What a year in music. There were many surprises, both positive and negative, as well as some pleasant returns from old friends.
Below are some of my favorites and not so favorites of 2012
Best Video of the Year:
M.I.A. - Bad Girls
M.I.A. isn't going to knock you over with her lyrics but the infectious beats married with the car surfing had this video on repeat throughout the year.
Welcome Back!
2012 saw a number of bands put away differences and dust off their amps for a return to the airwaves.
Sixteen years after their last studio output, Soundgarden returned with King Animal and their first single "Been Away Too Long". Damn right you were. The album was a lot better than expected and just missed entering my top 25 of the year. Chris Cornell's voice has aged well while Kim Thayil's guitar never lost any of it's punch.
While technically it was only six years between releases, the last time Soul Asylum was of any significance was in 1995 when they released Let Your Dim Light Shine. Their 2012 release Delayed Reaction tries to hearken back to those days ("Gravity") with some success but that light seems to be dimming.
Moody and melancholy are two words that describe Spain's 1999 release She Haunts My Dreams. It's minimal instrumentation layered under lyrics of loss and suffering was powerful despite the lack of musical chops. Led by Josh Haden, brother of Petra Haden of that dog., they disappeared after their 2001 output, only to return in 2012 with The Soul of Spain which still captures Haden's low and fragile voice while providing a slightly more upbeat sound, relatively speaking.
Twenty seven years after releasing their last album, Dexys' Midnight Runners returned in 2012 with One Day I'm Going to Soar. Reducing their name to just Dexys (most likely due to the fact that they no longer can make it to midnight and running just isn't an option), the album brings back memories of the early 80s soul infused folk-pop.
Seven years after her last release, Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple finally released her follow up The Idler Wheel (followed by 90 other words...OK, slight exaggeration). Apple's sound doesn't fall too far from the tree of previous outputs ("Every Single Night").
Similar to Soul Asylum, The Fixx have been out of the limelight for a considerable amount of time despite releasing an album in 2003. Beautiful Friction is a return to their 80s form (even their cover artist is the one who designed their covers for Reach the Beach and Phantoms) and Cy Curnin's distinctive vocals are still on display ("Anyone Else")
Garbage took a seven year hiatus before re-entering the studio to release Not Your Kind of People. While it doesn't hold up to the standards set by their first couple of releases, it's great to hear Shirley Manson again ("Blood For Poppies")
Feel the Sound ("Runaway") is another album that just missed my top 25 for the year, but any year that Imperial Teen releases an album is a great year. This is one band that should have enjoyed mainstream success when the indie/alt door was opened, but for some reason it never happened, despite having alt-cred with founder and Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum.
Before we get to the countdown...
Worst Album of the Year:
Pop Etc by POP ETC
The band formerly known as the Morning Benders, who released a great album, Big Echo, in 2010 ("All Day Daylight"), not only changed their name but changed their sound ("Live It Up") to a top 40 soul/pop/autotuned crap. If this is any sort of indication, comments were disabled on YouTube for the video linked above.
My 25 Favorite Albums of 2012
25: Glen Hansard - Rhythm and Repose
Slow-burning songs that ache with loss, the former Frames and Swell Season singer brings his recent breakup into his lyrics to great affect.
24: mewithoutYou - Ten Stories
Strong mixture of experimental rock, energy, and a bit of Judeo-Christian lyrics (hence lowercase me, uppercase You), Ten Stories is a concept album told through the eyes of circus animals. Crazy, I know, but they make for interesting characters in a story about faith, truth, doubt, misery, life and death that isn't heavy handed in the messaging.
23: METZ - METZ
A perfect blend of noise-rock, post-hardcore and distortion from this Canadian trio.
22: Tallest Man on Earth - There's No Leaving Now
Indie folk by way of Sweden that reminds me, at times, of old school Bob Dylan.
To Just Grow Away
21: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
Socially conscious rap from the South produced by New York's El-P makes for a, ahem, killer album.
Atlanta's sludge outfit evolves its sound to include more harmonies ("Twinkler" sounds like it came straight out of Fleet Foxes' catalog), a bigger sound, all while maintaining a core foundation of heavy.
19: Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
At times intimate and unsettling, Dirty Projector's sixth album finds a comfortable median between experimental and accessibility.
Minnesota's finest rapper returns after 2009's Never Better and 2011's No Kings as part of rap collective Doomtree. Rap's favorite guest vocalist Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), also from Minnesota, makes an appearance on the standout track "How We Land"
Fuck Your Stuff
Get Down
Bumper
17: Woods - Bend Beyond
A great blend of lo-fi and noise folk, the fifth album by Woods is by far their best.
Cali in a Cup
16: Tamaryn - Tender New Signs
Shoegaze at its finest. Churning guitars filled with reverb under female vocals drive a strong second album. For fans of My Bloody Valentine and Beach House.
15: Father John Misty - Fear Fun
Former Fleet Foxes drummer takes his former band's Pacific Northwest folk sound to new heights.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings
Nancy From Now On
14: Crystal Castles - III
Sadness and anger aren't two words usually used to describe dance music, but the Crystal Castles' third album blends those feelings seamlessly into their dark and strangely beautiful music.
Australian indie/psych-pop band that, at times, has you second guessing whether or not it's Paul McCartney/The Beatles singing.
12: DIIV - Oshin
What originally started as a side project for Beach Fossils' Zachary Cole Smith, DIIV became a full-fledged band in 2012 and released this album full of catchy lo-fi songs.
Lush and atmospheric, Beach House's fourth album didn't grab me as quickly as their previous, Teen Dream, but repeated listens awarded that Beach House hook underneath the haunted vocals.
Not as jangly as their last output, The Avett Brothers take a stripped down approach to their latest.
09: Japandroids - Celebration Rock
Could an album title fit any better with the music held within? Play this loud, sing along, and then hit repeat.
08: Sigur Ros - Valtari
I could write forever about how much I love this band and how, despite not understanding the language that they sing in (made up, by the way), the songs pull at emotions of love, hope, and sadness like nothing else. Powerful stuff.
07: El-P - Cancer4Cure
An album that could redefine hip-hop when looked back upon in the future. El-P already showed up earlier in this list as producer of Killer Mike's album, but his distinctive production is alive and well in this solo offering. This could pull him out of the underground.
06: Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Your band name is Alt-J and you name your first album An Awesome Wave. How am I not supposed to think you're some brain-dead alternative band from the beaches of California? Shockingly, this band from the UK, named after the Mac command to create a triangle, has released a refreshing new album that incorporates strange vocal styling, warm harmonies, a little bit of electronica, acoustic guitars and, on "Taro", a mixture of Americana and bhangra.
05: Aesop Rock - Skelethon
When you listen to Aesop Rock, make sure you are carrying a dictionary or have quick access to Google. His raps are abstract, almost to a fault, but the beats are infectious. Aesop even shows some semblance of self awareness as shown on the closer "Gopher Guts": I have been completely unable to maintain any semblance of relationship on any level/I have been a bastard to the people who have actively attempted to deliver me from peril
04: The Twilight Sad - No One Can Ever Know
This Scottish band continues its brand of dark and sweeping songs but includes synthesizers this time around, which actually adds to the songs instead of take away.
More cerebral than their last effort but the complex layers and tonal shifts kept me glued.
How is it that these guys have avoided the dreaded "Law of Diminishing Returns"? Ten years into their career and this could be their strongest yet. The songs here are bright, reflective and celebratory.
01: Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
Released in January (and slipping onto the interwebs in 2011), this third album is the first to feature a full band. Originally a one man outfit who recorded in his room, this release, produced by Steve Albini, hits hard with its mix of post-hardcore and pop hooks that makes one nostalgic for the 90s.
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