2022 Year End Lists: Top 10 EPs of 2022
is a format I've often explored on this channel with the intention of finding breaking artists on their earliest work. While that is also normally mixed in with a handful of more established and polished artists who wanted to dip their toes into the EP pool, I can name dozens of artists I loved who I first covered on this blog with the release of early EPs. This year, however, that wasn't necessarily the case. The theme of this list is more about side projects, artists going solo, collaborations, and just a vibrant and exciting collection of little projects where beloved names do something entirely new. It made the process of listening to all of these projects, ordering them, and writing the list itself a rewarding creative challenge that resulted in a collection of boundary-pushing projects that I'm happy to be recommending.
10. The Other Side - Ruth Radalet
The former frontwoman of Chromatics finally debuted as a solo artist this year, but she isn't necessarily coming to blow you away sonically. The gentle poise of these spacious pop ballads started to grow on me immediately after I heard the EP in its entirety and it turned out to be this year's late riser breaking into the list. Lacking the dynamic textures of Chromatics best work felt like a weird choice at first, but it's clearly intended to show you a more personal assessment of Ruth as a songwriter and an artist, and it works.
Listen To:
Sometimes, Crimes
9. Icons - Two Shell
One of the bigger breakout artists in the electronic music underground this year feel like a natural conclusion of combining some of Gen-Z's most beloved styles, hyperpop, and garage. The bustling breakout anthem for the anonymous duo Pods showed all of what makes their sound so interesting. The combination of a raw and sharp edge with the tongue-in-cheek playfulness to sample the turrets from Portal shows a complete disregard for the way things are "supposed" to be. The results are more instantaneous than hyper-intentional, but just as satisfying in the long term nonetheless.
Listen To:
Pods, Memory
8. Sun's Signature -
Sun's Signature
This new project from Cocteau Twins vocalist Elizabeth Fazer and veteran drummer Damon Reece gets off to a great start with an astounding 7-minute opener in Underwater. That combined with the similarly epic Apples is enough to grab a spot on this list alone. In between and throughout these tracks though, Sun's Signature explore space through the worldly, veteran sounds of their dreamy indie style. It's a record that is grand in presentation but has the foresight to nail down all the little details in the meantime.
Listen To:
Underwater, Apples
7. Streetlands - Burial
This year we approached the 10th anniversary of the last thing Burial released that didn't cause a whine from fans hoping for Untrue 2. While I thought he started off the year okay with Antidawn, by comparison Streetlands is a much more fully realized vision of the chilly ambient Burial has turned into. The long wandering style of songwriting allows the tracks here to shift in any direction that feels right and even more than don't. It's that unpredictably that propels the record's dichotomy of soothing sounds and unsettling presence. Even in the deep well of ambient music directly inspired by Burial himself, Streetlands is an entirely unique experience.
Listen To:
Streetlands, Hospital Chapel
6. Icarus - Cryalot
Another solo debut that grew on me with repeat listens, Cryalot is the project of Sarah Bonito of Kero Kero Bonito fame. The project, while short, has intrigue on a number of levels with the most obvious being the darkening of Sarah's normally bubbly style. Thankfully, her sharp pop sentimentalities are still on display, and the hooks across this project soar without exception. Speaking of soaring, the second level of greatness this project delivers is a concept that sees Sarah equating herself to Icarus trying to touch the sun. It garners another level of attention beyond the pinpoint songwriting for a collection of tracks that infectious in both the short and long term.
Listen To:
Touch The Sun, Hell Is Here
5. Hip Hop 50 Vol. 1 - Dj Premier
Hip Hop 50 is a new Nas-led project that is meant to celebrate the landmark anniversary of Hip Hop as a genre with a series of 10 EPs from various producers. Whether any of that actually ends up happening or not isn't directly relevant to the appeal of this EP, which sees DJ Premier and an impressive set of features paying tribute to some of the classic styles of rap. While Nas himself makes a guest appearance on the projects it's actually the voices of guests like Joey Badass, Rapsody, Run The Jewels, and a great performance from Slick Rick that make this an old heads dream suite. It's veteran in every sense of the word and to borrow from the title of Danger Mouse and Black Thought's similarly great record this year, having all this talent together is basically a cheat code.
Listen To:
The Root Of All, Lettin' Off Steam
4. Insurmountable -
Primitive Man
While the tracklist does only feature four songs, the nearly 40-minute runtime of this project certainly defies the conventions of the EP and gives the title an entirely separate and perhaps more critically poetic meaning. On Insurmountable the Colorado doom metal band continue to sound absolutely crushing, channeling some of their filthier contemporaries into a more instrumentally focused and compositionally expansive direction. The result is an EP that feels like it never lets you breathe but takes its sweet time finishing you off.
Listen To:
Cage Intimacy, This Life
3. Alto Arc - Alto Arc
While some of the sillier lyrics and vocals on this project may have softened its impact on me over time, I still can't help but be impressed by just how much of a whirlwind everything about Alto Arc is. The super group consisting of Deafheaven's George Clarke, PC Music's Danny L Harle, Trayer Tryon and make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench are exactly as chaotic and unpredictable as their lineup would suggest. With flavors of metal, electronica and Lingua Ignota style neoclassical darkwave it's pretty much impossible to predict what this EP is gonna do next. The surprisingly forgiving pacing of the record combined with its eerie atmosphere settle you into a creeping lull as a set up for the best punches pulled in the most intense moments of the tracklist.
Listen To:
The Modern Gospel, The Circle Unbroken
2. she/her/black bitch - Doechii
From the first moment I heard the grimey beat on this EP's opening track Swamp Bitches I knew I was in for a treat, Doechii and company don't disappoint. She impresses across this record not only with her versatility across the tracklist and within individual songs, but also her proficiency at every single style she takes on along the way. No matter how different the various styles of rap and R&B are across this album Doechii is ready to line them all up and knock them out of the park. With shorter bursts of creativity slipped in between three more robust and incredibly infectious songs the EP is a treat from start to finish that promises a wonderful career for Doechii going forward on TDE.
Listen To:
Swamp Bitches, Persuasive
1. Weatherglow -
Weatherday & Asian Glow
When I first heard this project I liked it quite a bit, but it didn't instantly strike me as "best EP of the year" material like projects from Kero Kero Bonito and James Blake have in the past. But as the year went on these bursts of raw energy continued to rouse me every single time I heard them. Weatherglow succeeds for similar reasons that I've loved projects from both these artists in the past, unflinching creativity and limitless ambition they deployed in a way that feels DIY in all the best ways. Across almost 25 dizzying, unpredictable and emotional minutes the pair complement each other's stylistic quirks perfectly, creating something just as special to the musical underground as their individual contributions.
Listen To:
Clockwork Around The Ache, Look Alive Sunshine
