100 reasons to love Finnish indie band Teini-Pää

Finnish indie pop band Teini-Pää has just released its second album

Let’s continue this weekend’s exploration of Nordic indie pop with the February album Sata syytä aloittaa by Helsinki’s Teini-Pää. The band Teini-Pää play divine 2 minute guitar pop gems just as catchy as 2022 darlings Alvvays. Now BEFORE YOU STOP READING because the vocals aren’t sung in American, take 2:18 to see if the song “Ydintyttö” persuades you that you need to know more.

That’s one extraordinary blast of power pop right?! Whatever tongue you speak…Finnish, Swedish, Spanish…we all understand the International Language of rock. Before getting into any background, I want to be sure you’re fully on board. If not, begone!

The guitars get a little scuzzier on Teini-Pää‘s “4567.” This isn’t your mother’s Finnish bubblegum pop. Just a 3 minute blast of guitars and harmonies from an alternate indie pop universe called Northern Europe.

Band Teini-Pää hits its stride with 2nd album Sata syytä aloittaa

Fans off Alvvays and Wet Leg:  Listen to the album Sata syytä Teini-Pää by Finland's Teini-Pää!

Like me, you probably didn’t know about this remarkable Helsinki indie pop band that is one EP and two albums into its career. Teini-Pää (“Teenage Head”) has been releasing music for about four years. Here is early single, “L​ä​htisitkö.” (“Would You Go”)

The quintet seems to tour between Helsinki and Turku, in far SW Finland across the Baltic from Stockholm. They have a website with fun facts about each member, including what appears to be a mutual fondness for vissy (sparkling water?), The Go-Go’s and yoga. I’ve conveniently linked an English translation of the band’s website for you here.

If you haven’t heard Denmark’s Appleseeds! what are you even doing?!

100 reasons to love Helsinki’s Teini-Pää

February’s Sata syytä aloittaa (“100 Hundred Reasons to Start”), published by Finland’s Soit Se Silti is a blast from start to finish. Google translates Teini-Pää’s own description of their band from its website as “puff pop.” It may just be a bad translation? The 90 seconds of “Aamulla” sounds like power pop to me!

You can buy a digital copy of album Sata syytä aloittaa from Bandcamp.

Stop and listen to these 15 alternative songs new to January 2023

Listen to these indie songs new in 2023

I made a deliberate decision to jump start 2023 by listening to the first great alternative songs new to January.

That’s what you’re going to hear below. While the first couple weeks of the year always seem to be catchup mode on Best Of lists for the year before, you will 100% fall in love with the new music already dropping in 2023.

Let’s have a listen!

Alternative songs new for your January playlist

Each of these songs shot out of the cannon in the first four weeks of the new year.

I haven’t finished listening to all the indie songs new to January, but these are the ones that caught my immediate attention. Each tune comes with a link to buy the song or album and support the artist. Make that a new year’s resolution in 2023! Support independent musicians by paying them for their art!

1. “Dark Moon” – GRMLN (Dark Moon)

You can hear GRMLN's new dream pop song, "Dark Moon" here.  One of the best alternative songs new to January 2023!

We were just four days into the new year when Yoodoo Park of Kyoto, Japan, released Dark Moon and its tasty title track. Park’s GRMLN has been at this for a decade and doesn’t find these dream pop guitar lines by accident. I didn’t hear an entire album of these hooks on Dark Moon but the title track is one of the promising alternative songs new to January 2023.

Listen to more of Dark Moon and buy a copy from GRMLN at Bandcamp.

HEY! – Check out my very favorite songs of the Year 2022

2. “Mile Marker 29” – The Bad Ends (The Power and the Glory)

REM's Bill Berry returns with a new album with band, The Bad Ends

You know who you don’t hear a lot about in the year 2023? REM drummer Billy Berry.

Bill’s been taking it easy – the royalty checks probably still clear. After a health scare in the 90’s, Berry has been hay farming outside Athens the last 25 years. A chance meeting with Mike Mantione lead to new band The Bad Ends and Berry’s return to music. Have a listen to “Mile Marker 29.”

Order your copy of The Power and the Glory from Bandcamp.

3. “Falling Apart” – The Rills (After Taste EP)

The Rills upcoming EP includes several alternative songs new to January. For Franz Ferdinand fans!

The Rills have a super dancy Franz Ferdinand thing happening.

It was especially clear on “Landslide,” which The Rills released last fall. Two weeks ago, they dropped “Falling Apart.” The Rills’ second EP, depending on where you get your info, will be available in February.

Get your copy of the After Taste EP here.

4. fine. – “New Skin/Good Life” (Love, Death, Dreams and the Sleep Between)

Check out Boston's indie pop band called "fine." Clearly one of the best alternative songs new to January

What I really dig about Boston’s fine. is this grade school choir sound they’ve perfected.

Bubblegum pop songs by Alice Kat and Liam James Marsh will wake you from your winter doldrums and get you dancing again. Although I’m including fine. in my January list of tunes…Love, Death, Dreams came out three days before Christmas, so sue me. Hit play and fall in love!

Buy Love, Death, Dreams and the Sleep Between from Subjangle.

5. “Ethel” – The Murder Capital (Gigi’s Recovery)

The Murder Capital include a tribute to LCD Soundsystem in "Ethel"

The Murder Capital don’t care if search to find the melodies in Gigi’s Recovery. But the Dubliners are also so good at what they do, they can’t keep the hooks from bursting through the dissonance.

You’ll hear TMC winking at James Murphy’s masterpiece “All My Friends” in their drooping cacophony, “Ethel.” It’s a slow build, so don’t give up on this one.

They come to Kilby Court in April!

Get ready for The Murder Capital’s SLC show and buy Gigi’s Recovery.

6. “Past Tense” – The Spooky Boys (single)

Portland's The Spooky Boys aren't spooky, they rock!

Let me tell you what I know about The Spooky Boys, which is close to nothing. They’re billed as “Portland’s premier indie/surf rock group featuring jangly dripping wet guitars, relentless driving rhythm, and insatiable catchy melodies.” Admittedly I didn’t know “jangly wet guitars” was a thing, nor that The Spooky Boys were Portland’s exemplar.

I DO KNOW superior power pop when I hear it. So check out one of the best indie songs new to 2023, “Past Tense.”

Buy “Past Tense” at the Spooky Boys’ website.

7. “White Shirt” – Priestgate (One Shade Darker EP)

If you like The Cure and the pop appeal of The Alarm, you're going to love Priestgate

If Priestgate look miserable, their single “White Shirt” is a delirious balance of pop sugar and darker 80’s Cure vibes. I’m looking forward to hearing Priestgate’s second EP due on March 3. I have to say I love the rhythm and vocal desperation of “White Shirt.”

Pre-order One Shade Darker at Bandcamp.

8. “Huge New Her” – Fucked Up (One Day)

F'd Up, the hardcore band who redefined the genre, have a new album

I get it, a band with a name and sound like Toronto’s FU is not going to appeal to everyone reading this post, and that’s a shame.

The arrangements and (honestly) melodies underneath Damian Abraham’s vocals are second to none. It is remarkable hardcore guitar rock. Hang with it for two minutes and think about what songs like “Huge New Her” would sound like with actual singing.

My FU collection goes back, if not to their origin, to their remarkable David Comes to Life. Abraham sang a bit more on David than on One Day. So, for context, a bonus track: “The Other Shoe” from 2011’s landmark David Comes to Life.

Here’s how to get Fucked Up (heh).

This year’s One Day is at Merge Records while 2014’s Glass Boys is at Matador Records. You can sample and buy dozens of other FU releases, including David Comes to Life, from Bandcamp.

Okay, do you trust me now to hear my favorite albums of 2022? They’re right here!

9. “Cuchillos” – LISASINSON (Un Año De Cambios)

Spanish language indie songs new in January inclucde LISASINSON's "Chuchillos"

On no planet was I going to suggest a batch of my favorite alternative songs new to January without some of the best Spanish-language indie pop (*makes note to subscribe to Rosetta Stone). “Cuchillos” is the fourth single from LISASINSON’s pending full length. I’ve already started following Elefant Records to make sure I don’t miss the album by the Valencia, Spain art students.

Buy “Cuchillos” or the upcoming album Un Año De Cambios from Elefant Records.

10. “Skeleton Boy” – Strange Neighbors (Party of None EP)

Strange Neighbor's "Skeleton Boy" is an alternative party song waiting to happen

Let’s stick with the power pop sound. I bet Strange Neighbors are a fun show. Just look at them, having fun with a camera like good self-entertaining kids. The Party of None EP came out two weeks ago, and I recommend you download and inject one of the indie songs new to January that will get your party started.

Strange Neighbors’ Party of None awaits at Bandcamp.

11. “Palm Trees” – Fran (Leaving)

Chicago's Fran released the lovely album Leaving in January.  Listen to "Palm Trees" here

This month Chicago singer-songwriter Maria Jacobson released her second album, Leaving. It’s sweeping acoustic folk with song titles like “Winter” and “God.” Those feel like difficult motifs to live up to. Much of this rests on Fran’s voice and lyrics, like Weyes Blood striped bare of the chamber orchestra.

Buy Leaving from Fran’s website.

If you like Fran (above) and alt country generally, check out my favorite albums last year!

12. “Still Life” – R. Ring (War Poems, We Rested)

Kelley Deal is back with a nbew album in January with R. Ring

Kelley Deal, Kim’s twin and most famous sister, delivers on R. Ring with partner Mike Montgomery.

Deal is involved in a ton of stuff in addition to R. Ring, including Breeders reboots and Protomartyr. I love Kelley’s comeback story, the Breeders’ icy cool baked into R. Ring and her indie rock confidence. Check out the payoff halfway through War Poems’ lead, “Still Life.”

Get War Poems, We Rested from Bandcamp. Buy some of Kelley’s scarves at her website.

13. “Hungry Mouth” – appleseeds! (single)

If you haven't heard "Hungry Mouth" then you haven't heard one of the best alternative songs new to January 2023!

I confess, another 2022 song but – come onnnn! — Denmark’s appleseeds! dropped this song on December 31. You were probably already asleep, so it’s officially one of the alternative songs new to January in my book. Too Good to be True Records indicates appleseeds! will release æblefrø on February 3.

Check out “Hungry Mouth” and get set for what promises to be an album of jangle pop perfection!.

“Hungry Mouth” is one of the top indie songs new to January and the album æblefrø will be full of them!.

14. “Joiner” – Blondshell (Blondshell)

Blondshell releases here S/T debut in April. Have a listen to "Sepsis." It is one of the top alternative songs new to January

Sabrina Teitelbaum is LA’s Blondshell, who writes about her toxic relationships with a candor that couldn’t care less. Dark indie rock echoing influences like PJ Harvey and Courtney Love. Some of it is sexualized, some of it is just dysfunctional emotion like “Sepsis.”

Blondshell comes out April 7. Pre-order your copy from Teitelbaum’s website.

15. “Anglepoise” – The Happy Somethings (A Gathering of Sorts)

The best 90 seconds of alternative rock I've heard so far this year...The Happy Somethings "Anglepoise."

Let’s finish this list with 90 seconds of fist-pumping guitar rock. England’s The Happy Somethings roll the rhythm from Bow Wow Wow’s “I Love Candy” under bubblegum guitar fuzz and twee Bangles vocals.

You’ll be singing “Anglepoise” all day, and you’re welcome.

Anglepoise was released January 1 and is still one of the catchiest alternative songs new to January and the New Year!

The 20 best alternative albums of 2022. This is the music you’ve been looking for!

Shopping for vinyl records best alternative albums of 2022

20 Best
Alternative Albums
of 2022

2022 was a wild and rewarding year of music! Alternative country was at the vanguard of experimental sound, female singer-songwriters dominated across genres and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were relevant again! Most notably, pandemic-delayed music continued to flood into record stores and onto music websites. In fact, selecting the best alternative albums of 2022 was only complicated by the awesome scope of releases. Kids, there is SO. MUCH. MUSIC.

Picking the best alternative albums of 2022

So…a few rules of the road.

First, my basic measure of a great album. It isn’t influence or buzz or length. It’s a release that I can honestly say — YES — I’ll come back and listen to this record over and over in years to come. Second, I love albums that are full and cohesive musical statements. Those are weighted heavily on my list over simple collections of songs. Finally, I try my very best not to posture as cooler than thou. Some of these bands you will know; some you may not have heard about; they all belong on my list because I genuinely love them. Nothing is here for show. In fact, some of it may be damning.

I like what I like.

I’ve tried to provide two songs for every album that you can stream straight from this page. Read, listen and disagree. And by all means, tell me what I missed!

Best alternative albums of 2022: Counting down from 20 to 11

It was harder choosing the order in the second half of this list than those at the top.

Only one of my top 10 (foreshadowing) wasn’t part of my mental list of “best alternative albums 2022” for several months. However, it was a little harder to sequence from 11 to 20 for some reason. Any of these records could easily be another person’s favorite of the year, and all deserve your time.

20. Weyes Blood – And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

Best albums of 2022:  Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Glow

I didn’t hear Weyes Blood’s 2021 Titanic Rising to compare to this year’s And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. The first 5 or 6 tracks are magical, though I think Hearts Aglow lags a bit near the end. If she resisted the comparison at first, it really is hard not to hear Karen Carpenter in Natalie Mering’s vocals. Not a little Jeff Lynne happening here too!

19. Mañana El Espacio – Casi Nada Es Para Siempre

Best albums of 2022:  Mañana El Espacio - Casi Nada Es Para Siempre

What more can I say? Loved this indie pop band from Venezuela.

Band leader and song writer Ricardo Vergara now writes from Medellín, Columbia, known as the City of Eternal Spring. You’ll feel that kind of renewal in these songs that range from garage rock to a bit of psychedelic jangle. Pedals and indie hand claps included at no extra charge.

Check it!

Did you hear all the Spanish-language jangle pop released in 2022? You’ll fall in love with these songs!

18. Orlando Weeks – Hop Up

Orlando Weeks' Hop Up was a top alternative album of 2022

I deliberately place Hop Up here, not least of all because Orlando Weeks deserves it. Also because Weeks’ sincere family delight is anathema to jaded music critics, who cannot tolerate simple, unironic joy. The album pulses with late-Roxy Music vibes and a little XTC.

“Hey You Hop Up” – Orlando Weeks (Hop Up)
“Big Skies, Silly Faces” – Orlando Weeks (Hop Up)

17. The Boys With the Perpetual Nervousness – The Third Wave of…

Top albums of 2022:  The Boys With the Perpetual Nervousness - The Third Wave of...

TBWTPN collaborate across Europe on sunny indie pop songs, Gonzalo Marcos in Spain and Andrew Taylor in Scotland. However most of the hooks have the lightest touch of sweet jangle somewhere between The Byrds and Teenage Fanclub. The Boys With the Perpetual Nervousness present musical elation of the highest order!

Mary Lou Lord guests on the sweet duet, “Isolation.”

16. Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful

2022 favorite albums: Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful

There’s a Spiritualized formula AMIRIGHT? Like Guy Garvey basically has a formula for Elbow? The answer is yes, and I’m here for every second of it.

Tell me if there has been a greater payoff than the Brian Wilson swell at 2:25 on Spiritualized’s “Always Together With You?” Like, ever in the history of music? Possibly exaggeration, but it’s my damn list. I feel like I could have dropped Spiritualized in my Top 10 without an ounce of regret.

Listen to J Spaceman only if you want to experience total exhilaration.

15. Panda Bear and Sonic Boom – Reset

2022 Best Albums: Panda Bear and Sonic Boom - Reset

It seems appropriate, if unintentional, putting Spacemen 3 alum side-by-side.

More Panda Bear than a Spacemen throwback, Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and Peter Kember (Sonic Boom and Spacemen 3 founder) are nevertheless kindred spirits. Lennox may never return to the sublime heights reached on Person Pitch. Still, Reset lives in a nearby gentrified zip code.

Hey you! Looking back is good..but 2023 has already produced some great songs. CHECK THEM OUT here!

14. Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia

Fontaines D.C. topped my list of best alternative albums of 2022

Skinty Fia could have been a Top 5 album but for a couple of stinkers (“Bloomsday,” I’m looking at you). Irish brogue, pedals, driving backbeats combined with the rich ferocity of Catherine Wheel. A sure hit on any list of best alternative albums of 2022.

13. Naima Bock – Giant Palm

Best of 2022: Naima Bock - Giant Palm

Naima Bock’s patient arrangements frequently echo soft 70’s (“Instrumental” could be a lost TV score). Bock is formerly of Goat Girl and I love her airy, rounded voice.

Weyes Blood sounds like her emotive and high-maintenance younger sister. Aldous Harding is Bock’s spirit animal.

12. The Silent Boys – Sand to Pearls, Coal to Diamonds

Best alternative albums of 2022:  The Silent Boys - Sand to Pearls, Coal to Diamonds

Jangle pop veterans from Richmond. We’re getting dangerously close to my Top 10, and just about every one of these songs is pop perfection. Somewhere, God bless Pat Fish’s departed soul, The Jazz Butcher is listening with a smile.

11. Arlo Mckinley – This Mess We’re In

2022 best alt country: Arlo Mckinley - This Mess We're In

Until July 15, 2022 I had never heard Arlo Mckinley’s name. His show in Salt Lake this year was my favorite by not a little. What do we have to do to get Arlo a date on Mountain Stage?!

Serious Lynyrd Skynyrd energy in the best, most unironic way.

Arlo was my favorite show in 2022 by a country mile, pun intended. Check out his set and pics from SLC!

Best alternative albums of 2022: Number 10 to #1 (Casey Kasem voice)

I personally don’t think you can go wrong with any of these Top 10 releases. Each is choice from beginning to end, and a highlight from the best alternative albums 2022 offered to music lovers.

For the most part, the top 7 or 8 albums were swirling in my head as Best Album for much of the year. It wasn’t until late November or so that I changed my #1, which I thought for sure would hold all year. For whatever reason, I over-indexed on alt country in my Top 10, for which I make no apologies so stop interrogating me like a common criminal.

10. Aurora – The Gods We Can Touch

Best albums of 2022: Aurora - The Gods We Can Touch

I have zero concern for damaging what little street cred I have by including in my Top 10 albums Norway’s Aurora, for whom I am clearly not the target demo. Get over yourself and listen to what Aurora has done!

Much of The Gods We Can Touch is ethereal and intimate, and then by turns challenging and defiant. And the gothic overtones give way to a couple of unapologetic synth pop bangers. Aurora channels the chamber pop and early confidence of Kate Bush.

And I want to say this.

In the year 2023, when a 26-year-old woman is the President and Chief freaking Executive Officer of her personal brand, positively influencing tens of thousands of younger women — we need to honor that.

“Everything Matters” – Aurora (The Gods We Can Touch)
“A Place Called the Moon” – Aurora (The Gods We Can Touch)

9. Alvvays – Blue Rev

Alvvays' Blue Rev was a top album of 2022

Alvvays’ Blue Rev might have more pop hooks per song than anything else I heard this year.

After their October show in Salt Lake, I remarked they felt like a band making a new leap of confidence. You can’t say enough about the cool stage presence of Molly Rankin and Alec O’Hanley and the perfect, desultory voice Rankin gives to songs like “Many Mirrors” and “Lottery Noises.”

So did you get to see Alvvays in 2023? I did — and they were amaze. Read about their SLC set here!

8. The Highwater Marks – Proclaimer of Things

2022 best alternative: The Highwater Marks - Proclaimer of Things

Gleeful jangle that ranges from power pop to fuzzy garage – even a tasty bit of cow punk.

Nearly every song on Proclaimer of Things is a windows open-wide singalong. Hilarie Sidney of Elephant 6 collective and Apples in Stereo and husband Per Ole Bratset share songwriting and vocals. This may explain why shimmering chords alternate with sludgier guitars.

Among the best alternative albums of 2022, this record was absolutely bursting with singles.

“Jenny” – The Highwater Marks (Proclaimer of Things)
“The Devotee to the Chemist” – The Highwater Marks (Proclaimer of Things)

7. Sharon Van Etten – We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong

Top albums 2022: Sharon Van Etten - We've Been Going About This All Wrong

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is an album of mini-epics, which I am a sucker for. Sharon Van Etten begins each song with the calmest of strums and finishes in tremendous crashing things with giant, earned emotion. She sings with such beautiful, deep tones.

This has been on repeat for me all year.

6. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up Here

Best alt country 2022: Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up Here

Black Country, New Road are doing something new under the sun. At one moment, they pervert Van Morrison on “Concorde.” In another they descend into free form jazz cacophony on “Snow Globes.”

Without their heat-seeking sensibilities of melody, BCNR would just be a discordant band only music critics love. But they deliver the hooks in another brilliant experiment. Just one example, the 14 second full stop inside “Mark’s Theme” that only improves the resolve.

A triumphant sophomore album.

DUDE I SWEAR these are 22 songs you need to listen to! Click here and start streaming!

5. Aldous Harding – Warm Chris

The best alternative albums of 2022 included Aldous Harding's Warm Chris

So many memorable, infectious songs on Warm Chris, each stamped with Aldous Harding’s eccentricity. Harding isn’t just a blithe oddball, she may also music’s most elliptical lyricist. Also can someone PLEASE help me with “Coming Round the Mountain?” I swear that keyboard samples a movie score that I just can’t place.

4. Beach House – Once Twice Melody

Best alternative: Once Twice Melody by Beach House

I ended the year where I began, Once Twice Melody by Beach House near the very top of my favorite albums list. Chapters I and II came out in late 2021…while III and IV completed the release by February of 2022.

Of any record I listened to this year, no question, Once Twice Melody touches the stars most often.

Spiritualized played a September show in The Caverns, the renown venue in Grundy County, Tennessee. Can you even imagine hearing Beach House playing songs there like “Sunset?” I seriously might die.

3. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

Best alternative: Big Thief's album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

It is difficult to understate the scope of what Big Thief has done on Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. Because when we say, “what Big Thief has done,” we really mean “what Adrianne Lenker has done.” No matter how democratic Big Thief may be, Lenker is the center of their universe.

That Big Thief originally produced NEARLY 50 SONGS whittled down (with no little pain) to 20 songs, defies creative description. This is a mature brand, as we say in marketing. At the same time, Big Thief are still becoming something fearless and new.

Dragon New Warm Mountain toggles seamlessly between casual hootenanny, psych folk and esoteric indie hooks. Although not streamed here, the holiest moment may be the simple harmony between Lenker and bandmate/ex-husband Buck Meek on “12000 Lines.”

Whoa STOP RIGHT THERE! Check out the alternative country you missed in 2022!

2. Angel Olsen – Big Time

Best of 2022: Big Time by Angel Olsen

For reasons I can’t exactly articulate, I was deeply affected by Big Time. I was visiting my childhood home in West Virginia as I streamed Angel Olsen’s cathartic album. In that way, it will be inextricably tied to my return home, the way great music attaches itself to a place and moment in time.

“Go Home” has been voted Most Likely to Make You Cry in an Unguarded Moment. In it, Olsen sings:

I wanna go home,
Go back to small things.
I don’t belong here.
Nobody knows me.

I am the ghost now,
Walking those old scenes.
How can I go on?

Forget the old dream.
I got a new thing
.

An album of aching beauty. Olsen’s voice is unrivaled, shouting down the mountains and, in turns, an intensely vulnerable, quaking vibrato.

1. Jockstrap – I Love You Jennifer B

The best alternative albums of 2022 topped by Jockstrap - Jennifer B I Love You

What has become of me, that I herald a band called Jockstrap? Me, perpetual critic of stupid band names.

Jockstrap (I can’t believe I continue typing that word) are Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye, London art school students. Ellery is also violinist for Black Country, New Road. Her wild vocal range drives the arrangements of Jennifer B I Love You.

Let’s not forget that, at the end of the day, rock and roll should be fun. Or it should evoke equally deep emotions of despair, anxiety or elation. If you haven’t heard of Jockstrap, allow me to introduce you to Jennifer B. Sprawling decade-defining albums are one thing. It’s another to adroitly stitch 1,000 musical ideas inside a taut 40 minute statement, some which continue to reveal themselves on listens 6, 7…12.

Is it synth pop? Post-pop? Is that even a word? Does it matter?

EVERYTHING WORKS on Jennifer B.

“Concrete Over Water” – Jockstrap (I Love You Jennifer B)

Best alternative albums of 2022: Super cool albums not in my Top 20

Records that were really good but not quite in my top tier, wherein I try to impress you with my broad musical taste. I bought and listened to each of these. They are good stuff!

Top alternative albums of 2022, more albums Part 1:

  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Cool It Down)
    Karen O has never sounded better, now singing about motherhood!
  • Big Joanie (Back Home)
    Darkwave, riot girrrl mashup gave me all the feels
  • Porridge Radio (Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky)
    Waterslide sat just outside my Top 20 all year
  • Dehd (Blue Skies)
    Chicago 3-piece knocked it out of the park. Recommended track: “Bad Love”
  • The 1975 (Being Funny in a Foreign Language)
    I thought this was a great pop record honestly
  • Kiwi Jr. (Chopper)
    Slacker rock closer in quality to their Pavement-y debut Football Money
  • Wet Leg (Wet Leg)
    Frankly I discounted this record based on their listless Salt Lake City show

Best alternative albums of 2022, more albums Part 2:

  • Belle and Sebastian (A Bit of Previous)
    Nothing I didn’t like about B&S’s return to form
  • Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals (King Cobra)
    My Top 20 list doesn’t include rap — I’m not deep enough in the scene
  • Young Guv (Guv III)
    Ben Cook’s positively delicious guitar pop. Every track, but try: “Lo lo lonely”
  • Rush to Relax (Misli)
    Look, this jangle pop is sung in Macedonian. It is worth the effort!
  • Just Mustard (Heart Under)
    How they notch Katie Ball’s vocals inside this dark, gazey noise is a marvel
  • Father John Misty (Chloë and the Next 20th Century)
    Maybe this is shtick, but it is still lovely

Here are the songs you missed on the too-little-loved EP format. I bet you find something you really dig!

2022 best alternative EP’s

Before I post some favorite songs from 2022 or rank my top albums, let’s spend some time with the little-appreciated category of EP’s.…

Keep reading

Fave alternative albums of 2022, more albums Part 3:

  • Torres Satélite (Mundos y Estrellas)
    I swooned over some of these songs. Check out: “Carl Sagan”
  • Ian Noe (River Fools & Mountain Saints)
    More from my year as an alt county evangelist
  • The Linda Lindas (The Linda Lindas)
    If Green Day were 15-year-old girls
  • Best Bets (On An Unhistoric Night)
    I’ve said a lot about Best Bets. Buy this record!
  • Wild Pink (ILYSM)
    At times Lambchop-y, I thought John Ross sounded best on the more structured songs
  • Beth Orton (Weather Alive)
    Confused Beth Orton and The Beths for most of this year. Weather Alive is a grower!
  • Castlebeat (Half Life)
    Late add from Spirit Goth Records. Josh Hwang produces these arch Joy Division melodies in his garage

Best alternative albums of 2022, more albums Part 4:

  • Crows (Beware Believers)
    A near Top 20 for me, play only at ear-damaging volume levels
  • Northern Portrait (Swiss Army)
    Danish indie pop throwback that I just loved. Listen to: “Long Live Tonight”
  • Artsick (Fingers Crossed)
    If you buy just one lo-fi garage band album this year, buy Fingers Crossed
  • The Smile (A Light for Attracting Attention)
    Another late add, you have five or six terrific songs here!
  • Eades (Delusion Spree)
    Cheap Trick fans unite! I feel like I should have re-evaluated Eades for my Top 20
  • Cuco (Fantasy Gateway)
    Bedroom pop of the highest order. Cuco plays the 2023 Kilby Court block party

Best alternative albums of 2022: Not feeling these

Disappointing alternative albums of 2022


I started the year on kind of a tear, buying a few releases without sampling. We all do this, right? Like I’ll buy on faith about anything Elbow or Sloan put out. It’s a trust relationship. Became a little too trusting this year and bought some CD’s (yes I mostly still buy physical media) that didn’t live up to reputation. And then a couple of stinkers just generally.

  • Cate Le Bon (Pompeii)
    Hey I like weird, I like eccentric. At the end of the day you have to produce songs people actually like
  • Kendrick Lamar (Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers)
    Boy, this has really divided opinion. Mark me down for a giant No. Also, half as long next time please
  • Animal Collective (Time Skiffs)
    It’s not NOT good. But it’s a far cry from the Merriweather days
  • Mitski (Laurel Hell)
    What the hell with Laurel Hell. I was expecting more
  • A Place to Bury Strangers (See Through You)
    You know what I wasn’t thinking last year? “I’d like to hear Oliver Ackerman sing a ballad”
  • Spoon (Lucifer on the Sofa)
    I think I’m mostly alone on this one. I thought Lucifer was pedestrian
  • Oliver Sim (Hideous Bastard)
    The shame here is I think the XX founder had some good musical ideas. It never punched through
  • Sloan (Steady)
    Initially slated my favorite Canadians’ album as an honorable mention. Now it’s feeling routine

Listen to these 22 essential alternative songs in 2022. Because 2,022 songs will take way too much time

old people dancing

A bit more than a baker’s dozen, here are 22 alternative songs in 2022 out of a few thousand that I listened to this year. Most have streams of the full songs that you can play right from your phone. I hope you fall in love with them and buy them!

First things first, these are in no real order other than what I can readily find on my Best Songs list on Evernote and scrolling through downloads or discs I’ve already bought. It’s a mess, frankly, but I’m going to try and bring some order to the chaos. And for you, that means curated top shelf listening. Most, not all, are not from albums that will end up on my Top 10 or 20 list. But they’re all amaze.

These 22 alternative songs in 2022 are numbered, but just help me keep track of when I get to 22 tunes. They are not in order of preference or awesomeness!

1. “Wild” – Spoon (Lucifer on the Sofa)

Alternative songs in 2022: Spoon delivers one of the best with "Wild"

How many bands can compare to Spoon, album for album, for almost 30 years? It’s rarified air. Having said that I liked, didn’t love, Lucifer on the Sofa. Several bangers, and Spoon remain an American original. Here is early single “Wild,” which I cannot be on drugs, is an absolute straight-up tribute to INXS.

I can’t imagine a better way to start a list of the best alternative songs in 2022.

Buy Lucifer on the Moon from Spoon’s website.

HOLD ON A SECOND BUSTER! Check out these top songs already out in the New Year…you’ll love them!

2. “(Wishing I Had) Tickets for Saint Etienne” – The Photocopies (Holiday Romance EP)

Listen to (Wishing I Had) Tickets for Saint Etienne by The Photocopies

Michigan-by-London songwriter Sean Turner has released probably 100 songs as The Photocopies since the start of the year. They come in batches of singles, b-sides, EP’s, full-lengths and remixes.

I’m feeling guilty enough not including the Holiday Romance EP among my favorite EP’s of 2022 — an oversight — that I want to highlight “Saint Etienne” from that EP. Fuzzy jangle pop without fuss or needless ambition. Just a perfect pop song, like almost everything Turner does.

Have a listen to everything The Photocopies have published in 2022!

3. “Wrong Side of the Sun” – Best Bets (On An Unhistoric Night)

Alternative songs in 2022:  Best Bets' "Wrong Side of the Sun" may be the most catchy song of the year

Voted by me the #1 song to see live in 2022, I present Best Bets‘ “Wrong Side of the Sun.” They must call the riot police and water cannons when the kids hear this insanely catchy chorus. Growing out of New Zealands’ Transistors, Best Bets rockin’ On An Unhistoric Night belongs on the shelf of every post punk fan of The Ramones or Replacements.

Has to be one of the catchiest alternative songs in 2022. Hit play and rock.

Release your inner 19-year-old with Meritorio Records’ “On An Unhistoric Night.

4. “Dressed in Black” – Ezra Furman (All of Us Flames)

Transgender artist Ezra Furman

I ultimately didn’t put All of Us Flames on my list of records to buy this year. You can’t own everything.

But I love this musky 60’s love song, “Dressed in Black.” Transgender woman Ezra Furman’s lyrics throughout reflect darker tensions of love, sex and gender. The album is sometimes distorted and menacing but still frequently reinterprets AOR.

You can buy All of Flames and Ezra Furman T’s at her website.

5. “End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius)” – Arcade Fire (WE)

Arcade Fire delivers in 2022 again with the song "End of the Empire" from WE

Arcade Fire’s 6th album WE adds to the Montreal legends’ nearly 20-year legacy since the influential Funeral, Neon Bible and The Suburbs. It will also inevitably be conflated with the allegations of sexual misconduct by founder Win Butler. When looking for top alternative songs in 2022, WE has moments, if not the consistency of their early records.

The instrumentation and art rock arrangements, like the 4-part “End of the Empire” sound very much like The Flaming Lips here.

“End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius)” – Arcade Fire (WE)

Get your copy of Arcade Fire’s WE.

OBVIOUSLY you need to critique my Top 20 albums of 2022. Listen, comment and disagree!

6. “Old Picture of Ourselves” – The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness (The Third Wave of…)

The band you've never heard of and need to know about.  The Boys With the Perpetual Nervousness

Next, a multi-continent jangle pop supergroup of sorts, The Boys With the Perpetual Nervousness may actually end up on my best album list. But I had to share one of their songs from The Third Wave of… TBWTPN are Scotland’s Andrew Taylor, also in Dropkick…and Spain’s Gonzalo Marcos, who plays in El Palacio de Linares. (Note to self: check out El Palacio de Linares.!)

For fans of Teenage Fanclub and lovers of all things jangle.

Do you dig it?! Buy The Boys third album from Bobo Integral Records!

7. “Sick of Everything” – Gorgeous Bully (Am I Really Going to Die Here)

Gorgeous Bully song "Sick of Everything"

Daniel Johnston, exemplar of melodic sincerity to Kurt Cobain and Yo La Tengo, grew up in West Virginia and is revered in many circles as an Appalachian prodigy. An acquaintance of mine actually gave him a place to live in the late 80’s. This was either before or during some of Johnston’s drug use and increasing mental health struggles, which eventually saw him committed.

Does Manchester’s Gorgeous Bully mimic Johnston’s arch low fidelity cassette recordings? Mostly, no. GB builds more traditional song structures of bedroom pop. The lo-fi soundscapes and lyrics are relatively dynamic compared to Johnston’s arrested development.

And Thomas Crang recognizes a pop hook when he finds it. “Sick of Everything,” originally a 2021 single, is a cleaned-up version of Gorgeous Bully that leads off 2022’s Am I Really Going to Die Here. Just 90 seconds makes it one of the top alternative songs in 2022.

Johnston and GB do share a bit of the same strumming DNA that you can hear in some of Johnston’s touching live performances. Also you can watch the excellent The Devil and Daniel Johnston on Amazon.

Buy “Am I Really Going to Die Here” by Gorgeous Bully.

Okay kids HERE THEY ARE: The very best songs from summer 2022! Listen and tell me I’m wrong!

8. “Watercolours” – Neil Brogan (Things Keep Getting in the Way)

Listen to indie pop wonder Neil Brogan sing "Watercolours."  Guaranteed to make your day!

Irish musician, host of this year’s new music podcast Brogan’s Run and former Sea Pinks lead Neil Brogan writes perfect, economical guitar pop on his new album Things Keep Getting in the Way. Brogan will take you back to pristine 90’s indie pop like The Lucksmiths and Trash Can Sinatras.

Download your ray of sunshine from 2022 with Neil Brogan’s Things Getting in the Way.

9. “Our Songbird Has Gone” – The Chesterf¡elds (New Modern Homes)

Alternative songs in 2022: Possibly my favorite song of the year...The Chesterf¡elds' "Our Songbird Has Gone"

Let’s stay in this tasty indie pop space for a moment so that I can share one of my very favorite songs of the last year.

Cult favorites The Chesterf¡elds reunited in 2022, despite the untimely death of their band mate Davy Chesterfield in 2003. This delightful tribute to Chesterfield namechecks and evokes everything about C86 bands that birthed The Chesterf¡elds nearly 40 years ago.

Clearly one of the best alternative songs in 2022. I have probably sung the chorus to “Our Songbird” in my car more than any other this year.

Buy New Modern Homes by The Chesterf¡elds at Bandcamp.

10. “Pana-vision” – The Smile (A Light for Attracting Attention)

Radiohead side project The Smile kill with single Pana-vision

In the winter and spring of 2022, I bought a clutch of new releases by well-known artists sight unseen. I rarely do that — I sample almost everything. However, a few artists I will buy on faith. As it turned out, I was unimpressed by many of them…including The Smile’s A Light for Attracting Attention.

This summer, a friend persuaded me to revisit The Smile and some of my other impetuous purchases. I can report, of the 4 or 5 discs, I was most glad to return to The Smile. I had listened to Attention probably a half dozen times on earbuds. This is a terrible way to consume dense production, particularly a Radiohead side project.

In the end, however, the sum is less than the parts.

Thom Yorke is one of the two or three most influential songwriters of the last 50 years, so I think it’s fair to hold him to a high standard. Attention is front-loaded and musical ideas are hit or miss after the first five tracks. Attention reminds me of Yorke’s debut solo The Eraser in some ways. Tom Skinner’s complex syncopation is a revelation and it is rewarding to hear Jonny Greenwood playing guitar again for God’s sake.

Ironically, though, my favorite songs are keyboard numbers…”Open the Floodgates” and April single “Pana-vision.”

Add The Smile to your Radiohead collection!

11. “No End to Love” – Orlando Weeks (Hop Up)

Why haven't you listened to Orlando Weeks' alternative album Hop up and the song "No End to Love?!" You can hear it here

Don’t let the absence of blog coverage of Maccabee’s singer Orlando Weeks dissuade you from buying his second solo, Hop Up. Brimming with the joys of fatherhood and watching his young son emerge as a new personality, it is far too loving and un-ironic for beat hipsters to tolerate. The album has been criminally ignored.

Light as air and irrepressible with new life, it is impossible not to hear Roxy Music’s Avalon on songs like “No End to Love.”

“No End to Love” – Orlando Weeks (Hop Up)

You can buy Hop Up from large retailers worldwide.

12. “I Wish I” – Arlo McKinley (This Mess We’re In)

Listen to a song from my favorite concert of the year.  "I Wish I" from Arlo Mckinley's This Mess We're In

It has been a damn fine year for alternative country. New music by Wilco and genre-defining releases by Big Thief and Angel Olsen…what a time to be alive!

My favorite show of the year, not even close, was Cincinnati’s Arlo McKinley playing This Mess We’re In at Salt Lake City’s Urban Lounge. One of several highlights was “I Wish I,” as McKinley narrated the eternal tension between the comfort of known things and the progress of growing old.

“I Wish I” lyrics

Thinking about settling up,
Kicking off the dust,
Removing all the rust that keeps me still.
I think it’s my time to go.
Say goodbye to everyone I know
And I hope someday I’ll be forgiven
For the bonds that I broke
.

I wish I could take you with me,
But this road I must walk alone.
I gotta get out of the city.
Good God,
I gotta lose myself just to find my way back home
.

Every song, like “I Wish I,” on This Mess We’re In is genuine and moving.

This may be another album that creeps into my Top 20 of the year. Indulge your inner Southerner this Christmas with This Mess We’re In.

SPOILER ALERT! Arlo McKinley (above) gets more love in my top 7 alt country albums of 2022 (:

13. “Teeth” – Perfume Genius (Ugly Season)

Alternative songs in 2022: Perfume Genius song "Teeth" from Ugly Season

I’m a little late to the Perfume Genius party but was quite enthralled by his 5th album, 2020’s Set My Heart on Fire Immediately. For fans looking for relatively simple song structures after that album, Ugly Season may not satisfy. The album is a score to the dance performance The Sun Still Burns Here. Much of it reflects the abstraction of dance.

I try to post only audio streams but here you’ll need to rely on the video. The brittle melody and especially Mike Hadreas’ delicate falsetto are a marvel that place it among the top alternative songs in 2022.

Ugly Season, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately and other Perfume Genius items are available to buy at his website.

14. “Windowpane” – Aluminum (Windowpane EP)

Some shoegaze for your 2022.  Aluminum sing "Windowpane"

San Francisco’s gazey power pop outfit Aluminum released the Windowpane EP about two months ago. Their guitar pop and electronica is smartly interspersed with pedals worthy of My Bloody Valentine. For examples, listen to “Solar” and early single, “Windowpane.”

Get a vinyl version of the Windowpane EP from Oakland’s Dandy Boy Records.
You can buy the cassette from SF’s Discontinuous Innovations.

15. “Celebran Por Nosotros” – Mañana el Espacio (Casi Nada es Para Siempre)

Don't miss out on some of the best alternative songs in 2022 because you don't speak Spanish.  Listen to "Celebran Por Nosotros" by Mañana el Espacio

How have I gotten this far into my list of alternative songs in 2022 without a Spanish language tune? This is like my signature thing now, and I speak barely a word of Spanish beyond “carnita.” Stupid American.

This year I’ve absolutely fallen in love with bands like Mañana el Espacio (South America) and Torres Satélite (Spain). It is so connecting and universal — and something needed right now — to know that Mañana singer Ricardo José Vergara is creating these pop gems, possibly raised on the same Sonic Youth records as you and me.

“Celebran Por Nosotros” lyrics

Ricardo is a gifted lyricist and has been kind enough to send the translation for his lovely album Casi Nada es Para Siempre. He plans to post them on Musixmatch and Spotify as well. The translated opening of “Celebran Por Nosotros”…

We watch the stars mutliply.
The city looks peaceful from here.
The moment is unforgettable
But I’ll have to wake up.

Color gets all over our faces.
I’m sure better times will come
And meanwhile,
I ask myself,

Do they celebrate for us?
Is that why they’re lighting the city up?
Or is it my imagination?
Is that why they’re lighting the city up?
Or is it my imagination?

Okay I’m going to cheat on my 22 songs and drop an extra Mañana song here, because they range way outside of shoegaze to the most delightful indie pop. Check out the crazy flanged guitar at the end of “Yo No Ma Haces Falta,” (“I Don’t Need You Anymore.”)

Buy Manan’s Casi Nada es Para Siempre from Bandcamp. ¡Es excelente!

Did you love that jangle from Mañana el Espacio?! WHO WOULDN’T?! Click here for more Spanish indie pop!

16. “Dreamin of the Past” – Pusha T (It’s Almost Dry)

Alternative songs in 2022 include Pusha T's "Dreamin of the Past"

Kids I have to tell you.

As I wind into my 50’s, it is harder to find hardcore bands or rap music that I authentically connect with. Possibly, just possibly, I’m not the target audience. But I did find a few hip hop releases that I liked which specifically DID NOT include Kendrick Lamar. Both Radiohead and Lamar could publish 50 minutes of fax noise and the bloggers swoon.

I did super enjoy Pusha T’s “Dreamin of the Past,” which he did on Fallon in the spring. Hiphopdx recounts Pusha T’s story to Charlamagne Tha God about how he persuaded Kanye West to let him release Ye’s beat on King Push’s It’s Almost Dry instead of last year’s Donda.

“I begged for the beat,” he said. “It was just one of those ones that I kept going back to and was like, ‘Listen, man, I need this. I need this record.’ And I was like, ‘You know what? You should be on the record too.’ That’s the compromise.”

Here is “Dreamin of the Past” featuring a few bars of Kanye at the end as “the compromise.”

You can buy “It’s Almost Dry” from just about any store on Earth.

17. “Coke Jaw” – Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals (King Cobra)

Listen to Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals on this list of 22 top alternative songs in 2022

Let’s establish up front that by posting two hip hop songs in a row, I am in no way implying I have street cred in urban music. But I really did sample a good bit of rap this year. Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals is one I want to spend a little more time with before the end of the year for my favorite albums list.

These guys have all the buzzy descriptions, experimental hip hop…fusion. It’s a bit hard to categorize but I kind of dig it. Infinity Knives (NPR’s Tariq Ravelomanana) provides the electronics and Baltimore’s Brian Ennals brings the rhymes. If there is a bridge too far, it is incorporating Infinity Knives’ orchestration into the album and not hearing them simply as interludes.

“Coke Jaw” is a good example of the mashup that makes them so different.

Get a digital copy of King Cobra and learn more about Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals from the Phantom Limb label.

18. “Doers” – Bodega (Broken Equipment)

Brooklyn's Bodega sings "Doers" from 2022's Broken Equipment

“Doers” is the maddeningly catchy portrait of modern life by Brooklyn punks Bodega. I bought Broken Equipment early in 2022. It was such a joy to come back to it tonight and hear the ramped intensity in “Doers,” the extension beyond sprechgesang.

If “this “Doers” doesn’t encapsulate work life in 2022, I don’t know what does:

“Doers” lyrics

Ten minutes : calendar
10 minutes : Bandcamp
Ten minutes : wiki browse
10 minutes: planning my next ten minutes
It’s all about auto bio of Benjamin.

Ten minutes: Ted talk
10 minutes: Notepad
Ten minutes: Amazon
10 minutes : planning my next ten minutes
To thine own shelf be true.

This city’s made for the doers. The movers. shakers. Non-connoisseurs.
This city’s made for the doers. The humors. Tubers. entrepreneurs.

You didn’t know you needed Bodega until you heard “Doers.” An angry song for angry times, as we explore the best alternative songs in 2022.

Finish your fiscal year working for the man listening to Bodega’s Broken Equipment.

19. “Backseat Politic” – Eades (Delusion Spree)

A little-heard gem...Eades post punk "Backseat Politic" from Delusion Spree

Can we give a song one minute to build in 2022?

Look, I’m not entirely crazy about the arrangement on “Backseat Politic” but behold Mike Ness fans, the locomotive of fun that Leeds’ post punk bank Eades creates on Delusion Spree. Give them just. one. minute. and dig the groove. More mathy than Social Distortion but HOLY CATS what a churning beat on that chorus!

Buy Delusion Spree at Bandcamp!

It is a CRIME AGAINST MUSIC if you haven’t checked out these songs! Hear some music I bet you missed!

20. “Shotgun” – Soccer Mommy (Sometimes, Forever)

The best alternative songs in 2022 include Soccer Mommy's "Shotgun" from Sometimes, Forever

Sophie Allison checks all the boxes.

Her songs are indie perfect, cagey and cynical. On Sometimes, Forever she has sharpened her hooks and her knives. Both “newdemo” and “Shotgun” show off the singer-songwriter who has emerged since 2018’s Clean. “Shotgun” also displays Allison’s sweeping hooks and Soccer Mommy at her most accessible.

Your Soccer Mommy superstore is here.

21. “Fatal Folly” – The Silent Boys (Sand to Pearls, Coal to Diamonds)

Listen to the stream of Richmond, Virginia's The Silent Boys' "Fatal Folly" from "Sand to Pearls, Coal to Diamonds"

A late entrant on my best music dashboard this year, Sand to Pearls, Coal to Diamonds came out November 4. Richmond, Virginia indie pop veterans The Silent Boys’ ninth album is getting tons of recognition that it rightly deserves. A little twee, a lot of jangle, The Silent Boys hit on just about every song here.

If you don’t fall in love with the simple joy of “Fatal Folly,” then we have nothing further to discuss.

You can buy the digital release from the band or get the disc from French label Too Good to be True Records.

Listen to EVEN MORE top alternative songs from around election day! 2022 was SUCH a great year!

22. “Velvet Sun” – Semiwestern (single)

Semiwestern's remix of "Velvet Sun" is probably my #1 alternative song from 2022

Finally, my last song for you is a bit of a cheat. I found out this weekend it was originally released a decade ago.

Still, I could listen to this November single by Semiwestern 1,000 times and still feel teary about it. The haunting guitar on the chorus to “Velvet Sea” hearkens to Dean Wareham’s post-Galaxie 500 luminaries Luna. The transcendent line hits at 1:15. It is guaranteed to be the best five minutes of your 2022.

That said, I learned from The Google that this is a remix of an earlier “Velvet Sun” released in 2012 by Austin’s The Vliets. Semiwestern is the new incarnation of The Vliets (pronounced VLEETS).

I’ll touch on two things. First, by any measure this remix is a superior, more mature and elegant version of the original. BUY IT! Second, ten years later, it begs the question: Why now? Should we look forward to a longer release from Semiwestern soon? No word yet from California lo-fi label Spirit Goth but I will let you know!

A boy can dream, can’t he?

2022 best alternative EP’s

Vinyl records making comeback

Before I post some favorite songs from 2022 or rank my top albums, let’s spend some time with the little-appreciated category of EP’s. If there are too many songs for any human to listen to in the modern world, there are also too many EP’s, extended singles and “mini-albums” (WTF?). But you’ll miss some serious tunes if you don’t at least sample some of the releases on my list of 2022 best alternative EP’s.

A couple of caveats, the EP is not my preferred release — ultimately, to me, too short for a sustained musical statement. Also my batting average finding great EP’s is not great. Possibly terrible. So my list is just that, a list. Only roughly catalogued in order of badassery. There are just too, too, too many EP’s out there that I didn’t or couldn’t take the time to sample. I don’t presume here to rank the very best.

Having said that, dear reader, these EP’s are absolutely worth your music dollar this Christmas.

Shoken Boys – The Shoken Truth EP

2022 best alternative EP's include Shoken Boys from Tel Aviv

Something about Shoken Boys being an indie band from Israel seems super-exotic AMIRIGHT?!

The truth is, Tel Aviv is a city/metro of almost 4.5 million people. So rock is probably pretty urban and looks not unlike a show in LA. What are the chances Shoken Boys grace our shores playing this delicious shambolic jangle they’ve been putting out since 2019? A tour or supporting role in ‘Merica? Maybe not great. But what a treat to know kids 6,968 miles from Utah are falling in love with the same Shoken Truth EP as you and me.

Buy The Shoken Truth from Bandcamp and be someone’s Secret Santa.

CIEL – Not in the Sun, Nor in the Dark EP

CIEL Not in the Sun, Nor in the Dark EP one of 2022's best

Not a little akin to 90’s ikons Lush, CIEL crushed it with their 2022 Not in the Sun, Nor in the Light EP. From Brighton, England — but also all over Europe — CIEL mixes Michelle Hendriks’ voice with gorgeous power pop, lite shoegaze and moments of four-on-the-floor beats. Invite your friends over, crank Not in the Sun and remind yourself 2023 only gets better from here!

Here is the bangin’ title track, “Not in the Sun, Nor in the Dark.”

CIEL’s tremendous EP is available as a stocking stuffer at Bandcamp.

Senica – Passing Tide EP

Are Senica from Christchurch, New Zealand #1?  The 2022 best alternative EP's

Can someone help me with Theo Tudor’s exquisite voice here? I cannot quite place the Manchester band Tudor takes me back to. From Christchurch, Senica is 100% at the top of my EP list this year. I love everything about Senica’s evocative, desperate sound. And they’re shape-shifters. Although I’m dropping “Now Crystalline” here for you to sample; other songs from the Passing Tide EP are dystopian indie Radiohead.

Don’t wait for Senica’s full length debut. Tell all your friends you heard them first on the Passing Tide EP.

Healees – Healees EP

Put the Healees shoegaze at the top of your 2022 best alternative EP's list

Like almost every year since…oh, 1993 or so…2022 wasn’t a real triumph for the shoegaze movement. How about a light in the darkness, Healees from Paris, France. They’re not doing anything terrifically groundbreaking here. Just creating tight harmonies around a wall-of-sound that make you want to cry. Also I would cynically note this EP is like 33 minutes long, so basically an album.

Here is “The Garden” from the June Healees EP.

Did someone say, “2023 opening act for Ride and The Charlatans?” Yes, please! Healees, alone, are a great reminder of why you need to follow Hidden Bay Records.

The Sundries – Full of the Joys of Spring EP

The Sundries satirize the David Letterman stalker on their Full of the Joys of Spring EP

London’s indie pop The Sundries turn up the sunshine on September’s Full of the Joys of Spring EP. Full of pop nuggets and indie handclaps, The Sundries’ The Joys of Spring EP four songs burst with life. Their breakout in 2022 was the sardonic “David Letterman,” speaking to 80’s kids everywhere.

“I stopped taking my pills.
They told me I was ill.
What did they know?
They were just making me fat.
David would not like that,
He likes me just so.”

Still, the title track “Full of the Joys of Spring” best encapsulates The Sundries sound.

Enjoy The Sundries’ Full of the Joys of Spring EP this holiday season!

2022 best alternative EP’s

people at concert

Don’t be fooled by the “EP” label from a band that you’ve fallen in love with. Even if it’s not a full album, it may still top your list of 2022 best alternative EP’s. For good measure, here are three more EP’s that you can’t go wrong with!

  • The Black WatchThe Neverland of Spoken Things EP
  • The Valery TrailsThe Introvert Blues EP
  • The Death of PopFor a Minute EP