Records of 2022 Part 3!

So we hit part 3 of our Records of 2022 series - this time our guest picks come from the excellent Tara aka Sweaty Lamarr whose EP A little Bit Cuntry, A Little Bit Rock and Roll you will have heard as one of my picks on part 2!

Tara not only sent me her picks (with a couple that crossover with mine!) but she provided a great writeup of her choices:

Carly Cosgrove, See You in Chemistry - 

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I came up in the Philly DIY scene, which despite not being in the Midwest was full of Midwest emo bands in the early 2010's. Algernon Cadwallader, Ted Nguyent, everyone who wanted to be signed to Jade Tree in 1998. I came up in asbestos-coated basements dangling from the rafters screaming lyrics about waking up late for class and fearing the day you get dropped from your parents' health insurance next to six sweaty dudes all named Mike. And what's worse is they were all like "Mike D," so you had to call all of them by their full Christian name. Someday, there's going to be a class-action lawsuit from all of our asses suing the landlords who rented out those eight-bedroom bro brothels near Temple University for giving us all a sexy case of mesothelioma and I'm going to be the Erin Brokovich on the case. I have the leopard print ready to go.

That time was a very special time in my life, and it's what I had always hoped my own experience making music would bring me: catharsis, collaboration, and community. A scene, where your friend Jimmy can just hop on drums because your drummer is sick and Jimmy knows all of the songs by heart anyway. Your friends all wearing each other's band shirts. A scene. I was a small part (not just because I'm short) of in my opinion, a formidable and powerful scene that spawned some of the best producers and engineers out there today and some really, really special songs. Carly Cosgrove, young as they must have been at the time, were out there listening, and dropped a nearly immaculate album this year that's introspective, mixed so goddamn well, and fun. I have not been able to see them yet and I am dying to just get into whatever sweaty room they've booked and thrash around like I'm 19 again. "The Great Doheny" is a song that Apple Music has rightfully clocked my being obsessed with, and so every time I'm shuffling and I hear "there's a party at your house..." I burst into the biggest grin and only break it to sing along with the entire song, maybe twice in a row. "Munck" is another showstopper. These guys are going everywhere, fast, and I am thrilled for them.

Botch, "One Twenty Two"

I texted bestie Santos Montaño of Old Man Gloom (I'm not linking to his Wikipedia page, even though youjust knowhe'd want me to) to ask if he thought Botch Baby or Botch Bitch would be *cuter* for this entry, and he responded with "Botchie balls," which made me literally wheeze, not because it was that funny obviously (of the two of us, I'm funnier and he knows it) but because, as he started sending me capslocked demanding text after capslocked demanding text to swab my brain and confirm, I had COVID. That's how I learned I had COVID for the first time and missed out on Thanksgiving. I got my Aunt Mary's lasagna dropped off at my door, I did not participate in perpetuating the X-Treme Gentrification Games aka the Smallpox Potluck aka America's most but not only genocidal holiday, and didn't have to find a way to discreetly unbutton my pants at the dinner table after eating it. So, honestly, thank you to the bossiest mother hen in the metal scene for catalyzing a Thursday spent watching season 2 of Vanderpump Rules and tripping balls on NyQuil. Yeah, NyQuil. I'm a total fucking lightweight. I at one point sang "Rose's Turn" from Gypsy in full to my tiny cat daughter, Simone, because she, as a cat, wasn't doing TikTok dances for me. I don't even use TikTok. I don't like TikTok. I just wanted her to entertain mommy while I was sick.

This is a very verbose way of saying that the new Botch single whipped ass and I was heartbroken I didn't get tickets to the Seattle shows. If any of you have ideas on how I can, say, blackmail Tim Latona into putting me on the guestlist, my DM's are open. And thank you as always to my buddy Greg Wason for getting me into these guys in the first place.

David Knudson, The Only Thing You Have to Change is Everything

As a Botchie Ball, and someone who never got to see Minus the Bear live and is still really salty about it, I was really looking forward to this album coming out and it did not disappoint. "Spaldo" is such a beautiful, glistening celebration of life to me, filled with the rejection of nihilism and exaltation of hope that Talking Heads "Road to Nowhere" (my favorite song of all time) offers. It's such a pleasure to hear Jake Snider back on a track like "Jealous Time Steals," which is so rich with textures only David would know to pair with Jake's voice. "The Sound of Love Returning"....I need to go listen to this album again, even though it, like OMNI before it, feels like an exclusively summer spin. And bless it for being so.

Carly Rae Jepsen, The Loneliest Time

A space-age disco duet between Carly Rae Jepsen and Rufus Wainwright is a wish I thought only my heart could make, but apparently not as my good bitch Carly Rae made it happen on a lovely little album. Is it my favorite of her albums? No. That may honestly be Dedicated Side B, but I love that this album did not sit comfortably in just one sound and skipped across the cosmos to touch upon influences like Stevie Nicks seventies smoothness, Kylie Minogue shimmer, and even a little Kesha wordplay. "Talking to Yourself," "Beach House," and "Surrender My Heart" are going to be a joy to watch her perform live forever. And simply, like on "Anxious," no one does yearning and sparkle and water-sign euphoria like our Canadian Cween. Long may she rae-gn.

Soul Glo, Diaspora Problems

This is a Pierce Jordan stan account. I am, have been, and remain so proud of my buddy Pierce, who is one of the most exciting frontmen I have ever seen live - and if you know my concert schedule, that's saying something. Pierce and the Soul Glo dudes wrote a staggering, loud, witty commentary on Blackness in America and beyond, touching on Black vulnerability, mundanity, humor, rage, and excellence. It is, IMWO (in my white opinion), one of the finest Black works you can uplift as someone who wants to practice antiracism. This is the kind of work you support. And beyond its potent themes, it is...just such a powerful listen, an album that feels like the old Maxell television ad over and over again with each new start of a new track and sometimes, each chorus of the same song. Also, my god, how catchy is "Gold Chain Punk"? 

Harry Styles, Harry's House

I waited until exactly midnight so I could listen to this album the second it dropped. I have called Harry "my son" since I first fell in love with One Direction in college, and I am so proud of this boy. "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" is ebullient seventies perfection, I can't even listen to "Little Freak" too often because I get emotional. "Satellite" is something I will be listening to for the rest of my life, same with "Love of My Life," which I hope never becomes a single because I don't want it tarnished by radio overplay. If you think you know what Harry's music sounds like, and that you're above boyband pop, give it a listen with an open mind. If you enjoy Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, and even Paul Simon, this might be an album for you.

Also, I guess my EP. Whatever.

Tracklisting:

black midi - Sugar/Tzu

black midi - Welcome To Hell

Dry Cleaning - Gary Ashby

Dry Cleaning - Conservative Hell

Envy Of None - Never Said I Love You

Envy Of None - Old Strings

Zola Jesus - Undertow

Zola Jesus - Desire

Charli XCX - New Shapes (feat. Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek)

Charli XCX - Yuck

Ethel Cain - American Teenager*

Ethel Cain - Gibson Girl*

Carly Cosgrove - The Great Doheny

Carly Cosgrove - Munck

Botch - One Twenty Two*

David Knudson - The Sound of Love Returning

David Knudson - Jealous Time Steals

Soul Glo - Driponomics*

Soul Glo - Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)*

Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loneliest Time (feat. Rufus Wainwright)

Carly Rae Jepsen - Joshua Tree

Harry Styles - As It Was

Harry Styles - Late Night Talking

Cave In - Blood Spiller**

Cave In - Wavering Angel**

*Crossover with mine and Tara’s lists

**Only record to crossover with mine, Sophie Penrose and Tara’s lists!