The Top 20 Albums of 2012
A few weeks back, I counted down my favorite records of this year live on the air during my weekly radio show. Given the relatively limited audience of the tiny college radio station I broadcast from, I would gather that not too many people actually heard it. To cap off 2012, then, I decided to publish the list here with some short write-ups on the best the year had to offer.
20. Purity Ring – Shrines
Canadian duo Purity Ring offered up a collection of bass-y synth-pop tunes and off-kilter body-fixated lyrics wrapped up in a dreamy, mysterious atmosphere for their debut LP. They aren’t reinventing the wheel, but Corin Roddick and Megan James managed to twist familiar sounds into intriguing new shapes with Shrines.
19. Titus Andronicus – Local Business
Local Business is an undeniable letdown in comparison to Titus’ 2010 opus The Monitor, but that doesn’t make it a bad record. Patrick Stickles and company chose to scale back this time around, trading the epic sprawl and the grand Civil War parallels for reduced run-times and more direct songwriting. From the punk ragers to the Springsteen nods to the dirge-y laments, Local Business is a solid, diverse set of songs that had the misfortune of being a less ambitious follow-up to one of the best records of the 00s.
18. Of Montreal – Paralytic Stalks
Kevin Barnes abandoned the art-pop/sex-funk hybrid model of False Priest and Skeletal Lamping for his 2012 record, opting instead for arrangements that fused Of Montreal’s trademark psychedelia with harsh blasts of noise and some of Barnes’ darkest lyrics. Parlytic Stalks can be a challenging listen, but it’s ultimately a rather fascinating look into Barnes’ anxiety-ridden head.
17. David Byrne and St. Vincent – Love This Giant
Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and current St. Vincent mastermind Annie Clark teamed up for one of the year’s most intriguing pop records with Love This Giant. Even if the collection of quirky songs and striking brass arrangements was hardly the record I expected Byrne and Clark to produce, it’s a fun and fascinating departure for them both.
16. The Walkmen – Heaven
Heaven contains fewer traces than ever of the vitriol that worked its way into early Walkmen albums. In fact, it’s arguably their prettiest and stateliest release to date. It exudes a relaxed charm that comes with the sort of indie rock elder statesmen status The Walkmen have earned by this point in their career, and surrounds some of their finest songs to date with lush instrumentation and atmosphere.
15. Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
Spoon’s Britt Daniels and Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs’ Dan Boeckner teamed up this year for Divine Fits, and the resulting album is just as inspired as one would expect from the distinguished duo. A Thing Called Divine Fits culls from post-punk and new wave with its sharp synths, wiry guitars and pop hooks galore.
14. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
At first glance, Godspeed’s first record in a decade appears a bit slight. It’s their first to clock in at under and hour, and contains two long-form instrumentals punctuated by two brief drone interludes. Absent, too, are the speeches and monologues that characterized their early releases. As it turns out, a stripped-back Godspeed still retain their power to move and astound. “Mladic” and “We Drift Like Worried Fire” are stunning, towering compositions, and the interludes provide the necessary breathing room for a well-sequenced and satisfying record.
13. The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know
The shoegazing Scots returned this year with a sound heavier on krautrock, goth and industrial influences than walls of guitar. The sparse, pulsing No One Can Ever Know continues to showcase James Graham’s arresting voice and cryptic musings, and allows the rest of the band to stretch beyond the haze of distortion and prove their willingness to experiment with new and equally intriguing sounds.
12. Mount Eerie – Clear Moon / Ocean Roar
Given the number of times Phil Elverum referred to Clear Moon and Ocean Roar as companion pieces this year, I feel confident in ranking them together. The two records represent Elverum’s key musical fixations under the Mount Eerie moniker: plaintive, pretty, ponderous folk and howling, black metal-indebted squall. Clear Moon is the lucid, lyrical side while Ocean Roar dives headlong into the hazy chaos with lengthier, largely instrumental songs. The two function brilliantly as a pseudo-double album, and represent the Elverum’s finest work as Mount Eerie to date.
11. Animal Collective – Centipede Hz
The heavy, noisy Centipede Hz seems in many ways to be Animal Collective’s way of retreating from the mainstream spotlight that Merriweather Post Pavillion drew upon them. Centipede offers up plenty of pop charms of its own, but it is undoubtedly a denser and less accessible record. The band took an admirable risk in favoring harsher textures over polished electronics, but managed to put together a record that’s still catchy, charming and endlessly relistenable.
10. Sigur Ros – Valtari
Sigur Ros were another band who returned in 2012 with a record that distanced itself from pop accessibility. Valtari is arguably the most abstract, ambient album of the band’s career. The huge instrumental crescendos are kept to a minimum, but the achingly beautiful soundscapes in their place are just as worthwhile. Valtari is the kind of peaceful, gorgeous record that introspective late-night listening sessions were made for.
9. The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth
John Darnielle’s latest not-quite-concept album is one of his finest in recent years. These wordy, sometimes darkly comic and always authentically human character studies follow troubled individuals through trials and tribulations in Darnielle’s inimitable style. The strength of the lyrics is matched this time around with rich instrumental arrangements, including the addition of horns from collaborator and tour-mate Matthew E. White.
8. Beach House – Bloom
Baltimore duo Beach House continued to refine their dream-pop craft with Bloom. Their sound hasn’t changed in any major way since their 2006 debut, but their 2012 offering showcases Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand’s strongest and most consistent set of songs to date. “Myth,” “Other People” and stirring closer “Irene” put Beach House’s soft swirl of guitars, keys and smoky vocals to their best use yet.
7. Grizzly Bear – Shields
It would be restrictive to call Grizzly Bear a ‘rock band,’ but Shields certainly embraces rock in ways that Yellow House and Veckatimest did not. From the sharp guitar lick that opens “Sleeping Ute,” it’s clear that this is a different Grizzly Bear than we knew in 2009. The baroque pop prettiness still exists in large measure, but Shields is imbued with a new liveliness and momentum. The band sounds invigorated, and the album feels like both a culmination of Grizzly Bear’s past work and a progressive step toward the future. It’s their best album yet.
6. Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Sweet Heart Sweet Light opens with the nine-minute two-part lead single “Hey Jane” – a roaring, garage-y tune describing an evidently troubled character that collapses midway through and reboots as a triumphant gospel anthem. The rest of the album follows suit in combining noisy, psychedelic guitars, downbeat world-weariness and strangely optimistic mantras in a way that only Jason Pierce can. It’s sad, it’s joyous, it’s religious, it’s blasphemous. It’s Spiritualized.
5. Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
If the rest of the list hasn’t already given it away, I’m not much of a metalhead. I was as shocked as anyone when I found myself magnetically attracted to the new record from New England metalcore heroes Converge, but All We Love We Leave Behind had me hooked from the first pummeling riff of “Aimless Arrow.” For a band so relentlessly heavy and abrasive, it’s a surprisingly listenable and addictive set of songs. It delivers plenty of the deadly lightning-speed precision Converge have always been renowned for, but the nuanced production highlights the quieter moments and Jacob Bannon’s intensely emotive lyrics as well. All We Love is the sound of a heavy band working at the height of its powers, delivering cathartic intensity that can only come from scorched-earth instrumentals and full-throated screams.
4. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
Garage-punk noisemakers Japandroids, doubled down on the promise of their debut record with another loud, joyous eight-song collection. Brian King and David Prowse are still all about embracing youth, making a hell of a lot of noise and generally having the time of their lives while playing their hearts out. Celebration Rock is a step forward from Post-Nothing though, offering up more developed songs and thoughtful lyrics. It’s everything you already loved about Japandroids made bigger and better, and it’s an absolute blast.
3. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
Noisy, 90s-indebted guitar rock records are nothing new, but one as immediately striking and engrossing as Attack on Memory is a rare sight. Dylan Baldi recorded the bracing, intense album with (in)famous producer Steve Albini, and the resultant crisp, no-nonsense sound suits the acerbic songs perfectly. There’s little happiness or resolution to be found here, but in the case of Attack on Memory, screaming into the void seems to be a solution in and of itself. Baldi knows his way around a good hook though, and there are plenty to be found amid the emotional turmoil that characterizes his lyrics. Ultimately, that balance of stinging intensity and instant, relistenable catchiness is what makes Attack on Memory such a remarkable feat.
2. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman and the rest of the unfathomably talented cast that makes up the Dirty Projectors scaled back their occasional tendency toward the knotty and impenetrable this year with Swing Lo Magellan. It’s a record of gorgeous, immediately likeable songs with lyrics and themes more transparent and identifiable than ever before. The group vocal harmonies and art-rock breakdowns are stunning as ever, but they’re embedded in songs that feel more intimate and personal than any prior Dirty Projectors record. Swing Lo Magellan is a brilliant maturation from one of indie rock’s most talented and fascinating bands.
1. Swans – The Seer
Michael Gira wasn’t kidding when he called The Seer the culmination of his 30 years in music. Swans’ second post-resurrection album is two astounding hours of beauty and primal ugliness that draws from the industrial horror of their early material, the neo-folk leanings of their mid-90s work and the experimental post-rock that defined their final years. The record’s lengthier songs, which range anywhere from nine to 32 minutes a piece, are massive compositions that deal in pummeling, hypnotic rhythms and take guitars, bass and drums far beyond the realm of the average rock band. The shorter, simpler songs are necessary breathers before the next onslaught.
Swans are operating on an entirely different plane than most, angling to take their listeners on a journey more akin to a religious experience than a typical listening session. The Seer offers up something of a challenge, and surely is not for the feint of heart or the easily frustrated, but it’s also the most uncompromising and legitimately amazing piece of music I heard this year.
