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Staff Picks: Best Albums of 2022

Staff Picks: Best Albums of 2022

Listen to the playlist now
November 22, 2022 (January 12, 2023) // Riot Fest

When the Riot Fest corporate HQ isn’t too busy doing whatever the heck it is we do around here, we occasionally listen to music–just like you! While we are fans of most of the music we book for the festival and many club shows throughout the year, we regularly venture outside our usual “Riot Fest” music diet into some bizarre shit and even Harry Styles, who you’ll find on several of our picks below.

Rather than make one of those topical on-trend year-end lists, we decided to share a random smattering of the albums we’ve enjoyed most this year.

There’s something in here for everyone–even if you’re an infant, who I’m told don’t even read intros, so go ahead and skip right to the list!

The Riot Fest Office’s Top Albums of 2022 Playlist

57 songs from each of the staff’s top 5(ish) albums.

Staff Picks: Best Albums Playlist

Monique Doron

 Brand Manager
Megan Thee Stallion – Traumazine

Song to listen to: Budget
Realest of real hot girl shit. 10/10. No notes.

WILLOW – <COPINGMECHANISM>

Song to listen to: curious/furious
I genuinely didn’t expect this to be a no-skip album for me, but it RIPS.

Brockhampton – The Family

Song to listen to: Boyband
The group’s final album. End of a well-lived and well-loved era. 

Coast Contra – Apt. 505

Song to listen to: 505
A discovery from this year that I kept on coming back to. 

Freddie Dredd – Freddie’s Inferno

Song to listen to: Wrath
Freddie Dredd makes music that makes me think I could get away with murder. (For legal purposes: this is a joke, I would never get away with murder.)

The Wonder Years – The Hum Goes On Forever

Song to listen to: Low Tide
This band has never put out a bad album, if you think otherwise you’re wrong and I’m sorry you live life that way.

Young Culture – You Had To Be There

Song to listen to: Whiskey
Just a GOOD album start to finish. Can’t wait to see how far this band goes.


Jake Biniszkiewicz

 Booking Department
Two Houses – Can’t Fail
Devon Kay And The Solutions – Grieving Expectation
Night Spice – Welcome To Miami, IL
Joyce Manor – 40 oz. to Fresno
Charli XCX – Crash
Nnamdi – Please have a Seat
Payday – Trips to Venus

Luba Vasilik

 Office Director
Stars – From Capelton Hill
Senses Fail – Hell Is in Your Head
The Early November – Twenty
The Wonder Years – The Hum Goes on Forever
Drug Church – Hygiene
Pink Floyd ft. BoomBox – “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!”

Song release shout out for Ukraine!


Hannah Tittle

 Booking Department
The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language
The 1975 – Being Funny in a Foreign Language
Wet Leg – Wet Leg 
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down 
Oliver Tree – Cowboy Tears 
Beach Bunny – Emotional Creature 

Marc Solheim

 Booking Department
Cave In – Heavy Pendulum 

An all time favorite.  

The London Suede – Autofiction

Beautiful Glam-Rock classic.  

Convert – Saves  

Ok, so here’s the thing.  It’s been a LONG time since I have been so moved by a “local” artist.  The world should take note.  Convert Saves.

Frank Turner – FTHC

 “A Wave Across a Bay.”  An intensely intimate conversation between a man and a friend he has lost.  Brings me to tears every listen.

Harry Styles – Harry’s House 

 A Perfect pop album 

Tears for Fears – The Tipping Point

It’s rare that a band that has been around this long.


Jen Moers

 Office Administrator
Taylor Swift – Midnights (3am edition)

Songs to listen to: “Karma” + “Anti-Hero”

Umphrey’s McGee – Asking For A Friend

Songs to listen to: “Small Strides” + “Fenced In”

Death Cab for Cutie – Asphalt Meadows

Songs to listen to: “I Don’t Know How I Survive” + “Here To Forever”

Florence and the Machine – Dance Fever

Songs to listen to: “King” + “Free”

Momma – Household Name

Songs to listen to: “Medicine” + “Motorbike”

Plains – I Walked With You Always

Songs to listen to: “Problem With It” + “Line Of Sight”

(note: this is Waxahatchee and Jess Williamson)


Dan Wade

 Art Director
Butch Walker – Butch Walker as… Glenn
Coheed and Cambria – Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind
Lizzo – Special
Harry Styles – Harry’s House
Spoon – Lucifer on the Sofa
Carly Rae Jepsen – The Loneliest Time
SPICE – Viv
The Stereo – Thirteen
Wet Leg – Wet Leg
PUP – THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND

Tim Toomey

 Marketing Director
Coheed and Cambria – Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind

Song to listen to: Comatose

Dan Vapid & the Cheats – Welcome To Dystopia

Song to listen to: Sour Pauline

No Trigger – Dr. Album

Song to listen to: No Tattoos

Bob Vylan – Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life

Song to listen to: Drug War

Rise Against – Nowhere Generation II

Song to listen to: This Time It’s Personal
My favorite band in the whole wide world.

Lucy Bennett – Bedtime Songs by Lucy

Song to listen to: Danny Boy
In my first year as a parent, this album has been clutch when I need my kid to go to sleep and stop screaming at me.


Riot Fest Twitter Person

Dolly Parton – Run Rose, Run
Flo Milli – You Still Here, Ho?
J-Hope – Jack in The Box
Bad Bunny – Un Verano Sin Ti
Weezer – SZNZ

All of them: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter even though this one hasn’t come out yet.


Riot Mike

JBE Nature Sounds – Nature Ambience

Listen to the Riot Fest Office’s Top 5(ish) Albums of 2022 Playlist

The Related Rabbit Hole

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About The Author
Riot Fest

Punk Rock (& more) Music Fest | I'm sorry we didn't book the exact bands you wanted, in the exact order you wanted, in the exact location you wanted, for free. Chicago. Sept. 15-17, 2023

Posted in New Music, Playlists, Riot Fest 2022, Staff PicksTagged featured, hip hop, lists, new music, pop, pop punk, punk, rap

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