My Top 10 Songs for Triple J’s 2022 Hottest 100 – My thoughts, insights & musings

“Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” – Plato

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

According to Spotify I listened to 71,860 minutes (that’s 1197 hours or 50 days!) of music, covering 25 different genres this year. My most popular genre being Oz Hip Hop, followed by Oz Alternative Rock and Oz Indie. Of the 1,143 artists in my playlist for the year, I listened to Aurora the most, actually I am in the top 0.05% of Aurora listeners, followed by Xavier Rudd, Lisa Mitchell, Peter Tosh and Jack Johnson. My most played song was I Believe In Kindness by Lisa Mitchell, followed by A Temporary High by Aurora, We Deserve To Dream by Xavier Rudd, Teeth by Mallrat and then Lisa Mitchell again with Dreaming, Swimming. In addition to all that I apparently also listened to 12,496 minutes of podcasts. Whilst I listened to Meditation Self the most, my favourite podcast is Philosophize This!.

It has been a privilege to be able to enjoy so much music over the year and I am very grateful for that. I don’t know if it has made choosing a top ten for the Hottest 100 any easier, but there have been half a dozen songs that have pretty much been locked in as top 10 songs since the first half of the year. Be that as it may, as with previous years, I have set some rules for myself for choosing my top 10, namely I will only choose one song from any one artist or album.

I also used this rule to compile a top 50 songs for the year, which I list at the end of this blog, you can listen to these songs on Spotify, here is the link to the playlist.

Before I get into my top 10, I must acknowledge Baker Boy who has featured in my top ten for the last 5 years, including my favourite ever Baker Boy song, Marryuna, which was my number one from 2017 and Mr La Di Da Di which was my number one in 2018. It feels wrong to not have Baker Boy in my top ten but whilst I love his version of Wish You Well ft. Bernard Fanning, I could only get it to number 26 this year.

So, without further ado, here are my top 10 songs for the Hottest 100 of 2022. This time I will count down from my number 1 song, and once we’ve completed the top 10, I’ll list the songs that almost made it.

Xavier Rudd – We Deserve To Dream

“You know, all of our ancestors around the planet have come from some form of struggle and we carry that, all of us, years on. We’ve got stuff to heal. And I think music is the greatest medicine on the planet.”

I love this quote, it’s from an interview with Xavier Rudd regarding the release of his album, Jan Juc Moon. Xavier released two albums in 2022, Jan Juc Moon in March and Journeys in September. Both albums contain my favourite track for the year, We Deserve To Dream. This track has really been the foundation to the soundtrack of my year and has been my number one song ever since I first heard it, I just love it. I can’t remember how I came across this song. For some reason I decided to listen to the Jan Juc Moon album back in March and I was hooked. It still confounds me that this is the first time I’ve really got into Xavier’s music. Its only taken me some 17 years (and 10 albums!) since Xavier first released music to appreciate him, oh well, better late than never, at least I am the better for it now that I do.

But I have to fess up …. this version of the song isn’t eligible as it was released as a single in September 2021. How much of a dickhead do you think I feel like now. All year it hadn’t occurred to me to check to see if it had been released as a single prior to the album. All year. Pretty smart move on my part to vote and then check afterwards. I do have a fall back, I’ll just say the version of the song that Xavier released on YouTube in September which was performed at his home in Torquay is the 2022 version I have voted for, here it is, We Deserve To Dream | Mahogany Session. If that isn’t eligible, then perhaps the Goldfish version, We Deserve To Dream • GoldFish, Xavier Rudd will do?

Anyway, had I not been ignorant, I would have selected another track from the album to be my number one for the year, and there is much goodness that has captured my soul this year. The album is full of great tracks such as Ball And Chain (feat J-MILLA), The Calling, I Am Eagle and the title track Jan Juc Moon, but my number two track from the album, and what would be my substitute for number one for the year, is Stoney Creek, this track just captures …. Hey what was that? You are kidding!? Oops, Stoney Creek was actually the first single from the album released in June 2021.

Well, then I’ll just stick with We Deserve To Dream, the version he played at his home in Torquay.

Phew, thankfully that’s over, I promise you the rest of the tracks are not as questionable!

Aurora – A Temporary High

Aurora released her third studio album The Gods We Can Touch in January. I love every song and finding a favourite from the album was a challenge. Some of my favourite tracks include A Temporary High, A Dangerous Thing, Everything Matters and A Little Place Called The Moon, as well as Exist for Love, which was released as a single in 2020 and made my top ten of that year and Cure For Me which was released in 2021 and was also in my top ten last year. I should also mention, Aurora also released several singles during the year, one of which, The Devil is Human, probably sits as my number 2 Aurora song from 2022.

I have selected A Temporary High as my favourite from Aurora this year. Aurora said that the god that inspired the song was Janus, a god with two faces; “One face belonging to the past, and one face looking to the future. A Temporary High is about the present, and how we manage to live in the now, what we learn from the past and hopefully also make the future better.”[1]

Aurora has now featured in my Hottest 100 top ten for the last 4 years and has become one of my all-time favourite artists. I haven’t seen her perform live yet but I will get the opportunity at Womad in March, she is playing on the Friday night, it’s going to be great, I can’t wait!

Lisa Mitchell – I Believe In Kindness

The track, I Believe In Kindness was released in January and is from Lisa’s 4^th studio album, A Place To Fall Apart, which was released in April. It is my favourite track from the album but all the tracks on the album are awesome including the likes of Zombie, Summoning (feat. Jess Hitchcock), and Dreaming, Swimming.

Lisa said this about the song, “I wrote, I Believe In Kindness, the day before the Global Climate Strike (2019) in Melbourne/Naarm. Everyone was going. My body hummed with a feeling that I couldn’t quite put my finger on… The next day 100,000 people gathered, along with millions all over the world, in devotion to our Mother (earth). Elders spoke alongside school students and activists from many industries as they shared our needs for a safe future. It is terrifying that our governments’ policies are nowhere near good enough to protect our futures and care for Country. And yet, the feeling of being together that day still fuels my faith in humanity and reminds me of the power of a feeling.”[2]

Lisa became a mother this year and I wish her and her newborn son, Cadence, all the best for the future.

Mallrat – Teeth

Mallrat released her debut album, Butterfly Blue in May. I love every track on the album, but my favourite track would be Teeth. It captures my imagination and makes me wonder at the interrelatedness of everything.

Mallrat said this about the song … “In the song I describe a big, omnipresent ‘it’. When I wrote these lyrics I was playing with the idea that we talk about sex and prayer and violence and power with very similar language. I wanted to see if I could blur all of these things into one blurry ball of energy.”[3]

Teeth came in at 198. It’s the only song in my top 20 to make the list.

Horrorshow – DMT

Horrorshow released two EP’s this year, Good Problems in May and Bad Feelings, in October. My favourite track is DMT from the Good Problems EP.

If you are looking for a song that will leave you uplifted, inspired and more positive about the world then give this track a whirl.

DOBBY – Walk Away

The first time I listened to Dobby was when he teamed up with Barkaa releasing the single I Can’t Breathe back in 2020. This year he has released several singles as well as made a standout contribution to Rapper Tag, Rappertag #27.

I had earmarked Dobby’s single Walk Away, which features The Merindas, as a lock for my top ten ever since its release in May. The track is a powerful statement on the erasure of Australia’s Indigenous history and culture.

Dobby also teamed up with L-Fresh the Lion, releasing the single That’s Not Me in November, it’s another great track from two of my favourite artists. L-Fresh had my number one song from 2020 with Peace & Light.

Matty B – Still Courageous

In my opinion Matty B is one of the greatest Oz MCs and up until this year had only released two albums, The Courageous L.P in 2002 and Simple But Effective in 2006. However, on my birthday in October, Matty released the music video of Still Courageous, the first single from his new album Chronica which was released in November. This is the first music from Matty in 16 years and apparently another album is already in the making.

My favourite track from the new album is Still Courageous, a sensational reprise of his original anthem, Courageous. I’m so happy to be listening to new Matty B tunes this year.

Omar Musa – Oh Child of Mine

Omar is one of my favouritest artists, he is also an author and poet. His last album, Since Ali Died was released in 2017 and the last music he released was a collaboration with Birdz called About Me in 2018. So, I was excited to hear his latest single, Oh Child of Mine which was released in June this year.

I just love the way Omar uses his lyrics, he is a consummate wordsmith in my opinion and his songs always tend to find their way to my heart.

The Hu – This Is Mongol

I only came across The Hu this year and they have been on high rotation ever since. They are a folk rock/heavy metal band from Mongolia who have a unique sound due to the traditional Mongolian instruments they use as well as the Mongolian throat singing which I love.

This Is Mongol is the opening track from their new album, Rumble Of Thunder and is my favourite song from the album.

Sampa the Great – Let Me Be Great (feat. Angélique Kidjo)

Sampa the Great released her 2^nd studio album, As Above, So Below, in September. My favourite tracks being Never Forget (feat. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanjé) and Let Me Be Great (feat. Angélique Kidjo).

When interviewed about the album, and in particular the track Never Forget (feat. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanjé), Sampa delved into why it is important for her to use African history in her lyrics. “We often forget the stories of people who have created things, or we often forget our own stories because they’re usually rewritten for us. African histories are often wiped out,” she said.[4]

But in the end, I have landed on Let Me Be Great (feat. Angélique Kidjo) as my favourite from Sampa this year. This is the last track from the album and is a positive and uplifting song affirming the strength of Sampa and her heritage, and it also features Angelique Kidjo who is awesome. I am happy for this song to round out my top ten for 2022.

Whilst seeing Aurora is my first priority for Womad next year, my second priority will be seeing Sampa perform live for the first time and thankfully there will no chance of a set time conflict as Aurora plays on the Friday and Sampa the Great is on the Sunday, happy days.

So that’s my Hottest 100 top ten for 2022. Despite choosing an ineligible number one, I’m happy with that lot. But there are many great songs that didn’t make the cut. Here they are.

Songs 11-20 from 2022

Barkaa – Groovy Remix (feat. Briggs, Nooky, Kobie Dee, Birdz)

The original version of Groovy was released in 2020 and is my favourite Barkaa track, so on reflection probably should have been my pick for the top ten last year instead of King Brown, and had I selected it last year it would have been my number 1 as well, hence, it is with gritted teeth that the Remix version of Groovy just misses my top ten for 2022.

I was privileged to see Barkaa perform for the first time at Womad this year and she was awesome. She is now one of my favourite artists and I look forward to whatever she releases in the future.

Jack Johnson – I Tend To Digress

Jack released his 8^th studio album Meet The Moonlight, in June. My favourite track from the album is I Tend To Digress.

Jack has been one of my favourite artists ever since I purchased his album, On And On, back in 2003. I have yet to see Jack perform live, albeit I have a couple of DVDs of his live performances, so I was excited to see he was touring this year but alas, the tour didn’t include Adelaide, so I wasn’t able to see him this time around.

The Bennies – Weed Is Beautiful

I love The Bennies, they released their 4 track EP, Great Barrier Reefer in July. My favourite track is Weed Is Beautiful, I don’t know why, for some reason this song just resonates with me. 🙂

Wardruna – Helvegen (First Flight of the White Raven (Live))

I have only started listening to Wardruna this year, they are a Norwegian music constellation dedicated to creating music renditions of ancient Norse and Nordic traditions. They use a broad selection of both traditional and historic musical instruments as well as non-traditional instruments and other sources of sound. They seek to take thoughts, tools and methods from the past and use them to create new music which builds on the contemporary as well as the ancient. The name Wardruna means ‘guardian of secrets’ or ‘she who whispers’.

In April, they released Kvitravn – First Flight of the White Raven which includes the Kvitravn album, released in 2021 as well as live performances of a selection of songs from all their albums.

My favourite track of theirs is Helvegen. Whilst this track was originally released several years ago I have chosen this live version released this year, Helvegen (First Flight of the White Raven (Live)) for the Hottest 100. Another version of this song that I love is, Wardruna and Aurora – Helvegen (Live) performed with Aurora, it is the best of them all.

Wardruna’s music is so powerful and moving, I just love it.

Heilung – Anoana

I have only started listening to Heilung in the last few months. They are an experimental folk band made up of members from Denmark, Norway and Germany. They describe their music as ‘amplified history from early medieval northern Europe’ as it is based on texts and runic inscriptions from Germanic peoples of the Bronze, Iron and Viking ages. The word ‘Heilung’ is a German noun meaning “healing” in English.

Heilung released their 3^rd studio album, Drif in August and my favourite track is Anoana, which was released as a single in June.

According to one of their fans, ‘you don’t listen to Heilung with your ears, you listen to Heilung with your heart’. I love that description of them, and it is absolutely true.

Rammstein – Dicke Titten

I haven’t listened to Rammstein very often over the years, but I do recall being blown away watching them perform at the Big Day Out, they were awesome! Anyway I have really enjoyed their track Dicke Titten, its from their latest album, Zeit which was released in April.

Megadeth – We’ll Be Back

I really haven’t listened to Megadeth often since the 1990’s but I’ve enjoyed their latest album, The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! which still has the signature Megadeth sound. My favourite track is We’ll Be Back.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Poster Child

The Chili Peppers released their 12^th studio album, Unlimited Love in April and followed up with their 13^th album, Return of the Dream Canteen in October.

There are several cracking tracks on both albums, but my favourite is Poster Child from the Unlimited Love album. It’s a classic Chili Peppers track providing a trip through the history of pop music and culture.

Ausecuma Beats – Deep Heat (feat. Rara Zulu)

I came across Ausecuma Beats while wandering around Womad back in March and I loved watching them perform. They released two singles this year, Deep Heat (feat. Rara Zulu) and Tropical Storm. They are both great tracks, but my favourite would be Deep Heat (feat. Rara Zulu).

According to their bio, Ausecuma Beats are more than a band, they are a philosophy based on the idea of place and of people from all corners of the world finding themselves together in new environments, as a community. The band members are predominantly from West Africa and have come together in Melbourne. I just love their percussion and beat; you can’t help but be invigorated by them.

Spinifex Gum – Ganalili

I fell in love with Spinifex Gum at Womad back in 2020 and am always on the lookout for anything they release. In November they released the single Ganalili and it’s another classic Spinifex Gum track, beautifully sung but delivering a poignant message.

And for a bit more fun here are songs 21-50 …