Pictured above: TOBi 1. Julian Taylor – “Wide Awake” The melody of “Wide Awake” is sunny; the instrumentation, charming Americana/roots; the singing, unaffected. But it’s the lyrics, bittersweet and heartfelt, layered with multiple meanings, that captivate me most. The verses of “Wide Awake” offer loving remembrances of family scenes from Taylor’s early and teenage years: drinking sorrel and ginger beer at Christmas with his folks; … Continue reading Howard Druckman’s Top 12 Songs of 2022

Frank, from his 2021 ballot: I joked that I was doing the Uproxx [critics’ poll] as a conceptual art piece, i.e., I knew my ballot wasn’t going to make an impact. But I was actually doing it to combat my alienation and to engage with some of my critic friends via email. Then when Chuck tipped me off to the P&J Rip-Off thing I jumped … Continue reading Frank Kogan’s 2021 ballot

…singles Deliberately set out to hear (stream) more new music in 2021 than I have since whenever it was I used to write about the stuff, and that was a good thing. And I previewed a great deal of it in as unfiltered a fashion as is still possible—with zero prior knowledge of song, artist, sometimes even genre. One unintended not so great consequence was … Continue reading My year in