25-21
24. Field Music – Plumb
23. Deftones – Koi No Yokan
22. The Gathering – Disclosure
21. Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s – Rot Gut, Domestic
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Listen: Deftones – “Rosemary”
_________________________________________________________________________________
20-16
19. Astra – The Black Chord
18. Ghost Mice – All We Got Is Each Other
17. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city
16. Racing Heart – To Walk Beside That Ghost
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Listen: Ghost Mice – “John and Jodie”
_________________________________________________________________________________
15-11
14. Papercranes – Three
13. Beach House – Bloom
12. Killing Joke – MMXII
11. Farewell Republic – Burn the Boats
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Listen: Papercranes – “Save Us”
_________________________________________________________________________________
10-6
9. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
8. Tigers on Trains – Foundry
7. Anberlin – Vital
6. Yellowcard – Southern Air
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Listen: Tigers on Trains – “Mont Ventoux”
_________________________________________________________________________________
Album of the Year
The Nominees
Godspeed You! Black Emperor are no strangers to post-rock success. They found their calling early, with 1997s F#A#∞, an apocalyptic journey that painted the end of times as both a thing of beauty and an unspeakable calamity. Over time, their name has almost become synonymous with post-rock, and “Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!” only furthers their legacy. The gorgeous opening track, Mladic, is more aesthetically pleasing than most GY!BE works – a trait that infiltrates the three songs that follow. Perhaps the crowning achievement here is We Drift Like Worried Fire, a harmoniously moving opus that is both masterfully crafted and flawlessly executed. When we talk about album of the year, GY!BE have brought everything you could want to the table in 2012.
Listen: “Their Helicopters Sing”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Regina Spektor: What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
Spektor is all about the quirks. The way she mimics a drum solo with her lips on Oh Marcello, the way she dramatically inhales as if gasping for one last breath on Open, or how she buzzes her lips like a harmonica to create a perfectly fitting outro to The Party. Like anything outlandish, it can be annoying if overdone, but Regina has made a career of walking the fine line between cute and agitating. “What We Saw From The Cheap Seats” sees the songstress master her craft while adding in some of the most gorgeous moments that 2012 pop music has to offer (listen to Firewood). If you like your female artists to be creative, spazzy, and tremendously talented all at the same time, then I can’t imagine how you can do much better than this record.
Listen: “Oh Marcello”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Swans: The Seer
With a length that exceeds two hours, almost nothing about “The Seer” is inviting. The repetitive drone style will turn off many listeners within the first couple tracks, but to those who can endure this massive thing, they will discover that it is perhaps one of the greatest albums to be released in the past few years. Michael Gira’s master mind is in full swing, concocting haunting chants, harrowing atmospheres, and disturbing lyrics that will make you feel like you are slowly descending into hell. “The Seer” is meant to be heard all at once, and if you can find a free two hours in your day, you might also discover your soundtrack to 2012.
Listen: “Lunacy”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind
Converge has developed something of a reputation. Perhaps the most accurate analogy I’ve ever heard was when one of our very own staff members likened the band’s fourth album, “Jane Doe”, to getting the crap beaten out of you by a bully at school. That has always been Converge’s identity: they are going to whoop your ass, and masochist as you are, you’re going to love every second of it. Many hardcore/metal bands slowly curb their anger over time and begin to create music that is more accessible to the public. Luckily for us, “All We Love We Leave Behind” continues the brutal onslaught of “Axe to Fall” and “Jane Doe” before it with some of the angriest, loudest, brain-off-its-hinges music that you will ever hear.
Listen: “Trespasses”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Ten Stories is the album that mewithoutYou needed to make. It’s not that there was necessarily anything wrong with “It’s All Crazy! It’s All False!…”, but I think one album of campfire sing-alongs was enough to leave mewithoutYou diehards longing for the days of “Brother, Sister.” And that’s exactly what they get here. Weiss wields prophetic lyrics through a cracking, intensely emotional voice that often shouts and spews messages as if taking the time to sing them is a luxury that no one can afford. The band’s highly successful formula of old is blended with their newly found melodic side to create a best-of-both-worlds scenario, “Ten Stories.” Having Hayley Williams in the studio to perform backing vocals never hurts, either.
Listen: “Fox’s Dream of the Log Flume”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
_________________________________________________________________________________
#5 Godspeed You! Black Emperor
……….
#4 Regina Spektor
……….
#3 Converge
……….
#2 mewithoutYou
……….
#1 AOTY WINNER: SWANS
In my mind, there was little doubt all along that Swans would take the figurative 2012 cake. It is just so massive – and not just in terms of run time, because it contains so many different styles within its vast scope. Disc one and disc two both possess a unique identity: the first gives off a dark, brooding vibe while the latter bucks that trend from the opening second of Karen O.’s guest vocals on Song for a Warrior. “The Seer” is a little bit of everything: it is post-rock, alternative rock, stoner rock, industrial metal, drone music, and more. Sure, it is a little rough around the edges, but just like any great work, it needs some time to sink in. If you are willing to brush aside its rough exterior, you will be richly rewarded by all of the gems that this absolutely great album has to offer.
Listen Again: “The Seer Returns”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
12.12.12
your just gained a ton of cool points.
12.12.12
12.12.12
Also: I'm a little sad that I didn't give The Tallest Man enough credit this year because his past releases are so amazing (exact same thing happened with High Violet that one year), so great to see it in your top 10.
12.12.12
12.12.12
awesome list/format as usual sowing
12.12.12
12.12.12
Great ranking
12.12.12
I really have no idea to be honest... it's kinda a complete tossup I think but either way it's DEFINITELY worth checking out considering how rewarding it tends to be for listeners when they [i]do[/i] like it... just be prepared to set aside 2 hours for it somehow
12.12.12
Also I'm actually fairly surprised you have Southern Air higher than Vital but we do not see eye to eye on the former. Good list .
12.12.12
@Romulus: The first time I heard it I lost patience with the 32 minute title track. There's a LOT of repetition and a lot of it could be deemed unnecessary, but it gives the album character, makes the shorter, melodic passages stand out, and really just forces you to pay attention to every detail.
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
@SeaAnemone/skoopy48: I really liked it (obviously, because it is my #2). To me it combined what was so good about Brother Sister (lyrics, emotion, rawness, etc.) with at least in some cases a heavy dose of catchiness a la It's All Crazy! It's All False! Fox's Dream of the Log Flume and All Circles are absolute home runs, too.
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
How?
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
12.12.12
Ah yes, sometimes I forget that you're a bigger YC fanboy than Anberlin fanboy. Fair enough. And like everyone else is saying, awesome blog.
12.12.12
if that say anything album hadn't come out this year, that'd be the most disappointing
also yellowcard pfsh hahahahahahahahaha
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
If anything, I was too generous this year. Tons of 4.5's and two classics
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
@Chan: I've actually heard from a lot of people who agree with what you said about Cheap Seats. I think I'm in the minority on that one - I think it is tied with Soviet Kitsch for her best work to date,
@Jom: Thanks!
@Klap: Agreed that a lot of these are sputnik favorites, but how many lists do you think you will see that contain Field Music, The Gathering, Racing Heart, Papercranes, Tigers on Trains, etc.?
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
Either I've been listening to lots of different stuff, or I've been listening to stuff you guys thought were crap, or - and this is the most terrifying - I simply haven't listened to enough all year.
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
i dunno, some things come close, a lot of Dream Theater is like that, impressive and techically attractive but totally soulless
12.12.12
12.12.12
agreed, those are the only two albums from her i really like.
12.12.12
You can consume music with your ears just as you would a book with your eyes
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
statements like these make me realise I really need to listen to more music cos I have 3.5s in my top 10
12.12.12
me too...maybe it's just a bad year for me
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
that said, fun list, gonna check out as many of these as i can before year's end.
12.12.12
nah man --> i couldn't even get through it bleh
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
12.12.12
for the life of me, I will never understand why you people love them so much
12.12.12
12.13.12
12.13.12
12.13.12
12.13.12
12.13.12
12.13.12
12.13.12
why is sputnik telling me i can't use a gif as my profile picture when people on this site have them all over the place?
12.14.12
12.14.12
for the life of me, I will never understand why you people love them so much"
yeah, that song is in no way representative of the band. it's a drone interlude, for Christ's sake
12.14.12
12.19.12
12.22.12