KEXP DJs Top Albums of 2022

2022 Countdown
12/08/2022
KEXP

2022 is coming to a close, and it's time for the KEXP DJs to share their Top Albums of the year. And don't forget to tune in this Friday, December 16th as KEXP counts down the Top 90.3 Albums of 2021, as voted on by our listeners! Will your favorites — or theirs! — make the list? Vote now!


Abbie Gobeli // Variety Mix // Wednesdays 1-5 AM
rank artist album label
1 Caroline Loveglow  Strawberry 100% Electronica
2 MUNA MUNA Saddest Factory Records
3 HAAi Baby, We’re Ascending  Mute
4 NoSo Stay Proud of Me Partisan
5 fred again… Actual Life 3 Atlantic UK
6 Melt Yourself Down Pray For Me I Don’t Fit In Decca
7 PVA BLUSH Ninja Tune
8 Ethel Cain Preacher’s Daughter Daughters of Cain 
9 George Riley Running in Waves PLZ Make It Ruins
10 Bartees Strange Farm To Table 4AD
Albina Cabrera // El Sonido // Monday night 7-10 pm
artist album label
Mediopicky Mediopicky Salsa Fegol
iLe Nacarile Sony
Divino Niño Last Spa on Earth Winspear
Trueno Bien o Mal Sur Capital Records
Carlos Niño & Friends Extra Presence International Anthem
Mabe Fratti Se ve desde aquí  Unheard of Hope
Rosalía MOTOMAMI Columbia
Villano Antillano La Sustancia X La Buena Fortuna Music
Silvana Estrada Marchita Glassnote
Bad Bunny Un Verano Sin Ti Rimas Entertainment

 
DJ Alex // Pacific Notions // Sundays 6-9am
rank artist album label
1 The Zenmenn & John Moods Hidden Gem Music From Memory
2 marine eyes chamomile Past Inside The Present
3 Svaneborg Kardyb  Over Tage Gondwana
4 Romance Once Upon A Time Ecstatic Recordings
5 The Living Earth Show and Danny Clay Music for Hard Times Earthy
6 Rosa Beach Mason & Sean Conrad Wake Inner Islands
7 The Kyoto Connection The Flower, the Bird and the Mountain Isle Of Jura
8 Andrew Tuttle Fleeting Adventure Basin Rock
9 Ludvig Cimbrelius Love Letters From The Sky sound in silence
10 Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn Pigments Merge

 

DJ Alex // MIDNIGHT IN A PERFECT WORLD // Sundays AT MIDNIGHT
rank artist album label
1 Hudson Mohawke Cry Sugar Warp
2 Kendrick Lamar Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers pgLang
3 Dehd Blue Skies Fat Possum
4 Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia
5 Say She She Prism Karma Chief
6 Real Lies Lad Ash UNREAL
7 Caroline Loveglow Strawberry 100% Electronica
8 Sam Gellaitry VF VOL II FFRR
9 Charli XCX Crash Atlantic
10 Kenny Beats LOUIE XL Recordings

 

 

DJ Miss Ashley  // Variety mix // SUNDAYS 12-3 PM PT
artist album label
Koffee Gifted Columbia
Rosalia MOTOMAMI Columbia
Lady Wray Piece of Me Big Crown Records
iLe Nacarile Sony Latin
Steve Lacy Gemini Rights RCA
Bonobo Fragments Ninja Tune
Hollie Cook Happy Hour Merge Records
Toro y Moi MAHAL Dead Oceans
SAULT 11 Forever Living Originals
Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment

 

Atticus George-Andrijeski // Variety Mix // Friday 1-5 AM
rank artist album label
1 The Smile A Light for Attracting Attention XL
2 Nilufer Yanya PAINLESS ATO
3 Pusha T It's Almost Dry Def Jam
4 Julia Jacklin Pre Pleasure Polyvinyl
5 Rosalia MOTOMAMI Columbia
6 Boy Harsher The Runner OST Nude Club
7 Sea Lemon Close Up Spirit Goth
8 Daniel Rossen You Belong There Warp
9 Ibibio Sound Machine Electricity Merge
10 Earl Sweatshirt SICK! Warner

 

 

Brian Foss // Sonic Reducer // Saturdays 9pm to midnight
artist album label
Student Nurse THINK FOR YOURSELF Seattle Tour  1979-1984 Salish Sea Records
NOBRO Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar Dine Alone Records
The Chats Get Fucked Bargin Bin Records
The Shaking Fists The Shaking Fists Bandcamp
Split System Vol. 1 Legless
Pinch Points Process Exploding In Sound Records
Upchuck  Sense Yourself Famous Class
Panic Shack Baby Shack Brace Yourself Records
Delivery Forever Giving Handshakes Feel It
Max Creeps Nein Velocity Records

 

Brit Hansen // Expansions // 3rD Sundays 9PM to MIDNIGHT
rank artist album label
1 death's dynamic shroud Darklife 100% Electronica
2 Everything Everything Raw Data Feel Infinity Industries
3 Park Motive Duuust Spinny Nights
4 Moore Kismet UNIVERSE Thrive Music
5 Louis Cole Quality Over Opinion Brainfeeder
6 Two Shell Icons Mainframe Audio
7 Muramuke Muramuke Accidental
8 Jung/Frye Phantom Acid Superpang
9 Kaitlyn Aurelia-Smith Let's Turn it Into Sound Ghostly International
10 Wordcolour The trees were buzzing, and the grass. Houndstooth

 

Chilly // El Sonido // Mondays 7-10pm
artist album label
Mediopicky Mediopicky Salsa Fegol
Adrian Quesada Boleros Psicodélicos ATO
iLe Nacarile Sony
Sara Hebe Sucia Estrella self-released
Los Punsetes AFDTRQHOT Sonido Muchacho
Making Movies XOPA Cosmica
Yahritza y Su Esencia Obsessed Lumbre
Rosalía MOTOMAMI Columbia
Meridian Brothers Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimiento Ansonia
Trueno BIEN O MAL Sur Capital

 

Darek MAzzone // Wo'Pop // Tuesdays 7-10pm
artist album label
Burna Boy Love, Damini Atlantic
Maya Youssef Finding Home Maya Youssef
Small Island, Big Song Our Island Small Island Big Song
Stromae Multitudes Mosaert
Congotronics International Where's The One? Crammed Discs
Rosalía MOTOMAMI Columbia
Lavoisier Lavoisier
Al-Qasar Who Are We? Glitterbeat
Rokia Koné & Jacknife Lee Bamanan Real World
Sonny Singh Chardi Kala Sonny Singh

 

 

Don Slack // Swingin' Doors // Thursdays 7-10 pm
rank artist album label
1 Plains I Walked With You a Ways Anti-
2 The Weeknd Dawn FM Republic
3 Kendrick Lamar Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers Top Dawg
4 Alvvays Blue Rev Polyvinyl
5 Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment
6 Big Thief Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You 4AD
7 Enumclaw Save the Baby Luminelle
8 Sudan Archives Natural Brown Prom Queen Stones Throw
9 Romero Turn It On! Feel It
10 Earl Sweatshirt SICK! Tan Cressida

 

Eva Walker // Audioasis  // Saturdays 6-9 PM
artist album label
Odesza The Last Goodbye Ninja Tune
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Cold As Weiss Colemine
The Smokes G.O.V.T. Graffiti N/A
Chris Carroll Still N/A
Livt Pink and Orange EP Day One Ent.
Enumclaw Save the Baby Luminelle
Tres Leches Fósil Devil in the Woods
SLANG Cockroach in a Ghost Town Kill Rock Stars
New Age Healers Demolition Stories N/A
Reptaliens Multiverse Captured Tracks

 

Evie // Variety Mix  // SUNDAYs 3-6 PM
artist album label
Σtella Up and Away Sub Pop
Ibibio Sound Machine Electricity Merge
Automatic Excess Stones Throw
Beyoncé Renaissance Columbia
Hatchie Giving the World Away Secretly Canadian
Toro y Moi MAHAL Dead Oceans
Real Lies Lad Ash Unreal Records
Charlotte Adigery, Bolis Pupul Topical Dancer Deewee
Greentea Peng Greenzone 108 EMI Records
Odesza The Last Goodbye Ninja Tune and Foreign Family Collective

 

 

Gabriel Teodros  // Early  // Weekdays from 5-7 AM PT
artist album label
Lady Wray Piece of Me Big Crown Records
Ivy Sole candid. Les Fleurs
Samora Pinderhughes GRIEF Ropeadope Recordsd
SAULT 11 Forever Living Originals
SAULT UNTITLED (God) Forever Living Originals
Protoje Third Time's the Charm In.Digg.Nation Collective
Sampa the Great As Above, So Below Loma Vista Recordings
Kingsley Ibeneche Udo Dirty Deity
Coco Peila Whose World? (The New Normal) Miss Behave Records
Lilblackkids (Georgia Anne Muldrow & Keith Rice) Planet of the Blues: Part One Epistrophik Peach Sound

 

GReg Vandy  // Roadhouse  // Wednesdays 7-10 PM PT
artist album label
The Kernal Listen To The Blood Single Lock
Big Thief Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You 4AD
S.G. Goodman Teeth Marks Verve Forecast
Willi Carlisle  Peculiar, Missouri  Free Dirt
This Lonesome Paradise Nightshades American Standard Time
Andrew Duhon Emerald Blue self-released
Scott Ballew Leisure Radio self-released
Charley Crockett The Man From Waco Son of Davy
David Quinn Country Fresh self-released
Wino-Strut Contemporary Blazin' American Standard Time
 
Hans // Variety Mix // Wednesdays 10PM - 1 AM
rank artist album label
1 Sault Untitled (God), 11, AIIR, Earth, Today & Tomorrow, 10, Air Forever Living Originals
2 Lady Wray Piece of Me Big Crown
3 Big Thief Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You 4AD
4 Beach House Once Twice Melody Sub Pop
5 Danger Mouse & Black Thought Cheat Codes BMG
6 Kokoroko Could We Be Moore Brownswo
7 Enumclaw Save the Baby Luminelle
8 Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment
9 Lavender Country Blackberry Rose and Other Songs and Sorrows from Lavender Country Don Giovanni
10 Misha Panfilov The Sea Will Outlive Us All Miraaž Records

 

Jenn  // Sonic Reducer  // Saturdays 9 PM - Midnight
artist album label
Special Interest Endure Rough Trade
Powerplant The Stump Static Shock Records
Straw Man Army SOS La Vida Es Un Mus
Persona Free Your Mind Iron Lung Records
Cyberplasm Mutilated Systems The Cyberplasm Institute
Apex Predator Demo N/A
Hogg Arahant To Live A Lie
Ribbon Stage Hit With The Most Perennial
Paranoiac Morbid Psycho Devil's Door
Finale 225 o.p.m. Slovenly Recordings

 

John Gilbreath // Jazz theater // MONDAYS 3-5 AM
rank artist album label
1 Steve Lehman Sélébéyone Xaybu: The Unseen Pi Recordings
2 Ches Smith & We All Break Path of Seven Colors Pyroclastic
3 David Virilles Nina Pi Recordings
4 Patricia Brennan More Touch Proclastic
5 Immanuel Wilkins The 7th Hand Blue Note
6 Cécile McLorin Salvant Ghost Song Nonesuch
7 Alex Dugdale The Dugout Self
8 Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio Blue Note
9 Moor Mother Jazz Codes Anti-
10 Makaya McCraven In These Times International Anthem/Nonesuch

 

 

John Richards // The Morning Show // Weekdays 7-10 AM PT
rank artist album label
1 Odesza The Last Goodbye Foreign Family Collective
2 Wet Leg Wet Leg Domino
3 PVA Blush Ninja Tune
4 V/A Live at KEXP Vol. 10 KEXP
5 Death Cab For Cutie Asphalt Meadows Atlantic
6 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cool It Down Secretly Canadian
7 Fontanes D.C. Skinty Fia Partisan
8 Lizzo Special Nice Life/Atlantic
9 Florence + The Machine Dance Fever Polydor
10 Yard Act The Overload Zen F.C.

 

Kennady Quille // Variety Mix // Fill-In Host
rank artist album label
1 Mitski Laurel Hell Dead Oceans
2 Sudan Archives Natural Brown Prom Queen Stones Throw
3 MAITA I Just Want To Be Wild For You  Kill Rock Stars
4 Ibibio Sound Machine Electricity Merge
5 Wet Leg Wet Leg Domino
6 Mt Fog Spells of Silence Save the Forest for the Trees 
7 Grace Ives Janky Star True Panther Records, LLC
8 Say She She Prism Karma Chief Records
9 Kilo Kish AMERICAN GURL Kisha Soundscapes + Audio
10 KAINA It Was a Home City Slang

 

 

Kevin Cole  // Drive Time  // Tuesday-Friday, 4-7 PM PT
rank artist album label
1 Brimheim can't hate myself into a different shape W.A.S. Entertainment
2 Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment
3 Ibibio Sound Machine Electricity  Merge
4 Danger Mouse & Black Thought Cheat Codes BMG
5 Wet Leg Wet Leg Domino
6 SAULT 11 + Untitled (God) Forever Living Originals
7 Confidence Man Tilt Heavenly
8 Kae Tempest The Line Is A Curve Fiction
9 The Beths Expert in a Dying Field Car
10 Sudan Archives Natural Brown Prom Queen Stones Throw

 

Larry Mizell Jr  // The Afternoon Show // Weekdays 1-4 pM PT
rank artist album label
1 Charles Stepney  Step On Step International Anthem
2 Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment
3 Σtella Up and Away Sub Pop
4 Bruno Berle No Reinos Dos Afetos Far Out Recordings
5 Toro y Moi MAHAL Dead O
6 Special Interest Endure Rough Trade
7 Guerilla Toss Famously Alive Sub Pop
8 Sudan Archives Natural Brown Prom Queen Stones Throw
9 Say She She Prism Karma Chief Records
10 Westside Gunn 10 Griselda Records

 

Larry Rose // Variety mix (Larry's Lounge)  // Tuesdays 10 PM - 1 AM
artist album label
Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment
Charli XCX Crash Atlantic
Death Cab for Cutie Asphalt Meadows Atlantic
Dehd Blue Skies Fat Possum
Hurray For the Riff Raff Life On Earth Nonesuch
Nilüfer Yanya Painless ATO
Rosalía MOTOMAMI Columbia
Sudan Archives Natural Brown Prom Queen Stones Throw
TSHA Capricorn Sun Ninja Tune
Wet Leg Wet Leg Domino

 

Lisa LeClair  // Variety Mix  // Fill-In Host
rank artist album label
1 Dehd Blue Skies Fat Possum
2 Just Mustard Heart Under Partisan
3 TSHA Capricorn Sun Ninja Tune
4 Pleasure Venom Rebirth/Return Wolfshield
5 ODESZA The Last Goodbye Ninja Tune
6 Special Interest Endure Rough Trade
7 King Hannah I'm Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me City Slang
8 Erica Dawn Lyle & Vice Cooler Land Trust: Benefit For NEFOC self-released
9 The Black Angels Wilderness of Mirrors Partisan
10 Automatic Excess Stones Throw

 

 

Marco Collins  // Variety mix // THURSdays 10PM-1 am PT
artist album label
Gabriels Angels & Queens - Pt. 1 Atlas Artists
Cassandra Lewis Always, All Ways self-released
Odesza The Last Goodbye Foreign Family Collective
Spoon Lucifer on the Sofa Matador
GRiZ Chasing The Golden Hour, Pt. 4 self-released
Plosivs Plosivs Swami Records
Beyoncé Renaissance Columbia/Parkwood Entertainment
Yung Bae Groove Continental - Side A Arista
Harry Styles Harry's House Columbia
The Weeknd Dawn FM Republic

 

DJ Michele Myers  // Friday Night  // Fridays at 7 PM
rank artist album label
1 Rosalía MOTOMAMI Columbia
2 Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood Entertainment
3 Odesza The Last Goodbye Ninja Tune
4 TSHA Capricorn Sun Ninja Tune
5 FKA Twigs Caprisongs Atlantic
6 Koffee Gifted Sony Music UK
7 Bonobo Fragments Ninja Tune
8 Natalia Lafourcade De Todas las Flores Sony Music Mexico
9 Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin  Ali Dead Oceans
10 Shygirl Nymph Because Music

 

Mike Ramos  // Overnight Variety mix // Tuesdays 1-5 am PT

artist album label
Enumclaw Save the Baby Luminelle Recordings
Wet Leg Wet Leg Domino
Toro y Moi MAHAL Dead Oceans
Earl Sweatshirt SICK! Tan Cressida / Warner
Nia Archives Forbidden Feelingz HIJINXX
Nilüfer Yanya PAINLESS ATO
Bad Bunny Un Verano Sin Ti Rimas Entertainment
Babytron Megatron The Hip Hop Lab / EMPIRE
DOMi & JD BECK NOT TiGHT UMG / APESHIT
Overmono Cash Romantic XL

 

 

Morgan // Variety mix // Saturdays 12-3 PM PT
artist album label
The Smile A Light For Attracting Attention XL
Ibibio Sound Machine Electricity Merge
Melt Yourself Down  Pray For Me I Don't Fit In Universal/Decca
Monophonics Sage Motel Colemine
Goat Oh Death Rocket Recordings
Makaya McCraven In These Times International Anthem/Nonesuch/XL
Beach House Once Twice Melody Sub Pop
Fontaines D.C. Skinty Fia Partisan
Odesza The Last Goodbye Foreign Family Collective
Various Artists Live at KEXP Vol. 10 KEXP

 

Reeves richards // Variety mix // SUNdAYS 2-6 aM
artist album label
Chat Pile God's Country The Flenser
Enumclaw Save the Baby Luminelle
Wild Pink ILYSM Royal Mountain
Danger Mouse & Black Thought Cheat Codes BMG
Pool Kids Pool Kids Skeletal Lightning
Bartees Strange Farm to Table 4AD
Horsegirl Versions of Modern Performance Matador
Ravyn Lenae Hypnos Atlantic
Orville Peck Bronco Columbia
Hurray for the Riff Raff LIFE ON EARTH Nonesuch

 

 

Reverend Dollars // Variety mix // Thursdays 1-5 AM PT
artist album label
Bob Vylan Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life Ghost Theatre
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul Topical Dancer Deewee
Gallery S No Future for Cowardice Haus of ALTR
George Riley Running in Waves PLZ Make It Ruins
Honey Dijon Black Girl Magic Defected
Lady Wray Piece of Mee Big Crown
Loraine James Building Something Beautiful for Me Phantom Limb
Mykki Blanco Stay Close to Music Transgressive
Sault 11 Forever Living Originals
They Hate Change Finally, New Jagjaguwar

 

Sean Morrow // Variety mix // Mondays 10 PM - 1 AM
artist album label
Dip in the Pool What About This Love Studio Mule
Coco & Clair Clair Sexy self-released
Broadcast Maida Vale Sessions Warp
Selene The Secret Garden Is in Your Mind Secondnature
Carla dal Forno Come Around Kallista
Ultraflex Infinite Wellness Street Pulse
Shoko Igarashi Simple Sentences Tigersushi
Jack J Opening the Door Mood Hut
Gabe Gurnsey Diablo Phantasy Sound
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul Topical Dancer Deewee

 

Sharlese Metcalf  // Mechanical Breakdown // Mondays, 1-2 AM (Sunday nights)
artist album label
Gino Ritmo & Ricci Verace Night Shift (Part I)   CAF?
Various Artists QUATRE CITRONS    Minimal Synth
Risk Risk Blue Science Wave Records
Blanche Biau Maraudé Detriti
Karl Kave Doomsday self-released
Plague Pits Poetry From The Future self-released
Normal Bias Normal Bias Synthicide
Built to Spill When the Wind Forgets Your Name Sub Pop
FATAMORGANA Ahora Aqu í , Todav í a No La Vida Es Un Mus
Bladee and Ecco2k Crest Year0001
 
Troy Nelson  // Variety Mix // Saturdays 3-6 PM
rank artist album label
1 PVA Blush Ninja Tune
2 Kendrick Lamar Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers ppLang/Top Dawg
3 Automatic Excess Stones Throw
4 Danger Mouse & Black Thought Cheat Codes BMG
5 Horsegirl Versions of Modern Performance Matador
6 The Black Angels Wilderness of Mirrors Partisan
7 Lil Silva Yesterday Is Heavy Nowherre Music
8 The Smile A Light for Attracting Attention XL
9 The Weeknd Dawn FM XO / Republic
10 Special Interest Endure Rough Trade

 

Dr. West  // Sonic Reducer // Saturdays 9 PM-12 AM
rank artist album label
1 Alvvays Blue Rev Polyvinyl
2 Soccer Mommy Sometimes, Forever Loma Vista
3 Spam Caller Imposter Syndrome + demo cassette  Spam
4 Automatic Excess Stones Throw
5 The Beths Expert in a Dying Field Carpark
6 Taylor Swift Midnights Republic
7 Björk Fossora One Little Independent
8 Gaoled Bestial Hardcore cassette Iron Lung
9 Carly Rae Jepsen The Loneliest Time Schoolboy
10 Death Cab For Cutie Asphalt Meadows Atlantic

 

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