The Future of Music 2022

• 1 : Royal Blood - Boilermaker / Typhoon / Limbo (SebastiAn Remix) [Riff-Rock]
• 2 : Charli XCX - Good Ones / New Shapes / Out Out [Electropop]
• 3 : The Weeknd - Take My Breath [R&B Electropop]
• 4 : Rosalía, The Weeknd, Tokischa - La Fama / Linda (Bachata / Electropop]
• 5 : Swedish House Mafia, The Weeknd - Moth To a Flame [Electropop]
• 6 : Elton John + Dua Lipa + PNAU - Cold Heart PNAU Remix [Electropop]
• 7 : Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open [R&B Soul]
• 8 : Burial - Dark Gethsemane [Elecronic / Dubstep]
• 9 : Smerz - Believer [Electropop]
• 10 : Caroline Polachek - Bunny is a Rider [Art Pop]

I don't always agree with the 'BBC Sound of' results - certainly never in the same order. While this year I feel compelled to come out in support of Bath resident Vicky Beverly Walker too - as chosen by the BBC - and who has swiftly risen to prominence courtesy of a smart grasp of TikTok.

Her music is infused by Drum & Bass polyrhythms with a somewhat more pop sensibility - which genre I'm calling 'D&B Lite'. I trawled through near 150 breakthrough artists to pick out my favourite 27 - aggregated from all the usual start of year resources - including the BBC, Guardian, Independent, MixMag, MTV and NME.

PinkPantheress is 1 of 3 of my top 27 that I associate with 'D&B Lite' - the others being Nia Archives, and Piri and Tommy Villers. My listing beyond the first few choices isn't in any particular order - but is rather more thematically arranged - taking you through Fusion Pop, K-Pop, Soul, Afropop, Yolŋu Surf Rock (Modern Aboriginal), Pop, Indie, Rock, Dance and Hip-Hop.

As mentioned there is a smattering of D&B Lite - but also various varieties of House and Jungle even. I'm thrilled to hear elements of past classics - including Gypsy Woman, Outlander, Spectrum, Radio Babylon and Sueño Latino. Looks like 'Rave' is back in vogue again!

PinkPantheress well deserves this year's accolades as she has further deconstructed the pop song format from the classic 3 minute mark - down to barely over a minute in some cases!

There are lots of familiar and interesting elements to her songs - where her particular vocal lilt seems to add something rather special to proceedings. I of course prefer her more rhythmic output - while she still delivers quite a lot of contemporary pop too.

I can discern traces of LTJ Bukem and Liquid Funk / Liquid D&B in her choice of beats - while the smart production gives it a proper pop sensibility. She is for certain a rising star with the sass to go far - will be interesting to see just how far she spreads her wings from here.

• Aby Coulibaly
• Adora
• Amaarae
• ArrDee
• Authentically Plastic
• Ayesha
• Aziya
• Baby Queen
• Bad Boy Chiller Crew
• Bakey
• Barkaa
• Binki
• Black Cadmium
• Blu De Tiger
• Blue Bendy
• Bree Runway
• Brooke Combe
• Budjerah
• Cameo Blush
• Carol Ades
• Caroline
• Cat Burns
• Catcher
• Cathy Jane
• Cayenne
• Cobrah
• Courting
• Darko
• Denise Chaila
• Dexter
• Dora Jar
• Dreamer Isioma
• Dvwn
• Eades
• Eden Burns
• Ekkstacy
• Elaine
• Emir Taha
• Ena Mori
• English Teacher
• Enola Gay
• Ericdoa
• Finn Askew
• Flowerkid
• Francesca Chiejina
• Ghetto Kumbé
• Glaive
• Glass Beams
• Grace Carter
• Grandmas House
• Grazer
• Grrrl Gang
• Hadiya George
• High School
• Honeyglaze
• Horsegirl
• Infinite Coles
• Irenegarry
• Jana Horn
• Jeshi
• Jet Vesper
• John Glacier
• Junior Varsity
• Kam-Bu
• King Hannah
• King Stingray
• Lime Garden
• Los Bitchos
• Lucy Blue
• Luna Li
• M(h)aol
• Mainline Magic Orchestra
• Mandy, Indiana
• MAY-A
• Metteson
• Miso Extra
• msftz
• Namasenda
• Nick Mono
• Nippa
• Nonô
• Nukuluk
• OSSX
• Otik
• Paris Texas
• PawPaw Rod
• Pinkshift
• Pip Millett
• Planet Giza
• Pocket
• Priestgate
• Prima Queen
• Prospa
• QUEST?ONMARQ
• Reiley
• The Rills
• Sad Night Dynamite
• Samurai Breaks
• Santino Le Saint
• Sarah Kinsley
• Seori
• Shaybo
• She Spells Doom
• Shygirl
• SIPHO.
• Special Interest
• Stolen Velour
• STONE
• Suchi
• SwitchOTR
• Swoose
• Sycco
• TeeZee
• Teezo Touchdown
• Tora-i
• The Umlauts
• Wallice
• Willow Kayne
• Wunderhorse
• Yunè Pinku 
• Yung Filly
• Zoe Gotusso

I'm obviously a little slow with this feature this year as there's already been a major release - in the guise of The Weeknd's latest opus Dawn FM. You should know by now what a big Abel Tesfaye fan I am1

These are all named albums coming out this year that feature several of my favourite artists.

We also have a slew of albums which haven't been named yet - coming out from the likes of Beyoncé, Björk, Muse and Röyksopp - I will hopefully remember to update this list when those finally get properly announced! :

• The Weeknd - Dawn FM [Jan] (already released classic!)
• FKA Twigs - Caprisongs [Jan]
• MØ - Motordrome [Jan]
• Sally Shapiro - Sad Cities [Feb]
• Trentemøller - Memoria [Feb]
• Charli XCX - Crash [Mar]
• Rihanna - R9 [TBC]
• Rosalía - Motomami [TBC]
• Swedish House Mafia - Paradise Again [TBC]
• 100 Gecs - 10000 Gecs [TBC]

A curated release schedule for the year - featuring yet more of my favourite artists!

• Alice Glass - Prey//IV
• Aaliyah - Unstoppable
• Aurora - The Gods We Can Touch
• Band of Horses - Things Are Great
• Billy Talent - Crisis Of Faith
• Blood Red Shoes - Ghosts On Tape
• Bonobo - Fragments
• Boris - W
• Broken Social - Scene Old Dead Young: B-sides & Rarities
• Cat Power - Covers
• Comeback Kid - Heavy Steps
• Cory Wong - Vulf Vault 005 : Wong's Cafe
• Earl Sweatshirt - Sick!
• Eels - Extreme Witchcraft
• Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named If
• FKA Twigs - Caprisongs
• Inna - Champagne Problems
• Jethro Tull - The Zealot Gene
• King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Butterfly 3001
• MØ - Motordrome
• Omega X - Love Me Like
• Orlando Weeks - Hop Up
• Pinegrove - 11:11
• RuPaul - Mamaru
• Silverbacks - Archive Material
• Sinéad O'Connor - No Veteran Dies Alone
• Steve Vai - Inviolate
• The Lumineers - Brightside
• The Weeknd - Dawn FM
• The Wombats - Fix Yourself, Not the World
• Twin Atlantic - Transparency
• Urge Overkill - Oui
• Yard Act - The Overload
• Years & Years - Night Call

• Alt-J - The Dream
• Animal Collective - Time Skiffs
• Bastille - Give Me the Future
• Beach House - Once Twice Melody
• Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
• Broods - Space Island
• Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
• Dashboard Confessional - All the Truth That I Can Tell
• Eddie Vedder - Earthling
• Foxes - The Kick
• Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele 2
• Graace - Self Preservation
• Guns N' Roses - Hard Skool
• Johnny Marr - Fever Dreams Pts 1-4
• Judy Collins - Spellbound
• Korn - Requiem
• Metronomy - Small World
• Midnight Oil - Resist
• Mitski - Laurel Hell
• Sally Shapiro - Sad Cities
• Sasami - Squeeze
• Scorpions - Rock Believer
• Sea Power - Everything Was Forever
• Soft Cell - Happiness Not Included
• Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
• Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa
• Tears for Fears - The Tipping Point
• The Districts - Great American Painting
• Trentemøller - Memoria
• Various Artists - Ocean Child : Songs Of Yoko Ono
• Wilkinson - Cognition

• Animals as Leaders - Parrhesia
• Bellows - Next of Kin
• The Boo Radleys - Keep On with Falling
• Bryan Adams - So Happy It Hurts
• Charli XCX - Crash
• Crowbar - Zero and Below
• Dolly Parton - Run, Rose, Run
• Feeder - Torpedo
• Guided by Voices - Crystal Nuns Cathedral
• Midlake - For the Sake of Bethel Woods
• Nilüfer Yanya - Painless
• Peach Pit - From 2 To 3
• Phife Dawg - Forever
• Placebo - Never Let Me Go
• Stereophonics - Oochya!
• Stromae - Multitude

• Bloc Party - Alpha Games
• Father John Misty - Chloë and the Next 20th Century
• Jack White - Fear of the Dawn
• Kate Tempest - The Line Is A Curve
• Let's Eat Grandma - Two Ribbons
• Northlane - Obsidian
• Wet Leg - Wet Leg

• Craig David - 22
• The Feeling - Loss. Hope. Love.
• Liam Gallagher - C'mon You Know

• Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation

• Jack White - Entering Heaven Alive