The past week has not been an absolute hotbed of musical activity. It happens. Some weeks are just better than others. So, this feels like the ideal time to give What's Good's companion playlist, The Year's Best, a fresh update for 2022.
From now through December, The Year's Best will be updated each week with the best 2-3 songs from the week before. (Those songs will also be re-featured in this newsletter when they're added.) Consider it a shortcut for those of you who find it difficult to keep up with the full 15-20 songs featured here each week, and a way for the rest of you to revisit the tracks most likely to remain in heavy rotation throughout 2022 and beyond.
To this end, it seems unnecessary to re-draft entirely new copy— I've already told you once!— so let's exercise the magic of blockquotes to revisit the very best tracks of the year to date, in alphabetical order. (The playlist sequences them chronologically.) Next week, we'll return to the standard format, with all new releases. In the meantime...
Follow The Year's Best playlist on Tidal, Apple Music, and Spotify. And don't forget to subscribe to this newsletter— it's free!
Brandee Younger — "Unrest I"
Burial — "Shadow Paradise"
Caroline Polachek: "Billions"
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul: "C'est n'est pas un Cliché"
Denzel Curry — "Walkin'"
DJ Python — "Angel"
Earl Sweatshirt — "Vision (feat. ZelooperZ)"
Helena Deland — "Swimmer"
Hikaru Utada — "Somewhere Near Marseilles (prod. Floating Points)"
HVOB — "2:16"
Obongjayar — "Try"
Tove Lo — "How Long"
Two Shell — "home"
The Weather Station — "Endless Time"
The Weeknd — "Less Than Zero"
What's Good: The Weekly New Music Newsletter is a new publication by Pitchfork’s founder and former Editor-in-Chief, Ryan Schreiber. A companion to his long-running weekly playlist of the same name, What’s Good outlines the week’s most essential tracks and albums, with a special focus on new and emerging artists. It is now available on Tidal, as well as Apple Music and Spotify. If you like what you see, go ahead and subscribe. (It's free.)
