The Best of 2012 in Music: Albums, Songs, Shows, Lists, Discussions, Fun!

[PhilsFan]

With the blessing of Scumbo, we embark on our Best of the Year 2012 Thread on this day. Let's roll, you guys.

 

[Danny Boy]

With the blessing of Scumbo, we embark on our Best of the Year 2012 Thread on this day. Let's roll, you guys.

Are we going to have the same rules as last year, assigning points and stuff, or is this just the preliminary discussion?

 

[u2popmofo]

I wan't you to assign points to your favorite lesser known music mediums. How many points will SACD get? How many?!!!!!!!

 

[LemonMelon]

I have a lot of new music to listen to before I can be fully confident in it, but I definitely have a list of 25 awesome albums ready to go. It's been a great year for music.

 

[cobl04]

Are we going to have the same rules as last year, assigning points and stuff, or is this just the preliminary discussion?

I'd say discussion for now. I'm not ready to do a formal list yet. Will hit back later today with the contenders.

 

[Danny Boy]

I wan't you to assign points to your favorite lesser known music mediums. How many points will SACD get? How many?!!!!!!!

A lot. It's super.

 

[u2popmofo]

Only including 2012 releases, these are my most listened to songs according to Last FM in the order of frequency (there were so many ties that I didn't bother including numbers):

The Shins - Simple Song
Shearwater - Animal Life
Shearwater - Breaking the Yearlings
Why? - Strawberries
Bat For Lashes - Laura
Japandroids - House That Heaven Built
Why? - Sod In The Seed
Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Purity Ring - Obedear
DIIV - Follow
Tame Impala - Elephant
Grimes - Genesis
Beach House - Myth
Grizzly Bear - Sleeping Ute
Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms
Grizzly Bear - Yet Again
Pinback - Proceed To Memory
Atoms For Peace - Default
Cursive - The Cat And Mouse
The Shins - It's Only Life
Father John Misty - Only Son of a Ladies Man
The Walkmen - Heaven

 

[LemonMelon]

I've got to get around to that Pinback album.

 

[u2popmofo]

I like it a lot more than their last album. There are two or three songs I'm listening to quite regularly at the moment.

 

[nielsgov]

Only including 2012 releases, these are my most listened to songs according to Last FM in the order of frequency (there were so many ties that I didn't bother including numbers):

My first 2012 track on that list is at n°14 I barely listen to separate songs though, only if I really like them so that's why I listen to older songs more often.

 

[cobl04]

How many plays for the top five? I'd like an idea of how often you played these songs, scumbo.

 

[u2popmofo]

Probably not super high in the grand scheme of things. Everything was quite close after the first 4.


1. The Shins – Simple Song - 30
2. Shearwater – Animal Life - 26
3. Shearwater – Breaking The Yearlings - 24
4. Why? – Strawberries - 21
5. Bat for Lashes – Laura - 18

 

[nielsgov]

That's about the same as my top tracks.

I can get behind most of those songs.

 

[u2popmofo]

I like Animal Life far more than Breaking the Yearlings, but since they come in that order in the album, I can't stop listening after Animal Life. Plus, the guitar at the opening of Breaking the Yearlings is awesome.

There are a lot of 1, 2 combo songs I have to listen to together like that. Sometimes they aren't even placed by each other on albums, I just find myself wanting to hear them together for some reason.

 

[LemonMelon]

Shearwater will be high on my list. Out of 166 albums and EPs, Animal Joy is #9 right now. I went a while without hearing it, but I listened to it recently before seeing them and remembered how great it is. Great guitars on this album.

 

[LJT]

The ones I can think of, off the top of my head:

Cloud Nothings- Attack On Memory
Zammuto
Django Django
Gravenhurst- Ghost in the Daylight
Mountain Goats- Transcendental Youth
Menomena- Moms
Jessie Ware- Devotion
Jesca Hoop- The House That Jack Built
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs- Trouble (pain in the arse to type that name out)
Mount Eerie- Clear Moon
Laurel Halo- Quarantine

Tennis' (which really grew on me after a month or two, plus I got quite drunk at their show and bought probably the ugliest band sweater ever), Killer Mike, Open Mike Eagle, Daphni, Dog is Dead (tied with my other favourite canine based band name, Dogs Die in Hot Cars).

Also most of popmofo's list, and there remains plenty I need to check up on.

Oh yeah Polica's album too.

 

[u2popmofo]

Menomena- Moms

 

[LJT]

Really good album, Mines I enjoyed to a certain extent but I don't often revisit it compared to Friend and Foe which Moms seems much more in tune with, but with I think better songs throughout, high points may not be quite as high though, will take a while to decide on that.

 

[u2popmofo]

I feel the same as you in regards to their albums. Dirty Cartoons is probably the only song from Mines I go back to, despite liking the album quite a bit when it came out. Moms is extremely solid from start to finish.

I really need to buy Django Django. Maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list.

 

[nielsgov]

Albums I enjoyed a lot:

Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
The Antlers - Undersea EP
Balthazar - Rats
Bloc Party - Four
Burial - Kindred EP
Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
dEUS - Following Sea
Efterklang - Piramida
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Julia Holter - Ekstasis
Liars - WIXIW
Paul Banks - Banks
Purity Ring - Shrines
Sigur Ros - Valtari
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Yeasayer - Fragrant World

 

[LJT]

Juila Holter and Liars John Talabot's Fin also came out this year didn't it? Another good record.

 

[LemonMelon]

Mountain Goats- Transcendental Youth

The album sounded excellent live too.

I like those two Mount Eerie albums from this year, but I haven't spent enough time with either. Also, Julia Holter's album rules. It will be somewhere on my list.

 

[nielsgov]

I haven't listened to it in a long time but I know I really liked it. Will probably listen to it again sometime this week.

 

[LemonMelon]

It's going to interesting to see which album gets the most points this year. There weren't a lot of really talked about albums around these parts like Kaputt or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy were. I hope Lonerism wins.

 

[mikal]

Menomena will no doubt be in my top 5. Great album.

 

[iron yuppie]

The existence of this thread reminds me how much listening I have to do over the next six weeks. I have heard something like seventy albums released this year, but I have spent significant time with only a few of them.

 

[LemonMelon]

My list of albums left to hear:

Aimee Mann – Charmer
Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – Theatre Is Evil
Ben Folds Five – The Sound of the Life of the Mind Out
Big Boi – Viscous Lies and Dangerous Rumors
Brian Eno – LUX
Caspian – Waking Season
Dave Matthews Band – Away from the World
Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet on Sky
Goat – World Music
Here We Go Magic – A Different Ship
Holy Other – Held
Jens Lekman – I Know What Love Isn’t
Lawrence Arabia – Sparrow
mewithoutYou – Ten Stories
Mirroring – Foreign Body
M. Ward – A Wasteland Companion
Neneh Cherry & The Thing – The Cherry Thing
No Doubt – Push and Shove
Norah Jones - …Little Broken Hearts
Om – Advaitic Songs
Pinback – Information Retrieved
Pond – Beard, Wives, Denim
Rihanna – Unapologetic
Rush – Clockwork Angels
Scott Walker – Bish Bosch
Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania
Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion
TOY – TOY
Ty Segall & White Fence – Hair
Violens – True

In all likelihood, I'll just narrow it down to a dozen or so and focus on familiarizing myself with albums I already know I like, but it's good to have suggestions if I don't know what to listen to at a given moment.

 

[cobl04]

Vicious*

On the Aussie front you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't at least listen to Alpine's A is For Alpine. A pretty great little indie album with female vocals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8j_jWFg7Lk

Also Something for Kate. Gonna be in my top 10.

 

[iron yuppie]

If there is any cultural refinement left in the world, surely the Rush album will immediately catapult into your top spot, LM.

 

[Imperor]

Holy Other – Held

Nails.