Hits & Misc. #03: Misc. Hits 🎶

22 for ‘22 📻

While I enjoy making playlists year-round, it’s my year-end collection I look forward to the most. 🥳 The annual survey consistently re-surfaces songs that were lost to the depths of my Spot*fy library and the whole thing quickly becomes a retroactive soundtrack to my year.

The “rules” guiding the playlist’s curation are simple: each song has to have been released that calendar year; the compilation should be as eclectic as possible; the sequencing has got to work.

I wrapped this year’s mix earlier this week and I’m excited to share these “22 for ’22” with you today!

👉 Give it a listen in its entirety here

I could easily pen paragraphs about each selection, but for the purposes of this newsletter I’ve taken a “less talk, more rock” approach and kept myself to a sentence (or two) for my reviews.

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1. Blown Tire - Status/Non-Status
   Not only is this one of my favourite singles of the year, it’s also the first of three stalwart album-openers on the list. Inasmuch, it’s a shoe-in to get this party started. 🎉

2. Grapejuice - Harry Styles
   Hello. Sir Paul? Yes, this is Harry... Harry Styles. I’d like to re-imagine your mid-80s work for a little ditty I’m working on. It’s about wine and such. That cool?” 🎹

3. Good Lord - Lecrae, Andy Mineo
   The world can always use another song built around James Brown samples. 🌎

4. What Am I Without You (Single Mix) - Elbow
   Elbow has written a song that sounds like an amusement park… and then given it some of the most tender lyrics of all time. Get ready for a rollercoaster. 🎢

5. illusions by the sea - Mike Edel
   If this didn’t make the list for the “Doo, doo doo, do do’s” in the song’s opening bars, it would still be included here for being the first song I’ve ever heard with the word “vermilion” in it. ❤️🧡

6. The Quiet Life - Timecop1983, Waves_On_Waves
   If Cory Hart’s Never Surrender isn’t the inspiration for this song you might as well stop reading now because it will have become clear I know nothing about music. ✌️

7. Triple Crown - Tona ft. Shad, Drezus
   This 🔥 is up there with the Beastie’s Sure Shot and Zamfir’s The Lonely Shepherd when it comes to “flute jams” that move me. 😗 (And yes, I’m currently working on a Flute Jams playlist—send me your faves.)

8. Come on Through - Eamon
   “Don’t need no invitation / don’t need no alibi”—just turn it up ⬆️!

9. Ogiin - OMBIIGIZI
   The conversation between the guitars toward the end of this track from the band’s Polaris Prize shortlisted debut “Sewn Back Together” is as haunting as the verse that precedes it. 🎸

10. Holy Water Hangover - Butch Walker
    The venn diagram on this one consists of Elton John, Billy Joel… and rhinestones. ✨

11. Let’s Watch the Grass Grow - Orions Belte, Øyvind Blomstrøm
    More like: “let’s watch a time-lapse of the grass growing oh wow that’s amazing I can’t believe nature is so trippy.” 🌼

12. Someone Else’s Cafe / Doomscroller Tries to Relax - Dawes
    This one sprawls a bit, and that’s ok because it makes the refrain at the end so fully and completely worth the wait. 🥂

13. Playing in a Band - Delicate Steve
    I know it’s only been one song since our last instrumental, but you won’t mind one bit as you find yourself scrunching up your face and playing that air guitar like the coolest fool in school. 🎸

14. Bigger Than The Whole Sky - Taylor Swift

    I want this song to break out of itself and then implode with a giant Jack Antonoff cacophony of a crescendo… but it never does, and it’s that restraint that keeps me coming back for more. 💪

15. Stop Before I Cry - Kevin Morby
    The only way to adhere to the command in this song’s title is to turn it off before it’s over. 😢

16. Dream On - Ben Rector

    If the children’s choir doesn’t get you all teared up, the (welcome) earnestness of it all surely will. 🤗 

17. Saturday Morning - Hello Kelly

    I wake up with this song in my head Saturday thru Sunday—and that’s fine by me. ⏰

18. Tell It All Brother - Skyway Man, Andy Jenkins
    Songs like this will change your life if you’ll let them work their subtle magic on you. 🎩

19. Gratitude - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbours
    Holcomb’s a songwriter’s songwriter who doesn’t need fancy words or hip production to lead you where he wants you to go. That said, this particular recording has space for days and it’s a pleasure to lose yourself between all those notes. 🚶‍♂️

20. I Don’t Have It in Me (Acoustic) - River Woods
    I have it on good authority this song’s piano riffs were not inspired by Henley’s “The End of the Innocence” — which makes the similarities all the more enjoyable. 👯‍♂️

21. Curtains - M. E. Netzke
    Just close your eyes and listen to this one from the comfort of that cozy rocking chair by the fire in that little cabin on the edge of the forest that you’ll be transported to before the first weathered verse has given way to the chorus… 🪑

22. One Song Away (Live at Benaroya Hall) - Ivan & Alyosha
    The original recording of this one ain’t too shabby, but performed live alongside the Seattle Symphony Orchestra brings takes its subject matter to new heights.
    
    

🚨BONUS!!!🚨

There were so many great covers released this year. Here’s seven of my faves.

1. Most of the Time - Sandra McCracken, Colin Hay
   I never thought I’d hear a cover of Dylan’s masterpiece that would stand up as well as Sophie Zelmani’s understated rendition. But then again, I never thought I’d hear it as a duet either. Wow. 🙃

2. Something About What Happens When We Talk - Katie Pruitt
   Something about what happens when you listen really close to the delay on Katie’s vocals here-ere-ere-ere. And don’t even get me started about what happens when she takes the wheel from Lucinda at the end... ↩️

3. Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone - The Black Crowes
   I tried to write something about this cover, but I couldn’t stop grooving. This song remains a master-class in building songs piece by piece by funky-ass piece. 😘

4. I’ve Got A Feeling (Live At The Empire State Building) - Norah Jones
   The fact you can practically feel Norah smiling throughout this performance (verified here) makes the rooftop tribute that much more fun.🗼

5. These Days - Cat Power
   Cat Power’s prowess in re-working a well-known song was firmly established with 2008’s Jukebox; but even when she’s sticking close to the canon, it’s the little things she adds to the mix that make such a big difference. In this case: her decision to slow things down and incorporate a whole lot of harmonies. 👏

6. Five Years - Cowboy Junkies
   Somebody loop this track’s drums for me so I can listen to it all year long. Also, Margo Timmins’ take on Bowie’s apocalyptic anthem is proof positive she’s one of a select few able to convince you she’s whispering in your ear even as she’s bellowing out the chorus. 🤫

7. I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) - Father John Misty
   You can’t touch Stevie’s original recording—but you get points for trying. Also: I couldn’t resist wrapping the playlist with a callback to the scene from High Fidelity referenced in the intro to this newsletter 😉.

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