Best Of 2022: New Music Reviews and Interviews

2022's final month offers a time for revisiting music reviews composed and compiled here on this site throughout the year. The annual “Best Of” highlights those notable artists written about since January. A concise listing focused on each months entries in sequential order brings attention once again to the most engaging releases of 2022.

  

With the New Year came a fresh crop of album and single releases that were followed by full-length recordings later on. Most of these artists have been developing their individual style for a number of years. Featured on indie labels with consistent track records, the first month of 2022 saw this site digging in to a variety of creative songwriters and sound designers.

Frequent contributors to this site Big Stir Records rolled-out their first major album release of 2022: “Darling Please” from acclaimed North Carolina singer-songwriter Chris Church. A remastering of songs recorded a number of years back, the artists re-imagined his original vision aided by modern recording studio facilitation.

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Along with the lyric-heavy vocal music frequently reviewed here, this site has also made it a point to feature quality instrumental releases at times. The Seattle-based soul-jazz groove machine Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio first released the single “Don't Worry 'Bout What I Do” and full album Cold As Weiss via Colemine Records.

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Good Eye Records introduced an exciting new track "Boscobel," which served as the first single from new to this site band Sooner's debut album, Days and Nights. Sooner specializes in blending alternative rock, dream pop and gaze with romantic female lead vocals.

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The complete reviews on the above bands can be found here.

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The Kool Kat Music label released “Wish I Could See” by Cheap Star. Fronted by Swiss-French musician Remi Vaissiere (who wrote, sings lead and plays guitar on all the songs). A distinct 'Americana/Powerpop' vibe runs through it all due to the artists long-time relationship with seminal late 80's/early 90's Posies frontman Jon Auer. Brought in to produce and mix the record, Jon also plays a variety of guitars and keyboards on nearly all of the tracks. The Posies connection doesn't end there as respected drummer Brian Young (a member of that band during their major label years from 94-98, before moving on to The Fountains of Wayne and then The Jesus and Mary Chain) delivers outstanding percussion on every one of these new songs.

 

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The music of Dead Leaf Echo is no stranger to this site, having covered their recordings and many live shows for over a decade. Notwithstanding some personnel changes one could hardly be surprised at over that length of time, the current lineup has been relatively steady the last few years. After completing their first Latin America tour, they released a six track EP. “Milk.Blue.Kisses.And.Whalebone.Wishes” is the mysterious and poetic title, serving as something of a hybrid to the song titles on it.

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Austin, Texas heavy-groove blues-rockers The Dizzy Bangers received a detailed analysis on their song “Painted Bruises,” which displayed an advanced level of musicianship and lyrical mastery within the heavy rock genre.

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Full reviews on all of the above can be found on this site right here.

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Equal measures of industrial electronics, heavy rock, seductive vocals, black-clad fashion glamour and spirituality are woven together in the music of Turbo Goth. As popularity continues to grow in both their native Philippines and adopted home of NYC, the duo of Paolo Peralta and Sarah Gaugler released their album “Awakened Imagination.”

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The always busy Brighton, England based Shore Dive Records contributed this month, promoting their 111th release featuring Stockholm, Sweden's We.ThePigs. This full-length album highlights a lovely collection of female vocal dreampop, harsh Sonic Youth-like guitar noise and even a JAMC “tribute” as well.

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Enticed to check out the music of already established indie rockers Star Collector proved to be a prudent endeavor. Working in the classic 4 piece, two guitar, bass and drums formation, an impressive level of vocal harmonies lift them above rudimentary “garage band” status.

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Read all the reviews on every artist in this feature here.

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The folks at Shoredive Records seem to instinctively knows what will fly here at this site. Offering the labels 116th release featured an artist out of Chicago called “Glitter Assassin.” That cool name along with the promise of noisy guitar layered indie pop with a heavy gazer influence received the full DCW analysis.

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Respected Label BIG STIR RECORDS rolled out the first in a series of singles highlighting Finnish power-pop guitar group The Bablers. An appropriate CromwellWrites deep-dive ensued.

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An interesting musician recording under the name Friends from Moon released a concept album titled “Astray.” It's epic and incendiary track “Marvels beyond Madness” garnered intense listen and review.

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The Rosie Varela Project released their album “What Remains,” with its single track “Fault Line” receiving a wordy investigation.

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Check out the full coverage on all the above here.

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Four exciting new audio and video releases summoned attention for the month of May . Storied legends with lengthy discographies (still going strong) share space here with newer established artists along with debut entries as well.

Legendary gothic death-rock pioneers Christian Death have a long history that dates back to their original formation in the 1980's. Equal parts adoration and controversy have continued to surround them ever since. Featured track and video for “Beautiful” from their 17th studio album “Evil Becomes Rule” received primary focus.

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Inspired by a 75 million year old rock formation in Thailand that when viewed from above, create the visual illusion of a family of whales, 3 Robots Records indie label artists Sueño con belugas released their epic track “Normal.”

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With the release of her latest album “Tresor,” the evolutionary vision of musician Gwenno reached a new pinnacle. The title track and it's accompanying video provided a unique journey into her Cornish and Welsh history.

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A collective calling themselves Seedsmen to the World released their debut album on Blue Arrow and Birdman Records. Combining elements of trance-drone and folk music, it's offbeat qualities sparked further investigation.

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Link through to the full feature on the above bands here.

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Frequently featured label Patetico Recordings returned to the DCW realm with a new collaborative effort Heliocentric Overdrive and their debut EP “Weightless.” Their melodic-pop tracks are fuleed by a precise and frenetic delivery.

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If it seems like there is yet-another Shoredive Records artist being featured here on this site every other month or so – well, that's because it's true. One of the busiest, most-consistent labels out there, something new, exciting and previously unheard of appears in our listening sphere that simply can't be ignored. This time it was mysterious dreamgaze from Montpellier/Paris going by the name 40 Days Without Water.

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Another independent label discovery was the Peruvian based Chip Musik Records. It specializes in ambient, electronic, chillwave, experimental, glitch, dreamgaze, vaporwave and experimental artists from all over the world. Their release Lego 15 – Pulsos de Bosques (Forest Pulses) is an extensive collection of music from Central/South American and other international locales.

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Sometimes a record is released in a low key manner with little fanfare, and the band moves right to playing live as a means of showcasing this new material. Such was the case with Tight Lips debut EP, which was released at the end of March. With bands and audiences reconnecting at live shows again, the opportunity to focus on this previously uninvestigated recorded music presented itself.

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Read full-length reviews on all of the above artists here.

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The good folks over at Big Stir Records released a full-length album by LA psych-pop rockers Maple Mars. Titled “Someone's Got To Listen,” it's the band first album in over a decade, and debut for this label.

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Andres Alfonso Lugo is a Baltimore-based recording artist who's work has been featured here on DCW numerous times. While those previous reviews focused on the bands he belongs to, the current work here being delved into is his solo project Los Dientes Hundidos en la Garganta. With that phrase translating into “the sunken teeth in the throat,” the music created is less ferocious (though still quite powerful) than that expression would suggest. Andres provides guitar, loops, programmed drums, bass and synth, while enlisting contributions from Ferran Pont Verges (Die Noia Futuriszka) with guitars, voice and mixing on "Loops of Energy."

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Receiving news about a new project involving long-time fave David J (of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets fame) is always welcome. Busy as he's been over the last few years with revived live shows, hearing about brand new songs and group collaboration peaked curiosity. The debut album “A Free Society” by newly minted combo Night Crickets also includes Vincent DeLorenzo (from Violent Femmes) and multi-instrumentalist Darwin Meiners. Drawing their name from a conversation about something David Lynch said, the recordings came together via audio files shared between Los Angeles, Milwaukee, London and San Francisco. Their music video and song “The Unreliable Narrator,” received a detailed review.

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An inquisitive individual who records and plays live music under the moniker 77 Apes caught the attention of DCW through their steady persistence. It is a solo artist endeavor where lyric-heavy songs are accompanied by acoustic and electric guitars, fleshed-out with background rhythm tracks.

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The original full review writing on all of the above bands (complete with links or song embeds) can be found here.

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Longtime friends of this site The Stargazer Lilies released a video for first single “Bending The Lines” in advance of their 5th studio album release “Cosmic Tidal Wave” via Floravinyl Records. The track and video receives appropriate fragmented windswept reverie.

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The steady output from Philadelphia's Patetico Recordings assures ample opportunity for frequent reviews here on this site. This particular month saw the release of “From the ashes” by Stellarscope, which featured a precision review of single track “All the lies.”

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Influential bands of the 90's continued to re-emerge with new material, which was welcome news to audiences who have missed them. Consider the Portland trio – No 2 – back with their third album, but first in a number of years. Fronted by Neil Gust who originally shared songwriting duties in Heatmiser (along with Elliott Smith), No 2 rose out of that bands ashes in the late 90's. The album titled “First Love” was released on Jealous Butcher Records.

Heavy blues rock has always been a particular favorite here at this site, and nobody does it better than Austin, Texas-based The Dizzy Bangers. Though relatively new here to the DCW orbit, a number of reviews have already made their way into prior features. The band returned once again with a new video release for their song “Painted Bruises,” earning additional commentary and analysis on it.

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Full reviews of everything in this feature can be found here.

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Turning attention once again to one of Shoredive Records releases found this site focusing on the recording project Xeresa. Simply titled “IV” (as in album number 4), the fully named Nicolas Pierre Wardell (previously only known as Label boss Nico Beatastic) serves as the bands primary catalyst. Painstakingly recorded between 2019 and 2022, each song features guest vocalists, some who have full releases on the parent label. Each track was built in the more common now than ever way of sending instrumental basic tracks to each respective artist for their creative additions (predominantly vocals).

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UK Power Pop Rockers It's Karma It's Cool released the track “A Gentle Reminder,” accompanied by an in-studio style video performance, providing visual imagery of the band performing. This perfect slice of powerful pop music received a full DCW breakdown.

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Follow this link for complete reviews of these artists.

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It had been a year or two since new Lunar Twin music entered our universe. The enigmatic west coast duo returned with “Beyond The Sun,” the first single release from their upcoming album “Aurora.” Bryce Boudreau (vocalist/songwriter) and Christopher Murphy (multi-instrumentalist/producer) continue to expand on their sonic vision with this new material. “Beyond The Sun” received a close listen and complete review. A full nine track album is due soon, with another track “Android Dreams” available now to acquire and listen to.

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Returning here for another review is the work of Baltimore-based recording artist Andres Alfonso, who makes solo music as Los Dientes Hundidos en la Garganta. While that phrase loosely translates to “the sunken teeth in the throat,” Andres composes his ambient works with guitars, bass and heavy looping. What comes out of that are wonderfully dreamy experimental ambient electronic soundscapes. The second single “Configurations” from latest album “Infinite Past” on Jak Jonson Tapes has recently dropped, and got the full review treatment.

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Link to the full reviews of all these bands here.

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An in-depth Interview and hotly anticipated EP Review shared space with two full-length, track-by-track reviews from trusted labels and artists. With one returning and another first-time creator receiving detailed analysis on their latest recordings, the quest to make sense of it all carried on without limit.

When press releases about a new band called The Buckleys started showing up via email over the last two years, an appreciation for the music and image they were producing was instantly felt. With the band recently coming to New York, Nashville and LA for press stops and personal appearances, I was honored to catch up with them for a face-to-face interview.

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Back in May of this year, ambient dreamgaze collective Sueño con belugas were reviewed here on DCW for their introductory track “Normal” in anticipation of upcoming album “Memoria Cósmica.” With the release of that full eight song album, a chance to dig deeper into their sound presented itself.

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Bookending Big Stir Records first major album release of 2022 (as mentioned here at the beginning of this Feature) was their final release of the year, “Sounds In English” by Sweden’s Richard Öhrn. Best known as the guitarist and one of the songwriters for the indie pop band In Deed, this release serves as his solo debut.

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Full coverage of all the above artists can be found here.

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The Kings and Queens of that glorious Astoria music scene – GIFTSHOP, performed two notable live shows that certainly qualify for “Best Of 2022” designation. Back on the final day of April the band played at Otto's on NYC's lower east side as part of a benefit to aid Ukraine.

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Treating the audience to many of their classic tracks like “Despicable,” their careful selection of classic covers contribute to a total live show experience. Check out their glorious rendition of The Cars “Just What I Needed” on this night right here.

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A more recent show went down earlier this month at beloved Astoria, Queens venue The Shillelagh Tavern. With dazzling frontwoman and lead vocalist Meghan having morphed from platinum blonde to bright-fire redhead, the band ripped through another killer set of originals and choice covers.

Opening with perennial favorite “Purchase,” they hit the ground in high gear and everything was “soo good – soo good.”

Was great to hear an updated version of “Same” which also included room for Jordan to showcase his drumming skills. There was the how-does-she-do-it hyper-speed vocals on “Things I Feel.”

Damian and Matt - axe-slingers on the corners.

Other enjoyable tracks played were "Stylish Junkie," "Spooky Halloween Christmas" along with bring-the-house-down covers of "Creep" and "Only The Lonely" (a clip of which can be heard at the end of this Instagram Post here).

All Aboard For Fun Time!

A previous GIFTSHOP review feature on this site can be found here.

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