2022 Best of | Best albums | Best songs | Irish albums | Irish songs | Best Of Podcasts | Guest lists | Best New Irish artists
80.
Panda Bear, Sonic Boom
Edge Of The Edge
Built on a sample of the 1963 song ‘Denise’ by Randy & The Rainbows, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom’s ‘Edge Of The Edge’ is the lilting and open-hearted throwback from their collaborative album Reset.
79.
Whitney
Memory
The Chicago duo of Julien Ehlrich and Max Kakacek aka Whitney evolve their sound in a fresh way as heard on songs like ‘Memory’, a highlight from their album Spark on Secretly Canadian.
The lyrics of ‘Memory’ illustrate someone processing and eventually accepting their fear of death. Halfway through writing the song our bandmate Will Miller sent along the chords for what would become the outro of the song without ever hearing “Memory.” It was one of those harmonious moments where two separate ideas somehow fit together immediately. The final third speaks to the afterlife in a way we wouldn’t have been able to match with words.
78.
Lizzo
About Damn Time
Lizzo’s best song of her return, leans on disco-funk that never goes out of fashion.
77.
Loraine James
Maybe If I (Stay On It)
UK producer Loraine James released an album homage to the American composer Julius Eastman, by reinterpreting and reimagining his work on the album Building Something Beautiful For Me on the Phantom Limb label.
In the summer 2021, the label sent Loraine a zip drive of Eastman originals (courtesy of his brother Gerry Eastman), Renee Levine-Packer & Mary Jane Leach’s 2015 biography Gay Guerilla, and transcribed MIDI stems (courtesy of Phantom Limb founder & A&R James Vella), and the album is the result, utiliising samples, melodic motifs, themes and imagery, and inspiration from Eastman’s canon.
‘Maybe If I’ riffs on the 1973 Eastman staple ‘Stay On It.‘
76.
Nilüfer Yanya
Midnight Sun
Nilufer Yanya’s second album Painless had a late rush of listening in the latter half of the year for me, but this spindly beaut was omnipresent since February.
“At the core of the song it’s just about being OK with things and accepting that this is where you are at. However, the ‘I’ll do anything’ line hints at a desperation of wanting to let that be known.
75.
Nailah Hunter
Forest Dark
Nailah Hunter is a harpist, vocalist, and composer living in Los Angeles. ‘Forest Dark’ is a single on Leaving Records, and it’s a daydreamy harp and sax tonic.
“Forest Dark is about lost love and quiet longing, calling forth the feeling of a full moon shining through the tallest trees in an ancient wood. It was a new and exhilarating process working closely with producer Brogan Bentley on this track. He sampled and resynthesized the harp parts I wrote for the piece to create a new sound world, and the addition of Max Kaplan’s tenor sax added another layer of richness and soul.”Nailah Hunter
74.
Madison Cunningham
Hospital
LA singer-songwriter and excellent guitarist Madison Cunningham impressed me at a live show in Dublin in May, after I went in not knowing any of her music. ‘Hospital’ is an ultra-melodic country-tinged rock track that reminds me of early St. Vincent, from the 2022 album Revealer.
73.
Sudan Archives
Selfish Soul
Cincinnati Ohio rapper/singer/violinist’s Brittany Parks aka Sudan Archives’ new album Natural Brown Prom Queen‘s alt-R&B was one of the year’s best, and ‘Selfish Soul’ is a succinct example of her artistry.
72.
Moving Still
La Titasil Feeya
Dublin-based producer Moving Still has been making his Arabic electronic music soar for a number of years now. ‘La Titasil Feeya’ is typical of the squelchy electro heat he makes, with added an percussive passage that gives a fresh dimension to this shimmering banger.
The track features on five-track release Kalam Hub from CWPT/Cooking With Palms Trax.
71.
Wet Leg
Too Late Now
If you think the Isle Of Wight duo Wet Leg are all novelty lyrics and short-lived thrills then think again. The closing track from their debut album burns with adulthood angst.
70.
Automatic
New Beginning
Automatic have form in releasing high-BPM dance-punk tracks like one of my 2020 favourites ‘Calling It’. ‘New Beginning’ is from the trio’s second album Excess on Stones Throw.
69.
Charli XCX
Baby
The best singles from Crash were released last year in ‘New Shapes’ and ‘Good Ones’. ‘Baby’ retains Charli’s snarly pop appeal without trying too hard to reach beyond the core audiences.
68.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Emile Mosseri Green To You
Green To You
American composers Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Emile Mosseri released a two-part collaborative album between 2021 and 2022, I Could Be Your Dog (Prequel) – was released last year. The theremin-featuring orchestrals of ‘Green To You’ is from part two – I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon, which was released in May.
“In our collaboration we talked about the idea of needing a catalyst, or inspiration coming from a reaction to something. Like when you think you hear a friend say something, and they said something else, but what you thought you heard was actually something that you wrote, that you generated, and had a clear channel to grab it because your sense of self didn’t get in the way.”
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
67.
Sorcha Richardson
Shark Eyes
The Irish artist’s second album Smiling Like An Idiot features ‘Shark Eyes’, a track that takes Richardson’s songcraft in a fresh direction with distant strings and atmospheric chords and a wistful nocturnal arrangement, eschewing guitar as a main instrument. Sorcha Richardson has a talent for writing these kinds of introspective late-night anthems.
“Shark Eyes is about being totally infatuated with someone who you know isn’t as interested in you as you are in them. It’s about following your darker and more destructive impulses and allowing yourself to be taken for a bit of a ride, partly out of boredom and curiosity, but also partly out of a lingering hope that maybe this time it will end differently. I think I wrote it as a way of admitting to myself that that relationship would never be anything more than it already was, but I wanted it to still have the sweetness of a love song. Sometimes there’s a real lightness and relief in coming to that realisation about someone and knowing and accepting the limits of your relationship with them.”
66.
Faye Webster
Suite Jonny
Atlanta artist Faye Webster released an EP of reimagined songs backed by a full orchestra called Car Therapy, and recorded at Spacebomb Studios, via Secretly Canadian.
This version of ‘Suite: Jonny’ (made of ‘Jonny’ and ‘Jonny (Reprise)’ from 2019’s Atlanta Millionaire’s Club) while also being unfurlingly beautiful also highlights the unique timbre of Webster’s singular voice. Trey Pollard conducted the orchestra.
“This is the song that sparked the whole concept for this project for me. It’s also one of the first songs that I ever wrote that I felt was truly honesty and had true transparency, which I think is maybe why so many people relate to it. I wanted to be able to relive this song in a way that felt new at the same time, which is why I really like the direction that Trey took these orchestral arrangements.”
65.
Kelela
On The Run
After teasing a couple of songs we got have confirmation that Kelela’s new record Raven is out on Warp on February 10, 2023.
‘On The Run’ is sultry club R&B with nuance and that undeniable voice of the gods.
64.
Young Fathers
Geronimo
No one does bellowing anthemic gospel indie rap music with a walloping emotional heft like Scottish band Young Fathers. Their new album Heavy, Heavy drops on February 3rd 2023.
63.
Kevin Morby
This Is A Photograph
The title track from US singer-songwriter Kevin Morby’s new album, written in Memphis, is an encapsulation of all that Morby is great at – songwriting, storytelling and getting fresh notes from old sounds. It’s also a fine indication of the album’s busier sonics after 2020’s relatively quieter Sundowner, brass and backing vocals from Stax Academy of Music alumni and all.
62.
Black Country, New Road
Good Will Hunting
Wherever Black Country, New Road go from here without the singer Isaac Wood, and the first two quickly-made albums the band made together with him, it’s unlikely to sound like this early 2000s indie throwback song about fleeting unrequited love.
It’s just been a weekend
But in my mind
We summer in France
With our genius daughters now
And you teach me to play the piano.
61.
Biig Piig
Kerosene
I’m loving the trajectory that Biig Piig has made for herself, taking time to eschew traditional album routes in favour of loosies and a wide ranger of collaborations, leading up to a debut mixtape drop in January.
One thing that is constant from the Irish-born artist, is the quality is always high and ‘Kerosene’ is another fine bop, made with Zach Nahome and Maverick Sabre, who also co-produced ‘Feels Right’, her best song to date.
Biig Piig says ‘Kerosene’ is “about wanting someone to rip my clothes off, and the tension of that relationship…my own hot girl summer anthem, tbh.”
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the cohost of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, event curator and producer of gigs, parties & events.
