As the year draws to a close, our journalist Lachlan attempts to weigh-up and acclaim thirty of this year's singles, from Beyoncé to Kamasi Washington.
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30. Why – Chat Pile
The upfront and direct way Chat Pile question Oklahoman homelessness on ‘Why’ is both distinctively disturbing and socially pertinent. Repeatedly crying ‘Why do people have to live outside?’ through a dystopian sludge metal backdrop, frontman Raygun Busch embodies a discomfort and desperation unique to the band. The single captures 2022’s political volatility in widely held attitudes that helped God’s Country become the band’s breakthrough album.
29. June – Destroyer
Destroyer’s move into dance- and synth-pop on LABYRINTHITIS sees ‘June’ tie beaming guitar work to a plucky bassline and atmospheric synth work in an assembly of the band’s talents. Bejar progresses through many lyrical approaches over the track, from crazed poet to self-conscious lover as vocal rates change with the Spring/Winter tempo of the song. What's more, I can't stress enough how good this song is live.
28. Hurts to Love – Beach House
‘Hurts to Love’ makes up the final single of Beach House’s epic Once Twice Melody. Its merging of sorrowful organ and new-wave synth keys backs the ever-gorgeous vocals of Victoria Legrand in a kaleidoscope of neo-psychedelic dream pop fitting to the rest of the album. While many of the other songs on the album are arguably more memorable, the single marriage of happiness and sadness is extremely effective.
27. Snow Globes – Black Country, New Road
The only single to have managed to squeeze into 2022 from Ants from Up There far from weakens the progress already established by its prior singles. Irrespective of mixing issues concerning the drums, be it the poignancy and honesty behind the vocals, gorgeous complementing of violin and saxophone, or gentle pacing of guitar throughout, ‘Snow Globes’ prompts an emotional response in the listener unique to its album.
26. The Garden Path – Kamasi Washington
Kamasi Washington glows through jazz yet again with a vibrant walk through ‘The Garden Path’, one littered with incredible sax work, sunny spurts of brass and organ, and soul-fuelled backing chorus. Washington plunges into his seemingly limitless talent to brightly harness one of the most summery and enjoyable pieces of music of the year.
25. Glasgow – Jockstrap
Jockstrap’s stellar production shines through their slightly indirect love song ‘Glasgow’. As a duo adept in electronic work, it’s surprising their strongest single of the year is reliant on acoustic guitar and often orchestral, sometimes bizarre strings. Convention is out of the window for Ellery and Skye, whose uncharted stylistic choices comprise an amazing listen.
24. Neck & Wrist – Pusha T ft. JAY-Z and Pharrell
The hypnotic beat of ‘Neck & Wrist’ is championed by a stronger than ever Pusha T. Accompanied by JAY-Z and Pharrell, the track showcases Pusha’s vast improvement in song writing, ability, and voice. With so many components working so well together, this skilfully delivers one of the most impressive hip-hop collaborations of the year.
23. tell me a joke – Quadeca
Without telling too much before the upcoming 2022 album list, Quadeca achieves something quite astonishing in his blending of art pop and emo rap on I Didn’t Mean to Haunt You. Running the cheesy “my life is a joke” line, an active sincerity lies overpoweringly behind this piece, with cricket-chirping piano appearances and farmhouse, echoing guitar painting a devastatingly isolated picture. There is dark subject matter being dealt with under this thin visage of beauty and acceptance.
22. SAOKO – Rosalia
The influence of Latin American pop smashed through into 2022 in the form of Rosalia’s Motomami. Its opening track ‘SAOKO’ promotes its accessible avant-garde qualities from the cheeky warm-up vocals through the serious advocation of her “outstanding rhythm” to its punchy, glitched finish, Rosalia singlehandedly draws from Colombian reggaeton musical culture to found a nuanced opener to a nuanced album.
21. Free Yourself – Jessie Ware
Jessie Ware continues to wear the crown of Queen of Disco following her spectacular album What’s Your Pleasure? in 2020. As her only offering of the year, ‘Free Yourself’ sees Ware solidify seductive performance, 80s call-back production, and catchy piano-based instrumentals to establish one of the very best pop songs of the year.
20. Ain’t No Thief – Viagra Boys
The leather-laden Swedish punk rock losers Viagra Boys serve us a track with a pulse so intense it’s an ambulance trip listen on ‘Ain’t No Thief’. Its heart-attack pace sneers about insulting accusations of blatant theft over insanely catchy, itching guitar, head-shaking bass, and impassioned drums. The band wears their ‘bad boy’ persona through much more than indoor sunglasses.
19. After the Earthquake – Alvvays
Indie rock’s Alvvays-shaped hole was filled ever-enjoyably this year. ‘After the Earthquake’ marginally beats its fellow singles through a layering of shoegaze guitar onto Rankin’s nostalgia vocals, upbeat drums, and lo-fi, near surf-synth undertone. Yes, just like every track in its own way on Blue Rev. It’s fun, doesn’t try to be anything else, and greatly succeeds in itself.
18. Billions – Caroline Polachek
‘Billions’ comprises one of a handful of offerings from Stairlift’s Caroline Polachek, produced by Danny L Harle. It’s an empowering piece of avant-pop that moves from rewound vinyl to glacial piano notes before culminating in the fade out of a children's choir. Polachek herself controls the piece wonderfully, putting “psycho, priceless, good in a crisis” as her autobiographical tagline.
17. It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody – Weyes Blood
In all he Julia Holter-esque marvel, Weyes Blood returned from her masterpiece Titanic Rising with an equally lovely indie pop single. It’s a slow, existential piece of peaceful meditation that analyses disharmonies through the guise of harp, strings, and angelic voice of Natalie Mering. Although the rest of the album didn’t live up to expectation, ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’ has a consistency and presence unique and important to the year.
16. Messe de E-102 – death’s dynamic shroud
Still sampling the most eyebrow raising mainstream pop, death’s dynamic shroud extend a mesmerising piece of electronica on ‘Messe de E-102’. It sees the group arc fully from heavier vapourwave to an easier aesthetic of gorgeous shoegazey vocals over waves of drumbeats and cosmic key programming. Floating through this track is as pleasant and electronically complex as it gets.
15. Sugar/Tzu – Black Midi
The now famous intricate math-rock of Black Midi side steps as a 3’3” superfluous freak through light switch on-off drumming, the familiarly facetious vocals of Geordie Greep, and even the odd cabasa-turn on ‘Sugar/Tzu’. Its dinging of the bell puts more than just the Sugar vs. Tzu fight into motion as each band member grabs at the others’ throat over this incredible narrative piece.
14. Taking Me Back – Jack White
“I’ll bet you do” screams through the oddball, frankly insane guitar that replenishes alt rock with the face of Jack White. The line between experimental and conventional still lies miles behind White as he rips through a return single that embodies his commitment to his place in music in a distorted ode. As the circus performer that he is, this one-man show really never ceases to amaze.
13. Always Together with You – Spiritualized
Post-Covid music has been difficult to successfully capture and more miss than hit. But decontextualising this universal emotion and bringing people back together is the winning formula for Spiritualized. This single is simply beautiful, with child-like affection woven through the lyrics to the quintessential spaceman sound of the band. A musical Sun comes from behind a cloud as castanets, soft noise, and busy synths all contribute. It’s an important piece because everyone wants to always be together with someone.
12. Strangers – Danger Mouse & Black Thought ft. A$AP Rocky and Run the Jewels
Unimportantly flashing A$AP Rocky and Run the Jewels features, Black Thought and Danger Mouse put forward an astonishing piece of underground hip-hop on ‘Strangers’. The cartoonish beat typical to Danger Mouse offers much to the four rappers who each deliver wry and resolute verses between samples inconvenienced by each line. While a case exists for every ‘Cheat Codes’ single, ‘Strangers’ is the new benchmark for modern producer-rapper projects.
11. Jump!!!(Or Get Jumped!!!) – Soul Glo
Preconceptions of “punk” were shattered by Soul Glo this year. Be it Jordan’s demented, intense vocals, GG Guerra’s productive guitar, or Stevenson’s hammering of the drums, the collision of all three needing you to jump(!!!) in order to avoid their scorching societal deconstruction and sweeping condemnation merit a notion of self-preservation stronger in music than anything else this year.
10. BREAK MY SOUL – Beyoncé
Over half a decade since her widely acclaimed Lemonade, Beyoncé does more than experience a renaissance on ‘BREAK MY SOUL’. Moving to a pop sound doused in dance rhythms and bounce samples, the track vibes inescapably to booming and expressive liberty. Its immaculate house production encases an ambition and conviction exclusive only to Beyoncé.
9. Atopos – Björk
Accessible? Maybe not. The initiator of another consolidating piece from the queen of music Björk? Most definitely. Favouring heavier, dislocated drumbeats and bass-woodwind sonically, Björk provides a converse to 2017’s Utopia in the ‘atopy’ of ineffable, strange emotions. The Icelandic singer shakes newfound ground experimentally from the ins and outs of her unorthodox and outlandish music-true mind.
8. The Heart pt. 5 – Kendrick Lamar
The hands of OJ Simpson, Kanye West, Jussie Smollett, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Nipsey Hussle cover a long-awaited resurfacing of Kendrick Lamar in the form of ‘The Heart pt. 5’. Lamar flexes a multi-million-dollar Marvin Gaye sample that is dilated and deconstructed alongside the single’s central message that considers the history, influence, place, and future of Kendrick Lamar as an artist. Each of the multifaceted associated factors are given their own space. No other artist had a more powerful message this year.
7. KILL DEM – Jamie xx
If you’re involved in the British indie scene, a new Jamie xx track can’t go unnoticed on a list like this. ‘KILL DEM’ only confirms this in its undefinable genre mashing of blistering dance, SKA, and reggae all thoroughly synthesised through an immersive electronic backbone. Its versatility between bedroom and club makes it that bit more replayable as it comfortably accesses a huge scope of musical influence to output a complete banger.
6. Iron Lung – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
The dying, polluted breaths of ‘Iron Lung’ sees King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard emphatically place themselves as the front-runners of modern rock. The musical dynamism here chops between wobbly guitar passages, impending keys, entangled bass-lines, foxy sax, grungier guitar, and show-off drumming in the most impressive ways. Vocally, Mackenzie and Kenny-Smith supplement each other heavily, as Stu’s softer, calmer “hey there”s are brought to balance by the vertigo screams of “FROG BREATH, STEAM TENT”. The jamming inspiration for its mother album Ice/Death harnesses all of the greatest possible aspects of this generationally crucial band.
5.
Cracker Island – Gorillaz
Damon Albarn’s virtual band Gorillaz polishes production for their ultra-funk single ‘Cracker Island’. 2D presents an apocalyptic cult formation with the company of Thundercat, whose feature outdoes any kind of bass restrictions along with panicked backing vocals. The peculiarity updates the inventive note of the group to a more cohesive theme but equally adaptive and distinctive note as the components of 2020’s Song Machine. From all we have, the Cracker Island album shouldn’t disappoint next year, whatever kind of Gorillaz listener you happen to be.
4.
new body rhumba – LCD Soundsystem
Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel ‘White Noise’ got a relatively poor adaptation this year, but its commissioned song brings the most classic conventions and oddball tricks of James Murphey’s LCD Soundsystem back out of the box. The jubilant ululating of ‘pana-sonic, pana-sonic’ accompanies the same angsty as-it-is flashy Murphy over captivating drawn back drums, hand claps, groovy bass, and interlopingly sharp synthesiser. It ranges exceptionally personally around the listener, who can only indulge themselves in whatever a ‘new body rhumba’ is.
3.
Vocoder – Floating Points
Having composed one of the best albums of all time last year (Promises), Sam Shepherd dedicated this year to four very different electronic tracks. The composition of ‘Vocoder’ separates it from the others as its production muffles and clears throughout, creating a very entrapping and, at points, burstingly free experience. Shepherd’s changes from earlier work shows a complete maturing to fine-tuned, constantly rewarding rave-ish material that works within the ungenred sphere seldom reached. Remarkable isn’t even the word to describe what this resonates.
2.
Walkin – Denzel Curry
Curry’s adoption of the “Zatoichi” persona begins a series of upcoming projects that find their inceptive spark on ‘Walkin’. The paradisaical backing vocals lace the track with a harmonised mirage of an objective to a stubborn Denzel, whose known talents in flow and writing reaches boundless limits as he remorselessly scrutinises social discord following a moral cleansing that a trap beat, that helps to switch up the single multiple times, helps to signify. Taking no shit, hip-hop felt Curry more emphatically than any other rapper this year, and ‘Walkin’, drawn to its close with the melting of Zatoichi’s eyes, show this best.
1.
Simulation Swarm – Big Thief
It’s hard to not have your heart melted by the lyricism of Adrianne Lenker. This is especially true of ‘Simulation Swarm’, a song that deals with the inexpressible magic of love within the overwhelming, bustling, commercial everyday world with a soft liquidity that cushions the listener to their own such experiences. The musical subtlety is immaculate and hushes the political onslaught and paranoia outside of its four minutes as if rocking a baby. The song, like its album, captures a goodness accessible within every person, and music’s ability to provoke this is one of those unbelievable things that we all love.
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