Top 45 Albums Of 2012: 5,4,3,2,1

As I mentioned before, 2012 was a year of old friends.  There were some new projects by new musicians that turned my head, but for the most part it was the familiar stuff that drew me in.  What was great about the familiar stuff, though, was hearing the maturation and growth in the new material.  And as I've personally matured and grown the music that has provided the soundtrack to my life continues to do so in parallel fashion.

Anyway, finally, here we are!  My favorite albums from a span of time that ended three months ago.  I never claimed to be relevant, just persistent.

5) Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas

Despite being 150-years-old, Cohen is sexier and saucier than ever, and somehow he pulls that off with an album that is more-or-less an end-of-life farewell.  Age, introspection, and retrospection are the themes here, all of it spiritually contextualized.  The poetry and wordplay is simple and perfect, as is the music behind it.  And as Cohen faces death, rather than fearing its inevitability, he shrugs with the knowledge that it was all part of the deal.  Old Ideas would be a dark and depressing album in anybody else's hands, but Cohen is too wry and to suave a lyricist and vocalist to let that happen.  Instead we have his deep, soft, weathered vocals gently talking us toward the end of the road.

4) El Perro Del Mar - Pale Fire

It's to talk about Sarah Assbring's new material without contrasting it with the older stuff.  She first fluttered into my radar with her sparse-sounding lo-fi acoustic albums.  Her sound has evolved over the years, and now with Pale Fire we have these sonically full and musically complex songs.  Assbring has retained some elements that permeate every El Perro Del Mar project.  She continues to expertly used lyrical repetition to her advantage, and her pixie voice has always been somewhat haunting.  But now instead of guitars she uses synthesizers and drum loops and other snazzy technological instruments to create this upbeat (well, upbeat for El Perro Del Mar) and funky (well, funky for El Perro Del Mar) album.

3) Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind

Hey you guys, Converge is still awesome!  And I hate to use the word "still" as if there were a period of time where Converge sucked, but since they only release albums every three years or so it is easy to let them slip from the forefront of our consciousness.  The first track is... different.  Coherent vocals?  Accessibility?  Face-smashingly awesome, of course, but is this the direction Converge is going?  Nope.  All We Love quickly shifts back into quick-draw frenzy-metal territory, and Jacob Bannon gets on with the business of shredding his vocals into gut-chewing oblivion.  If you've grown up with Converge this album will put a big fat smile on your bloody face.  And if this is your first time... well, you never forget your first time.

2) Damien Jurado - Maraqopa

Though Maraqopa is Jurado's eleventh(!) studio album, this is only the second time he has teamed up with producer Richard Swift.  Swift helps steer this album into jazzy ambient directions, and if you've listened to any of those other Jurado albums you know this is something new.  Jurado's music, based in folk, has traditionally been very straight-forward, but he pulls this off magnificently. Everything is still quite laid back with sad-ish lyrical overtones, but Swift has given these tracks a sort of spacey, almost surf-rock vibe to them.  I don't know if this is a direction Jurado will continue to explore, but for now I'm content to let these songs envelop me.  Recommended for sunset driving in the American southwest.

1) mewithoutyou - Ten Stories

I was tremendously disappointed with their last album.  The music of mewithoutyou had, until that album, carried very powerful weight, and I felt they had forgone that when they opted to go into new musical directions.  But now I am pleased to see the band is back to form, challenging us and rocking us right out.  And you would think a concept album centering around a 19th century traveling circus would seem kind of silly, but mewithoutyou uses this backdrop to explore the nature of man, what it means to be a part of creation, and the nature of our relationship with God.  It's heavy stuff, and Aaron Weiss's lyrics (delivered via talky-singing and talky-shouting) poetically lay it out in metaphorical stories.  Musically mewithoutyou is capable of rocking it HARD, but they hold back most of the time, and that puts greater emphasis on the times they do rock it HARD.  It's all very carefully crafted and all enjoyably brilliant and all unexpectedly enriching.  My favorite album of 2012, easy.

Top 45 Albums Of 2012: 10 - 6

Let it be known that I love the ladies.  Four of the next five entries feature women on vocals.  (Bob Dylan sneaks his way in there, as he is completely allowed to.)  Even the crassest female vocal has rounded edges, a feminine curvature about itself that penetrates the innermost parts of a male listener the way nothing else can.  And when a competent woman (that is, a woman who knows precisely, exactly, what she is doing) lends her voice to a properly accommodating piece of music the results can be soul-stirringly moving.

Here is half of my top 10 albums from 2012.  Everything beyond this point is highly HIGHLY recommended.

10) Poliça - Give You The Ghost

Poliça is a cool band to be aware of.  Though this is their debut full-length album, its music has been featured in various TV shows and the band itself has become something of a trendy indie darling.  You will understand why if you quit being so snooty about it and just listen.  Haunting echoey female vocals tremble over a subtly funky bed of post-disco bass and electronics.  Hypnotic as the music is, Poliça begs too much of your attention to be classified as chill.  Recommended for late night midtown driving.

9) Bob Dylan - Tempest

Bob Dylan is by this point a very old man.  And on Tempest he sounds every bit the however-many-hundreds-of-years-old man he is.  But though his voice has turned to dying gravel, Dylan the lyricist is wittier and sharper and feistier than ever, and Dylan the musician/songwriter is swaggier than ever.  Here he expertly dabbles in swampy Mississippi blues, bittersweet ballads, long stories and short stories, each song comprised of piss and vinegar.  This isn't the album one puts together during his final days.  Tempest is Bob Dylan, done Bob Dylan's way.

8) Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

Van Etten is a new discovery for me, and I wish I had been on board sooner because of all the things I am a sucker for, I am suckeriest for lady singer-songwriters.  As for Tramp, Van Etten all at once appears vulnerable and confident, peeling through her songs with a warbled voice that perfectly and unapologetically communicates how and what she's feeling.  Contributors to the album include members of The National (including Aaron Dressen, who also produced), Wye Oak, and Zach Condon of Beirut, so you know this album is folkishly indie-riffic!

7) Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur

My wife thinks I'm in love with Kathleen Edwards.  I'm not.  I'M NOT.  Just mildly obsessed with her.  If her songs sucked it wouldn't be that way.  If her tweets weren't grade-school hilarious (@kittythefool) it wouldn't be that way.  But regardless of what I think of Kathleen Edwards, Voyageur is another tremendous collection of music.  Produced by that guy from Bon Iver, Voyageur sonically sounds different than Edwards' previous releases but still retains that Tom Petty/Americana feel to it.  "Change the Sheets" would have been the summer song of 2012 had it not been released as a single in the middle of winter.  Elsewhere on the album Norah Jones makes an appearance as a background singer, so listen up for that I guess.

Also, don't watch the video to "Chameleon/Comedian" if you're eating.  You've been warned.

6) Susanne Sundfør - The Silicon Veil

I've casually followed Susanne Sundfør's career for the past few years.  She has that angelic Norwegian voice, and it was obvious early on that one day she was going to write the perfect set of songs and get the perfect producers to engineer the most perfect sounding songs that she could absolutely crush with her perfectly perfected vocals.  Well, this is it.  Here we are.  The Silicon Veil is a journey, and Sundfør floats you through it while a cloud of electro-classical music envelops you.  These songs are dramatic and cinematic and icy and celestial in that special Scandinavian way.  I don't know what's next for Susanne Sundfør, but The Silicon Veil will be dang hard to top.

Top 45 Albums Of 2012: 15 - 11

So it turns out I like duos.  Four of these next five groups are duos.  There is less interference with duos.  You get something close to the singular artistic vision with twice the musical talent.  Also there is something nice about the idea of hanging out with your bud and creating something awesome.

I also like how diverse these next five musicians are.  All over the map.  Different attitudes.  Different intents.  Different sounds.  All of them good in their own special (and sometimes disturbed) way.

Hey, a top ten is on the brink.  And it's only March of the following year!

15) Cat Power - Sun

I don't know where Sun fits on Chan Marshall's career arc.  Before this album her sound had evolved from moody alternative girl folk rock whateverness to bluesy loungy mellow goodness.  And now we have this.  Sun is still mellow, less croony, and bits of her old alternative rock self poke through.  It would almost seem more of a musical regression rather than evolution, but she has delivered these new tunes upon a soft inviting bed of electronics.  It is understated -- this isn't an electro album by any means -- but it adds a whole new dimension to Cat Power.

14) Crystal Castles - III

You basically know what you're going to get with Crystal Castles.  It will be shrill and glitchy, a pulsating wall of calculated chaos.  Each of their full-length albums have been better than the one before, not so much by leaps and bounds, but in the subtle way a craftsman steadily improves their craft.  Through the screeching you can hear the growing maturity of their sound.  Their songs are sounding less like hiccups and more like conversations.  Granted, those conversations are taking place inside of a shattered disco ball asylum, but on III the connections between artist and listener are more realized than ever.

13) Beach House - Bloom

Like Crystal Castles, Beach House is a one-guy/one-girl duo.  Like Crystal Castles, Beach House has steadily matured with each album while maintaining musical consistency.  Unlike Crystal Castles, everything else. Beach House's music is so blissful and ethereal, every song is like a dream.  With Bloom the dreams are more focused and clear, though no less beautiful.  Rather than haunting us like in albums past, these songs take us by the hand and lead us to... I don't know, some place bright and far and catchy.

12) Exitmusic - Passage

As far as debut albums go this is tremendous.  These songs soar and dip and leave you trembling.  Another guy/girl duo (I love guy/girl duos), you might actually recognize Aleska Palladino from all those TV and movie appearances she's made.  But here, teamed up with her husband and music buddy Devon Church to create music straight out of the exploding heavens, she is 100% brilliant songstress. 

11) Xiu Xiu - Always

Jaime Stewart's music has always been visceral and personal, raw and sans filter.  Listening to Xiu Xiu is like taking your personal demons on a carousel ride.  These songs can be difficult, they can be unnerving, but there isn't anything else like it.  Through the frantic vocals and unpredictable turns of music Stewart lays himself open and lets you inside his manic head.  He's been doing this for years and Always shows just how good he's gotten at showcasing himself as the guy you're too afraid to befriend, too afraid because of what he will inevitably show you about yourself.

Top 45 Albums Of 2012: 20 - 16

Crackin' the twenty.  After this I only liked fifteen more albums from last year (but I liked them incrementally better).  This portion of the list contains a lot of mellow, except for the Casket Lottery who louden it all up.  There are also a few albums that signal triumphant returns for old friends who fell off the grid for a while.  Musical prodigal sons are the best kinds of prodigal sons.

20) Bowerbirds - The Clearing

I may soon burn out on indie folk rock, but Bowerbirds broaches the genre so directly that they avoid sounding like everybody else even if there isn't anything radically different about their music.  That's the power of good songwriting.  The Clearing has that woodsy feel to it and the lyrics are full of nature imagery.  This is an album for sunsets on the trail, introspective and safely wandering (and wondering).

19) Beachwood Sparks - The Tarnished Gold

Years ago my wife tried to tell me how awesome Beachwood Sparks was.  She said they're a band I would really like, but I ignored her because I'm a fool.  Then they dropped off the map and never crossed my mind again.  Until now.  In June the band released their first full-length album, The Tarnished Gold, in eleven years.  I decided to give it a spin because, hey, weren't these the guys my wife tried to tell me about a long time ago?  I will never doubt my woman again.  Mellowfied west-coast alt-country goodness right here.  You can hear the influences, from Gram Parsons to Jackson Browne to Uncle Tupelo, and it melds together warmly and wonderfully.

18) The Casket Lottery - Real Fear

The most pleasant surprise of the past year was the release of a new Casket Lottery album.  The band broke up (or went on hiatus or whatever) back in 2006, its members wandering off to concentrate on other projects.  But, unbeknownst to myself, they got back together in 2011 and set to work recording a fiery set of songs fit for an uprising.  Real Fear is The Casket Lottery taking a mature step forward, focusing on uniting melody and atmosphere.  What we get is something a little more sonic but no less devastating.

17) Beth Orton - Sugaring Season

You know who else we haven't seen in a while?  Beth Orton, who hadn't released anything since '06.  There were good reasons for this, but it is great to have her back.  In fact this could be my new favorite Orton album.  Sugaring Season is sultry, serious without being depressing, quiet but not hushed.  Croony, but too rich for lounge.  One song is a William Blake poem.  Another was co-written with a member of the Chemical Brothers.  And somehow it is all distinctly Beth Orton, and it all cohesively fits the album.

16) Stars - The North

The North is so ear-friendly, so easy to get along with.  This album is comparable to middle-era Death Cab (you know, before Ben Gibbard became a little too bothersome), though Stars focuses more on gentle catchy hooks and sounding nice.  There are synthesizers and hints of 80s, but these things give the music a fuller sonic feel as opposed to directing the music into fashionably retro directions.  Of all the bands who employ turn-taking male and female vocalists, Stars is the only one where I find the dude and girl equally listenable.  Great album from a great band.  Also, Canada.

Top 45 Albums Of 2012: 25 - 21

I don't know about you but I've already had a year's worth of crazy stuff happen, and we're only just breaking into February.  I'd like to say that music helped me through the tough times, but honestly things were so manic I didn't have time to listen to anything at all.  Maybe some radio tunes while driving around, but it was background noise.  Nothing to explore.  Nothing mind-blowingly new and awesome.

But I'm floating back to earth now, and music IS helping with that.  Lots of oldies, the good stuff from the 1950s and 60s.  I've listened to that all my life, and it keeps me connected somehow.  I don't know... I'm less interested in why that kind of music effects me the way it does and more interested in letting it work it's golden magic.

And I'm also coming back to my favorite songs from 2012.  These albums will certainly have very specific memories attached to them, and maybe in some years I'll look back at them with bittersweet fondness.  But for now they're my soundtrack, and this movie ain't over yet.

25) Titus Andronicus - Local Business

 

Titus Andronicus is not at all interested in nonsense, no matter the album.  "Here's a big juicy plate of meat and potatoes," each song says.  "It's five minutes long and you must eat it all right now."  And then the song ends, and another starts, and the force-feeding begins again.  It's all quite wonderful.  Though not quite as ambitious as The Monitor (which was a punk rock 'n' roll ode to the American Civil War, so really, what could possibly top that?), Local Business is still a great album full of east coast swag and knowing nods to old-school punk.

24) Two Gallants - The Bloom And The Blight

 

I like rock 'n' roll duos.  Two performers doing all the instrumentation, keeping it stripped and real.  Two Gallants, comprised of a pair of San Franciscans with musical chops, shred it on The Bloom And The Blight.  Blistering passionate vocals, tumbling drums, the crunchy guitar, all awesome when things get revvin'.  But hold up, aren't these guys folkish?  They sure are, and when they bust out the acoustic and the harmonica and the tambourine you get the best rootsy folk-rock this side of Bringing It All Back Home.  But really it's about those loud songs.  Crank it.

23) Chris Staples - American Soft

 

Probably the most apt album title on this whole list, the songs of American Soft are gentle introspective little ditties.  They are very straightforward and it's easy to overlook the intelligence of Staples' lyrics.  In fact everything is so low-key it's nearly so easy to overlook entire songs.  But Staples has a knack for hooks and something on this album will make a cozy little home in your brain, a welcomed guest you're not so anxious to shake out.

22) DIIV - Oshin

 

Oshin is the first full-length release from DIIV (pronounced "dive" I think, as the band used to be called Dive).  It is dense and hazy yet upbeat and rhythmic, the soundtrack to a brooding, busy apocalypse.  The vocals are sparse, and even when they are present they are sunk so far back into the music that the lyrics are not easily discernible.  I'm okay with that.  Vocals here work like instruments contributing to the atmosphere and FEEL of the music.  And there is indeed a lot of atmosphere and FEELIES fogging up those sound waves.  Oshin is good for a sundown drive or background filler for 2 a.m. music blog writing.

21) The Mynabirds - Generals 

 

I don't know much else about The Mynabirds short of what I just looked up on Wikipedia.  The band is signed to Saddle Creek Records and have released two full-length albums.  Generals, album number two, is a triumphant and moving little collection of songs.  Think a relaxed Florence + The Machine.  Think twee pop too serious to be twee pop.  And oh man, did somebody sneak synthesizers in there?  And oh man, did somebody sneak Richard Swift in there?  Double yeses.  Also, mastered by TW Walsh.  More icing on the cake.

Delay Of Game

I am still counting down my top albums of 2012.  I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN.  But life blitzkrieg'd me quite viciously this past month and suddenly silly little music blogs don't mean so much to me.  Once I reach some sort stability point I'll resume what I've started, hopefully finishing in time to begin counting down my favorite albums of 2013.

Anyway, the best to all of you, and I'll be back around soon.