2012 Top 40 Albums of the Year
Over the course of 2012 i’ve listened to close to 500 albums of new material. Following are the forty i enjoyed most, each with a haiku afterward about the album in question.
40. Grizzly Bear – Shields
Complex harmonies
From enigmatic singer
Soft, yet enchanting
39. Teen Daze – All of us, Together
Bedroom producer
Makes reverb drenched, dreamy pop
Electronica
38. Action Bronson – Blue Chips
Flushing Queens emcee
Makes raps about Pro Wrestling
Good food and good weed
37. Walkmen – Heaven
Often soft and sweet
Their music runs the gamut
Old sounds new again
36. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
Fantastical pop
Created by the masters
Glorious chaos
35. Metz – Metz
Modern Day punk rock
With a slight nineties callback
Short, intensity
34. Ab-Soul – Control System
The Black Hippy Crew
Outdone by the quiet one
West coast is back big
33. Suis La Lune - Riala
Young band from Sweden
Do emotional hardcore
Beautiful and harsh
32. Jack White – Blunderbuss
The White Stripes frontman
Put out a solo record
Sounds like the White Stripes
31. Between the Buried and Me – The Parralax II: Future Sequence
Metalcore giants
Make technical masterpiece
With great backstory
30. Daytrader - Twelve Years
Long Island pop punk
Early two thousands are back
Catchy singalongs
29. Nas – Life is Good
Queens emcee returns
With his best stuff since
Two thousand and one
28. Screaming Females – Ugly
Jersey indie punk
Bred in New Brunswick basements
Abrasive beauty
27. Converge – All We Love, We Leave Behind
Metal and hardcore
Come together to create
A masterful blend
26. Royal Headache – Royal Headache
Aussie garage rock
Scuzzy, fast paced rock and roll
A catchy throwback
25. Kishi Bashi - 151a
Famed violinist
Takes a step into spotlight
For our enjoyment
24. Passion Pit – Gossamer
Coke fueled dance music
To make your sadness leave you
Party all night long
23. Death Grips – The Money Store
Crazy rap-metal
Most intense group in the world
Violent and brilliant
22. Ty Segall – Slaughterhouse
The year’s soundtrack to
Getting high and catching waves
fuzzed out masterpiece
21. La Sera – Sees the Light
Pop friendly girl tunes
From Vivian Girls bassist
Melodic delight
20. River City Extension – Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger
Americana
With a bit of punk rock edge
Long name, great results
19. Joey Bada$$ - 1999
Young kid, New New York
Nostalgic, yet the future
Pro Era are set
18. Beach house – Bloom
A brilliant Soundscape
A smoky, soulful vocal
A badass record
17. The Men – Open Your Heart
The Brooklyn based group
Make catchy indie-punk rock
Filled with happiness
16. Title Fight – Floral Green
Young giants making
Nineties emo throwback jams
Lifetime two point O
15. Fierce Brosnan – Good Luck Exploding
Cleverly named band
Breathes new life into punk rock
With danceable tunes
14. Narrows – Painted
Former Botch guys make
Original metalcore
No really, they do
13. With the Punches– Seams and Stitches
Glorious Pop-Punk
Not concerned with tough guy shit
Pure good time music
12. The Menzingers - On the Impossible Past
Full of imagery
Songs to sing at the heavens
An instant classic
11. Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror
The lush production
And best voice in pop music
Make sophomore grand slam
10. Hostage Calm – Please Remain Calm
Earnest rock songs, what
Gaslight Anthem wish they were
Springsteen successors
9. Best Coast - The Only Place
California band
Make their home state seem perfect
Love songs to their land
8. El-P - Cancer for a Cure
Indie-Rap legend
Brings what may be his best work
In his whole career
7. Fang Island - Major
Party record from
Mostly instrumental band
Happy fun time rock
6. Allo Darlin – Europe
Saccharine twee-pop
Hits straight into the heart strings
Service with a smile
5. Tribes – Baby
Soaring melodies,
With a beautiful vengeance
Nineties pop returns
4. Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
New school blues rock group
Puts modern spin on old style
Heavy but not hard
3. Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
Eighties rap love shines
With a southern gangster lean
Hip-Hop at its finest
2. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
An ode to your youth
Be it now or long ago
Always enjoy it
1. Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE
Stunning vocal croons
From enigmatic beauty
Soul like no other
I’ve never understood it.
My whole life I’ve seen hearing people make a fool of themselves singing their favorite song or gyrating on the dance floor. I’ve also seen hearing people moved to tears by a single song. That was the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around.
I was born profoundly deaf and all music sounded like trash through my hearing aids.
That is until a couple days ago when I put on a new pair of hearing aids for the first time in years.
The first thing I heard was my shoe scraping across the carpet; it startled me. I have never heard that before and out of ignorance, I assumed it was too quiet for anyone to hear.
I sat in the doctor’s office frozen as a cacophony of sounds attacked me. The whir of the computer, the hum of the AC, the clacking of the keyboard, and when my best friend walked in I couldn’t believe that he had a slight rasp to his voice. He joked that it was time to cut back on the cigarettes.
That night, a group of close friends jump-started my musical education by playing Mozart, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Elvis, and several other popular legends of music.
Being able to hear the music for the first time ever was unreal.
read this.
Beautiful. —Lars
Hear “The Killing Type,” a rocking new song from Amanda Palmer’s forthcoming Kickstarter-funded album, Theatre Is Evil.
