12 records above the rest – Julie’s best of 2022

Growing up in Rhode Island, we were fortunate to have one of the greatest radio stations in the country, WBRU. Officially the radio station of Brown University, WBRU became one of the most dominant stations in the area after switching to the alternative rock format in 1988, just a few years before the format took American radio by storm. This station taught me everything I know about music, both introducing me to new music and educating me about the 80’s and 70’s with their retro programs. My favorite part of WBRU’s programming was on Friday nights at 7:00 and was called 12 Cuts Above the Rest where they counted down the 12 most requested songs of the week. I would tune in each week to see if my favorite song had topped the chart.

Today, WBRU is no longer the powerhouse it once was, reduced to an Internet only station in 2017. So, in honor of the station that raised me on rock—and being fully aware that the number 12 was chosen because 12 songs fit into an hour programming block on radio—I decided to make my end of year list at TGEFM into 12 Records Above the Rest!

This has been a rollercoaster year for me. I got fired from my day job, which was terrifying at the time, but it resulted in me taking up freelance entertainment journalism as my new full-time career. So it’s been an exciting year for me, and the soundtrack to it has been outstanding. So many great albums came out this year that I had a really hard time narrowing it down to just 12 of them, with some great albums from bands like PUP, The Linda Lindas, Cigar, Sarah and the Safe Word, and more not even making the list.

But before we get to my list, I wanted to do a little something different this year. Last year I did a short list of my favorite EPs, but I don’t know if I really listened to enough EPs this year, so I thought I’d do a few other miscellaneous categories instead.

Favorite Movie of the Year: Do Revenge

This was easily the most fun I had watching a movie all year. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson made this film into a brilliant tribute to ‘90s and 2000s teen comedies like Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Mean Girls. Yet it’s still clearly a film from 2022 because it focuses on queer issues, the #MeToo movement, and issues around modern technology. And the ending is just a perfect comeuppance for toxic masculinity in general. It’s hilarious fun, and I always think that comedies deserve more credit as great movies. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s on Netflix for your viewing pleasure.

Favorite Superhero Movie of the Year: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

I was planning to boycott this film after Letitia Wright posted a video to Twitter that was somehow simultaneously anti-vax and transphobic at the same time. That being said, as mad as I still am at Wright, I can’t fault her as an actress, as she carried this brilliantly emotional movie that’s both a huge, action-packed spectacle as well as a heartfelt tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. Ryan Coogler did some amazing world building with the first Black Panther film by creating a beautiful fantasy of an African country that thrives due to its ample natural resources and resisted colonization at every turn, in Wakanda Forever he creates another such fantastical nation for the Talokan nation, the Mesoamerican people based on ancient Aztec and Mayan mythology. I started crying during the previews and didn’t stop until long after the movie ended. It’s just beautiful.

Favorite New Fantasy TV Series: Sandman

I have to admit, I’ve never read the Sandman comics, so I came to this uninitiated, and I was still blown away both by Neil Gaiman’s vision and the execution of the adaptation. The people who complained that so many of the character were race- and gender-swapped can whine all they want because the casting was outstanding, including my favorite Doctor Who companion Jenna Coleman as Joanna Constantine. The atmosphere, the effects, the casting, the story, and the acting all stood out as excellent, and I’m grateful that it was renewed for a second season.

Favorite New Sci-Fi TV Series: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

It’s strange that my favorite Star Trek series is Star Trek: Discovery because of how much it breaks all the rules of the franchise, and yet now my second favorite Trek is the Discovery spin-off Strange New Worlds which returns to all the tried-and-true rules of Star Trek. But while it returns to the original series’ more episodic format, it does so with better writing, acting, and special effects than the original series. But despite the episodic nature, the characters’ relationships are still kept serialized, giving it a chance to grow the characters in a way that the original series didn’t.

Best New Sitcom: Our Flag Means Death

A pirate sitcom? Yes, and it absolutely works. Rhys Darby stars as a loose interpretation of the real life Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet who left his life of affluence to lead a pirate ship. While that premise alone sets it up for absolute hilarity, but the love story between Stede and Taika Waititi’s Blackbeard is somehow hilariously mismatched and touchingly heartfelt. If you like pirate movies, you’re going to die laughing from this show.

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Now to the music…

12. Nervus – The Evil One

There’s a little inside joke within the trans community that trans women are always militant leftists. There’s certainly some truth to the joke, and Nervus frontwoman Em Foster is the embodiment of that truth. The Evil One is the most punk rock album they’ve done so far both in terms of musical style and radical politics. 

Favorite Track: “Drop Out”

11. JER – Bothered/Unbothered

In some ways this album is the follow up to my album of the year from last year, We Are the Union’s Ordinary Life. While that album is an unusual combination of ska music with lyrics about trans issues, JER continues that trend on Bothered/Unbothered as they bring in trans non-binary issues. It’s a daring and vulnerable album that really touches on the trans experience in a unique way.

Favorite Track: “Decolonize Yr Mind”

10. The Flatliners – New Ruin

Admittedly, I have been sleeping on The Flatliners, but New Ruin is one of those great albums that shows just how many different things can be done with punk. It shows a masterful sense of melody and really smart lyrics to create one of the year’s most dynamic punk albums this year.

Favorite Track: “Rat King”

9. The Interrupters – In the Wild

The Interrupters were easily the worst live band I saw all year, but on wax they put out an outstanding album with In the Wild. It’s got some really great ska and reggae style songs and the punk songs have some really gorgeous hooks. While some criticized this album as a step down from Fight the Good Fight, those people are clearly drunk because this album is obviously an improvement, especially in terms of the lyrics.

Favorite Track: “As We Live”

8. Pkew Pkew Pkew – Open Bar

Pkew Pkew Pkew’s third album flew under the radar for some reason, especially compared to their first album, but that underappreciation was not deserved. If anything their sophomore album Optimal Lifestyles was their slump (and a minor one at that) and Open Bar is the recovery. It’s funny, catchy, and heartfelt, and as always focuses on the micro-level experiences of life.

Favorite Track: “Mom’s Dime”

7. Run the Jewels – RTJ CU4TRO

Okay, this one is a bit of a cheat because it’s not really a new album, it’s actually a remix album of a record that came out in 2020. However, I normally hate remix albums and I loved this one because Run the Jewels handed over their album to some of the biggest names in Latin hip-hop, creating an album with a distinctly different sound than the original. It manages to be better than the original mix, which is saying something because RTJ4 was an outstanding album.

Favorite Track: “JU$T”

6. Proper. – The Great American Novel

For a long time I’ve been calling Proper. the best band that nobody’s talking about, but now people are starting to talk about them. They’ve opened for Tiny Moving Parts and The Hold Steady. People are starting to finally resonate with Erik Garlington’s lyrics and the band’s unique vision that blurs the line between the political and the personal in a sort of political emo. And this new album is the ultimate refinement of their sound that finally made everyone sit up and take notice.

Favorite Track: “Red, White, and Blue”

5. Kendrick Lamar – Mr Morale and the Big Steppers

Okay, it hasn’t been a huge rap year for me. My interest in rap isn’t as extensive as my interest in punk, but there’s always a few artists that I have to stop and listen to when they put out something new. Kendrick is one of those rappers. I will admit I wish he would stop calling women bitches so casually, but that’s a larger complaint with mainstream hip-hop as a whole and I made a begrudging rule a while back that I wouldn’t let that stop me from getting to know a hip-hop artist. And his attempt at a song about trans issues, “Auntie Diaries,” is a noble attempt but problematic in many ways and ends on a bizarre closing line. Those criticisms aside though, Kendrick is the only mainstream rapper I know of consistently putting out high art, high concept rap albums, and he’s got the skills to pull them off every time. It’s no “To Pimp a Butterfly,” which will probably remain Lamar’s masterpiece, but it’s still a really solid double album from beginning to end.

Favorite Track: “N95”

4. OFF! – Free LSD

One of my more minor musical interests is free jazz. I say minor not because the music is minor, but rather because my interest and knowledge doesn’t come close to my interest in and knowledge of punk. But I know enough to name my favorite jazz album, Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come, one of the most seminal albums of the free jazz movement. Not only did I never think I would see an album that combined punk with free jazz, I especially never would have expected it to come from a punk supergroup fronted by Keith Morris. But despite his status as a punk legend, Morris manages to show foresight, keeping one foot planted in the past with the other reaching towards the future.

Favorite Track: “War Above Los Angeles”

3. Dead Cross – II

Sitting comfortably on the border between punk and metal comes the second album from Mike Patton’s latest project Dead Cross. Mike Patton is a legend in rock music and proves why as he creates a truly epic album on II. Everyone else can have Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, I’ll take Dead Cross all the way.

Favorite Track: “Reign of Error”

2. The Chats – Get Fucked

Australian punks The Chats gave us one of the most universally acclaimed albums of the year in the’70s punk throwback style of Get Fucked. Despite being a bit of a throwback, it’s clearly an album for 2022. It’s got a modern pacing and production quality that gives it a vitality that older punk albums don’t always have. If you love The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones, you’ll love this album.

Favorite Track: “6L GTR”

1. White Lung – Premonition

With their final album, White Lung gave us their magnum opus, taking everything that was great about their previous album and doubling down on it. The album combines pop and hardcore in a way that’s completely unlike any other band I’ve heard before. Frontwoman Mish Barber-Way has described the album as being about motherhood, and it certainly gets into a very personal and vulnerable place. Guitarist Kevin Williams creates something really beautiful to back up Barber-Way’s brilliant poetry, making an album that’s more original, more powerful, and just more fun than anything else that came out this year.

Favorite Track: “Under the Glass”

That’s it for this year! Happy New Year to all of our readers, and I can’t wait to see what new music 2023 brings us.