Top 40 Albums Of 2012: 30 - 26

Hope you had a merry Christmas, y'all.  Hope you got all that cool crap you wanted.  More importantly, I hope you were able to spend good time with those people you love.

As this list approaches #1 (and one day it eventually will) I'm having a tougher time organizing these albums.  They're ALL good, almost interchangeably so.  So really, no matter what ends up in the top five or top ten or top thirty, everything is worth listening to.  Promise.

In this set of five: Old-school hip-hop.  Underground hip-hop.  Indie rock.  Finns.


30) Aesop Rock - Skelethon

I like Aesop Rock, but I have a hard time deciphering what Ian Bavitz is saying.  That's not necessarily a bad thing as words and word usages play a large part of Aesop Rock's music, and the poetry here is often just too rich for my comprehension.  Nonetheless, comprehensive or not, exquisite lyrical images are painted and set to sweet no-nonsense beats.  Rob Sonic and Kimya Dawson, who are pretty much on opposite ends of the musical spectrum, make contributions.

29) Pinback - Information Retrieved

The great thing about Pinback is how consistent they are.  Newer Pinback sounds a lot like older pinback, and older Pinback is awesome.  Newer Pinback is awesome.  It's all awesome.  And even though they hadn't released a full-length album in five years, Information Retrieved continues right along, dishin' out those mellowfied jams.

28) Grizzly Bear - Shields

I really liked Yellow House, which came out back in 2006, but for whatever reason I skipped out on 2009's Veckatimest.  So Shields, for me anyway, is like a grand reuniting.  And I was pleasantly surprised to see how they've changed over the years.  While the instrumentation is still breathy and ethereal, Shields is considerably more focused.  There are a lot of words (whereas on Yellow House there were hardly any), and the music itself doesn't meander so much.  This makes Grizzly Bear quite a bit more accessible and, honestly, more rocktastic.  I like it.

27) Burning Hearts - Extinctions

Finnish indie-rock!  Burning Hearts is all those things I can't help but like: hushed lady vocals, Scandinavian  accents, SYNTHS, some atmosphere, good hooks.  There's some New Wave in there that gives the whole thing a subtle '80s vibe, hints of classic rock to give it a subtler '70s vibe, enough jangle to squeak in vague '60s and '90s vibes.  Extinctions is music for all time!  Little bit haunting, quite a bit catchy, completely excellent. 

26) Public Enemy - Most Of My Heroes Still Don't Appear On No Stamp

Public Enemy released two albums in 2012.  Most Of My Heroes is the one that I had a chance to listen to.  Sorry, other album.  Anyway even though Public Enemy has been fairly consistent about releasing an album every few years, every time they do it's considered a comeback.  I call this the Weird Al Syndrome.  But don't call it a comeback.  Public Enemy is just as relevant and unabashedly direct and BEAT-tastic as ever.  Chuck D still spits his intimidatingly confident message, and Flava Flav is still the group's exclamation point.  And, above all, Most Of My Heroes is GOOD.  This record JAMS.  Dig it.