The best new songs of 2022 so far

(By Melody Werner)

It's been quite a while since one of these, and I've not gone over a lot of tracks that I'd like to in this sort of context (so expect more of these). This isn't really in an ordered list, I like these songs about as much as each other. And though these articles are traditionally not for new releases necessarily—this time, every single thing is from this year. As the title of the article states fairly clearly.

I have had Irving Force on my radar for years—ever since Godmode. That being said, it's been a while since I actually got into new material from him, but "Cerebral Extraction" has absolutely ruled some of the walks I've gone on enough to make up for lost time. This is the perfect song to dance to whilst someone's power-drilling through your brain.

One of the easiest genres to enjoy, I find, is trad heavy metal. Though Sanhedrin may not be "pure" in that regard, they still bring a similar fire to Lights On lead single, "Correction".

I didn't actually mean to start listening to Silvana Estrada when I did. Thanks, YouTube autoplay, for turning this on when I was listening from my computer and had to run to the bathroom (yes, I was just listening to theneedledrop's review of Marchita and that's why it was next in autoplay). Cuz "La Corriente" is one of the most lush, beautiful songs of the year. Incredible Latin folk that handily transcends the language gap.

J.I.D. is one of those musicians who I know is incredibly talented, and have only loved what I've dabbled in, but I've just never gotten around to a full album listen. (I have quite a backlog, lol.) "Dance Now" (featuring Kenny Mason) off of his latest record, The Forever Story, had me enjoying it the first spin, but each subsequent loop around with it, my appreciation of its eclectic, frequently off-kilter flows and soulful beat only grow exponentially. It's easy to tell that this guy's either performing at his peak right now, or he is so damn close.

nightlife continues on their trajectory to be the kings of soulpunk. Having listened to the eponymous cut off of their fallback EP nonstop, I have to say that this is the kinda music that you may never hear on the radio, but would absolutely kill in a public context such as that. (this is the actual reason why radio got mothballed.)

No music video has ever sold a song quite as hard as that of Gnome's "Wenceslas". The dances in that thing still make me giggle. The similarly goofy lyrics and the unironically cathartic stoner rock grooves are just icing on the cake.

"YouTuber music" gets a bad rap. In some ways, for good reason—the Paul brothers, need I say more? Occasionally, though, I will stumble upon a YouTuber I end up enjoying my first impressions of, whose recent uploads will include what is self-evidently a track. Now, I'm a curious fella, and the song in question "PLASTIC LOVE" (an all-English language re-imagining of Mariya Takeuchi's city pop classic), by gabi belle, seemed to have a lovely set for the music video, if the thumbnail was anything to go by. So, sure, I'll try that. Glad I did! This is an adorable song with lots of personality behind the vocals, production, and lyrics. The kinda pop song you can have on loop for an hour straight without it losing its flavor like bubblegum.

Comedy tone switch! Man, I wish someone'd told me about Witchery sooner. Their new concept album, Nightside, is a sick blackened, deathy thrash record. It's tough to pick between "Don't Burn the Witch" or "Crucifix and Candle" for a single highlight, but I'll go with "Don't Burn the Witch"... for now. This is the kinda shit to get you in the mood to commit acts of bloody blasphemy in the town square. Fuck!

Comedy tone switch 2.0! Carly Rae Jepsen remains one of the absolute bestest pop musicians right now. While "Western Wind" marks her departure from the synthpop I consistently crave, it manages to sound effortlessly breezy without feeling like an Instagram ad and is absolutely a grower.

That Gorillaz is not the only virtual band in this round-up just goes to show the base concept's immense artistic potential when done right. But we'll get to the other shortly. The title track of a forthcoming LP, "Cracker Island" sees an impossibly groovy funk collaboration between Gorillaz and Thundercat. It's cracking good.

I already spoke on Hostile Architecture and my love of it in depth in my review, so it should be of no surprise that its ruinous closer ("Cable Street Again") would find its way on here. Ashenspire may be one of the most important bands of the here and now.

At risk of sending our readership into a depression spiral, I still must note Joey Bada$$'s heartbreaking expression of grief, "Survivors Guilt". I won't say anymore about it, since it speaks for itself, and I don't want to unintentionally disrespect Joey or Steez by turning this track into "content". Just make sure you have some tissues on hand.

And here we have that other virtual band, OFK. That's a "band" of fictional characters from the episodically released game, We Are OFK. I've been playing the game each week as soon as the new episodes go live, and besides on it being a wonderful game—that I hope the finale (which is coming soon) sticks the landing for, since I do intend on reviewing it—and since "Fool's Gold", I have resorted to grumbling after each episode (and new song), heading over to Spotify, and then adding it to my favorites. Every song so far, including the preceding "Follow/Unfollow", has been a resounding pop success, that has the whimsical, bubbly allure to match the vibrant interactive TV show they come from. "Fool's Gold" currently remains my favorite, as its hooks and vocal processing wizardry have me sold with each and every listen.

Even if this is the first thing you're reading from me, you can probably already tell that I am a lifelong metalhead and that I am easy for killer heavy metal. Sumerlands are a vaunted purveyor of such hefty alloys, one that I had yet to try in earnest until "Dreamkiller" came and culled a spot onto basically all of my playlists that are in present rotation. Killer hooks, killer riffs, killer attitude. The instinctive cringe from what I can only hope and very much assume was an accidental grazing by a Neo-Nazi slogan ("blood and soil"—the lyrics aren't that, but the vocals are fuzzy enough and the lyrics are close enough that you could be reasonably mistaken for thinking as such at first glance) notwithstanding, but I would not be recommending a track that I leaned towards assuming was pushing Nazism, as you might imagine, so don't get on my ass.

Sam Opoku continues to be the best hidden secret of underground music as of now. Which is a travesty, as this dude is one of the smoothest singers currently active. He pens some charismatic and adorably romantic lyrics and brings the vocal personality to match. "Rockwitchu" is another goddamn excellent earworm from the fella, possibly his best single yet.

Thrash gets a lot of unjust bashing from metalheads who've descended down the rabbit hole that is extreme metal, in spite of classic thrash existing on the periphery of extreme metal. Sometimes, though, you'll have a band which is very keen to remind us of that fact. This polemical, charity side project of unparalleled shredder Alicia Cordisco (ex-Judicator, Project: Roenwolfe, Wraithstorm) is far better than one might imagine for a side project; by-the-bye, also proof that you can get sick riffs without needing any fascist sickos. If you're just as riled by the onslaught of misogynistic legislation wrenching reproductive rights and bodily autonomy from women and ready/willing/able to support their latest charity EP (containing two tracks), I would recommend picking it up on a Bandcamp Friday and donating how much you're willing/able to. Oh, and both tracks are fantastic. If I had to pick one... uh, I guess the title track, "Fetus Factory", just cuz? (btw, their preceding two-track EP, Seize the Means of Reproduction is equally as righteous and outstanding as thrash.)

If any other metal subgenre gets bagged on more than any other (sans metalcore post-Converge and that filthy, accursed nu metal), it'd be power metal. How unfortunate, when shit like Fellowship exists! Sure, they're not "heavy" in the slightest, and you can hear the Disney inspirations quite clearly, this band is well-deserving of their hype. I'm still not entirely sure how much I enjoy The Saberlight Chronicles on the whole (why would I spoil my own review for myself like that?), but I do know that I've yet to get tired of "Glint", even hundreds of listens later. It is, genuinely, one of the most earnestly uplifting and happy songs I've ever heard. Let me just say that, if the rest of the LP grows on me as much as "Glint" has, I'll agree with AngryMetalGuy's perfect rating of this.

Jimena Angel already won me over with her Aire EP a few years ago, and "Nadie" with Jo Bissa only cements her as a fixture in my playlists that have room for some phenomenal Latin pop.

Everyone in their twenties is contractually obligated to pick a "pet" indie band for whom they are then eternally shackled to the career trajectory of. Over the last few years, I've been of the mind to choose Pillow Queens as that band for me. And with their latest album roll-out, I have settled on it. I mean, listen to "Try, Try, Try" and just try, try, and try to tell me that this is not the most exciting indie band of the new decade.

Too passe? No, too bad. "BREAK MY SOUL" by Beyoncé, with an essential assist Big Freedia, is just as great as you've heard. Congrats to the equivalent of oldies stations a few decades from now—you've got a natural inclusion in your rotation.

One of the most edifying things as a music nerd is chatting with a pal who gives you some left-of-field recommendation that just absolutely blows you the fuck away. While I don't actively seek out hardcore punk, when I love music from that genre, I love it. Alas, the brightest flames also burn the fastest as far as I'm concerned. Two of my favorites easily—G.L.O.S.S. and Drive Like Jehu—had shared careers under those bands the lengths of a magpie's lifespan (or the runtime of your average hardcore punk track :p). So, when my bud, Ru, glowed about this End It's latest EP, Unpleasant Living, I had to crank that shit up. And naturally with its runtime of about 7 minutes, I tossed it on for numerous more spins afterwards. This thing absolutely fucking murders. The shouts are viscerally satisfying, the riffs are calamitous, and the sheer rage are everything that you'd want from hardcore, but with radical lyrics regarding racism, wage slavery, gentrification, overnight activists, etc.—the kinda shit that I am perpetually pissed about, much like the themes of transphobia that G.L.O.S.S. Definitely a band that I'd highly recommend to fans of Rage Against the Machine too, even though their sonics are quite different.

1) I am glad to see Larissa Stupar succeeding with her new band, Venom Prison. She's been through a lot of shit, which I will not re-litigate here (if you're a curious cat, look up the scumfuck bastards of WolfxDown and get your puke bowl prepared). While I don't know her personally, I do hope she is doing well. 2) This new album is very, very good death metal. Pick of the litter for me would be "Nemesis".

 

Yes, nearly half a dozen of my picks for this article have come from the fine folks at AngryMetalGuy. Got a problem with that? Well, then check this fucking track ("Iron Shackles", from Luzifer) out and pretend to me that it didn't deserve placement here. It is just... purely badass, awesome, sick, rad (take your pick) heavy metal.