It’s official. I’m over the hill. My peak “music fan” years are behind me. I’m writing this on December 13 because there’s no hope that I can make up for 50 subpar music seeking weeks in the last two. My annual playlist is only 19 songs long. It hasn’t been that short since 2008 (when I kept the list to the maximum that could be burned onto a single compact disc).
Song of the Year: “Hop To It” by Marc Rebillet
[runner up: “Anxious” by Carly Rae Jepsen]
“Hop To It” isn’t even a stand alone track by Marc Rebillet. The above YouTube clip is just seven minutes that was cut out of his hour long live steam earlier this year. A stream that was sponsored by a sex toy company. But who cares about those above caveats — I love this sound. Meanwhile, I don’t know why “Anxious” was subjugated as a ‘bonus track’ instead of being on the album proper.
Album of the Year: Three Dimensions Deep by Amber Mark
[runner up: The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen]
It was nearly impossible to pick a single track from Amber Mark’s album to feature on my annual playlist. Important to note: Our North American Idol, CRJ, released her best work since Emotion.
Concert of the Year: Broken Social Scene at Thalia Hall
[runner up: Broken Social Scene at Thalia Hall]
Broken Social Scene is one of my favorite bands and I’ve seen them multiple times. My favorite song of their is “Shampoo Suicide” (which they rarely play live), so when it was announced they were playing the entire album as a tour — I made sure to go to BOTH Chicago shows.
Song of the Summer: Hottest Record in the World by Digitalism
[runner up: Let’s Do It Again by Jamie xx]
Song Discovered Thanks to a TV Show / Movie of the Year: “Renaissance” by Cristobal Tapia De Veer (the remix/version used for The White Lotus season 2)
Regret of the Year: Missed shows To paraphrase a dead Beatle, Life got in the way of my concert plans… The War On Drugs, Beach House, The National, and Amber Mark are all acts I literally had tickets to see and was unable to attend.
Best Decision I made in 2022: Recording a “Triller” video with my wife There’s no way I’m posting that on a public post, but if you know me — ask and I may text it to you.
Thank you very much for reading. To close, here are the concert collages / showlog from 2022:
