Paul's favourite albums of 2012
Here it is. I'd like to think the entries are a little more concise this year. Enjoy.
Honourable mention: Tig Notaro - Live
When news of Tig Notaro’s half-hour standup set at Largo last summer started being passed around, the set began to take on a sort of mythical status. At a certain point, it seemed like making it available for mass consumption would destroy any magic it had for those in attendance, and inevitably make it pale in comparison to its considerable hype. Neither came true, as the set is as powerful as ever even without any element of surprise to it, and practically exceeds any level of hype. When Notaro announces right off the bat that she has cancer, you immediately feel like you’re right there in the audience when it first happened. There’s no way to listen and not be engrossed in her every twist and turn, as she slowly unwinds the impossibly tragic year she’s had leading up to her diagnosis. But Live (as in, to live) isn’t depressing. Not even close. It’s still one of the funniest standup albums of the year, even as it’s mining the worst circumstances for laughs. And on a technical level it’s a marvel, cleverly structured to have the greatest possible impact, and ending on a genuine (if improvised) punchline. That finale, where Notaro tells a joke from her old act to show how incongruent it is with her current mindset, is just one of many moments of catharsis throughout the album. Of course, Notaro has since undergone treatment and is now cancer free, with her career deservedly skyrocketing at the moment. But Live has lost none of its power; rather, the coda of a happy ending only adds to it. Live is one of my favourite albums of the year, but since there’s no music on it, it seemed like a bit of a stretch to include it in my main list. I instead put it in this slot, which normally showcases a great Montreal album, because I knew I had to share it. Live is required listening for everyone, comedy fan or not.
10. Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras Meet the Congos - Frkwys Vol. 9: Icon Give Thank
Icon Give Thank might just make a better story than an album. The Frkwys series pairs experimental musicians with older ones who have inspired them, and the end result is unfortunately usually less than the sum of its parts. But this volume takes a different approach, pairing psych rochers Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras with roots reggae group the Congos. Based on interviews promoting the album, the recording process makes quite a charming story, with the traditional group initially uneasy with their younger associates’ more abstract music. But, as Sun Araw said in a Wire interview, “at some point a little bit further into the recording though, [Ashanti Roy] turned to me and said, ‘Oh, they're like chants.’ And from that point it made so much sense to everyone.” The resulting music really does feel like old meets new, as the Congos’ transcendent harmonies combine with electronic drones to make something that feels like what reggae could have become in an alternate universe. Certain tracks will lean more in one direction or another, but the album’s best synthesis of the two worlds is “Sunshine,” in which the vocals and beats bounce effortlessly against each other so that it feels like the most natural pairing in the world. The whole album isn’t as affecting as its centrepiece, but it’s a positive experience the whole way through, and keeping its context in mind makes it even sweeter.
"Sunshine"
9. Guided by Voices - Let’s Go Eat the Factory/Class Clown Spots a UFO/The Bears for Lunch
Leave it to Guided by Voices to reunite on their own terms. When the “classic” lineup claimed they were recording new material, we should’ve known it would come in the form of three albums in one year (and these on top of the two solo albums Robert Pollard released in between). Like most GBV albums, they’re all a mixed bag; you could easily whittle these 61 songs into one of their best albums, but that’s just not how the band works. The cumulative effect, though, is quite something. This is the first new material by this lineup in sixteen years, and it sparkles like there wasn’t a gap at all. The straight pop songs, like “Donut for a Snowman” and “Keep it in Motion,” rank with the band’s best material, and Tobin Sprout’s contributions are universally lovely. Of course, the records are stuffed with noise experiments that don’t work, and songs that don’t hold together, but again, GBV fans are trained to tune those out by now. These albums show the band at its characteristic greatest and most frustrating, with “We Won’t Apologize for the Human Race,” serving as a great example of both in the same song, and standing as what could be this version of the band’s mission statement.
"Keep it in Motion"
8. The Men - Open Your Heart
The Men took a sharp left turn after 2011’s ruthless Leave Home, an album defined by “L.A.D.O.C.H.’s” logical conclusion to four minutes of rabid yelling: a disgusting, hacking cough. Instead of any more screams or coughs, Open Your Heart begins with 2012’s best party song, “Turn it Around.” It’s sleazy hard rock at its most affable, and the next track, “Animal,” doubles down on that accessible bent. And then the album changes course entirely, being filled with drawn-out jams and country noodling, only briefly returning in the title track to the party vibe that opened it. The album plays like a manic history of rock music, finding time for brief forays into Byrds pop and crust punk before ending with “Ex-Dreams,” a song that could be Sonic Youth’s best in years if the Men hadn’t written it themselves. Despite the restlessness of it all, Open Your Heart just barely manages to hold together as an album, but it legitimately has something for everybody in its ten tracks. Leave Home was one of the most insular, abrasive releases of last year, so it’s kinda adorable that the Men followed it up with an album so inviting.
"Turn it Around"
7. Colleen Green - Milo Goes to Compton
What separates the likeable bedroom pop from the awful? Could the answer really be as obvious as “simplicity?” Colleen Green never offers us more than her voice, her fuzzy guitar, and the occasional drum machine, yet each of these eight tracks sounds distinct. She rarely sings about something other than boys or weed, though she does find quite a bit to say about both topics. She even manages to offer new spins on the two covers that open the album: she turns Descendants’ “Good Good Things” from cocky to hesitant, and rewrites “I Wanna Be Sedated” so that it’s about something else entirely (okay, sex). It’s in her original songs where Green really shines, her lyrics and melodies feeling simple, but never like they’ve been done before. She still manages the task of finding a niche for herself in an overcrowded genre, even as she’s doing the same things as everyone else. Against all odds, Colleen Green’s bedroom pop succeeds where others’ hasn’t, and it’s not only because it’s simple-it’s because it shows its work.
“Goldmine”
6. Guardian Alien - See the World Given to a One Love Entity
The album-length song is a trick that’s been done a million times before, but never like this, with such a focus on rhythm. Greg Fox’s drums shift and move and perpetually create new spaces for themselves, whether it’s through pummeling blastbeats or intricate syncopation. In fact, See the World… would be almost as compelling as a solo drum track. But even with drumming like that, what’s most impressive about it is how composed it sounds. The album runs off in disparate directions, but it always makes sure to pull back to where it’s been. It has a lovely circular structure to it that keeps it from ever feeling like a simple drone, or, god forbid, a jam. It’s a tough trick to pull off, but Guardian Alien have successfully written a 37-minute rock song that’s interesting the whole way through.
Preview
5. Frankie Rose - Interstellar
Frankie Rose got her start as a sometime member of groups like Dum Dum Girls and Vivian Girls, and her debut album, Frankie Rose and the Outs, saw that pedigree somewhat overshadow her songwriting. Interstellar is a different story. Rose here ditches the rock band getup for synths and gated drums, with guitars only providing accents here and there. The arrangements are sparse and dreamy, with more space between the instruments than pop music is used to. Most importantly, Rose places her voice right up front, allowing it to fill that space, essentially carrying the whole album. It’s a gutsy move, especially for someone with a history full of vocals buried beneath garage rock, but she’s up to the challenge, wonderfully delivering glittering pop melodies in “Know Me” and “Had We Had It.” And without tying herself to such a constraining genre, she’s able to write minimalist songs like “The Fall,” while “Night Swim” shows she hasn’t quite left rock behind for good. Interstellar is such a leap forward for Rose that it feels like her true debut album, one any pop singer would dream of releasing.
“Night Swim”
4. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
One year later, the best pop-punk band of 2011 wrote the sequel to Youth of America. Now, that’s not quite accurate, as on their 2012 release Cloud Nothings were influenced by tons of ’80s and ’90s post-punk bands, but the one-two punch of “No Future/No Past” and “Wasted Days” matches Wipers’ landmark album’s “No Fair” and “Youth of America” almost perfectly. Attack on Memory is easily Dylan Baldi’s most accomplished album yet, blowing away the comparatively simplistic pop music of last year’s self-titled release. Baldi recruited a permanent band between the two, and it allows for fantastic lengthy jams in songs like “Wasted Days” and “Separation.” Even pop songs like “Fall In” and “Our Plans” have lopsided drum fills and conclude with intricate instrumental sections. But the full band is just one side of the story, as Baldi’s writing has gotten darker and more aggressive, and at the same time, more mature. Where Cloud Nothings’ last album still felt like a precocious kid playing above his level, Attack on Memory is a fully-realized rock album, ranking with the best releases from its many influences. And it’s a neat trick that an album so indebted to alternative music of decades past could still sound so fresh and new.
“Fall In”
3. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
How lucky are we to have a song like “Pyramids”? How is it possible that these ten perfect minutes of R&B, funk, soul, and disco, capped with a sleazy blues-rock guitar solo, could ever be cobbled together from nothing? How do you lead up to a song like “Pyramids,” not to mention follow it? How audacious do you have to be to sandwich it between two other songs as good as “Crack Rock” and “Lost”? How do you stick a song this singular right in the middle of an album, then manage to give it an ebb and flow so that it all feels completely natural? How can someone marry all of these disparate genres, all the melodramatic strings and indie-rock beats and lilting falsettos, and still make an album that’s recognizably mainstream R&B? How could an album this idiosyncratic, this uncompromising, become a smash hit? How could Frank Ocean ever possibly top it? How little does that even matter? How lucky are we to have an album like Channel Orange?
“Thinking About You”
2. Swans - The Seer
The Seer is the biggest event album on this list, marking Swans’ twelfth album and the 30th anniversary of their formation. It’s also their second album since they reunited in 2010, and fulfills all the possibilities of a Swans album in 2012. Michael Gira describes the album as “the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it’s unfinished, like the songs themselves. It’s one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade.” That statement might as well be etched right into the grooves. The Seer feels like the true follow-up to Swans’ original kiss-off album, 1996’s Soundtracks for the Blind, which mined every facet of experimental music for inspiration. This album builds on that approach, taking on those influences now in the interest of linking them back to a recognizable style. It provides examples and deconstructions of every sound Swans are known for, then breaks straight through. Swans’ early no wave days are represented in the industrial lurch of “Mother of the World,” while Gira’s stint as a harrowing folk singer in Angels of Light comes through in songs like “The Daughter Brings the Water.” The mammoth title track, however, marks Swans’ graduation to a different sort of expression. Its thirty-two minutes of blissful, cathartic noise and drone act as a kind of Rosetta stone, obliquely pulling together all of the album’s styles and themes into a coherent whole. Without it, The Seer would’ve been akin to Soundtracks’ odds-and-sods compilation feel; with it, the album stands as its own complete work, both a summary of everything Swans do best and an affirmation that 2012 can be a safe home for them. A stunning achievement.
“Lunacy”
1. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
Japandroids have been filling in the blanks in the three years since Post-Nothing. They’ve taken their blueprint and packed as many ideas as they could into every available space, so that Celebration Rock feels less like a second statement than a reworking of the band’s debut. It still manages to improve on it in every way. Celebration Rock feels big, like there’s more to it than just these songs. It resonates. It looks outward where Post-Nothing looked in, making that album’s well-defined emotions universal. Anyone can find themselves in here, and if the songs lost a little of that earlier specificity in the process, it’s only to serve Japandroids’ communal approach. This is powerful music, made all the more so by its simplicity. It’s all power chords and 4/4 beats and “whoa-ohs,” but that belies a surprisingly arduous recording process. If it appears effortless it’s by design, the end result of Japandroids’ newfound meticulousness. Celebration Rock is their Let it Be, their Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, their universe within a rock album. It’s worth celebrating.
“The House that Heaven Built”
Honourable mention: Tig Notaro - Live
When news of Tig Notaro’s half-hour standup set at Largo last summer started being passed around, the set began to take on a sort of mythical status. At a certain point, it seemed like making it available for mass consumption would destroy any magic it had for those in attendance, and inevitably make it pale in comparison to its considerable hype. Neither came true, as the set is as powerful as ever even without any element of surprise to it, and practically exceeds any level of hype. When Notaro announces right off the bat that she has cancer, you immediately feel like you’re right there in the audience when it first happened. There’s no way to listen and not be engrossed in her every twist and turn, as she slowly unwinds the impossibly tragic year she’s had leading up to her diagnosis. But Live (as in, to live) isn’t depressing. Not even close. It’s still one of the funniest standup albums of the year, even as it’s mining the worst circumstances for laughs. And on a technical level it’s a marvel, cleverly structured to have the greatest possible impact, and ending on a genuine (if improvised) punchline. That finale, where Notaro tells a joke from her old act to show how incongruent it is with her current mindset, is just one of many moments of catharsis throughout the album. Of course, Notaro has since undergone treatment and is now cancer free, with her career deservedly skyrocketing at the moment. But Live has lost none of its power; rather, the coda of a happy ending only adds to it. Live is one of my favourite albums of the year, but since there’s no music on it, it seemed like a bit of a stretch to include it in my main list. I instead put it in this slot, which normally showcases a great Montreal album, because I knew I had to share it. Live is required listening for everyone, comedy fan or not.
10. Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras Meet the Congos - Frkwys Vol. 9: Icon Give Thank
Icon Give Thank might just make a better story than an album. The Frkwys series pairs experimental musicians with older ones who have inspired them, and the end result is unfortunately usually less than the sum of its parts. But this volume takes a different approach, pairing psych rochers Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras with roots reggae group the Congos. Based on interviews promoting the album, the recording process makes quite a charming story, with the traditional group initially uneasy with their younger associates’ more abstract music. But, as Sun Araw said in a Wire interview, “at some point a little bit further into the recording though, [Ashanti Roy] turned to me and said, ‘Oh, they're like chants.’ And from that point it made so much sense to everyone.” The resulting music really does feel like old meets new, as the Congos’ transcendent harmonies combine with electronic drones to make something that feels like what reggae could have become in an alternate universe. Certain tracks will lean more in one direction or another, but the album’s best synthesis of the two worlds is “Sunshine,” in which the vocals and beats bounce effortlessly against each other so that it feels like the most natural pairing in the world. The whole album isn’t as affecting as its centrepiece, but it’s a positive experience the whole way through, and keeping its context in mind makes it even sweeter.
"Sunshine"
9. Guided by Voices - Let’s Go Eat the Factory/Class Clown Spots a UFO/The Bears for Lunch
Leave it to Guided by Voices to reunite on their own terms. When the “classic” lineup claimed they were recording new material, we should’ve known it would come in the form of three albums in one year (and these on top of the two solo albums Robert Pollard released in between). Like most GBV albums, they’re all a mixed bag; you could easily whittle these 61 songs into one of their best albums, but that’s just not how the band works. The cumulative effect, though, is quite something. This is the first new material by this lineup in sixteen years, and it sparkles like there wasn’t a gap at all. The straight pop songs, like “Donut for a Snowman” and “Keep it in Motion,” rank with the band’s best material, and Tobin Sprout’s contributions are universally lovely. Of course, the records are stuffed with noise experiments that don’t work, and songs that don’t hold together, but again, GBV fans are trained to tune those out by now. These albums show the band at its characteristic greatest and most frustrating, with “We Won’t Apologize for the Human Race,” serving as a great example of both in the same song, and standing as what could be this version of the band’s mission statement.
"Keep it in Motion"
8. The Men - Open Your Heart
The Men took a sharp left turn after 2011’s ruthless Leave Home, an album defined by “L.A.D.O.C.H.’s” logical conclusion to four minutes of rabid yelling: a disgusting, hacking cough. Instead of any more screams or coughs, Open Your Heart begins with 2012’s best party song, “Turn it Around.” It’s sleazy hard rock at its most affable, and the next track, “Animal,” doubles down on that accessible bent. And then the album changes course entirely, being filled with drawn-out jams and country noodling, only briefly returning in the title track to the party vibe that opened it. The album plays like a manic history of rock music, finding time for brief forays into Byrds pop and crust punk before ending with “Ex-Dreams,” a song that could be Sonic Youth’s best in years if the Men hadn’t written it themselves. Despite the restlessness of it all, Open Your Heart just barely manages to hold together as an album, but it legitimately has something for everybody in its ten tracks. Leave Home was one of the most insular, abrasive releases of last year, so it’s kinda adorable that the Men followed it up with an album so inviting.
"Turn it Around"
7. Colleen Green - Milo Goes to Compton
What separates the likeable bedroom pop from the awful? Could the answer really be as obvious as “simplicity?” Colleen Green never offers us more than her voice, her fuzzy guitar, and the occasional drum machine, yet each of these eight tracks sounds distinct. She rarely sings about something other than boys or weed, though she does find quite a bit to say about both topics. She even manages to offer new spins on the two covers that open the album: she turns Descendants’ “Good Good Things” from cocky to hesitant, and rewrites “I Wanna Be Sedated” so that it’s about something else entirely (okay, sex). It’s in her original songs where Green really shines, her lyrics and melodies feeling simple, but never like they’ve been done before. She still manages the task of finding a niche for herself in an overcrowded genre, even as she’s doing the same things as everyone else. Against all odds, Colleen Green’s bedroom pop succeeds where others’ hasn’t, and it’s not only because it’s simple-it’s because it shows its work.
“Goldmine”
6. Guardian Alien - See the World Given to a One Love Entity
The album-length song is a trick that’s been done a million times before, but never like this, with such a focus on rhythm. Greg Fox’s drums shift and move and perpetually create new spaces for themselves, whether it’s through pummeling blastbeats or intricate syncopation. In fact, See the World… would be almost as compelling as a solo drum track. But even with drumming like that, what’s most impressive about it is how composed it sounds. The album runs off in disparate directions, but it always makes sure to pull back to where it’s been. It has a lovely circular structure to it that keeps it from ever feeling like a simple drone, or, god forbid, a jam. It’s a tough trick to pull off, but Guardian Alien have successfully written a 37-minute rock song that’s interesting the whole way through.
Preview
5. Frankie Rose - Interstellar
Frankie Rose got her start as a sometime member of groups like Dum Dum Girls and Vivian Girls, and her debut album, Frankie Rose and the Outs, saw that pedigree somewhat overshadow her songwriting. Interstellar is a different story. Rose here ditches the rock band getup for synths and gated drums, with guitars only providing accents here and there. The arrangements are sparse and dreamy, with more space between the instruments than pop music is used to. Most importantly, Rose places her voice right up front, allowing it to fill that space, essentially carrying the whole album. It’s a gutsy move, especially for someone with a history full of vocals buried beneath garage rock, but she’s up to the challenge, wonderfully delivering glittering pop melodies in “Know Me” and “Had We Had It.” And without tying herself to such a constraining genre, she’s able to write minimalist songs like “The Fall,” while “Night Swim” shows she hasn’t quite left rock behind for good. Interstellar is such a leap forward for Rose that it feels like her true debut album, one any pop singer would dream of releasing.
“Night Swim”
4. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
One year later, the best pop-punk band of 2011 wrote the sequel to Youth of America. Now, that’s not quite accurate, as on their 2012 release Cloud Nothings were influenced by tons of ’80s and ’90s post-punk bands, but the one-two punch of “No Future/No Past” and “Wasted Days” matches Wipers’ landmark album’s “No Fair” and “Youth of America” almost perfectly. Attack on Memory is easily Dylan Baldi’s most accomplished album yet, blowing away the comparatively simplistic pop music of last year’s self-titled release. Baldi recruited a permanent band between the two, and it allows for fantastic lengthy jams in songs like “Wasted Days” and “Separation.” Even pop songs like “Fall In” and “Our Plans” have lopsided drum fills and conclude with intricate instrumental sections. But the full band is just one side of the story, as Baldi’s writing has gotten darker and more aggressive, and at the same time, more mature. Where Cloud Nothings’ last album still felt like a precocious kid playing above his level, Attack on Memory is a fully-realized rock album, ranking with the best releases from its many influences. And it’s a neat trick that an album so indebted to alternative music of decades past could still sound so fresh and new.
“Fall In”
3. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
How lucky are we to have a song like “Pyramids”? How is it possible that these ten perfect minutes of R&B, funk, soul, and disco, capped with a sleazy blues-rock guitar solo, could ever be cobbled together from nothing? How do you lead up to a song like “Pyramids,” not to mention follow it? How audacious do you have to be to sandwich it between two other songs as good as “Crack Rock” and “Lost”? How do you stick a song this singular right in the middle of an album, then manage to give it an ebb and flow so that it all feels completely natural? How can someone marry all of these disparate genres, all the melodramatic strings and indie-rock beats and lilting falsettos, and still make an album that’s recognizably mainstream R&B? How could an album this idiosyncratic, this uncompromising, become a smash hit? How could Frank Ocean ever possibly top it? How little does that even matter? How lucky are we to have an album like Channel Orange?
“Thinking About You”
2. Swans - The Seer
The Seer is the biggest event album on this list, marking Swans’ twelfth album and the 30th anniversary of their formation. It’s also their second album since they reunited in 2010, and fulfills all the possibilities of a Swans album in 2012. Michael Gira describes the album as “the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it’s unfinished, like the songs themselves. It’s one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade.” That statement might as well be etched right into the grooves. The Seer feels like the true follow-up to Swans’ original kiss-off album, 1996’s Soundtracks for the Blind, which mined every facet of experimental music for inspiration. This album builds on that approach, taking on those influences now in the interest of linking them back to a recognizable style. It provides examples and deconstructions of every sound Swans are known for, then breaks straight through. Swans’ early no wave days are represented in the industrial lurch of “Mother of the World,” while Gira’s stint as a harrowing folk singer in Angels of Light comes through in songs like “The Daughter Brings the Water.” The mammoth title track, however, marks Swans’ graduation to a different sort of expression. Its thirty-two minutes of blissful, cathartic noise and drone act as a kind of Rosetta stone, obliquely pulling together all of the album’s styles and themes into a coherent whole. Without it, The Seer would’ve been akin to Soundtracks’ odds-and-sods compilation feel; with it, the album stands as its own complete work, both a summary of everything Swans do best and an affirmation that 2012 can be a safe home for them. A stunning achievement.
“Lunacy”
1. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
Japandroids have been filling in the blanks in the three years since Post-Nothing. They’ve taken their blueprint and packed as many ideas as they could into every available space, so that Celebration Rock feels less like a second statement than a reworking of the band’s debut. It still manages to improve on it in every way. Celebration Rock feels big, like there’s more to it than just these songs. It resonates. It looks outward where Post-Nothing looked in, making that album’s well-defined emotions universal. Anyone can find themselves in here, and if the songs lost a little of that earlier specificity in the process, it’s only to serve Japandroids’ communal approach. This is powerful music, made all the more so by its simplicity. It’s all power chords and 4/4 beats and “whoa-ohs,” but that belies a surprisingly arduous recording process. If it appears effortless it’s by design, the end result of Japandroids’ newfound meticulousness. Celebration Rock is their Let it Be, their Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, their universe within a rock album. It’s worth celebrating.
“The House that Heaven Built”