My Favorite Songs From 2022: Asunojokei, LN, Ronnie Martin, Steve Roach, Sally Shapiro & More
This year brought blackgaze, somber dream-pop, sacred synth-pop, ambient masterworks, italo disco, and so much more.
These are the songs that excited, intrigued, comforted, inspired, and delighted me the most throughout 2022. That stuck with me through thick and thin, that I continued to return to, day after day, week after week, month after month.
Songs are listed by artist in alphabetical order.
“Static Iridescence” by Antarctic Wastelands
Here’s one thing to keep in mind while listening to “Static Iridescence.” Like all of the songs on Antarctic Wastelands’ Mysteries, it doesn’t even cross the four-minute mark. And if you know me, you know I like my ambient soundscapes to be expansive and unbound by time. But here’s the thing: “Static Iridescence” may only be three minutes and change, but Ben Tatlow knows how to layer and develop his soundscapes in a way that feels much more vast than his songs’ runtimes might suggest. What’s more, the song’s brevity imbues with a fragility that makes its darkly dreamy atmospherics all the more beguiling.
“Their Future Wildernesses” by Antarctic Wastelands, Fionnlagh
Recorded as part of Ambientologist’s Sustain series, this collaboration between Hong Kong-based Ben Tatlow and London’s Fionnlagh is one of the compilation’s darkest moments. The rumbling drones and forlorn tones conjure up mental images of a desolate wasteland stretching as far as the eye can see. It’s a disconcerting listen, but also spellbinding and transportive as only the best dark ambient can be.
“Heavenward” by Asunojokei
If you’re not careful, you might injure your neck while listening to this slab of blackgaze from Japan. From headbanging, sure, but also from whiplash caused by the band’s constant change-ups. The quartet’s music features the usual My Bloody Valentine-esque walls of sound, blast beats, and throat-rending shrieks that you’d expect from blackgazers, but there are passages that evoke Joe Hisaishi’s Studio Ghibli soundtracks and even some spoken word for good measure. You never know what’s going to happen next in an Asunojokei song, which is precisely what makes them so exhilarating.