2022: Top 5 Miscellaneous Songs

(The best five songs not on the other two lists. Either new in 2022, or new to me.)

5. Sparta - Until the Kingdom Comes

 

from Sparta's self-titled fifth album

Dine Alone, 10/2022

A dearly-missed friend turned me on to Sparta a few years ago. Jim Ward is a former member of At the Drive In, and he makes melodic, driving post-hardcore music. Jim recently (like 2019?) took back up the Sparta mantle, and this is the result.

I would no longer classify this as post-hardcore (not that labels really matter anyway), but this is BIG music. This occupies the same strata as big rock albums. It's a Weezer Blue. It's an Achtung Baby. This is Music for the Masses in the best way possible. Have a listen and see for yourself.

 

4. Typhoon - No One Will Dance

   

From the "Underground Complex No.1" EP
Roll Call Records, 04/2022 

It must be hard to be a member of Typhoon. Even middling indie success probably won't pay the bills when split 13 ways. I've been following Typhoon for at least 15 years, and they peaked at 13 members once or twice. Now I think they're down to 6 or 7 and that's sort of sad. Less is sometimes more, but not at a Typhoon concert.  Typhoon's power has always been derived from the number of kids on stage pouring their hearts into the music.

In more recent years, as their numbers have dwindled, the bright sparks on Typhoon's records have come fewer and farther between. Nevertheless, there are some great songs on this EP, and this song is one of them. Also, I got to see them in Monmouth, Oregon for a one-off show this December, and several former bandmembers guested. The player count was temporarily up to 8, and the show was quite good. 

They didn't play this song at the show, which was a shame. I love the moment in this song where Kyle sings the line "a song that no one will dance to...", and the rhythm immediately switches to an amorphous waltz time that is... impossible to dance to. Perfect.

3. The Decemberists - Better Not Wake the Baby

   

From the album "What a Terrible World, What a Wonderful World"
Capitol Records, 01/2015

2022 was Year of the Decemberists in our house. Our 13-year-old decided that The Decemberists were his favorite band. As a result, we added several Decemberists albums to the collection, and saw them in concert.

This song is 1:44 of classic Decemberists. Folky instrumentation, catchy tune, slightly old-fashioned and wordy sounding, with some borderline-ridiculous lyrics. Light, fun, and silly. Yeah, sounds a bit like The Wellerman, but who's counting?

2. The Arcade Fire - The Lightning I/II

 

From the album "We"
Columbia Records, 05/2022

I'm a sucker for two-parter songs. This is a fun one. A great performance on SNL this year, too. I'm not a big Arcade Fire guy, but this song is a banger.

To mention the current unsavory allegations against Win Butler-- we're certainly in an age where we can separate art from the artist. That being said, I think this sort of allegation would be better proven or disproven in a court of law. As it stands, I tend to disbelieve anything Pitchfork publishes, especially about bands that Pitchfork singlehandedly put on a pedestal.

  1. Tom Jones and The Cardigans - Burning Down the House

 

From Sir Tom Jones' "Reload" album
Gut/V2 Records, 09/1999

Wh..what just happened? Was that The Cardigans, fresh off their international superhit Lovefool, doing a classic Talking Heads cover with Sir Tom Jones (AKA "Theme Song Guy!")?

This would've been a fun, interesting cover with the Cardigans OR Tom Jones. Getting both at the same time feels like.. cheating. It's like somebody pushed up up down down left right left right BA start, and reality gave us Tom Jones, the Cardigans, and Talking Heads.