Happy New Year! and welcome to the first post on WoNoBlog of 2023. Traditionally the first days of the new year are used for looking back. Tradition is tradition.
Another year over, it's listing time once again. Picking out the favourite albums of the year is hard (work) and also tends to be a little unfair. The most recent albums always stick with me just a little easier. Everything was weighed, striped away, listened to once again. When all was listened to and done, I had to make up my mind and this is it for 2022. Today number 30 to 11.
30. Plenty Of Blankets. No Ninja Am I
Beautiful album with inventive songs often bringing CSN&Y to mind. Sander van Munster is on top of his game here.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/plenty-of-blankets-no-ninja-am-i.html
29. The Origin Of Air Quotes. The Slow Clock
Alternative rock with a twist or two from Amsterdam. The Origin Of Air Quotes is an album full of nice little surprises.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-origin-of-air-quotes-slow-clock.html
28. Κάπου Αλλού (Somewhere Elsewhere). Bazooka
Not understanding a single word and still be mesmerised by a Greek band playing music somewhere, elsewhere between pop, indie and alternative in very convincing ways.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/11/somewhere-elsewhere-bazooka.html
27. Big Love Blanket. Personal Trainer
The Dutch album of the year for many professional journalists. I am still finding my way in. Two weeks ago the album would not have made this list. Today it has, so who knows where it is going to end? Only time can tell.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/11/big-love-blanket-personal-trainer.html
26. Barn. Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Some albums of "older" acts did not make this list because they do what they are good at, other do, because they do what they are good at. Don't ask me to explain the difference. it's a feeling. Like Neil Young and Crazy Horse. On Barn the band sounds soothingly familiar and good.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/01/barn-neil-young-crazy-horse.html
25. Wilderness Of Mirrors. The Black Angels
Psychedelia still rules in the realm of The Black Angels. Wilderness Of Mirrors falls into the 'Barn' category: The Black Angels simply does a lot right on its latest album.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/wilderness-of-mirrors-black-angels.html
24. The Analogues Sideshow. The Analogues
Having made a huge name for itself as THE Beatles re-creation band, now The Analogues play its own songs. Most of the songs on The Analogues Sideshow would have stood out on most if not any of the solo albums of the Fab Four. They sound slightly familiar and have the quality I have come to expect from a band this good.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/introducing-analogues-sideshow-analogues.html
23. Dreaming Of The Future. Womb
The first of a few albums coming out of New Zealand in this list. A sonorous and solemn sounding album Dreaming Of The Future is. Something to sit and wind down for and truly listen.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/11/dreaming-of-future-again-womb.html
22. A Light For Attracting Attention. The Smile
I'm still not certain whether I truly like this album or not. (Like many Radiohead albums I should add.) It impresses more than it is good, but still, it's extremely well made and certainly interesting enough.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/three-albums-02-09-2022.html
21. Skinty Fia. Fontaines D.C.
And this band simply keeps getting better and better. The first album did not touch me in any way, although by now I should give it another chance. The second went down well and Skinty Fia is simply it.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/three-albums-17-may-2022.html
20. Autofiction. Suede
Just a little louder, just a little more prominent, more punk, as Brett Anderson said himself. It works for me. Always on the edge of kitsch, Autofiction steers well away from the Suede that is just on the wrong side of music I like.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/10/three-albums-gogol-bordello-suede-and.html
19. Ghosts On Tape. Blood Red Shoes
Yes, no, yes, no? Yes, Ghosts On Tape is in and in a comfortable position. Blood Red Shoes simply delivers with its latest album as it has with most of its albums. Not my favourite but certainly in a comfortable position there as well.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/01/ghosts-on-tape-blood-red-shoes.html
18. Orbit 1. Recitals
More from Flying Nun Records, the indie label in the world perhaps with the highest quality output. Recitals simply surprises in so many ways on this album. Nothing is what it seems. When finished, an overwhelming sense of musical sensations is what remains.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/08/orbit-1-recitals.html
17. Lewis & Clark. Mountaineer
Marcel Hulst is one of The Netherlands' hidden treasures. His songs are so exquisite that they deserve an audience far beyond the borders of our at best medium sized kingdom. Lewis & Clark, named after two U.S. explorers from the earliest 1800s, contains a multitude of fantastic songs, delicate, beautiful, great harmonies and lovingly arranged.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/01/lewis-clark-mountaineer.html
16. Dropout Boogie. The Black Keys
The Black Keys are back at what they are good at. Boogie. These words suffice.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/dropout-boogie-black-keys.html
15. Solidaritine. Gogol Bordello
After years of silence, including an album I had missed, Gogol Bordello is back with an album that sounds 100% familiar, yet filled with the quality I want to hear when hearing the band. Eugene Hotz and his current band members are on a roll on Solidaritine.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/10/three-albums-gogol-bordello-suede-and.html
14. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky. Porridge Radio
The surprise is gone, that overwhelming intensity that rolled over me in 2020. That surprise can never be matched, probably. That doesn't make Waterslide etc., a lesser album. Porridge Radio has deepened its music and that pays off.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/waterslide-diving-board-ladder-to-sky.html
13. Welcome To KooKoo Island. Cari Cari
The first two lines directly above can be repeated here. Welcome To KooKoo Island is a fun album that shows how inventive a duo can be. It has the songs and the way to play it to stand out.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/welcome-to-kookoo-island-cari-cari.html
12. ... And You Will Know Us By The Greatful Dead. Trixsi
Punkrock from Hamburg. Trixsi may not have started 100% serious. And, despite the not so serious album title, comes up with a great punkrock album. Including one of the best songs of 2022, 'Schlangenmann'.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/and-you-will-know-us-by-greatful-dead.html
11. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. Big Thief
Until 2022 I never really knew what to make of Big Thief. Everybody was cheering, not me. Enter the new album with the incredibly long if not ridiculous name. Some already call it Big Thief's 'White Album'. I'm not that far yet, but as you can see, this album made a serious impression on me.
http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/dragon-new-warm-mountain-i-believe-in.html
Wout de Natris
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