2022 was, without any shadow of a doubt, the year when live music once again managed to provide an arena for music lovers to come together for shared magic and the occasional joyous evening after the main wave of Covid had passed us by. A place for heads to spin and for hips to swing.
This was helped by a festival season that was generally kind to campers and by a relaxation of the draconian travel rules that had stymied international artists from visiting the UK during the last couple of years. WOMAD especially proved a significant highlight, particularly with the UK debut performance by French-Moroccan psychedelic blues quartet Bab L’Bluz, as did Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival. However, there were also fine standalone performances by the likes of Mdou Moctar, Killing Joke and Wardruna and shows like these created many life-affirming experiences which were more than enough to remind gig goers just what they had been missing in recent times.
Needless to say, there were also plenty of great records released in 2022, my own favourite being Goat’s Oh Death. A storming disc of 70s funk grooves, Afrobeat percussion, raucous punk attitude and brain-frying psychedelia, it was a soul enhancing expression of their genre-defying sound after a break of six years. Tracks like “Soon You Die”, “Do the Dance” and “Under No Nation” were all more than enough to get even the most dancephobic up on their feet, and it will be something of a thrill to hear these tunes being played to hot and sweaty audiences in the clubs and concert venues of Britain next Spring.
There were numerous other worthwhile album releases this year of course, topped by Midnight Scorchers, Adrian Sherwood’s dubbed up re-rub of Horace Andy’s Midnight Rockers album, which featured additional help from Daddy Freddy, Skip McDonald and a host of reggae legends. Melt Yourself Down laid down some hyper kinetic global punk-funk on Pray for Me I Don’t Fit In, while Anna von Hausswolff’s swirling Gothic rock set Live at Montreux Jazz Festival was a real treat. The Bobby Lee’s Bellevue meanwhile was a Molotov cocktail of rowdy punk rock that threw up plenty of adrenaline-powered crackers, including my tune of the year, “Dig Your Hips”, which could have easily sound-tracked a particularly intense street riot.
Two More Essential Albums of 2022
Horace Andy – Midnight Scorchers
Melt Yourself Down – Pray for Me I Don’t Fit In
Musical Experience of the Year
Bab L’Bluz at the WOMAD Festival
Track of the Year
The Bobby Lees – Dig Your Hips
