Choice Albums of 2022: Part One M to Z: Machine Girl to THE Zew.
December 15, 2022
The second part of the Monolith Cocktail teams favourite albums of 2022.
A recap in case you haven’t yet read part one
Well was I wrong last year when called 2021 the annus horribilis of all years. It has been soundly beaten by the shit-show that is 2022. The invasion of the Ukraine, cost of living crisis, another hideous wave of Covid – which even if the jabs are being rolled out, and the deaths rate, hospitalizations is nothing like the first wave back in 2020, is still causing major illness, absences and disruptions to a society already facing a heap of doomsday scenarios -, strikes, activism, fuel poverty, looming austerity, and the continuing horror show of a zombie government being just some examples. Yes 2022 qualifies as one of the most incomprehensible years on record of any epoch; an ungovernable country in the grip of austerity point 2.0, and greater world untethered and at the mercy of the harridans on either side of the extreme political divide, the billionaire corporates and narcissist puritans.
And yet, it has been another great year for music. Despite the myriad of problems that face artists and bands in the industry, from a lack of general interest to the increasingly punitive costs of touring and playing live, and the ever encroaching problems of streaming against physical sales and exposure, people just can’t quit making music. And for that we, as critics – though most of us have either been musicians or still are – really appreciate what you guys do. In fact, as we have always tried to convey, we celebrate you all. And so, instead of those silly, factious and plain dumb numerical charts that our peers and rivals insist on continuing to print – how can you really suggest one album deserves their place above or below another (why does one entry get the 23rd spot and another the 22nd; unless it is a vote count) –, the Monolith Cocktail has always chosen a much more diplomatic, democratic alphabetical order – something we more or less started in the first place. We also throw every genre, nationality together in a serious of eclectic lists: no demarcation involved.
The lists include those albums we reviewed, featured on the site in some capacity, and those we just didn’t get the time to include. All entries are displayed thus: Artist in alphabetical order, then the album title, label, who chose it, a review link where applicable, and finally a link to the album itself.
This year’s picks have been chosen by (Dominic Valvona), Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Matt Oliver, Andrew C. Kidd and Graham Domain.
M.
Machine Girl ‘Neon White OST-The Wicked Heart’ ACK
Billy MacKenzie ‘Satellite Life’ (Cherry Red Records) GD
Mai Mai Mai ‘Rimorso’ (Maple Death Records) DV
Review
Nduduzo Makhathini ‘In The Spirit Of Ntu’ (Blue Note) DV
Marlowe ‘Marlowe 3’ (Mello Music Group) MO
Luke Mawdsley ‘Luke Two’ (Spine Records) DV
Premiere
Simon McCorry ‘Scenes From The Sixth Floor’ DV
Review
Brona McVittie ‘The Woman in the Moon’ (Arts Council of N. Ireland) GD
Review
Amine Mesnaoui & Labelle ‘African Prayers’ (Lo Recordings) DV
Review
Milc & Televangel ‘Neutral Milc Hotel’ (Filthy Broke Records) MO
Modern Nature ‘Island Of Noise’ (Bella Union) DV
Tumi Mogorosi ‘Group Theory: Black Music’ (Mushroom Hour & New Soil) DV
Montparnasse Musique ‘Archeology’ (Real World) DV
Review
Mount Kimbie ‘MK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning’ ACK
Muramuke ‘S-T’ (Accidental) DV
Ali Murray ‘Wilderness of Life’ (Dead Forest Records) GD
Reviews
N.
Nicole Faux Naiv ‘Moon Rally’ (Bronzerat) DV
No Age ‘People Helping People’ (Drag City) DV
Review
No Base Trio ‘II’ (Setoladi Maiale) DV
Review
Noah ‘Noire’ (Flau) DV
Review
Che Noir ‘Food For Thought’ (TCF Music Group) MO
O.
Old Fire ‘Voids’ (Western Vinyl Records) GD
Review
Open Mike Eagle ‘A Tape Called Component System With The Auto Reverse’ (Auto Reverse Records) MO
Orange Crate Art ‘Contemporary Guitar Music’ (Somewherecold) DV
Review
P.
The Paxton/Spangler Septet ‘Ugqozi’ (Eastlawn Records) DV
Review
Peace De Résistance ‘Bits And Pieces’ DV
Penza Penza ‘Neanderthal Rock’ (Funk Night Records) DV
Le Pietre Dei Giganti ‘Vetie e Culti’ (Overdub Recordings) DV
Review
Plastic Candles ‘Dust’ (Paisley Shirt Records) BBS
Review
Plop & Junnu ‘S-T’ (Fiasko Records) DV
R.
Revelators ‘Revelators Sound System’ (37d03d records) GD
Reviews
J Rocc ‘A Wonderful Letter’ (Stones Throw) MO
Robert ‘Orange is the New Black’ (Antelope Records) MO
Scott Robertson ‘Footprints In The Butter’ (Subjungle) BBS
Review
S.
Salem Trials ‘Love Joan Jett’ (Metal Postcard Records) BBS
Review
SAULT ‘AIR’ (Forever Living Originals) ACK
Review
Say What ‘S-T’ (We Jazz) DV
Review
Shabaka ‘Afrikan Culture’ (Verve/Impulse!) DV
Ignacio Simón ‘Old Friends’ (Bandcamp) GD
Review
Širom ‘The Liquefied Throne Of Simplicity’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Sis ‘Gnani’ (Native Cat Recordings) GD
Review
Silverbacks ‘Archive Material’ (Full Time Hobby) GD
Review
The Soft Pink Truth ‘Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This?’ ACK
Spygenius ‘Jobbernowl’ (Big Stir Records) BBS
Review
Staraya Derevnya ‘Boulder Blues’ (Ramble Records) DV
Review
Stepbrothers featuring the Honourable Ted ‘S/T’ EP (German Shepherd Records) GD
Review
Shepard Stevenson ‘Man Down’ (Somewherecold) DV
Review
Stereolab ‘Pulse of the Early Brain’ (Duophonic and Warp Records) GD
Robert Stillman ‘What Does It Mean To Be American’ (Orindal Records) DV
Carl Stone ‘We Jazz Reworks Vol. 2’ (We Jazz) DV
Review
Gillian Stone ‘Spirit Photographs’ DV
Review
STS & RJD2 ‘Escape From Sweet Auburn’ (RJ’s Electrical Connections) MO
Misha Sultan ‘Roots’ (Hive Mind) DV
Review
Sweeney ‘Stay for the Sorrow’ (Sound in Silence) GD
Review
T.
Team Play ‘Wishes And Desire’ (Soliti) DV
Mauricio Takara and Carla Boregas ‘Grande Massa D’Agua’ (Hive Mind) DV
Review
Tone Of Voice Orchestra ‘S-T’ (Stunt Records) DV
Review
Trupa Trupa ‘B Flat A’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review
V.
Various/Solidary ‘Blue And Yellow’ & ‘Yellow And Blue: Help For Ukraine’ (Binaural Space) DV
Review
Various ‘Live at WOMAD 1982’ (Real World) DV
Review
Various ‘Mensajes del Agua: Nuevos Sonidos Desde Peru Vol 1’ (Buh Records) DV
Various ‘Music For Ukraine’ (We Jazz) DV
Review
Various ‘Pierre Barouh And The Saravah Sound: Jazz, Gumbo And Other Hallucinatory Grooves’ (WEWANTSOUNDS) DV
Review
Various ‘Spirit Of France’ (Spiritmuse) DV
Review
Vera Di Lecce ‘Alter Of Love’ DV
Violet Nox ‘Eris Wakes’ (Infinity Vine) DV
Review
Vukovar ‘The Body Abdicator’ (Other Voices) DV/BBS
Review
W.
Wish Master & Axel Holy ‘First Nature’ (Official Recordings) MO
Ethan Wood ‘Burnout’ (Whatever’s Clever) DV
Review
Billy Woods ‘Aethiopes’ & ‘Church’ (Backwoodz Studioz) MO
X.
Iannis Xenakis ‘Electroacoustic Works’ (Karlrecords) ACK
Z.
THE Zew ‘IFI1IFO’ (Numavi Records) BBS
Review
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
Playlist/Dominic Valvona/Brian “Bordello” Shea/Matt Oliver
For those of you that have only just joined us as new followers and readers, our former behemoth Quarterly Playlist Revue is now no more! With a massive increase in submissions month-on-month, we’ve decided to go monthly instead in 2020. The June playlist carries on from where the popular quarterly left off; picking out the choice tracks that represent the Monolith Cocktail’s eclectic output – from all the most essential new Hip-Hop cuts to the most dynamic music from across the globe. New releases and the best of reissues have been chosen by me, Dominic Valvona, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea and Matt Oliver.
Tracklist In Full:
Thiago Nassif ‘Soar Estranho’
Freak Heat Waves ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’
Lithics ‘Hands’
Ammar 808 ft. Susha ‘Marivere Gati’
Bab L’ Bluz ‘Gnawa Beat’
The Koreatown Oddity ft. Taz Arnold ‘Ginkabiloba’
Koma Saxo ‘Koma Mate’
Wish Master ‘Write Pages’
Gee Bag, Illinformed ‘I Can Be (Sam Krats Remix)’
Gorilla Twins ‘Highs & Lows’
Jeffrey Lewis ‘Keep It Chill In The East Village’
Armand Hammer ‘Slew Foot’
Public Enemy ‘State Of The Union’
Run The Jewels ‘Yankee And The Brave (ep.4)’
Gaul Plus ‘Church Of The Motorway’
Tamburi Neri ‘Indio’
Ty, Durrty Goodz ‘The Real Ones’
Fierro Ex Machina ‘A Sail Of All Tears’
Skyzoo ‘Turning 10’
Kahil El’Zabar ft. David Murray ‘Necktar’
Afel Bocoum ‘Avion’
Etienne de la Sayette ‘Safari Kamer’
The Lancashire Hustlers ‘Stuck In The Middle Of A Week’
Scarlet’s Well ‘Sweetmeat’
Campbell Sibthorpe ‘Good Lord’
Westerman ‘Drawbridge’
The Fiery Furnaces ‘Down At The So And So On Somewhere’
Kutiman ‘Copasavana’
Caleb Landry Jones ‘The Great I Am’
Bedd ‘You Have Nice Things’
The Original Magnetic Light Parade ‘Confusion Reigns’
Cosse ‘Sun Forget Me’
Bananagun ‘Modern Day Problems’
Salem Trials ‘Head On Rong’
Lucidvox ‘Runaway’
HighSchool ‘Frosting’
Jon Hassell ‘Fearless’
All our monthly playlists so far in 2020
Rapture & Verse: November 2019: Homeboy Sandman, Morriarchi, Brother Ali, Genesis Elijah…
November 13, 2019
Hip-Hop Revue
Matt Oliver
Singles/EPs
Rapture & Verse is King, a wise man may have said – onward! Undimmed by the fact that ‘A Lot of People Tell Me I Have a Fake Guitar’, Morriarchi goes inside his astral plane for a gentle handful of spellcaster instrumentals drifting in its own funkular helix (even if one happens to be called ‘Veggie Farts’). ‘The Wave’s Coming’ warns Bristol’s Wish Master, who might offer you salvation but isn’t afraid to let go either, parallel parked with Buggsy and Tac to the Simiah-produced track that tightropes between dreamy and booby trapped.
Imaginary Other and Chuuwee’s rebirth of slick on ‘THE (Hawaiian Button Up)’ shows a smooth mack game when all around are losing it in the woollens aisle. The balance of confidence/arrogance from LA’s IQ brings melody with a hidden jagged edge following ‘Everywhere I Go’, and the same goes for Tha Truth’s ‘Cool With It’, cutting the tension with a barely concealed blade (and a great hook), despite declaring being “cool like the breeze on a warm summer’s eve” like it’s an Andrex vox pop.
Albums
‘Dusty’ will leave you feeling at ease with the mathematics of the inimitable Homeboy Sandman, that slightly kooky persona that’s actually just pure skills unfazed by tempo, and turning fleeting thoughts into elaborate dissections. Just when you’re thinking he’s coming in from a softer side, he goes absolutely nuts on pots-n-pans slam ‘Yes Iyah’, before heading to the just lovely ‘Picture on the Wall’ and the pretty sleazy, yet entirely forgivable, ‘Pussy’. Long may the cult of the Sandman continue.
Out the blue, Brother Ali’s ‘Secrets & Escapes’ produced by Evidence is a helluva early Christmas present, the near enough spontaneity of the recording sessions making the respective skills on display even more sickeningly good. You know how they do – wise, open-eyed rhymes, evocative slash ready-to-scrap beats – plus guest spots from Pharoahe Monch and Talib Kweli, and ghoulish artwork open to a thousand interpretations. How’s that? Give their gifts this season.
All that glitters is ‘Green & Gold’ when Mr Key and Greenwood Sharps combine for something that, in other hands, would be dour or boorish (the delivery mixing label mates Verb T and Ed Scissor) in letting fading memories slip away. The pair prudently raise themselves and those in earshot from a slump, chronicling slow but sure shoots of recovery and understanding, knowing they still have to put the work in to do so (being woke ain’t the one either). The mere seven tracks become an engrossing evening’s listening.
Red alert under a full moon: ‘The Creature from Beneath the Mainstream’ is Genesis Elijah’s perfect Halloween soundtrack, good and angst-ridden as he stomps the warpath straight to your front door, switching between fire-breather and whispering death on the creeping, skittering back story. Rewind ‘Haunted Trap House’ three times and expect to catch your last breath. A strong starting XI makes Reklews’ second squad of ‘Rap Type Beats’, bassy head shots splashed with a fear traceable to emcees flinching at the quality of gauntlet thrown down in front of them. Perfect for bleak midwinter forecasts.
Whenever Big Toast starts limbering up you know it’s not gonna be a fair fight, and with Strange Neighbour matching him punch for punch, the Tuff Boyz twosome splash off the top rope on ‘Bat Night’. Wading in while Oliver Sudden takes scalps on the boards with funk thicker than the stodgiest of winter stews, this is all girth, no gimmicks. Snowflakes, this really isn’t for you, though the eight track running time is the only mercy shown.
His usual dice game generating wisdom from an inward path, now attending to extra grown man business, and trigger-nometry taking casualties, including an interesting rework of Siouxsie and The Banshees, Klashnekoff’s ‘Iona’ is a welcome return to the forefront. An album epitomising the need to sleep with one eye (and two ears) open, and a model example of navigating life’s shark-infested waters without scoffing at vulnerability.
Hell bent on stuffing you into a locker while balancing a ghetto blaster on its shoulder, Uncommon Nasa and Kount Fif’s ‘City as School’ is the New York underground incarnate; at pains to not fit into ‘traditional’ parameters but making so much sense in doing so, where the post-apocalyptic is unerringly, unnervingly near to modern day. Blockbuster burners laid end to end as outlaws of the corridors, “trust the process, avoid the nonsense” at all costs.
On the subject of local representation, 21 tracks and 50 emcees later and you should have a pretty good idea of the Motor City sound according to Apollo Brown. The sepia-toned soul of ‘Sincerely, Detroit’ is seamlessly able to shake itself down and roll with force to stay on course, and everyone involved – from staple spokesmen Elzhi, Illa J and Royce da 5’9”, to project investors Boog Brown, Nolan the Ninja and Bronze Nazareth – takes their time so the intimated free-for-all is avoided. Pull on your headphones, get snug and let the accomplished Michigan craft leave you misty-eared as Brown hits the peak of his powers.
Admittedly/inevitably there are a bounty of guests, skits, questions as to its timing and whether there’s really enough of its ever eloquent protagonist to go around, but Gang Starr’s ‘One of the Best Yet’ is a respectful honouring of the Guru legacy. Business as usual from DJ Premier’s infinite stash of kicks and snares, chops and swoops is the ultimate case of if it ain’t broke, and the 2019 reboot find its direction through introspection without overturning too many applecarts.
“A dive into the complex dynamics of the eternal paper chase, about capitalism, greed and excess” – so kind of unsurprising that the piece de resistance of Crimeapple’s ‘Viridi Panem’ cites ‘All About the Benjamins’ like a grim business studies 101. Another to approach the day of reckoning like it’s a Sunday morning stroll, zombie relentlessness enabled by Buck Dudley’s production, the apple of your ear only takes half hour to save the world.
Stalley’s ‘Reflection of Self: The Head Trip’ isn’t quite as meditative as it suggests, but as a mini-album lolls nicely thanks to Jansport J’s clement, lightly fuggy soul, and Stalley’s ease on the mic when sorting those needing putting in their place. “You can try and box me in, but I’m a find my way out” indicates his ease of finding solutions when others struggle with the instructions.
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