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

[LemonMelon]

Heard Menomena's album. Really liked it. Eclectic hipster shit, kind of undefinable, the saxophone was fit in well and the singer reminded me of Damon Albarn. Last track was my favorite.

 

[lazarus]

The 75 Best Albums of 2012 | PopMatters

No Cat Power anywhere?


These people need to die.

 

[cobl04]

Will be in my top 10.

 

[lazarus]

Will be in my top 1, or I will also die.

That's what I thought.

 

[PhilsFan]

It'll probably be in my top 30. I listened to like 35 albums this year, so that seems pretty fair.

 

[IWasBored]

That's what I thought.

I thought ms apple was supposed to be his #1.


Laz lies more than bono!

 

[LemonMelon]

I'd rank Sun somewhere in the middle of what I've heard this year.

It's just not what I look for in a Cat Power album at all, call me closed-minded.

 

[PhilsFan]

It's my first Cat Power album. I mean, it wasn't bad, it just had nothing that really stuck with me.

 

[Cute Irish Bono]

I will compose my favorite albums of 2012 later but here are my favorite non-2012 musical discoveries of this year. In no particular order.

1. Sennen - Where the Light Gets In (Shoegaze)
2. The Stars of Heaven (Jangle pop)
3. The Wedding Present - Take Fountain
4. Luna - Days of Our Nights
5. The Verve - The Northern Soul (Knew The Verve and Urban Hymns a long time but dug into older records)
6. The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart

 

[agentorange]

1. Sennen - Where the Light Gets In (Shoegaze)

I'm gonna assume these guys' band name is an allusion to the Ride b-side and check them out stat.

 

[Cute Irish Bono]

I'm gonna assume these guys' band name is an allusion to the Ride b-side and check them out stat.

It is, they are awesome! The album is a little on the long side but good, nevertheless.

 

[nielsgov]

It's my first Cat Power album. I mean, it wasn't bad, it just had nothing that really stuck with me.

This is exactly my experience.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Born To Run
Wild, Innocent...
The River
Tunnel of Love
Darkness/The Promise

That's it right there.

 

[cobl04]

Just on Popmatters list, I really, really like the paragraph on Celebration Rock (which will probably make my top 10 as well).

Japandroids grow up on Celebration Rock. While they have haven’t tempered their rambunctious, hot-and-bothered sound too much—if at all—Japandroids’ point-of-view virtually matures over the course of its urgent sophomore effort. On Celebration Rock, the duo of singer/guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse proves that you can imbibe heedlessly like there’s no tomorrow at the same time you’re playing the house-party existentialist. So while loud, primal, excessive songs like “The Nights of Wine and Roses” and “Fire’s Highway” give you the idea that Celebration Rock isn’t just about hedonism, but an exercise in hedonism, there’s something deeper to Japandroids’ vivid vignettes than just empties and hangovers. The album captures how present tense turns into the past before Japandroids’ very eyes, their carpe diem indulgences becoming memories in real-time as the yearning strains of King’s vocals tell their tall tales. Nowhere is the sense that Japandroids are running against time—and out of time—so poignant and bittersweet as on “Younger Us”, as King frantically howls, “Gimme that you and me in a grave trust / Gimme younger us,” as if he’s desperately hanging on to something that’s slipping from his grasp. Celebration Rock is a testament to living for the moment because Japandroids know those days are numbered.

On the other hand, while it's great to see Channel Orange at #1, the paragraph is awful. I truly hope that with time the album can be appreciated for what it is, and not always having to be talked about in the context of his coming out. Yes that was great, brave, all the rest of it, but the album is really fucking good. It's like In Rainbows all over again - four out of five paragraphs on the context (PAY WHAT YOU WANT OMFG for Radiohead, bisexuality for Frank) and then a couple of "oh yeah, there's music too" sentences.

 

[No spoken words]

I should Channel Orange it up, I guess.

 

[u2popmofo]

Me too, I've only heard a few songs here and there.

 

[the tourist]

It's a pretty good album. It's in my top 15 of the year, but I didn't find it revolutionary or anything.

 

[HeartlandGirl]

I just added it to my To Check Out playlist.

 

[u2popmofo]

That's been my biggest road block. I hear all this "modern classic" stuff, and the songs I've heard sound like they could easily fit on a number of R&B albums from the '90's. I guess Ralph Tresvant, Vince Gill, and Seal would blow hipster kids minds these days.

I did like the songs I've heard though.

 

[No spoken words]

I just added it to my To Check Out playlist.

I'm checking out Menomena at work right now.

 

[cobl04]

Well Frankly when that Ocean so mu'fuckin good
Make her swab the mu'fuckin wood
Make her walk the mu'fuckin plank
Make her rob a mu'fuckin bank
With no mask on and a rusty revolver

 

[cobl04]

It's not revolutionary at all.

But it is the best damn R&B album I've heard in an extremely long time.

 

[No spoken words]

Well Frankly when that Ocean so mu'fuckin good
Make her swab the mu'fuckin wood
Make her walk the mu'fuckin plank
Make her rob a mu'fuckin bank
With no mask on and a rusty revolver

Despite the above, I am still going to check the album out.

 

[No spoken words]

Best R&B album I've heard in a long time would be "Stone Rollin".

 

[the tourist]

Does The Lady Killer count as R&B?

 

[IWasBored]

That's been my biggest road block. I hear all this "modern classic" stuff, and the songs I've heard sound like they could easily fit on a number of R&B albums from the '90's. I guess Ralph Tresvant, Vince Gill, and Seal would blow hipster kids minds these days.

I did like the songs I've heard though.

Blowing your mind, and wanting to blow your brains out are not the same thing.

 

[LemonMelon]

Best R&B album I've heard in a long time would be "Stone Rollin".

Fuck yes. I've got to check out his earlier work.

Best R&B album of recent years = House of Balloons for sheer innovation, but Channel Orange is worthy.

 

[bono_212]

I preferred Miguel's album a great deal to Frank Ocean's. It's not that I didn't like Channel Orange it just kind of felt a little overblown. PROBABLY because of all of the hype.

 

[The Sad Punk]

I gotta listen to that Miguel album again, I've heard it once and liked what I heard.

Channel Orange isn't terribly innovative, but it is a fantastic album full of memorable tunes. Regardless of how many words have been beaten about it, there is a certain indefinable pleasure of hearing an r n' b song about same sex love without an ounce of mass-pleasing campness. But even taking that away, it's surely as solid as any album released this year.

 

[u2popmofo]

Is it weird I think a large number of the album covers on Pitchfork's "best album covers of 2012" belong in the worst list?