Best Music of 2022

It’s New Music Friday and it’s finally here - My best of 2022! I chose a top 23 (since we’re heading into 2023) and you should know as in years past, there is no particular order and certainly no number one. I’m happy that after browsing through so much music, my picks are a wide range of artists, styles and emotions – It really was a great year in music.

Here’s the Spotify playlist. It’s got two songs from each artist so plenty to sink your teeth into!

The Best of 2022 Mixtape

• Robert Glasper - Black Radio III - For nearly two decades Robert Glasper has been breaking down the walls between jazz, hip hop, and soul, and he does this most directly with Black Radio, a series of guest-filled albums that are equally devoted to all three of those genres. Loaded with amazing guests (H.E.R., Killer Mike, Q-Tip), Glasper and his band blend the music of these genres with the voices of many generations. It’s music that makes you stop in your tracks.

• Taylor Swift - Midnights - Working with super producer Jack Antonoff, Swift takes a step back in time to the pop sound that she headed into after her early releases. In fact, she’s taking the best of her previous two lives, a pop star who writes as an indie hero. Swift opens herself up and allows us a glimpse into what she’s thinking about late at night. Like so many of us…

• Miloe - gaps - Bedroom-pop whizz-kid Miloe (a newcomer to me) creates dreamy, synth-tinged soulful pop music (that's a mouthful). He takes inspiration from the beats from his native Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• Bartees Strange - Farm to Table - DC’s own Bartees Strange is back with an even better album than his debut from 2020. Eclectic is the word that comes to me first when listening to the new release. The songs overall are a bit more accessible to a larger audience. Strange has a beautiful voice singing about success in dire times. His recent 9:30 Club shows got rave reviews and I can’t wait for him to come back through town.

• Florence + The Machine - Dance Fever - With songs and sounds as big as Florence Welch’s energy, the latest from the band still has that baroque pop combined with euphoric, grand melodies. Sometimes the best instrument in the band is the lead singer and that is the case here. Welch draws you in with her power and phrasing.

• First Aid Kit - Palomino - There’s a shift in the latest from the Swedish duo and it’s a welcome change. Incorporating a more pop sound into a number of songs. Sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg still bring the folk sounds that drove their previous releases and their harmonizing is once again spot on.

• Maren Morris - Humble Quest - Morris combined the best of both worlds (country and pop) with fantastic songwriting and storytelling. She could have easily gone the more pop route and nobody would have blamed her (well, maybe Nashville) but Morris was feeling so grounded by monumental changes in her life — becoming a mother during the pandemic, losing her producer to cancer and the racial reckoning in America — that the music that leapt out wasn't exactly club bangers. Her songwriting and voice continue to mature but are relatable. A sign of a great songwriter who cares for her fans and family.

• The Cactus Blossoms - One Day - Their retro roots-rock sound reminds me so much of The Everly Brothers with some Graham Parsons - especially the simplicity of their music mixed with their harmonious vocals. The songs are a road trip waiting to happen - and have expanded on their earlier sounds incorporating a more soulful ‘70s-inspired sound.

• Vieux Farka Touré and Khruangbin - Ali - The Texas band joined forces with Vieux Farka Touré to bring new life to songs by his father, Ali, for a best of both worlds album. It reminds me right off the bat of Graceland by Paul Simon. A blending of different artists and genres. Vieux's voice, Ali's songs, and the in-the-pocket slink of Khruangbin's style is hard to resist.

• Redman, Mehldau, McBride, Blade - Long Gone - The members of the legendary original 1990s Joshua Redman Quartet have reunited after twenty-six years after their 1994 debut album. It’s the best jazz album of 2022. Each member achieved great success on their own and brought that back to the band. They’re old soul mates who have picked up where they left off.

• Wet Leg - Wet Leg - Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers arrived fully formed with the kind of infernally catchy indie rock you’ve loved for years. They don’t take themselves seriously at all - their lyrics sometimes can be about how embarrassing it is to actually be in a band. With hat tips to Pavement, The Breeders and many others, Wet Leg have taken the reins on noisy, guitar alternative rock.

• Maggie Rogers - Surrender - The growth that Rogers shows on her second full-length album is immense. Her songwriting is deeper, the indie-pop sound has evolved in the three years since Heard It In A Past Life and the freedom to explore new feelings and desires is up front.

• Beyonce - Renaissance - Damn, Beyonce brought it with her latest! You can’t sit still with her latest release - it’s full of danceable, singable/rappable tracks that will make you move your ass. She’s a master at switching decades of dance.

• Harry Styles - Harry’s House - Styles latest is a dance-pop masterpiece that intertwines folk and funky soul. After two albums of discovery and figuring things out (both were amazing), Styles seems to have settled in nicely with a very personal album. He’s no longer the new kid on the pop music block. It’s a sensitive, mature step to even bigger super-stardom. He’s broken down the walls of boy bands and continues to find his voice in a solo world.

• Broke Royals - Local Support - The DC indie rock band brought on Bartees Strange to produce their third full-length album. It dives further into the band’s rock influences than before. The first half of the album is great bar band rock and roll. The second half of the album brings the pace down a bit and helps focus more on the emotion of the songs.

• Muna - Muna - Three albums in, they’re finally getting their mainstream due, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Bound for pop stardom, the band can turn a phrase better than most and their sound reaches back to the 80s and 90s creating a fun, party atmosphere.

• Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers - Kendrick’s latest tackles fatherhood, materialism, infidelity, addiction, queerness, sexual assault, and cancel culture (that’s just a few). Lamar has always had his finger and lyrics on the pulse of the world we live in. Kendrick Lamar continues to create insightful, thought-provoking music that I will listen to anytime he puts something out.

• Gang of Youths - Angel In Realtime - Filled with sweeping melodies, layer after layer of carefully-positioned sound coming together in satisfying fullness. That’s truer than ever on their latest, where power ballads and dirges alike are immaculately produced and loaded with the group’s natural energy. Think of The Killers or U2 when you listen. But know that Gang of Youths are a band unto themselves.

• The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field - The Beths continue to put out catchy, power-pop, slacker rock. They remind me a lot of Courtney Barnett. Introspective lyrics exploring messy break-ups and the sticky parts of life. They play with unbridled joy.

• Vale - Abismos - Sisters Valeria and Valentina Perez are perfectly in sync, their diaphanous voices winding in and out of each other to create unexpected harmonies at every turn. Born in Colombia, studied music in Louisiana during college. The EP (they’re working on their full-length release) has been praised by Elvis Costello and the duo feed off of each other’s style and sounds, creating the best bit of Latin music there was in 2022.

• Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow - Natalie Mering (basically Weyes Blood) tackles heavy topics and instability through lush ballads reflective of the folk-pop sound from Laurel Canyon. It’s the 60’s and 70’s wrapped into the concerns of a 2022 mass - pandemic isolation.

• Nilüfer Yanya - Painless - Yanya blends R&B and guitar based dance-pop beats. The London singer/songwriter’s latest has been highly anticipated since her debut in 2019. Her voice is tender and haunting at times as it rolls over the music. Where her debut was more genre-hopping, she feels more like a rock star on her latest. She also falls into the category of solo artist that encompasses a bigger sound (Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail).

• The Dead Daisies - Radiance - An Australian supergroup (composed of guys from Whitesnake, Ozzy’s band, Deep Purple and Red Phoenix), deliver a 70’s and 80’s inspired, hook-filled release. With bluesy riffs, big choruses, powerful melodies and strong hooks throughout. This music made me believe in the power of rock.