I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season. This year saw our label pause. It wasn’t for any other reason other than time. We have artists and projects forthcoming. We promise. It has been so great to see the wonderful support from the community along with friends and family.
As we go forth into 2023, hopefully you find something that brings you joy. Read more, unplug, drink more water, drink more water, listen to great music, go for a walk, enjoy your family and friends.
The 100 songs are on Spotify: J + R Best of 2022
In the zine you will find: 25 Best Albums, 100 Best Songs, Contributions from Friends, Top Video Game List, Top Books, and some great local art.
As always, please let me know your favorites for the year. I can’t hear everything. From what I’ve heard, here are my lists.
Enjoy.
J + R Best of 2022 – Spotify List
All of the J + R Best of Lists HERE
25. Wet Leg – Wet Leg
24. Defcee – For All Debts Public and Private
23. Tierra Whack – R&B?/Pop?/ Rap?
22. Julia Jacklin – PRE PLEASURE
21. The Weeknd – Dawn FM
20. Phoenix – Alpha Zulu
19. Whitney – SPARK
18. Destroyer – LABYRINTHITIS
17. Alex G – God Save the Animals
16. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
15. Open Mike Eagle – Component System with Audio Reverse
14. Death Cab For Cutie – Asphalt Meadows
13. JID – The Forever Story
12. SZA – SOS
11. Freddie Gibbs – $oul $old $eparately
10. Kurt Vile – (watch my moves)
9. Alex Cameron – Oxy Music
8. Denzel Curry – Melt My Eyez See Your Future
7. billy woods – Aethiopes
6. Ka – Languish Arts
5. Beach House – Once Twice Melody
4. Father John Misty – Chloe and the Next 20th Century
3. Danger Mouse and Black Thought – Cheat Codes
2. Saba – Few Good Things
1.Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers
Best Album of 2022
Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
My #1 Album of the Year comes from California rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. I, along with the rest of the world, have been waiting for Kendrick to release music for the last five years. This album isn’t perfect, but it still has a ton of great tracks. He is still doing creative things and pushing the boundaries of content in the mainstream. He is talking about mental health and navigating our endlessly complicated world. He also has a track about transgender family members and how the church and his family treated them. No one in the mainstream is doing things like that. For an artist of his stature to write about this very sensitive topic, it’s huge. Kendrick is a special artist. I kept going back to this album over and over. In our hypercritical world, we want to find the flaws in everything. Just put it on and enjoy listening to one of the greatest artists of our lifetime. Cherish it.
100. Saba – “Still” ft. 6LACK and Smino
99. Denzel Curry – “The Last”
98. Danger Mouse/Black Thought – “No Gold Teeth”
97. Khruangbin/Leon Bridges – “Chocolate Hills”
96. The 1975 – “Part of the Band”
95. Seryn – “Magazines”
94.Viagra Boys – “Troglodyte”
93. Aesop Rock/Blockhead/Lupe Fiasco – “Pumpkin Seeds”
92. DOMi & JD BECK – “TAKE A CHANCE” ft. Anderson. Paak
91. Pusha T – “Neck & Wrist” ft. JAY-Z and Pharrell
90. Conway the Machine – “Stressed” ft. Wallo267
89. Joey Bada$$ – “Survivors Guilt”
88. Tierra Whack – “Heaven”
87. Steve Lacy – “Bad Habit”
86. Bo and the Locomotive – “How Did You Get My Name?”
85. JID – “Dance Now” ft. Kenny Mason
84. Cate Le Bon – “Harbour”
83. Father John Misty – “We Could Be Strangers”
82. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Magenta Mountain”
81. Big Thief – “Simulation Swarm”
80. Khruangbin/Leon Bridges – “B-Side”
79. Alvvays – “Belinda Says”
78. Animal Collective – “Royal and Desire”
77. Death Cab for Cutie – “Roman Candles”
76. Defcee/Boathouse – “Rossi” ft. Armand Hammer
75. Spoon – “The Hardest Cut”
74. Julia Jacklin – “I Was Neon”
73. The Weeknd – “Out of Time”
72. Beyonce – “CUFF IT”
71. Open Mike Eagle – “79th and Stony Island”
70. Alex G – “After All”
69. Father John Misty – “Goodbye Mr. Blue”
68. Alex Cameron – “Best Life”
67. Ka – “Full Cobra”
66. Defcee/Boathouse – “Boxing Bullets” ft. Solarfive
65. Whitney – “REAL LOVE”
64. Open Mike Eagle – “For DOOM”
63. Death Cab for Cutie – “Here to Forever”
62. JID – “Stars” ft. Yasiin Bey
61. Bill Callahan – “First Bird”
60. Still Woozy – “Pool” ft. Remi Wolf
59. Destroyer – “All My Pretty Dresses”
58. Julia Jacklin – Lydia Wears a Cross”
57. Daniel Rossen – “Shadow in the Frame”
56. JID – “Surround Sound” ft. 21 Savage, Baby Tate
55. Open Mike Eagle – “Burner Account” ft. Armand Hammer
54. SZA – “Low”
53. Ka – “Ascension”
52. Wet Leg – “Chaise Longue”
51. Local Natives – “Desert Snow”
50. Arctic Monkeys – “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball”
49. Kurt Vile – “Like Exploding Stones”
48. Denzel Curry – “Melt Session #1” ft. Robert Glazer
47. Freddie Gibbs – “Gold Rings” ft. Pusha T
46. Kendrick Lamar – “Savior” ft. Baby Keem
45. SZA – “SOS”
44. Local Natives – “Just Before The Morning”
43. SZA – “Ghost in the Machine” ft. Phoebe Bridgers
42. Black Country, New Road – “Chaos Space Marine”
41. billy woods – “Heavy Water” ft. El-P, Breeze Brewin
40. Kendrick Lamar – “Silent Hill” ft. Kodak Black
39. Danger Mouse/Black Thought – “Strangers” ft. A$AP Rocky, Run the Jewels
38. Wet Leg – “Being In Love”
37. Black Country, New Road – “The Place Where He Inserted the Blade”
36. billy woods – “Sauvage” ft. Boldly James
35. Future Islands – “Kind of Sweden”
34. Mitski – “The Only Heartbreaker”
33. Ka – “No Reservations”
32. Beach House – “Once Twice Melody”
31. Whitney – “BLUE”
30. Phoenix – “Tonight” ft. Ezra Koenig
29. Kurt Vile – “Hey Like A Child”
28. Kendrick Lamar – “Auntie Diaries”
27. Denzel Curry – “Walkin”
26. Alex Cameron – “K Hole”
25. Phoenix – “Alpha Zulu”
24. Alex G – “Runner”
23. Sudan Archives – “Home Maker”
22. Beach House – “Superstar”
21. Saba – “Survivor’s Guilt” ft. G Herbo
20. Kurt Vile – “Goin on a Plane Today”
19. Destroyer – “June”
18. Alex Cameron – “Sara Jo”
17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” ft. Perfume Genius
16. Danger Mouse/Black Thought – “Because” ft. Joey BadA$$
15. Kendrick Lamar – “N95”
14. Father John Misty – “Funny Girl”
13. billy woods – “Versailles” ft. Despot
12. Saba – “Fearmonger” ft. Daoud
11. The Weeknd – “Gasoline”
10. Beach House – “Pink Funeral”
9. Tierra Whack – “Dolly”
8. Kendrick Lamar – “United In Grief”
7. SZA – “Kill Bill”
6. Braxe + Falcon – “Step By Step”
5. Freddie Gibbs – “Feel No Pain” ft. Anderson. Paak
4. Danger Mouse/Black Thought – “Belize” ft. MF DOOM
3. Black Country, New Road – “Concorde”
2. Father John Misty – “Buddy’s Rendezvous”
1. Kendrick Lamar – “The Heart Part 5”
Check out all of the songs here on this Spotify List
Albums I look forward to coming out in 2023
Danny Brown – XXXX
Noname – Factory Baby
Frank Ocean – TBA
Local Natives – TBA
Pleasant Surprises/Underrated
Black Thought & Danger Mouse – Cheat Codes – I didn’t know this was in the works. Black Thought is so talented and the production fits.
Wet Leg – Wet Leg – Catchy, brash, funny.
Ka – Languish Arts – Overlooked and brilliant. Highly recommend his whole catalog.
Best Videogames of 2022 by @DSKALBA
–Elden Ring: This will be the popular choice for Game of the Year for many outlets. Fromsoft’s trademark punishing gameplay mixed with a vast open world adventure and somehow worked beyond what anyone could imagine. The developers made a decision to trust the player and allows them to explore at their own pace, every corner is met with treasures, traps, monsters and more. Elden Ring will unquestionably be a game that will be discussed for years to come.-God of War
Ragnarok: Yeah, between this and Elden Ring these are pretty basic choices. The truth is this is the other pillar of 2022. The journey between the now stoic father, Kratos, and his growing son Atreus finds them traveling the nine realms of Norse mythos and running into a fun cast of characters on the way. This is a true AAA level game with an engaging story and satisfying gameplay. It very much is an extension of the 2018 release and that’s not a bad thing.
–Live A Live: I love SNES era Squaresoft RPGs. When it was announced that it not only was getting a western release for the Switch, but getting remade in SquareEnix’s “2D-HD” engine, I was instantly on board. You get to choose from 7 stories taking place in various eras. Each has its own unique flavor and are no more than a few hours per story, easily digestible. From being an old west gunslinger to being a robot in the distant future in a virtually non combat story. This definitely lived up to the quality Square was known for in the 90s.
–Cult of the Lamb: Every year we will get some indie releases that shine with the big releases and show true creativity. Massive Monster made their make with Cult of the Lamb this year. On surface it might look like a cut cartoonish game with animal characters, but instead of building a village like Animal Crossing you run a cult. The hook is it takes the popular “rouge like” style gameplay and fills in the time between runs with a building simulation. The result of that combo creates a rather addicting gameplay loop with some humorous moments.
–Tunic: The inspiration of Tunic is no secret. The Zelda influences at the forefront with some Fromsoft style gameplay. Tunic is a nice blend of a modern isometric adventure with some old school NES mixed in. You’ll find yourself collecting manual pages that look like they are pulled straight out of an NES package. These pages are filled with tips, maps, and clues that will help the player move on. To get the most out of the experience I would recommend using the hints given by the game and maybe even a pencil and paper to capture that essence of what it was like to play a game in the 80s.
Best Of 2022 by Justin Christopher Poulin
Top 10 Albums
1. Quinton Barnes – For the Love of Drugs
2. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
3. Jockstrap – I Love You Jennifer B
4. Jairus Sharif – Water & Tools
5. ROSALÍA – MOTOMAMI
6. black midi – Hellfire
7. Nick Storring – Music From Wéi 成为
8. Gallery S/MoMA Ready – HOA020: No Future For Cowardice
9. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
10. ulla – foam
Top 10 Tracks
1. Jockstrap – “Concrete Over Water”
2. Ghais Guevara – “Patrisse Cullors Stole My Lunch Money”
3. Big Thief – “The Only Place”
4. Black Country, New Road – “Concorde”
5. Animal Collective – “Strung With Everything”
6. Duval Timothy – “Mutate”
7. Destroyer – “June”
8. Kendrick Lamar – “The Heart Part 5”
9. Caroline Polachek – “Billions”
10. MJ Lenderman – “Hangover Game”
Best Of 2022 by Rodney Waxton
Favorite 2022 Albums
1.Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
2.Westside Gunn –Hitler Wears Hermes 10
3.Lupe Fiasco – Drill Music in Zion
4.Curren$y & Alchemist – Continuance
5.Roc Marciano & Alchemist – The Elephant Man’s Bones
Best Books of 2022 by @ranchgarlicstik
All of the J + R Best of Lists HERE
Buy the J + R Best of 2022 Zine Here
It includes a bunch of extras art, best books and friend lists.
Jugo + Rada Records 