It’s singularly important that i’m honest in this list. Do I want to be backing the right horses, considered a tastemaker, have people think that I’m really good at sports? Hell yeah. But these picks are the songs that did me right, the ones that moved me or excited me this year. If my tastes and those of the Good Crowd are moving apart then so be it. The zeitgeist can kiss my cheese, I like these songs and I shan’t apologize to anyone, even when thoroughly wrong. There are some songs I want to make mention of particularly, that didn’t make this list. I almost extended it out because I desperately wanted to include them but I’m quite simply not writing any more words. I don’t have the energy and frankly, you haven’t done anything so bad as to deserve that. Shoutout to Phoebe Go, big love to Memphis LK’s Whip. Big love to DJ Madengo and props to Zion Garcia’s Overthinking, a track that really only doesn’t get in because Zion is essentially already in here for another record. As ever, these aren’t the best songs but my best songs.

It’s been a a really tough year for middle class artists, the ones currently trying to elevate from ‘lightly established’ to ‘household name’. That step has proven supremely rare since the virus and hopefully I’m the months and years ahead those pathways become reestablished through touring and digital. That said though, it’s been a great year for those artists putting a first foot forward and I’ve met some brand new guns who’re gonna have CAREERS. Here are some of those, some old heads, some new but all in all, just 20 special songs. Enjoy.

 

 

20. Surusinghe
Bad Girls

I don’t have the word-palette required to do justice to a song like this one from Surusinghe but here I am, doing my best since it’s made it’s way into the 20 best of the year. It’s electronic music with a hint of garage, a drop of D&B and sound design out the absolute wazoo. The bass end is capacious and thundering, providing a broadly laid foundation for those garage rhythms. Synths climb a like whistling kettles, rising through the high end and adding a tension to the record that cuts free once again into dancefloor moments of high drama. Based on London, she’s already secured support with Mallgrab’s Steel City Dance Discs and my guess she’s already setting new goals such as heading to the Emirates to see Martin Odegaard score in the next North London derby. That’s certainly what I’d be doing in her place. Dying to see this one live should she venture to Sydney in 2023.
 

 

19. Milku
Alone

Imagine dropping this pop smash on day dot. One song into your solo career and this is that one song? Implausible, I’m not having it. Real name Miles something something, he wrote and produced this alongside blog fave Tim Fitz and the sum of the two of them is truly higher than any of us could have guessed. The chorus cushioned by sherberty synths, the lyrics dedicated to the introspective bafflement of how he could be living so thoroughly solo. I know this isn’t blade-laced with cultural edge but it’s one of the most immediate pop songs I heard this year. If there’re more pop hits in the bank like this one from Milku then I’m ready to invest.
 

 

18. Charlie Needs Braces
Daryung

The moment Abby sent me a link to this song, having discovered it through the triple j Unearthed moderating queue, I was hooked. It’s immediate in it’s staccato percussion, horse shod with bells and chimes, galloping at full pace through open country. It’s loose cord whipping against itself in the pelting wind on a warm day. There’s so much energy to the that fidgeting beat and it’s expelled itself in such constantly unexpected ways. The best reference I can offer mat well be that of D.D Dumbo, and I suggest that with the total gravity it deserves. Really excited to hear what comes next from the Guringai songwriter cos this has piqued my interest in a big way.
 

 

17. Jem Cassar-Daley
Oh No

I’ve got infinite patience for the songwriting of JCD, Gumbaynggirr Bundjalung songwriter from Brisbane whomst dropped a brace of EPs this year.  This song was the title track from the first and it’s the perfect example of her songcraft. Warm and fundamentally memorable, not for production flourishes or challenging vocal runs but for its simplicity. It’s a song about the realization that a relationship isn’t meant to be, painted through micromoments within that sinking couple. It’s not rocket science but it is wonderful
 

 

To Oscar
The Loudest I’ve Ever Been

Hyper-pop errywhere in 2021/2022 and I’m pretty thankful for that. The broadness of the genre effectively means two songs that sound entirely different can essentially both coexist with the sphere of hyper-pop with the clear implication that they’re both innovating in the sphere. I could throw forth plenty of Australian artists that are smashing goals in that space but one of the songs that most nabbed me this year was this one from Perth’s To Oscar. Naturally it’s bright, buoyant, futurist and full of miniscule production dynamics that lend so much colour but it’s the melodies that really stuck me. I’ve sunk my teeth into that instrumental chorus time and time again this year and it tastes sweeter every time.
 

 

Puppy Mountain
Dancefloor

At this point I’m becoming acutely aware that many of these artists featured in last years best of list which is yet another score in my favour: consistency. Also strong calves, but that’s a side note. Puppy Mountain was on that Fred Again half-tip before Fred himself was but it’s not about who did it first, it’s about who did it better (also Fred). Ok, I jest, but Puppy Mountain has legitimately made one of the warmest dance records I’ve heard in a long time. Synths that cradle you and a melody that fully resolves itself in the most reassuring way. Be blessed by this one and know that this lad has not just production craft but a wealth of ideas.
 

 

New Wave
6gs

If you’re not into this record after the first ten seconds then I’ll save you the following three minutes ten – you’re not gonna like the rest of it because the magic is immediate. Outta south west melbs, New Wave are a trio of rappers each with their own projects but coming together on this’n. You’ll hear TAKTiX’s deep voice straight off the bat over his own layered production. Moses and KiD LaZe come through with their own heat but you know what they really stuck on this one? The Ad libs. There’s so many different little ad lib moments that stick out to me, echoing through the channels of this record and adding so much ENERGY. Would love to walk into a futsal court with this sounding out my entrance. Big moment.
 

 

Matahara
SIDE

Just eight thousand streams on this single from Indonesian Australian Matahara is the biggest injustice since Belgium beating Canada in the world cup group stage. So only a few weeks, but still quite unjust. Think the Avalanches or Alpine for left of center pop zaniness with a lip full of psychedelics. She’s got these dew-light vocals that hover at times and in other moments thicken with strange vocal production choices in the most charactered way. Extra production from blog-fave Tram Cops and even some guest vocals in there too. New EP soon plz.

 

Agung Mango
Guap Pop

Agung Mango and Genesis Owusu is quite simply Tommy Faith bait, a collaboration designed to elicit a pavlovian response. Well my bros, you got me, I’m in. Is it as good as I might have hoped? You bet your bald ass it is. Genesis has some of the best bars of the year in his feature verse (looking at you “shift the artistry and one day you can bask in yachts, but look at was these fuckers did to Basquiat”) and Gung just does what Gung does: Swagger, great vocal tone and his capacity to move between flows like a weaver’s shuttle. It might be a collaboration that met in the studio a few years back but it feels like pure 2022.

Zretro
Silly Games

Zretro dropped one hell of an LP this year and frankly, they didn’t get their flowers. Vocalist Zima and producer 2nd Thought have this incredible 90s R&B thing going spiced with South African, Namibian and Zim textures throughout. Properly, if you haven’t clocked them yet, go in on the full record and venmo me after because I swear on the my deceased tadpole’s name, it’s very special. Zima’s voice is just in it’s own universe. I genuinely could’ve picked any of a handful of tracks from the self-titled record to land in this list but ultimately it was the first single that i felt so immediately with me.

Empress
Grandma (You Lie)

“Did you know cyclopses are real?” is just one of the many questions by Naarm’s Empress on this manic record about a pathologically lying matriarch. I mean, i think that’s what it’s about but it’s truly so frenetic and energetic it’s truly hard to know and I find myself so guiled by the structural side of things that I lose a sense of narrative half the time. If you like the percussive chaos of an artist like tune-yards and the vocal harmonies of, I don’t know, an artist who does great vocal harmonies, then it’s time to tap in. Shoutout Abby Butler who delivered this unto me at work a few months ago. She didn’t get a mention in the first post I wrote about them and has since commenced legal proceedings that now require me to namecheck her anytime Empress come up. Abby Butler.

1300
Oldboy

2021 was the year that we made acquaintance with 1300 and the year I declared their second ever single ‘No Caller ID’ the song of the year. I haven’t budged an inch on that decision because a year later that song still sounds icepick sharp and more modern than most everything else around it still no small thanks to master producers Nerdie and Pocari Sweat. They dropped their debut mixtape Foreign Language this year, brimming with records that I could comfortably advocate for a position in this list. My pick of the bunch was Oldboy, partly because its bonkers video cemented it for me immediately but mostly because it bumps harder than most else on the record. The moments when the kick drums isolate with vocals, the pre-chorus, the buzzsaw synths… it’s a sweet delight.

Vv Pete
Frauds

Vernonica Peter came for the neck with Frauds, her second single for 2022. Her first, Bussit had meat on the bone but this prime rib: expensive and perfect cooked. She’s enlisted some of Sydney’s finest to help out on the beat (Cassius Select, Utility, T.Morimoto) and truly, while they’ve turned a strong demo into a monster track there’s no looking away from the fact that Vv is a star in the making. Earnest, fierce and ice cold, her vocal stands bolt upright on its own. Having seen her live relatively recently I’d suggest that it may still be early days but the rarest elements of charisma and character are already there in her love presence. Mighty from this Mt Druitt teen.

Super Death
Noise Breeder

This made a fan of me more immediately than any other song in this years best of list. Literally three seconds into the song I was had, taken in, bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray. Last year there was Hobart artist Kimdracula doing records like these but taking them in a more corny direction. Meanjin based Super Death is on that industrial tip, sirens and city scapes, jackhammers in the repeated percussion. It feels just as indebted to the agressive hyper-pop of an act like 100 Gecs as it does to any heavy music counterpart and its that mishmash of influence that made it pop for me.

 

PANIA
MY CREW

There’s an R&B renaissance happening around you at this very second which you might have noticed if you didn’t spend all your time on that damn smart phone of yours! At the forefront of the movement this year was PANIA, making her name with two big singles – Tiki and this song MY CREW. When this one dropped it was over for me straight away. I knew I needed to be hearing this on every beach coming from every UE boom in sight.

Babyface Mal
Ya Rab

Babyface Mal taking all that promise and spinning it into gold? Ya Rab love to see it. This is a dude who’s been pushing for a couple of years over various drill and more straight down the line hip-hop records and seen plenty of praise for his tone and flow. This is, in my basic bitch opinion, the first time that those elements have truly come together on a great record. He’s embracing his Egyptian lineage in both the video and track with Arabic bars and middle eastern production flourishes on the beat end courtesy of Sydney overlord Aywy. Career turning point, mark my words.

Tasman Keith
Tread Light

Tas saved the most impactful record from his debut LP for the very last track, a decision that’ll make perfect sense once you’ve listened to it and find yourself basking in the gravitas of this work in complete context. That sad, I suspect that even the absence of the LP doesn’t prevent this from hitting the way it’s meant to. It’s a song that requests not continuation but silence at it’s conclusion, weighing you down like a cinderblock in a body of water. It might’ve been an up and down year for Tasman, nudged by the nuances of releasing your debut album but it’s on that’ll set him up for the years ahead with a clear statement of intensity and a showcase of the various ways he can approach his art.

Skeleten
No Drones in the Afterlife

What to say about skeleten? He has a record I wasn’t expecting to be moved by this year. It’s Futurist and modern it’s just phenomenal songwriting. On half of fishing, Russ kicked off skeleton a couple of years back and it’s now yielding the best fruit of its life. We’ve always known he was a phenomenal producer. I remember hearing this for the first time and then a week later once again it came on at the Gladdy and in that second listen I KNEW that Russ had struck gold. The wobbling synths, the organic drumtrack and the elevated chorus vocal all make this feel light as air.

Elsy Wameyo
River Nile

“written, produced, arranged and performed by Elsy Wameyo”. These are the claims on the Nilotic EP, resoundingly one of the best Australian releases of 2022 hands down and she did it all. A soulful vocal, creative production, confident bars and an unimpeachable vocal tone. The first drop from her EP came in at #7 in last years list and now she’s jumped 5 spots to the lofty heights of #2. You’re a real one Elsy.

Sollyy
Apply The Pressure (ft. Zion Garcia)

Yeah, look. This song crushed me on first listen and my body quite simply never regained its former elasticity. I walk with a crunchy limp, all my joins honking like a mangled accordion. Do I regret it? Heeeelllll naw. I knew it on spin one and I’ve known it ever since, this is my record for 2022. It brings together an artist already featured on this list in Zion Garcia and an artist who’s become one of the most in demand Australian producers of 2022 in Sollyy. In my review of the track earlier this year I went on about the drop at 45 seconds and I’ll be damned if I’m going to rewrite the wheel: Then it hits. The most pure house bass line you’ll hear in 2023, sucking everything around it in like a collapsing blackhole with only Zion’s vocal capable of resisting its improbable gravity. That moment is a surefire conduit to my stankface every single time with Zion stepping into a supreme pocket, vocal tone immaculate and flow perfect. Sollyy doesn’t overcook it, he keeps it stripped back bar for the occasional formula one sample as drumfill. Two artists whose 2023s are ripening by the day. Apply the pressure they did.