BROCKHAMPTON - New Shoes
What even is this?
Hinging off Spotify's idea to show its users all the music they have listened to annually before the New Year and my passion for sharing music with anyone who will give me the time of day, the SO HIPP Top 25 is my corner of the Internet to culminate all my favorite music I've listened to 2022. There is no particular order - or rules really. This is just me digging through all of what I listened to (which is a lot) and bringing the best to the top and giving them the praise they deserve.
A Theme
I encourage everyone to spend some time listening to their favorite music critically. Figure out why you like a sound; what is it doing, and why does it make you want to hear it over and over again? This year, I've noticed a theme in the music I've been listening to - which is evoking lyrics. Language in music is an extremely mono artistic expression of the human condition - never a dialogue between it and its listener - yet backed with endless amounts of instrumental combination. As long as I can remember, the best lyrics are the ones that are belt with eyes closed and mind cinematically transported. Evoking lyrics are very meaningful ideas that creatively emphasize their meaning through musical expression. As a photographer, I relate this visually to choosing to put the tree in the corner of the frame, rather than the center. I've been paying a lot of attention to how lyrics can be creatively harmonized, signified by a note, scaled, spaced, delayed, and what its doing differently to become an earworm - feeding on my consciousness.
A Thank You
SO HIPP Weekly is something I started this year because I know my friends all have very special tastes in music. I love to explore the world in search of the next best song in order to bring it back for you to find here. Every week. It's my way of sharing the ever-growing encyclopedia of bangers. This thank you is for anyone who ever gave the playlist a listen, recommended it to someone, stopped me on the street to tell me like it, put it on when we hang out and have a dialogue about it. It's something I genuinely love doing and hope you enjoy listening. If you have something unique you love listening to and want to share, please send it my way! This goes both ways :)
New Artists
Alice Phoebe Lou - Witches
Hailing originally from South Africa and getting her card stamped as another woman making badass indie rock, APL has not yet made completely stamped the North American market, and when she does, North America will be a better place. her vocal range and canter is incredible, but it's her super poetic song lyrics that truly encapsulate. I really only dove into her discography this year and with every song I discovered, I grew more impressed and infatuated.
I only listened to Something Holy (2019) for a year before listening to see if any of her other songs would even come close. You are greeted by her right at the beginning and she's just saying these lovely abstract things to you - but as you listen more she starts to slow down - you gather yourself - she takes you for a ride. The more I listen to her album Paper Kites (2019), the more I realised this concept of travel - whether it be physically, cosmically, emotional - is a theme. When I Discovered her Witches (2020) single this year, it was everything I had already grown to love about APL amplified. A femme-fatal bedroom pop masterpiece. this was arguably my favorite evening summer song.
Muddy Monk - Splash
The more I dig into foreign music, I am constantly reminded that regardless of how much music I listen to, I will continuously just be scratching the surface. I don't know what a single word in any of Muddy Monk's songs means, but because of these really great atmospheric synth compositions paired with Guillaume Dietrich's falsetto, I can make meaning of the words.
First heard the track Si I'on ride (2018) when I was in University, right around the time of the song's first release, it was like nothing else I was listening to at the time. this slow and drifty start only to be pushed off the diving board by these big punchy drums and Dietrich yelling something that I thought could have been English at the time. to this day i can recall walking home from a night class in the dead of winter blaring this song to make me feel like all that was around me was working towards a bigger purpose, but in reality, I walked in ambiguity.
Eventually, my infatuation with Si l'on ride faded to a point where I almost forgot the song existed, but early this year i see that familiar race suit album art from Longe ride (2018) pop up on my Spotify weekly, kind of like when you find a $20 bill in a jacket you have not put on in a long time. It was En Lea (2018), arguably Monk's most popular track. Upon the beginning of my first listen, I hated it, thinking that it sounded like awful on-hold music. The more you listen to the song, the more Deitrich's voice again puts you in a bit of a trance. There is not a lot of structure to the song, simple repetition, but it's the way with each cycle of the song, Deitrich's voice gets duplicated, emotional, and modular. The song grew on me substantially.
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Usually, if you have 2 solid tracks on an album, that is cause for me to dive in and take a swim in your discography. Longue Ride ended up being one of my favorite albums to listen to this year because it is front to back re-inventing of a consistent sound, similar to ways big indie albums like Is this it (2001), Innerspeaker (2010), and Sadnecessary (2014) work. Monk's sophomore album Ultra dramatic Kid (2022) follows similar foundations of the dancy, big room, reverb filled songs but in different packaging. It's a lot more raw sounding with heavy electric guitar effects that really draw inspiration from Tame Imapala's Lonerism (2012). This an album you crash your car listening to driving too fast the same way I did with M83's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (2003). Somedays music teaches you the hard way.
1tbsp - Joan
I cannot get enough of 1tbsp. I think this is the first artist that has made me appreciate the new art of releasing singles rather than albums. The most fun, lo-fi techno I've heard in a long time. 1tbsp is a side project of golden / vessel / Maxwell Byrne. This man is a master of minimal beats and is doing what Jamie xx was doing in 2015 ... better?
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Unlike the other two artists in this Section, I only discovered 1tbsp this year. I was in Tofino on a photography exploration trip by myself, shooting a roll of black and white on a gloomy morning, and it was as I put foot to sand on Tonquin Beach, the piano notes of In Europe, Kinda Sad (2021) started to play. I had to put my camera down to yank my phone out in the rain to know what the hell is this song. Im a sucker for a really easy low maintenance beat, especially when music serendipitously encapsulates an atmosphere of exploring a new place by yourself. In Europe, Kinda Sad is by definition a main character song, and significantly heightened my exploration of Vancouver Island this summer.
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I thankfully discovered 1tbsp in the midst of a rollout of a new EP titled Joan (2022) which meant the rollout of 4 new tracks over the course of the fall. There are not many better things than one of your favorite artists consistently putting out new music. I think my favorite from the bunch is 2007 (2022) - simply because i think it's samples and design appeal to me the most, but they are all good.
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My favorite to date by far is the Kanashi (2021) EP. You need to listen to it. It is addictive. you put the song Kanashi on at any house party and you are good for the night. 1 tbsp has put me that much closer to finally buying a DJ mixer just so I can mix in and out of his Discography. When you finally don't want Fred Again, listen to 1tbsp
Killer Albums
Inside Out
by Tourist
The latest and greatest from William Philips. 2019's Wild was a big album for me during covid with its playful electronic melodies and ability to create an atmosphere with really simple samples. Inside Out is Wild amplified. at first, I thought Your Love (2022) was just a single that was going to help define my summer of 2022, but by surprise William's dropped 9 more songs to make a full-length LP. Tourist is my favorite Techno album of the year. it's something I want to listen to driving through mountains. it's very grandiose, Silent Letter (2022) has one of the most insane and addictive switches in a song I've ever heard. it andYour Love are 2 of my 5 most listened-to songs this year.
NOT TiGHT
by DOMi & JD BECK
Look up a video of these two performing and you will be absolutely bewildered by the human ability to play instruments together. NOT TiGHT is the result of two young musical proteges getting signed to Anderson Paak's record label and making jazz. you cannot fathom how complex the drumming and keys are in their composition, but instead of using their skills to cook up Sonata recipes, they are unlocking the sauce BADBADNOTGOOD brewed up 8 years prior. NOT TiGHT also has one of the greatest feature rosters I've ever seen on a Debut Album. Big names include Thundercat, Mac Demarco, Herbie Handcock, and Snoop Dogg. Go appreciate that an album like this exists, because I think its one of the most slept-on records this year.
Habibi Funk 015
by Various Artists
I have Pitchfork to thank for this discovery. Habibi Funk are not two words you expect in the same sentence, and me being fresh off a 3 week trip to Egypt, I needed to know what that sounds like. As far as I'm aware, Habibi Funk is curated by a Berliner named Jannis collecting and expanding on songs he discovered visiting North Africa as a child. There is some unbelievable music in the compilation albums, Most notably Zohra's middle Eastern Disco track Badala Zamana (1977). You can slide this song between ABBA and Khruangbin effortlessly. There is so much great music coming out of Africa and the Middle East that I'm really excited about. there is a song for everyone in this mix.
Once Twice Melody
by Beach House
There wouldn't be a SO HIPP anything without a Beach House. They are my generation's Enya, a group known for such a unique and recognizable sound, and nothing more. Seeing them live for the first time this summer, only to be in the presence of these godly silhouettes and instruments, it would be sacrilegious if spotlights were included. Once Twice Melody (2022) is their eighth full-length studio album, and their largest spanning 18 tracks. This is not like the band's past albums you can carry around in your back pocket. This album is heavy and you are going to need a book bag. It's almost as long as a feature film and at this stage in BH's career is something that they needed to further cement their legacy and pledge my undying allegiance to my feels. Pieces gang
Songs I Went Back For This Year
Sugar and Vice
by Machinegum
An early 2022 Winter bop that stuck around. Deep Gothic synth/bass with mumbled lyrics wound together in a very dreamy, dancy, pro-mist filter package. you get rewarded at the end with a very Melodic synth that will have slow dancing by yourself
Nothing
by Derek Simpson
Tropical Electric Guitar scaling hook that will become iconic when this guy blows up. One of my favorite choruses all year due to its bombastic nature. Very easy song
Coconut Kiss
by Niki & The Dove
Fantastic slow modern disco Track. You almost don't notice the Reggae beat with really clever use of lyrics and piano chords. its a Song you strut down the street to on a sunny day with your girls. I want this to be a club banger so bad
Cabrioli
by Moussa
This song sparked Peter and I's dive into french R&B this year. there's something about this really clever techno hit ad the way Moussa pronounces 'Shilouette' that is so addictive. It's a song you put on when you are dressing up somewhere and want to look hot.
Heaven Only Knows
by the Shangri-Las
Bedroom Pop 60's track. You will know all the words to this song with 3 listens and that's why it's so infatuating. I go crazy for good harmonies and as soon as is heard them sing "Heaven only knows" in that warm vintage recording - I was hooked, and so will you.
Somewhere
by Black Marble
Basically 2 songs in one. Starts with really punchy drums and Lofi synths that you sort of float in, until Peter Hook blows the air from underneath and puts you drunk on the Dance Cave stage, dancing as if New Order just released Substance in 1987
Only She Knows
by Loving
I've very passively listened to Loving since Uni. I always knew they made beautiful fragile acoustic masterpieces where the Electric Guitar is just as much a vocalist as whomever their vocalist is (sometimes I like the mystery). This is a Golden hour track on the coast for you and your love or whomever you fantasize Loving
see what i did there
Different This Time
by Cornelia Murr
One of my favorites this year. A song that is so strong by the way it reveals itself to its listener. This song makes me feel deeply lost and lonely, but not broken. there's confidence in Murr's soothing voice and heartbreakingly beautiful lyrics. a song you immediately fall for.
Keep On Loving You
by REO Speedwagon
Do not put this song on at a house party I'm at or I will lose my shit. One of the most slept-on songs by the modern youth. You listen to this song and forget you already know all the words, or at least the chorus. if we are talking about strong harmonies, it's hard to find a better example. Passionately evoking lyrics. A song you can't sing quietly, or at least you thought until you heard Cigarettes After Sex's rendition.
Better Now
by SebastiAn, Mayer Hawthorne
A song you learn to appreciate the way it takes its time. I put it on when I'm a little nervous about the place I'm going. it's slow but explosive. It has really great balance between it's angelic repetitive lyrics and attention-seeking production. Though the Album art is a bit brutal, I think it encapsulates the song's energy really well and puts you in a mental state of confidence to punch out any insecurities.
Tell Me
by Neil Frances
I did not want to include this song because its so fucking cookie-cutter, but god is it catchy
The Logical Song
by Supertramp
Watching Paul Thomas Anderson's nearly three-hour-long Magnolia. This song was the only thing I took away from it. this song is an adventure. I feel like I'm a star of a musical when I listen to it. Out of the vinyl I've bought this year, this is the record I keep reaching for to listen to this song and feel fucking liberated.
Throwing Lines
by Kelly Lee Owens
crazy transient dance track. KLO's techno is unchaining. this song pulls me out of real life.
Fingerbib
by Aphex Twin
This sounds like music for a child, and then leaves you wondering why you are enjoying complex children's music. It's until you get the unexpected pads section in the middle that makes you realize this is not children's music, but instead a very complex composition that you learn to appreciate.
NATURAL
by London O'Connor
Another one of my favorite choruses this year. Minimalist and abstract. I walked around my house for days on end in a terrible falsetto saying "nothing feels natural" for weeks. London O'Conner's stock is on the come up so I recommend getting in early. Excited to hear what he does next.
The Favorites
ALVVAYS - Very Online Guy
ALVVAYS will forever be renaissance music for me. a band that has marked my life with every album. I remember being so pissed off in my first year of university because I was not 19+ yet and thus not able to see them play at my Univerity campus bar >:( . Stereogum named Blue Rev (2022) their Album of the Year. Pitchfork named their single Belinda Says (2022) their 2022 Song of the Year. They've been covered by the New York Times for making one of the best Indie rock albums in a long time. My beloved Cape Breton - Toronto Indie boppers once having listening parties on streetcars are now full-fledged rock stars. I have a system with every new ALVVAYS record. I'm standoffish until one song's blaring synths and clever lyrics hook me. I am then rapidly reeled in, on ice, being sold to the locals.
It has been one of the best autumns because of Blue Rev. There was a solid 2 weeks where I was just blaring Very Online Guy all the time. I personified and projected it onto myself - and therefore it forced me to really think even more critically about my online identity and how I want to communicate. I don't want to be the very online guy. I don't know what I want to be. This song sounds sinister af. In every album of theirs, there are one or two songs where Molly Rankin brings the attitude, and Very Online Guy is the mean girl of the album.
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Blue Rev is an album for longing singles. Rankin told Pitchfork she finds isolation to write, and the perspective she writes lyrics from - the onlooker of life itself - is one I deeply connect with. to quote Bored in Bristol (2022): if there's a pill, ill swallow. Rankin will always have a place as one of my top lyricists and vocalists. Blue Rev's evoking lyrics still manage to catch me off guard being introspective and astray, in the same regard Tyler, The Creator's IGOR (2019) is. It's an album I recommend anyone to ride an emotional rollercoaster with and feel better after.
B77 - The Rainbow
Hailing from the Swiss countryside. B77, formed by the duo Luca and Leopold, are my favorite makers of psychedelic electronica that I have started listening to this year. I stumbled upon their track The Dark Side (2020) early this year on Spotify. From its instrumentation to its vocals, it's a really heavily synthesized song in its design. Everything just sounds like it's passing through hundreds of lo-pass filters. I think what really drew me in is how analog the whole song sounds, and as a street photographer shooting film, I found this to be very serendipitous.
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After months of listening to it, I took a look at what else the Swiss have brewing, and that is when I discovered the L L 8 (2017) EP. This obsession came in fast and hard, as it has everything I love about great electronic music. strong build up, arpeggiation, reverb, and punchy drums. the only lyrics in their song Beach 77 (2022) are 'Tell me what it looked like when the water reached the sun' and there is something about how long it takes to get through that sentence that gives me chills, as if they were someone's famous last words. When I was at my new friend Maria's Birthday this summer, she and all my other new friends I had recently met had this really fun childish day of going to the Zoo and then coming back and making crunch wrap supremes, and when we all gathered to eat, Maria said some really sweet words about her appreciation for this newfound friendship between her and the 9 of us, and as went to cheers, this song's drop hit full force and the whole moment felt so beautiful. It's a moment I'm really grateful for and will remember for a long time, because of that song.
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if you grew up on MGMT, Animal Collective, LCD Soundsystem, Tame Impala, Passion Pit, M83, and Empire of the Sun, you NEED to listen to B77. their music is properly weird, playful, and deep. The Wonderful Labyrinth Of The Mind (2020) sounds like it was made with the same childish, experimental energy as Oracular Spectacular (2007). This is my music recommendation when taking mushrooms. you will come out of it feeling reborn.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading <3