THE TOP 100 SONG OF 2022 (PART FIVE)...

 

Now for the finale:

1.Strangers (Danger Mouse & Black Thought feat. ASAP Rocky & Run The Jewels):

 the entire four minutes is non-stop electricity led by Thought, with impeccable rhythm from Danger Mouse’s production. (BEATS PER MINUTE) 

2. Abomination (Shamir): 

rapping over a grinding, undulating beat, Shamir casts himself as a profit and pundit, a pop Cassandra who sees a grim future for his listeners. The song serves as a worried and urgent call, tackling social and economic injustice. Seeing through superficial liberal sloganeering, he astutely points out, “Unless it’s just for optics, say my life matter, but it’s just an option/madam vice president a cop, don’t cop shit, being pushed to you as progress, for profit.” Shamir’s contempt looks at a broken system that needs a reset, and he refuses to indulge in happy talk. (POPMATTERS) 

3. Mercury (Steve Lacy): 

mixes meaningful words with non-lexical vocals, yet the coos of “Bababababababa” feel purposely free rather than nonsensical. “Speeding when I should ease in/Oh I know myself/My sins/Dug my pit then I fell in.” Lacy continues to navigate through the harsh truths many refuse to confront. Message aside, “Mercury” is a little slice of heaven, like sailing a gondola down the Riviera. His frothy vocals scale up and down the bongos and Spanish guitar strums. (HIPHOPDX) 

4. Church Girl (Beyonce): 

a slow-building trap bounce and gospel record (we don't know how she pulled it off either), Beyoncé and crew pen a slew of lyrics that are sure to be memed (and embedded on T-shirts) in the coming weeks, with lines like "Drop it like a thotty" or "Must be the cash 'cause it ain't your face. (EXCLAIM) 

5. Space Rabbit (Freddie Gibbs): 

a particularly soul-bearing track that talks about the “gun fights and sleepless nights” that plagued Freddie’s past. Kevin Durant also shows up just to say hi, like a primary source name drop. These moments are probably supposed to be cheeky, but just come off as tacked on. The songs themselves are already exhilarating; we don’t need Joe Rogan’s self-effacing DMT reference to tell us we’re having fun. (HIPHOPDX) 

6. Everybody’s Gay (Lizzo): 

weds ringing guitar chords courtesy of 1980s new wave and neo-disco electro beats circa early Daft Punk. Rather than serving as a predictable pro-diversity manifesto, as the title suggests, the song unfurls as a carnivalesque portrait of the American dance scene. (POPMATTERS) 

7. President The Rock (Marlowe): 

back and brasher, the duo slaps verses between beats with braggadocio. 

8. Saoko (Rosalia):

 finds Rosalía confronting the changes that she’s undergone in the past several years since her rise to fame, reveling in their contradictions and possibilities. (SLANT) 

9.  N95 (Kendrick Lamar): 

Lamar calls out for a massive strip-off, from fake jewelry to fake social media highlight reels to getting hooked up on Wi-fi and luxury brands. On top of this, Kendrick Lamar also claims that the whole world was lied to during the pandemic. (JUST RANDOM THINGS) 

10. Dead Inside Shuffle (Louis Cole): 

a perfect union of jazzy texture and vocal gymnastics. 

11. Underwater Boi (Turnstile): 

finds its insane gritty yet groovy core and blossoms. 

12. America Has A Problem (Beyonce): 

she’s thrown out these type of pop ditties before but she grabs a retro vibe and elevates it even higher. 

13. Bad Religion (Cat Power): 

Chan Marshall is known for her song deconstruction skills but to totally reinvent Frank Ocean’s gay panic into an even more love-obsessed ode that ultimately leads to dire consequences, is quite a magnificent feat. 

14. American Teenager (Ethel Cain): 

the most arena-ready song in Cain's arsenal, might have you picturing Preacher's Daughter as a moodboard for a certain "Don't Tread On Me" splendor: Budweiser, NASCAR, purple mountain majesties. We meet our protagonist drunk on whiskey and crying in the football bleachers, and when she sings of the neighbor's brother coming home in a box, her voice is clear and pure — a '90s strain of angel. (NPR) 

15. Walkin (Denzel Curry): 

depicts Curry as a lone traveler navigating the desert of a spaghetti Western, while the music gives off a contemplative boom-bap sound. He raps about the systems in place that hold him back; “They ready to set us up for failure / it’s systematic / But when I felt it, my eyes melted / The selfish are constantly profitin’ off the helpless.” However, the beat suddenly switches into energetic trap as if Curry is waking up from his malaise; “Bullshit fly my way, I keep walkin’,” he proclaims. Curry has witnessed the “dirty, filthy, rotten, nasty little world we call our home,” and instead of letting it all happen, he pushes for change through his music. By rapping about everyone’s commonalities and collective predicament, he intends to bring people together when the world does everything to tear them apart. (BEATS PER MINUTE) 

16. Angels & Queens (Gabriels): 

with that falsetto, Lusk can really do no wrong but he juxtaposes the retro and contemporary textures so lusciously that one can only dance gleefully and not even focus on the torture-filled lyrics being spit back at you. 

17. Cheat Codes (Danger Mouse & Black Thought): 

works through the mindset of the "young gunners" running stickups in Philly, only to zoom out at the end and account for the larger systems that created them, using the mic like a bullhorn. (NPR) 

18. Blame It On The Weather (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard):  

a phenomenon of psych-rock sound. It's loud, distorted, disruptive, and on top of all that, fantastical. It has a growing sound and flowing vocals that go from all-out hyper rock, into soft blues intermissions. (INDIE SHUFFLE) 

19. Lullaby (Grace Ives): 

there’s no denying the slick beats that Ives utilizes well but the real coup is the overall production that helps to mask her obvious break-up pain.  

20. The Same (The Smile): 

no matter the band or expression, Thom Yorke’s vocals are unmistakably his and as shown on “The Same”, even decades in, can evoke such abstract sadness yet hope.

The Top 30 ALBUMS of 2022: Part Two (#11--20)...

 

Part two is live.

11. Freddie Gibbs $OUL $OLD $EPARATELY: 

playing well as a concept – with Gibbs hiding out in the penthouse while everyone from Joe Rogan to Jesus (which is perhaps the greatest hubris move he’s made to date) tries to check in on him – $$$ does so without glorifying the process to get there. It’s as reflective as it is owning – Gibbs knows what he’s done to get here, and he’s never been scared to approach it – but it would be ridiculous to not relish in the power, even while things fall apart. (THE LINE OF BEST FIT) 

 

12. Pusha T IT’S ALMOST DRY: 

exhibit A-Z why Pusha T will never go legit. Settling into his forties with a wife and son, the younger Thorton brother is at his apex. Push is in complete control of his flow, his delivery, and his pen game is sharper than it was 20 years ago. When he went solo in 2013, some questioned his ability to deliver without his big brother. Nine years and four albums later, they have their answer. It’s Almost Dry is the perfect complement to Daytona, creating Pusha’s very own gangster saga on wax. (COS) 

 

13. Saba FEW GOOD THINGS: 

like Lupe Fiasco, one of his heroes, Saba’s muse is ambivalence. He’s attuned to the moments where a smile freezes, where two thoughts collide painfully and ripple across life’s surface.. You could feel his roving mind searching for meaning the way a tongue probes a sore spot inside your mouth. On Few Good Things, Saba remains haunted, not by grief, but by his own provisional success and the unanswered questions it keeps raising. (PITCHFORK) 

 

14. Ethel Cain PREACHER’S DAUGHTER: 

pop girls seldom balance sugar-sweet melodies and dirgeful backstory in the way they'd like, but Ethel Cain isn't just another pop girl. Like Billie Eilish before her, Cain's debut album feels like a sharp left-turn in the genre, in what's possible with pop and how much we can and should say about the intersection of religion and identity in a teenage girl's life, and just how petrifying those growing pains can be. (THE QUIETUS) 

  

15. Syd BROKEN HEARTS CLUB: 

reshapes heartbreak into pillowy, ’80s-nodding R&B. The album softens her sound with sunny acoustic guitar and velvety beats, but her songwriting doesn’t surrender its vulnerability and focus on queer desire that made Fin so intoxicating. (PITCHFORK) 

 

16. Sudan Archives NATURAL BROWN PROM QUEEN: 

hoists Sudan Archives to a new level as an experimental pop, hip-hop and electronic force to be reckoned with. The master behind the music, Brittney Parks, flexes technical prowess on the piano and violin, layering them over her impassioned vocals across 18 spellbinding yet distinctly different tracks. Not only is Natural Brown Prom Queen fully realized sonically, but it is also a masterpiece of lyrical storytelling. Throughout the album's 53-minute runtime, Parks pieces together moments of her life as a Black American, which sometimes feel daring and transgressive, other times intensely erotic, and always unflinchingly genuine. (EXCLAIM) 

 

17. Shamir HETEROSEXUALITY: 

Shamir is economical with this album — not a bar or lyric is wasted, every moment is carefully curated to hit exactly where it needs to. This precision is why the album works so beautifully. Heterosexuality captivates and transports the listener, making an ethereal landscape out of dissonance and nihilism. It never repeats itself, it does not stutter, and it absolutely never apologizes. (EXCLAIM) 

 

 18. Jockstrap I LOVE YOU JENNIFER B: 

the fact that both members are 24-year-olds partly explains the choice of their artistic names as well as the title of their debut record. As you age, levels of vulnerability gradually stabilise. The themes the group explore are familiar to the majority of those living on this planet and, particularly, in its most populated parts. Anxiety, alienation, longing, tidal waves of desire, pain resulting from acknowledging one’s ignorance and arrogance, etc., etc. After all, I Love You Jennifer B could be a statement on a wall of a residential block, inscribed by a smitten teenager. (THE QUIETUS) 

  

19. Black Star NO FEAR OF TIME: 

back after an age but it's like they never left.

 

20. Ravyn Lenae HYPNOS: 

arrives as a mature reintroduction, a love-stained, moody transport that flies through Lenae’s world with a featherlight cadence. Lenae surveys the recent history of soul, alternative R&B, and even Afrobeats with precision. But most importantly, her debut showcases her ascendant vocal prowess as she moves across her wide range with ease. Lenae’s transcendental poise establishes her as a resonant voice in R&B. (PITCHFORK) 

The Top 30 ALBUMS of 2022: Part One (#21--30)...

 

A great year for music culminates with my selections of the very, very best 2022 had to offer: 

21. Animal Collective TIME SKIFFS: 

with its inviting ambiance, unhurried vibe, and ebullient group harmonies, Time Skiffs readily conjures warm memories of AnCo’s late-2000s halcyon days. But the album possesses a personality and methodology all its own. Over the years, Animal Collective’s free-flowing aesthetic, lovey-dovey sentiments, and fondness for tie-dye have garnered any number of Grateful Dead comparisons, but this is the first record where they sound like an actual jam band. While Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) has traditionally used his drum kit to heighten the clamor of the group’s most chaotic moments, here, he plays the steady timekeeper governed by a dubby discipline. (PITCHFORK) 

 

22. Nilufer Yanya PAINLESS: 

once again traverses a variety of genres, mixing soulful smoky vocals with art rock, trip-hop, and pop. On occasion, Yanya effortlessly inhabits that indie, soul-jazz hinterland once occupied by Everything But the Girl, at other times, there are moments that would give Radiohead a run for their money. PAINLESS is a body of work that sees Yanya opening up about her feelings in a much more direct way than on her debut. There is no obfuscation, no cloaking of emotion behind concepts, this time she confronts her feelings head-on. (UNDER THE RADAR) 

 

23. Big Thief DRAGON NEW WARM MOUNTAIN I BELIEVE IN YOU: 

there is a jubilance to these performances, even a joyousness. A wailing fiddle, played by guest member Mat Davidson (aka Twain), loosens up the country stomp of “Red Moon” and the gorgeous, blue-eyed harmonies of “Dried Roses.” “Spud Infinity” is the most striking departure, an unabashedly goofy singalong, with lyrics about elbows and potato knishes that Lenker nearly rejected for their uncharacteristic irreverence, and the most conspicuous use of a Jew’s harp since Leonard Cohen jauntily deployed one in the middle of a song about 9/11. It is the kind of song that defies the band’s downbeat reputation, that stares at you with a wild glint, daring you to resist its giddy revelry. (PASTE) 

 

 

24. Alvvays BLUE REV: 

flooded basements and stolen hard drives prolonged the album's genesis but gave them time to tinker and refine nearly every aspect of their sound. The result is sharper hooks, noisier guitars and more plaintive stories about love and heartbreak. Nostalgia has always been a key arrow in the Alvvays quiver. Yet, even as they shout out Tom Verlaine and Belinda Carlisle, there's nothing backward-looking about Blue Rev. Instead, they boil down elements of power pop, shoegaze, dream pop, jangle rock and any other indie rock subfield you can think of into an alcopop-charged rush of guitar rock joy. (EXCLAIM) 

 

 

25. Amber Mark THREE DIMENSIONS DEEP: 

the album is structured in three acts mapping Mark’s journey at different stages: identifying her own insecurities, working through the messy parts of self-discovery, and finally reaching a solid sense of self-worth. Three Dimensions Deep’s secondary, figurative throughline is inspired by Mark’s love of sci-fi and interest in heady astrophysics theories, a theme that pops up through celestial metaphors in her lyrics that amplify human concerns to galactic size. In Mark’s world, romance hurtles her to another planet, kisses are astronomical, and searching for her place in the world is posed as an all-consuming, cosmic question. (PITCHFORK) 

 

26. Benjamin Clementine AND I HAVE BEEN: 

despite Clementine’s insistence that this is his “light” album, on And I Have Been he grapples with nothing less than life’s cyclical nature. On “Delighted,” he lobs a ball upward and then watches gravity snatch it back down. “We lean, we learn, we earn, we turn, we burn/Then start again” he observes. Violin and a multi-tracked soprano surge in the background. The strings nearly clot the song with their filigree, but they are tempered by Clementine’s earthy, rust-worn voice. (PITCHFORK) 

 

27. Weyes Blood AND IN THE DARKNESS, HEARTS AGLOW: 

Natalie Mering further cements her status as a sort of millennial Karen Carpenter, her rich alto a warming bonfire, and her ear for timeless, shag-carpet piano melody still unmatched among her peers. Here, she applies the reedy 70s singer-songwriter aesthetic she has acquired over her last couple of records to matters like contemporary alienation. (CRACK MAGAZINE) 

 

28. Perfume Genius UGLY SEASON: 

conceived as the soundtrack to 2019’s The Sun Still Burns Here, a dance project with choreographer Kate Wallich, and will soon receive an accompanying music film by visual artist Jacolby Satterwhite. But while it’s structurally somewhat of an outlier in his catalog, it also taps into Hadreas’s enduring lyrical themes of queerness, embodiment, and movement and is another dazzling display of his experimental ingenuity. (SLANT) 

 

29. Jean Dawson CHAOS NOW: 

is simply redefining what a ‘guitar album’ can be. Fuzzy riffs over trap-tinted beats, 80s chicken scratch guitar, blistering power-chord choruses, picked acoustic… it’s all here. Never once is Jean Dawson restricted by any instruments or styles. Instead he crafts a nostalgic, and sometimes aggressive, world, matched beautifully by the well-thought-out visuals. It took everything that made ‘Pixel Bath’ so incredible and just elevates it. (CLASH) 

 

30. Scott Hardware BALLAD OF A TRYHARD: 

fraught with inner turmoil but contrasted by soaring, uplifting music and rare moments of contentedness, Scott Hardware spends Ballad of a Tryhard trying to relish in tranquility while bracing himself as the world crumbles around him. When it comes to developing as a songwriter, though, Ballad is one more stepping stone to achieving an artistry that's as indefinable as it is unpredictable. (EXCLAIM.CA)