I've been listening to albums that I like from 2022 to give some recommendations to some friends, so here's a #music #yearendlist !!!

My favorite album that came out in 2022 is Leyla McCalla's "Breaking the Thermometer." It's a thoughtful and insightful journey of self-discovery and connection between Leyla (a US #Neworleans based multi-instrumentalist that you may know as a sometimes member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops) and her Haitian roots ( #Haitian ) :

https://leylamccalla.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-the-thermometer

I discovered US #Brooklyn rapper Homeboy Sandman this year, and his 2022 "Still Champion" is full of witty lyricism and warm beats that make me laugh and think and smile ( #rap #hiphop ) :

https://homeboysandman.bandcamp.com/album/still-champion

Sudan Archives (US- #LosAngeles ) self-produced a playful and in-your-face album in #2022 called "Natural Brown Prom Queen" full of #soul . She's a self-taught violinist and is doing very creative and impressive things:

https://sudanarchives.bandcamp.com/

I follow Loci Records in #Portland US for #downtempo and #edm goodness, and they put out two albums in 2022 that I very much enjoy. The first is an organic collaboration between Emancipator and Lapa, called "11th Orbit" that listens fresh like a live set every time, and is house-ier than either of their solo work:

https://emancipator.bandcamp.com/album/11th-orbit

And the other is "Glint" by #UK -based producer Handbook, which presents super-fuzzy and sunny atmospheric #beats for all occasions:

https://handbook.bandcamp.com/

The UK's Wet Leg put out a self-titled #alternative album that I keep returning to for wildly catchy and relatable hooks and fun, sarcastic lyrics:

https://wetleg.bandcamp.com/album/wet-leg

Similarly, I gotta give it to the Cool Greenhouse (also from the UK) for "Sod's Toastie," which is absurd, rambling, and unexpectedly catchy in ways that I can't help but enjoy (CW for a suicide joke in one of their songs):

https://thecoolgreenhouse.bandcamp.com/album/sods-toastie

Finally, I love music from #Indonesia. And while there's amazing new music being produced by Indonesian nationals all the time, I was also drawn to a 2022 release by the Bali Gamelan Sound account, which is associated with University ISI Denpasar. This is a new recording of very old music from around in 900 AD on a kind of #gamelan called selonding. In this case, the Batu Bule Selonding ensemble is integrated by foreign scholars and students (Bule means roughly 'albino' and is common slang in Indonesia for white foreigners). This recording is wonderful and the compositions beautifully hold up over 1000 years later:

https://baligamelansound.bandcamp.com/album/batu-bule-selonding