January 4, 2023 Playlist

THE BEST OF 2022
Featuring the
KOSMIK RADIATION TOP 25!
   
black midi "Hellfire" (2022)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
black midi "Hellfire"  2022 (UK)
My favorite album of 2022 is our Classic Album this week, and I think it is the best rock album of the 21st century so far! It rivals Scott Walker's 21st century masterpieces as among the best albums of this century in any genre (in the realm of psychedelic, progressive, heavy and underground sounds, that is.) BM only released their debut album Schlagenheim in 2020, and it was #4 on my best of the year list - an auspicious debut! In their original incarnation they were a groovy "post-punk" band notable for shambolic jamming and cartoonish singing in a "regional dialect": if you know your BritRock, you should already be thinking of Mark E. Smith and The Fall (who need to have a classic album!) Their second album Cavalcade came out in 2021 and had some tightly structured songs that bordered on shredding prog rock ala The Mars Volta - a big artistic step forward! Though on the whole I didn't think the album was as good as the debut (thus was #12 on my best-of list): I thought at the time that a portion of the album consisted of "dull filler material." But bands' second albums are often "sophomore slumps" where they try to grow and don't totally get to where they intend to. So here we are with the third black midi album released in 2022, and every track is a doozy - even the "slow crooner ballad" songs are great! The more rockin' songs are intense and dramatic, and charmingly idiosyncratic in the way that freaky legends like Zappa and Beefheart used to be. The original trio has successfully fleshed out their sound with the addition of keyboards and sax (they tour as a five-piece). They haven't made 'em like this since the glorious 1970's maaaan. So what's next? A whole lot more we hope: this gang were only teenagers when they founded the band a mere five years ago!
More highlights of 2022: retro-punk band OFF! (with singer Keith Morris of Black Flag and Circle Jerks) got a new rhythm section and released a nutty and kinda brilliant concept album called Free LSD - which they are also turning into a movie! Over in Japan, weird idol group Dempagumi.inc released their 7th album DEMPARK!!! and also a high concept 5-song EP Dempakashic Records about how their legend will live on forever through their cybernetic fans in virtual reality (or something like that.) The Mars Volta returned after a 10 year absence to release a surprisingly concise POP album!? King Gizzard released five studio albums again this year, my favorites were the two double-albums (one full of funky improvised jams and the other more eclectic sorta prog rock.)
(N) = New Release
   
Artist Song Album Year Country
The Babe Rainbow Inner SpaceThe Organic Band (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#18 album of 2022)
2022 (Eureka)Australia
Black Lips No RaveApocalypse Love (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#14 album of 2022)
2022 (Fire)USA
DISQ Civilization FourDesperately Imagining Someplace Quiet (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#23 album of 2022)
2022 (Saddle Creek)USA
Bronze Crack In The Surface
Absolute Compliance (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#20 album of 2022)
2022 (Castle Face)USA
Alex G RunnerGod Save The Animals (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#19 album of 2022)
2022 (Domino)USA
Cheekface We Need A Bigger DumpsterToo Much To Ask (N)
2022 (New Professor Music)USA
 
 
Kikagaku Moyo ("Geometric Patterns") Yayoi, IyayoiKumoyo Island (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#8 album of 2022)
2022 (Guruguru Brain)Japan
Dungen Möbler
("Furniture")
En Är För Mycket Och Tusen Aldrig Nog (N)
("One Is Too Much And A Thousand Is Never Enough")
(Kosmik Radiation
#11 album of 2022)
2022 (Mexican Summer)Sweden
Tricot #AchoiFudeki (N)
("Bungle")

(Kosmik Radiation
#21 album of 2022)
2022 (8902/Cutting Edge)Japan
Haru Nemuri Never Let You Go
Shunka-Ryougen (N)
("Spring Fire Lighting The Fields Ablaze")

(Kosmik Radiation
#13 album of 2022)
2022 (TO3S)Japan
Dempagumi.inc Hatsu Taiken
("First Experience")
DEMPARK!!! (N)
(Tied for Kosmik Radiation #4 album of 2022)
2022 (Meme Tokyo/Toy's Factory)Japan
Dempagumi.inc Warera Reiwa No Kaeru-chan!
("Our Reiwa-era
Darling Frog!")
Dempakashic Records EP (N)
(Tied for Kosmik Radiation #4 album of 2022)
2022 (Meme Tokyo/Toy's Factory)Japan
   
 
black midi Welcome To HellHellfire (N)
(Kosmik Radiation #1 album of 2022)

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
2022 (Rough Trade)UK
black midi The Race Is About To BeginHellfire (N)
(Kosmik Radiation #1 album of 2022)

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
2022 (Rough Trade)UK
black midi Dangerous LiasonsHellfire (N)
(Kosmik Radiation #1 album of 2022)

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
2022 (Rough Trade)UK
OFF! Invisible Empire
   --> Circuitry's God
   --> Ignored
Free LSD (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#2 album of 2022)
2022 (Fat Possum)USA
    
 
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Evilest ManOmnium Gatherum (N)
(Tied for Kosmik Radiation #3 album of 2022)
2022 (KGLW)Australia
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard MagmaIce, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava (N)
(Tied for Kosmik Radiation #3 album of 2022)
2022 (KGLW)Australia
Wand Self Hypnosis (live)Spiders In The Rain (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#6 album of 2022)
2022 (Drag City)USA
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Hate Dancin'Changes (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#17 album of 2022)
2022 (KGLW)Australia
    
 
The Mars Volta VigilThe Mars Volta (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#7 album of 2022)
2022 (Clouds Hill)USA
Bitchin' Bajas World B. FreeBajascillators (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#16 album of 2022)
2022 (Drag City)USA
Matmos Flashcube Fog Wares ∕ Głucha Affera SłówRegards​/​Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer (N)
(Tied for Kosmik Radiation #12 album of 2022)
2022 (Thrill Jockey)USA
The Soft Pink Truth Now That It's Over
Is It Going To Get Any Deeper Than This? (N)
(Tied for Kosmik Radiation #12 album of 2022)
2022 (Thrill Jockey)USA
Flaccid Mojo
(2/3 of Black Dice)
Slow PsychicsFM (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#24 album of 2022)
2022 (Castle Face)USA
    
 
The Gatekeepers All The Way To The Bank
(featuring R. Stevie Moore)
The Gatekeepers (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#5 album of 2022)
2022 (Think Like A Key)(musicians from all over the world)
The Gatekeepers I Like The Normal Things The Gatekeepers (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#5 album of 2022)
2022 (Think Like A Key)(musicians from all over the world)
Cheer-Accident Star Vehicle (4 Flats)Here Comes The Sunset (N)
(Kosmik Radiation
#22 album of 2022)
2022 (Skin Graft)USA
John Dwyer Oneironaut
   --> Minor Protocides
Gong Splat (N)
(Kosmik Radiation #9 album of 2022)
2021 (Castle Face)USA
Jenny Hval Classic ObjectsClassic Objects (N)
(Kosmik Radiation #15 album of 2022)
2022 (4AD)Norway
    
 
Jazz Sabbath N.I.B. (Black Sabbath)Vol. 2 (N)
(Kosmik Radiation #25 album of 2022)
2022 (Blacklake)UK
      
 
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