Fluxblog 399: it's 2022 survey mix time! catch up on the year's music
Plus links to some of my favorite music media from this year
This week’s playlist is 2022 FLUXBLOG SURVEY || TOMORROW IS ALREADY HERE. I’ve been making “survey” playlists every year for a long time now, and this is one of the more interesting versions of the idea as it’s basically a document of music culture at a transitional moment as Gen Z artists and aesthetics are gaining traction while Millennial artists and culture remain dominant. I’m curious to see how the next few years play out – will there be a clear tipping point in the next two years similar to how Gen X fully asserted itself in 1993 and 1994, or will the sheer volume of Millennials stifle this progress and largely keep Gen Z culture in the margins? I think you can tell who I’m rooting for here.
As with all the surveys this is a playlist covering music across genres, and I think this is a particularly diverse set of songs. As a result it’s very, very long – slightly shorter than the 2021 iteration, but still over 900 songs. And of course there’s going to be things I left out or forgot for one reason or another, but there’s always a point where I just have to stop adding things. This could easily be 1800 songs, but I don’t think that would actually be useful to anyone.
Please share this with anyone you think would find it useful or interesting! Tell me if you found anything you loved in this – I’m always curious what might pop out to people, or how this got around someone’s blindspots.
[Spotify | Apple Music]
I did not make a YouTube version of this year’s survey because it’s just too many songs to be practical on that platform, but I did make an extremely abridged “best of 2022” playlist full of music videos and live performances.
If you like this survey project, my playlists, or Fluxblog in general I encourage you to consider supporting this with a one-time donation on Ko-Fi or a subscription to the Fluxblog Patreon.
It is my personal tradition to not write any regular entries on the week the survey playlist comes out, so instead of song reviews here’s a list of some mostly independent music media projects I have enjoyed this year.
• The Broken Record podcast sets a high standard for music interviews, both in terms of access to major talents and depth of conversation. The episodes hosted by Rick Rubin tend to be the most impressive and engaging – Missy Elliott, Michael Stipe, Kaytranada, Neil Young, Robert Plant, several episodes with members of Red Hot Chili Peppers – but I’m also very fond of Bruce Headlam’s episodes with Jacob Collier, Belle & Sebastian, and Bonnie Raitt, and Leah Rose’s episodes with Beach House and Maggie Rogers.
• I got heavy into the long-running music review YouTube channel Todd in the Shadows this year – the archive is full of funny and sharp thoughts on pop songs past and present, but I most strongly recommend his episode about Katy Perry’s “trainwreckord” Witness, which I think is the best work of arts criticism anyone has released in 2022.
• I also came to Rob Harvilla’s 60 Songs That Explain the 90s somewhat late but got very into it this year. Harvilla has been in the music critic game for a long time now but this project has been the perfect venue for him to highlight his skill for grounding ideas about music in personal history and humor. Also he has an incredible radio voice and terrific comic timing!
• I also love DJ Louie XIV’s Pop Pantheon podcast, in which he and his guests examine the catalogues of various pop stars and sometimes zoom out to discuss pop music on a macro level. May I suggest the episode about Scissor Sisters featuring me, wonderful me? It’s a good one.
• I like to check in on the No Bells blog, a site focused on underground rap culture that’s so proudly independent and fearless that they’re willing to post a brutal slam of Beyoncé’s critically adored Renaissance and make some really good points about its surface-level engagement with dance music.
• I keep up with the Loud & Quiet magazine as a way of keeping up with what’s going on in the UK indie scene – they keep their ears close to the ground and run some fantastic features on new and established artists. The writing isn’t always great, but the passion is always there.
Next week I’ll share some of my favorite non-music recommendations.