The AllMusic 2022
Year In Review
Every year the AllMusic editors discover new and innovative acts pushing the boundaries of sound, texture and rhythm under the indie/alternative umbrella. From lo-fi bedroom recordings to explosive and genre-bending signature pieces, celebrate the recordings of Mitski (pictured), Dry Cleaning, Death Cab for Cutie, Wet Leg, and dozens more.
A Place to Bury Strangers
See Through You
Twenty years after forming, the band deliver a career peak with their sixth album's twisted sonics and fun, wide-ranging songwriting.
Alex G
God Save the Animals
The erstwhile home recordist challenged a half-dozen engineers to put their "best" quality forward on an eerily disjointed and dynamic ninth LP.
Alvvays
Blue Rev
After a five-year absence, the group return with a bulked-up and refined version of their sound that adds even more energy and drama.
Andy Bell
Flicker
The second solo album from the Ride guitarist/songwriter traverses a wide range of styles while meditating on self-acceptance and the passing of time.
Animal Collective
Time Skiffs
On their 11th studio album, this experimental institution embrace their pop side while still pushing their sound to new, strange places.
Artsick
Fingers Crossed
Members of Burnt Palms, Lunchbox, and Kids on a Crime Spree make a not-to-be-missed trio debut for fans of punk-leaning D.I.Y. indie pop.
Beach Bunny
Emotional Creature
Melancholy and inspiring, heartbroken and resolute, this is perfectly produced emo(tional) pop with great songs, and in Lili Trifilio, an impressive songwriter and vocalist.
Beach House
Once Twice Melody
The group's self-produced double album is a striking mix of ambition and heart that plays to their enduring strengths and reveals new ones.
Belle and Sebastian
A Bit of Previous
The tenth studio album from one of indie pop's best-loved bands uses their familiar cheerful sounds to deliver weighty lyrical themes.
Björk
Fossora
Delivering earthy illustrations of the many kinds of love and how they're expressed, the singer/songwriter's tenth album is one of her most moving.
Black Country, New Road
Ants From Up There
A significant leap forward for the group with a more nuanced feel, better songwriting, and interesting creative choices.
Blaqk Audio
Trop d'amour
The polished synth pop of this sixth set channels the spirits of Depeche Mode, Erasure, and Pet Shop Boys.
Built to Spill
When the Wind Forgets Your Name
A late-career stunner that finds Doug Martsch giving the band's trademark indie rock sound a deeply psychedelic overhaul that's subtle and dreamily melancholy.
C Duncan
Alluvium
The Scottish multi-instrumentalist offers another set of sophisticated, elegant pop with a optimistic feel.
Cate Le Bon
Pompeii
The sixth album from this abstract pop auteur replaces detail-oriented songcraft with smears of dense synth pop and plastic funk.
Christine and the Queens / Rahim C Redcar
Redcar les adorables étoiles
A mystical fusion of synth pop, dream pop, and R&B, the project's third album transforms fantastical sensuality into an inspiring sense of self.
Cola
Deep in View
The debut album from this band partly made up of ex-members of Ought turns away from that act's often emphatic style toward streamlined post-punk.
Daniel Johns
FutureNever
Genre- and period-hopping sophomore solo set that finds the prolific Australian singer dipping into various eras of his career.
Death Cab for Cutie
Asphalt Meadows
The urgent tenth set from the indie rock stalwarts revitalizes the band and their sound in surprising, rewarding ways.
Dehd
Blue Skies
The Chicago trio furthers the enhanced clarity and emotional depth that began on their 2020 album, applying both to some of their best songs to date.
Destroyer
Labyrinthitis
The 13th album from Canadian indie chameleon Dan Bejar finds him pushing his established idiosyncrasies into more experimental places than ever before.
Dry Cleaning
Stumpwork
The band's confident second album takes a quieter, slower approach that highlights their warmth, sensuality, and humor.
Duster
Together
Trading in space rock ramble for a singer/songwriter-meets-noise rock approach, the group's fourth album is a slowcore triumph.
Editors
EBM
The British group's second collaboration and first original studio album with electronic artist Blanck Mass.
Erin Anne
Do Your Worst
Hooky, '90s-style indie rock infused with Anne's potent, queer-oriented perspective.
EXEK
Advertise Here
The band's first album for Castle Face brings their fascinating concoction of post-punk, dub, kosmische, and psych into clearer view.
Fashion Club
Scrutiny
The stunning debut album from Pascal Stevenson's project delivers unflinchingly dark art-pop with a surprising streak of empathy.
Florence + the Machine
Dance Fever
The triumphant fifth set from the Florence Welch-fronted outfit finds healing through the power of physical release.
Fujiya & Miyagi
Slight Variations
The Brits' ninth album acts as a stylistic retrospective while also pushing their Krautrock-rooted sound in new directions.
Goat
Oh Death
After a detour into acoustic sounds, the band return with a dark, dangerous, and thrilling album that adds dance grooves and death to the mix.
Hater
Sincere
After some lineup changes and a rethink, the band come out blazing on a set of guitar-heavy, emotionally shattered post-punk- and shoegaze-inspired songs.
Horsegirl
Versions of Modern Performance
A stunning late-in-the-game indie rock revelation from a Chicago group barely out of high school but full of knowledge and inspired skill.
Hot Chip
Freakout/Release
Recorded at the band's own studio, their crisp, engaging eighth album finds opportunities to grow closer -- or start over -- during moments of crisis.
Jean Dawson
CHAOS NOW*
The second full-length from this hard-to-pin-down artist expands his hybrid sound, jumping from '90s-informed alt-rock to rap to sad indie folk.
Jenny Hval
Classic Objects
Filled with rapturous sounds and literary songwriting, Hval's 4AD debut is a dazzling distillation of her music.
Jockstrap
I Love You Jennifer B
The full-length debut from this experimental London duo is pop at its most baffling, but is kept listenable and thrilling by its captivating design.
Joywave
Cleanse
The alt-rock outfit faces existential dread and global uncertainty with wit, heart, and another set of groove-based gems.
Katie Alice Greer
Barbarism
The solo debut from the former Priests lead vocalist is a confounding rush of noisy experimentalism and futurized pop.
Launder
Happening
Co-produced by Sonny DiPerri (My Bloody Valentine, DIIV), the debut of melodic shoegaze afficionado John Cudlip impresses with songs as well as sound.
Lean Year
Sides
Emilie Rex and Rick Alverson (Drunk, Spokane) revisit the distinctively hushed, haunted sound of their debut on the grief-informed follow-up.
Lightning in a Twilight Hour
Overwintering
The group's second album adds British folk and American slowcore influences to their sad and beautiful sound with great success.
Marxist Love Disco Ensemble
MLDE
A sublime record of sunny Euro-disco grooves, quirky indie pop melodies, and impeccable musicianship.
Melody's Echo Chamber
Emotional Eternal
A warm embrace of sweet psychedelia from the team who made the thrilling Bon Voyage album; this time the feeling is peace rather than turmoil.
Mice Parade
Lapapo
The genre-defying collective returns from a nine-year hiatus with arresting, wide-ranging songs united by unguarded emotions.
Mitski
Laurel Hell
A less volatile, resigned state of mind inhabits an album whose brooding, alienated lyrics are often at odds with its shiny, '80s pop veneer.
No Age
People Helping People
Entirely self-recorded and produced sixth album from L.A. punk duo pushes their experimental tendencies to the forefront.
Pale Blue Eyes
Souvenirs
The Devon indie trio's debut is a beguiling fusion of cool motorik grooves and big melodies.
Panda Bear / Sonic Boom
Reset
This joint album from the longtime collaborators taps into the essence of their individual strengths and delivers its songs with a newfound sense of carefree joy.
Perfume Genius
Ugly Season
Based on the music for the dance piece The Sun Still Burns Here, Mike Hadreas' sixth album encompasses his music's extremes of beauty and rawness.
Phoenix
Alpha Zulu
Inspired by their late friend and collaborator Philippe Zdar, the band puts their melodies and exuberance up front with winning results.
PVA
Blush
The band's fully realized yet surprising debut album adds complexity to their bracing mix of industrial, post-punk, and electronic music.
Robyn Hitchcock
Shufflemania
The esteemed sorcerer of pop surrealism's tightest and most potent outing in years.
Santigold
Spirituals
Emerging from a lengthy hiatus, the multifaceted artist delivers uncompromising, empowering songs made for and in difficult times.
The Beths
Expert in a Dying Field
The Auckland indie rockers delve still deeper into melancholy on their third album, brimming with rock-solid hooks and vulnerability.
The Reds, Pinks & Purples
Summer at Land's End
The fourth album of beautifully pristine bummer pop that trades murky melancholy for shimmering sadness and loses nothing in the process.
Tony Molina
In the Fade
Molina's first album that combines -- perfectly -- the bracing power pop crunch, melody-rich Baroque pop, and tender ballads he has previously kept separate.
Wet Leg
Wet Leg
The group's cheeky, occasionally heartbroken debut captures twenty-something angst with all the wit and fun of their viral singles.
Widowspeak
The Jacket
The duo's sixth album explores growth and loss with a hazy montage of storytelling and symbolism that feels as well-worn as a vintage garment.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Cool It Down
Nearly a decade after Mosquito, the trio returns with a consistently engaging set of songs that hover between reflection and elation.
Zola Jesus
Arkhon
The singer/songwriter's seventh album rewrites her rulebook with songs that heighten the spectacle -- and liberation -- of her music.
