I’ve already shared my least favourite songs of 2022. Now it’s time to celebrate the best songs of the year (always a much more enjoyable list to make!).
I listened to thousands of tracks this year. Below are the tracks that I loved the most. As always, I’ve provided a little explanation as to
why I love each song, which you don’t have to read. IT’S A FREE WORLD. Except
in North Korea. And Turkmenistan. And quite
a few other countries. Let’s get on with this list, shall we?
Honourable mentions:
‘Anna Calls From The Arctic’ – Dry Cleaning
‘When Sparks Fly’ – Vince Staples
20. ‘Die b4 u’ – Montaigne
Nobody wants to
be the first one to kick the bucket in a relationship. Australian art pop
singer Montaigne takes this gloomy subject matter, and turns it into a cute and
chirpy hyperpop love anthem. The production is so infectiously bubbly and it
perfectly fits the ‘bubblewrap you, baby’ hook.
19. ‘Plum Gut’ – Big Scary Indian
‘Plum Gut’ opens with a stampede of horses (is that a guitar
making those whinny sounds???) and then
takes us through a labyrinth of fidgety riffs,
frenetic drums, synth swells, alien vocals and scary glitch-outs. It’s certainly
one of the most playful rock tracks of the year.
18. ‘Live Exponential’ – Guerilla Toss
Boston band Guerilla Toss’s new art pop album Famously Alive is full of upbeat and life-affirming songs. This is my favourite of
the bunch – the song is a simple yet euphoric sugar rush made up of blasts of glittery
synths, powerful stomping drums and sparse breathy vocals.
17. ‘Picture In My Mind’ - Sam Gellaitry &
PinkPantheress
I love it when collaborations bring out the best in both
artists. ‘Picture In My Mind’ sees Sam Gellaitry and PinkPantheress merging
their two distinct bedroom pop sounds together – PinkPantheress’s delicate hypnotic
singing is the perfect match for Sam’s upbeat pillowy production.
16. ‘Pure Misery’ – Humour
There’s no shortage of post-punk bands out there with
unhinged vocals. However, no band takes these vocals to such extremes as garbling
Glasgow group Humour. ‘Pure Misery’ features some of the most creatively chaotic
vocals I’ve ever heard. The lyrics meanwhile are a fun dig at the idea that the
frontman always has to have something profound to say. Extra points for the wild
video too.
15. ‘The Abysmal Eye’ – Meshuggah
This is one of
the most rhythmically-baffling riffs that Meshuggah have composed. And yet it’s
also one of the Swedish metal band’s most headbangable tracks to date. The
drumming is absolutely mental (especially when those rolling snares come in). It’s
been my 2022 go-to track for when I need something ultra-heavy.
14. ‘Washed Away’ – Kelela
‘Washed Away’ does a lot with a little. The beat is
literally just three synth chords. Kelela meanwhile spends a good chunk of the
track doing vocals runs. Despite this, the whole track feels impressively vast.
Kelelas voice feels like it’s been delivered from a clifftop over the ocean and
the synths roar like waves beneath. The
video makes it feel even more immense.
13. ‘The Next 20th Century’ – Father John
Misty
Father John
Misty delivers some of his most dense and vivid lyricism to date in this gloomy
closing song from his new album. The instrumentation has an ominous quality
that gives it an end-of-the-world feel. I also love how he (SPOILER ALERT)
ambushes us with that wailing distorted guitar solo half-way through.
12. ‘10 More Commandments – Benny The Butcher
‘10 More Commandments’ is pretty much a revised version of Biggie’s
‘Ten Crack Commandments’. However, it’s arguably better than the song that
inspired it – Benny’s pep talk bars are delivered in such a conversational
manner that you almost forget he’s rapping, and some of the lyrics feel like
they could apply to various walks of life.
11. ‘Welcome to Hell’ – black midi
This song is all
over the place in the best possible way. The track jumps from one frenetic riff
to the next while making it all sound seamless. There’s some cinematic horn
blasts and even a thrash metal section towards the end. Geordie Greep’s theatrical
sprechgesang is meanwhile suitably zany and at times even profound ‘to die
for your country, does not win a war. To kill for your country, is what wins a
war’.
10. ‘We Cry Together’ – Kendrick Lamar ft Taylour Paige
‘We Cry Together’ is not an easy song to listen to it. In
fact, I don’t think I could have chosen a more challenging song off of Kendrick’s new album. But what a creative and powerful concept for a song! The track takes
the form of a back-and-forth f-bomb-laden argument between two incredibly toxic
partners played by Kendrick and Taylour. It’s as much of an acting performance
as it is a rap song. The off-kilter piano sample in the beat is the cherry on
top.
9. ‘Ce Soir’ – Duckwrth ft. Syd
Criminally underrated artists Duckwrth and Syd show just how
to craft a hip hop song that’s sexy AND sophisticated. The groovy neo-soul
beat, Duckwrth’s buttery singing and the seductive half-whispered verse from
Syd all result in the ultimate babymaking anthem.
8. ‘Doritos and Fritos’ – 100 Gecs
100 Gecs’ noisy hyperpop sound is usually too obnoxious for
me. But the kooky guitars and goofy lyrics in this song are so fun that I’ve found
myself continuously coming back to this song. The auto-tuned ska chorus is even
enjoyable. I’d love to hear more of this rock-based stuff from them.
7. ‘The Wrong Side of History’ – Regressive Left
‘The Wrong Side
of History’ is a 7 minute dance-rock epic narrated from the perspective of a
man realising that his views align with the wrong side of history. The kooky
vocal delivery combined with lines like ‘OH GOD! I’m becoming a meme’ result in a comical piece of social commentary.
It also has an incredible instrumental build-up that reaches a satisfying Bowie-flavoured
climax.
6. ‘Take A Chance’ – Domi & JD Beck ft. Anderson Paak.
This jazz-soul collaboration between Domi & JD Beck and
Anderson Paak hits the spot every time. The mix of different vocals styles works
really well – the precise vocal harmonies of Domi & JD Beck make for a nice
contrast against Paak’s freer earthy delivery. It also features some insanely
gorgeous instrumentation and an excitingly frantic outro that comes out of
nowhere.
5. ‘Bull Believer’ - Wednesday
‘Bull Believer’ is a song about no longer being able to take
the sheer amount of cruelty in the world told through the metaphor of watching
a bull fight. It’s an intense eight minutes of shoegazey grunge topped with some
truly unique yodelling vocals from Karly Hartzman that threaten to veer off-key
at any moment but somehow always land on the right note. That is right up until
the end when the song finally falls apart in the most dramatic fashion possible,
featuring Mortal-Kombat-inspired screams of ‘FIIIINIIIISH HIIIIM’ over cacophonous
walls of guitar.
4. ‘Why’ – Chat Pile
This track is even more thrillingly brutal than the last. It
features suspenseful spoken word over sludgy metal guitars that are grotesquely
heavy. Lyrically, the song is an attack on homelessness, consisting of exasperated
yells of ‘Why do
people have to live outside? WHY!!!’. The lyrics are extremely direct. In fact,
they’re so direct that they border on being ridiculous. And yet there’s so much
pure rage in the delivery and just the right amount of sardonic humour that it
works as a convincingly horrifying protest song.
3. ‘Walkin’ – Denzel Curry
Many of my favourite songs this year have been outpourings of
frustration at the shitty state of the world. ‘Walkin’ is another prime example
of this – it’s a song about keeping moving in spite of all the crap the world
continues to throw at us. Denzel’s intense non-stop delivery really matches the
subject matter. The track also features hands-down the best beat of any hip hop
song released this year (the tempo change half-way through is mental!!!).
2. ‘Concrete Over Water’ – Jockstrap
London experimental duo Jockstrap are the definition of ‘undefinable’.
Their latest album flirts with almost every music genre under the sun. ‘Concrete
Over Water’ is my favourite track. It begins as a Paul McCartney-esque ballad with
gorgeous vocals and interesting chord choices. But then it throws in a surprise
squiggly synth ‘drop’ (for lack of a better word) topped with military snare
and epic strings. There’s nothing else out there that sounds like this.
1. ‘Billions’ – Caroline Polachek
‘Billions’ is such a bizarre pop song that it feels like a
glimpse into the future. In fact, I’m convinced it’s been transported back in
time through a portal. At the beginning, it appears to be a song about being in
love with a billionaire, featuring some brilliantly eccentric lines like ‘sexting
sonnets under the table’. But as you delve deeper and further into the lyrics,
you realise the subject matter is much more cryptic (what on earth does ‘headless
angel, body upgraded, but it’s dead on arrival’ mean??). Caroline’s vocal
delivery is equally weird and hypnotic – there are all kinds of glitchy effects
throughout and her voice drops an entire octave in the second verse, all while
remaining infectious. If all of this wasn’t already unique enough, there’s then
the production, which is an otherworldly mix of crispy electronica and dreamy
choir vocals. It’s just a fascinating song all round.