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Choice Cuts Volume 21: Some of Our Favorite Tracks From 2022
In no particular order, I've selected the favorite tracks from 2022's playlists for my 21st annual Choice Cuts end-of-year mix. Listen and watch each one below!
1. Bartees Strange, "Heavy Heart"
Real name Bartees Leon Cox Jr., now known as Bartees Strange, he came on strong in 2022 with the album "Farm to Table." But Strange already had a bit of a hit in 2020 with "Mustang," off his previous album "Live Forever." Strange is the son of a military father and a mother who's an opera singer, hence being born in England before growing up in Mustang, Oklahoma (hence that "Mustang" song title). Now based in Washington, D.C., Strange has toured with Phoebe Bridgers, Courtney Barnett and The National, among others.
2. Mitski, "Love Me More"
Mitski appeared on our 2016 Choice Cuts with her fantastic track "Your Best American Girl" and last year former President of the United States Barack Obama included "The Only Heartbreaker" in his list of top songs of 2021. Not saying we were there before Obama, but clearly Mitski makes an impression. She nearly quit music in 2019, but thankfully in February 2022, she released the new record "Laurel Hell," which includes the track "Love Me More."
3. The Go! Team, "Whammy O"
I am truly obsessed with the unique songs that The Go! Team, from Brighton, England, puts out. The group mixes samples, live instrumentation, chants and original beats to come up with constant earworms. In 2015, "The Scene Between" was on my Choice Cuts playlist, and just last year I fell in love with "A Bee Without its Sting," from the album "Get Up Sequences Part One." Now, from the upcoming "Part Two," take a listen to "Whammy O." (And as a bonus, enjoy the found footage style video, sampling clips from bizarre, obscure 1980s TV clips.)
4. The 1975, "Happiness"
Hailing from Manchester, The 1975 has been on a roll; the band also appeared on last year's Choice Cuts playlist, for their song "Bagsy Not In Net." And in 2018, I opened up the mix with "Give Your Self a Try." The band, made up of Matty Healy, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald and George Daniel, continue to garner fans for their mix of electropop and indie rock; their fifth studio album, 2022's "Being Funny in a Foreign Language," also became the band's fifth consecutive No. 1 album in the UK.
5. Holly Humberstone, "The Walls Are Way Too Thin"
When the pandemic halted tours and stopped live music for a period of time, I made a vow to start seeing more shows again. (It helps that the kids are older and its easier for us to duck out on date night.) And I feel like we have, to some degree. I still do a poor job of keeping track of who's in town, but among the artists I had tickets to see last year was Holly Humberstone... well, until she had to cancel the day of the show due to COVID. The challenges of touring in a pandemic world haven't ended, obviously. Humberstone showed up in my 2020 mix with the track "Overkill," and in 2022 was given the award for "rising star" at the Brit Awards. That's right, an ongoing theme so far: Plenty of UK artists on this year's Choice Cuts; Humberstone, who just turned 23 on December 17, hails from Grantham, England.
6. Gabriels, "One and Only"
Gabriels mixes gospel, soul, jazz, R&B and more for their unique sound, which I first stumbled across in 2021 with their track (and EP) "Love and Hate in a Different Time." Their debut album, "Angels & Queens," came out in 2022 and spawned "One and Only" among the tracks. Continuing our UK trend, the group is actually both British and American; members Jacob Lusk, Ryan Hope and Ari Balouzian first met in Los Angeles in 2016. The band is named after St. Gabriels Avenue, a street in Sunderland, England.
7. Fancy Hagood feat. Kacey Musgraves, "Blue Dream Baby"
Fancy Hagood, real name Jake Hagood, experienced one of those dream scenarios in 2015 when he was signed by producers including Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, and began recording with the likes of Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande. But after his songs went nowhere -- and an ill-advised teaser campaign, in which the artist was billed "Who Is Fancy" -- Hagood was dropped by those producers. But the story doesn't end there. In 2022, the queer Southern pop/country artist released the bop "Blue Dream Baby," with Kacey Musgraves backing him up on vocals. It comes with a saucy animated video -- actually, there are two versions, one censored and one uncensored -- and perhaps now people finally know who Fancy is. Appropriately, the song was released on International Pride Day. "It might be love, no way it's nothing."
8. Meg Myers, "HTIS" (Ft. Luna Shadows & Carmen Vandenberg)
Perhaps Meg Myers was running up that hill too soon, or too late. Her 2019 cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up that Hill" was a hit, and made it to heavy rotation on alternative rock stations. But this year, when the original version re-entered the scene thanks to "Stranger Things," Myers' (solid) version was pretty much forgotten. Originally from Tennessee and now based in Los Angeles, Myers has been percolating for a while with breaking through for a while now, most recently with the 2021 album "Thank U 4 Taking Me 2 The Disco." In 2022, she released the single "HTIS" -- which stands for "Hiding That I'm Sexual" -- along with Luna Shadows (who has regularly performed with Choice Cuts favorites The Naked and Famous) and Carmen Vandenberg.
9. Arlo Parks, "Softly"
Another U.K. artist, another returnee from 2021. Last year, Arlo Parks broke through with her acclaimed album "Collapsed in Sunbeams," which earned the Mercury Prize for best album. It was hard to choose a track from that album to include in last year's Choice Cuts, but we settled on "Green Eyes." In 2022, Parks released the standalone single "Softly," an irresistable track that gets the London-based artist back on the 2022 Choice Cuts.
10. Jim-E Stack, Lucky Daye, "Next To Me"
Originally from San Francisco but now based in Los Angeles, James Harmon Stack -- aka Jim-E Stack -- previously popped up on our 2020 Choice Cuts with "Sweet Summer Sweat," which featured Dijon. Stack has also worked with the likes of Bon Iver, Kacy Hill and Empress Of; his non-album single from 2022, "Next to Me," features New Orleans-based singer/songwriter Lucky Daye. Daye also had a good 2022, landing his album on the Billboard charts and winning a Grammy for his EP "Table for Two."
11. Bob Moses, "Love Brand New"
No, let's make this clear, Bob Moses is not a person. (Well, it's the name of a jazz drummer, but that's not who we're talking about here.) It's a two-man band from Vancouver, featurng members Jimmy Vallance and Tom Howie. The group, actually named after New York urban planner Robert Moses, hit it big in 2015 with their debut album "Days Gone By" and the hit "Tearing Me Up." "Love Brand New," from their album "The Silence in Between," has been their biggest hit in the U.S., making it to No. 1 on the U.S. alternative chart and No. 11 on the U.S. dance chart.
12. Caroline Polachek, "Sunset"
Caroline Polachek keeps popping up in the most interesting places. She collaborated with Blood Orange in one of my favorite tracks of his, "Chamakay," which made it to my 2013 Choice Cuts, and has been on my monthly mixes going back to 2010, when she collaborated with Guards on the song "Trophy Queen." In 2021, she was behind memorable songs like "Bunny Is a Rider," and this fall I started hearing Polachek's flamenco-infused "Sunset" all over the radio (well, at least on The Current and KCRW) and it stuck with me. It will be a part of Polachek's 2023 album, "Desire, I Want to Turn Into You."
13. Tate McRae, "she's all i wanna be"
Tate McRae was a one-time finalist on "So You Think You Can Dance," so it's no surprise the video for "She's All I Wanna Be" mimics a music/dance competition. At just 19, the Calgary native is off to a tremendous start to her career, including the debut in May 2022 of her debut album, "I Used to Think I Can Fly."
14. SEB, "seaside_demo"
Is this really a demo? It sounds pretty polished to me, or perhaps it just feels that way since this song was a bit of a sensation when it first came out in 2021. (So OK, this is a bit of a cheat, since it's technically not a 2022 song, but that's when I started vibing on it.) SEB, who's now based in Los Angeles, made waves by mashing "Seaside_demo" with Harry Styles' "Watermelon Sugar." But I like the original just fine.
15. Dylan, "Nothing Lasts Forever"
From Suffolk, Dylan has been busy creating singles including 'Girl Of Your Dreams' from the EP 'No Romeo.' In October she released the mixtape "The Greatest Thing I'll Never Learn," which included "Nothing Lasts Forever."
16. beabadoobee, "Talk"
Beabadoobee (real name Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus) is known for her throw-back 90s rock sound, and it's funny that she's also a fequent collaborator with The 1975. It feels like a pretty good fit. You remember how her 2017 debut single "Coffee" was used on rapper Powfu's single, "Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)," which became a surprise hit in 2020. Her 2022 album "Beatopia" kicked off with the lead single "Talk," which we feature here.
17. Unusual Demont, "Sugar"
Real name Demontcea Howard, Madison, Wisc. native Unusual Demont turns 23 on January 19 but is already making a name for himself. That nickname comes from a group he used to be in, named Unusual, and Demont now carries it forward. With influences like Tyler, The Creator, Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean, Ariana Grande and more, Unusual Demont's music is as eclectic and unique as his name.
18. Flume feat. MAY-A, "Say Nothing"
Real name Harley Edward Streten, the Australian DJ who goes by the name Flume won a Grammy in 2017 for best dance/electronic album and was nominated again in 2020 for "Hi This Is Flume." His third studio album, "Palaces," came out in 2022 and featured collaborators like Caroline Polachek, Damon Albarn and MAY-A, an Australian singer-songwriter whose real name is Maya Cumming. Their track, "Say Nothing," was nominated for Best Pop Release, Best Video and Song of the Year at the 2022 ARIA Awards.
19. Marian Hill, GASHI, "little bit"
Sense a trend here? Just as Bob Moses isn't a person, it's a band, so true with Marian Hill. The Philadelphia duo, consisting of producer Jeremy Lloyd and singer Samantha Gongol, first met in high school. The alt pop band's third album, "Why Can't We Just Pretend?" was released in April 2022; it included this track, "Little Bit," with hip-hop artist GASHI.
20. Jimetta Rose, "Ebb and Flow"
Hailing from South Los Angeles, Jimetta Rose has been a major part of the underground beats, R&B and hip-hop scene for years. Her experience and background in hip-hop, choir, soul, jazz and gospel can be heard in "Ebb and Flow." Rose has been prolific as of late, releasing "The Gift: Around the Way Queen" in February 2022, followed by "How Good It Is," along with her hand-picked choir the Voices of Creation, in August. "Ebb and Flow" isn't on either of those releases, however; it came out as a single toward the end of the year.
21. Trombone Shorty, "Come Back"
New Orleans-based Troy Andrews has played trombone from the age of 4, when I suppose he really was a trombone shorty. Now the artist, who also plays trumpet and does vocals, may have the most eclectic career of anyone on this list. From appearing in "Treme" to regularly performing with the Foo Fighters to recording the theme song to CBS' "The Odd Couple" remix... the most interesting thing on his resume may be voicing Miss Othmar and other adults in "The Peanuts Movie." Trombone Shorty released is first album in five years, "Lifted," in 2022. And "Come Back" is an absolute joy.
22. The Linda Lindas, "Growing Up"
Who doesn't love the story of the Linda Lindas? The four young women, all brought together as kids to create a punk band as a one-off project, turned out to be good. So good that they were soon opening for Bikini Kill -- and recording music for Amy Poehler's film "Moxie." But it was a viral video posted in 2021, by the Los Angeles Public Library of all things, of the Linda Lindas performing songs like "Racist, Sexist Boy" at a teen event there. The band was soon signed by Epitaph Records; in February 2022 came that album, "Growing Up." This is the title track from that release.
23. LODATO & Janice Robinson, "Dreamer"
Janice Robinson has gotten quite a bit of mileage out of "Dreamer," and good for her. Robinson was the vocalist of the 1990s hit by Livin Joy, and then recorded her own solo version of the song in 2005. Robinson then appeared on "The X Factor" in the U.K. in 2018 and performed the song as a contestant, to the delight of the panelists who hadn't recognized her. In 2022 came yet another version of "Dreamer," this time with Robinson and U.S. based DJ Salvatore Lodato, aka LODATO. And the song is still a banger.
24. The Weeknd, "Gasoline"
In the discussions over the best albums of 2022, it's odd to me that The Weeknd's "Dawn FM" didn't get more attention. Yes, I love the radio references on it, but I'm also a sucker for its 80s-inspired new-wave and funk sounds. The Weeknd's fifth studio album, "Dawn FM" dropped in January 2022 on digital, prior to a physical release -- and I wonder if that hurt it to a degree, as fans couldn't race out an buy a copy (in particular vinyl, which wasn't available until the spring). Interestingly, only four singles were serviced for "Gasoline," with "Take My Breath" the most successful. "Gasoline" wasn't a single, but it resonated the most for me.
25. Ripe, "Settling"
Formed in 2011 by a group of Berklee College of Music students, the Boston-based Ripe is known for their fun-pop grooves. The group is set to release their first album in four years, since 2018's "Joy in the Wild Unknown," with "Bright Blues," which comes out March 10, 2023 and features tracks including "Settling." The band consists of singer Robbie Wulfsohn, guitarist Jon Becker, drummer Sampson Hellerman, and trombonist Calvin Barthel. (Yep, many trombonists on this year's Choice Cuts, go figure!)
Posted by Michael Schneider at 8:56 PM No comments:
Labels: Bartees Strange, Choice Cuts, Mitski, The 1975, The Linda Lindas, The Weeknd
The Great Los Angeles Walk 2022 Recap: An All-Day Journey From West Adams to Venice Beach
A record crowd (well, it sure felt like the biggest we ever had) joined us on Saturday morning, Nov. 19, for the 17th annual Great Los Angeles Walk. This year, we returned to West Adams for the first time since 2009, starting out at the Exposition Park rose garden fountain.
After a few words, and a few words, we were off. And this year, the map was key as we explored side streets and made several detours as we walked down Adams, then transfered to Washington Blvd. in Culver City and headed the rest of the way to the ocean. Along the way, we saw a fire erupt (and at least one brave Walk-er went up to the small building to make sure no one was inside), we saw the Velaslavasay Panorama and its interesting exhibit; ate a ton of amazing L.A. food and explained ourselves to several curious passersby.
From Exposition Park, we passed by the Shrine Auditorium, Felix Chevrolet neon sign and Auto Club of SoCal (1924). We walked a bit north of Adams to see the Thomas Stinson Mansion (1901), then walked by and peeked in the St. Vincent de Paul Church (1923-1925), which was holding a mass baptism. Turning on Adams, we saw Doheny Mansion (1901), Stearns/Dockweiler Mansion (1900), Burkhalter Residence (1895) and Seaman House (1888). It was on to walk by Second Church of Christ Scientist (1907) and Casa de Rosas/Sunshine Mission (1893). Then we turned down Hoover to look at two gems: Cockins House (1894) and Salisbury House (1891). We headed north on Magnolia to see Miller and Herriott House (1887— oldest surviving house in the neighborhood) and Ecung-Ibbetson House and then walked to the Velaslavasay Panorama, which opened its doors to the Great Los Angeles Walk to explore its attractions.
Back on the path, we saw Roger Williams Baptist Church (1930-1934), detoured down Menlo Avenue National Register Historic District and Van Buren Place Historic District. We saw First African Methodist Episcopal Church and Golden State Mutual Insurance Co. building, now SCLARC (1949) and Britt Mansion (LA84 Foundation) (1910). It was on to the Six Feet Under House/Moncado Mansion and South Seas House (1902), where we visited inside and even used the restroom.
Other sites included the Mrs. Susan Wilshire Residence (1912), The Gray Residence (1909), Lycurgus Lindsay Mansion/Our Lady of Bright Mountain Polish Parish (1905), Wilfandel Club/Percy Clark Mansion (1912), Secundo Guasti Villa/Busby Berkeley Estate/Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens (1910), MacGowan Mansion (1912), Briggs Residence/Mother-In-Law House, Denker Estate (1912), Dryden Residence (1913) and "Church Row," leading to McCarty Memorial Christian Church (1932).
We stoped for lunch at several spots, including official partner Bee Taqueria (which offered a free chicken taco with the purchase of two other tacos). Then it was on to Culver City, including the Helms Bakery District, Culver Studios Mansion, Culver Hotel (1924) and Kirk Douglas Theatre/Culver Theatre (1946). We kept walking down Washington Blvd., eventually making it to Venice (including the Venice canals). And we ended at Fat Sal's Venice Beach, which offered free drinks for any Great Los Angeles Walk participant who bought a sandwich.
Thanks to everyone who made all of the trek, some of it, or even just helped give rides to their friends. Check out The Great Los Angeles Walk's Instagram feed for more pics, and the hashtags #glaw and #greatlawalk for more as well. Also you can find pics in which we were tagged here or here.
But here are just a few highlights from the day:
Felix Chevrolet (neon sign) — 3330 S. Figueroa
St. Vincent de Paul Church (1923-1925) — 601 W. Adams
Thomas Stinson Mansion (1901) — 2421 S. Figueroa
Second Church of Christ Scientist (1907) — 948 W. Adams
Cockins House (1894) — 2653 S. Hoover
Miller and Herriott House (1887— oldest surviving house in the neighborhood) — 1163 W. 27th (at Magnolia)
Big Walker! The most appropriate license plate ever!
The Velaslavasay Panorama — 1122 W. 24th St., at the Union Theater / panoramaonview.com
Inside the panorama
Music on the Walk!
Fire trucks on the way.
I often think of the Great Los Angeles Walk as our official kickoff of the holiday season.
Murray Circle
Maria and I at the West Adams marker
Golden State Mutual Insurance Co. building, now SCLARC (1949) — 1999 W. Adams at Western. Designed by Paul R. Williams, featuring wo murals that depict 300 years of African American history in California (from 1527 to 1949).
Britt Mansion (LA84 Foundation) (1910) — 2141 W. Adams
Six Feet Under House/Moncado Mansion — 2302 W. 25th Street at Arlington (now the Filipino Federation of America and may be open to visit)
South Seas House (1902) — 2301 W. 24th at Arlington (Now owned by the city and open to visit starting at 10 a.m.)
McCarty Memorial Christian Church (1932) — 4101 W. Adams at 11th Ave.
One of the couples that first met on the Great Los Angeles Walk!
Tacos at Bee Taqueria
Helms Bakery District — 8745 Washington Blvd.
Culver Studios Mansion — 9336 Washington Blvd.
Venice canals
Venice beach sunset!
Some of the Walkers celebrate at Fat Sal's Venice Beach
Posted by Michael Schneider at 12:00 PM No comments:
Labels: Great Los Angeles Walk, Venice, West Adams
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California Golden Bears Men's Basketball
A Cal basketball nightmare timeline of misery!
And it might not be done!
By Twist NHook Mar 21, 2016, 4:39am PDT
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Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Nick is recovering from one of the worst weeks ever to be a Cal fan. So I have decided to put together a scrapbook of one of the quintessential weeks to be a Golden Bear! These are the sort of weeks that Lin Manuel Miranda needs to belt out a two hour musical to (by the way Hamilton is coming to San Francisco, which is more important than anything that has ever been written on this site, save YouTube Thursdays and HydroTech's souffle recipes. Buy your tickets or rob your neighbors!).
Pac-12 Tournament Cal gets to the semifinals, loses because the Bears give up a coast-to-coast layup in 4 seconds. It was a brand new way for Cal to lose--a good defensive team doesn't play defense on the biggest play of their season so far. This is your standard Cal loss, or 0.25 Mack Browns.
Weekend before Selection Sunday: Cuonzo Martin isn't exactly an employee of Cal in the strictest sense of the word. He has an offer sheet, but not an actual contract. Why? Because athletic director Mike Williams basically said, "Stuff happens!" What a world! It's like I can write this post, and say I'm an expert on Cal sports! Take that John Crumpacker (is he still working at the Chronicle?).
Sunday: Cal is a 4 seed! That's good! They get Hawaii, who are also pretty good. The game is at 11 a.m., which is not good because I'm at work and didn't watch the game. Can anyone tell me who won?
Monday: Cal assistant Yann Hufnagel is dismissed from the program after a report alleges sexual harassment. Hufnagel is defiant and has since hired a lawyer to appeal his firing. The timing is unfortunate and the investigation dragged on for god knows how long.
Tuesday: The report is released to the public. It is very disturbing to read, you can click to read here.
Obama! The president picks Hawaii to beat Cal, proving once and for all his birth certificate is not in Berkeley!
Wednesday: The UCs announce a public investigation of Cuonzo for his conduct in the investigation, although athletic director Mike Williams is confident nothing will be found out of order. But I can't imagine Martin being too happy about the way his week is going.
Wednesday night: Christmas eve for college basketball fans turns into nightmare sauce when Tyrone Wallace reportedly breaks his hand again, ending his tournament before it even started. I played as many games as Ty Wallace in this tournament! Do I get a Senior Day?
Thursday: The tournament starts. And Wallace is revealed to be out 3-5 weeks! His Cal career is done. That is a shame.
Friday: Jabari Bird gets back spasms before the game even starts and can't even go. Jaylen Brown continues to play not like a top 5 draft pick and instead continues to impersonate Stanley from the Office. Cal loses to Hawaii and the season is over before we even knew what hit us. The only highlight of this is Cal Band got a great trip up to Spokane!
Aftermath: Cuonzo can't say much about what's coming next. Because we don't know what's coming next!
Sunday: Cal loses four star recruit Tyson Jolly, who apparently wasn't happy about Hufnagel's dismissal. That's the breaks. We have one recruit left in this class! That seems non-ideal when we might lose our three best players.
Not a great week. But to be fair, do we get many great weeks in Cal fandom? When do the Olympics start again?
Recap: All in all, not the best week to be a Golden Bear (and rugby lost by an Andy Ludwig-type score of 50-3! What in Yahweh's name???), but I'm someone who likes to think of the good times we all had this year, and a perfect season at home. I'm renewing my season tickets next year because in the end our lives are all about our experiences with our friends, colleagues, and all the people we know on Facebook.
I think you should do the same, even if in four months we're welcoming Coach Johnny Dawkins to the Bear Family!
GO BEARS!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Note: This version (Op 33.1) was composed in 1939 for Symphonic Orchestra. Al Naharot Bavel Op. 33 was written earlier in 1935 for Chamber Orchestra.
Note: This version (Op. 33) was composed in 1935 for Chamber Orchestra. Al Naharot Bavel Op. 33.1 was later written in 1939 for Symphonic Orchestra.
Listen to or purchase on iTunes or Amazon.
Excerpts from a live concert at the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California.
Note: This is a Lavry's adaptation of his Sacred Service Oratorio (Op. 254) for Baritone, Mixed Choir and Orchestra.
See description of the Sacred Service Oratorio here.