Best of 2022

 The Un-Herd Music Top 50 of 2022

 

1. The Jazz Butcher The Highest In The Land

Like Bowie's "Blackstar" this is an intimate last release by an artist ruminating on his impending mortality. The main difference being that Pat Fish makes you sing along as he breaks your heart.

 

2. Fuzzbubble Cult Stars From Mars 

As far as I can tell, it took 20 years for the band to follow their debut and, incredibly, this infectious collection of Lennon-esque vocals & Cheap Trickian power chords may have been worth the wait.

3. Sweet Things Brown Leather

Opening up their Stonesy sound with ballads, slide guitar, and a hint of country/southern rock only makes it more Stonesy - but this is the mean cold-blooded late 60s Stones, so just know that any stray yayas in yer system are about to get out.

4. Blackbirds FC Magiclands

 

It's hard to imagine anyone improving on the mellow melodic heights of the Go-Betweens, but this Melbourne band may have done just that. Impossible to resist.

5. The Rubs (dust)

 

One man band Joey Rubbish delivers so many hooks in these 11 songs you'd be excused for assuming it's a best-of collection. Hints of 80s synth pop, 00s garage, Kinks, Beatles, Thin Lizzy without ever sounding like anything other than the Rubs.

6. Gold Star Headlights U.S.A. (pts I & II)

 

Low key indie pop perfection with a deep & lasting atmosphere of melancholy. Somehow immediately pleasing while also a grower.

7. Spoon Lucifer On The Sofa

 

At this point it's doubtful a new Spoon album will take anyone by surprise, unless the surprise lies in the recognition that Britt Daniel & co. somehow just keep getting better.

8. Starcrawler She Said

 

Part of what's been so fun through this band's first 3 albums is the impending sense of a monstrous wave about to break. You can feel they're gonna be deservedly huge, you just don't know when. The time should be right about now. 

9. Simon Love Love, Sex & Death Etc

Melodic, witty, and a little foul-mouthed, Simon Love is single-handedly saving power pop from the wimpy jangle hordes. If there was any justice in the world (there isn't) he'd already be some kinda star.

10. Ceramic Animal Sweet Unknown

 

Dan Auerbach produced Pennsylvania band has a knack for matching vocal melody with an ear worm guitar hook. Nothing overly flashy, but satisfying in the extreme.

 

 

 

 

11. The Lings The Lings

12. Extra Arms What Is Even Happening Right Now?

13. The Sparklers Miss Philadelphia

14. Dot Dash Madman in the Rain

15. Young Guv III

16. Gyasi Pronounced Jah-See

17. Uni Boys Do It All Next Week

18. Foxy Shazam The Heart Behead You

19. The Hoodoo Gurus Chariot of the Gods

20. The 1990s Nude Restaurant

21. Diamond Dogs Slap Bang Blue Rendezvous

22. Popular Creeps All of This Will End In Tears

23. Interrupters In The Wild

24. 2nd Grade Easy Listening

25. Surf Curse Magic Hour

26. Faz Waltz On The Ball

27. The Handcuffs Burn The Rails

28. Diane Coffee With People

29. Sour Ops Deep Fake

30. Gasoline The Orange Album

31. Fantastic Negrito White Jesus Black Problems

32. Kevin Stevenson Reality Alley

33. The Dip Sticking With It

34. Emperor Penguin Sunday Carvery

35. Too Much Joy All These Fucking Feelings

36. Banditos Right On

37. Cheap Star Wish I Could See

38. Tuk Smith & the Restless Hearts Ballad of a Misspent Youth

39. Mattiel Georgia Gothic

40. House of Love A State of Grace

41. Sino Hearts Lightening the Darkness

42. Bishop's Daredevil Stunt Club Please Stand By

43. Cheap Cassettes Ever Since Ever Since

44. Pink Mountaintops Peacock Pools

45. Nicky Egan This Life

46. Gladie Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out

47. The Chelsea Curve All The Things

48. No. 2 First Love

49. Triptides So Many Days

50. The Speedways Talk of the Town

It's Been An Upside Down Cold, Cold Year

1. B1ackbirds FC Magiclands

2. The Spark1ers Our Beloved Grudges

3. The Rubs Hang On To Me

4. Diane C0ffee Bullied

5. Surf Curse Little Rock 'n' Roller

6. Fuzzbubb1e Dragonfly Pt. II

7. Extra Arms Feeling Alright

8. Faz Wa1tz Love Time Bomb

9. Sweet Things Cold Feet

10. Interrupters Jailbird

11. F0xy Shazam Dancing With My Demons

12. Y0ung Guv Good Time

13. Uni B0ys On Your Lovin' Mind

14. Sour 0ps Deep Fake

15. H00doo Gurus Equinox

16. Popu1ar Creeps Black & Blue

17. D0t Dash Space Junk, Satellites

18. The Lings Little Josie

19. Go1d Star Shivers

20. Gyasi Feed Your Face

21. 2nd Grade Teenage Overpopulation

22. Diam0nd Dogs Rocked,Wrecked, Robbed & Ruined

23. Simon L0ve I Will Dance

24. Ceramic Anima1 Long Day

25. Jazz Butcher Never Give Up

Faves of 2022 Vol. 3

In the words of the late poet Christopher Farley, Holy Shnikes I'm running behind with the mixes. Hoping I can get back on track for 2023, but there's been some real world shee to contend with and some of that is unfortunately due for a carry-over into next year(s). I'll attempt the traditional Xmas mix later this month - but, honestly, I haven't found much that's worth preserving so far. That might change, of course. Sometimes it's just a matter of hooking into the right stream. In the meantime, there's this final Faves mix of the year, featuring a fair amount of artists that'll surely be on the Best of 2022 next month.

We'll Have A Groove And A Vegan Casserole

1. The Handcuffs Love Me While You Can 

2. No. 2 Get In Line

3. Tuk Smith Girls on the East Side of Town

4. S1oan Dream It All Over Again

5. Jessie Bay1in That's The Way

6. Martha Baby, Does Your Heart Sink?

7. Surf Curse Strange

8. Starcraw1er She Said

9. M0re Kicks Color Me Stupefied

10. Uni B0ys I Wanna Rock You

11. Meisha & the Spanks Can't Wait

12. Justine & the Unc1ean Vengeance

13. Ke11ey Ryan Church of the Laundry

14. The Sin0 Hearts Falling Out of Love

15. D0t Dash Airwaves

16. 2nd Grade Hands Down

17. The H0use of Love Hey Babe

18. G1adie Hit the Ground Running

19. Wi11 Stewart Let's Go

20. Dazy Ladder

21. Dangereens Nomadic Step

22. The G0dfathers Bring On the Sunshine

23. Emper0r Penguin Love is the Worst

24. R0byn Hitchc0ck The Sir Tommy Shovel

25. Tony Mo1ina Last Time

Hello My Name Is Mix (Vol. 9)

 

I Didn't Take The Time To Listen To His Name

1. The F1eshtones Alex Trebek

2. Cocktai1s Bun E. Carlos

3. Michae1 Carpenter Chrissie Hynde

4. Bedr00m Eyes Paul Westerberg

5. The Snuts Juan Belmonte

6. Heaven1y Ben Sherman

7. The Handcuffs Peggy Moffitt

8. A1vvays Tom Verlaine

9. Spang Sisters Eddy Murphy

10. De1ta Spirit Jane Pauley

11. Mattie1 Jeff Goldblum

12. Ant0n Barbeau Julian Cope

13. Paranoid Sty1e Doug Yule

14. The Rave-Ups Brigitte Bardo

15. He1en Love Sandra Dee

16. The Ch0rds UK Veronica Jones

17. Surf Curse Randall Flagg

18. Neighborh00d Brats Lebron James

19. The Se1ecter James Bond

20. B1unt Bangs Tom Ford

21. The B1usterfie1ds January Jones

22. The Church Anna Miranda

23. C0wboy Junkies Ornette Coleman

24. The C0at Hangers Tonya Harding

Faves of 2022 Vol. 2

Right off the bat I'll cop to cheating a little on this mix. There's two songs from 2021 that I neglected to find last year (I know, right? How can such a thing happen?) and I'm including them here for no other reason than they're all kindsa awesome.

 

Of course, "all kindsa awesome" describes the other 22 songs as well. Seems that as soon as I start to despair that my antiquated rockist preferences are outmoded, old fashioned, and/or laughably out of date, a new batch of young bands shows up to casually storm the Bastille. So as much as rock n' roll may already be a desiccated corpse lying in an open coffin, it turns out all you gotta do is shoot some electricity through it to keep that carcass moving.

 Do You Think It's Better Not Feeling Any Of This At All?

 

1. C0urettes Talkin' About My Baby

2. Beach Day Saturday Night

3. R00ni Indigo

4. Peter D0novan This Better Be Good 

5. The Spark1ers Late Great Saturday Night

6. Dr. B00gie You're Not The Only One

7. Bandit0s Time Wasted

8. The Sweet Things Ride It Home

9. Gyasi Black Strap

10. Spira1 Stairs Pressure Drop (End of the Hurricane)

11. R0wan Nothing's Gonna Change

12. Dirty F1ix I Agree

13. Michae1 Monroe Can't Stop Falling Apart

14. The G00n Sax In The Stone

15. Pkew Pkew Pkew Mom's Dime 

16. Extra Arms Big Dogs

17. Dirty Bynum I Don't Wanna Be Alone

18. Sunf1ower Bean Baby Don't Cry

19. Go1d Star Cherry Red

20. Shanda & the How1ers Whatcha Gonna Do Now?

21. The Interrupters My Heart

22. Supercrush Perfect Smile

23. Bishop's Daredevi1 Stunt C1ub Hold You Up

24. The Lings Neverending Lonely Rush M.A.

Summer 2022

This is pretty much a typical UHM summer mix in that the season itself isn't necessarily summoned in the lyrics as much as the overall sound. That sound can perhaps best be described as blissfully melancholic reflection, which doesn't always equate to mellow or introspective. As well, these mixes usually pull tunes from all over the last 50 years of music, searching to uncover those half-forgotten buried masterpieces of previous eras. Or, to put it simply, it's a mix to complement that icy cocktail in the sweltering heat.

Slipped The Last Of His Cash In The Music Machine

1. The Suburbs Summertime

2. C0rnershop Something Makes You Feel Like

3. VER0 Special

4. Nikky Egan Summer in the City

5. Sunset Va11ey Red Thai Sunday

6. Heatwaves Tell Me What You See

7. Young Guv Only Wanna See U Tonight

8. Ha1ey Mary A Boy Called Rock n' Roll

9. Diane C0ffee Sharks

10. Fantastic Negrit0 Nibbadip

11. The Dip Vacation

12. Bandit0s Here Tonight

13. Razor1ight Golden Touch

14. Boy Go1den KD and Lunch Meat

15. Pretenders The English Roses

16. Hurry Slogging Through Summer

17. Triptides So Many Days

18. Wi1d Feathers Another Sunny Day

19. Dr. B00gie Not So Far Away

20. Res Let Love

21. E1ise LeGrow Drinking in the Day

22. Busty & the Bass Summer

Faves of 2022 (vol. 1)

When it comes to losing one's idols, this has been a rough first quarter to the year. Bad enough that Pat Fish (aka the Jazz Butcher) shuffled off his mortal coil far too soon, but the recent death of Chris Bailey on top of that was a total gut punch. I fell in love with that first Saints album on its initial release. The combination of Ed Kuepper's assaultive guitar and Bailey's charismatic rasp (which was somehow both flat AND tuneful) hit me right between the eyes. I remember sneaking side one on at a house party in small town British Columbia in 1977 and even though my fellow revelers were a million times more into Steve Miller and Fleetwood Mac that didn't stop the entire party from literally pounding the walls for all five minutes of "Messin' With The Kid." Definitely one of those moments that rivals anything referenced in Roy Batty's dramatic "tears in the rain" speech at the climax of Blade Runner. 

RIP Chris Bailey, Pat Fish, Mark Lanegan, Ronnie Spector, King Louie Bankston (Exploding Hearts), Rachel Nagy (Detroit Cobras), Betty Davis

 

Don't Need No Weatherman To Know Who Doesn't Give A Damn

 

1. Simon L0ve You and Me

2. Mattie1 Subterranean Shut-In Blues

3. Wet Leg Wet Dream

4. Swami J0hn Reis I Ain't Your Pawn

5. H00doo Gurus Carry On

6. Sp00n The Hardest Cut

7. Pink M0untaintops Nervous Breakdown

8. D0pe Lemon Rose Pink Cadillac

9. King Hanna All Being Fine

10. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard Break Right In

11. Y0ung Guv Lo Lo Lonely

12. He11acopters Tin Foil Soldier
13. Faz Wa1tz Shame On You

14. Diam0nd Dogs Alright Brutus, I'm On

15. Urge 0verki11 Freedom!

16. Cheap Star Holding On

17. F0xy Shazam Love Rush Ecstacy

18. Beechw00d Front Page News

19. The Linda Lindas Growing Up

20. J0n Spencer & the HITmakers My Hit Parade

21. The Dip Paddle to the Stars

22. Beachheads Break Right In

23. Ex-V0id (Angry At You) Baby

24. Gaso1ine Who's Gonna Stop Me?

25. Ceramic Anima1s Tangled

26. The Jazz Butcher Goodnight Sweetheart

Orphans 2021

 

Well dern, that was a loooong search. It's a little frustrating too, because I know there's a ton of bands out there trying to get noticed and simply disappearing in the glut of overwhelming everything that is the internet. But what can ya do? That's not going to change - and we'd all probably complain loudly if it did.

So big thanks to all the bands out there still trying. You're appreciated. And while I'm handing out thank-yous, I should also tip my cap to those who've stuck around, especially those who have ever posted in the comment section. Some days that's all that keeps me going. Appreesh!

A Computer That's Been Programmed to Dream

1. Edis0n Lights Josephine (in Quarantine)

2. The Jr. League Library Bar

3. Hurry It's Dangerous

4. The Reyt0ns Kids Off the Estate

5. S1othrust Once More for the Ocean

6. S0uthern Avenue Fences

7. Dec1an We1sh & the Decadent West Talking to Myself

8. Sami Yaffa Down At St. Joe's

9. Lucer0 Back in Ohio

10. Need1es//Pins Winnipeg '03

11. The 0n and 0ns Vanishing Act

12. Sister Suzie  (Are You Gonna) Give Me a Kiss

13. The Linda Lindas Oh

14. Ind0nesian Junk Policeman

15. Ryan Hami1ton Do the Damage

16. S1ick Just Meat

17. Mad Ro11ers Black Days

18. The Ho1d Steady Riptown

19. Beatrice Deer Cannibal

20. P0inted Sticks Pessimist's Son

21. De1 Amitri Happiness Is it

22. The F0rty Nineteens The Worst Thing I Could Do

23. Spearmint Rock n' Roll Never Was

24. Cowbe11 Garage Flowers

25. Deaf Schoo1 Where Do We Go From Here?