Best Albums of 2012

Another year in the books!  And what a year it was, full of both celebration and crisis.  In the music world we've seen the rise of "Call Me Maybe" as the catchiest song ever, and an album from Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham.  For albums that won't make you want to scoop your brain out through your ears, check out this list.
It seems like every year new music is being released at a faster and faster rate, and 2012 was no exception.  There are far too many artists putting out good music to even listen to them all, let alone recognize them in lists.  So, in a gesture to acknowledge some kick-ass tunes that didn't make the top 20, here are a handful of honorable mentions:

Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
The Weeknd - Trilogy

Along with Frank Ocean, these artists are forging the new RnB, steering it towards a darker and more idiosyncratic place.

Crystal Castles - (III)
Purity Ring - Shrines
Grimes - Visions

These electro-avant-pop innovators have helped to define some of the most prevalent trends in indie music today.

Lana Del Rey - Born To Die, Paradise

Sultry, sexy, dirty, All-American girl.  Plenty of shortcomings are present in her first two releases, but she certainly has the power to send chills down your spine.

Cat Power - Sun

New sounds from the singer-songwriter Chan Marshall.  Single "Cherokee" has been stuck in my head for months.

Jam City - Classical Curves
Lone - Galaxy Garden
TNGHT - TNGHT

Just try to sit still while listening to any of these electronic albums.  Jam City adds the newest installment in the Night Slugs legacy, Lone's album is an aptly titled paean of maximalism, and TNGHT is comprised of Hudson Mohawke and Lunice, two rising stars fusing hip hop and modern bass music.

Azalea Banks - Fantasea mixtape

Joey Bada$$ - 1999

Angel Haze - Reservation, Classick

Some of the young stars in the rap world, Azalea Banks broke out last year with her hit '212,' and continues to gather steam this year.  Joey Bada$$ is a 17-year old prodigy from Brooklyn, and Angel Haze is the most talented female rapper to come out of New York since, well, Azalea.  Single 'New York' is an instant classic and the extremely raw and compelling rap over Eminem's "Cleaning Out My Closet' is a must-listen.

20.  Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man  

An emotionally raw and stirring confessional album from Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes, The Haunted Man will haunt the listener with its eery ambiance and soaring vocals.  Highlight track "All Your Gold" is reminiscent of the ginormous hit by Gotye "Somebody That I Used to Know," with a line from the chorus even containing the words "somebody that I knew before," in a strange instance of coeval serendipity.  BFL's song is better.


19.  Mumford and Sons - Babel

Mumford and Sons have been nothing if not divisive in their short career, drawing fans that would otherwise scoff at any music that contained a banjo and drawing the ire of hipsters worldwide.  While the group has not changed much since their last album, they do what they do well.  Straightforward lyrics that start with a lullaby-like softness and build into a frenzy of banjo-plucking, foot-stomping, feel-good crescendos.

18.  Blondes - Blondes

Blondes make very progressive and spaced-out techno.  They have offered up their skills on an epic album that is more than twice as long as most, with half being comprised of remixes by some of the best like-minded peers in the biz (Teengirl Fantasy, Andy Stott, et al.).  The original tracks leave little room for improvement however, as they glitter with a diamond-like perfection.

17.  Amon Tobin - ISAM

Amon Tobin is a master sound engineer and producer, focusing with obsessive detail on each tone, clink and flange like a mad scientist.  In 2007 he released his last album, Foley Room, which was a mind-blowing masterpiece utilizing insect sounds and the Kronos Quartet.  While ISAM may not reach the peaks of some of his previous work, Tobin has certainly outdone himself with the live show he developed for this album.  Check it out here (and the other amazing videos too).

16.  High On Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis

The first 6 seconds of "Serums of Liao," the first track on De Vermis Mysteriis, give a pretty good taste of what's to come over the course of this album, and it is delicious.  The punishing drumming propels this gnarly metal band the way Brann Dailor's does in Mastodon, keeping the music interesting and forsaking the constant sixteenth-note double-bass for something much more frantic and powerful.

15.  Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction

Slow and steady wins the race—and Pallbearer show that heavy metal can exist at 40 bpm.  As far as epic monumental songs go, look no further than this collection from the Arkansas-based doom-metal masters.  They take some classic influences such as Black Sabbath and pre-Black Album Metallica and plod along at tempos never explored by them.  Instead of becoming boring, they grind and churn to build massive jams built on duel guitar harmonies that rise to the heavens.

14.  Beach House - Bloom

Beach House follow up their 2010 masterpiece Teen Dream with more dreamy ballads and an "if it ain't broken" attitude.  This is fine, because Victoria Legrand's rich voice and Alex Scally's tiptoeing tremolo guitar offer a magical and, well, dreamy venture.

13.  The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends

Are the Flaming Lips the most interesting band in the world?  Yes.  They experiment freely and fearlessly, sure to defy expectations and always succeeding.  This album is one of their strangest, just look at some of the song titles: "Helping the Retarded to Know God," "I'm Working At NASA On Acid," "Supermoon Made Me Want to Pee,"  you get the idea.  But this album isn't just a freak-out pastiche of joke-songs, it's a collaboration among many artists that results in a beautiful, albeit dense and uneven, collage of Flaming Lips music.  Collaborators include Ke$ha, Bon Iver, Tame Impala, Yoko Ono, Erykah Badu and others.

12.  Main Attrakionz - Bossalinis and Fooliyones

Sweet sweet cloud rap.  Not much else to say about these boys, and if you don't know what cloud rap is, give this album a spin and drift away.

11.  Tame Impala - Lonerism

Thundering from down under, Australian psychedelic rockers Tame Impala bear a certain sonic resemblance to Animal Collective, with their ear for pop melodies and electronic flourishes.  Tame Impala were overlooked with their 2010 debut Innerspeaker (also a solid album), but they'll be hard to ignore after this excellent and charming follow-up.




10.  Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes

If 2010's Cosmogramma was a psychedelic supernova exploding into a million beautiful colors and directions (and it was), then this years follow-up is like the dust settling into a quiet and pristine nebula.  Many of the tracks on Until the Quiet Comes seem inspired by the album title, offering soft reflective introspective vignettes, narcotizing and ambient, like a jazz-tinged opium den.  There's plenty of star power here (with Erykah Badu, Laura Darlington, Thom Yorke and others) but most of these guests are so immersed in a velvety haze of ambience, you may not even notice their presence.  In spite of the more subdued nature of this album, FlyLo is a master producer with Coltrane blood in his veins, and he is capable of taking the listener on a different kind of journey here, a cold and introverted one, and when you come out the other end with a chill instead of a burning sweat-soaked forehead, the fact remains that you've travelled somewhere new.

9. Regina Spektor - What We Saw From the Cheap Seats

Cute as a button, Regina Spektor's diminutive demeanor and quirky sense of humor belie her diva vocal skills and classical piano chops.  She does not flaunt these skills, instead favoring the spirit of straight-forward pop music.  Nowhere is this clearer than on the single "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)"  where an almost cloying nursery-rhyme melody blossoms into one heck of an ear worm that may be her best song since 2006's memorable "Fidelity."  The rest of What We Saw From the Cheap Seats is a bit more subdued, but offers all of the traits that her fans have come to love, including her skilled piano playing, rich voice and idiosyncratic imagery.

8.  Mala - Mala In Cuba

What makes Mala In Cuba the best dubstep record of the year has less to do with the comingling of Cuban music than with the fact that Mala is a master of producing one kind of music: dubstep.  Most of the tracks on Mala In Cuba bear only the slightest patina of Cuban style, instead centering around the deep and ominous bass sounds with desolate-sounding clicks and clacks more familiar to dubstep fans.  That being said, some of the finest moments of the album come on the three or so tracks that are more true to the album title.  And at the intersection where there is just enough of both Cuban spice and dubstep depth is where Mala In Cuba becomes truly sublime.  Maybe its too much to ask for an apotheosis born of the fusion from these two genres, and maybe as a concept album Mala In Cuba does not succeed, but what we are left with is still pure sonic pleasure.


7.  The xx - Coexist

In 2009, The xx's eponymous debut was a huge hit, which was perhaps surprising for a band with such a subdued and dark style.  Dwelling between the wide spaces of their sparse sound, there was heartfelt emotion and catchy hooks.  Now, after three years, they've followed it up with Coexist.  The core elements haven't changed, their distinct personality comes through the same as before: quiet, shy, melancholic, and full of longing.  The minimalism of the first album is even more pronounced here, with the signature reverbed tremolo guitars of the first album (although still present) giving way to skeletal dubstep drum beats, icy synths, and spine-tingling marimba on stand-out track "Reunion".
Lyrically too, the xx seem to have matured, weaving the aesthetic of their dark deep sound into plaintive harmony.  "With words unspoken, a silent devotion, I know you know what I mean" croons lead singer Romy on opener and single "Angels". She's pledging her undying devotion, but on the very next track she laments "Did I hold hold you too tight?  Did I not let enough light in? ... We used to be closer than this."  Its a jarring contrast that underscores the feeling of being lost at sea that permeates the album.  Drifting along in a dark ocean, connections are fleeting.  In this tragic environment they've created, The xx embrace the cold emptiness and give us a beautiful sadness.


6.  Dan Deacon - America

There's always been an element of punk to Dan Deacon's music, though its not clear at first listen.  This is likely because of all the decidedly non-punk elements of his music that are also evident—the chirpy processed vocals, the music box melodies with the tempo cranked way up, and the panoply of electronic sounds that buzz and whir through his albums (not to mention the orchestral elements recently utilized to great effect).  As Deacon has developed as a composer and arranger, other detectable influences such as classic prog-rock and Romantic symphonic music have come to play an important role.  They all combine on America, a concept album sui generis, in a heady blend of rich textures and epic journeys.  The first five songs are evidence of an artist at his creative peak, crafting masterful pieces that seem to be a clear development forward from previous material (same ideas and style, developed more effectively).  But what really makes America a masterpiece is the last four tracks, which comprise a quasi-symphony (for orchestra, voice, and synth army) in four movements.  There's the andante, the allegro, the scherzo, and the finale with a triumphant capitulation.  May this piece shine on in history, from sea to shining sea.

5.  The Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth

The tireless John Darnielle (frontman of The Mountain Goats, pronounced 'darn-yay') has a rare gift for storytelling in his songs.  Through the combination of vivid details and an unflinching gaze into the darkness of both individuals and society, Darnielle has managed to bring to life dozens of characters through his songs over the years.  Transcendental Youth brings together an apposite set to represent the struggles of troubled young minds, inspired by the real-life deaths of musicians Amy Winehouse and Frankie Lymon as well as Darnielle's personal experience working in mental health facilities.  As with other Mountain Goats albums, this one is full of memorable one-liners, jarring images, highs and lows, and Darnielle's reedy tenor.  The arrangements are richer here, in keeping with the trend of sophistication over their career, with the additions of horns composed by Matthew E. White.

4.  Passion Pit - Gossamer

From the humble beginnings of a dorm room-made Valentine's Day gift of an EP, Passion Pit has come a long way.  After the initial surprise success, a full band was assembled and they released Manners, their first full-length, an excellent album in its own right.  Now, a few years later, they've released something startlingly raw and polished in Gossamer.  That is to say there is a blatant paradox at the core of this album: the bubbly shining smooth dance-pop production juxtaposed with the A&E Intervention-esque exposure of singer Michael Angelakos' darkest and most personal flaws.  This makes for extremely compelling listening as we are rapt in the swirling synths and stark confessionals in what James Joyce might call the 'rhythm of beauty.'  The sad true story of Angelakos' struggles with addiction and mental illness adds gravitas to the whole thing and has led to the cancellation of a handful of live shows, including some due to a hospitalization for suicide watch.  Most of us can only watch and hope that Angelakos survives the ordeals of fame and can live with his illness, but we will always be able to look back at this album and see into the inner life of a gifted and tragic hero, and feel something we know is real.

3.  Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan

The Dirty Projectors have always had a sound all their own, with quirky jittery stabbing off-kilter riffs and angelic prismatic female vocals carrying frontman David Longstreth's lyrics.  Longstreth composes and arranges all of the music, and his voice is unmistakable.  The band hasn't always sounded this good though.  Before 2009 masterpiece Bitte Orca, the band had a very unpolished garage-rock awkwardness.  With Bitte Orca the sound matured into a fully realized  artistic style, and they continue that development on Swing Lo Magellan.  The mood is often playful and light-hearted here, at least on its best moments, and yet this attitude is often pointed at serious topics (death, violence).  My favorite track is the one that shares its title with the album, a simple ode to nature (maybe a stretch, but I'd place this one as Flaming Lips 'Do You Realize' meets Keats' Ode to a Nightingale).  What is clear is that the poetic and compositional prowess of the Dirty Projectors place them comfortably among the best of their peers.

2.  Hot Chip - In Our Heads

Is there no stopping this hydra-headed electronic pop monster?  No, there is not.  Hot chip are at the top of their game, just where they've been sitting comfortably since 2006 saw them release The Warning (from which you may remember 'Boy From School', 'Over and Over', and 'Colors' to name a few).  This time they return from 2010's romantic and understated One Life Stand in full force, unleashing a fusillade of tracks impossible not to groove to.  Don't let the electronic tag fool you either, with a seven-piece live band the music is quite rich and acoustically deep.  Singer Alexis Taylor has a real gift for delivering the sincere and the inane in a syrupy tenor that will stick in your head for days, anchored by the rhythmic underpinnings of Joe Goddard's back-up vocals.  Highlight piece 'Flutes'  is a perfect summary of what Hot Chip do well:  the grooves and build-ups, the romantic crooning alongside percussive vocal repetition, and the breakdown: "One day you might realize that you might have to open your eyes," and you will see greatness.  This is one of those records with songs that are unforgettable, songs that can be played decades from now and will sound just as fresh, songs that are bound to age well.

1.  Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE

Like other soulful artists in recent years fusing hip-hop and R&B with a radical personal vision (Drake, Janelle Monae, Kanye to name a few) Frank Ocean has created a world to be explored on channel ORANGE.  We see many sides of Mr. Ocean: the devotional ("Thinkin Bout you"), the dystopian paradise-dweller ("Sweet Life", "Super Rich Kids"), wanderer/seeker ("Lost," "Monks"), and the tortured lover ("Bad Religion," "Pyramids").  This last side is one that makes the strongest impression, the hopeless Romantic who fantasizes about cyanide to quell his heartache.  Even in more subdued moments, the emotional moments that pervade the album carry the listener along to see life through Mr. Ocean's eyes. There is a melancholia, almost nihilism, that innervates even the most upbeat moments of the album.  Whether he is getting high and drunk on fine weed and wine, getting a massage from a fancy shower head, or travelling the world, he seems to tell us that love is the only source of true happiness, and it can be much more difficult to find than other earthly delights.  We are able to join him on this quest, experience the pangs of longing, and get to know the people and sights along the way.

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