As a music fan, I’m not immune to the pleasures of the year-end list. Or the year-end mix, for that matter. One of the great joys of the era of musical abundance in which we live is that it allows you to go deep in any number of areas or genres. In my case, my listening habits over the past eight years or so have tended toward Australian and Canadian independent music, with an emphasis on melodic dissonance.

That said, it’s also tedious to limit oneself too much, because good music is good music. So, below and in a second post, I’ve compiled my favourite 50 songs, in both list and mix formats, of what I like to call left-field pop, mostly, but not exclusively from Canada, Australia and beyond. These songs brightened my year. I hope they brighten yours.

The mix:

The list:

50. Bloods, Radical
Quien, es radical?
Todas mis hermanas con las manos en el aire
Quando nos cansamos lo llevamos a la calle
Quien, es radical?
Vamos a cambiar el mundo
Ya temenos el motive
Quien, es radical?
Futuro nuestro para sonar y mano-a-mano a pelear
Hechas de magia con voces grande para gritar

Yes.

49. Bria, Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?
Gorgeous cover of the Paula Cole song.

48. Simona Castricum, TBC
Hypnotic.

47. Dog Name,I can’t figure it out
Late-year discovery for me, though they’ve been around for a few years. Canberra’s own. Gentle jangle pop.

46. Tropical Fuck Storm, Bazza The Bush Whacking Bishop Bashing Bastard From Back ‘O’ Bush Near Bloody Bendigo
Tropical Fuck Storm go full Stompin’ Tom, and the world is better for it.

45. The Vovos, Jessica Day
Delightfully chaotic punk rock – “Indie punk rock teenage-girl music” – from Melbourne. Sounds like it’s seconds away from careening out of your speakers in the best way possible.

44. Ponysapien, Gottawannit
I know nothing about Ponysapien. They’re from Waterloo, I think. Sounds chill, sounds cool.

43. Bitumen, Paint and Draw
So yeah, this nifty bit of shoegaze was released in 2021, but I only heard it this year and this is my list. So they’re in!

42. Basement Revolver, Transatlantic
From just down the road in Hamilton, airy shoegaze. Beautiful tune.

41. JPEG 2000, Go Disco
Vancouver-based synthpop. Yes, please….

40. Tony Price, Learning from Las Vegas
…complemented nicely by this nifty bit of indie dance music out of Toronto. Come for the beat, stay for the sax.

39. Tallies, Wound Up Tight
Indie rock heroes from Toronto.

38. ctrl + me, Dance Play Pause Stop
Charming indie dance tune from this cool Melbourne band.

37. The Prize, Don’t Know You
From Melbourne. Ladies and gentlemen, Rock and Roll.

36. Elsy Wameyo, Nilotic
Cool hiphop from Adelaide.

35. No Zu, Liquid Love
Melbourne’s new age “antipodean mutant punk-funk” collective do it again.

34. Chiquitamagic, Ganas De Bailar
Jittery electronica from Bogotá via Toronto. A big highlight from 2022.

33. Yehra, Resonate
Another 2021 song that I discovered in 2022. It’s on the list because it’s a really pretty tune.

32. Midnight Oil, At the Time of Writing
One of Australia’s finest go out in style. They did good.

31. Sahara Beck, Teenage Dirtbag
Just a beautiful, minimal cover of the Wheatus tune. We’ll see Sahara Beck a couple more times in Part 2 of this list.

Stay tuned for Part II!