Honourable Mentions:
2:54 - 2:54;
Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal;
Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball;
A$AP Rocky - Long Live A$AP;
DIIV - Oshin.
10. Miguel –
Kaleidoscope Dream
In my opinion, the best R&B
album of the year. There is a consistent quality, and variety, across the
record; Adorn is a pretty wee love
song, Don’t Look Back, an epic,
rousing ballad, the title track a successful fusion of traditional R&B and
electronica. It’s a very aesthetically pleasant listen, ably assisted by
Miguel’s greatest attribute; his stunning vocals. He has the voice of a
particularly horny angel. While neither groundbreaking, nor thematically
existent, Kaleidoscope Dream serves
its purpose; it’s a hugely enjoyable easy listening album. Perfect for writing
an article on the Top Ten Albums of the Year.
9. Cloud Nothings –
Attack on Memory
Attack on Memory is a hugely progressive step forward for the
underrated Cloud Nothings. Moving away from their indie-pop foundation into
angst-punk territory is a bold move, and it pays dividends for the hilariously
nerdy looking band. The superb build-up opening track, No Future/No Past, establishes the central tone and theme of the
album; the dissatisfaction of modern twentysomethings. Like the best punk
singers, Dylan Baldi screams because he has something to say. Stay Useless and Our Plans are present as the excellent ‘radio’ songs, but the star
of the show is the 9 minute anarchic masterpiece, Wasted Days.
8. Schoolboy Q –
Habits and Contradictions
Habits and Contradictions opens with two hip-hop crackers; the
atmospheric Sacrilegious, and the
brutally eye-opening There He Go.
While never quite matching its beginning, (if it could, it’d be one of the best
hip-hop albums ever) it’s easily Schoolboy
Q’s best work. Schoolboy Q, like
collaborator A$AP ROCKY, never says
anything especially poignant, but, amongst the pumping jams and jumping pams,
he frequently offers an honest insight into the mind of someone warped by fame
and fortune, an intriguing case study of a man given everything, yet not always
getting everything. Regardless, it’s still brilliantly produced.
7. First Aid Kit – The
Lion’s Roar
Country folk, like guitar music,
is declared ‘dead’, then ‘alive’ on a bi-annual basis. The hauntingly beautiful
voices of Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg renders country folk
‘alive’ once more. Yes, listening to them sing is serenely life-affirming, but
it’s important to appreciate their songwriting ability also. Using instruments
normally associated with inbred hillbillys singing about how black slavery is
still integral to American democracy, they craft heartwarming love stories,
heartbreaking lovelorn stories, and occasionally, ferociously feminist
statements. A fantastic debut album. Emmylou
is the Pitchfork fan’s alternative to Gangnam
Style as catchiest song of 2012.
6. The XX – Coexist
Okay, I know I reviewed this in
the summer and asserted that it was nigh impossible to beat as album of the
year. Truthfully, there are five albums better than it. So, I was quite wrong.
The XX’s debut album’s brilliance lay in the simplicity of its sound, something,
somehow, even more refined here. It’s a quiet, under-the-radar masterpiece of
easy listening. Hauntingly pretty, yet startlingly relevant in an era of
isolated romances. Fiction is a
dream-pop classic, Swept Away a
neo-R&B foot-tapathon, while both Reunion
and Unfold are understated, yet
powerful, exemplifying that especially XX uniqueness. Nearly flawless, but I’m expecting
something more ambitious from Jamie and co next time.
5. Death Grips – The Money
Store
Ever since the bonkers Guillotine was released, I’ve slowly
fallen more and more in love with
Death Grips. The Money Store is just
as delightfully insane as I hoped. The likes of Fever and Punk Weight are
traditionally Death Grips, in that they’re a wholly untraditional mesh of
synthesisers, drum machines, tortured cats and human skulls being used as
tambourines. It’s hip-hop like you’ve never heard it before. Lyrically, it’s
like someone bugged the house of a torrettes-suffering schizophrenic. It’s a
series of paranoid, nonsensical ramblings, but it’s fascinating. The most
original album of the year.
4. Chromatics – Kill for
Love
Perhaps the closest claim to fame
Chromatics had prior to Kill for Love,
was having an instrumental used in Drive,
a film with a soundtrack so chock-full of fantastic electronic-rock songs, it’s
a trendy, ultra-violent music video. Kill
for Love, although great, is odd. The first half consists of a series of brilliantly
composed pop love songs, with synths in full swing, while the latter half mostlt includes moody instrumentals. As a huge fan of electronic rock, I’m
jubilant to finally have a terrific studio album to satiate my synthesiser
lust, rather than a bottomless pit of one-hit wonders. The title track and Lady are notable favourites. Like OMD,
only with an attractive girl as lead singer.
3. Godspeed you Black
Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
Godspeed you Black Emperor are so
superior to every other post-rock band in existence that the genre is still
coming to terms with the indisputable magnificence of their first album, 1997’s
Infinity. Now, ten years since their
last effort, they return with another implicitly affecting attack on
everything, and nothing. Entirely lyricless save for the occasional Apocalyptic
soundbite, each track, if you can separate them, builds up slowly with its
heavy, distorted guitars, screeching string instruments and brutalised
percussion, to a euphorically terrifying crescendo. Each Godspeed album is
structured like a classical Symphony, a notion never as profound as in Allelujah.
2. Tame Impala –
Lonerism
Perhaps the overarching theme of Lonerism isn’t exactly unambiguous, but
it’s the most significantly important album of 2012. Social isolationism and discontent
is hardly an original concept to confront, yet Tame Impala handle it
distinctively. Rather than expressing themselves through pseudo-intellectual
rap or angst punk, their sound is probably best described as being slightly
aggressive pop rock. They succeed unquestionably, in conveying their obviously
pertinent message, and in making excellent rock music. Apocalypse Dreams and Elephant
are classic rock anthems, while Why Won’t
They Talk to Me? and Feels Like we
Only Go Backwards are respectfully two contenders for song of the year.
1.
Crystal Castles – (III)
Crystal
Castles are just incredible. What (III) proves
is that they’re just getting better. The album opens with the stunning Plague, soon followed by the mind-blowing
Wrath of God. It continues in this
vain. The soon-to-be house favourite Telepath
stands out, as do the astonishingly relevant Violent Youth and Child I
Will Hurt You (incidentally, Crystal Castles trademark ‘slow, pretty’ song
of the album, despite its subject matter). In (III), Crystal Castles evoke the mysterious (entirely objective)
poignancy of Radiohead, the angsty power and iconic image of Sonic Youth and
the eccentric dance madness of Chemical Brothers collectively. This is a very
special album, by a very special band. What’s the most exciting part? I don’t
think we’ve seen the best of them yet.
10 Favourite Songs of the Year:
10. How Long Have you Known - DIIV
9. Violent Youth - Crystal Castles
8. Six Weeks - Of Monsters and Men
7. Why Won't They Talk to Me? - Tame Impala
6. Five Seconds - Twin Shadow
5. Emmylou - First Aid Kit
4. Wrath of God - Crystal Castles
3. Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood
2. Feels Like we Only Go Backwards - Tame Impala
1. It's a War - Blackbird Blackbird
