#i wwrote this yesterday and then forgot to post it -_-

[spushii]

Anne's top 9 first-time album listens* of 2022! (In no particular order)

The end of this year really crept up on me! I definitely didn't get to listen to everything I wanted to, but I still heard a lot of good music. I'll be putting most of this under a cut because it got pretty wordy.

Exploding Head - A Place To Bury Strangers (2009) I guess this is my first real introduction to shoegaze? It's fucking good. To me it sounds kinda darkwave-y? But like all post punk sounds a little goth to me so my opinion is maybe unrefined. Really good album. Top Track: Ego Death

STOMACH BOOK - STOMACH BOOK (2021) God I love this album. God I love Stomach Book. This sound is like emo meets noise pop meets experimental rock, it's intoxicating. Top Track: Our Story

Dead Bodies in the Lake - Ho99o9 (2015) This is a mixtape, not an album, so I'm definitely bending the rules a little to squeeze it in here. This shit just goes so hard. Really hardcore, really industrial, phenomenal fucking sound. Top Track: DeathKult Disciples (999 Anthem)

No Control - Bad Religion (1989) I considered putting either this or Recipe for Hate on this list, but this one won out just barely only for having a couple songs that are very stuck in my head right now. I'd never heard Bad Religion before this year but they very quickly climbed the ranks among my favorite punk artists and artists in general. There's a sort of heart-on-it's-sleeve kind of earnesty to the music that really clicks with me. Love it. Top Track: Anxiety

Frankenchrist - Dead Kennedys (1985) Holy fucking shit. Holy fucking shit? This is literally one of the best punk rock records to ever be recorded. It just doesn't get better than this. Fucking essential. Fucking quintessential. I can't even pick a favorite song here (though I will try,) it's just hit after hit after hit. What an extraordinary album. Life fucking altering. Top Track: This Could Be Anywhere

The Cure - The Cure (2004) God, this might be my favorite The Cure album? Is that insane? There's a lack of the sort of whimsy and elegance that so thoroughly permeates releases like Disintegration or Wish, but in it's place comes this thoroughly disarming intensity that you can't really get from any other release. For The Cure? this is hardcore. I can't get enough of it. Top Track: alt.end

1000 Hurts - Shellac (2000) Yeah I get why this is cult rock now. I get why it's so lauded. Easily one of the best rock albums of all time. Top Track: Prayer to God

Beelzebubba - The Dead Milkmen (1988) Dead Milkmen's really trashy in the bad way a lot of the time and this album isn't an exception. A lot of people will say it 'aged poorly' but I honestly think it was poor for the time as well. This music definitely falls victim to the mentality that plagues a lot of punk of this era where they just say indiscriminate objectionable shit in an explicit attempt to make themselves unpalatable to the broader audience of music fans, but I think that sort of thing only really works when you're punching up. It's not really challenging or subversive otherwise, it's just bigoted. But I think ultimately this album is a lot of fun, and the parts that don't land are few and far between compared to some other releases. Definitely worth a go if you know what you're getting into. Top Tack: Sri Lanka Sex Hotel

AJJ - Live At Third Man Records (2019) *Definitely cheating by including this release here, because I've been listening to this live album since it was released in early May of 2019, but it was this year I realized that this is probably actually my favorite AJJ album of all. I'm a sucker for live renditions of AJJ songs and all of these really hit for me. So worth a listen especially if you're already familiar with their discography. Top Track: Linda Ronstadt

Tagging some friends I'd love to hear more music stuff from, but no pressure! Anyone else who wants to do this is free to also :) @reddd-robin @motordyk @bwooom @kissingthebeehive @beeapocalypse