Below are my 20 favorite songs I heard in 2022. You can listen along via Spotify if you’d like. I’ve also included YouTube embeds for each track if that’s more your speed.
20. Short Fictions - Don't Start A Band (Lauren)
Questionable advice aside, this song is a delightful slab of indie-punk that probably would’ve earned Short Fictions a two-album deal on SideOneDummy before that label imploded.
19. Single Mothers - Things (Dine Alone)
If you would’ve told me this time last year that my favorite nihilistic Canadian hardcore band would release a catchy-as-hell dance-punk song, I’d call you a liar. I’m thrilled to stand corrected.
20. The Smile - The Opposite (XL)
Now that I’m officially in my 40s, I am legally obligated to acknowledge whatever Thom Yorke creates in any given year.
18. Pedro The Lion - First Drum Set (Polyvinyl)
David Bazan’s multi-album journey through his childhood has been a slightly mixed bag, but thus far, each album is good for at least one incredibly cathartic moment. 2019’s Phoenix had the jaw-dropping “Quietest Friend,” and this year’s Havasu gives us “First Drum Set,” an auto-biographical account of Bazan discovering his love for the drums, which takes a little bit to get going but pays off spectacularly.
17. Hutch Harris - IT'S NOT GONNA BE OK (self-released)
What an incredible bummer of a pop-punk song. I love it!
16. 2nd Grade - Teenage Overpopulation (Double Double Whammy)
I’m not sure there’s a better opening line in a song this year than “There’s too many teens in the world / Ruining the human experience.” For that matter, there might not be a better pre-chorus line than “We never should've given smartphones to the generation.” (Also, this song shouts out both Malala, Aaliyah and Topanga, which has to be a first in recorded music history, right?)
15. David Knudson & Tim Kasher - No Ways No Means (Seawall)
For as obsessed as I was with Minus The Bear for the entirety of their career, I have to admit I didn’t spend a lot of time with MTB guitarist Dave Knudson’s debut solo album The Only Thing You Have To Change Is Everything this year. However, this standalone track featuring Tim Kasher on vocals that dropped in November has been in extremely heavy rotation (and makes me wonder what kind of gems I’m missing on that album). Kasher is best when he’s howling about the decline of Western civilization, and Knudson is best when he’s writing knotty riffs loaded with effects, so this shit is like musical catnip.
14. The Interrupters - Raised By Wolves (Hellcat)
This album kind of missed the mark, huh? For every certified banger like “Raised By Wolves,” there are sappy ballads and ill-conceived doo-wop numbers. But when the Interrupters hit, they hit hard, and the harmony on “Wooooooooooolves!” will induce goosebumps in even the most hardened of listeners.
12. Big Nothing - A Lot Of Finding Out (Lame-O)
As long as Big Nothing continues to effortlessly toss off two-minute wistful power-pop numbers that conjure up the Forecast’s most y’allternative moments, I will continue to listen.
11. Meridian - Give Off A Glow (Sleep)
This song, like most tracks on Meridian’s third LP New Ways For Old Days, is nearly a decade old — and, also like most tracks on New Ways For Old Days, is a picture-perfect example of alt-country tinged alt-rock that owes as much to the Avett Brothers as it does Everclear.
10. The Beths - Knees Deep (Carpark)
If you, like me, miss the Weakerthans to an absurdly large degree, might I suggest you press “play” on “Knees Deep” by the Beths? The guitar solo is right out of the defunct prairie-rockers’ playbook (and the rest of the song ain’t half-bad either).
9. Superchunk - Endless Summer (Merge)
Superchunk’s newest album, Wild Loneliness, is fine — any band a dozen albums into their career is bound to devolve into “yeah, it definitely sounds like them” territory — but this song is a true diamond, with Mac MacCaughan’s vocals hitting the stratosphere repeatedly throughout an absolutely massive chorus.
8. Hot Water Music - Turn The Dial (Equal Vision)
I don’t know what’s more surprising — that Hot Water Music turned in a career-best album this deep into their career, or that Chris Cresswell has the best song on the whole record? Thank god these guys found each other.
7. Cave In - Waiting For Love (Relapse)
It’s just like Cave In to throw an alternate-universe rock-radio smash hit near the end of their new, bludgeoningly heavy album. If you told me this song was leftover from their Jupiter/Antenna days, I wouldn’t be shocked.
6. Weezer - I Want A Dog (Crush/Atlantic)
Weezer’s four-EP SZNZ project was a bit of a mixed bag, conceptually, but any year in which we get a whopping 28 new songs from Rivers Cuomo is generally a good one — especially when he sprinkles in gems like this, which feels as “classic” as Weezer ca. 2022 can while still sounding like Weezer ca. 2022.
5. Jimmy Eat World - Something Loud (Exotic Location)
YOU STILL GOT IT! 👏 👏 👏-👏-👏
4. Big Thief - Spud Infinity (4AD)
There is not a single musical moment in all of 2022 that makes me happier than the ride bell hits at 3:05 on “Spud Infinity” by Big Thief.
3. The Slackers - Statehouse (Pirates Press)
The confederate flag and its supporters can get fucked forever.
2. Dazy & Militarie Gun - Pressure Cooker (Very Loud Sounds)
The 1990s were pretty cool, weren’t they?
1. Cheekface - Featured Singer (self-released)
It’s like if Jeff Rosenstock and John McCrea from Cake decided to write an LCD Soundsystem song, and I am alllllllll the way here for it.
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"Pressure Cooker" and "Endless Summer" are pretty high up on my list of favorite songs as well.