Elizabeth’s true cause of death. – Ryan

Brujas Del Sol – Deculter (United States, Ohio)
Horror movie soundtrack stylings ala John Carpenter & Goblin, turned up to an unrelenting 11. – Ryan

CB3 – Exploration (Sweden)
Longform bubblegum psych offering fresh space rock grooves and ’90s grunge+shoegaze tonal nostalgia. – Ryan

Charlie No Face – Eleven Thousand Volts (United States, Oregon)
Solid rock’n’roll record with catchy riffs and mind-scrambling shreds. – Ryan

Conan – Evidence of Immortality (United Kingdom)
Titanic bangers from one of the heaviest bands in doom. – Ryan

Devon Rexi – Tambal EP (Netherlands)
Otherworldy avant-groove collaboration by the prolific Nic Mauskovic (Altın Gün, Mauskovic Dance Band) and mysterious vocalist Nushin Naini, like an alien dance single beamed from another dimension. – Paul

Dhidalah – Sensoria 認識 (Japan)
Sensoria is filled to the brim with kosmische heavy psych offering interstellar sonic transportation; serving as continued proof that some of the best modern psychedelic rock comes from Japan. – Ryan

Etran De L’air – Agadez (Niger)
Hypnotic desert blues grooves that are full of life. – Ryan

Gnome – King (Belgium)
A ridiculously fun record that transcends gimic through masterful instrumentation. – Ryan

Imarhan – Aboogi (Algeria)
Channelling not just the voices of their Tuareg ancestry but the entire new African generation, Imarhan’s music is as vital as it is thrilling. The new album features appearances from musical luminaries such as Mohamed At Itlale (Japonais) and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni and production by Gruff Rhys. Each song feels like an offering for a better world. – Paul

Izzy & The Black Trees – Revolution Comes In Waves (Poland)
Just a really damn good punk rock record. – Ryan

Karl Kave & Durian – Total Liquidation (Switzerland)
Minimal wave is alive and well thanks in part to Karl Kave, who released two albums of “existential synthpunk” in 2022 — this one and his solo Doomsday. The collaboration with Durian creates exciting moments of transcendence and allows the playful sense of humor to come out — “Patriarchy makes cucumber salad!” he opines on the second track. – Paul

King Bastard – It Came From The Void (United States, New York)
I think this record is best described visually by its own psychedelic album cover which features a skeletal astronaut and perfectly encapsulates the cosmic psychedelia and existential dark void of space sonically represented within It Came From The Void. – Ryan

Lastryko – Sesje (Poland)
Specializing in the sort of longfom jazz-inspired space rock that El Paraiso has cornered the market on, Lastryko’s new album delivers exactly what you’re hoping for. – Paul

Lathe of Heaven – Demo (United States, New York)
Taking their name from Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1971 novel (inspired in turn by the mind-bending works of Philip K. Dick), this thoughtful and allusive NYC post-punk outfit has big things ahead. – Paul

Lolina – Face the Music EP (United Kingdom)
Ex-Hype Williams/Dean Blunt collaborator issues a new EP of funky no-wave dance music that would easily have found a home on Ze Records if it had been released four decades earlier. But this is no mere throwback, capturing a peculiarly online aesthetic that only continued to blossom in 2022. – Paul

Mabe Fratti – Se Ve Desde Aquí (Guatemala)
Experimental cellist and composer explores new recording methods and new collaborators (including Exploded View’s Hugo Quezada) on her excellent new release. – Paul

Messa – Close (Italy)
A beautifully composed record on which the labor of love is audible. Messa transcends their genre by allowing the various musical influences of individual members seep in and make something that is greater than the sum of its parts. A record has not felt this “fresh” to me in a long time. Forget 2022, Close is a masterpiece that successfully smashed its way onto my list of alltime favorite records. – Ryan

Minami Deutsch – Fortune Goodies (Japan)
Putting the Guru Guru into Guruguru Brain records, Minami Deutsch continues to deliver top-notch motorik psychedelia. – Ryan

Moin – Paste (United Kingdom)
This London group has carved out its own niche somehwere in the uncanny valley between chilly electronic manipulation and grimy ’90s rock experimentation. The new album traces out the anatomy of our collective modern psyche, some post-human beast slouching on its way to be born. – Paul

Moura – Axexan, espreitan (Spain)
I returned to this record a lot over the past year for it’s genre-bending, captivating compositions that combine kosmische and Galician folk. – Ryan

Noori & His Dorpa Band – Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan’s Red Sea Coast (Sudan)
Beja Power offers an interesting, soulful extension of the Tuareg rock sound by complementing the electrified grooves with tenor sax. – Ryan

Petrol Girls – Baby (Austria)
Raw and powerful post-hardcore for a post-Roe world. – Ryan

Say Sue Me – The Last Thing Left (South Korea)
Whimsical and sweet, this indie pop record surfs on good vibes. – Ryan

Smoke – Groupthink (United States, Virginia)
A hypnotic, fuzzy southern doom record with heavy riffs and ethereal motifs. – Ryan

Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems (United States, Pennyslvania)
Hardcore punk that, to its strength, can’t stand still as it leans into experimental rap and noise. – Ryan

Twin Pigs – Godspeed, Little Shit-Eater (Sweden)
2022 is the year Elon Musk bought Twitter and the world finally realized Kanye is a terrible person. It’s also the year Godspeed, Little Shit-Eater came out, providing a comfortably grounding counterpoint to the unrelenting farce of reality. – Ryan

Viagra Boys – Cave World (Sweden)
This satyrical almost-concept-album skewering Q-anon conspiracists and the terminally online with otherworldly danceable gooves is 100% the vibe that sums up 2022. – Ryan

Winter Severity Index – Disgelo (Italy)
Does it snow in Rome? Italian outfit Winter Severity Index would have you believe so with their trip-hop-inspired coldwave transmissions, which has the sheen of high fashion one would expect from the city along with an authenticity that cuts like a knife. – Paul

Ryan

Ryan first discovered his love of radio at WSOE FM, where he spent all 4 years of college as a DJ, 2 as program director, and 1 as general manager. While his musical tastes are fairly broad, he has a big nerdy spot in his heart for prog rock.