The Songs I Discovered in 2022 (Pt. I)

Posted: 21 December 2022 by Robbie

With 2022 coming to an end, I wanted to make a nice blog post about the songs I discovered in this sad year. Most of the songs fall in the category of Chillout and most were found on SoundCloud. Or what you can find on channel 53 on the Sirius XM dial. Besides 80s on 8, I do enjoy some of the stuff on channel 53. I very, very rarely listen to FM radio. You turn on your average classic rock station, they play the same 75 songs over and over.

Yes, for a few years now, I’ve been hearing Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots on WSCX, a classic rock station in Detroit with more to offer. They do play some songs that didn’t crack the Top 40 and B-Sides. But besides that, the only new music I seek these days is Progressive House, Chillout, Electronica, and Goth Metal. The last mention is more for the winter months. Here we go in no particular order:

From Spotify

Boy Meets GirlThe Wonderground (2003)

Boy Meets Girl is best known for their 1988 hit, “Waiting For A Star To Fall.” I do enjoy their 1985 hit, “Oh Girl” more than the previous mention, but it didn’t hold much fame. BMG is a band with then-husband and wife George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam. After their 1988 release, Reel Life, they went on to make 1991’s New Dream, but it was shelved by RCA records, their then-label. The duo mainly wrote songs for other artists, the two wrote “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and “How Would I Know” for Whitney Houston. Even after New Dream got shelved, they continued songwriting for the most part.

They released The Wonderground in 2003 and I listened to the title track in late February. I couldn’t stop listening to it for the most part. The acoustic guitar, the piano, and Shannon’s lovely voice. It’s been one of the best tracks to listen to during this awful year 2022 pushed onto me. The duo divorced in 2000, three years prior to the album’s release. It says on the album’s page that the divorce was painful. However, they continue to work with each other and they made this. The duo released an EP called 5, and made videos for two of the songs, More Deeply In Love and Falling Hard. They were recently interviewed by Irish musician Emmett O’Malley. I can listen to those two talk all day long.


EstivaAlone (Grum Remix) (2022)

This one popped up in my SoundCloud Mix. I was listening to Reactor Volume Two from Deep State compilation and enjoyed the final song of this album the most. Estiva’s Alone has that 80s darkwave vibe with percussion beats. I also like how long the song is (6 minutes and 46 seconds long). The song can be a bit repetitive with its sequence, but if the sounds are of my liking, I couldn’t give a flying fuck less. I do like the ending of the song quite a lot, takes a good turn and as the last minute progresses, the keyboard part becomes less and less to where you hear is just the drum beat, I dug that. The song is mainly instrumental sans the occasional “I love you” said by a female.


Heard RightDune (2021)

This is a Dance track that I surely enjoyed at the first listen. I enjoyed the sequence and the vocalizing female vocals. The keyboard and synthesizer sounds were of my liking. The sad part is this song is not getting some of the recognition it deserves, at least on SoundCloud. I haven’t been to an Electronica Dance party at all but when I do go in the future, I do hope they play this. One minus of this song is that it’s a 3.5 minute track. There is an extended version by somebody else, but I didn’t dig it so much as the original. Same thing with Ben Bohmer’s Run Away, another song I like that is in the 3-minute track but wished it was longer.


Jan Martin & Mate RialThe Universe (2021)

This song starts very slowly with what sounds like communication from astronauts. Reminds me of the Apollo 13 audio I listened to some time ago. Quite scary stuff! This song isn’t scary, it’s nice to listen to. As said, it starts out slow with no beats and just heavy synths with a gentle male singing. The beats start at the 2-minute mark, near the halfway point with pianos and the words, “How did it end like that?”

My best guess is Jan Martin is the DJ/Musician and Mate Rial (or Material) is the singer, but I’m not so sure. Jan Martin has a lot to offer on his website, but for Mate Rial’s Beatport, he (or whomever) has only contributed to three of Mr. Martin’s tracks and that’s about it. I definitely want to listen to those other two tracks. There’s also a remix by Nils Kerr, but I didn’t really care for it.


Mark & LukasWhen Nature Is Awakening (2021)

I like where this song goes for the most part. It’s quite repetitive, but for how the song goes for it’s Progressive House mix, I enjoyed it. There are two versions of the song, one at 6:30 and the other at 7:37. Check it out.


Myon featuring Alissa FeudoMoon (2022)

This track features DJ Myon with American singer Alissa Feudo. This song comes in it’s original version and a 7-minute extended version. Although I enjoy extended versions more, this one, I prefer the original. I like Feudo’s voice a lot with her saying, “You won’t stop the Moon.” I found this gem on SoundCloud under my recommendations and this didn’t disappoint.


And that’s all for Pt. I. Part II will be coming soon with about 5-6 more songs to talk about. Stay tuned, for those who give a flying fuck about what I liked coming from this year, last year, and even in 2003.

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