Michael's Cut

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At one point, I thought this list couldn’t get done, let alone an article about it. Though I started the re-listening period last January, I was also an undergraduate preparing for spring commencement. A dilemma approached me, one that had beaten me multiple times. I tried to balance my academics, but what about my social life, the friends I’ll never see again after this year because I absolutely hate Washington? And what about rent? Who’s gonna dress in cashmere to serve a bunch of picky 5-year olds lunch? Simply put, I had no time to finish these rankings.

Around August, I resumed the journey, and what a patient six months I indulged in. Re-listening to around 130 albums was so fun! I love when opinions about an album change; it makes me refer back to my notes and question everything I initially wrote. Feelings were hurt, all were mine and internalized. Numbers shouldn’t matter, but it didn’t stop me from making this list.

I learned how to break down each section into smaller bits. I wonder if you’ll agree with my takes, but, regardless, I hope you find a song or work you like or will check out later. Enjoy.

10. “jealousy, FKA twigs

In the past, twigs harnessed her ascent into the mystery of avant-garde. But “jealousy” restarts the conversation, and what a turn it is. Dancehall rhythms bounce along the coastline and encourages your hips to act on instinct. Dial up the heat to a cool 80, and everybody’s outside dancing to the beat. Align yourself with your inner carefree child, the one that goes to the ice cream truck and heads to the water right after. If anything, it proves that twigs can swing the mood on command, and right now, it’s time to live in the moment.

9. “Zipcodes,” Joey Bada$$

One day, you’re in Shibuya, and the next, Milan. Each stop, Joey Badass collects these cities like a cheat sheet overloaded with answers. For every manifestation, “Zipcodes” bears the fruit in opulence. Trumpets siren off the 27-year old’s smooth yet honey-coated bars, sticky in contrast to these powerful bass notes. But it’s two choruses in where we get to see him mastering his charisma: “I can show you how to get lit and don’t blow it,” he remarks with glamour twinkling from his grin. He’s inviting you into his world; you just gotta take the chance.

8. “God Turn Me into a Flower,” Weyes Blood

Narcissus transforms into a dandelion as it floats into a stream staring at the sky. Songbirds chirping and swarming from one tree to another, and the sun casting brilliant pink, green, and white between the empty pockets of light. “God Turn Me into a Flower” multiplies from one sense to every, a feeling that consumes you until the coda sends you along the currents. The breeze relaxes all the knots in your back, it’s time to sit down and let nature succumb you.

7. “Billions,” Caroline Polachek

The anomaly of Caroline Polachek remains unanswered, largely through highly artsy endeavors like the crystalline “Billions.” Bjork’s artistry permeates throughout, going from the focused syllabic melodies to the cold electronics compared to Homogenic or even Debut. Yet Polachek is idiosyncratic: her vocals are one-of-kind, and her writing proves provocation (see the oxymoron of “sexting” and “sonnets”). Even without a bit of understanding, “Billions” reads the opposite of its name: an intimate space between people of different worlds bonding, tangled in electrical currents sparking your adrenaline and dopamine.

6. “Happy Ending,” Kelela

One of the best things about 2022 is the return of Kelela herself. The conclusive cut of her upcoming record Raven mashes cold breakbeat rhythms with her guiding soprano. It’s a pristine return to the night club scene, the push-and-pull dynamics between the club goers, their hearts, and the pulsing transitions. But it’s never too fantastical: it asks where you stand in someone’s life, and if you’re not ready for the next step, you were never there to begin with.

5. “Gold Chain Punk,” Soul Glo

Minding your own business is so hard when everybody has an opinion. And that degree of difficulty varies on socioeconomic factors as well. “Gold Chain Punk” demands to be left alone for the sake of being human. Pierce Jordan lives up to his name for great reason, taunting opponents with a shrieking voice that cracks glass. Guitars start with a bright pitch but slowly deepen into thick aggression, aggravation. So now we’re just slamming shit against the wall, huh? It doesn’t really matter. If you’re not gonna beat Soul Glo’s ass, you best just shut the fuck up.

4. “The Place Where He Inserted the Blade,” Black Country, New Road

“Am I home?” Isaac Wood pleads with a gentle voice, and then he panics. This isn’t a simple question to answer. A tale of idea versus tangibility surfaces. Saxophones and guitars play like hands stroking your lovers’ hair in the morning. Protective until it becomes overbearing – dangerous even. Those buildups rupture with beautiful harmonies that bleed from human skin. How hard are we trying to win over our partner when they’re holding our hands the whole time? But at this point, the damage seems irreversible: a man’s trapped in his marvelous chaos of codependency, drowned out by the sounds of his partner breathing as they lay in bed waiting for another sunrise, a chance for him to tell her, “Good morning.”

3. “Walkin,” Denzel Curry

Years of never-ending consistency in the hip-hop scene, Denzel Curry drops his lead single to Melt Your Eyez that surpasses almost everything he’s done. Part one shows reflects about his mental health over a boom-bap beat; on part two, he siphons that coolness into urgency with an incredible trap switch-up. It’s the face of the new normal of therapy and rehabilitation in rap music that we don’t usually hear. And in this nasty world we call our home, Curry continues to better himself past the pain and trauma.

2. “After the Earthquake,” Alvvays

It happens to the best of us, the powers of grief, anger, and joy coalescing into a hurricane, the one that makes you pause on the shoulder lane and question self-existence. “After the Earthquake” lives on a supercut of a past loved one from the residue. Memories of loud conversations in the hallway and the fights at the edge of the bed materialize again, sometimes for the worst. Even Molly Rankin must set aside her self-righteousness for a matter of life or death. Crazed surf rock jingles line up with a sorrowful bridge that springs in frustration. When the final crescendo blows, all that remains’ the flowers left at their feet, and we’ve to remind ourselves that sometimes we tried as hard as we could for them.

1. “ChevyS10,” Sudan Archives

“Chevys10” starts in the bedroom and sprints to the cosmos by the end of its patient runtime. A trippy atmosphere that slow morphs into a dominant club throb, Archives’ most gratifying cut splits between the sleekness of progressive R&B and the youthful garage-house rhythms through its breakdown. “And we’re cruising in your Chevy S10,” Archives whispers as she and her lover roam the city in a busted car. It’s not about the model but about the memories attached to it, and fuck is it transcendental.

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