Due to a sudden bout of unwellness throughout December culminating in gall stones being raked out of me, I haven’t been feeling the need or want to stick down my thoughts and lists on 2022, but hopefully I’m on an upward trajectory and I start looking less like Homer Simpson now (yellow, not bald and fat) so here’s an overview of the year that was.
First two thirds, pretty good, last third, shite. With one glaring exception.
Might as well start there then. Gig of the year happened in November. The glorious return of Symposium. As much as people cock a snook at nostalgia and audibly roll their eyes at reunion tours, Symposium at the Islington Assembly Halls for a one off (maybe) gig was just a sea of joy, happiness, rabid moshing, screaming, crowd surfing and community. It was how gigs used to be, everyone looking out for each other, pulling people up, holding people above your heads (mostly singer Ross Cummins) and generally losing their sense of self and reality for an hour or so. The band were great, took a couple of songs to get in to it but by the time Answer To Why I Hate You had melted faces, they were in full swing. Hearing those songs no-one has experienced live for 22 years, and I am sure it is the same for everyone who sees a much loved band in these circumstances, was as close to spiritual as this atheist heart will come to. If that was the last time, then it was the best time.
Honourable mentions; Desperate Journalist, one of the five shows this year spread across the country, either the sweatiest gig ever in Nottingham in August or the Bristol gig on a boat, Thekla, where they seemed to be firing on all cylinders and then borrowing some more. Sorry at The Jazz Club, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard at the legendary 100 Club, and Enjoyable Listens at The Lexington. Superb.
All the albums, so many albums, and they all go hand in hand, hand in hand to my, Top 20:
20/ Fontaines DC – Skinty Fia
19/ Bodega – Broken Equipment
18/ Kathryn Joseph – for you who are the wronged
17/ Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler – For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
16/ Jemima Coulter – Grace After A Party
15/ Aldous Harding – Warm Chris
14/ Porridge Radio – Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky
13/ The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention
12/ Yard Act – The Overload
11/ Suede – Autofiction
10/ Ghum – Bitter
9/ Ghost//Signals – Lives Defined By Winter Skies
8/ Stella Donnelly – Flood
7/ Sorry – Anywhere But Here
6/ Lowertown – I Love To Lie
5/ Father John Misty – Chloe and The Next Twentieth Century
4/ Wunderhorse – Cub
3/ Arctic Monkeys – The Car
2/ Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard – Backhand Deals
1/ Enjoyable Listens – The Enjoyable Listen
No fan fair, no sparklers or fireworks. Just a lovely list to annoy people with. And let’s be honest, I’ve wanged on enough about the artists at the business end enough this year anyway.
Here’s another list, but only of 5 entries. The best EPs of 2022.
5/ Flossing – World of Mirth
4/ Francis of Delirium – The Funhouse
3/ Bleach Lab – If You Only Feel It Once
2/ Lizzie Reid – Mooching
1/ English Teacher – Polyawkward
I will briefly mention how fantastic the English Teacher EP was when I first heard it over a year ago now I think, the digital edition arrived in January I believe but my vinyl copy didn’t hit my doormat till October. Still stupendous and A55 is incredible.
That’ll do I reckon. Listen to what you haven’t already from that little lot and you’ll have a jolly good time. See you in 2023.
