So, What's Your Album Of The Year?

Old School, Brand New

As an ex-pat Aussie, Yesteryear is a little biased when talks turn to Album Of The Year (AOTY)

Midnight Oil 'Resist' comes in at #1, closely followed by Superchunk's 'Wild Lonliness' and Spoon's 'Lucifer On The Sofa'

It may be a sign of our ever-growing age, that none of these acts are new.

Midnight Oil have been plying their fiery brand of socially aware Aussie rock for more than 40 years.

American indie rockers Superchunk for 30 plus, and the consistently creative Spoon, since the mid 90's.

Sure, there are some brilliant new bands out there, and no doubt more than a few of these show up AOTY voting, so why have we gravitated towards acts that all started long before Kanye West & the Kardashians arrived to torment us :-)

Perhaps it's because they have all managed to bring the familiarity of last century into the new millenium, without sounding like they are simply re-hashing things.

Maybe its the comfort that something 'old school, brand new' brings.

Or maybe they just rock :-)

The Oils latest studio album and first full-length since 2002's Capricornia, covers many of the same social and political themes that Garrett and band have been writing about for more than 4 decades.

That in itself, might seem like a sad inditement on the world we now live in, but rather than sound tired, they bring with it a new sense of energy and urgency.

From the drop of the needle, the Oils tackle climate change (Rising Seas & At The Time Of Writing) and the environment (Tarkine) as if they never left.

The first half of Barka-Darling River takes us back to the jagged post-punk of early 80's Oils and the piano-driven 2nd half, contains our favourite lyric of the year, that could apply to just about anywhere these days ...

"Who left the bag of idiots open"

Superchunk's latest effort 'Wild Lonliness' tempers the angst of 2018's 'What A Time To Be Alive' with the clever use of acoustic guitars, brass and strings, delivering a hook-heavy album, that grows on you with every listen.

Endless Summer, Highly Suspect, This Night and the title track often sound like The Gin Blossoms have got into bed with Hunters & Collectors brass section, and that's not a bad thing at all - two of our favourite bands :-)

And Spoon are a continual revelation, subtly reinventing themselves at every turn, with enough new twists to compliment their trademark sound.

So, what's your Top 3 for the year?

For your chance to win a R500 voucher from Yesteryear:

1) name your Top 3 New Releases of 2022 (not re-issues) and

2) tell us which Aussie band sang "Who left the bag of idiots open" (the answer is in the blog post :-)

Entries close 5pm Tues Dec 13. Spin The Wheel Draw Wed Dec 14

All new release albums you've nominated and that we are able to source are now listed online in a new collection called Album Of The Year 2022- check it out :-)

*your comments will be moderated before appearing - please be patient :-)