best music, 2022

I’ve always been a fairly obsessive list-maker, I think largely to soothe a specific type of memory-related anxiety but also because I like big numbers. A joking sort of outside goal that I’ve had for a while has been hitting 1,000 movies and 10,000 albums by 30, but this year I ended up probably a little too immersed in that pursuit and at some point was just speedrunning classic albums and movies I’d never really got around to. Last year I wrote that I still hadn’t heard a Talking Heads album - turns out those guys were cooking!

This is obviously partially a story about me being an idiot (because both of those milestones are truly arbitrary) but also a story about how much of an honor it still is to come across totally new music that truly moves me. I don’t know how it can be that I’d still never listened to anything by My Chemical Romance, or Cocteau Twins’ Heaven or Las Vegas, or anything really from Pinback or Interpol, but all of those things were so important to my year and reignited I think a purer fandom I’ve been missing in my pursuit of Keeping Up. I still care about trying to listen to every Curren$y and Rxk Nephew release but it’s also nice to just be humbled by my own ignorance, too.

best songs of 2022
25. Nia Archives - “Forbidden Feelingz” (Nia Archives)
24. Young Slo-Be - “Don’t Kome 2 My Funeral” (Jae2Smooth)
23. Fax Gang - “See You Through the Prism” (GLACIERbaby)
22. skaiwater - “#miles” (Jdolla & skaiwater)
21. The Range - “1995” (The Range)
20. YoungBoy Never Broke Again - “Like a Jungle (Out Numbered)” (?)
19. Metro Boomin & Young Thug - “Metro Spider” (Allen Ritter, Elkan, Metro Boomin, Nik D & OZ)
18. Roc Marciano & The Alchemist - “Daddy Kane” feat. Action Bronson (The Alchemist)
17. Lil Uzi Vert - “Just Wanna Rock” (MCVertt & Synthetic)
16. brakence - “cbd” (brakence)
15. Billy Woods - “Pollo Rico” (Messiah Musik)
14. Prince Daddy & The Hyena - “Black Mold” (Prince Daddy & The Hyena)
13. OTM - “Cliff Hanger Remix” feat. Drakeo the Ruler (?) - I wrote about this song here for Passion of the Weiss
12. Black Country, New Road - “The Place Where He Inserted the Blade” (Black Country, New Road & Sergio Maschetzko)
11. Yeat - “Talk” (BNYX®)
10. Hikaru Utada - “Somewhere Near Marseilles” (Floating Points & Hikaru Utada)
9. Oso Oso - “computer exploder” (Oso Oso)
8. Brent Faiyaz & Tre’ Amani - “ADDICTIONS” (Brent Faiyaz & Jordan Ware)
7. Overmono - “Gunk” (Overmono)
6. Burna Boy - “Last Last” (Chopstix, MD$, Off & Out & Ruuben)
5. Hudson Mohawke - “Behold” (Hudson Mohawke)
4. Two Shell - “home” (Two Shell)
3. Lucki - “Super Urus” (Flansie)
2. Thaiboy Digital & Yung Lean - “True Love” (Jonah Abraham & Roc)
1. Kendrick Lamar - “Rich Spirit” (DJ Dahi, Frano & Sounwave)

best albums of 2022
25. yeule - Glitch Princess
24. Natalia Lafourcade - De Todas las Flores
23. MIKE - Beware of the Monkey
22. ROSALÍA - MOTOMAMI
21. Billy Woods - Church
20. SZA - SOS
19. MAVI - Laughing so Hard, it Hurts
18. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
17. Alvvays - Blue Rev
16. Flo Milli - You Still Here, Ho ?
15. Burna Boy - Love, Damini
14. Hikaru Utada - BAD MODE
13. Drake - Honestly, Nevermind
12. Earl Sweatshirt - SICK!
11. Westside Gunn - 10
10. Yeat - 2 Alivë
9. Roc Marciano & The Alchemist - The Elephant Man’s Bones
8. Nicholas Craven & Boldy James - Fair Exchange No Robbery
7. Vince Staples - RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART
6. Thaiboy Digital - Back 2 Reality
5. Black Country, New Road - Ants from Up There 
4. Lucki - Flawless Like Me
3. Hudson Mohawke - Cry Sugar
2. Rachika Nayar - Heaven Come Crashing
1. Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

best of the rest, 2022
50. Benny the Butcher & J. Cole - “Johnny P’s Caddy” (The Alchemist & Benny the Butcher)
49. Tony Shhnow @ Brooklyn Made
48. DJ Tunez @ Quantum Brooklyn
47. Two Shell’s fake show @ Primavera Sound
46. future james - “perfect pair (beabadoobee)” (future james)
45. Shankz - “Taylor Swift - Love Story (Pluggnb Remix)” (Shankz)
44. Black Country, New Road @ Bowery Ballroom
43. redveil - “pg baby” (redveil), lil too down the middle but Good is Good
42. Goldenboy Countup - Golden Ticket
41. Various Drain Gang + Yung Lean performances
40. Bad Boy Chiller Crew - Disrespectful
39. Future’s presence everywhere, even though I’m not a “WAIT FOR U” guy
38. A$AP Rocky - “OUR DE$TINY” feat. Playboi Carti (EvilGiane)
37. Danilo Plessow (MCDE) @ Bogart House
36. Physical Therapy - “Emotional Rescue” (Physical Therapy)
35. Alex G - Save the Animals, I feel like there’s some delayed recognition thing going on bc the last few were better
34. Gunna - “banking on me” (Metro Boomin)
33. Joyce Manor - “Souvenir” (Joyce Manor & Rob Schnapf)
32. Babyface Ray - “Sincerely Face” (Flea Diamonds) / “Corner Suite” (K More) / “Crazy World” (Space the Wizard)
31. Neon Indian DJ set @ Knockdown Center
30. ZelooperZ - Get WeT.Radio
29. Soul Glo - “Spiritual Level of Gang Shit” feat. McKinley Dixon & lojii (Soul Slo)
28. Jamie xx @ Coachella
27. Bril & 2rare - “Pop Shit” (?)
26. Bandmanrill - “Real Hips” (DJ Bake & DJ KilSoSouth) - I wrote about this song here for Passion of the Weiss
25. Quelle Chris - “The Sky is Blue Because the Sun is Red” feat. MoRuf & Pink Siifu (Chris Keys & Knxwledge), specifically MoRuf’s last bar
24. Shabason & Krgovich - At Scaramouche, the best ambient pop i’ve heard in ages
23. Quando Rondo & Youngboy Never Broke Again - “Give Me a Sign” (Bankroll Got It, Geo Vocals & SephGotTheWaves)
22. Luh Tyler - “Back Flippin” (Xair)
21. Naked Flames - “Tennessee Transit” (Naked Flames)
20. Four Tet & Floating Points @ Forest Hills
19. Rema - Ravez & Roses
18. Burna Boy @ Primavera Sound
17. Machine Girl - “Glass Ocean” (Machine Girl), and Neon White generally
16. Earl Sweatshirt - “MAKING THE BAND” (Clams Casino & EvilGiane)
15. Oso Oso @ Warsaw
14. Lil Baby, who’s never made a song I didn’t like, incl the bad ones
13. Beach House - Once Twice Melody, was robbed of some impact by the EP rollout
12. Overmono @ Elsewhere
11. Takeoff on “Hotel Lobby”
10. Fred Again.. - “Rumble” feat. Skrillex & Flowdan (Four Tet, Fred Again & Skrillex)
9. Swami Sound - “Back in the Day (Soulecta Dub)” (Swami Sound), and most of the dubs from this year esp. Omarion and Shygirl ones
8. 454 - FAST TRAX 3
7. Lil Yachty - “Poland” (F1lthy, Lucian & Lukrative)
6. BabyTron - “King of the Galaxy” / Bin Reaper 3: Old Testament
5. Blood Orange @ Brooklyn Steel
4. DJ Khaled - “Juice WRLD DID” feat. Juice WRLD (DT & Nick Mira), he remains greatly missed
3. Boldy James, who continues to be the best rapper alive (“Scrabble” and “Foot Prints” were big final cuts)
2. Yeat - “Rich Minion” (LOTTO)
1. Exotic - “Ton1ght (Remix)” feat. j4m & louvres (?), best TikTok song of the year

things i read + watched
10. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
9. Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
8. Decision to Leave (Park Chan-Wook)
7. Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
6. Dilla Time by Dan Charnas
5. Silence (Martin Scorsese)
4. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)
3. Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick)
2. Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel