While I too am fond of nostalgic detours into the music of my youth, there’s lots of great new music! These days, it’s harder to find — or, it feels that way to me. But I’m always listening, making note of what I like, and… compiling this Best of 2022 playlist! I was going to try to limit it to under a hundred songs. I did manage to cut it a bit, but it still comes in at 119 songs. So, you know, skip the tracks that don’t interest you. And, in the comments, feel free to point out all the great music that I missed! (I’m sure I missed a lot! I’m not a professional music critic.)
Having left the birdsite for Mastodon, I’ve been sharing some favorite songs (via YouTube videos) in a thread of “Toots” over there. I’ve invented categories for each… just because that was fun to do. Here’s what I’ve shared so far.
Best Song About the State of the Profession:
The Beths’ “Expert in a Dying Field”
Best Song That Sums up the Zeitgeist:
Metric’s “All Comes Crashing”
Best Song That Is a Sequel:
Jens Lekman’s “The Linden Trees Are Still in Blossom”
(sequel to Lekman’s “Postcard to Nina” from 2007)
Best Song of Mourning / Trauerarbeit:
Gang of Youths’ “You in Everything”
Best Post-Roe Protest Song:
Petrol Girls’ “Baby, I Had an Abortion”
Best Bittersweet Dance Song:
Lucius (feat. Brandi Carlisle & Cheryl Crow), “Dance Around It”
Here’s Lucius’ live version, feat. Cheryl Crow, Celisse, & Stay Human
Best Cover Song:
Cécile McLorin Salvant, “Wuthering Heights”
Best Silly Song:
Subwoolfer’s “Give that Wolf a Banana”
Best Protest Dance Song:
Rina Sawayama’s “This Hell”
Best Reason-to-Keep-Going Song
Bonnie Raitt’s “Livin’ for the Ones”
Best Movie Theme:
“This Is a Life” by Son Lux with Mitski & David Byrne
from Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Gospel Song:
The Harlem Gospel Travelers’ “Look Up”
Best Anti-Capitalist Satire Song
Yard Act’s “Rich”
Best Optimistic Song:
Emeli Sandé’s “Brighter Days”
I’ll keep adding to my Mastadon thread (trail?) of Best of 2022 songs for a bit — possibly for the rest of 2022. If you’re on Mastodon, follow me there: @philnel@mastodon.green.
I don’t always manage an accompanying blog post, but I’ve been doing “Best of the year” playlists for a while now. Here are some (on Spotify) and accompanying blog posts (if they exist).
- 2015: Just You Wait! Best of 2015.
- 2016: Take Us Back. Best of 2016.
- 2017: Everything Now. Best of 2017.
- 2018: Now or Never Now. Best of 2018.
- 2019: The Future Is Here. Best of 2019. Here’s the 2019 blog post.
- 2020: Can’t Tell the Darkness from the Flame. Best of 2020.
- 2021: We Cannot Resist. Best of 2021. Here’s the 2021 blog post.
- 2022: All Comes Crashing. Best of 2022.