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The CHIRP Blog
Val Woj writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Val Wojs
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ Val Wojs.
I’ve decided to opt for an unranked, overall/local split top 10 list this year. Let’s call it a five-way tie for number one overall, and (yet again!) my most listened to albums were from Chicago artists who also deserve their own top five recognition.
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar (Top Dawg Entertainment)
D Rock: Apocalipstick Beatz writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Danielle Sines
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ and Assistant Music Director Danielle Sines.
Per usual, my top ten list is female dominated 😉 The music gods were kind to us this year. We were blessed with many great records and EPs, and the epic full return to live music.
In 2022, I finished listening to my A-Z vinyl collection (pop/rock) and have moved onto other genres in the challenge (see my CHIRP blog entry for more on this)... but thankfully the need to quarantine at home and listen to vinyl all day has shifted back to the luxury that it was pre-pandemic.
I'm currently in my "vocalist" section of the records, just finished Connie Francis. Hopefully 2023 is filled with even more wonderful music.
I heard from a little birdy that Impulsive Hearts could be releasing more music soon... so cheers to the new year and all that it brings.
#1 Wet Leg by Wet Leg (Domino)
I thought this record deserved all the attention that 2022 brought it; even if the rumors that the band is an industry plant are true. Good! Maybe the industry is finally getting sassy-sexy-fuck-it-all-women.
This record was on repeat throughout the year because of its catchy hooks and brazen lyrics. One of my favorites is the track “Loving You” with an accordion accompaniment with lyrics like, “Don't call me up/ You fucked it up/I’m not your friend/I’m not your pal” before diving into a chorus about not staying friends with your ex.
The track “Too Late Now” has ample screaming and an almost spoken tongue-in-cheek rap about the woes of dating “don't need no dating app / to tell me if I look like crap / to tell me if I'm thin or fat / to tell me should I shave my rat / I just need a bubble bath to send me on a higher path.” Amen.
Eddie writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Eddie Sayago
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ Eddie Sayago.
2022 was a remarkable year for music. Some artists released some of their finest works this year.
While most publications and writers will sing the praises of a handful of popular musicians, I follow give flowers to the homegrown talent. This year’s list of my favorite albums highlight all local artists or folks who have begun their musical journey in Chicago.
#1 Last Spa On Earth by Divino Nino (Winspear)
Best songs on the album: All of them. There are no skips here. The Top 5 songs are “XO”, “Tu Tonto”, “Nos Soltamos”, “Ecstasy” and “Mona”
Austin B. Harvey presents: The Liquid Diet writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2022: Austin B. Harvey
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2022. Our next list is from DJ/Assistant Music Director/Softball Team Manager (On Hiatus) Austin B. Harvey.
Newborn's asleep, time to rank some music:
#1 Endure by Special Interest (Rough Trade)
The year's best album came courtesy of some New Orleans electro-punks who took the DFA/Franz Ferdinand/!!! model of '00s dance-punk and fused it with a scuzzy, more political, and more electronic urgency. The result is messier and less marketing-friendly, but it's also more honest and violent. It's what the genre, and the general moment, deserves.
Nikki Stout writesPatti Smith’s “A Book of Days” as 366 Testaments to Gratitude
Authored in tandem by Bradley Morgan and Nikki Stout
On December 30th, Patti Smith celebrates 76 years of a journey that has seen joy, grief, discovery, love, and prayer. Using words, music, and art, Patti has sought ways to revere Mother Nature for her gifts, to relish in her love, and to respect her for her limits. Patti’s awareness comes from a curiosity to explore her relationship with the world around her, which becomes an energy driving her music, poetry, and a now-published collection of Polaroids created with her Land camera.
We see this relationship unfold over the course of a year in Patti’s latest work, A Book of Days, a collection of 366 photographs elegantly documenting a life lived artistically. Photos of old friends, curiosities, feelings, and memories illustrate the way Patti moves through the world, curious and distant at times, always at the ready to create, seek inspiration, or respect a stillness that answers a deeper question, or invites you to dive further. In the introduction, Patti shares that the first photo on her Instagram account was a hand, writing that it is a symbol that is a, “Direct correspondence between imagination and execution," with the capacity to heal and to hurt.
Those hands were raised to welcome, celebrate, and click through presentation slides when Patti toured for A Book of Days at the Music Box Theatre as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival on November 20. She shared stories and answered questions submitted by the audience as she clicked from slide to slide, highlighting photos from her latest book, and inviting us into her world of wisdom and musings, occasionally turning to a musical moment joined by her son Jackson on guitar. These were moments that captured a unique connection to the world, much like the photos in A Book of Days.