Rather than focus on particular tracks, we prefer to focus on entire singles here at Phonica, be they 7inch, 10inch, or 12inch – there has to be a physical release for it to be included in our chart. It’s the hardest chart of all to compile, as these short tracks or EPs are far more subjective than an album and far less consensus amongst us. So here, we are looking at those singles or tracks that made an impact, that provided us with the soundtrack to nights, those that sold a lot at the shop, and, most importantly, those loved by our staff members here.
The dancefloors were truly back in full swing this year, with lockdowns far behind us. Standing tall on our list, and by far our biggest seller, was of course Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet's monster anthem "Looking At Your Pager". A tune that mysteriously flowed through some of the biggest DJ's sets for years with its incredibly catchy yet chopped vocal and of course lots of wub, Its fair to say we think many fans were overjoyed to see its release! Another artist we have to mention is Joy O, who continued to have another top year after the release of his first full length in August of last year. "Pinky Ring" was another anthem avidly heard through many a festival system that finally saw its 10" release this year. It doesn't get more peak time than this one. Or does it?... An extremely close contender was the return of Berlin DJ and Producer Objekt with "Objekt#5", this one took chuggy basslines to earth shattering levels. Other tunes that definitley pricked up our ears was Shanti Celeste's excellent debut on Hessle Audio with a very cute and fun offering titled "Cutie" of course! Berlin based G.E.O. Corp took dream house and trance to whole new addictive aural experience with "Labrynna" and Soso Tharpa provided some glitchy yet driving UK techno with "Evolution".
It was also a busy year for our in-house Phonica labels as we finally caught up with the delays during the pandemic, big floorfillers from Lea Lisa, Eli Escobar, Austin Ato (i see a pattern here....!) alongside Nuage & Ben Sun.
It wasnt all "DUSH DUSH" in the singles world of 2022, Phonica Special Edition provided some beautifully crafted reinterpretation's of Tomaga from the talented minds of Floating Points & Marta Salogni for a charity outing in dedication to the late Tom Relleen. Bobby van Putten and Danilo Plessow (MCDE) were undoubtedly running one of the labels of the year, Space Grapes, who kept on teasing us with limited amounts of these stunning modern funk classics the highlight being the second outing from Mad Honey, "Setback" a piano filled and catchy disco groover recorded live and mastered from tape, but also Jeroboam's 'Freakshow'. On top of all that Burial also made his long overdue return with the soundscapingly beautiful and mind soothing Antidawn.
Needless to say the list could of gone on forever but this list is in our opinion some of the finest moments of 2022:
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