Best Overlooked Albums of 2022

Hello again everyone! It’s time for me to write about my five favorite albums of the year, and maybe time for you to read about them! As a reminder, I’m not ranking the five objectively best albums I’ve heard this year; I’m simply highlighting some projects that I’ve loved personally. Against all odds, people-- okay fine, person (<3 u Jamin) --are still requesting this yearly write-up, so here we are!

This is legitimately the first time I’ve opened my Google Docs this year outside of managing my Bachelor/ette fantasy league and updating our family Christmas list. Will my writing still hold up? Was it even good to begin with? Who knows! We’ll discover together. Onwards!

Baptized Imagination // Kings Kaleidoscope

This is my version of a Lifetime AchievementTM for Kings K. Realistically, it’s not one of their top three albums (1. The Beauty Between, 2. Becoming Who We Are, 3. Beyond Control), but I figured my favorite band should eventually find their way onto one of these lists. Honestly, Baptized Imagination actually is a really good album. My dad had a lot of sayings growing up; one of them was “Christian art shouldn’t suck” (I might be paraphrasing there). I totally agree. I’m painting with broad brush strokes here, but Christian music – in the way that mainstream radio/streamers/producers categorize it – has been soooo boring the last few decades. Kings Kaleidoscope are one of the few bands out there making solid, well-produced, originally-written, powerful music. They walk a fine line of unique artistry and familiar worship. Kings K make good music, and Baptized Imagination isn’t any different.

Standouts: "DOWN", "JOY", Every Death"

MUST LISTEN: "Past, Present, Future"

CHAOS NOW* // Jean Dawson

Jean Dawson is a genre-jump-roper; his music switches whiplash-inducingly fast but somehow stays anchored in a unified sound. CHAOS NOW* is a collection of grunge, punk, and indie, all sugarcoated with a healthy dose of hip hop. Dawson slides between genres seemingly every 20 seconds – acoustic intros transition into Goliath-sized riffs and hip hop machine gun BWAAAAPs turn into MTV2 era emo anthems, all while giving off a sea shanty vibe? It’s very weird. But very good.

Standouts: "KIDS EAT PILLS*", "PIRATE RADIO*", "THREE HEADS*"

MUST LISTEN: "BAD FRUIT* (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)"

five seconds flat // Lizzy McAlpine

In five seconds flat, Lizzy McAlpine’s pitch-perfect voice is framed with stripped-back production and sparing percussion to showcase her brilliant storytelling and album sequencing. This is a classic coming-of-age bedroom pop album and one that requires you to listen to it straight through. McAlpine flexes her songwriting by telling a complete story of love, life, and the death of both – without being kitschy or overwrought. She’s the star of the show, both as the subject and as the narrator, but she brings along the perfect complement of guest stars, including Jacob Collier, FINNEAS, and #TopX stalwart Ben Kessler. Yes, you’ll obviously draw comparisons to Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish, but is that a bad thing? They make really good music, Lizzy makes really good music, and we like really good music!

Standouts: "reckless driving (feat. Ben Kessler)", "chemtrails", "doomsday" (also shout out her Tiny Desk Concert)

MUST LISTEN: "ceilings"

hypochondriac // brakence

Okay, bear with me everyone. This album might not fit most people’s tastes – heck, it didn’t really fit mine at first – but I probably spun hypochondriac from start to finish the most of any project this year. It’s intriguing. It’s catchy. It’s also trippy, haunting, and creepy. There are some really reallllyy weird interludes. The production is so overwrought at points that I can’t even type as I listen because the percussion jams up my inner dialogue. And yet, I can’t get enough.

Pitchfork’s review for hypochondriac calls the album an “indecisive, spiraling emo-pop garden”. That sums it up just about perfectly for me. The industrial production is super reminiscent of hyperpop, but incredibly, brakence builds every single beat from scratch. The layered synths and chopped up samples stack upon themselves over and over until they’re towering over you, collapse imminent. And yet, you’ll find sturdy pop grooves scattered all over the album – in choruses, outros, and chord progressions. brakence’s legitimately incredible singing voice anchors everything just enough to not get lost in the swirling production. (Disclaimer: the dude’s pretty weird, including his lyrics, but I just can’t get enough of the production & vocals.)

Standouts: "venus fly trap", "hypochondriac", "intellectual greed"

MUST LISTEN: "5g"

Few Good Things // Saba

Saba is the next great emcee out of Chicago (Quick aside: LA, NY, and ATL rightfully get a lot of love for being hotbeds of hip hop, but Chicago? Common, Chance, [REDACTED], Lupe, Twista, Noname, Lil Durk, Earl Sweatshirt, Juice WRLD – not a bad lineup. Anyway). Saba keeps that signature lyric-heavy, jazz-infused Chi-town sound in Few Good Things, but definitely leans more into his melodic, carefree self than compared to his breakout LP, CARE FOR ME. He’s moved past the grief-riddled loss of his previous record and into the questions brought on by new-found fame.

The album is heavy on nostalgia but light on samples, relying on deep bassline grooves, looping, and vinyl crackling. All this lends to the production feeling handmade, almost dreamlike – Saba’s voice stands out when he leans back and rides alongside the beats. Few Good Things is tender and familiar, without feeling boring. The occasional aggressive bar gets woven in with standout guest verses, placed as if to prove that he hasn’t lost his lyrical bite amidst all his carefree reverie. Few Good Things is a quick, easy listen that still showcases Saba’s songwriting ability and is my favorite hip hop project of the year by a country mile Chicago block.

Standouts: "Survivor’s Guilt (feat. G Herbo)", "Still (feat. 6LACK and Smino)", "Stop That"

Must Listen: "2012"