Top 30 Songs of 2022

[Shrykespeare]

SONG #24


JOHNERLE

Typhoon, New Wife

In a year with no new music from Sparks, My Morning Jacket, or Fleet Foxes I had to find something to infuriate Tranny. This guy's voice should do the trick.





LEESTU

Ball Park Music, Manny

The opening track and second single from their seventh album. A catchy piece of indie pop whose simple repetitive lyrics add to the hookiness of the indie pop to get you caught up and singing along and the neo-psychedelia sound keeps it interesting.





SHRYKESPEARE

Nation of Language, From the Hill

In the park alone so suddenly
You get swept aside by friends like these
From the hill I see them passing
From the hill, I see the river's freezing

On the hill, everyone for themselves
Then it comes apart
And it's so hard, everyone for themselves
It comes apart

You may or may not recognize Nation of Language as the band who sang my #1 song of 2021, “Across That Fine Line”. They only put out two new songs this year, “Androgynous” and this one. Of the two, I vastly prefer “From the Hill”, another perfect example of their early-80s style, complemented wonderfully by Ian Devaney’s voice. This sound is right in my wheelhouse, and NoL is one of the few bands where I’m predisposed to loving whatever they put out.





SIX

Big Joanie, Your Words

The London girl gang are back, with a more subdued and smoother record. Often I’m disappointed when a punk band brings synths in to soften their sound, but they work perfectly with this melancholic song.





TRANNY

Kendrick Lamar feat. Beth Gibbons, Mother I Sober

Starting with a mumbled whisper and gradually building towards a triumphant explosion of catharsis, "Mother I Sober" is a stunning work of acknowledging and gradually working through trauma that spans across multiple generations that ranks among Kendrick Lamar's most powerfully vulnerable tracks yet.

I

[transformers2]

P.S. What is RRR?

An Indian action/buddy/alternate history epic that also features 2 gigantic musical/dance numbers. It was a unique experience to say the least. It's on Netflix if you want to give it a shot

[numbersix]

John: It may bother Tranny, but it pleased me. Nice vocal, didn't need the strings though

Leetsu: Fun and trippy, though a little repetitive. Like someone high trying to tell you a story

Shryke: Very derivative, but it was decent. Bet I said that when you posted their track in 2021

Tranny: One of a handful of songs from the album that I considered for my list. Fascinating song, and the biggest takeaway is Kendrick's belief that most rappers are sexual abuse victims, which is pretty mind-blowing stuff.

[Leestu]

#24

John - Typhoon - Oh I really liked this...adding it to my 2022 great songs playlist

Shryke - Nation Of Language - they are becoming reliable for great quality material...they do what they do so well...liked this a lot too

Six - Big Joanie - nothing grabbed me first listen to want to hear it again but it's fine (that was my reaction to their debut album too)

Tranny - Kendrick Lamar - not a lot of replay value for me on its own but as part of the strong finish to the end of the album from Saviour onwards there's not much doubt it is a great song and one of the highlights of the album

[Shrykespeare]

Shryke: Very derivative, but it was decent. Bet I said that when you posted their track in 2021

These were your exact words, Six:

Anyway, your #1 was retro and a tad derivative, but at least it didn't offend and was pleasant to have on in the background.


You are consistent, I'll give you that.



ETA: Today's song was #24, not #25. Correction made.

[JohnErle]

Ball Park Music – Parts of it worked. Other parts, not so much. It might be worth a few more listens.

Nation Of Language – Charmingly retro. It's a jam.

Big Joanie – The singer is only distinctive thing about this, but not in a good way.

Kendrick Lamar - The music was more subdued and appealing than expected, but the vocals have zero appeal to me.

[Shrykespeare]

#24.

JohnErle - The Artist formerly known as Cy Clone - This didn't move the needle for me in either direction.

Leestu - Take Me Out to the Ball Game - Mildly catchy, but nothing I'm going to rush to listen to again.

Six - Little Chachi - Loved everything about this song except the singer's voice. Just something about it I don't care for.

Trannny - Mr. Ubiquitous and Lady I Don't Know - Deep and powerful, for sure. For me? No.

[Shrykespeare]

SONG #23


JOHNERLE

The Smile, You Will Never Work In Television Again

I freely admit that the first time I hit play on this song I had no idea who was in the band, and if I'd known it was a Thom Yorke side project I probably wouldn't have bothered. I was drawn in entirely by the title which is so delightfully random it sounds like something Sparks might have done. I'm still amazed Yorke was involved in something so lively and rousing. With less compression it would have ranked even higher. And this is a very clever way to do a lyric video.





LEESTU

Black Midi, Welcome To Hell

I wasn’t sure about the brutal prog of this when it was released as the first single from their third album (some are saying their best album so far, and it might be), but it keeps you on your toes, and once I heard it in the context of the whole album it grew on me more and became one of my favourites from the album





SHRYKESPEARE

Joywave, Cyn City 3000

Last idea I had got swallowed by a black hole
I could cure cancer but they'd give the prize to some asshole
Wasting time, everybody's in your mind
Yeah, you coulda done it first
But the fit just wasn't right

It’s been an interesting couple of years for indie-pop band Joywave. They had planned to release their fourth studio album in 2020, complete with a national tour. One pandemic later, they finally got around to both. I saw them live in March 2022, and DAMN it was awesome. Three songs from that album made my list, and all made my Top 30. Here’s the first. Daniel Armbruster’s voice, paired with the weird, warpy guitars and the snarky lyrics make this one of my faves of the year.





SIX

PVA, Bunker

Normally not my kind of song, particularly the 90s techno sound that blasts in at the 27 second mark, but sometimes it’s nice to let yourself be surprised. A livelier track from the electro duo’s debut album, it’s fun and rousing with a great climax.





TRANNY

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Gaia

Ominium Gatherum-which was the 1st of the 96 releases King Gizz put out in 2022-was the 1st time the Australian group had been able to make a record from start to finish in the same room since 2019. To celebrate the return of the in-person writing and recording process, they decided to basically make their own giant musical grab bag that touched on as many of the genres that inspired them as possible (there's everything from jazz fusion to hip hop to psychedelic folk on this thing, so it's really quite the relentlessly experimental oddity). "Gaia" is their ode to stoner metal bands like Kyuss and Sleep and it's a damn good one with some sludgy riffs and murky vocal lines that would make the members of those bands proud.

[numbersix]

John: Yes, I think the consensus is this is one of the highlights of The Smile, which I get. A tad more antsy than most Radiohead tracks, but still close enough to not surprise a fan like myself. Good track.

Leetsu: I struggled with this album a little. I didn't dislike it, just found it hard to get into. But this track is good upon a relisten today.

Shryke: Inoffensive, but unmemorable.

Tranny: Pitchfork recently wrote that being a King Gizzard fan is a full-time job. That's why I haven't listened to them, but I do like most track I hear from them.

[Chienfantome]

#24

John
Typhoon, New Wife
I like that. Delicate and yet there's something vibrant in it.

Leestu
Ball Park Music, Manny
Pleasant. The percent part was a bit long though.

Shryke
Nation of Language, From the Hill
Easy to listen to. I like the rhythm and the voice. Pretty good.

Six
Big Joanie, Your Words
Nothing hooked me here. Too repetitive and it sounded flat all the way through it.

Tranny
Kendrick Lamar feat. Beth Gibbons, Mother I Sober
That's the second Kendrick Lamar track I hear over here and the second time I must say it's really good. Impressive.

[Chienfantome]

#23

John
The Smile, You Will Never Work In Television Again
Not my favourite from this album, but there's still an urgency I like in it.

Leestu
Black Midi, Welcome To Hell
That was surprising. I don't really know if it's a good or bad surprise. Not bad, that's sure. But I'm still not sure if I actually liked it. I got tired of it at some point though.

Shryke
Joywave, Cyn City 3000
Meh. It's listenable, but I can't say I like it.

Six
PVA, Bunker
I would have never guessed this was a choice of yours ! That was, well, surprising also. I like electro, but this isn't the kind I like I guess.

Tranny
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Gaia
96 releases in 2022 ?? Well, this one is not for me for sure.

[JohnErle]

23

Black Midi – I'm sure it's all the rage in certain circles, but I'm not in those circles, nor do I want to be.

Joywave – The opening guitar sound didn't seem like your kinda jam at all, but once the song started properly it sounded like Third Eye Blind, which is a band I inevitably compare some of your picks to every year. It's too slick and over-produced for me, which is also something I say every year.

PVA – If the vocals weren't so dull it would be a decent LCD Soundsystem track.

King Gizzard – We're going to have to start doing a separate countdown so you and Leestu can rank the various King Gizz releases in any given year. To me, this just sounds like an uninspired stab at a genre I can't stand anyway.

[Shrykespeare]

I'm interested to know where you draw the line between "produced" and "overproduced", John. Seems to me like you set that bar pretty low.

[JohnErle]

It's like the old definition of pornography -- I know it when I hear it.

When something sounds like all the spontaneity has been sucked out of it and it's been polished, tweaked, and spit-shined to make it sound mainstream-radio friendly, that, to me, is overproduced.

Or, if you'll forgive me for shoehorning Big Country into this conversation, check out the demo version of a song called Peace In Our Time vs. the final version that come after months of record company interference and a producer who was forced on them and completely changed what they were trying to do in order to deliver a big hit. The former sounds like a real band making real music while the latter sounds like over-produced garbage.

Demo Version:


Over-Produced, I Can't Believe I'm Actually Embedding This Shit Version:

[Shrykespeare]

Well, okay. I guess my ear is not as finely attuned as yours, or maybe how a song is produced is just less important to me than it is to you. Maybe that makes me unrefined, in fact it probably does. But I've been listening to mainstream, radio-friendly music for most of my life. If you see it as the fast-food equivalent of popular music, I get it. Honestly, I listened to both versions of that Big Country song, and I liked them equally.

And now that I've lost all your respect, I hope we can still be friends. We may never see eye to eye or have a single overlap in our music lists, but that's okay. Takes all kinds to make a world.