“Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers,” the first new Kendrick Lamar album in over 5 years, was announced then released in such quick succession, you’d be forgiven for missing the news. Thankfully, as a KCRW listener you need not worry about such things. Since the record dropped in full, you’ve no doubt been reveling in the DJ selected highlights beamed far and wide across our airwaves.
It would take an album as momentous as the long-awaited new Kendrick to unseat our resident champ Toro y Moi. To Chaz Bear’s credit, the results were neck and neck, but the lure of a new album of the year contender proved far too epic to surmount.
Top 30 Albums (5.17.22)
| 1 | Kendrick Lamar | Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers |
| 2 | Toro y Moi | MAHAL |
| 3 | The Smile | A Light For Attracting Attention |
| 4 | Black Star | No Fear of Time |
| 5 | Bad Bunny | Un Verano Sin Ti |
| 6 | Carrtoons | Homegrown |
| 7 | Obongjayar | Some Nights I Dream of Doors |
| 8 | Max Cooper | Unspoken Words |
| 9 | Spoon | Lucifer on the Sofa |
| 10 | Automatic | Excess |
| 11 | Jorge Drexler | Tinta y Tiempo |
| 12 | Say She She | Forget Me Not / Blow My Mind [Single] |
| 13 | Girl Ultra | El Sur |
| 14 | HAAi | Baby, We’re Ascending |
| 15 | Danger Mouse & Black Thought | Cheat Codes |
| 16 | Brijean | Angelo |
| 17 | Harvey Sutherland | Boy |
| 18 | Gabriels | One and Only [Single] |
| 19 | Warpaint | Radiate Like This |
| 20 | Peggy Gou | I Go (Remixes) |
| 21 | Hector Morlet | Music For Squares |
| 22 | Kikagaku Moyo | Kumoyo Island |
| 23 | The Bongo Hop | La Ñapa |
| 24 | Shygirl | Nymph |
| 25 | Ben Marc | Glass Effect |
| 26 | Kevin Morby | This Is a Photograph |
| 27 | Sharon Van Etten | We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong |
| 28 | Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs | When the Lights Go |
| 29 | Wet Leg | Wet Leg |
| 30 | Ron Trent | What Do The Stars Say To You |