10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Wolf”
With the release of Meet Me in the Bathroom, many proclaimed an indie sleaze revived. While not all of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ latest album revives the bygone era of early 2000s, “Wolf” fully complies. If you missed the anthemic synths of songs like “Heads Will Roll” with the emotiveness of “Maps”‘ vocals, “Wolf” has you covered. As Karen O sings “I’m lost and I’m lonely/I hunger for you only,” you feel the yearning in her voice, a spell that is only broken when the post-chorus keys hit. – Adam Tercyak-Morgan
09. Harry Styles “As it Was”
Harry Styles dabbles in a bit of Elton John’s style and is claimed the new King of Pop by UK’s Rolling Stone Magazine, for this year anyways. Styles pop sensibilities stands him apart from the rest of his fellow One Directioners. – Robert Frezza
08. Lizzo “The Sign”
“Hi, motherfucker, did you miss me?” is the first line of the first song on Lizzo’s fourth full-length studio album, Special. Is it possible the second word of “The Sign” is what prevented it from being a smash hit single? More than likely, yes. Regardless, for those who sought it out, the ecstatic joy and unbridled glee exhibited by Lizzo excitedly announcing her return to the world after two-plus years of lockdown was a feeling easily shared by everyone on the planet who couldn’t wait to get out and live again. “The Sign” is pure pop exuberance delivered by a performer with seemingly unlimited amounts of energy, passion, and sincerity. – Andy Mascola
07. The Knocks feature Dragonette “Slow Song”
The Knocks have been responsible for some of the best dance pop of the last decade plus and who can forget Dragonette‘s biggest hit, their collaboration with Martin Solveig, “Hello.” So when Dragonette and the Knocks teamed up, it felt like we should be getting a heaping helping of electro-pop or future house. Instead “Slow Song” sounds more like a modern Fleetwood Mac with its mix of strong bass, disco drums, and Dragonette’s softened vocals. It shows that two years after “Dreams” unexpectedly climbed the charts 43 years after its original release, that the specter of Fleetwood Mac isn’t dead yet. – Adam Tercyak-Morgan
06. Mountain Goats “Training Montage”
John Darnielle made no secret that Bleed Out was supposed to be like 12 little action movies for your ears but opening track and lead single, “Training Montage” was a bit more micro than that. With Darnielle’s typical wit, he side eyes the action movie trope of the training montage with lines like “It feels like it takes forever/It’s maybe five minutes on screen.” But he also pays homage to the form, with lines that evoke images of Rocky like “But the strings will keen and the horns will cry/When it’s just me against the sky.” It feels like the kind of humorous but poignant song only the Mountain Goats could write. – Adam Tercyak-Morgan
05. Destroyer “The Last Song”
“The Last Song” is an anomaly amongst the tracks on Destroyer’s lushly produced thirteenth studio album. Using only an electric guitar and his voice, Dan Bejar plays and sings a simple, seemingly tongue-in-cheek song about Los Angeles transplants. When describing the inspiration for “The Last Song” to Pitchfork’s Ryan Dombal earlier this year, Bejar said, “It just felt like a from-the-heart song. I don’t write a lot of them. I wanted a song to end the album that would turn its back on the album, or even the last two or three albums.” Bejar’s description is spot-on, as when listening to “The Last Song”, it’s easy to imagine a satisfied artist walking toward the setting sun, playing and singing this song to himself with a feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment in his project’s conclusion. – Andy Mascola
04. Jessie Ware “Free Yourself”
Jessie Ware’s disco themed “Free Yourself” is an all out get down groove. Thanks to this tune we definitely know how to let our hair down and boogie. – Robert Frezza
03. Taylor Swift “Anti-Hero”
An antihero is generally defined as the main character of a story who lacks traditional heroic qualities like idealism, courage, and morality. While it becomes obvious over the course of the three-and-a-half minutes of Taylor Swift‘s “Anti-Hero” that she doesn’t actually know the definition, it doesn’t stop the song from being darkly humorous and catchy. She pokes fun at widely held beliefs with lines like “it’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me” while still discussing some real issues, mostly widely covered, it is the first time she openly sings about depression or at least calling it out by name. – Adam Tercyak-Morgan
02. Beyonce “Break My Soul”
Various sources estimate Beyonce‘s networth to be between $400-$500 million dollars. So if the question is, do I think she knows how it feels to work a 9-5 getting paid minimum wage? The answer is absolutely not but she synthesized the coverage of “the great resignation” enough to create an anthemic response for workers who felt underappreciated, underpaid, and mismanaged. Add the sentiment to a 90s house dancebeat and “Break My Soul” was one of the more lasting songs of 2022. – Adam Tercyak-Morgan
01. Fontaines D.C. “Jackie Down the Line”
Beginning with shuffling drums that sound directly lifted from Peter Bjork and John‘s “Young Folks,” “Jackie Down the Line,” the lead single from Fontaines D.C.‘s 2022 album, Skinny Fia is a juxtaposition of the jaunty and the dour. Lead singer Grian Chatten starts the song by singing “do do do, la la la” traditional pop song filler before breaking into a heartbreaking extended metaphor about English-Irish relations. He sings “come on down to Sally’s boneyard/See her spirit in decline” a reference to English colonies where natives have largely been massacred and their culture replaced with tea and biscuits with only a hint of what once gave them a sense of place.
While it is a song for the Irish, it is so easily transposed across boarders to all colonizing powers: America, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, and most of the western world. – Adam Tercyak-Morgan
