Over at Into Creative Towers, we’ve been thoroughly enjoying the festive spirit. And while we may have indulged in one too many mince pie, there is no such thing as over-indulgence when it comes to the music! So, John and George have been looking back and picking our top tracks of 2022 for you to enjoy as we start the New Year. We hope you enjoy the selections (we could easily have chosen another thirty odd tracks) and we look forward to bringing you more of the same in 2023. Enjoy!!

John Welsh’s 2022 Winter Warmers

1. Eggshells – Dehd. A truly wonderful record where the band effectively deconstruct and reinvent the track part way through, Clever, deceptive and filled with harmony, it’s a belter to start this playlist!

2. Turn of the Screw – Unloved and Raven Violet. Imaging being in the most clandestine, hip, underground club in Prague or Berlin. This is the soundtrack. 

3. Full Way Round – Leftfield featuring Grian Chatten. No doubt Leftfield remain at the cutting edge of dance music and they’ve teamed up with the Fontaines D.C. vocalist Grian Chatten for 5 minutes of bass heavy subliminal beats, still crucial, still relevant. 

4. Prettiest Peach – Scott Lavene. Like the bastard love child of Baxter Dury and the Fat White Family, Lavene is on brutal form here with tales of his people, travellers, movers, brushmakers, butchers. The lyrics are something else, a track you NEED to listen to here, as it’s unlikely to get much in the way of commercial radio play due to those lyrics!!

5. Hang my Head – The Filthy Tongues. Having just released their third album and the final in the trilogy it is great to have the Scottish post punk agitators back. Hang my Head sees the band on ominous form, threatening, jarring, the sound of a band at their peak. 

6. Close the Coalhouse Door – Frankie Archer. Having only heard this track on the radio for the first time last week it stopped me in my tracks. Hailing from Northumbria, Archer’s voice is haunting, the lyrics painting a vivid, chilling picture in my head. This is folk music at its best. 

7. Through the Darkness of Your Life – Astrid. I can only assume someone has spirited the ghost of ’60s beat groups and placed them in Glasgow in 2022. This is such a beautiful track, the harmonies just ooze out, glorious. 

8. The Mainline Song/The Lockdown Song – Spiritualized. The genius that is Jason Pierce is back with another psychedelic dream here. Six minutes long and largely instrumental, it’s a sensational cut from their latest album Everything Was Beautiful which the band toured in 2022 including a fantastic show at SWG3 in Glasgow.

9. Self Portrait – Life. 5 singles released from their latest album and this isn’t one of them. A sure way to find the depth of a band when tracks like this hit the mark although perhaps the expletives in the track had something to do with it? It’s stand up punk/rock/indie and it’s another belter!

10. Be Your Lover – Yumi & the Weather. Echoes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on this one, Yumi’s vocal somewhat reserved to start before the track gradually explodes, sublime garage rock.

11. Enough is Enough – Primal Scream & Dexys. A track in support of the RMT Union and the ongoing battle with the government – it also includes Mick Lynch. Fuck the Tories. 

12. I Saw – Young Fathers. This song looks into the depths of the soul, conjures voodoo rhythms and will have you dancing, convulsing and shaking with absolutely no ability to control what you’re doing. And then you’ll want to do it again…..and again.

George Paterson’s 2022 Seasonal Selection

1. Kone Trips – Port Sulphur.  Not just the riff but the groove of the year too. From an album – Speed of Life – that is rarely off my turntable, this glam inspired instrumental belter from the pen of Douglas MacIntyre is the soundtrack to the unfilmable story of 2022. Frenetic, relentless, perfect.

2. Everybody Cries – Goliath. This year’s find. The rebranding of Airdrie as a cultural oasis is now complete. From the town which gave us this land’s most inspired literary creator/obliterator – David Keenan – comes a young fellow with an impressive sonic skillset and unique melodic gift which belies his years. Everybody Cries is one of a handful of stand-out releases from a talent which I believe is about to go stratospheric.

3. Leviathan – We Are Joiners. A favourite of listeners to my Lost in Music show, Dutch lo-fi punx We Are Joiners teamed up with Snake Eyes to deliver a 2 minute slice of brilliance. Imagine The Ramones fucked The Sweet in outer space. Yep, it’s that good. In a perfect world, these guys would be superstars. It’s not but to me they still are. Find them today.

4. Rabbit Runs – Raphael Mann. Delicate and lovely. Like a children’s nursery rhyme. As fragile as bone china and just as beautiful. Mann’s work over the last few years – with The Silver Panda and Marianne Dissard – deserves your attention.

5. Eyes Unblinking – Goliath. See #2. The kid has it, in spades. And as the title suggests, you won’t be able to look away from the video. 

6. Did Somebody Make a Fool Out of You – Lady Blackbird. A star in the making. Everything I’ve heard from this Californian soul singer has impressed me. Think Nina, Donny and Roberta and you’re not far off the mark. With a performance which compliments rather than drowns the songs, I’ve returned to Lady Blackbird’s work on numerous occasions this year. An exemplary display of 21st century soul.

7. National Team – Hotel Lux. Imagine Blur born into austerity. Lolloping guitars and beats, indolent, diffident vocals. Acerbically brilliant. Says more to me than a fuck ton of lions on a shirt.

8. Last Resort – Marianne Dissard/Andy Alston. The auld alliance between France and Scotland rarely sounded so achingly addictive. Sometime Del Amitri man Alston anchors the wanderlusting Mme Dissard and together they create a contemporary accord in which an ancient, fragile melody dances with a perfectly languid, vaguely discordant accompaniment. Hypnotic. Tempting. Want more.

9. Everything’s Normal – Parent Teacher. Just released on the Wilbur and Moore label, this off-beat NYC pop belter has been a rhythmic hip earworm since I first heard it. Very much looking forward to hearing if the forthcoming album, ‘Impending Doom’ hits the same notes. If it does, we’ll be in for a rare treat. 

10. Stop That Girl – Monica Queen. From her covers album of the same name, the ever excellent Ms Queen bounds back into our hearts and minds with a Vic Godard tune which she skillfully turns into something I’d imagine Sandie Shaw would’ve taken into the top twenty in 1966. Another winner from the LNFG stable of stars.

11. Saints/Pharaohs – Dot Dash. 2022 saw the welcome return of our favourite DC indie noisemakers. Their latest album is crammed full of short blasts of 21st Century garage rock brilliance. Saints/Pharaohs is one of a number of belters. If the demise of R.E.M. left you bereft, look no further.

12. It Won’t be Love – Jeremy and the Harlequins. Quality retro pop from a combo which burnishes the melodic sensibilities of late 70’s Costello/Springsteen with a contemporary Brill Building sheen. 

13. This Boy is a Mess – The Orchids. I reluctantly placed The Orchids tune – This Boy is a Mess – at #13 and the reason for that was quite simple. It was one of about five or six different tracks that could’ve easily made my top picks of the year. The entire ‘Dreaming Kind’ album is a borderline modern classic which you really need to be discovering ASAP.

14. I’ll Keep Searching – Monks Road Social ft Dr Robert. A lazy, almost somnambulistic grower which will occupy three minutes in the loveliest way.

15. St Mary – Marie Therese. A moody, growling guitar tone snakes around under an even moodier, breathless vocal line. The denouement of a continental art house film could not be more…moody. Or satisfying.

16. Happy Someone – Armstrong. Julian Pitt AKA Armstrong is a writer with classic pop chops. He should already be a fucking star or at least someone other songwriters aspire to be. That he is not is something that should shame us all. Go buy his music today, you fucking philistines.

17. The Otherside – Bobby Oroza. Gorgeous Shuggie Otis style groover. Play it on repeat for a permanent summer of the mind. 

18. Vultures – Luke James Williams. LJW is a talented motherfucker. And he’s just warming up. Keep an eye on this fellow. 

19. Forest Floor – Fergus McCreadie. Mercury Prize nominated beauty from Glasgow based pianist. Lovely stuff.

20. I Love You, Baby – Opus Kink. Macho mariachi magnificence from English rockers Opus Kink. If I wasn’t such an old bastard, I could imagine myself losing my shit and bouncing around to this in some sweaty South London club.

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As we said, we could’ve added another ton of tunes but this will keep you going until 2023 starts delivering.

Happy New Year from everyone at Into Creative!

Listen to the playlist at your leisure on Spotify…