The Best Music of 2012
For years on this blog I did a formal Top 20 list of my favorite albums and I swear to God I tried really hard to find the motivation to do that this year but for various reasons -- life stuff, personal stuff, and just wanting to do something different -- I've come up with a different format this year. I hope you like it.
This isn't so much a ranked list as it is a list in essay form that I hope will turn some music-loving or even just casual music fans on to some stuff they might enjoy. If not, then at least I can look back at this in year and go "Oh yeah, that album... I think it's time to dig that out again."
So here goes...
The Best Music of 2012
I started the year dating someone who, over the course of several months, really altered my outlook on pop and pop-influenced or electronic-influenced or just plain highly produce music. She was and remains a pop music girl, as opposed to my more "rock" side. It worked nicely. I got her out to see Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers and she got me to better appreciate Lady Gaga.
With that in mind I have to say some impressive things for Pink and her excellent release The Truth About Love. I've liked Pink for a while but never really bought any of her individual albums until this year. Her 'hits' album released in 2011 was enough for me. But The Truth About Love is just 100 percent solid. So solid that I recommend getting the Target-only deluxe edition that has 4 additional tracks. It's a rare case where the 'bonus' tracks are as good or better than some of the album stuff and that says a lot about how much this still growing artist has in her cannon.
I don't feel the need to say much about Frank Ocean's Channel Orange because it has made a LOT of year end lists so I'll just say believe the hype. It's damn good.
Flying under the radar in the U.S. but I think bound for a slightly delayed breakout in 2013 are Our Version of Events by Emilie Sande, which echoes the heartfelt but superb songwriting of the likes of Adele crossed with elements of Sade and some hip-hop influences, and ZZ Ward's Till The Casket Drops. Ward grew up in small town Oregon listening to Dad's blues records and her brother's hip hop and R&B. It shows in every note in a great way.
Lana Del Rey caught a lot of flack for being a little too over-hyped but I found no problem enjoying her big label debut Born To Die over and over. I recommend getting the just-issued Paradise Edition which tacks on a new 8 track EP and 3 bonus tracks to the original release. It basically makes for a double album of sexy, confident, intricate, and fun pop.
Also excellent in the pop-o-sphere are these:
Adam Lambert - Trespassing
Maroon 5 - Overexposed
Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox
-----
Somewhere in the middle of rock and pop lie sort of 'hybrid' acts and a few that really caught my ears and impressed me both in live and recorded fashion are Passion Pit and Grouplove. The former's Gossamer is a fantastic listen and the latter's Never Trust a Happy Song is like the Shins post-therapy with a high dose of happy pills.
Falling into a similar category and genre is the self-titled debut from Walk The Moon. They may a nice radio splash with "Anna Sun", easily one of the catchiest songs of the year. The rest of the album is pretty damn great too.
------
I am, at my core, a rock guy. Give me a guitar, bass, drums, and a singer with passion and grit and I'm sold. That's why The Gaslight Anthem never fail to impress me, further carving and re-shaping their influences (Springsteen, The Clash, Tom Waits) into an energy all their own. Their 4th album Handwritten is another impressive set of straight ahead rock the way it's meant to be played.
I also loved Sweet Sour, the 2nd album from Band of Skulls who, God willing, will get some added exposure opening for Muse on an arena tour in the new year. Somewhere between the White Stripes and (good) Smashing Pumpkins, this album should have found a wider audience.
Also on the rock front is Homewrecker, an outstanding debut from Little Hurricane. It's a little scary that their widest exposure has come courtesy of having a song in a Taco Bell commercial but this is 2012 and the landscape has changed. Bands needs to gather ears to get people to shows, right? Pick up this kick ass album along the way. It's at the merch table near the venue around the corner from the Taco Bell.
Collectively punk-pop veterans Green Day released 3 (!) albums this year in the form of Uno!, Dos!, and Tre! Like a lot of people I would say that 37 new tracks is a little overkill and, yes, they might have considered compiling the cream of the crop into 1 single excellent album but I also think each of these stand up on their own. They haven't lost a step. It's easy to criticize a band for doing "too much" but they still bring the goods.
Also in this general landscape of rock or folk-rock are the following excellent discs:
Of Monsters and Men - My Heart Is An Animal
Family of the Year - Loma Vista
The Lumineers (Self Titled)
The Wallflowers - Glad All Over
------
Finally, there is the solo singer-songwriter genre and three people stood out to me: Brandi Carlile, JD McPherson, and, duh, Bob Dylan.
Carlile may be the single most talented singer-songwriter of her generation and her 4th album Bear Creek drives the point home.
Do you want to dance and admire song craft? Then pick up McPherson's Signs and Signifiers, a release that sounds like it could have been Album of the Year anytime between 1955 and the present. And it will make you feet tap unless you have no soul.
Bob Dylan, post age 70, continues his AARP-era roll with this year's Tempest. Writing about Dylan is like dancing over architecture. You're either in or you're out. Those who are in should stay in. Those out? Consider a close listen. :)
------
That's this year's set. It's been an excellent year for music and that is always worth celebrating.
J
This isn't so much a ranked list as it is a list in essay form that I hope will turn some music-loving or even just casual music fans on to some stuff they might enjoy. If not, then at least I can look back at this in year and go "Oh yeah, that album... I think it's time to dig that out again."
So here goes...
The Best Music of 2012
I started the year dating someone who, over the course of several months, really altered my outlook on pop and pop-influenced or electronic-influenced or just plain highly produce music. She was and remains a pop music girl, as opposed to my more "rock" side. It worked nicely. I got her out to see Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers and she got me to better appreciate Lady Gaga.
With that in mind I have to say some impressive things for Pink and her excellent release The Truth About Love. I've liked Pink for a while but never really bought any of her individual albums until this year. Her 'hits' album released in 2011 was enough for me. But The Truth About Love is just 100 percent solid. So solid that I recommend getting the Target-only deluxe edition that has 4 additional tracks. It's a rare case where the 'bonus' tracks are as good or better than some of the album stuff and that says a lot about how much this still growing artist has in her cannon.
I don't feel the need to say much about Frank Ocean's Channel Orange because it has made a LOT of year end lists so I'll just say believe the hype. It's damn good.
Flying under the radar in the U.S. but I think bound for a slightly delayed breakout in 2013 are Our Version of Events by Emilie Sande, which echoes the heartfelt but superb songwriting of the likes of Adele crossed with elements of Sade and some hip-hop influences, and ZZ Ward's Till The Casket Drops. Ward grew up in small town Oregon listening to Dad's blues records and her brother's hip hop and R&B. It shows in every note in a great way.
Lana Del Rey caught a lot of flack for being a little too over-hyped but I found no problem enjoying her big label debut Born To Die over and over. I recommend getting the just-issued Paradise Edition which tacks on a new 8 track EP and 3 bonus tracks to the original release. It basically makes for a double album of sexy, confident, intricate, and fun pop.
Also excellent in the pop-o-sphere are these:
Adam Lambert - Trespassing
Maroon 5 - Overexposed
Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox
-----
Somewhere in the middle of rock and pop lie sort of 'hybrid' acts and a few that really caught my ears and impressed me both in live and recorded fashion are Passion Pit and Grouplove. The former's Gossamer is a fantastic listen and the latter's Never Trust a Happy Song is like the Shins post-therapy with a high dose of happy pills.
Falling into a similar category and genre is the self-titled debut from Walk The Moon. They may a nice radio splash with "Anna Sun", easily one of the catchiest songs of the year. The rest of the album is pretty damn great too.
------
I am, at my core, a rock guy. Give me a guitar, bass, drums, and a singer with passion and grit and I'm sold. That's why The Gaslight Anthem never fail to impress me, further carving and re-shaping their influences (Springsteen, The Clash, Tom Waits) into an energy all their own. Their 4th album Handwritten is another impressive set of straight ahead rock the way it's meant to be played.
I also loved Sweet Sour, the 2nd album from Band of Skulls who, God willing, will get some added exposure opening for Muse on an arena tour in the new year. Somewhere between the White Stripes and (good) Smashing Pumpkins, this album should have found a wider audience.
Also on the rock front is Homewrecker, an outstanding debut from Little Hurricane. It's a little scary that their widest exposure has come courtesy of having a song in a Taco Bell commercial but this is 2012 and the landscape has changed. Bands needs to gather ears to get people to shows, right? Pick up this kick ass album along the way. It's at the merch table near the venue around the corner from the Taco Bell.
Collectively punk-pop veterans Green Day released 3 (!) albums this year in the form of Uno!, Dos!, and Tre! Like a lot of people I would say that 37 new tracks is a little overkill and, yes, they might have considered compiling the cream of the crop into 1 single excellent album but I also think each of these stand up on their own. They haven't lost a step. It's easy to criticize a band for doing "too much" but they still bring the goods.
Also in this general landscape of rock or folk-rock are the following excellent discs:
Of Monsters and Men - My Heart Is An Animal
Family of the Year - Loma Vista
The Lumineers (Self Titled)
The Wallflowers - Glad All Over
------
Finally, there is the solo singer-songwriter genre and three people stood out to me: Brandi Carlile, JD McPherson, and, duh, Bob Dylan.
Carlile may be the single most talented singer-songwriter of her generation and her 4th album Bear Creek drives the point home.
Do you want to dance and admire song craft? Then pick up McPherson's Signs and Signifiers, a release that sounds like it could have been Album of the Year anytime between 1955 and the present. And it will make you feet tap unless you have no soul.
Bob Dylan, post age 70, continues his AARP-era roll with this year's Tempest. Writing about Dylan is like dancing over architecture. You're either in or you're out. Those who are in should stay in. Those out? Consider a close listen. :)
------
That's this year's set. It's been an excellent year for music and that is always worth celebrating.
J