Favourite Fifty of 2022

AI-generated art by Jim Di Gioia

Featuring Alvvays, Tess Roby, JayWood, Richard Inman, OMBIIGIZI, Joyful Joyful and more

If you’ve been following (or trolling) our work over the last few years, you know that pivoting away from an annual ranked list of our favourite albums has been one way to recognize the creativity and diversity of long-admired artists and new discoveries alike. The Favourite Fifty list itself is not meant to be a definitive year-end statement but is part of the overall canon of work our team contributes to every year. From mini-reviews in our newsletter or on Instagram to interviews on 20 or 20 to playlists and programming on Quick Before it Melts and Northern Refractions to newly launched long-form features like the Label Makers and Gig Day photo essays, it’s all part of our collective engagement. Everything we do at DOMINIONATED contributes to our ongoing conversations about what it means to create and consume music made within the geopolitical area of Turtle Island referred to as “Canada.” 

Our conversations changed this year when we introduced a new operational model. Our contributors began supporting the site financially while accruing compensation for their work. The plan for 2023 will see our team of contributors take on more administrative duties. As part of the DOMINIONATED collective, they will help to further our mission to be Canada’s best Canadian-only music site—in our opinion, and hopefully yours, too.

Whether you liked a post, retweeted a link, subscribed to our Patreon PRESS PLAY program this year, or are discovering us for the first time via this post, your engagement with, interest in, and support for what we do means a lot. As always, we hope you’ll find something in our annual list of favourite records to love as much as we do and, most importantly, inspire you to support these artists by buying records, merch, and tickets to shows.


Alvvays, Blue Rev

Polyvinyl • 2022

I know what I said, and it still (kind of) holds true: the first pair of Alvvays albums never inspired me to the same level of love and support as their ardent fans. But man, oh man, Blue Rev is something else. Few expected or were anticipating the band’s return in 2022, but much to the delight of fans and casual followers alike, Alvvays delivered a super-charged record of sharply observed lyrics, gloriously chaotic guitars, and peerless power pop. You can tag Blue Rev with any number of genre signifiers — shoegaze, dream pop, jangle rock — but the end result is a sound, style, and sophistication that is Alvvays’ own. Reverb-drenched opener “Pharmacist” serves up a healthy dose of the band’s trademark hooks, but from there, Blue Rev only grows more epic, wide-scale, and lush. Though it harkens back to their previous two albums, Blue Rev sets Alvvays on a forward-looking trajectory that’s immediately satisfying and bursting with anticipation. Few albums out this year (Canadian or otherwise) hit as many highs as Blue Rev. • Jim Di Gioia

Alvvays [ Norman Wong]
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Apollo Ghosts, Pink Tiger

You’ve Changed Records • 2022

Pink Tiger should feel like two separate albums – the first half reaches deep with raw, Mount Eerie-esque acoustic tracks until it opens up cathartically into a back half full of the jangle-pop we know and love from Apollo Ghosts. It is the stark difference between these two parts that make for a beautiful whole. • Matt Hertendy

Dive Deeper: Apollo Ghosts with No Frills, Dorothea Paas, Monarch Tavern, July 15, 2022

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Aquakultre, Don’t Trip

Forward Music Group • 2022

Aquakulture’s sophomore release, Don’t Trip, was initially conceived as a 5-track EP about the honeymoon phase of the relationship between Aquaculture’s Lance Sampson and his partner, Julia. The inspiration didn’t stop there, though. Don’t Trip’s thirteen songs are inviting, nostalgic, and community-oriented. It is a celebration of Black Nova Scotian culture, set to a 90s house party backdrop, and everybody’s invited. You won’t want to miss this one. • Sophie Noel

Dive Deeper: Aquakultre’s sophomore album is a boisterous and ebullient gathering.

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Badge Époque Ensemble, Clouds of Joy

Telephone Explosion Records • 2022

On Clouds of Joy, Badge Époque Ensemble — an undeniably groovy group — burst through the stratus with an album alive to the glory of collaboration and harmony. Featuring choral vocals arranged by Dorothea Paas and sung by a crew of some of Toronto’s best singers (Paas, James Baley, Robin Dann, Alex Samaras, Alanna Stewart), Max Turnbull fully realizes the “ensemble” portion of his latest musical project. • Mackenzie Cameron

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Quinton Barnes, For the Love of Drugs

Grimalkin Records • 2022

Between the heaviest and most terrifying tracks on For the Love of Drugs are some truly euphoric and smooth breaks. This is the command that Quinton Barnes has on his production and storytelling. From the minute you set eyes on the striking album artwork, you know you are in for something next level, and Barnes’ latest set of songs delivers on that promise. • Matt Hertendy

Dive Deeper: For the Love of Drugs can be a lot to take in one sitting, but that’s the point.

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Big Rig, Big Rig

Peaceful Tapes • 2022

On their debut release, Vancouver band Big Rig plays easy-listening bops that are, at the same time, deeply sensitive. Jen Twynn Payne’s lyrics are no-frills yet introspective and somehow manage to make the familiar twang of banjo and guitar sound fresh and new with lines that feel especially hopeful and personal. “Everything will turn out fine if you want it to.” • Daisy Swain

Dive Deeper: Big Rig is a record that’s as easy on the ears as it is tender on the soul.

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Evan J Cartwright, bit by bit

Idée Fixe • 2022

Idée Fixe Records had one heck of a year, a highlight of which is the subtle yet surprising jazz-tinged debut by the Weather Station and U.S Girls collaborator Evan J Cartwright. His unique voice rings out clearly over an eclectic array of strings, keys and field recordings. Whether you listen from top to tail or bit by bit, there are always new sounds and surprises to pick up on. • Matt Hertendy

Dive Deeper: bit by bit unfolds the origami-like mysteries of love, relationships, and existence.

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Daniel Romano’s Outfit, La Luna

You’ve Changed Records • 2022

Daniel Romano and his ever-ambitious Outfit set their course for the heavens with La Luna, a record that consists of one long song in twelve parts. Surprising, progressive, masterfully arranged and performed, this cinematic addition fits in with Romano’s cannon like a puzzle piece nobody knew it needed. Once again, Romano is stepping through doors nobody else saw and taking his repertoire to new heights. • Sophie Noel

Dive Deeper: La Luna is a fully-realized ode to the moon and its influence on our human condition.

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Michael Scott Dawson, Music for Listening

We Are Busy Bodies • 2022

While ambient music is often treated as background noise, something to drown out your thoughts so you can finally focus on work or a book, Michael Scott Dawson’s (Library Voices, Peace Flag Ensemble) Music for Listening has a different purpose. These twelve ambient guitar works—that also incorporate piano, tape loops, and, most engagingly, the sounds of birds—are best consumed with your whole heart and brain. It is a beautiful escape. • Laura Stanley

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Destroyer, Labyrinthitis

Merge Records • 2022

There is no better reason for dancing than simply “joie de vivre” and enjoying life’s absurdities while resisting the urge to answer the question “Why?” This year, I could not help but find myself repeatedly twisting through the energetic and unexplainable mystery of Destroyer, each time confronting my own desire to find meaning in their often bizarre musical landscape. In contrast to the inner ear infection from which Labyrinthitis takes its name, Destroyer’s Dan Bejar solidifies himself by cleanly delivering his cryptic and oftentimes jarring lyrics. Certainly no stranger to melody and the pulse of the 80s, Bejar’s inner chaos finds its rhythm in his dramatic words and the worlds they conjure. There’s a particularly ominous chord underlying the whole of Labyrinthitis, in particular on the much-loved “June.” Here, listeners find themselves at the edge of their seats, bouncing along with Bejar’s playful lyrical melody before breaking into a dark, dangerous, and incredible spoken-word section. •Weajue Mombo

Destroyer’s Dan Bejar [ Nicolas Bragg]

Dive Deeper: Labyrinthitis is about as perfectly imperfect — and impenetrable — as it gets.

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DijahSB, 2022 the EP

Independent • 2022

I believe every word DijahSB raps. Their music is evidence of how much groove can come of not looking away at what’s scary but instead being straightforward about what you do and don’t know. • Tia Julien

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Fresh Pepper, Fresh Pepper

Telephone Explosion Records • 2022

Fresh Pepper takes the trauma of working in kitchens and sublimates it into an auditory feast for the masses. Drifting seamlessly from smooth adult alternative about chopping onions to jagged and percussive jazz-fusion and racing electronica, Fresh Pepper serves up one hell of an eight-course delight. • Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay

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Jacques Greene, Fantasy

LUCKYME® • 2022

Producers like Jacques Greene so often play the role of shepherds on the road towards self-forgetting. The night services they conduct create space for people to let go, turn outward, and escape. On Fantasy, the ripples of melancholy that create such compelling tension in his music find space to grow into full-on waves. With dance floors and clubs shuttered during the pandemic, Greene turned inward to create music that grapples with feelings of isolation, anxiety, and longing. But rather than sour the music, this introspection leads to Greene’s most focused, immersive, and liberated music yet. • Geoff Parent

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Richard Inman, Come Back Through

Independent • 2022

For the April edition of Exclaim!’s New Faves list, I wrote that Richard Inman is one of Canada’s best country artists and it bears repeating: Richard Inman is one of Canada’s best country artists. Inman’s Come Back Through is a timeless record full of relatable songs that will touch every listener. • Laura Stanley

Dive Deeper: The intricacies in Richard Inman’s narratives speak volumes about his emotional intelligence.

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JayWood, Slingshot

Cover of Jaywood's album, Slingshot
Royal Mountain Records • 2022

Slingshot, the latest full-length release from Jaywood (a.k.a. Winnipeg’s Jeremy Haywood-Smith), is a synthesis of nostalgia and forward-thinking. To me, this album epitomizes fluidity and hybridity both stylistically and conceptually, merging psychedelic, rock, hip-hop, dance, jazz, and pop influences into a soul-igniting experience of self in sound. In a word, JayWood’s sound is saturated; with awareness, emotion, and the technical prowess to represent a process of musical self-actualization. There are moments to think and moments to sit with a feeling, all wrapped up in an inviting groove. With funky bass licks, shimmering synthesizers, and nostalgic electro-drum kits, Slingshot feels limitless yet controlled and intentional, each song accentuating a different angle of a whole experience in a way that does justice to both the parts and the whole. Diving into the depths of self-identification, Haywood-Smith confronts an unforgiving present by learning from a complex past, treating his experiences as live artifacts. Advocating for a just world, Jaywood writes, “So let’s just put some houses by the rivers, Where anyone can go, for a living, Even if you’re broke you’re forgiven, I’m just sayin’ (give it a chance)”. The second-to-last track, “Thank You”, is the distillation of acceptance and celebration underlying the exploration of grief throughout: “The best is yet to come.” • Tia Julien

JayWood [ Tonje Thilesen]

Dive Deeper: With Slingshot,JayWood is now firmly in a lane all his own.

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John’s Cottage, Big and Tall

Independent • 2022

How rare to find a band that sounds so familiar, unpretentious and welcoming in 2022. Occupying the middle ground between Dave Matthews Band and Against Me!, Toronto-based four-piece John’s Cottage plays arena-sized campfire rock that begs you to strap on your acoustic and sing along. • Mackenize Cameron

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Jonathan Personne, Jonathan Personne

Bonsound • 2022

Like planting a flag on the moon, naming an album after oneself can sometimes be like claiming an undiscovered world. On his self-titled third album, Jonathan Personne (Jonathan Robert or Corridor) handily asserts his mastery at building a musical universe full of familiar guitar terrain that’s textured and nuanced in ways that feel foreign and alien. • Jim Di Gioia

Dive Deeper: On his self-titled third album, Jonathan Personne explores unexpected musical turns.

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Joyful Joyful, Joyful Joyful

Idée Fixe • 2022

Devotional and droning, the music of Joyful Joyful is a mixture of barely-contained ethereal chaos, salaciousness, and spiritualism. Expressing the human need for connection with—and faith in—some unknown entity beyond comprehension, here, one finds a perfect marriage of humanity, nature, and technological innovation, paying homage to the choruses of ancient theatres and the electronic dance halls we frequent. Joyful Joyful is not an album to dance to so much as one might be compelled to sway along with the waves and gentle climaxes of Dave Grenon’s audio manipulation. Indeed, as singer Cormac Culkeen once pointed out to me, the only song with a discernable beat on Joyful Joyful’s eponymous debut album is “Marrow.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is also the sexiest, a moniker I know for a fact they would emphatically, but very humbly, agree with. Joyful Joyful is something rare and uncannily beautiful, a potent mixture of sentimentality, timelessness, earnestness, and artistic innovation that breaks through at a time when the world just seems ready to hear something new but familiar. The themes on their debut are as elemental to our humanity as anything we might otherwise turn to in our pursuit of a grounded connection to the past, present, and future. • Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay   

Joyful Joyful [ Jeff Bierk]

Dive Deeper: Joyful Joyful’s name may be a repetition, but their artistry is singular.

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Julie Doiron and Dany Placard, Julie & Dany

Simone Records • 2022

From their New Brunswick home, Julie Doiron and Dany Placard transcended the walls and borders of their homestead to make domestic tales about planting tomatoes sound epic and songs about mayo into sludgy post-punk anthems. It was never in doubt that artists all over the world were using their lockdown time to make evocative and affecting art, and yet Doiron and Placard still managed to surprise and delight us with their unique pandemic document. • Jim Di Gioia

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Lydia Képinski, Depuis

Chivi Chivi • 2022

Avec Depuis, Lydia Képinski nous emmène dans les profondeurs du discothèque le plus sombre de Montréal. Her voice soars melodically above grimy beats and bone-shaking synths on this alt-pop odyssey. • Matt Hertendy

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Kiwi Jr., Chopper

Sub Pop • 2022

Now is the dawn of Dark Kiwi. Chopper lands in familiar territory for the Toronto band, with their trademark characters, relatable references and millennial gripes, and the odd deliciously cryptic passage. Still, Chopper reaches new sonic depths to create a truly satisfying addition to Kiwi Jr.’s catalogue. • Matt Hertendy

Dive Deeper: Kiwi Jr.’s Jeremy Gaudet on scary things in life, riding streetcars at night, conspiracy theories, and gentrification in the city the band calls home.

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Korea Town Acid, Elephant in the Room

URBNET • 2022

Korea Town Acid’s Jessica Cho is continuing a masterful run of genre-defying electronic music that is equal parts mellow and abrasive yet always charming. On Elephant in the Room, she delves deep into her synths, samplers, and drum machines and comes out with some of her best tracks yet. • Daniel Field

Dive Deeper:

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Pierre Kwenders, José Louis and the Paradox of Love

Arts & Crafts • 2022

Throughout the thirteen tracks on José Louis and the Paradox of Love, 2022 Polaris Music Prize winner Pierre Kwenders sings in English, French, Lingala, Kikongo, and Tshiluba. He employs these languages intentionally, singing to his Congolese mother in his first language, Lingala, on “Your Dream” and in the rhythmic Tshiluba when he wants listeners to move their bodies elsewhere on the record. The album is an exploration of love: familial, romantic, and fraternal. Every spin of this genre-blending, danceable and deeply listenable album will reveal more intricacies and influences to appreciate. Through it all, Kwenders’ calm and intimate vocal presence is grounding and heartfelt, opening up galaxies of love and groove for listeners to explore. • Sophie Noel

Pierre Kwenders [ Daniele Fummo]
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Lan’do, Man Like Me

Independent • 2022

With man Like Me, Lan’do hits that sweet spot, feeling both sentimental and combative, rapping about being the exception over playful but hard-hitting beats: “Most don’t make it out.” • Tia Julien

Dive Deeper: Man Like Me is a genuine, highly personal collection of reflections.

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Bells Larsen, Good Grief

The cover of Bells Laren's album, Good Grief. It features a vintage family photograph of a child wearing a tiger mask next to a doll.
Next Door Records • 2022

For singer-songwriter Bells Larsen, the sudden death of their first love at a very young age has led to a deeply moving exploration of what it means to experience profound sorrow as a young queer person. Good Grief doesn’t strive to answer the unanswerable questions that death leaves in its wake but serves as a reminder that even in those bleakest moments when our heart aches for our departed, we are not alone. • Jim Di Gioia

Dive Deeper: Bells Larsen’s Good Grief touches on a time when everything feels like it’s moving too fast, and you just want to hold on a minute longer before everything changes.

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Lisa LeBlanc, Chiac Disco

Bonsound • 2022

Disco is alive and well and works in a Tim Hortons cafe in Rosaireville, New Brunswick. I never took the death of disco all that seriously, but Lisa LeBlanc’s Chiac Disco restored my faith in the much-maligned genre with its sincerity, seamless instrumentation and ridiculously catchy hooks that dare you not to dance. • Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay

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Dan Mangan, Being Somewhere

Artwork of Dan Mangan's album, Being Somewhere, featuring a black and white portrait of Mangan against a white foreground with the artist's name and album title in black.

Arts & Crafts • 2022

Being Somewhere captures the slippery phenomenon of belonging to a world in peril. With themes of political unrest, anxiety, and isolation, Dan Mangan gleans beauty and revelation in existing “somewhere between here and nowhere at all.” • Tia Julien

Dive Deeper: Being Somewhere is a love letter to anyone fighting the darkness and uncertainty of the future.

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Fortunato Durutti Marinetti, Memory’s Fool

Soft Abuse • 2022

Fortunato Durutti Marinetti’s Memory’s Fool feels so familiar yet brand new, an amalgam of retro influences, crisp production, and the artist’s laconic yet warm drawl. His long and beautiful tracks sail by as easily as the jazz-rock sound he creates. • Daniel Field

Dive Deeper: Memory’s Fool is a real-time exploration of life’s leaps and falls and is a reminder that we’re all time travellers.

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MorMor, Semblance

Don’t Guess Inc. • 2022

With his debut record, MorMor blends himself into the groves of our imagination. Semblance is embedded with his familiar reverbing loops and is nothing less than a focused yet gentle attempt to gather his once-scattered reflections. • Weajue Mombo

Dive Deeper: Semblance is a studied work in direct response to having the best-laid plans scuttled by a force of nature.

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Eliza Niemi, Staying Mellow Blows

Vain Mina • 2022

Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist Eliza Niemi reaches out and touches your shoulder on her charming pop LP Staying Mellow Blows. Niemi’s songs are affable, funny, warm, and honest—all of the same qualities of friends who help you through your sad winters. • Laura Stanley

Dive Deeper: Eliza Niemi on building community with her label, Vain Mina, whose name in Finnish means “only me.”

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OMBIIGIZI, Sewn Back Together

Arts & Crafts • 2022

I can’t think of two artists who had a more magical year than OMBIIGIZI’s Daniel Monkman (of Zoon) and Adam Sturgeon (of Status/Non-Status). Both released incredible music individually throughout 2022, and it felt like the February release of Sewn Back Together was a preview of what was to come from the duo’s other projects. It’s easy to hear how each artist brought their own ideas to the group. Album opener “Cherry Coke” might be the best track Monkman has written, which is kind of remarkable given their already incredible catalogue. OMBIIGIZI finds a balance between the noisy and tender and have created a debut album to remember. • Daniel Field

Ombiigizi [ Rima Sater]

Dive Deeper: Sewn Back Together flows like a river, finding a path forward against all obstacles.

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P’tit Belliveau, Un homme et son piano

Bonsound • 2022

P’tit Belliveau displays a truly impressive range of sounds, effortlessly blending pop and bluegrass, French and English, humour and sincerity. Quelle que soit langue que vous parlez, cet album est un bonafide good time. • Matt Hertendy

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Orville Peck, Bronco

Columbia • 2022

With Bronco, masked mystery Orville Peck once again demonstrates a keen ear for classic country and a lyrical sensibility deeply rooted in the tradition of folk storytelling. Peck’s characteristic wavering baritone bounces across richly textured and dynamic arrangements, affirming his spot as a leading innovator and steward of Canadian country songwriting. • Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay

Dive Deeper:

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Pony Girl, Enny One Wil Love You

Paper Bag Records • 2022

2022 saw the return of Ottawa/Hull-based band Pony Girl after an extended absence with the charming and quirkily-named Enny One Wil Love You. While the band describes the time since their last release (2015’s Foreign Life) as being chaotic and fraught with peril, Pony Girl channels any lingering negative energy into complex, articulate pop songs about some decidedly un-pop themes. • Jim Di Gioia

Dive Deeper: Pony Girls lays down the game plan for gig day.

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PUP, The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND

Little Dipper/Universal • 2022

If this is what unravelling sounds like, then I wish I was a little less put together. PUP‘s The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND is self-deprecation in four chords, electrified and distorted to levels previously unimagined. Speaking from experience, however, only the feeling of coming undone could produce something so earnest. And what could be more punk than that? • Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay

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Julianna Riolino, All Blue

Artwork of Julianna Riolino's album All Blue
You’ve Changed Records • 2022

Julianna Riolino has been charging up for this moment for some time now. As a full-time member of Daniel Romano’s Outfit, she has grown from backup to, essentially, a co-lead singer and crucial kinetic center of one the world’s best live acts. But even knowing all that can’t quite prepare you for All Blue, a record with so much depth, power and craftsmanship that it is hard to square that this is Riolino’s debut. Her songs are gritty and focused. Much of All Blue is catchy enough to keep it casual, but lyrically and musically (great guitar solos abound), it’s cutting and clever enough for deep excavation. It’s hard to choose a stand-out track—“Isn’t It a Pity,” “Lone Ranger,” “Archangel,” and the paralyzing “Thistle and Thorned” all come close—but it all comes into focus around “Queen of Spades.” A country rocker in the Byrdsian sense, you can literally hear Riolino’s voice rev up to this gorgeous, gravelly, clear and cathartic wail, reminiscent of some of the greatest to ever do it (look out, Nicks, Jagger, Harris, Parsons). She gives me shivers every time. • Mackenzie Cameron

Julianna Riolino [ Colin Medley]

Dive Deeper: Julianna Riolino’s All Blue is pure gold.

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River, The Kingdom Within

Independent • 2022

Proving that epic and awe-inspiring songs don’t always need to exceed the three-minute-mark (or 5 on the volume dial), Montreal’s River (aka River Wilson) makes the absolute most from the precious little he shares with listeners on his debut, The Kingdom Within. From the stirring acapella Ballad “In My Arms” to the haunting drone of “Either/Or,” The Kingdom Within is an enthralling introduction to a fascinating new voice. • Jim Di Gioia

Dive Deeper: River wrestles with worry and heartache but he also bathes in love’s radiance.

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Tess Roby, Ideas of Space

SSURROUNDSS • 2022

Ideas of Space is not immediate or in-your-face. It’s the kind of record that lures you in through repeated listens. Tess Roby’s unhurried and wholly in her element with opener “Century” and mid-album cut “Euphoria in August,” each blending synth-based atmospherics with strings (and what I am imagining are live instruments) into a seamless tapestry of slow, sombre sounds. Her songs are layered and full of texture. Like the title track, many sound as if they’re constantly expanding in the same way the universe does.
Each subsequent spin around Roby’s universe reveals something new. Whether it’s the unexpected way “Up 2 Me” skips and skitters across its melody or the slow-motion seduction of “House/Home,” Roby effortlessly moves through these various musical spaces, unafraid of trying new ideas and expressions. That’s Roby’s gift: while it is sonically consistent from beginning to end, Ideas of Space keeps revealing its complexity and nuances, sounding slightly different every time you listen. • Jim Di Gioia

Tess Roby [ Ryan Molnar]
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The Sadies, Colder Streams

Cover of the Sadies' album, Colder Streams
Dine Alone Records • 2022

It is tempting to quote the late Dallas Good’s assertion that Colder Streams is “the best record that has ever been made by anyone” and leave it there—but that would be lazy music journalism. Good makes my job here difficult in a way that the album itself does not. He has made me self-conscious of my role in perpetuating some grand exaggerated narrative. Suffice it to say, this is a very good album that first-time, long-time, and some-time listeners of the Sadies will be eminently satisfied with. The Sadies embody excellence, consistency, and class. Colder Streams is by the Sadies. I will let readers do the math on this one. • Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay

Dive Deeper: Colder Streams is a profoundly powerful testament to the Sadies’ longevity and tribute to Dallas Good.

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Sauna, Dose Yourself

Sauna Records • 2022

A euphoric collection of funk, disco, indie rock, and enough synths to score a season of Stranger Things, Sauna‘s Dose Yourself was the most fun I had listening to music this year, and it wasn’t even close. After the last few years of paranoia, introspection, and solitude, Dose Yourself is an album that makes it easier to give in, get strange, let go, and feel alive. • Geoff Parent

Dive Deeper: Sauna’s full-length debut is funky, weird, catchy and high energy.

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Sex, Textin’ Yr Exes

Independent • 2022

Sex is kickin’ it, cuz fuck you. On their debut EP, Nanaimo BC’s Max Pittet and Chris Thompson make a strong case that they are the year’s best new band. The dual vocalist approach is the magic here, as they trade off and harmonize à la the XX or early TV on the Radio. While Textin’ Yr Exes sounds minimal and a bit lo-fi, the wide-screen nature of these songs often breaks through, like on the epic climax of “Garden/Garden/Garden” or from the jump on “Solidarity.” “Thank you come again, for you, I won’t come again,” Pittet sings on the catchy and anthemic “Come Again.”  Who better to lead the so-called “indie sleaze” revival than a band this good called Sex? • Mackenzie Cameron

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Shabason & Krgovich, At Scaramouche

Idée Fixe • 2022

The music of Joseph Shabason and Nicholas Krgovich has always felt like being caught between sleep and waking life. It’s liminal, candlelit, nodding off by the fire-type stuff. On At Scaramouche, these feelings and sensations linger (as do the sublime instrumentation and poetics), but they are punctuated by thrilling moments of groove, pop, and propulsion that make it their most rewarding record to date. • Geoff Parent

Dive Deeper:

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Sister Ray, Communion

Royal Mountain Records • 2022

Sister Ray‘s Communion doesn’t shy away from being a deeply personal and intricate record. It was no surprise to hear the same graceful elegance when we spoke to her for 20 or 20 that gave me another touch of understanding. • Weadee Mombo

Rarely, if ever, has an album had such an immediate impact on me and remained so indelibly imprinted upon my psyche as Communion. Seeing Ella Coyes live is a near-spiritual experience, which might sound like hyperbole, but be assured it is no such thing. • Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay

Dive Deeper: Sister Ray’s Ella Coyes on growing up Catholic, insecurities, their debut album, Communion.

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Status/Non-Status, Surely Travel

You’ve Changed Records • 2022

If there’s one thing that sets Status/Non-Status apart from other pandemic-era debuts, it’s that they didn’t let little things like lockdowns hold them back. From their stellar 2021 EP 1, 2, 3, 4, 500 Years to this year’s full-length, Surely Travel, they let their wanderlust inform their songs and subject matter. The result is a concept album of sorts about touring, making art, and making a home for oneself in an industry that’s notorious for closing the door on marginalized communities and celebrating stasis and same-sameness. Adam Sturgeon and his bandmates are no strangers to manipulating sound and genres; it’s a formula that landed them the top spot on the 2019 edition of this list (the last time we did a ranking) when they performed under the name Whoop-Szo. For Surely Travel, Status/Non-Status let atmosphere, melody, and mood be their guides. In writing a record about hitting the road, Sturgeon and the band opened new routes to sonic experimentation that signal that Status/Non-Status are not afraid to carve out their own path. • Jim Di Gioia

Status/Non-Status [ Matthew Wiewel]

Dive Deeper: 20 or 20 Ep. 039: Adam Sturgeon of Status/Non-Status

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Tarik Robinson, Rotations

Makebelieve Records • 2021

A self-proclaimed “boom-bap-ologist,” Tarik Robinson weaves a personal narrative on Rotations (his first album under his own name) that translates into the universal search for joy and acceptance. It’s an album whose beats are at once nostalgic, infectious, and affecting. • Jim Di Gioia

Dive Deeper: Rotations is the kind of record that offers up immediate gratification.

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The Weeknd, Dawn FM

XO/Republic Records • 2022

2022 came in on a near-perfect (albeit thematically apocalyptic) high-concept album that unexpectedly made Jim Carrey a pop star (kind of). Dawn FM bettered Abel Tesfaye’s finest work as the Weeknd by a traffic-jam-packed highway-to-hell mile. Other later-year big league releases may have pulled focus away from the Weeknd, but classics like Dawn FM will endure in the long run. •  Jim Di Gioia 

Dive Deeper: Is the Weeknd the last universal pop star?

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Troll Dolly, Heaven’s Mini Mart

Astoria Tracks • 2022

On Heaven’s Mini Mart, drummer and improvisor Jen Yakamovich’s debut release as Troll Dolly, Yakamovich arranges a bounty of sonic treats. While supply chain issues have been a serious concern over the last couple of years, fear not, the supply of joyful experimental-folk sounds at Heaven’s Mini Mart never wanes. • Laura Stanley

Dive Deeper: The multi-tonal songs on Heaven’s Mini Mart glow with playful folk music full of billowy movement.

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The Weather Station, How is it That I Should Look at the Stars

Next Door Records • 2022

Flush with a fundamental lightness, the Weather Station‘s How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars is as delicate as glass and flows as gently as a moonlit river. This album becomes a celestial object in itself, standing on its own and drawing us into orbit. Each listen reveals another layer of breathtaking heartbreak, outnumbering the stars themselves. • Weadee Mombo

Dive Deeper:

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wihtikow, ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ

Independent • 2022

A chilly yet inviting slice of ambient IDM, with growling bass synths amongst sparse percussion and glassy synths, wihtikow’s first of two albums this year (he followed up February’s ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ with the album ᒌ​ᐸ​ᕀ in September) is an excellent winter soundtrack. • Daniel Field

Dive Deeper: ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ is an evocative, thirty-minute tone poem.

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Zoon, Big Pharma

Paper Bag Records • 2022

Words like “sprawling” and “ambitious” are typically reserved for full-length LPs of particular aim and scope. With Big Pharma, Zoon‘s Daniel Monkman needs only five songs and around twenty-two minutes to deserve such descriptors. Like Zoon’s debut Bleached Wavves, Big Pharma is another example of Monkman’s ability to create vibrant, immersive sonic landscapes. But unlike that album’s monolithic wall of shoegaze, Big Pharma is more about experimenting with different genres, voices, and tools. That said, the experimentation on Big Pharma is merely the means by which Monkman arrives at the EP’s central point—the role the pharmaceutical industry has played in fuelling overdose and addiction, both in his community of Selkirk, Manitoba and countless other communities across the globe. Armed with first-hand experience of the lies and the greed, as well as an impressive list of guests and collaborators (Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Cadence Weapon, Sunnsetter, Michael Peter Olsen, Jasmine Trails), Monkman has created a stunning EP that is both intensely personal and urgently political. • Geoff Parent

Zoon’s Daniel Monkman [ Vanessa Heins]

Dive Deeper: Big Pharma brings a fresh perspective to Zoon’s unmistakable wall-of-sound style.

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