Nite Songs Top 100 Albums Of 2022: Part 4 (30-21)

 

Approaching the upper echelons of our end of year list now - read on to find out what's made our Top 30 albums for this year...

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30. BEFORE VICTORIA - "Moving Forward"

Stepping away from his career as a writer and bassist for the Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, Moving Forward saw Marc Burrows' side project Before Victoria very much sprout wings of its own and fly. Mixing elements of grunge, goth, new wave and the odd disarming acoustic confessional, this is a hell of a varied album but one that never loses your attention throughout. Burrows can definitely congratulate himself on a job well done here.

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29. THE LINDA LINDAS - "Growing Up"

Having come to the public's attention with the blistering anger of their Racist Sexist Boy single, Growing Up proved that the Linda Lindas were definitely more than just back to basics punk rock. Sounding like X-Ray Spex jamming with early Ash, this was a well crafted selection of songs with a lyrical maturity that belied this band's youthful age. On this evidence, the sky really is the limit for them.

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28. CAROL HODGE - "Vertiginous Drops"

Carol Hodge is rapidly growing into a dependable presence in the Nite Songs Album of the Year charts and Vertiginous Drops was another good effort from her. Similar to Penfriend or the Anchoress, this was a collection of heartfelt songs which run through the full emotional spectrum from the thunderous Clean The Slate to the vitriolic Oh Amanda. Long may this good run of form that she's on continue.

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27. STARS LIKE OURS - "Stars Like Ours"

One of the most impressive debut albums we heard at Nite Songs in 2022, Stars Like Ours sound like the long lost progeny of Courtney Love and Tim Wheeler, mixing a snarling grunge aggression mixed in with an almost power-pop sensibility and a tight-as-you-like setup which properly elevates them from the crowd. Another band who have a startlingly bright future ahead of them on this evidence.

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26. MORE KICKS - "Punch Drunk"

More Kicks continue to show why they're one of London's premier power-pop bands on this second album with Punch Drunk packing Buzzcocks style frenetic guitars and breathless vocals aplenty plus the odd descent into Stooges style chaos to heavy things up a bit plus the odd downbeat mournful acoustic number. A supremely talented group who you really should make an effort to check out if you're unaware of them as of yet.

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25. LIAM GALLAGHER - "C'mon You Know"

There's a delicious irony in Liam being the Gallagher brother who's arguably come the closest to capturing the playful spirit of the latter day Beatles that Oasis had always aimed towards (as opposed to the drudgery of his brother's High Flying Turds band) with this album. While there's plenty of solid rockers here as you'd expect, it's the little tweaks to the formula that you could never have seen Oasis doing in a million years that elevate C'mon You Know to being one of the year's unexpected triumphs. 

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24. SPIRITUALIZED - "Everything Was Beautiful"

Full credit to Jason Pierce and co for still being able to put out albums thirty years into their career that could happily hold up against their most commercially successful efforts. As always, Everything Was Beautiful sees him throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the mix to come up with the sort of wildly ambitious but cosmically enjoyable effort that could only be Spiritualized. Turn on, tune in, zone out and enjoy the journey.

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23. THE INTERRUPTERS - "In The Wild"

Three albums into their career and the Interrupters are continuing their upward trajectory at an impressive rate. Mixing fierce fist-clenched anthems of defiane with more mellow chilled out excursions into dub and even a piano ballad to finish off. Basically, In The Wild is everything you'd want from a third album - the sound of a band branching out and adding new tricks to their arsenal while keeping what it was that made them special in the first place intact. 

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22. MONKEY MIND - "Monkey Mind"

Okay so technically we may have cheated slightly here as Monkey Mind was actually released in the dying days of 2021. But the physical version only came out this year so what the hell, it qualifies. Basically, this collaboration between Lee from Crashed Out and Olga from the Toy Dolls is reminiscent of the Yo-Yo's at their prime with a good mix of barrelling riffs, some frenetic punk spikiness and the odd more restrained '60s style number combining to make a genuinely great debut album. To say we're looking forward to hearing their follow-up next year is an understatement.

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21. LAWNMOWER DETH - "Blunt Cutters"

Lawnmower Deth's first album in nearly three decades is everything you'd hope it would be mixing brilliantly silly titles like Space Herpes and Now He's A Priest and odes to bobbleheads and going shopping in Hell with some tight and impressive thrash riffs underlining that this group have always had a musical proficiency to back up the daftness. There's even a five minute closing track on here which surely no-one saw coming! Long may the Metal Bozo Clowns reign. 

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All done for today then. Join us tomorrow when we set sail into the Top 20...