KGNU DJs Top 10 Albums of 2022

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2022 KGNU DJ Top 10 Albums

The end of 2022 is here, and our DJs are taking a look back at their favorite releases from this year. See what albums your favorite KGNU DJs loved in 2022!

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Andy Zicklin

In no apparent order!

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Hutch Harris	Suck up all the Oxygen	Hutch Harris
2	Sugar Britches	Noone Cares it's your Birthday	Pantalones Del Azucar
3	The Burning Hell	Garbage Island	The Burning Hell
4	The Fratellis	Half Drunk Under a Full Moon (Deluxe)	The Fratellis under license to Cooking Vinyl
5	Pit Pony	World To Me	Clue Records
6	Jazz Butcher	Highest in the Land	Tapete
7	Andy Prieboy	One and One Make Three	Andy Prieboy
8	Robyn Hitchcock	Shufflemania	Tiny Ghost
9	The Red Tack	Judy	The Red Tack
10	Gasoline Lollipops	Nightmares	Gasoline Lollipops

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Bob Cosmo

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	The Frightnrs	Always	Daptone Records
2	Billy Woods	Aethiopes / Church	Backwoodz
3	Kendrick Lamar	Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers	Aftermath
4	Sarathy Korwar	KALAK	The Leaf Label
5	ELUCID	I told Bessie	Backwoodz
6	FOANS	Gateway	100% Silk
7	Elusive	Allusions	Alpha Pup
8	Steve Lacy	Gemini Rights	L-M
9	Yungmorpheus	Up Against the Wall: A Degree of Lunacy	Bad Taste
10	Anteloper	Pink Dolphins	International Anthem

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Cal Huss

A ripper of a year for new music. Lots of runners-up, but feel good about what landed here. IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BECAUSE I CAN'T HANDLE THE PRESSURE!

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Aoife Nessa Francis	Protector	Partisan Records
2	Danger Mouse & Black Thought	Cheat Codes	BMG
3	Hermanos Gutiérrez	El Bueno Y El Malo	Easy Eye Sound
4	Kendrick Lamar	Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers	pgLang/Interscope
5	Kikagaku Moyo	Kumoyo Island	Guruguru Brain
6	Kutiman	Open	Siyal
7	Panda Bear & Sonic Boom	Reset	Domino
8	Romare	Fantasy	You See
9	SAULT	11	Forever Living Originals
10	Work Money Death	Thought, Action, Reaction, Interaction	ATA

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Cary Wolfson

Here's my vote for the best blues album of 2022.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Demetria Taylor	Doin' What I'm Supposed to Do	Delmark

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D Rider

D Rider's 2022 Soul + R&B Top 10.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Silk Sonic	An Evening with Silk Sonic	WMG (on behalf of Atlantic Records)
2	Tank & The Bangas	Red Balloons	UMG Recordings, Inc.
3	Lee Fields	Sentimental Fool	Daptone Records
4	Amber Mark	Three Dimensions Deep	A PMR / EMI recording
5	Thee Sacred Souls	Thee Sacred Souls	Daptone
6	Sudan Archives	Natural Brown Prom Queen	Stones Throw
7	J Red (the Nephew)	Nephew Swing	JESSE Redmond
8	Smino	Luv 4 Rent	Motown Records
9	Monophonics	Sage Motel	COLEMINE RECORDS
10	V.C.R.	The Chronicles of a Caterpiller: The Egg	Leaving Records

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D Rider

D Rider’s overall 2022 Top 10 Albums.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Wet Leg	Chaise Lounge	Domino
2	Bomba Estereo	Deja	Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC
3	Hiatus Kaiyote	Mood Valiant (The Remixes)	Ninja Tune Ltd (on behalf of Brainfeeder)
4	Elito Reve Y Su Charangon	Evolution 6.5	Elito Reve Y Su Charangon
5	Charlotte Adigery + Bolis Pupil	Topical Dancer	Bounty & Banana
6	Stromae	Multitude	Mosaert Label
7	Ibibio Sound System	Electricity	Merge records
8	The Harlem Gospel Travelers	Look Up!	COLEMINE RECORDS
9	Various	Take Me To the River: New Orleans	Petaluma Records
10	Pongo	Sakidila	Universal Music

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Damon Haley

Go KGNU!

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Wet Leg	Wet Leg	Domino
2	Elvis Costello & The Imposters	The Boy Named If	Capitol
3	Plains	I Walked With You a Ways	Anti
4	Horace Andy	Midnight Rocker	On-U Sound
5	Tim Bernardes	Mil Coisas Invismveis	Psychic Hotline
6	Eli Winter	Eli Winter	Three Lobed Recordings
7	Tommy McLain	I Ran Down Every Dream	Yep Roc Records
8	The Unthanks	Sorrows Away	Rabble Rouser
9	Marina Allen	Centrifics	Fire Records
10	Sylvie	Sylvie	Full Time Hobby

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Dave Alex

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Sun's Signature	Sun's Signature	Partisan Records
2	E23 & Chris Mosdell	Consumed By Ecstatic Cargoes	Ronin Janitor Records
3	The Detox Twins	Dead Horse Ghost	Vorderhaus
4	Mordant Arrow	Death Shapes	Owlripper Recordings
5	Acidbat	Laundry Cuts	Acidbat
6	Maschine Brennt	Puls	Razgrom Music
7	Dopplereffekt	Neurotelepathy	Leisure System
8	Yamaoka	Small Theater	Carpe Sonum
9	21 DOWNBEAT	Dusche	Keller Germany
10	AMANDRA/MATTHEIS	Lettre Ouverte	Nous Klaer Audio

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Deeprawk Dave

Smurfin was a short lived form of electro Hip Hop, primarily released in 1982. In 2022 we dig deep to celebrate 40 years of Smurfin.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Spyder D	Smerphies Dance 12"	Telestar Cassettes
2	The Extra T's	E.T. Boogie 12"	Sunnyview Records
3	GQ	Try Smurfin' 12"	Arista Records
4	Tyrone Brunson	The Smurf on LP 'Sticky Situation'	Epic Records
5	The Micronawts	Smurph Across the Surf 12"	Tuff City Records
6	The Smurfs	Dance With the Reggae Smurf on LP 'Best of Friends'	Starland Music
7	Electric Power Band	Poppa Smerf (The Big Throwdown) 12"	Bee Pee Records
8	Special Request	Salsa Smurph 12"	Tommy Boy Records
9	Unlimited Touch	Searching to Find the One (Francois K Remix)	Prelude Records
10	Chapter Three/ Grand Groove Bunch	Smurf Trek/Smurf Groove 12"	Grand Groove Records

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DJ Marlowe

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Trentemøller	Memoria	In My Room
2	Erin Rae	Lighten Up	Good Memory
3	Papercuts	Past Life Regression	Slumberland
4	Beast Nest	Sicko	Ratskin
5	Daeva	Through Sheer Will and Black Magic	20 Buck Spin
6	Pye Corner Audio	Let's Emerge	Sonic Cathedral
7	Cate Le Bon	Pompeii	Mexican Summer
8	Hedonist	Sepulchral Lacerations	Neon Taste
9	Mo Dotti	Guided Imagery	Smoking Room
10	Donny Benet	Le Piano	Dot Dash

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DJ Swingsett

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Louie Vega	Expansions in the NYC	Nervous Records
2	Inkswel & The Snaglepuss	Chasing Infinity	Cosmocities
3	Daniel Maunick	Persistence	Far Out Recordings
4	Alex Attias presents El Mustang	Two	Visions Recordings
5	Dego	Love Was Never Your Goal	2000Black
6	Inkswel & Colonel Red	Holders Of The Sun Vol. 1	Compost Records
7	Ron Trent	What Do the Stars Say To You?	Night Time Stories
8	Avantdale Bowling Club	TREES	Years Gone By
9	Jazzanova	Strata Records - The Sound of Detroit - Reimagined by Jazzanova	180 Proof Records
10	Various Artists	“Together with Ukraine: Drum & Bass, Jungle, Footwork, Dubstep & Art for The Ukrainian Red Cross Society�	Together with Ukraine

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Doug Gertner

Runners Up: Wilco - Cruel Country -- Tomberlin - i don't know who needs to hear this... -- Aldous Harding - Warm Chris -- Cate Le Bon - Pompeii -- Plains - I Walked With You A Ways

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Zoë Aqua	In Vald Arayn	Borscht Beat
2	Calexico	El Mirador	ANTI- Records
3	Big Thief	Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You	4AD
4	Sadurn	Radiator	Run for Cover Records
5	Florist	Florist	Double Double Whammy
6	Angel Olsen	Big Time	Jagjaguwar
7	Congotronics International	Where's The One?	Crammed Discs
8	Mavis Staples & Levon Helm	Carry Me Home	ANTI- Records
9	Shannen Moser	The Sun Still Seems To Move	Lame-O
10	Here It Is	Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen	Blue Note Records

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EC

It was hard to put this together. So much music I liked but I don't feel like this should be a ranked list. These are just discs I kept coming back to.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Aliaksandr Yasinski	Hlybini	Riverboat
2	Berta Rojas	Legado	Self
3	Susana Baca	Palabras Urgentes	Real World
4	Björk	Fossora	One Little Independent
5	Cécile McLorin Salvant	Ghost Song	Nonesuch
6	Wesli	Trasdisyon	Cumbancha
7	Bruno Berle	No Reino Dos Afetos	Far Out Recordings
8	Plínio Fernandes	Saudade	Decca
9	Various Artists	A Guide To The Birdsong Of Western Africa	Rough Trade
10	Melissa Aldana	12 Stars	Blue Note

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Greg Schultz

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Brennen Leigh	Obsessed With The West	Signature Sounds Recordings
2	Charley Crockett	The Man From Waco	Thirty Tigers Records
3	Catherine Russell	Send For Me	Dot Time Records
4	Eiyza Gylkyson	Songs From The River Wind	Howling Dog Records
5	Tommy McClain	I Ran Down Every Dream	Yep Rock Records
6	Jon Batiste	The Nominated Collection	Verve Label Group
7	Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder	Get On Board	Nonesuch Records
8	Samara Joy	Linger Awhile	Verve Records
9	Melissa Carper	Ramblin' Soul	Thirty Tigers Records
10	Henri Herbert	Boogie Till I Die	Self (Henry Herbert)

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Indra Raj

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Lady Wray	Piece of Me	Big Crown
2	Samora Pinderhughes	GRIEF	Stretch
3	Max ZT	Daybreak	Six Degrees
4	Brijean	Angelo	Ghostly International
5	Marlow, L'Orange & Solemn Brigham	Marlowe 3	Mello Music
6	Dandelion	All You Know	Self Released
7	Wu-Lu	LOGGERHEAD	Warp
8	Daniel Rossen	You Belong There	Warp
9	Beshken	Pantomime	MATH
10	Fontaines D.C.	Skinty Fia	Partisan

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Iris Berkeley

2022 was one of the best years for new music in so long! Choosing albums for this list was an embarrassment of riches.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Ghost Funk Orchestra	A New Kind of Love	Colemine
2	Adrian Quesada	Boleros Psicodélicos	ATO Records
3	Mike Clark & The Sugar Sounds	Moon Rock	Self
4	Wet Leg	Wet Leg	Domino
5	Makaya McCraven	In These Times	International Anthem
6	Raw Poetic & Damu The Fudgemunk	Laminated Skies	Def Presse
7	Aldous Harding	Warm Chris	4AD
8	Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul	Topical Dancer	Deewee
9	Kennebec	Without Star or Compass	Night Time Stories
10	Alabaster DePlume	Gold	International Anthem

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Joanne Cole

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	various	Sacred Soul of North Carolina	Bible & Tire
2	Shemekia Copeland	Done Come to Far	Alligator
3	Tuba Skinny	Magnolia Stroll	Self
4	Sunny and the Sunliners	Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 2	Big Crown Records
5	Ann Peebles & Hi Rhythm Section	Live In Memphis	Memphis International Record
6	Leyla McCalla	Breaking The Thermometer	Anti
7	Charlie Gabriel & Preservation Hall Jazz Band	89	Sub Pop
8	The Bongo Hop	La Napa	Underdog Records
9	Tia Carroll	You've Gotta Have it	Little village
10	Mavis Staples Levon Helm	Carry Me Home	Anti

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Joel Davis

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Acid Coco	Camino Al Mar	El Palmas Music
2	Barrio Lindo	Espuma de Mar	Shika Shika
3	Bruno Berle	No Reino Dos Afetos	Far Out Recordings
4	Jeff Parker	Forfolks	International Anthem
5	Lee "Scratch" Perry	King Scratch: Musical Masterpieces from the Upsetter Ark-ive	Trojan
6	Mauskovic Dance Band	Bukaroo Bank	Les Disques Bongo Joe
7	Oren Ambarchi	Shebang	Drag City
8	Pan Amsterdam & Damu the Fudgemunk	Eat	Def Presse
9	Sudan Archives	Natural Brown Prom Queen	Stones Throw
10	Sun Ra Arkestra & Salah Ragab	Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt	Strut

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Keith Colligan

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Congotronics International	Where's the One	Crammed Discs
2	Molly Tuttle and the Big Highway	Crooked Tree	Nonesuch
3	Freddy Todd	Nineteen Ninety	Self Produced
4	Haai	Baby We're Ascending	Mute
5	K.O.G.	Zone 6, Agege	Khweku of Ghana
6	Sad Daddy	Way Up in the Hills	Self Produced
7	Tank and the Bangas	Red Balloon	Verve
8	Fantastic Negrito	White Jesus, Balck Problems	Storefront Records
9	Porridge radio	Waterslide Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky	Secretly Canadian
10	Seth Walker	I Hope I Know	Royal Potato Family

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Mariah Coe

Neo-traditional sounds stayed strong in 2022.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Vieux Farka Touré & Khrunangbin	Ali	Dead Oceans
2	Al-Quasar	Who Are We?	Glitterbeat Records
3	Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder	Get on Board!	Nonesuch Records
4	Minyeshu	NETSA	ARC Music
5	Various Artists	A Guide to the Birdsong of Western Africa	ShikaShika
6	Kolinga	Legacy	Take It Easy Records
7	Surprise Chef	Education & Recreation	Big Crown Records
8	Julian Belbachir	Babdoukkala	Julian Belbachir
9	Shiran	Fadaytak	Batov Records
10	Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio	Live in Loveland!	Colemine Records

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Mark Doyle

Not in order, just some good ‘22 albums.

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Sinead O Brien	Time Bend and Break the Bower	Chess Club
2	Jesca Hoop	Order of Romance	Memphis Industries
3	M’dou Moctar	Niger EP Vol 2	Matador
4	The Smile	A Light for Attracting Attention	XL Recordings
5	Gwenno	Tresor	Heavenly Recordings
6	Kikagaku Moyo	Kumoyo Island	Guru guru Brain
7	Wet Leg	Wet Leg	Domino
8	King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard	Changes	ATO Records
9	Wau Wau Collective	Mariage	Sahel Sounds
10	Black Flower	Magma	SDBAN Records

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Matt Malick

Albums featured on Old Grass Gnu Grass

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway	Crooked Tree	Nonesuch Records
2	The Infamous Stringdusters	Toward the Fray	Americana Vibes
3	Del McCoury Band	Almost Proud	McCoury Music
4	Peter Rowan	Calling You Fom My Mountain	Rebel Records
5	Wood Belly	Great Big Skies	Americana Vibes
6	The Po' Ramblin' Boys	Never Slow Down	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
7	Stillhouse Junkies	Small Towns	Dark Shadow
8	Trey Wellington	Black Banjo	Crossroads Entertainment
9	Mr. Sun	Extrovert	Compass Records
10	Hawktail	Place of Growth	Padiddle Records

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Matthew Hamilton

In no particular order…

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Soft Pink Truth	Is it Going to Get Any Deeper than This	Thrill Jockey
2	VA	Saturno 2000 - La Rebajada de los Sonideros 1962-1983	Analog Africa
3	Jamal Moss	Thanks 4 The Tracks U Lost	Modern Love
4	Abraxas	Monte Carlo	Suicide Squeeze
5	Slift	Levitation Sessions	Reverberation Appreciation Society
6	Spiritualized	Everything Was Beautiful	Fat Possum
7	Bent Arcana	Live Zebulon	Castle Face
8	J. Zunz	Del Aire	Rocket Recordings
9	Firebreather	Dwell in the Fog	Riding Easy
10	JRCG	Ajo Sunshine	Castle Face

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Natalie Shrewsbury

Hard to categorize some of my favs from 2022. Truly, the artist/albums all deserve #1

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	WolfLoescher and Mark Kenneth	Loescher and Kenneth	2022 Off Hand Productions
2	The Olllam	Ellegy	Compass Records
3	Teada	As the Days Brighten	Gael Linn
4	Punku	Punku	Six Degrees
5	Various artists	A Guide to Birdsong of Western Africa	Rough Trade
6	Oki	Tonkori in the Moonlight	Chikar Studio
7	Ajate	Alo	180 G
8	Cafe de la Jungle	Tuvan Spirits	Dans le Desert
9	Yanna Momina	Afar Ways	Glitterbeat Records
10	Ausecuma Beats	Deep Heat/Tropical Storm	Music in Exile

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Patrick Mendoza

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Lady Wray	Piece of Me	Big Crown Records
2	Danger Mouse & Black Thought	Cheat Codes	BMG
3	Robert Glasper	Black Radio III	Loma Vista
4	Archibald Slim	Worldly Ways	POW Recordings
5	Charlotte Dos Santos	Morfo	Because Music
6	Tank and the Bangs	Red Balloon	Verve Forecast
7	Pusha T	It's Almost Dry	Def Jam
8	Kendrick Lamar	Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers	TDE/Aftermath
9	Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon	Casual Abductions	POW Recordings
10	Roc Marciano & The Alchemist	The Elephant Man's Bones	Pimpire/ALC Records

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Sam Fuqua

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	My Top Nine	Are Not In Any	Particular Order
2	Otoboke Beaver	Super Champon	Otoboke Beaver
3	Juliet Eugenia	JUMP	Greenleaf
4	Robert Fripp	Exposure (Fourth Editiion)	Panegyric
5	Waajeed	Memoirs of Hi Tech Jazz	Tresor Records
6	Sushma Soma	Home	Sushma Soma
7	Joao Selva	Se Acabou	Underdog Records
8	The Linda Linda's	Growing Up	Epitaph
9	Joe Rainey	Niineta	Joe Rainey
10	Wet Leg	Wet Leg	Domino

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Sandman

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Adrian Quesada	Boleros Psicodelicos	ATO
2	Marcus King	Young Blood	Easy Eye Sound
3	Calexico	El Mirador	Anti-
4	Spoon	Lucifer On The Sofa	Matador
5	Noori & His Dorpa Band	Beja Power!	Ostinato
6	The Bobby Lees	Bellevue	Ipecac
7	Willie Nelson	A Beautiful Time	Sony
8	Wet Leg	Wet Leg	Domino
9	Tedeschi Trucks Band	I Am The Moon	Fantasy
10	Jack White	Entering Heaven Alive	Third Man

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Stang Baby

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Say She She	Prism	Karma Chief
2	Steve Lacy	Gemini Rights	L-M
3	Lou Reed	Geez Whiz, 1958-1964	Canal Street Communications
4	Toro y Moi	Mahal	Dead Oceans
5	Sault	11	Forever Living Originals
6	Kendrick Lamar	Mr Morale and the Big Steppers	Aftermath
7	The Go Team	Whammy-O	Memphis Industries
8	The Mellons	Introducing…The Mellons!	Earth Libraries
9	Drake	Honestly, Nevermind	OVO
10	Alex G	God Save the Animals	Domino Recording Co

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The Groove Thief

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Death by Dub	Abundance	Color Red
2	Moresounds	Roll G In Dub	Original Cultures
3	L'Entourloop	La Clarté Dans La Confusion	X-Ray Production
4	L.A.B & Paolo Baldini DubFiles	L.A.B In Dub	Echo Beach
5	Mauskovic Dance Band	Bukaroo Bank	Les Disques Bongo Joe
6	Al-Qasar	Who Are We	Glitterbeat
7	Protoje	Third Time's The Charm	In.Digg.Nation Collective
8	Bukkha & Super Hi-Fi	Bukkha Meets Super Hi-Fi	Dub-Stuy Records
9	The New Mastersounds	The Deplar Effect	Color Red
10	Sgt. Remo	Jah Neva Leave	Jah Yute Ent.

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Uncle Jeff

#	Artist	Album	Label
1	Hermanos Gutierrez	El Bueno y El Malo	Easy Eye Sound
2	The Routes	The Twang Machine	Double Crown
3	Loving	If I Am Only My Thoughts	Last Bang Records
4	The Delines	The Sea Drift	El Cortez
5	Kikagaku Moyo	Kumoyo Island	Guruguru
6	Bitchin' Bajas	Bascillators	Drag City
7	Elkhorn	Distances	Feeding Tube Records
8	Dead Tongues	Dust	Psychic Hotline
9	Floating Action	Jinx Protection	PIAPTK
10	Nils Frahm	Music For Animals	Leiter-Verlag

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