Tom Hull: The Best Non-Jazz Albums of 2022

Links

Local Links

Music

Music Database

Artist Search:

Browse

Website Search

Google:

The Best Non-Jazz Albums of 2022

Initial draft collected on Nov. 4, 2022. The file will be updated as additional worthy records are found (although updating may lag behind the official 2022 list). Last year's list was never frozen (OK, let's say it was frozen on Nov. 4, 2022). There also exists a parallel list of The Best Jazz of 2022.

Note: numbering of lists (aside from A/A-) is only temporary, to make it easier for me to tally up stats. I've made no effort to order (other than alphaetical by artist) anything in grades below A-.

Also, several A-list albums below were close enough to Jazz that I duplicated the entries in the Jazz file (sometimes giving them lower rankings there; the year file rank is more authoritative).

[*] indicates that I reviewed this on the basis of an advance, often a CDR copy (a good thing, I might add, for vinyl-only releases). [**] identifies a record that I've only heard via download or through a streaming service like Napster.

For all lists, I've included a few 2021 (and possibly earlier) records that I discovered after last year's freeze date, but I've only included such records if they were released on or after Dec. 1, 2021, or were so little known that they received no mention in the 2021 metacritic file. These are marked, e.g., -21, after the label.

New Music

1.		*The Regrettes: Further Joy* (Warner) Band from Los Angeles, Lydia Night the singer (presumably the songwriter), seems to have started as punk or riot grrrl (list of cited influences starts with Bikini Kill, L7, and 7 Year Bitch, but also includes Lesley Gore and the Crystals/Ronettes). Third album, reminded me at first of Voice of the Beehive but wound up close to Lily Allen territory. Line I jotted down: "you're so fucking pretty it takes my breath away." Second pass could add a dozen more.
2.		*Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill* (The Vital Record) Led by singer Daniel Gonora, a "family band that has been busking on the streets of Zimbabwe since 2004," present their debut album. I don't buy the title for a minute, but they're so vital and so compelling you can excuse, perhaps even delight in, their sense of indestructibility.
3.		*Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer* (Deewee/Because Music) Born in France, grew up in Belgium, traces her ancestry back to Nigeria (Yoruba) via Martinique and Guadeloupe. First album, after a couple EPs and a "self-meditation" cassette. I know less about Pupul, other than that he's collaborated with her on singles, and has a couple of his own. Spare but danceable beats, words mostly in English, like: "Don't say 'we need to build a wall'/ Say, I'm a world citizen, I don't believe in borders."
4.		*Miranda Lambert: Palomino* (Vanner/RCA Nashville)** Country singer-songwriter, ninth album, not sure there's a merely good album in the sequence. Covers a Mick Jagger song, three songs recycled from The Marfa Tapes, co-wrote the rest, most with Luke Dick and Natalie Hemby. Special treat: the B-52s backing up "Music City Queen."
5.		*Saba: Few Good Things* (Saba Pivot) Chicago rapper Tahj Malik Chandler, co-founder of Pivot Gang, associated with Smino, Noname, and Chance the Rapper. Third album. Underground, inches along with purpose and feeling.
6.		*Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life* (Ghost Theatre) First full album, 15 songs, 34:17, a newfound clarity as they've decided the words matter as much as the attitude, so you should hear them. Still, lots of attitude. I may not agree with the politics of "no liberal cunt is going to tell me punching Nazis is not the way," but this is art, and sometimes expression needs to be felt.
7.		*Nilüfer Yanya: Painless* (ATO) Singer-songwriter, born in London, father Turkish, mother of Irish-Barbadian descent, second album, likes her guitar more than most pop stars.
8.		*Danger Mouse & Black Thought: Cheat Codes* (BMG)** Producer Brian Burton, debut 1999, got more attention for his 2004 Grey Album mash-up of the Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album, has a wide range of albums since then, most notably here duos with rappers Doom (Dangerdoom) and Cee-Lo (Gnarls Barkley), hooks up here with Roots rapper Tarik Trotter, who has a lot to say. **
9.		*Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You* (4AD) Indie band from Brooklyn, singer-songwriter is Adrienne Lenker (who also has a couple solo albums), fifth group album since 2016, a big one (20 songs, 80:13). Impressive album, one that will be on many mainstream EOY lists, but I probably won't stick with long enough.
10.		*Regina Spektor: Home, Before and After* (Sire) Singer-songwriter, pianist, born in Moscow, came to US in 1989, and released her first album in 2001. This is number eight. Every song is striking, most lyrics are memorable.
11.		*Beyoncé: Renaissance* (Parkwood/Columbia)** Last name Knowles, started out in Destiny's Child -- no need to note that any more. She is probably the biggest pop star in America, at least since her 2013 eponymous album, although she's less familiar to me than any contender I can think of. I thought her first 3-4 albums were crap, and even when she got better, I doubt I've played any of them more than 2-3 times. Consensus seems to be that this one is her best yet. I can't argue. I know I should be impressed by her encyclopedic mastery of disco and house beats, and on some level I am, but when I recognize one, I recall liking it better where it came from.
12.		*Terry Klein: Good Luck Take Care* (self-released) Folkie singer-songwriter based in Austin, third album, recorded this one in Nashville, opener rocks so hard I filed it there, but he mostly goes mid-tempo, so you can follow words that mean something.
13.		*Stro Elliot: Black & Loud: James Brown Reimagined by Stro Elliot* (Republic) Remix album, I've seen Brown on the artist credit line, as the music (especially the vocals) is uniquely his, but he's dead, and this particular mix is new. Elliot released a hip-hop instrumental album in 2016, joined the Roots in 2017, playing keyboards and beat machines. The shifts seem trivial at first, then subtle, then eventually they sweep the entire edifice into somewhere new.
14.		*Todd Snider: Live: Return of the Storyteller* (Aimless)** This one is easy. I doubt I'll ever like it as much as his 2011 Live: The Storyteller -- I recognize fewer of the songs (as much as I like his recent albums, I don't know them nearly as well as the ones from East Nashville Skyline through The Devil You Know), and the stories seem more random. But I enjoy them nonetheless, and most of all the pacing, which I doubt anyone else can match. **
15.		*M.I.A.: Mata* (Island) London-born Mathangi Arulpragasam, parents from Sri Lanka, burst on the scene with a Diplo-produced mixtape in 2004, then major albums in 2005-07. Sixth album, all short titles, album a trim 33:02. Not sure about the words or meanings, but the beats are clearly something I've been craving lately.
16.		*Rosalía: Motomami* (Columbia)** Spanish pop star, third album, the previous one (El Mal Querer) topped the US Latin Pop chart and got a lot of good press here, but I wasn't taken with it. This one wasn't easy, and I still have a dozen or more spots that rub me the wrong way, plus the more general issue that I don't understand a word (not something that necessarily bothers me), but the odd beats and surrounding murk won me over. Enough surprises that this will show up on EOY lists (but probably not mine). **
17.		*Adeem the Artist: White Trash Revelry* (Four Quarters)** Country singer-songwriter Adem Bingham, originally a "seventh-generation Carolinian," considered the ministry before a songwriting bug and other concerns led to a very good debut album called Cast-Iron Pansexual. Here a deep dive into his "white trash" roots generates an even better sequel. **
18.		*Cheekface: Too Much to Ask* (self-released) Indie g-b-d band from Los Angeles, third album, singer Greg Katz is clear enough you get all the jokes, and they are legion -- isn't it about time for a Dead Milkmen revival? Single is presumably "We Need a Bigger Dumpster."
19.		*Mary J. Blige: Good Morning Gorgeous* (300/Mary Jane Productions)** Big star, thirty years past "What's the 411?"; five years since her last (13th) studio album. She's settling in nicely here, perhaps stronger than ever, less urgent, the few high points lifting an impeccable consistency. I doubt I've ever fully appreciated her before, as my only previous A- grade was for Herstory, Vol. 1, so this may not be her best ever, but it's the one that got me. **
20.		*Kady Diarra: Burkina Hakili* (Lamastrock -21) Singer from Burkina Faso, a wedge of former French colony tucked below Mali and Niger, and above Ghana, formerly known as Upper Volta. Third album, title translates as "Spirit of Burkina," songs in four languages, including Bwaba ("her native") and Bambara (more common in Mali), as well as French. I can't speak to the "political elements," but clearly a strong force with a solid groove, propped up by rock guitar toward the end.
21.		*Hailey Whitters: Raised* (Big Loud/Pigasus) Country singer-songwriter, originally from Iowa, moved to Nashville, fourth album. Songs reflect back to her native corn fields, but she finds country everywhere, even where "The Grass Is Legal."
22.		*Willie Nelson: A Beautiful Time* (Legacy) Seventy-second studio album, released on his 89th birthday. Five original songs, co-authored by Buddy Cannon, including two memorable ones that reflect his seniority ("I Don't Go to Funerals," "Live Every Day" -- "like it may be your last, because some day it will be"). Two covers seem like mis-steps but grow on you: "Tower of Song" (Leonard Cohen, the "golden voice" line less of a joke) and "With a Little Help From My Friends" (Beatles). The rest fits in nicely.
23.		*Megan Thee Stallion: Traumazine* (1501 Certified/300 Entertainment)** Rapper Megan Pete, Wikipedia has this as her second studio album, Discogs as her third album, I'd also count the "archival" Something for Thee Hotties. I love everything I've heard by her, and I'm perplexed why others harbor doubts. This feels old style, a bit conservative or at least even-tempered by her standards. Also sports more name guests. Still plenty impressive. **
24.		*Craig Finn: A Legacy of Rentals* (Positive Jams) Singer-songwriter, leads the Hold Steady and has run five solo albums on the side. A peerless storyteller, an ear for characters, pays a lot of attention to women. A fine voice, as musical talking as singing.
25.		*Homeboy Sandman: I Can't Sell These* (self-released) New York rapper Angel Del Villar II, very prolific since 2007 (mostly in the EP-to-short-album range), counts this 20-track long-player as a mixtape, based as it is on uncleared samples. Helps with the music, but I mostly hear words, which fascinate and pick up momentum over the long haul.
26.		*Taylor Swift: Midnights* (Republic) Tenth album, I'm listening to the 13-track, 44:02 "Standard Edition," but two longer versions are available. Serious people are studying this like the pop event of the year (at least, post-Beyoncé, who got a similar treatment). I've heard all of her albums, and mostly liked them, but I couldn't recall a single song on Rob Sheffield's top-50 ranking (not that I would do any better with a Beyoncé list). But I can say that this seems real fine as background while I'm trying to write, and when I stop a minute to tune in, it just gets better. But I can't begin to tell you how good this really is, or how it stacks up against any of her other good albums.
27.		*Pusha T: It's Almost Dry* (G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam) Rapper Terrence Thornton, formerly of Clipse, fourth studio album. Lots of hooks in the samples, most produced by Pharrell, and second most produced by Ye, who still know how to build on a sample.
28.		*Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Barn* (Reprise -21) Another very solid album, mostly laid back, more comfortable in the country than in Nashville, but they can still bring some heat when they feel it's needed.
29.		*Camila Cabello: Familia* (Epic) Cuban-born pop singer-songwriter, came to US when she was six, started in girl group Fifth Harmony (3 albums 2015-17), third solo album. This is about half Spanish, half English, the former up front to establish the rhythm, but once you're in the mood, it's nice to be able to follow the lyrics.
30.		*The Paranoid Style: For Executive Meeting* (Bar/None) Singer-songwriter and sometime rock critic Elizabeth Nelson, husband Timothy Bracy, and several others, third album, serviceable rock and roll, the speed lets her work more words in, and drop more names (like Barney Bubbles, P.G. Wodehouse, Steve Cropper, and Doug Yule). Ends with a straight cover of "Seven Year Ache," plucked from a list of possibles that probably runs into the hundreds.
31.		*Etran de L'Aïr: Agadez* (Sahel Sounds) Tuareg group from Agadez, in Niger, in the Saharan Dessert near the Aïr Mountains, a town of 100,000 which has launched a number of world renowned bands with fiery guitars and chanting choruses. Second album, not unlike the others, and every bit as exciting.
32.		*Marlowe: Marlowe 3* (Mello Music) Hip-hop duo, rapper Solemn Brigham and producer Austin Hart (L'Orange). Third album since 2018. Speed raps, hard to imaging improving on the flex beats.
33.		*Yard Act: The Overload* (Island) British indie band, from Leeds, first album, vocals declaimed, sometimes reading like a manifesto (not unlike Art Brut), but they're on the right side of politics and, one hopes, history.
34.		*Wiz Khalifa/Big KRIT/Smoke DZA/Girl Talk: Full Court Press* (Asylum/Taylor Gang) Not exactly a tour de force for the rappers, so the secret ingredient seems to be Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk), even though his mix is much more inscrutable than the ones he served up for three superb 2006-10 mash-up albums.
35.		*Mxmtoon: Rising* (AWAL) Singer-songwriter from Oakland, based in New York, second album after a much-streamed 2018 EP. A very chipper pop album, with more than a little capacity for reflection. My favorite song here is about growing up: "Everything's gonna get better/ everything's gonna get worse/ when it gets hard, remember that's the way it always works." But that's hardly the only one.
36.		*Lucrecia Dalt: ¡Ay!* (RVNG Intl) Colombian singer-songwriter, studied as a civil engineer, based in Berlin, albums since 2005 (initially as Lucrecia), previously unfamiliar to me, and hard to pigeonhole: the beats Latin but subtler, the electronics layered acoustically, the vocals foreign, the pacing and tension unique.
37.		*Lady Wray: Piece of Me* (Big Crown)** R&B singer Nicole Wray, released her debut album Make It Hot in 1998, but didn't follow it up until 2016. In between, she joined a duo in England called Lady, so adopted the new name. Third album, perhaps more retro than nu. Her voice has an intriguing grin, and she turns experience into a plus. **
38.		*Ray Wylie Hubbard: Co-Starring Too* (Big Machine)** Alt-country singer-songwriter from Oklahoma, called his 1970s band the Cowboy Twinkies, didn't get my attention until 2010-17, with a string of four top-notch records (e.g., The Grifter's Hymnal). Slacked off with his 2020 Co-Starring, leaning on old friends and hangers on, a formula reprised here. But while he gets help, this isn't a duets showcase, and his songs are as tough and onery as any of late. **
39.		*Superchunk: Wild Loneliness* (Merge)** Indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, led by singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan (also in Portastatic, has a couple solo albums), 12th album since 1990. I've never paid them much heed, even when Christgau declared What a Time to Be Alive "the most affecting political album of our brutally politicized era." Impeccable, as solid as I can imagine a mainstream rock record this year. And while I'm not picking up much politics, "Endless Summer" has a point hard to miss. **
40.		*Lyrics Born: Mobile Homies Season 1* (Mobile Home) California rapper Tom Shimura, lists 15 collaborators on the cover (starting with Dan the Automator and Blackalicious -- the late Gift of Gab is a huge presence here), seems to be a pandemic project, maybe some kind of touching-base podcast. Big beats and soaring riffs are plentiful, his signature.
41.		*Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen* (Stones Throw) Brittney Parks, born in Cincinnati, based in Los Angeles, plays violin, sings, raps, and presumably wrote the 18 bits that toss and turn in this kaleidoscope of an album.
42.		Gerry Hemingway: Afterlife (2020-22 [2022], Auricle): Drummer, was part of Anthony Braxton's extraordinary Quartet in the 1980s, also of the long-running BassDrumBone trio with Ray Anderson, and has dozens of significant albums on his own, over 250 in total. Still, none of the others are like this: songs with words, sung or just rapped, over widely varied beats with scattered instrumental colors. Bandcamp page cites 11 contributing musicians with no clue to what or where, since their contributions are just samples applied to the mix. First few second remind me of DJ Shadow. Rest isn't so obvious, but shades from pop to blues, with fanciful rhythm throughout. A- [bc]
43.		*Charli XCX: Crash* (Asylum) British pop star Charlotte Aitchison, fifth album, four singles, two with guest stars. Big production, in some ways the top of her game, but didn't quite click for me, until the delirious "You Don't Know Me" broke through.
44.		*Witchcraft Books [Shorty Skilz/Kanif the Jhatmaster]: Vol I: The Sundisk* (Iapetus) Cover can be parsed several ways, with Bandcamp page using "Witchcraft Books" in title as well as artist credit, with the duo names way below. Both artists have separate albums on the label, so I was tempted to elevate their names, but for now will just note them. South Africans (I think), closer to U.S. underground hip-hop than to local grooves (kwaito or amapiano), but was mastered in Marseille and Catalonia, and covers a fair swath of cosmos.
45.		*Bill Scorzari: The Crosswinds of Kansas* (self-released) New York-based singer-songwriter, fourth album since 2014, before which he was some kind of hot shot attorney. Thirteen songs, stretched out to 71 minutes, has a long list of supporting musicians with a few tracks each, suggesting this was recorded over multiple sessions, perhaps going back to 2012. Christgau suggests reading along with the lyric sheet, but he has one, and would do that. Still mostly guitar and words, the latter almost talky. Seems like the surest way to a high grade around here is to remind me of John Prine, which happens when his usual Dylan gets off on a story.
46.		*Kae Tempest: The Line Is a Curve* (Republic) Formerly Kate, fifth album, has published a novel, three plays, and six poetry collections. The lit cred shifts this from rap to spoken word, the minimal beats neither hip nor hop, but the effect remains subtle and sonorous. Smart, too.
47.		*Santigold: Spirituals* (Little Jerk) Singer-songwriter Santi White, from Philadelphia, eponymous debut 2009, fifth album but first I've heard in a decade. No obvious gospel tropes or stylings here, but fine with me if the spirit wants to move.
48.		*Lyrics Born: Vision Board* (Mobile Home) Rapper Tom Shimura, boasts he's "The Best Rapper in the World," and while that song doesn't make the case, I can't think of anyone who can pump up a beat like him, then match the clever string of words he flows in and around. He secures guests for six (of nine) songs, yet they all join together. Short (29:34).
49.		*Corb Lund: Songs My Friends Wrote* (New West) Country singer from Alberta, eleventh album since 1995. A pretty fair songwriter in his own right, some of his friends are even better, most famously Hayes Carll and Todd Snider, but he picks out gems from half a dozen more.
50.		*Lalalar: Bi Cinnete Bakar* (Bongo Joe) Turkish group, generate an enticing but not especially distinctive grind. Title translated to "all it takes is a frenzy." Takes a while to grow on you, as it's less about the frenzy than the steady power, the relentless flow.
51.		*Dan Ex Machina: All Is Ours, Nothing Is Theirs* (self-released)** New Jersey band and/or singer-songwriter Dan Weiss -- not the drummer, nor the other drummer, but known to me mostly as a rock critic. Several albums and EPs on Bandcamp, little noted elsewhere. This batch was written 2003-11, played live and eventually recorded over the last decade, with shifting lineups, but they get better as the record goes on (and as you play it more). One called "Drinking and Driving (Separately)" finally delivers everything that the pre-rock-and-roll scolds feared.
52.		*The Mountain Goats: Bleed Out* (Merge) Singer-songwriter John Darnielle's band, 21st album since 1994. Not sure of the lyrics, which extoll or maybe just call out revenge, "wage wars get rich die handsome," "make you suffer," an endless supply of oxygen and hostages, and lots of blood -- reportedly written during a "pandemic spent devouring classic action films." That leaves strong images, and the music is as appealing as ever.
53.		*Loraine James: Building Something Beautiful for Me* (Phantom Limb) British electronica producer, aka Whatever the Weather, fashioned this as an homage to the music of Julius Eastman, who's receiving renewed interest well after his short and troubled life (1940-90). There's a compositional sophistication here that rarely shows up in electronica, but also a layer of electronic glitz that the chamber groups that have been reviving Eastman lately haven't imagined. Makes me wonder what she might do with Harry Partch.
54.		*Plains: I Walked With You a Ways* (Anti-) Alt-country duo of Jess Williamson (who has four albums since 2014) and Katie Crutchfield (aka Waxahatchee, five albusm since 2012, after her debut with P.S. Eliot). Starts with harmonies as tight as the McGarrigles, and develops from there.
55.		*75 Dollar Bill: Social Music at Troost Vol. 3: (Other) People's Music* (self-released) Guitar and drums duo, Che Chen and Rick Brown, debut 2014, have added others especially to the live albums they've been releasing on Bandcamp since the lockdown, including sax, vocals, and bass to some of these pieces, as well as "bar patrons, friends, neighbors." This is a set of covers, ranging from Harry Partch and Pauline Oliveros to Yoko Ono to Bob Dylan and Dolly Parton. Phil Overeem's record of the year.
56.		*Angela Strehli: Ace of Blues* (Antone's/New West)** Originally from Lubbock, moved to Austin and worked as stage manager at Antone's. There she released an album in 1987, and was part of the trio Dreams Come True in 1990. Since then she's recorded occasionally (including an album as The Blues Broads with Tracy Nelson and two others), while running a blues club in Marin County, California. Now 77, this is her first since 2005, twelve golden oldies united by guitar and voice that stands up to the originals, even when eclipsing them is impossible. **
57.		*Elza Soares: Elza Ao Vivo No Municipal* (Deck) Brazilian samba star, many albums since 1960, died in January at 91 (earlier sources gave her birth as 1937, but now we see 1930). This was recorded live, a few days before her death. The songs include one from 1960, another from 1968, but also four from the last decade, which seems to have been one of her strongest.
58.		*Oriental Brothers International Band: Oku Ngwo Di Ochi* (Palenque) Nigerian highlife band, founded in 1973, working under various names, sometimes featuring vocalist Dr. Sir Warrior or guitarist Godwin "Kabaka" Opara, neither of whom are still around for this new recordings (their first in 20 years). But the current crew, including band leader Ferdinand Dansatch Opara, have earned the right to keep this marvelous band name going.
59.		*Apollo Brown & Philmore Greene: Cost of Living* (Mello Music Group)** Detroit hip-hop producer Erik Vincent Stephens, several dozen albums since 2007, many featuring guest rappers, like Greene here (two previous albums, his 2018 debut titled Chicago: A Third World City). More hard times, grit, and perseverance, sliding over beats that don't work too hard. ** d
60.		*Piri & Tommy: Froge.mp3* (Polydor) Drum & bass duo, singer-songwriter Sophie McBurnie (Piri) and Tommy Villers, first album together, or mixtape, or whatever. Easily the catchiest trifle from Michaelangelo Matos's electronica-heavy EOY list.
61.		*Freakons: Freakons* (Fluff & Gravy)** Joint venture by countryish bands Freakwater and Mekons. Freakwater, from Kentucky, recorded 8 albums 1989-99, but only two since. Mekons started as a punk-political band Leeds, UK, in 1979, made a country move in 1985 (Fear and Whiskey), and continued to reconvene periodically even after Jon Langford moved to Chicago and created the Waco Brothers. They find common cause here in "songs about heroic union organizers, deadly mine disasters, wailing orphans, or mining's grim history of economic and ecological devastation." **
62.		*Little Simz: No Thank You* (Age 101/Awal/Forever Living Originals)** Late album drop from UK rapper Simbi Ajikawo, her fifth, after 2021's Sometimes I Might Be Introvert swept many of the year's best album lists. Major musical contribution here by Dean Josiah Cover (of Sault), with Cleo Sol (also of Sault) backing vocals, but still sharpest when the raps cut through to the front. **
63.		*Tove Lo: Dirt Femme* (Pretty Swede) Swedish pop singer, original name Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson, fifth album since 2014. Has a reputation for dark and dirty, but this is pretty snappy. "Love can forget a lot/ it's why we go on at all."
64.		*Nova Twins: Supernova* (333 Wreckords Crew) British melting pot "bass-heavy duo fusing grime and punk," Amy Love and Georgia South, second album after several EPs. Drums and guitar give them some cred among metalheads, but the bass is a whole lot funkier, and they get up in your face.
65.		*Drive-By Truckers: Welcome 2 Club XIII* (ATO) Southern rock band, many superb albums since 1998. This seems to be one of the more measured ones, with quiet songs just ambling along. I find them gently reassuring.
66.		*Zach Phillips: Goddaughters* (self-released)** Singer-songwriter from San Diego, fourth album, shares a name with a more prolific keyboardist (has a UK website but was born in New Hampshire and is based in Brooklyn, and might be worth some research). This is billed as Americans, which means songs of real life from interesting angles, but I'm every bit as struck by the guitar, which reminds me of classic Who.
67.		*Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man* (Luaka Bop) Outsider gospel artist Wylie Champion (1946-2021), brother of soul singer Bettye Swann, left Louisiana for Oakland, recorded this one album, a homey affair with his electric guitar, basic band, sing-alongs and handclaps, then delayed release by refusing to talk about it. No raising the rafters, no sublimated ecstasy, but down to earth faith to see you through hard times. Got to respect that.
68.		*Lady Aicha & Pisco Crane's Original Fulu Miziki Band of Kinshasa: N'djila Wa Mudjimo* (Nyege Nyege Tapes)** This seems to be the same group that released a highly recommended EP earlier this year (Ngbaka EP), but at greater length here, not least in the headline credit. Like Congotronics, they salvage and engineer instruments from junk, not just drums but that's what makes this work. **
69.		*Kim Petras: Slut Pop* (Republic, EP) German pop singer-songwriter, based in Los Angeles, trans, has a lot of singles, as far back as 2008 but especially since 2017, with a couple picked up before this super-trashy, super-smutty 7-track, 15:51 EDM teaser. I, too, "want to see how big it gets."
70.		*Ian Noe: River Fools & Mountain Saints* (Thirty Tigers) Country singer-songwriter, from Kentucky, second album. Hooked me with the song that sounded like John Prine, and even though the rest don't quite ring that bell, they're all pretty good.
71.		*Buck 65: King of Drums* (self-released) Canadian rapper Richard Terfry, from Nova Scotia, Bandcamp puts him in Toronto, started 1994, went on hiatus in 2015, started to resurface in 2020. No song titles, just "Part" 1-21 (54:53). Rhymes fast and clever, over beats little evolved from his heyday.
72.		*Madalitso Band: Musakayike* (Bongo Joe) Duo from Malawi, made their own instruments: a four-string guitar, a kick drum, a one-string slide bass with a bench to sit on. They generate a propulsive groove and engaging vocals, a bit removed from the South African model but on the fringe of that paradigm.
73.		*Moor Mother: Jazz Codes* (Anti-) Philadelphia poet Camae Ayewa, fronts the jazz group Irreversible Entanglements, uses this alias for more hip-hop projects, although the genres are pretty fluid for her, as are melodies and beats. Lots of guests here in her expanding universe, making it more complex than art needs to be, but still not as messy as real life.
74.		*Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine* (Schoolkids -21) Singer-songwriter from Kentucky, based in Nashville, started in a band called Government Cheese, solo albums since 1998, surprises with a couple of covers here ("That Lucky Old Sun," "Miss Otis Regrets"). A straight rocker with some stories, including one about a minister buying ice cream, and another about Elvis.
75.		*Loudon Wainwright III: Lifetime Achievement* (StorySound)** Folk singer-songwriter, debut 1970, crossed 75 with his 25th studio album. He has been counting the years at least since 2012's Older Than My Old Man Now. He reminds us here that his father died at 62, and he's enough of an ironist to know he's living on borrowed time, turning it into a game where he can do what he wants "for fun and free." Doesn't seem he sweated the music much, even when on the odd occasion he cranked up his band. But he still has things to say, and is finding more all the time. **
76.		*Willi Carlisle: Peculiar, Missouri* (Free Dirt) Folksinger from the Ozarks, earned his credentials the new-fashioned way, with a BA in Writing and Performance Studies and a MFA in Poetry, plus two self-released albums before moving up to a label with a name.
77.		*Homeboy Sandman: Still Champion* (self-released) New York rapper Angel Del Villar II, many albums/EPs -- he seems to prefer 20-30 minute chunks -- since 2007, with this his third album this year (10 tracks, 33:23). Produced sparingly by Deca. Takes a couple tracks before his words start to flow with the mix, but they never melt into oblivion -- just too fascinating.
78.		*Tom Zé: Língua Brasileira* (Sesc) Iconoclastic Brazilian singer-songwriter, started in the late 1960s with the Tropicália movement, slipped into obscurity but Americans discovered him through two 1990-04 Luaka Bop compilations. I've been up and down on him, and it's hard to explain what works and what doesn't. This one, with its slippery melodies and off-kilter beats, ends on an up.
79.		*Sowal Diabi: De Kaboul à Bamako* (Accords Croisés) An international project, named for Persian and Bambara words for "question" and "answer," with two singers -- Mamani Keita of Mali and Sogol Mirzael of Kurdish Turkey -- plus Iranian violinist Aïda Nosrat and various French musicians. Both ends of the imaginary journey have been damaged by war and terror, but if Mali is the answer, the answer must be music.
80.		*Fulu Miziki: Ngbaka EP* (Moshi Moshi, EP) Group from Kinshasa, based in Kampala, one source says they were founded in 2003 by Piscko Crane as an "eco-friendly, Afro-futuristic" punk band, but that source also has this as their "debut EP" (6 songs, 20:27). Name translates as "music from the garbage," which is also the source of their instruments and costumes. Electronics leads the way.
81.		*Gogol Bordello: Solidaritine* (Cooking Vinyl) Gypsy-punk band from New York, led by Ukrainian singer-songwriter Eugene Hütz, the only continuous member since their 1999 debut, although Russian violinist Sergey Ryabtsev comes close. I'm not catching every word, but the raw energy and rustic rage makes a fine soundtrack for writing my thoughts on the Ukraine War.
82.		*Montparnasse Musique: Archeology* (Real World) Duo, Algerian-French producer Nadjib Ben Bella, and South African DJ Aero Manyelo, the latter's hip-hop (or kwaito or gqom) with a dash of mbube wrapped up in electronic glitz.
83.		*Somadina: Heart of the Heavenly Undeniable* (self-released) Nigerian, born there but grew up in the Netherlands, first album, billed as an EP (11 songs, 27:33). I've scanned through a dozen articles, and can't identify a label, but I've seen various references to her "shapeshifting identity." Comes out of the gate with a big pop production, then gets more idiosyncratic, opening up space for a slow vamp and a ballad. No connection I can discern to Afrobeat, but there may be one.
84.		*Nord1kone/DJ Mrok: Tower of Babylon* (SplitSLAM) Rapper and DJ (credited here with "scratches"), don't know much about either, but note that Chuck D shares executive producer credit, and leads a long list of featured guests, including Gift of Gab. Voice doesn't match Chuck D for gravitas, but no reason not to want another Public Enemy knock-off.
85.		*Fox Green: Holy Souls* (self-released) Mild-mannered rock band from Little Rock, probably wouldn't have given them a second listen but for knowing the guitarist. But the extra listens helped, especially once the Howlin' Wolf tribute caught my ear, and each song on the second side came into focus.
86.		*Dry Cleaning: Stumpwork* (4AD) English post-punk band, second album after an acclaimed debut, Florence Shaw vocalist (mostly spoken word). It's a vibe I'm hopelessly attracted to, even if I never seem able to parse it.
87.		*Open Mike Eagle: Component System With the Auto Reverse* (Auto Reverse) Chicago rapper, born with the name Michael Eagle, eighth album since 2010, reportedly a revue of his whole oeuvre, hard for me to ascertain even though I'm something of a fan. I just enjoy the ride.
88.		*Carly Rae Jepsen: The Loneliest Time* (Interscope) Canadian pop singer, sixth album, light and catchy, works with a bunch of producers and gets something out of all of them. Weak spot is Rufus Wainwright's help on the title track.
89.		*Pongo: Sakidila* (Virgin) Angolan singer, Engrácia Domingues, based in Lisbon, first album after a single and an EP. The typical Portuguese lilt lurks in the background, but the beats are so insistent you barely notice it.
90.		*Mud Morganfield: Portrait* (Delmark) Father McKinley Morganfield, legendary as Muddy Waters, grew up with his mother as Larry Williams, only took up the family trade in 2008, well after his father's death. (Same for his younger brother, now known as Big Bill Morganfield, who cut his first -- and probably best -- album in 1999.) Still, Mud's vocal likeness is uncanny. He also claims eight (of 14) writing credits (one for his father, and one for John Lee Williamson, aka Sonny Boy I).
91.		*Bob Vylan: We Live Here (Deluxe)* (Venn, EP -21) British grime duo, individuals go by Bobby Vylan (vocals) and Bobbie (or Bobb13) Vylan (drums), single appeared in 2020, a fitting answer to you fascist scum out there, but I couldn't find their 2020 EP, until this expanded edition showed up (adds 2 cuts for 10, 23:26, including the 1:10 "Moment of Silence"). I'm tempted to call it the grimest record out of the UK since the Sex Pistols, but they have more self-respect than that.
92.		*Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela* (Nyege Nyege Tapes) Gqom trio from Durban, South Africa. Beats are hard and dense, and vocals blend in (not that I could understand them anyway, although I gather there is a political dimension).
93.		*The Bobby Lees: Bellevue* (Ipecac) Rock group founded in Woodstock in 2018, Sam Quartin is singer-guitarist, third or fourth album. Harder than most rock I like, but tighter, and while I can't vouch for the lyrics, this has enough edge and snarl to make me think there must be more to it.
94.		*Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver* (New West) Not taking any chances here: the twelve songs are famous, iconic even, and the various artists are not just stars but well practiced in tributes, with Willie Nelson getting a second helping ("Fast Train to Georgia") after sharing the title song with Lucinda Williams. One I didn't recall but I'm glad I heard it here: "Ain't No God in Mexico." Steve Earle picked that one. **
95.		*Derek Senn: The Big Five-O* (self-released) Singer-songwriter from San Luis Obispo, three previous albums, claims he's sold out a venue in Aberdeen ("where his Americana's more popular than with the Americans"). Some topical songs (from "Quarantine" to "Texas Legislature"), some personal, at least one on the "Zeitgeist." Mostly mild-mannered, but "Texas Legislature" riles his blood.
96.		*Deca: Smoking Gun* (Coalmine) New York rapper Matthew Kenney, 10th album since 2004, delivery reminds me of Buck 65, beats too, guest spots for Blu and Homeboy Sandman.
97.		*Hermanos Gutiérrez: El Bueno Y El Malo* (Easy Eye Sound) Duo based in Switzerland, brothers Estevan and Alejandro, father Swiss, mother from Ecuador, fifth album, produced in Nashville by Dan Auerbach. Very tasteful instrumental music, mostly guitar, not in any niche.
98.		*Water Damage: Repeater* (12XU) Austin group, two bassists, three drummers, bowed guitar and synthesizer, no vocals, three pieces that grind on (7:13) and on (12:03) and on (22:18). Named their label for a Wire song.
99.		*Moonchild Sanelly: Phases* (Transgressive) South African (Xhosa) singer-songwriter, Sanelisiwe Twisha, started as a kwaito dancer, calls her music "future ghetto punk," second album, draws on amapiano, dancehall, and hip-hop, but it winds up sounding like like an exceptionally tight slab of ultra-funky pop. A thick slab, too, running 66 minutes, but the physical is broken up into two CDs (or LPs).
100.		*Fanfare Ciocarlia: It Wasn't Hard to Love You* (Asphalt Tango -21)** Romanian brass band, which probably means Romani [confirmed], formed in the late 1990s with albums in 1998 and 1999 (World Wide Wedding). Starts with a Bill Withers cover, strange enough to make you hungry for more, then lapses into more traditional fare: upbeat party music. **

Also added (or promoted) the following older albums after freezing the 2021 year-end file:

1.		*Slum of Legs: Slum of Legs* (2020, Spurge -20) From Brighton, UK, a "queer, feminist noise-pop DIY band," first album after a couple singles, made my 2020 tracking list, so not totally unheralded. Sextet, everyone credited with lots of things, but the basics: Tamsin (vocals), Mich (drums), Maria (violin), Kate (guitar), Emily (synths), Alex (bass guitar). The violin raises the texture, if not the spirit, above punk.
2.		*DJ Maphorisa X Kabza De Small: Scorpion Kings* (Blaqboy -19)** South African record producers, associated with amapiano but neither on the Amapiano Now compilation that introduced the genre to me last year (although Teno Afrika was). The former is Themba Sonnyboy Sekowe. Unclear on discography, as there seems to be much more on streaming services than in Discogs (usually pretty quick to catalog house music). Christgau singled this one out, presumably after due diligence. Seems like a good start. Covers says "ep," but Spotify stream offers 12 tracks (one marked as a bonus), 76:40. **
3.		*PinkPantheress: To Hell With It* (Parlophone, EP -21) British pop singer, barely 20, first short mixtape (10 songs, 18:36), vocals feathery light, enough so that this got tagged as "atmospheric drum & bass," but pay close attention and get to the point. Hint for me was a turn of phrase I hadn't heard since Lily Allen.
4.		Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2 (Oh Boy -21) A year after Prine's Covid death brought forth a flood of eulogies that approached what he deserved, his label limps on with a small stable of good-but-not-Prine songwriters. So with another product shortfall, why not invite a second volume of tribute covers? Eleven years after Vol. 1, it's not like they're going to the well too often (though they probably won't stop until they do). And they did draw bigger and better names this time, without coming close to running out of songs. **
5.		*Lowkey: Soundtrack to the Struggle 2* (Mesopotamia Music -19) In 2012, he decided to "step away from music and concentrate on y studies." He returned with a single in 2016, and finally with this album, built around samples of Noam Chomsky, who points out: "Today's Republican Party is the most dangerous organization in human history." The extra study may have sharpened his critique not just of fascists but of neoliberals (cf. "Neoliberalism Kills People"), but hasn't sharpened his beats. New events intrude, like "McDonald Trump" and "Letter to the 1%." Also reprises "Long Live Palestine," because some things haven't changed.
6.		*John Primer & Bob Corritore: The Gypsy Woman Told Me* (SWMAF/VizzTone -20) Chicago bluesman, born in Mississippi, played behind Junior Wells and Muddy Waters before he moved out front in 1991, and has several dozen albums since. Corritore plays harmonica, third album with Primer, many more albums either listed second or as "Bob Corritore & Friends." First I've heard by him/them, but it sounds classic, hitting the mark every time out.

Honorable Mention

Additional non-jazz rated B+(***), listed alphabetically.

070 Shake: You Can't Kill Me (GOOD Music/Def Jam) **
The 1975: Being Funny in a Foreign Language (Dirty Hit) **
A-Trak: 10 Seconds: Volume 1 (Fool's Gold, EP) **
A-Trak: 10 Seconds: Volume 2 (Fool's Gold, EP) **
Adult.: Becoming Undone (Dais) **
Teno Afrika: Where You Are (Awesome Tapes From Africa) **
Al-Qasar: Who Are We? (Glitterbeat) **
Horace Andy: Midnight Scorchers (On-U Sound) **
Anitta: Versions of Me (Warner) **
Arcade Fire: We (Columbia) **
Asake: Mr. Money With the Vibe (YBNL Nation/Empire) **
Avantdale Bowling Club: Trees (Years Gone By) **
Bas Jan: Baby U Know (Lost Map) **
Beabadoobee: Beatopia (Dirty Hit) **
Andy Bell: Flicker (Sonic Cathedral) **
The Beths: Expert in a Dying Field (Carpark) **
Big Joanie: Back Home (Kill Rock Stars) **
The Black Dog: Brutal Minimalism EP (Dust Science, EP) **
Blackpink: Born Pink (YG Entertainment) **
Axel Boman: Quest for Fire (Studio Barnhus) **
Raymond Byron: Bond Wire Cur (ESP-Disk)
Sabrina Carpenter: Emails I Can't Send (Island) **
Cäthe: Chill Out Punk (Traum Weiter!) **
The Chats: Get Fucked (Bargain Bin) **
Che Noir: Food for Thought (TCF Music Group) **
CMAT: If My Wife New I'd Be Dead (AWAL) **
Con+Kwake: Eyes in the Tower (Native Rebel) **
Confidence Man: Tilt (Heavenly) **
Conway the Machine: God Don't Make Mistakes (Griselda/Interscope) **
Alaide Costa: O Que Meus Calos Dizem Sobre Mim (Tres Selos) **
Czarface: Czarmageddon (Silver Age) **
Daphni: Cherry (Jiaolong) **
Lucky Daye: Candydrip (Keep Cool/RCA) **
Dedicated Men of Zion: The Devil Don't Like It (Bible & Tire) **
DJ Lag: Meeting With the King (Ice Drop) **
Dopplereffekt: Neurotelepathy (Leisure System) **
Ronnie Earl: Mercy Me (Stony Plain) **
Fantastic Negrito: White Jesus Black Problems (Storefront) **
Florist: Florist (Double Double Whammy) **
Wolfgang Flür: Magazine 1 (Cherry Red) **
Focalistic: Ghetto Gospel (18 Area Holdings) **
Ezra Furman: All of Us Flames (Anti-) **
Becky G: Esquemas (Kemosabe/RCA) **
Moktar Gania & Gwana Soul: Gwana Soul (MusjoMusic/Nuits d'Afrique) **
Mary Gauthier: Dark Enough to See the Stars (In the Black/Thirty Tigers) **
Freddie Gibbs: $oul $old $eparately (Warner/ESGN) **
S.G. Goodman: Teeth Marks (Verve Forecast) **
Tee Grizzley: Half Tee Half Beast (Grizzley Gang/300 Entertainment) **
Buddy Guy: The Blues Don't Lie (RCA/Silvertone) **
Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 (Columbia) **
Paul Heaton + Jacqui Abbott: N.K-Pop (EMI) **
Lauran Hibberd: Garageband Superstar (Virgin) **
Hieroglyphic Being: There Is No Acid in This House (Soul Jazz) **
Honey Dijon: Black Girl Magic (Classic) **
Horse Lords: Comradely Objects (RVNG Intl) **
Hurray for the Riff Raff: Life on Earth (Nonesuch) **
Ifsonever: Ifsonever (Jazz & Milk) **
Grace Ives: Janky Star (True Panther/Harvest) **
Ka: Languish Arts (Iron Works, EP) **
Kehlani: Blue Water Road (Atlantic) **
Kimberly Kelly: I'll Tell You What's Gonna Happen (Show Dog Nashville) **
Kittin + the Hacker: Third Album (Nobody's Bizzness) **
Kiwi Jr.: Chopper (Sub Pop) **
Rokia Koné & Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (Real World) **
Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope, 2CD) **
Brennen Leigh: Obsessed With the West (Signature Sounds) **
Jinx Lennon: Pet Rent (Septic Tiger) **
Leroy [C0ncernn]: Dariacore 3 . . . At Least I Think That's What It's Called? (self-released) **
Lights: PEP (Fueled by Ramen) **
The Linda Lindas: Growing Up (Epitaph) **
Lizzo: Special (Atlantic/Nice Life) **
Loop: Sonancy (Cooking Vinyl) **
Los Bitchos: Let the Festivities Begin! (City Slang) **
Lupe Fiasco: Drill Music in Zion (1st & 15th) **
Mach-Hommy: Dollar Menu 4 (self-released, EP) **
Amber Mark: Three Dimensions Deep (PMR) **
MC Bin Laden: Invasao Dos Fluxos (Kondzilla) **
Ashley McBryde: Presents: Lindeville (Warner Music Nashville) **
Leyla McCalla: Breaking the Thermometer (Anti-) **
Tate McRae: I Used to Think I Could Fly (RCA) **
Rhett Miller: The Misfit (ATO) **
Mdou Moctar: Niger EP Vol. 1 (Matador, EP) **
Maren Morris: Humble Quest (Columbia Nashville) **
Azuka Moweta & Anioma Brothers Band: Nwanne Bu Ife (Palenque) **
The Muslims: Fuck These Fucking Fascists (Epitaph -21) **
My Idea: Cry Mfer (Hardly Art) **
Nas: King's Disease III (Mass Appeal) **
Tami Neilson: Kingmaker (Outside Music) **
Nerves Baddington: Micro (Apt. B Productions) **
Nerves Baddington: Macro (Apt. B Productions) **
Noori & His Dorpa Band: Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass From Sudan's Red Sea Coast (Ostinato) **
Matt North: Bullies in the Backyard (self-released) **
Sinéad O'Brien: Time Bend and Break the Bower (Chess Club) **
Tess Parks: And Those Who Were Seen Dancing (Fuzz Club) **
Kojey Radical: Reason to Smile (Atlantic) **
Aaron Raitiere: Single Wide Dreamer (Dinner Time) **
Bonnie Raitt: Just Like That . . . (Redwing) **
Rema: Rave & Roses (Marvin/Jonzing World) **
Sadistik x Kno: Bring Me Back When the World Is Cured (self-released) **
Oumou Sangaré: Timbuktu (World Circuit) **
Scrunchies: Feral Coast (Dirt Nap) **
Shenseea: Alpha (Rich Immigrants/Interscope) **
Spoon: Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador) **
Sprints: A Modern Job (Nice Swan, EP) **
Superorganism: World Wide Pop (Domino) **
Sunny Sweeney: Married Alone (Aunt Daddy) **
Syd: Broken Hearts Club (Columbia) **
Sylvan Esso: No Rules Sandy (Loma Vista) **
Tank and the Bangas: Red Balloon (Verve Forecast) **
Tegan and Sara: Crybaby (Mom + Pop) **
Crystal Thomas: Now Dig This! (Dialtone -21) **
Vieux Farka Touré: Les Racines (World Circuit) **
Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin: Ali (Dead Oceans) **
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway: Crooked Tree (Nonesuch) **
Kurt Vile: (Watch My Moves) (Verve Forecast) **
Kelsey Waldon: No Regular Dog (Oh Boy) **
Wee Willie Walker and the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra: Not in My Lifetime (Blue Dot -21) **
The Weeknd: Dawn FM (XO/Republic) **
Wet Leg: Wet Leg (Domino) **
Hannah White: About Time (Paper Blue) **
Wilco: Cruel Country (dBpm) **
Hank Williams Jr.: Rich White Honky Blues (Easy Eye Sound) **
Billy Woods: Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studioz) **
Billy Woods: Church (Backwoodz Studioz) **

Also added the following older albums after freezing the 2021 year-end file:

Bruch: The Fool (Cut Surface/Trost -20) **
Guy Davis: Be Ready When I Call You (M.C. -21) **
Four Tet: Parallel (Text -20) **
Veronica Lewis: You Ain't Unlucky (Blue Heart -21) **
DJ Maphorisa/Kabza De Small: Scorpion Kings Live (New Money Gang -20) **
Scorpion Kings X Tresor: Rumble in the Jungle (Blaqboy -21) **
Selo I Ludy Performance Band: Bunch One (self-released -19) **
Babes Wodumo: Crown (West Ink -21) **

Reissues/Historic Music

The standard for historic music is a record where everything was recorded 10+ years ago, regardless of whether it's ever been in print before. Some past lists may have treated previously unreleased music as new (regardless of actual age), but I've never been able to manage that distinction consistently. This category also includes compilations of previously released music, including straight reissues, although my selection is very erratic.

1.		*Pere Ubu: The Lost Band: Live at Metro Cabaret, Chicago* (1993, Ubu Projex) Avant-punk band from Cleveland, formed 1975, David Thomas the singer and only continuous member (except for 1982-88 band hiatus). This particular band consisted of Jim Jones (guitar), Garo Yellin (cello), Tony Maimone (bass), and Scott Krauss (drums). As Thomas says: "It was a brilliant version of Pere Ubu, doomed by uncertainty in the business end of things." Maimone (who joined the band in 1976) left, then Krauss (an original member) and Yellin (a brief tenure, the only one with cello, and without keyboards, making him the secret sauce here). Especially striking is "The Story of My Life" (the title of their 1993 album).
2.		*Son House: Forever on My Mind* (1964, Easy Eye Sound)** Delta blues legend, b. 1902, recorded a handful of sides in 1930, got a more extended hearing from Alan Lomax in 1941-42, then got on with his life, working as a railroad porter and chef, until he got rediscovered in 1960s folk-blues revival. Robert Santelli, in The Best of the Blues: 101 Essential Blues Albums, ranked his 1941-42 sessions at 17, and a 1965 session at 41. This previously unreleased set was recorded just before his "rediscovery," and is as strikingly authoritative as anything he ever did. **
3.		Summer of Soul ( . . . Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): A Questlove Jam [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (1969, Legacy) Soundtrack to Questlove's documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of six free concerts held on Sundays from June 29 to August 24. The Festivals ran yearly from 1967 to 1974, and this particular one was filmed by Hal Tulchin, leaving Questlove 40 hours of video to choose from. The soundtrack offers 17 performances by 14 artists (The 5th Dimension, Sly & the Family Stone, and Nine Simone get two shots each; Mavis Staples appears in a piece with her family, then returns to join Mahalia Jackson in a gospel sequence). Sound is a bit rough in spots, but feels real and immediate. Film won an Oscar, but the soundtrack stands on its own. **
4.		*Tommy Womack: 30 Years Shot to Hell: An Anthology* (1987-2017, Schoolkids, 2CD) Singer-songwriter from Kentucky, more alt-rocker than country but his songs can fit and teach them a thing or two. Started with the band Government Cheese, which provides four songs here, plus three more for two bands he played in with Will Kimbrough (The Bis-Quits, Daddy), which leaves 35 from his solo work. More than half is remarkable, rest has a chance. May be too much, but he's entitled to include it all.
5.		*Wire: Not About to Die: Studio Demos 1977-1978* (Pinkflag)** Outtakes from the group's second and third albums (Chairs Missing and 154), only three songs making it to the final albums, but the demos appeared as a bootleg in the 1980s and eventually wound up on "deluxe editions" of the reissues. And if you don't know those albums, you really should start with the superb On Returning comp, which picks up most of their Pink Flag debut. Still, on its own this is remarkably lean and taut, perhaps a bit softer than the punk times called for, but fresher than most contemporary indie bands. **
6.		*Essiebons Special 1973-1984: Ghana Music Power House* (1973-84, Analog Africa -21) A compilation of from Ghana's Essiebons label, long headed by producer Dick Essilfie-Bondzie, leans more toward Afrobeat than the earlier highlife style. I usually prefer the light grace of highlife, but this overwhelming deluge of rhythm works too. **
7.		*Alhaji Waziri Oshomah: World Spirituality Classics 3: The Muslim Highlife of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah* (1978-84, Luaka Bop) Original name Osomegbe Ekperi, from Edo in Southern Nigeria, a region where Muslims and Christians reportedly live in relative harmony. Dates not specified, but three (of seven) tracks are also on a 1978-84 5-LP box set. Not the hottest highlife I've heard, but the laid-back groove has its own appeal.
8.		*África Negra: Antologia Vol. 1* (1981-95, Bongo Joe) Band from Sao Tome & Principe, on or off the coast between Nigeria and Congo, dates not totally clear but they recorded at least 10 albums 1981-95, broke up, reformed 2012. My first guess was geographical, a fusion of highlife with soukous highlights, but that's close enough the King Sunny Adé's juju. I doubt they'd hold up head-to-head, but at the moment they're sounding pretty great.
9.		Crossroads Kenya: East African Benga and Rumba, 1980-1985 (No Wahala Sounds) Seven singles (48:31) by as many bands, none I recall, but I couldn't name most of the bands on the so-far definitive Guitar Paradise of East Africa compilation. This may be second- or even third-tier, but that guitar sound is pretty hard to resist. **
10.		*Freddy Roland Y Su Orquesta De Moda: Freddy Roland Y Su Orquesta De Moda* (1968, Vampisoul)** Saxophonist, Ángel Pablo Bagni Stella, from Argentina (1932-2004), played with Pérez Prado, wound up in Peru (home of his wife, a cumbia singer known as Veronikha). Bandcamp page has no credits or dates, but this matches a 1968 LP, which Discogs has as Vol. II. No doubt someone could assemble a quality retrospective (perhaps even one of those 4-CD Proper Boxes), but this slice of time is pretty wonderful. **
11.		*John Ondolo: Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo* (1961-68, Mississippi) Tanzanian singer-songwriter, frequented the Kenyan scene in Nairobi, played guitar, a member of Vijana Jazz Band. This collects early singles. Feels primitive, but is still very beguiling.
12.		*Nastyfacts: Drive My Car + 2* (1981, Left for Dead, EP) Per Robert Christgau: "three white male NYC teens with their 18-year-old senior partner, black female composer-vocalist-bassist Kali Boyce. All three kick ass and then some." That shortchanges some details, like the skids and crashes on the title romp, or the male interjections on the closer. I might cavil about the length (7:38), but this is pretty tightly packed.

Also added the following older albums after freezing the 2021 year-end file:

Rip It Up: The Best of Specialty Records (1946-58, Craft)
Repeats 18 songs from Specialty Records Greatest Hits, but let's dock it for dropping two great ones: "Thrill Me" (Roy Milton and Camille Howard), and "Good Golly Miss Molly" (Little Richard). So you can also fault them for lack of imagination, but the label exists to restore indelible classics to vinyl, and that's what they do here. **

Honorable Mention

Additional non-jazz rated B+(***), listed alphabetically.

Terry Allen & the Panhandle Mystery Band: Bloodlines (1983, Paradise of Bachelors) **
Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut) **
The Detroit Escalator Co.: Soundtrack [313] + 6 (1996, Mental Groove/Musique Pour La Danse) **
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells: Live From Chicago Blues Festival 1964 (Good Time) **
Iftin Band: Mogadishu's Finest: The Al-Uruba Sessions (Ostinato) **
Kabaka International Guitar Band: Kabaka International Guitar Band (1977, Palenque) **
The Melodians: Pre-Meditation (1968-78, Trojan/Sanctuary -21) **
Bob Dowe/The Melodians: Build Me Up/Pre-Meditation (1968-78, Doctor Bird, 2CD) **
Lenny Kaye Presents Lightning Striking (1934-2013, Ace, 2CD -21) **
Jerry Lee Lewis: The Killer Keys of Jerry Lee Lewis (1956-60, Sun) **
Pedro Lima: Recordar É Viver: Antologia Vol. 1 (1981-87, Bongo Joe) **
Los Golden Boys: Cumbia De Juventud (1964-69, Mississippi) **
Luciano Luciani Y Sus Mulatos: Mulata, Vamos a La Salsa (1970, Vampisoul) **
Madonna: Finally Enough Love (Warner) **
Papé Nziengui: Kadi Yombo (1989, Awesome Tapes From Africa) **
Asha Puthli: The Essential Asha Puthi (1968-80, Mr. Bongo) **
Rise Jamaica! Jamaican Independence Special (1962, Trojan, 2CD) **
The Rolling Stones: Live at the El Mocambo (1977, Polydor, 2CD) **
Irma Thomas: Live! New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 (Good Time) **
Celestine Ukwu and His Philosophers National: No Condition Is Permanent (1971-74, Mississippi) **
Vis-a-Vis: The Best of Vis-a-Vis in Congo Style (1976, We Are Busy Bodies -21) **
Neil Young: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 1971 (Reprise) **

Also added the following older albums after freezing the 2021 year-end file:

None.

Notes

Additional new non-jazz records rated B+(**) or below (listed alphabetically by artist).

$ilkmoney: I Don't Give a Fuck About This Rap Shit, Imma Just Drop Until I Don't Feel Like It Anymore (DB$B) ** [B+(**)]
49 Winchester: Fortune Favors the Bold (New West) ** [B]
100 Gecs: Snake Eyes (Dog Show/Atlantic, EP) ** [B+(*)]
700 Bliss: Nothing to Declare (Hyperdub) ** [B+(*)]
Ab-Soul: Herbert (Top Dawg Entertainment) ** [B]
The Airport 77s: We Realize You Have a Choice (Jem) ** [B+(*)]
Aitch: Close to Home (Capitol) ** [B+(*)]
Poppy Ajudha: The Power in Us (Virgin) ** [B+(*)]
Deborah Allen: The Art of Dreaming (BFD) ** [B]
Alt-J: The Dream (Infectious Music) ** [B]
Alvvays: Blue Rev (Polyvinyl) ** [B+(**)]
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and Hi-Life Jazz (Agogo) ** [B]
Ingrid Andress: Good Person (Warner Music Nashville/Atlantic) ** [B+(**)]
Courtney Marie Andrews: Loose Future (Fat Possum) ** [B+(**)]
Horace Andy: Midnight Rocker (On-U Sound) ** [B+(*)]
Animal Collective: Time Skiffs (Domino) ** [B]
The Ano Nobo Quartet: The Strings of São Domingos (Ostinato) ** [B+(*)]
Stacy Antonel: Always the Outsider (self-released) ** [B+(*)]
Omar Apollo: Ivory (Warner) ** [B+(**)]
Archers of Loaf: Reason in Decline (Merge) ** [B+(*)]
Nia Archives: Forbidden Feelingz (Hijinxx, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Kwesi Arthur: Son of Jacob (Ground Up Chale) ** [B+(**)]
Auntie Flo & Sarathy Korwar: Shruti Dances (Make Music) ** [B+(**)]
Aurora: The Gods We Can Touch (Glassnote) ** [B]
Authentically Plastic: Raw Space (Hakuna Kulala) ** [B+(**)]
Avalanche Kaito: Avalanche Kaito (Glitterbeat) ** [B+(*)]
Daniel Avery: Ultra Truth (Phantasy Sound) ** [B+(**)]
Linda Ayupuka: God Created Everything (Mais Um Discos) ** [B+(**)]
Backxwash: His Happiness Shall Come First Even Though We Are Suffering (Ugly Hag) ** [B+(**)]
Bad Bunny: Un Verano Sin Ti (Rimas Entertainment) ** [B+(**)]
Lee Bains + the Glory Fires: Old-Time Folks (Don Giovanni) ** [B+(**)]
Kelsea Ballerini: Subject to Change (Black River) ** [B+(*)]
Band of Horses: Things Are Great (BMG) ** [B+(*)]
Caterina Barbieri: Spirit Exit (Light-Years) ** [B+(**)]
Bastille: Give Me the Future (Virgin/EMI) ** [B]
Batida: Neo Colonialismo (Crammed Discs) ** [B+(**)]
Ecko Bazz: Mmaso (Hakuna Kulala) ** [B+(**)]
Beach House: Once Twice Melody (Sub Pop) ** [B+(**)]
Kenny Beats: Louie (XL) ** [B+(*)]
Bedouin/DakhaBrakha: The Bedouin Reworks of DakhaBrakha (Human by Default, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Belle and Sebastian: A Bit of Previous (Matador) ** [B+(**)]
Benjamin Tod: Songs I Swore I'd Never Sing (Anti-Corp) ** [B+(*)]
Benny the Butcher: Tana Talk 4 (Griselda/Empire) ** [B+(**)]
Bruno Berle: No Reino Dos Afetos (Far Out) ** [B+(**)]
Yaya Bey: Remember Your North Star (Big Dada) ** [B+(**)]
Bibio: Bib10 (Warp) ** [B+(*)]
Big K.R.I.T.: Digital Roses Don't Die (BMG) ** [B+(**)]
Crow Billiken: If I Don't Have Red I Use Blue (self-released, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Bitchin Bajas: Bajascillators (Drag City) ** [B+(**)]
Black Country, New Road: Ants From Up There (Ninja Tune) ** [B+(*)]
The Black Dog: Concrete Reasoning EP (Dust Science, EP) ** [B+(*)]
The Black Keys: Dropout Boogie (Nonesuch/Easy Eye Sound) ** [B]
Bladee/Ecco2k: Crest (Year0001) ** [B+(*)]
Björk: Fossora (One Little Independent) ** [B]
Bloc Party: Alpha Games (Infectious/BMG) ** [B]
Priscilla Block: Welcome to the Block Party (InDent/Mercury Nashville) ** [B+(*)]
Rory Block: Ain't Nobody Worried: Celebrating Great Women of Song (Stony Plain) ** [B+(**)]
Jake Blount: The New Faith (Smithsonian Folkways) ** [B+(**)]
Blue Moon Marquee: Scream, Holler & Howl (Ilda) ** [B+(*)]
Bodysync: Radio Active (self-released) ** [B]
Axel Boman: Luz (Studio Barnhus) ** [B+(**)]
Bonobo: Fragments (Ninja Tune) ** [B+(*)]
Sarah Borges: Together Alone (Blue Corn Music) ** [B+(*)]
Boris: W (Sacred Bones) ** [B-]
The Broken Spokes: Where I Went Wrong (Broken Spokes Music) ** [B+(**)]
Zach Bryan: American Heartbreak (Warner, 2CD) [B+(**)]**
Buck 65/Tachichi: Flash Grenade (Black Buffalo) ** [B+(**)]
Burial: Streetlands (Hyperdub, EP) ** [B]
Burial: Antidawn EP (Hyperdub, EP) ** [B-]
Burna Boy: Love, Damini (Atlantic) ** [B+(**)]
Buruklyn Boyz: East Mpaka London (self-released) ** [B+(**)]
Kaitlin Butts: What Else Can She Do (self-released) ** [B+(*)]
The Cactus Blossoms: One Day (Walkie Talkie) ** [B]
Armani Caesar: The Liz 2 (Griselda) ** [B+(*)]
Ethel Cain: Preacher's Daughter (Daughters of Cain) ** [B+(*)]
Calexico: El Mirador (Anti-) ** [B+(*)]
Bill Callahan: YTILAER (Drag City) ** [B+(*)]
Camp Cope: Running With the Hurricane (Run for Cover) ** [B+(*)]
Loyle Carner: Hugo (EMI) ** [B+(**)]
Caroline: Caroline (Rough Trade) ** [B]
Tia Carroll: You Gotta Have It (Little Village Foundation -21) ** [B+(**)]
The Casual Dots: Sanguine Truth (Ixor Stix) ** [B+(**)]
Cat Power: Covers (Domino) ** [B]
Paul Cauthen: Country Coming Down (Thirty Tigers/Velvet Rose) ** [B+(*)]
Cave In: Heavy Pendulum (Relapse) ** [B-]
Central Cee: 23 (self-released) ** [B+(**)]
Sarah Mary Chadwick: Flipped It (Kill Rock Stars -EP) ** [B]
Chat Pile: God's Country (The Flenser) ** [B+(*)]
Che Noir: The Last Remnants (TCF Music Group, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Neneh Cherry: The Versions (EMI) ** [B]
Chicago Farmer & the Fieldnotes: Fore!!!! (Chicago Farmer, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Chief Keef: 4Nem (Glo Gang/RBC -21) ** [B]
Tyler Childers: Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? (Hickman Holler/RCA) ** [B+(*)]
Rachel Chinouriri: Better Off Without (Parlophone/Atlas, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Chouk Bwa & the Ångströmers: Ayiti Kongo Dub #1 (Bongo Joe, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Chronophage: Chronophage (Bruit Direct Disques) ** [B]
Callista Clark: Real to Me: The Way I Feel (Big Machine) ** [B+(*)]
Lindsay Clark: Carpe Noctem (Audio Sport) ** [B]
The Claudettes: The Claudettes Go Out! (Forty Below) ** [B+(*)]
Brent Cobb: And Now, Let's Turn to Page . . . (Ol' Buddy) ** [B+(**)]
Coco & Clair Clair: Sexy (self-released) ** [B+(*)]
Cola: Deep in View (Fire Talk) ** [B+(*)]
Luke Combs: Growin' Up (Columbia Nashville) ** [B+(*)]
Confucius MC: Somewhere (YNR Productions -21) ** [B+(**)]
Congotronics International: Where's the One (Crammed Discs, 2CD) ** [B+(**)]
Shemekia Copeland: Done Come Too Far (Alligator) ** [B+(**)]
Bob Corritore & Friends: Spider in My Stew (SWMAF/VizzTone -21) ** [B+(**)]
Elvis Costello & the Imposters: The Boy Named If (Capitol) ** [B+(*)]
Criolo: Sobre Viver (Oloko) ** [B+(**)]
Charley Crockett: Lil G.L. Presents: Jukebox Charley (Son of Davy) ** [B+(**)]
Charley Crockett: The Man From Waco (Son of Davy) ** [B+(**)]
Madison Cunningham: Revealer (Verve Forecast) ** [B+(**)]
Rosalie Cunningham: Two Piece Puzzle (Machine Elf) ** [B]
Curren$y & the Alchemist: Continuance (Jet Life) ** [B+(*)]
The Delines: The Sea Drift (Jealous Butcher) ** [B+(**)]
Denzel Curry: Melt My Eyez, See Your Future (PH/Loma Vista) ** [B+(**)]
Cypress Hill: Back in Black (MNRK) ** [B+(**)]
Sarah Davachi: Two Sisters (Late Music) ** [B+(*)]
Digga D: Noughty by Nature (CGM/EGA) ** [B+(*)]
Richard Dawson: The Ruby Cord (Domino) ** [B-]
Zella Day: Sunday in Heaven (Concord) ** [B+(*)]
Death Cab for Cutie: Asphalt Meadows (Atlantic) ** [B]
Vladislav Delay: Isoviha (Planet Mu) ** [B]
Destroyer: Labyrinthitis (Merge) ** [B+(**)]
Duke Deuce: Crunkstar (Quality Control/Motown) ** [B+(*)]
James Devane: Beauty Is Useless (Umeboshi) ** [B+(*)]
Glenn Dickson: Wider Than the Sky (Naftule's Dream) [B+(**)]
DJ 809: Unexpected (self-released, EP) ** [B]
DJ 809: EightOh! (self-released, EP) ** [B+(*)]
DJ Black Low: Monate WA Piano EP (Black Low Music, EP) ** [B+(**)]
DJ Marz Y Los Flying Turntables/DJ Jester the Filipino Fist: Made in USA (self-released) ** [B+(**)]
DJ Premier: Hip Hop 50 Vol. 1 (Mass Appeal, EP) ** [B+(**)]
DJ Travella: Mr Mixondo (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ** [B+(*)]
Djo: Decide (Awal) ** [B]
Dodie: Hot Mess (Doddleoddle, EP) ** [B]
Doechii: She/Her/Black B*tch (Top Dawg Entertainment/Capitol, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Stella Donnelly: Flood (Secretly Canadian) ** [B+(**)]
Dr. John: Things Happen That Way (Rounder) ** [B+(*)]
Drake: Honestly, Nevermind (OVO Sound/Republic) ** [B+(*)]
Drake & 21 Savage: Her Loss (OVO Sound/Republic) ** [B]
Drug Church: Hygiene (Pure Noise) ** [B]
Dubstar: Two (Northern Writes) ** [B+(*)]
Steve Earle & the Dukes: Jerry Jeff (New West) ** [B+(**)]
EarthGang: Ghetto Gods (Dreamville/Interscope) ** [B+(**)]
Edoheart: Pandemonium (Edoheart, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Eels: Extreme Witchcraft (E Works/PIAS) ** [B+(*)]
El Khat: Albat Alawi Op. 99 (Glitterbeat) ** [B+(*)]
Ella Mai: Heart on My Sleeve (10 Summers/Interscope) ** [B]
Elucid: I Told Bessie (Backwoodz Studioz) ** [B+(**)]
Coco Em: Kilumi (InFiné) ** [B+(*)]
Empath: Visitor (Fat Possum) ** [B]
Emperor X: The Lakes of Zones B and C (Dreams of Field) ** [B+(**)]
Brian Eno: Forever and Ever No More (Verve) ** [B+(*)]
Ensemble 0: Music Nuvolosa (Sub Rosa) ** [B+(**)]
Erin Rae: Lighten Up (Good Memory) ** [B+(*)]
Silvana Estrada: Marchita (Glassnote) ** [B+(*)]
Everything Everything: Raw Data Feel (AWAL) ** [B+(*)]
Brent Faiyaz: Wasteland (Lost Kids) ** [B+(*)]
Father John Misty: Chloë and the Next 20th Century (Sub Pop) ** [B]
The Fernweh: Torschlusspanik! (Winterlude) ** [B+(*)]
Bryan Ferry: Love Letters (BMG, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Joe Fiedler: Solo: The Howland Sessions (Multiphonics) [B+(**)]
First Aid Kit: Palomino (Columbia) ** [B+(*)]
FKA Twigs: Caprisongs (Young/Atlantic) ** [B+(**)]
Flasher: Love Is Yours (Domino) ** [B+(*)]
Flohio: Out of Heart (AWAL) ** [B+(**)]
Florence + the Machine: Dance Fever (Polydor) ** [B]
Fly Anakin: Frank (Lex) ** [B+(**)]
Foals: Life Is Yours (Warner) ** [B+(*)]
Fontaines DC: Skinty Fia (Partisan) ** [B+(*)]
Ruthie Foster: Healing Time (Blue Corn Music) ** [B]
Foxes: The Kick (PIAS) ** [B+(*)]
Mabe Fratti: Se Ve Desde Aquí (Unheard Of Hope) ** [B+(**)]
Fred Again: Actual Life (January 1-September 9 2022) (Atlantic) ** [B+(*)]
John Fullbright: The Liar (Blue Dirt/Thirty Tigers) ** [B+(**)]
Joel Futterman/Chad Fowler: Timeless Moments (Mahakala Music) ** [B+(**)]
Alex G: God Save the Animals (Domino) ** [B]
Gabriels: Angels & Queens Part 1 (Atlas Artists/Parlophone) ** [B+(**)]
Liam Gallagher: C'mon You Know (Warner) ** [B+(*)]
Gang of Youths: Angel in Realtime (Warner) ** [B+(*)]
Gas: Der Lange Marsch (Kompakt -21) ** [B+(*)]
Ghost: Impera (Loma Vista) ** [B-]
Gilla Band: Most Normal (Rough Trade) ** [B]
Girlpool: Forgiveness (Anti-) ** [B]
Phoebe Green: Lucky Me (Chess Club) ** [B+(**)]
Ghais Guevara: May Ur Melanin Shield U From Ragnarok (self-released, EP -20) ** [B+(**)]
Ghais Guevara: Black Bolshevik (self-released, EP -21) ** [B+(**)]
Ghais Guevara: There Will Be No Super-Slave (self-released) ** [B+(*)]
Joy Guidry: Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre) ** [B+(**)]
Gunna: DS4EVER (YSL/300 Entertainment) ** [B+(**)]
Gwenno: Tresor (Heavenly) ** [B+(**)]
Hallelujah the Hills: The Music of the Beatles as Channeled in 1958 by the Echo Lake Home for the Potentially Clairvoyant (Hallelujah the Hills) ** [B+(*)]
Aldous Harding: Warm Chris (4AD) ** [B+(**)]
Ben Harper: Bloodline Maintenance (Chrysalis) ** [B+(**)]
Clay Harper: They'll Never Miss a Five (Clay Harper Music) ** [B+(*)]
Hatchie: Giving the World Away (Secretly Canadian) ** [B+(**)]
Walker Hayes: Country Stuff: The Album (Monument) ** [B]
Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band: Dear Scott (Modern Sky) ** [B]
Joshua Hedley: Neon Blue (New West) ** [B+(**)]
Hellbound Glory: The Immortal Hellbound Glory: Nobody Knows You (Black Country) ** [B+(*)]
Hercules & Love Affair: In Amber (Skint/BMG) ** [B]
Marina Herlop: Pripyat (Pan) ** [B+(*)]
Hickeys: Fragile Structure (self-released) ** [B+(**)]
Dylan Hicks & Small Screens: Airport Sparrows (Soft Launch) ** [B+(**)]
Hippo Campus: LP3 (Grand Jury) ** [B+(**)]
Homeboy Sandman: There in Spirit (Mello Music Group, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Horsegirl: Versions of Modern Performance (Matador) ** [B+(*)]
Hot Chip: Freakout/Release (Domino) ** [B+(*)]
Hudson Mohawke: Cry Sugar (Warp) ** [B+(*)]
Michael Hurley: The Time of the Foxgloves (No Quarter -21) ** [B+(**)]
Jenny Hval: Classic Objects (4AD) ** [B+(**)]
Jason Kao Hwang/J.A. Deane [Dino Duo]: Uncharted Faith (Tone Science Music/Blue Coast Music) ** [B+(**)]
Ibibio Sound Machine: Electricity (Merge) ** [B+(**)]
Shawneci Icecold & Fatlip: Carte Blanche (Underground45 -21) ** [B+(*)]
Shawneci Icecold & Rob Swift: For the Heads That Break (Fat Beats) ** [B+(*)]
Ryoji Ikeda: Ultratronics (Noton) ** [B+(*)]
Imarhan: Aboogi (City Slang) ** [B+(**)]
Dan Israel: Seriously (self-released) ** [B+(*)]
Jeremy Ivey: Invisible Pictures (Anti-) ** [B]
J-Hope: Jack in the Box (HYBE) ** [B+(*)]
Julia Jacklin: Pre Pleasure (Polyvinyl) ** [B+(*)]
Colin James: Open Road (Stony Plain -21) ** [B+(*)]
Japanese Television: Space Fruit Vineyard (Tip Top) ** [B-]
JER: Bothered/Unbothered (Bad Time) ** [B+(*)]
JID: The Forever Story (Dreamville/Interscope) ** [B+(**)]
Jockstrap: I Love You Jennifer B (Rough Trade) ** [B+(**)]
Jeremiah Johnson: Hi-Fi Drive By (Ruf) ** [B]
Sly Johnson: 55.4 (BBE) ** [B+(**)]
Freedy Johnston: Back on the Road to You (Forty Below) ** [B+(**)]
Sass Jordan: Bitches Blues (Stony Plain) ** [B+(*)]
Kathryn Joseph: For You Who Are Wronged (Rock Action) ** [B+(*)]
Junglepussy: JP5000 (self-released, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Just Mustard: Heart Under (Partisan) ** [B+(*)]
Ka: Woeful Studies (Iron Works, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Kanda Bongo Man: Yolele! Live in Concert (No Wahala Sounds -21) ** [B+(**)]
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges: Texas Moon (Dead Oceans, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Kanda Bongo Man: Kekete Bue (No Wahala Sounds) ** [B+(**)]
Kyle Kidd: Soothsayer (American Dreams) ** [B+(*)]
Angélique Kidjo/Ibrahim Maalouf: Queen of Sheba (Mister Ibé) ** [B+(**)]
EG Kight: The Trio Sessions (Blue South -21) ** [B+(**)]
Kilo Kish: American Gurl (Kisha Soundscape + Audio) ** [B+(*)]
Randall King: Shot Glass (Warner Nashville) ** [B+(**)]
King Princess: Hold On Baby (Zelig/Columbia) ** [B+(**)]
KMRU & Aho Ssan: Limen (Subtext) ** [B+(*)]
Knucks: Alpha Place (Nodaysoff) ** [B+(**)]
Koffee: Gifted (RCA) ** [B+(**)]
K.O.G.: Zone 6, Agege (Pura Vida Sounds) **
Kokoroko: Could We Be More (Brownswood) ** [B]
The Koreatown Oddity: Isthisforreal? (Stones Throw) ** [B+(*)]
David Krakauer & Kathleen Tagg: Mazel Tov Cocktail Party! (Table Pounding) ** [B+(**)]
Pierre Kwenders: José Louis and the Paradox of Love (Arts & Crafts) ** [B+(*)]
Kyle: It's Not So Bad (self) ** [B+(*)]
Anysia Kym: Soliloquy (self-released, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Steve Lacy: Gemini Rights (RCA) ** [B]
Lambchop: The Bible (Merge/City Slang) ** [B]
Nikki Lane: Denim & Diamonds (New West) ** [B+(**)]
Larkin Poe: Blood Harmony (Tricki-Woo) ** [B+(*)]
Latto: 777 (RCA) ** [B+(**)]
Lauv: All 4 Nothing (Virgin) ** [B+(*)]
Lavender Country: Blackberry Rose and Other Songs & Sorrows From Lavender Country (Don Giovanni) ** [B+(**)]
Avril Lavigne: Love Sux (DTA/Elektra) ** [B+(**)]
Cate Le Bon: Pompeii (Mexican Summer) ** [B+(*)]
Leikeli47: Shape Up (Hardcover/RCA) ** [B+(**)]
MJ Lenderman: Boat Songs (Dear Life) ** [B+(**)]
Ari Lennox: Age/Sex/Location (Dreamville/Interscope) ** [B+(**)]
Leroy: Dariacore 2: Enter Here, Hell to the Left (self-released -21) ** [B+(**)]
Let's Eat Grandma: Two Ribbons (Transgressive) ** [B+(*)]
Jeffrey Lewis: When That Really Old Cat Dies (self-released, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Lykke Li: Eyeye (PIAS) ** [B+(*)]
Lil Silva: Yesterday Is Heavy (Nowhere) ** [B+(*)]
Linqua Franqa: Bellringer (Ernest Jennings) ** [B+(**)]
Aynsley Lister: Along for the Ride (Straight Talkin') ** [B]
Logic: Vinyl Days (Def Jam) ** [B+(**)]
Lyle Lovett: 12th of June (Verve) ** [B+(**)]
Mabel: About Last Night . . . (Polydor) ** [B+(**)]
Maddie & Tae: Through the Madness (Mercury Nashville, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Maddie & Tae: Through the Madness Vol. 2 (Mercury Nashville, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Janiva Magness: Hard to Kill (Fathead) ** [B]
Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder: Get on Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Nonesuch) ** [B+(**)]
Kali Malone: Living Torch (Portraits GRM) ** [B]
Roc Marciano & the Alchemist: The Elephant Man's Bones (ALC/Marci/Empire) ** [B+(**)]
Johnny Marr: Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 (BMG) ** [B+(*)]
The Mars Volta: The Mars Volta (Clouds Hill) ** [B]
Martha: Please Don't Take Me Back (Dirtnap) ** [B+(*)]
Marxist Love Disco Ensemble: MLDE (Mr Bongo) ** [B+(**)]
The Master Musicians of Jajouka Led by Bachir Attir: Dancing Under the Moon (Glitterbeat, 2CD) ** [B+(*)]
Matmos: Regards/Uklony Dla Boguslaw Schaeffer (Thrill Jockey) ** [B+(*)]
Mavi: Laughing So Hard, It Hurts (United Masters) ** [B+(**)]
Carson McHone: Still Life (Merge) ** [B+(*)]
Arlo McKinley: This Mess We're In (Oh Boy) ** [B+(*)]
Tommy McLain: I Ran Down Every Dream (Yep Roc) ** [B+(*)]
Melt Yourself Down: Pray for Me I Don't Fit (Decca) ** [B+(*)]
Vic Mensa: Vino Valentino (Roc Nation, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Meridian Brothers/El Grupo Renacimento: Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimento (Ansonia) ** [B+(**)]
Metric: Formentera (Metric Music International) ** [B+(**)]
Metro Boomin: Heroes & Villains (Boominati/Republic) ** [B+(**)]
Metronomy: Small World (Because Music) ** [B+(**)]
Midlake: For the Sake of Bethel Woods (ATO) ** [B]
Flo Milli: You Still Here, Ho? (RCA) ** [B+(**)]
Anaïs Mitchell: Anaïs Mitchell (BMG) ** [B+(**)]
Mitski: Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans) ** [B+(*)]
Moderat: More D4ta (Monkeytown) ** [B+(**)]
Momma: Household Name (Polyvinyl) ** [B+(*)]
Kevin Morby: This Is a Photograph (Dead Oceans) ** [B+(*)]
John Moreland: Birds in the Ceiling (Thirty Tigers) ** [B+(*)]
Gurf Morlix: The Tightening of the Screws (Rootball -21) ** [B+(*)]
Gurf Morlix: Caveman (Rootball) ** [B+(**)]
Van Morrison: What's It Gonna Take? (Exile) ** [B+(*)]
PJ Morton: Watch the Sun (Morton/Empire) ** [B+(**)]
Nancy Mounir: Nozhet El Nofous (Simsara) ** [B]
Mr. Fingers: Around the Sun Pt. 1 (Alleviated) ** [B+(**)]
Muna: Muna (Saddest Factory/Dead Oceans) ** [B+(*)]
Mush: Down Tools (Memphis Industries) ** [B+(**)]
My Idea: That's My Idea (Hardly Art, EP -21) ** [B+(**)]
The Mysterines: Reeling (Fiction) ** [B]
Youssou N'Dour Et Le Super Etoile De Dakar: Special Fin D'Annee 2022 (self-released, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Nas: Magic (Mass Appeal, EP -21) ** [B+(**)]
Nina Nastasia: Riderless Horse (Temporary Residence) ** [B+(*)]
Rico Nasty: Las Ruinas (Sugar Trap/Atlantic) ** [B+(**)]
Native Sound System: Nativeworld (Native) ** [B+(*)]
Rachika Nayar: Heaven Come Crashing (NNA Tapes) ** [B+(**)]
No Age: People Helping People (Drag City) ** [B+(**)]
North Mississippi Allstars: Set Sail (New West) ** [B+(*)]
Mark O'Connor: Markology II (OMAC -21) ** [B+(*)]
Obongjayar: Some Nights I Dream of Doors (September) ** [B+(**)]
Off!: Free LSD (Fat Possum) ** [B+(**)]
Ol' Savannah: They Lie in Wait (Anticapital) ** [B+(**)]
Old Crow Medicine Show: Paint This Town (ATO) ** [B]
Angel Olsen: Big Time (Jagjaguwar) ** [B+(*)]
JS Ondara: Spanish Villager No: 3 (Verve Forecast) ** [B+(*)]
Beth Orton: Weather Alive (Partisan) ** [B+(**)]
Ozzy Osbourne: Patient Number 9 (Epic) ** [B-]
Kelly Lee Owens: LP.8 (Smalltown Supersound) ** [B]
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom: Reset (Domino) ** [B+(**)]
Panic Shack: Baby Shack (Brace Yourself, EP) ** [B+(**)]
The Paranoyds: Talk Talk Talk (Third Man) ** [B+(*)]
Dolly Parton: Run, Rose, Run (Butterfly) ** [B+(**)]
Sean Paul: Scorcha (Island) ** [B+(**)]
Peaness: World Full of Worry (Totally Snick) ** [B+(**)]
Katy J Pearson: Sound of the Morning (Heavenly) ** [B+(*)]
Orville Peck: Bronco (Columbia) ** [B+(*)]
Perfume Genius: Ugly Season (Matador) ** [B+(*)]
Petrol Girls: Baby (Hassle) ** [B+(**)]
Phife Dawg: Forever (Smokin' Needles/AWAL) ** [B+(**)]
Phoenix: Alpha Zulu (Glassnote) ** [B+(*)]
Photay With Carlos Nino: An Offering (International Anthem) ** [B]
PinkPantheress: Take Me Home (Warner Music, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Yunè Pinku: Bluff (Platoon, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Pkew Pkew Pkew: Open Bar (Dine Alone) ** [B+(*)]
Placebo: Never Let Me Go (So/Elevator Lady) ** [B+(*)]
Plaid: Feorm Falorx (Warp) ** [B+(**)]
Porridge Radio: Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky (Secretly Canadian) ** [B+(*)]
Shelton Powe: Shelton Powe (Music Maker) ** [B+(**)]
PUP: The Unraveling of PUPTheBand (Rise/BMG) ** [B+(**)]
Pussy Riot: Matriarchy Now (Neon Gold) ** [B+(*)]
Charlie Puth: Charlie (Atlantic) ** [B+(**)]
Pye Corner Audio: Let's Emerge! (Sonic Cathedral) ** [B+(**)]
Quelle Chris: Deathfame (Mello Music Group) ** [B+(*)]
Joe Rainey: Niineta (37d03d) ** [B+(**)]
Ravyn Lenae: Hypnos (Atlantic) ** [B+(**)]
Raw Poetic & Damu the Fudgemunk: Laminated Skies (Def Pressé) ** [B+(**)]
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Unlimited Love (Warner) ** [B]
Redveil: Learn 2 Swim (self-released) ** [B]
Eli "Paperboy" Reed: Down Every Road (Yep Roc) ** [B-]
Iara Rennó: Oríkì (Dobra Discos) ** [B+(**)]
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn: Pigments (Merge) ** [B]
Rizomagic: Voltaje Raizal (Disasters by Choice -21) ** [B+(**)]
The Duke Robillard Band: They Called It Rhythm & Blues (Stoney Plain) ** [B+(**)]
Maggie Rogers: Surrender (Capitol) ** [B+(*)]
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: Endless Rooms (Sub Pop) ** [B]
Daniel Rossen: You Belong There (Warp) ** [B-]
Mark Rubin (Jew of Oklahoma): The Triumph of Assimilation (Rubinchik -21) ** [B+(**)]
Alma Russ: Fool's Gold (self-released) ** [B+(**)]
RXK Nephew: Slitherman Activated (Towhead -21) ** [B+(**)]
RZA Vs. Bobby Digital: Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater (MNRK, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Huerco S.: Plonk (Incienso) ** [B+(*)]
The Sadies: Colder Streams (Yep Roc) ** [B]
Sampa the Great: As Above, So Below (Loma Vista) ** [B+(**)]
Sasami: Squeeze (Domino) ** [B+(**)]
Sault: 11 (Forever Living Originals) ** [B+(*)]
Sault: AIIR (Forever Living Originals) ** [B]
Sault: Air (Forever Living Originals) ** [B]
Sault: Earth (Forever Living Originals) ** [B+(*)]
Sault: Today & Tomorrow (Forever Living Originals) ** [B+(*)]
Sault: Untitled (God) (Forever Living Originals) ** [B]
Mista Savona: Havana Meets Kingston Part 2 (Cumbancha) ** [B+(**)]
Rina Sawayama: Hold the Girl (Dirty Hit) ** [B+(**)]
Scalping: Void (Houndstooth) ** [B+(**)]
Sea Power: Everything Was Forever (Golden Chariot) ** [B]
Selo I Ludy Performance Band: Bunch One (self-released -19) ** [B+(**)]
Serengeti: Kaleidoscope III (Audio Recon) ** [B+(**)]
Sevdaliza: Raving Dahlia (Twisted Elegance, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Shamir: Heterosexuality (AntiFragile) ** [B+(*)]
Joan Shelley: The Spur (No Quarter) ** [B+(**)]
Maya Shenfeld: In Free Fall (Thrill Jockey) ** [B+(*)]
Amanda Shires: Take It Like a Man (ATO) ** [B+(**)]
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers: Nightroamer (Abeyance) ** [B+(**)]
ShrapKnel: Metal Lung (Backwoodz Studioz) ** [B+(*)]
Shygirl: Nymph (Because Music) ** [B+(*)]
Sigrid: How to Let Go (Island) ** [B+(*)]
Oliver Sim: Hideous Bastard (Young/XL) ** [B+(*)]
Sonny Singh: Chardi Kala (self-released) ** [B]
Sinkane: Cartoons in the Night Vol. 1: Live 2019 (City Slang) **
The Smile: A Light for Attracting Attention (XL) ** [B+(*)]
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith: Let's Turn It Into Sound (Ghostly International) ** [B+(*)]
Soccer Mommy: Sometimes Forever (Loma Vista) ** [B+(*)]
Sofi Tukker: Wet Tennis (Ultra Music) ** [B+(**)]
Soft Cell: Happiness Not Included (BMG) ** [B+(**)]
SonnyJim & the Purist: White Girl Wasted (Daupe, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Kate Soper Feat. Sam Pluta: The Understanding of All Things (New Focus) ** [B-]
Soul Glo: Diaspora Problems (Epitaph) ** [B+(*)]
Caroline Spence: True North (Rounder) ** [B+(**)]
Jon Spencer & the HITmakers: Spencer Gets It Lit (In the Red) ** [B-]
Vic Spencer x Small Professor: Mudslide (Coalmine) ** [B+(*)]
Bruce Springsteen: Only the Strong Survive (Columbia) ** [B]
Sprints: Manifesto (Nice Swan, EP -21) ** [B+(*)]
Vince Staples: Ramona Park Broke My Heart (Blacksmith/Motown) ** [B+(**)]
Star Feminine Band: In Paris (Born Bad) ** [B+(**)]
Carl Stone: Wat Dong Moon Lek (Unseen Worlds) ** [B]
Stormzy: This Is What I Mean (Def Jam) ** [B]
Bartees Strange: Farm to Table (4AD) ** [B+(*)]
Stromae: Multitude (Mosaert) ** [B+(**)]
Suede: Autofiction (BMG) ** [B]
Harry Styles: Harry's House (Columbia) ** [B]
Styrofoam Winos: Styrofoam Winos Play Their Favorite M. Hurley Songs (Sophomore Lounge) ** [B+(*)]
The Sun Sawed in 1/2: Before the Fall (self-released, EP) ** [B]
Sunflower Bean: Headful of Sugar (Mom + Pop) ** [B+(**)]
Charlie Sutton: Trout Takes (Chuckwagon, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Earl Sweatshirt: Sick! (Tan Cressida/Warner, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Swedish House Mafia: Paradise Again (Republic) ** [B+(**)]
SZA: SOS (Top Dawg/RCA) ** [B+(**)]
Jamie T: The Theory of Whatever (Polydor) ** [B]
Tanya Tagaq: Tongues (Six Shooter) ** [B+(**)]
Charm Taylor: She Is the Future (Sinking City -21) ** [B+(**)]
Joanne Shaw Taylor: Blues From the Heart: Live (KTBA) ** [B+(*)]
Joanne Shaw Taylor: Nobody\'s Fool (Keeping the Blues Alive) ** [B+(*)]
Tears for Fears: The Tipping Point (Concord) ** [B-]
Teddy & the Rough Riders: Teddy & the Rough Riders (self-released, EP) ** [B]
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers: Pretty Good for a Girl Band (Domestic La La, EP) ** [B+(*)]
They Hate Change: Finally, New (Jagjaguwar) ** [B+(*)]
Thick: Happy Now (Epitaph) ** [B+(**)]
Tomberlin: I Don't Know Who Needs to Hear This . . . (Saddle Creek) ** [B+(*)]
Toro Y Moi: Mahal (Dead Oceans) ** [B]
Two Shell: Home (Mainframe Audio, EP) ** [B+(*)]
UNKLE: Ronin II (self-released) ** [B+(**)]
Valerie June: Under Cover (Fantasy, EP) ** [B]
Sharon Van Etten: We've Been Going About This All Wrong (Jagjaguwar) ** [B+(*)]
Kate Vargas: Rumpumpo (Bandaloop -21) ** [B+(**)]
Pictoria Vark: The Parts I Dread (Get Better) ** [B+(*)]
Eddie Vedder: Earthling (Seattle Surf/Republic) ** [B]
Laura Veirs: Found Light (Bella Union) ** [B+(**)]
Viagra Boys: Cave World (Year0001) ** [B+(*)]
Anna Von Hausswolff: Live at Montreux Jazz Festival (Southern Lord) ** [B]
WA Records: If You Fart Make It Sound Good (WA) ** [B]
Alune Wade: Sultan (Enja) ** [B]
Warpaint: Radiate Like This (Virgin) ** [B+(*)]
Wau Wau Collectif: Mariage (Sahel Sounds) ** [B+(*)]
Dallas Wayne: Coldwater, Tennessee (Audium/BFD) ** [B+(*)]
The Weather Station: How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars (Fat Possum) ** [B+(*)]
Wednesday: Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling 'Em Up (Orindal) ** [B+(*)]
Orlando Weeks: Hop Up (PIAS) ** [B+(*)]
Whatever the Weather: Whatever the Weather (Ghostly International) ** [B]
Jack White: Fear of the Dawn (Third Man) ** [B-]
Jack White: Entering Heaven Alive (Third Man) ** [B-]
The Whitmore Sisters: Ghost Stories (Red House) ** [B+(**)]
Wild Up: Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy (New Amsterdam) ** [B+(**)]
Wiri Donna: Being Alone (self-released, EP) ** [B]
The Wonder Years: The Hum Goes On Forever (Hopeless) ** [B]
Working Men's Club: Fear Fear (Heavenly) ** [B+(**)]
Wrecking Crew: Sedale Threat (self-released) ** [B+(**)]
Wu-Lu: Loggerhead (Warp) ** [B+(*)]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Cool It Down (Secretly Canadian) ** [B+(**)]
Years & Years: Night Call (Polydor) ** [B+(**)]
Yelawolf & Shooter Jennings: Sometimes Y (Slumerican) ** [B]
Yeule: Glitch Princess (Bayonet) ** [B+(**)]
Neil Young + Promise of the Real: Noise & Flowers (Reprise) ** [B+(**)]
Yung Kayo: DFTK (Sevensevenseven/YSL) ** [B+(**)]
Zola Jesus: Arkhon (Sacred Bones) ** [B+(**)]
Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono (Canvasback) ** [B+(*)]
Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute to John Anderson (Easy Eye Sound) ** [B+(**)]

Additional reissued/archival non-jazz records rated B+(**) or below (listed alphabetically by artist).

Terry Allen & the Panhandle Mystery Band: Smokin the Dummy (1980, Paradise of Bachelors) ** [B+(**)]
Suzi Analogue: Infinite Zonez (2016-19, Disciples) ** [B+(*)]
Biluka Y Los Canibales: Leaf-Playing in Quito, 1960-1965 (Honest Jon's) ** [B+(**)]
Broadcast: Maida Vale Sessions (1997-2003, Warp) ** [B+(*)]
Ray Charles: Live in Stockholm 1972 (Tangerine) ** [B+(*)]
Bob Corritore & Friends: Down Home Blues Revue (SWMAF/VizzTone) ** [B+(**)]
Joyce With Mauricio Maestro: Natureza (1977, Far Out) ** [B+(**)]
Jens Lekman: The Cherry Trees Are Still in Blossom (2002-03, Secretly Canadian) ** [B+(**)]
Galcher Lustwerk: 100% Galcher (2013, Ghostly International) ** [B+(**)]
Money for Guns: Dead Tracks (2007-20, Money for Guns) ** [B]
Ephat Mujuru & the Spirit of the People: Mbavaira (1983, Awesome Tapes From Africa, EP -21) ** [B+(*)]
Orchestre Massako: Orchestre Massako (1979-86, Analog Africa, EP) ** [B+(*)]
Orchestre Volta-Jazz: Air Volta (1974-77, Numero Group) ** [B+(**)]
Ann Peebles & the Hi Rhythm Section: Live in Memphis (1982, Memphis International) ** [B+(**)]
Prince and the Revolution: Live (1985, NPG/Legacy, 2CD) ** [B+(**)]
Lou Reed: Words & Music, May 1965 (Light in the Attic) ** [B]
Lou Reed: I'm So Free: The 1971 RCA Demos (RCA -21) ** [B+(**)]
Owiny Sigoma Band: The Lost Tapes (2015-19, Brownswood -21) ** [B+(**)]
Soft Machine: Facelift: France & Holland (1970, Cuneiform, 2CD) ** [B]
Sonic Youth: In/Out/In (2000-10, Three Lobed) ** [B+(**)]
Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home (2011, Anti-) ** [B+(**)]
Charles Stepney: Step on Step (International Anthem) ** [B]
Stereolab: Pulse of the Early Brain [Switched On Volume 5] (1992-2008, Duophonic/Warp, 2CD) ** [B+(**)]
Norma Tanega: I'm the Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings 1964-1971 (Anthology) ** [B-]
Irma Thomas: Full Time Woman: The Lost Cotillion Album (1972, Real Gone Music) ** [B]
The Trypes: Music for Neighbors (1984, Pravda) ** [B+(**)]
Neil Young: Royce Hall 1971 (Reprise) ** [B+(**)]
Neil Young: Citizen Kane Jr. Blues (1974, Reprise) ** [B+(**)]
Neil Young With Crazy Horse: Toast (2001, Reprise) ** [B+(**)]
Brasil Novo (Música Macondo) ** [B+(**)]
A Chant About the Beauty of the Moon at Night: Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters: Lost + Rare Performances 1913-1921 (Magnificent Sounds) ** [B]
Cumbia Sabrosa: Tropical Sound System Bangers From the Discos Fuentes Vaults 1961-1981 (Rocafort, EP) ** [B+(**)]
Disco Reggae Rockers (1973-86, Soul Jazz) ** [B]
Lèspri Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music From Guadeloupe 1981-2010 (Séance Centre) ** [B+(**)]

New non-jazz records I haven't heard estimated to have a 2% (or better) chance of making the A-list if/when I finally hear them (limited sampling grades appear here, but 2% chances drop significantly under ++):

Ohyung: Imagine Naked! (NNA Tapes)
Rival Consoles: Now Is (Erased Tapes)

Reissued non-jazz records I haven't heard estimated to have a 2% (or better) chance of making the A-list if/when I finally hear them:

Lightnin' Hopkins: Lightnin' in New York (1960, Candid)