B&C's Best Albums of 2012

[PhilsFan]

Peef, I'm trying to send you a personal message. Clear some space.

I am doing so.

 

[HeartlandGirl]

1. Sigur Rós - Valtari (15)
2. Good Music - Cruel Summer (15)
3. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It (13)
4. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory (12)
5. Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods (11)
6. Grimes - Visions (10)
7. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city (10)
8. Friends - Manifest! (4)
9. Tori Amos - Gold Dust (3)
10. Santigold - Master of My Make Believe (2)
11. Deftones - Koi No Yokan (1)
12. alt-J - An Awesome Wave (1)
13. Twin Shadow - Confess (1)
14. Strand of Oaks - Dark Shores (1)
15. Efterklang - Piramida (1)

 

[nielsgov]

2. Good Music - Cruel Summer (15)

I've been listening to that album a lot lately. Clique+Mercy=

It's also nice to see Efterklang get some love.

 

[cobl04]

Shake that body party that bod

 

[LemonMelon]

Cruel Summer would have been a great 6 song EP.

 

[HeartlandGirl]

False. A lot of people think it's only good for the first 6 songs, but if you stay with it, the end of the record has some fine moments. The second half is a grower for sure.

 

[cobl04]

I love Creepers. And quite like Bliss and Higher. The rest are pretty meh and Don't Like is horrible.

 

[HeartlandGirl]

My roommate is making a face at you, Cobbler. We both enjoy Don't Like. She loves it.

 

[cobl04]

It's that shit I don't like

 

[Axver]

Let's do this thing, finally. Didn't want to neglect my favourite EPs since they were some of my favourite releases of the year, so they're in brackets in the spot they'd occupy on the list if they were eligible.

1. Alcest – Les voyages de l’âme (15)
2. Pinback – Information Retrieved (13)
(Voltaire Twins – Apollo)
3. Hammock – Departure Songs (10)
(Agalloch – Faustian Echoes)
4. Metric – Synthetica (9)
5. Alpine – A Is For Alpine (7)
6. The Process – The Process (7)
7. DZ Deathrays – Bloodstreams (7)
8. Grimes – Visions (7)
9. Sugar Army – Summertime Heavy (5)
(School of Seven Bells – Put Your Sad Down)
10. Caspian – Waking Season (4)
11. Die! Die! Die! – Harmony (4)
12. John Talabot – Fin (4)
13. Ladyhawke – Anxiety (3)
14. Allo Darlin’ – Europe (3)
15. A Place to Bury Strangers – Worship (2)

My full list (currently 63 albums) with generally brief write-ups, overall thoughts on 2012, honourable mentions, etc., is here: Proceed to Memory: My favourite releases of 2012 - Rate Your Music

I also thought I'd steal the following categories from iYup and Joey, though with the omission of the cover art categories since I just don't care about that sort of thing.

Best EP: Voltaire Twins – Apollo
Worst Album: Pumice – Puny
Most Average Album: The Big Pink – Future This
Most Disappointing Album: Anathema – Weather Systems
Most Overhyped Album: Tame Impala – Lonerism or Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, MAAD City
Most Unfairly Neglected Album: Pinback – Information Retrieved (seriously, it’s like the entire indie world just failed to notice one of the best indie rock bands ever released a new album; I’ve seen practically nobody mention it anywhere, positively or negatively)
Most Pleasant Surprise: Bailter Space – Strobosphere (both that Bailter Space suddenly resurfaced and that it didn’t suck)
Album People Loved at First and Then Completely Forgot About: Kayo Dot – Gamma Knife
Best Thing from Last Year that I Only Heard This Year: Voltaire Twins – Romulus EP
Best Thing from Ages Ago that I Only Heard This Year: Medicine – Shot Forth Self Living (1992, and it’s the only 5 star I gave on RYM this year apart from the new Alcest album)
Best Album Title: Indian Handcrafts – Civil Disobedience for Losers
Worst Album Title: Alpine – A Is For Alpine (or that stupid longwinded Fiona Apple title)

 

[bono_212]

Yes. That puts Metric on three lists

 

[LemonMelon]

Most Disappointing Album: Anathema – Weather Systems

Really dug this one.

 

[Axver]

I wonder how many albums will be in the "ranked high by Ax and phanan but featured in no other lists" category this year.

 

[Axver]

Really dug this one.

Every time I even think about the last two Anathema albums I get more angry about what's happened to the band that recorded my favourite album.

Honestly though I'd probably be more cool with it if they just changed their name and acknowledged that "Anathema" is not an appropriate name for a band that's evidently now spiritual.

 

[u2popmofo]

I've mentioned the new Pinback album a number of times. I certainly like it much more than Autumn. What are your favorite tracks? For me: Proceed to Memory, Sediment, and (to a lesser extent) His Phase are all pretty much up to the quality standards of their glory days. Going to try to see them in a few weeks. Haven't seen them in nearly a decade.

 

[No spoken words]

Pinback sounds like someone I kill during a boss battle.

 

[Axver]

I've mentioned the new Pinback album a number of times. I certainly like it much more than Autumn. What are your favorite tracks? For me: Proceed to Memory, Sediment, and (to a lesser extent) His Phase are all pretty much up to the quality standards of their glory days. Going to try to see them in a few weeks. Haven't seen them in nearly a decade.

I'm not sure I've seen any mention of Information Retrieved except for your comments and from a couple of other people either on here or Facebook who also listen to Pinback. Certainly not in any publications or RYM ... I kind of figured it'd show up in at least a handful of year-end lists.

Proceed to Memory is quickly becoming a top ten Pinback song of mine. His Phase and Drawstring are also big favourites of mine. Really the only track that I think is noticeably below the level of the rest of the album is Diminished.

 

[IWasBored]

Most Overhyped Album: Tame Impala – Lonerism or Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, MAAD City

This.

 

[cobl04]

Most Overrated Inteference Members - Axver, IWasBored

 

[bono_212]

It got my vote on Pitchfork for most overrated album.

 

[Axver]

Most Over-rated Cobbler: cobl04

 

[LemonMelon]

Most overrated album: the year's most beloved album

 

[iron yuppie]

Most Overrated Inteference Members - Axver, IWasBored

Somehow I feel like there should be some commentary on post counts here. As in:

Most disturbing trend in Interference 2012: using post counts as a means of attacking a poster's credibility.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I think I recall the 'but you have xxx posts!1!1!!!!1' attack being used before 2012.

 

[bono_212]

It's been a frequent occurrence this year, is all.

 

[cobl04]

It's super effective!

 

[IWasBored]

I remember it going back to when we took basstraps randoooom and made it into a chat thread, when chat threads were all not allowed and there wasnt a whole forum dedicated to stuff carek is currently smelling. I used to get that shit all the time, which is even funnier when you look at the actual numbers now. I've got a fraction of Ax's post count.

 

[bono_212]

It happens on every forum, every where. It's always stupid.

 

[IWasBored]

To which the response should probably be I know you are but what am I, because it's equally as ridiculous.

 

[No spoken words]

I had my post count thrown in my face once. It was on interference, I don't have a post count on any other site.