The Best of Me, 2022
As I like to do at the end of each year, here's a look back at some things I did in 2022 that I'm proud of:
- For Spin, I interviewed DMC of Run-DMC and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran. I wrote pieces paying tribute to Meat Loaf, Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters, Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, and Joe Strummer of The Clash. I wrote about #1 songs that sampled other #1s. I wrote pieces analyzing the 2022 Grammys broadcast and the 2023 Grammys nominations, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's new inductions, and Neil Young's war with Spotify. And I began writing big monthly pieces ranking an entire artist's catalog, and some of my favorites in the series took on the discographies of Prince, David Bowie, Kate Bush, and Sonic Youth.
- The Baltimore Banner launched this year, and I was grateful for the opportunity to have a new outlet to write more about local music in 2022 than I have in years. Some of my pieces for the Banner included a profile of Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals, a look back at the brilliant radio jingles composed by the late Art Ehrens, reviews of The Soft Pink Truth and King Los records, and a retrospective of the best Baltimore hip hop songs of every year since 2000.
- For GQ, I interviewed John Mellencamp and Tears For Fears for features that I'm really proud of, and wrote about the history of radio-themed concept albums like The Weeknd's FM Dawn,
- I wrote my first piece for Okayplayer, about new and emerging album distribution models in hip hop.
- I also began writing for Bandcamp this year, including a brief interview with Carrtoons and a longer piece about the late great Baltimore hip hop producer Dwayne "Headphones" Lawson.
- For Stereogum, I wrote about "Saturday Night Live" musical guests debuting new songs and the history of hoax bands.
- For Consequence, I mostly wrote about film and television, including reviews of Elvis, The Munsters, Call Jane, "Life & Beth," "Reservation Dogs," "American Gigolo," "Rick and Morty," and a list of the greatest Showtime series.
- For Complex, I wrote a list ranking the 22 best hip hop duos of all time.
- For Billboard, I wrote a piece about the history of gun control activism in popular music.
- I made a few radio, internet radio, and podcast appearances this year: I reviewed Jack White on NPR's All Things Considered, I discussed Baltimore rap on Power 104.7, I analyzed Future and Lil Wayne collaborations on Rap Rankings, and I broke down the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalog on Music Vibes.
- Here on Narrowcast, I posted dozens of new volumes of my long-running Deep Album Cuts series. Some of my favorite deep cuts playlists this year were Dolly Parton, Metallica, Simon & Garfunkel, Bjork, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Mario, Blondie, Jane's Addiction, Ginuwine, and Our Lady Peace. And I also used the series to look back at the careers of many artists who've recently passed away, including Young Dolph, Jerry Lee Lewis, Olivia Newton-John, Anton Fier of The Golden Palominos, Coolio, Takeoff of Migos, Michael Nesmith of The Monkees, Keith Levene of Public Image Ltd, William "Poogie" Hart of The Delfonics, and Andrew Woolfolk of Earth, Wind & Fire. And of course, this month I posted lists of my favorite albums, singles, EPs, remixes, and TV shows of 2022. And I voted in the Uproxx Music Critics Poll again this year.
- My solo project Western Blot celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and I released my 5th album Open just last week. I also released the Excel EP and my annual DJ set in the 5/4 time signature, and guested on a track by George Bonzanza (chug). And the new band I've been playing drums for, Lithobrake, played our first gig and released our first song, "Bats," and an EP will be following in early 2023.
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