My Favorite Albums of 2012 (The Yeah, Let's Just Do This Edition)

**Derek** · 12-18-2012, 05:52 AM

So I've been so busy the last couple months, the end of the year snuck up on me, but despite this being a relatively week year, especially in comparison to 2011, I've still come across a lot of quality music. I won't even both with honorable mentions since the first 4 or 5 picks are borderline Top 30-worthy as it is, but still contain enough great songs to be worthy of a few spins if you haven't heard them already. So yeah, let's just get this over with.

30

Pile - Dripping

So the 90s were pretty awesome, right? Pile clearly agree, bringing the heavy, crunchy guitars of 90s alternative rock right back to the forefront. Rick Maguire's vocals may drag a few of the songs down a bit, but man, when the dude's screaming, he certainly has a way of getting his point across. The guitarwork here is consistently solid and while it's derivative of a specific era, there are some beautiful progressions and nice surprises that kept drawing me back.

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**Derek** · 12-18-2012, 06:27 AM

29

Dead Can Dance - Anastasis

Infusing their dark, gothic palette with the sounds of world music and European folk, Dead Can Dance have created a fascinating, engrossing album whose sprawling synths and subtle repetitions reward patience by slowly entrancing the listener. Both Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry's voices sound as powerful and refined as ever - Gerrard's angelic and otherworldly, Perry's deep and grounded, the two complement each other wonderfully, just as the carefully selected mix of strings, synths and beats consistently enhance rather than overwhelm the songs, leading to a finished product that is as open as it is tightly controlled and as subdued as it is epic.

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**dreamdead** · 12-19-2012, 12:08 AM

Good to see that you're doing this again.

I felt that "Return of the She-King" was DCD's finest moment on the album. Trance-like in its repetition, but the blending of Lisa and Brendan's voices here raises it up over the tracks where only one gets to shine. The break at 5:00 is just divine. Was driving to work one day and arrived in tears as the emotion just powered through from this song. No other track this year affected me that way. "Anabasis" is excellent too, of course. Are you a bigger fan of Lisa or Brendan's aesthetic?

**DSNT** · 12-19-2012, 02:22 AM

Good start. I grabbed the Dead can Dance when it came out, but still hasn't had its way with me. More my fault. There has to be a certain mood to really enjoy DcD and I haven't found it yet.

All that said, I have faith that eventually I will worship this album.

**kopello** · 12-19-2012, 03:08 AM

Good write up for Anastasis. I listened to Within the Realm of the Dying Sun a few years ago and it didn't really grab me. It wasn't until their new one was on it's way out I decided to listen to it a couple of more times and I'm quite the fan now, even though it took me awhile to really gel with their music.

**D_Davis** · 12-19-2012, 04:29 AM

Quoting DSNT (view post)

Good start. I grabbed the Dead can Dance when it came out, but still hasn't had its way with me. More my fault. There has to be a certain mood to really enjoy DcD and I haven't found it yet.

All that said, I have faith that eventually I will worship this album.

I don't know - I don't think the new album is all that good. Brendan Perry's last solo album is much better. Compared to the best of their older stuff, I found it rather bland. I've only listened it it a few times this year, and I was a huge DCD fan.

**Derek** · 12-19-2012, 06:36 AM

28

Shackleton - Music for the Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ EPs

A double album that is essentially two separate releases with varying aesthetics, Shackleton's Music for the Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ EPs' offers a value that no electronic music lover can turn down. Quiet Hour presents more experimental offerings, long stretches of dark ambient which create a palpable sense of doom through electronic hums, tribal beats, a creative use of negative space and a sense of pacing that produces a prolonged sense of time. Functioning as a 5-part, one hour opus, Quiet Hour explores the nooks and crannies amidst the darkest areas of the ambient spectrum. The Drawbar Organ EPs on the other hand is firmly planted in the more accessible realm of dub ambient with each track held together by more traditional melodic progressions and structures. However, the result is surprisingly fresh and within these more restricted confines, Shackleton finds a unique voice with his pulsating rhythms highlighted by a variety of cacophonous sounds and strange yet somehow pleasing beats. Any album that clocks in at 2+ hours is going to have a bit of filler, but while there are a few stretches where my interest wanes, there's really not a single track that doesn't deserve to be on here.

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**DSNT** · 12-19-2012, 09:17 PM

Quoting D_Davis (view post)

I don't know - I don't think the new album is all that good. Brendan Perry's last solo album is much better. Compared to the best of their older stuff, I found it rather bland. I've only listened it it a few times this year, and I was a huge DCD fan.

I'm with you. Big DCD fan back in the day, which is probably why I'm still optimistic about the new record even though I haven't felt it yet. I wouldn't expect it match up with classic stuff, but I thought the same thing about Spiritchaser, and grew to love that album.

Also heard a couple cuts off the Brendan Perry album, which I did like.

**dreamdead** · 12-19-2012, 10:12 PM

Quoting D_Davis (view post)

I don't know - I don't think the new album is all that good. Brendan Perry's last solo album is much better. Compared to the best of their older stuff, I found it rather bland. I've only listened it it a few times this year, and I was a huge DCD fan.

What I find interesting about Anastasis is how focused it is on mood and maintaining atmosphere. It's less concerned with the organic growth of melodies and grounds itself in a few note combinations. In that regard, it's most like Spiritchaser, which is the one album of theirs that I too haven't been able to ever really get into. For whatever reason, though, this one works those combinations in such a way that I don't mind the focus on mood.

I do think that Perry's Ark is more interesting musically, but the lyrical war commentary, while I don't disagree with the politics, seems at odds with his persona on some level.

**D_Davis** · 12-19-2012, 11:13 PM

Quoting dreamdead (view post)

I do think that Perry's Ark is more interesting musically, but the lyrical war commentary, while I don't disagree with the politics, seems at odds with his persona on some level.

I agree - it's a little on the nose. But you know what they say...subtlety is the first casualty when art and war combine.

**Derek** · 12-21-2012, 04:45 AM

27

Aluk Todolo - Occult Rock

Occult Rock is one of those albums that slams down the accelerator right at the start and unrelentlessly keeps up the feverish intensity for its entire spintime. Noise-driven, instrumental psych rock in the vein of Psychic Paramount, Aluk Todolo's music isn't predicated on intricacies, but rather its sheer feverish pace that transforms guitars into instruments of transcendance and its rough-edged sonic textures which shape noise into atmospheric bliss. At 80+ minutes, it pushes the edge of excess, but there's rarely a dull stretch and it holds up equally well to careful listens as it does to functioning as background music. Metalheads take heed; this is likely as close to pure metal as we'll come this year!

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**dreamdead** · 12-21-2012, 02:25 PM

Quoting Derek (view post)

27

Aluk Todolo - Occult Rock

Metalheads take heed; this is likely as close to pure metal as we'll come this year!

This sounds readymade for me. And it's interesting stuff. The latter two tracks have a propulsive force pushing them forward, with great guitar leads. That opening track, though, just kinda sits there. I look forward to coming back and playing clips off of this one for the next week or so and seeing how it gestates.

**Derek** · 12-22-2012, 06:27 PM

26

Sigur Ros - Valtari

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but post-rock just isn’t as cool as it used to be. Maybe it’s due to its omnipresence in mass media or the fact that many of the genre’s most recent titans either broke up or are spinning their wheels, having left their best days back in the early aughts. While Sigur Ros fit pretty snugly in the latter category given their steady decline since ( ), Valtari finds them stripping down their sound, tightening their song structures and honing in on the ambient textures that, prior to Valtari, were often only primers leading to explosive crescendos. This more subtle approach to unsubtle music may sound counter-intuitive, but in limiting their excesses, Sigur Ros have reshaped their aesthetic just enough to make them unpredictable and interesting again, their shift further into the ambient spectrum limiting what had become more rote, even a bit emotionally cheap, in their more recent and expanding on the subdued emotional terrain that lied beneath much of their best work. It’s certainly not an album that will win over new fans, but for those of us who loved their earliest albums, it was more than a pleasant surprise.

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**Derek** · 12-22-2012, 06:35 PM

25

DIIV - Oshin

I’ve been a fan of Zachary Cole Smith’s guitarwork since his work with Beach Fossils a couple of years ago and his remarkably vivacious stage presence, both with Beach Fossils and DIIV, only further solidifies him as one of the most interesting guitarists in the new decade’s indie rock scene. While his high-pitched plucking certainly have a similar sound to his other band, DIIV truly feels like something of his own with the ethereal atmospherics that dominate the album coming from a combination of his distorted vocals and shoegazey guitars with the haunting post-punkish basslines. Few albums strike the right balance of mellow and catchy, but Oshin manages to be both a perfect dreamy, chill out album yet fun and poppy enough to keep your boots tapping and your heart rate up.

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**Derek** · 12-22-2012, 07:04 PM

24

Big K.R.I.T. - 4eva N a Day

4Eva N A Day may not be as thematically ambitious as Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, Maad City or as sonically adventurous as El-P’s Cure for Cancer or as consistently engaging as K.R.I.T.’s other 2012 release, Live from the Underground, but as good as those albums are, K.R.I.T.’s is the only one I still spin from start to finish. This album really pulls no punches – there are some touches like the inclusion of a sax or guitar on a few tracks, but for the most part, this is simply good, old-fashioned hip-hop with solid beats, killer hooks and samples and K.R.I.T.’s smooth voice taking us along for his nostalgic road trip. The highs on 4Eva N A Day aren’t as high as this year’s other heavy hitters, but no other hip-hop album from this year flowed as smoothly and effortlessly as this.

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**Derek** · 12-22-2012, 07:08 PM

23

Royal Headache - Royal Headache

There’s a lot of garage rock revival going around these days and honestly, a lot of it is fairly unimaginative, completely derivative and devoid of creativity. Royal Headache are none of these; their self-titled album is vibrant and bursting with personality and passion, particularly from lead singer Shogun’s gruff yet soulful voice which gives the album a sense of immediacy and purpose as well as a sweetness and intimacy that plays nicely off the fun, speedy little riffs that zip us through each track. It’s about as fun as an 24-minute album has a right to be.

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**Derek** · 12-26-2012, 06:56 PM

22

Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory

Hiring Steve Albini to produce your rock album is pretty much always a great idea, since whether or not he spends most of his time in the studio playing Scrabble on his phone, he's still going to give you those rough, metallic guitars and hard-popping drums that gives you a leg up on most other hard-edged rock albums. But 19-year old wunderkind Dylan Baldi more than held up his end of the deal, bringing a remarkably consistent set of rocking tunes that show a maturity well beyond his years. From the poppier, riff-driven tracks like "Cut You" and "Fall In" to the sprawling, expansive post-hardcore tunes like "Stay Useless" and "Wasted Days" whose breakdowns turn into full-on jams, Baldi and friends turn cliched teenage angst into a musical endeavor rather than lame posturing, the palpable sense of frustration and anxiety not merely coming through in Baldi's gruff, screamy voice, but in every element of the song, from the explosive instrumentation to the often adventurous song structures. It's far from a perfect album - hopefully the flashes of Green Day fade away in their next outing - but Attack On Memory kicked off 2012 with one of the most surprising and auspicious debuts we saw all year.

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**elixir** · 12-26-2012, 08:12 PM

Thank you for using spoilers.

The Cloud Nothings is the first one I've listened to. It's alright. No Future/No Past is definitely my favorite track on there.

Good stuff overall. Excited to see the rest!

**D_Davis** · 12-27-2012, 03:42 PM

I like the Sigur Ros album the most of the choices thus far.

**ledfloyd** · 12-27-2012, 04:17 PM

the cloud nothings record probably would've placed about the same for me this year.

**sevenarts** · 12-28-2012, 02:21 PM

That Aluk Todolo disc slays, definitely their best album yet.

**Derek** · 12-28-2012, 06:58 PM

Quoting dreamdead (view post)

This sounds readymade for me. And it's interesting stuff. The latter two tracks have a propulsive force pushing them forward, with great guitar leads. That opening track, though, just kinda sits there. I look forward to coming back and playing clips off of this one for the next week or so and seeing how it gestates.

Like most double albums, it has it's ups and downs, but it does seem right up your alley so hopefully it grows on you!

**Derek** · 12-28-2012, 07:02 PM

21

Nas - Life Is Good

Ok, so “Summer on Smash” is probably the worst song on any album on my list and Mary J. Blige’s guest spot on “Reach Out” is borderline unlistenable, but aside from a few major hiccups, Life Is Good is the best thing Nas has done since Illmatic. Fresh off of his divorce, Nas is equally reminiscent and forward-looking, returning again to his poverty-ridden, ghetto upbringing and post-Illmatic fame days, but also adding thoughtful and introspective material about his failures and successes as a father and husband. It’s one hell of a conflicted album, thematically jumbled as it goes from immature, megalomaniacal tracks to deep, melancholy ones without hesitation, but it is within this mess that the album’s title, Life Is Good, begins to take shape. It is less a statement of fact than a mantra and with everything Nas has been through, he’s choosing to believe that life is good and this album, with all its complications and contradictions, wants us to believe it too.

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**Derek** · 12-28-2012, 07:06 PM

20

Ty Segall - Twins

The year’s most prolific artist, Ty Segall was thoughtful enough to leave us with three solid and distinct albums in 2012 – Hair, with White Fence, Slaughterhouse, with Ty Segall Band, and Twins, a solo album proper – each providing ample evidence of both his ridiculous talents as guitarist and his wide array of musical knowledge, particularly 60s garage rock and psychedelia. Twins may be the most musically straightforward of the three, but it also packs the hardest punch, the crunchy, churning guitars giving way to one killer riff after another. With every track taking the 2-3 minute, get-in and get-out approach of garage rock, Segall takes us on a face-paced unrelenting tour through all the shades of his style, all similar in tone yet each offering a fresh enough take that the album builds an accumulative power and a momentum that makes it endlessly spinable.

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**Derek** · 12-28-2012, 07:19 PM

19

Mohn - Mohn

Lauded by our own Daniel Davis as a “pretty good album[!]”, Mohn marks the return of electronic legend Wolfgang Voigt, Gas himself and founder of the always consistent Kompakt label, with Jörg Burger, with whom he released the brilliant Las Vegas under the Burger/Ink monicker. Mohn is a bit more expansive than Las Vegas, lying further on the ambient side of the ambient techno spectrum, yet not as purely and densely atmospheric as his Gas releases, pun not intended. Structured around rhythmic repetitions, carefully layered sonic textures and a wide array of playful percussive backing, Mohn create 9 rock solid, slow-building, hypnotic gems to get lost in; each track varied and complex enough to reward attentive listening, but equally suited to zoning out to. It marks yet another fine addition to Voigt’s canon, which was already among the most impressive in the last 20 years of electronic music.

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