MisterTornado
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Approval 96%

Soundoffs 114
News Articles 24
Band Edits + Tags 2,088
Album Edits 3,565

Album Ratings 2510
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Last Active 03-13-14 12:16 pm
Joined 04-08-11

Review Comments 4,507

 Lists
04.16.14 2014, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume I)02.14.14 MisterTornado in 2013 ♦
11.15.13 2013, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume III) ♦05.26.13 2013, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume II) ♦
03.09.13 2013, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume I) ♦01.14.13 MisterTornado in 2012
10.31.12 2012, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume III) ♦08.24.12 2012, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume II) ♦
06.30.12 2012, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume I) ♦12.27.11 MisterTornado in 2011 ♦
11.19.11 2011, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume III) ♦09.30.11 2011, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume II) ♦
08.31.11 2011, Overlooked & Unknown (Volume I) ♦

MisterTornado in 2012

A personal affinity, the best LPs / EPs of 2012
100High on Fire
De Vermis Mysteriis
99DJ/PURPLE/IMAGE
Im Fuckin You Tonight Vol II
98Surfing
Deep Fantasy
97Diamond Terrifier
Kill the Self That Wants to Kill Yourself
96Bloc Party
Four
95Opossom
Electric Hawaii
94Venn Rain
Cymatic Cymbols
93Keith Rowe
September
92LA Vampires and Maria Minerva
Integration
91Vestals
Forever Falling Towards The Sky
90 Bear in Heaven
I Love You, It's Cool
89Black Swan
Aeterna
88Beach House
Bloom
87Metz
Metz
86Coyote Clean Up
Frozen Solid
85 d'Eon
Music for Keyboards Vol. 1
84Nocow
Gather Strength
83Grimes
Visions
82Each Other
Heavily Spaced
81Man Without Country
Foe
80Bardo Pond
Yntra
79Mensa Group International / Luxury Elite
Atlas of Fictional Islands / Customer Service
78Vejopatis
Taskas
77Andrew Chalk
Forty Nine Views in Rhapsodies Wave
76Alio Die
Deconsecrated and Pure
75Terrence Dixon
From the Far Future - Part 2
74Submotion Orchestra
Fragments
73Sacred Tapestry
Shader
72Tamaryn
Tender New Signs
71 Pond (AU)
Beard, Wives, Denim
70Grizzly Bear
Shields
69Amun Dragoon
Unlimited Dream Company
68Oneohtrix Point Never and Rene Hell
Split
67Seahawks
Aquadisco
66Liquom
Sintetico
65Proud Father
Hearu Shi no Proud Father
64Mark McGuire
Nightshade
63Nas
Life Is Good
62The Soft Pack
Strapped
61En and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
Split
60Cool Quartet
Dancing in Tomelilla
59Diskette Romances
Keys To The Suite
58Burial
Truant/Rough Sleeper
57 Daniel(s)
Daniel(s)
56Dr. John
Locked Down
55Daughn Gibson
All Hell
54Chairlift
Something
53Cemeteries
The Wilderness
52The Raveonettes
Observator
51TNGHT
TNGHT
50Tame Impala
Lonerism

As the so-called "death" of guitar music continues to be slammed into your ear year
after year by aging baby boomers convincing themselves Bob Dylan, Neil Young, &
Bruce Springsteen put out the best albums of the year (REAL MUSIC!!!1!!111!1), a
slew of psychedelic gatekeepers led by Tame Impala continue to defy just how
good guitar rock can be in its sixth decade. With a heavier emphasis on whirling,
wings-to-the-sky synthesizers ("Apocalypse Dreams") and organic color wheeled
experimentation ("Sun's Coming Up"), Lonerism proves rock 'n roll is indeed not
dead, and never will be.
49Max Richter
Recomposed: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

How suiting in this age of micro-evolution, melting-pot genres, unclassifiability that
Max Richter would take the nucleus of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and reconstruct
the molecules to create his own intriguing, absolutely gorgeous mutation of some of
the most universally recognizable classical music ever recorded. Screwed 'n
chopped for ominous, golden-trimmed cathedrals and the rolling English prairie sides,
blanketed in sea of flowers.
48MJ Linckoln
Linckoln Premiere

Linckoln Premiere serves as a reminder of why the ultra-sheek neon wave-party
that was the 80s continues to be a vital injection into the blood of hip hop. Rooted
in hot-pink Vice City electro-funk with sluggish and druggy tempo, the party over
at MJ Linckoln's is a groove best experienced after a couple of glasses of syrup on
the rocks, and the obligatory hit of crank in the bathroom stall.
47Actress
R.I.P

Taking simple, repetitive melodies and washing them out in a fuzz of white graffiti,
hypnotic tape hiss, and melancholic daydreams, R.I.P. further aligns my position of
Actress as a melodic, club-hopping Autechre under the same pill as Dean Blunt &
Inga Copeland. It's his strongest record yet, fleshing out a highly original sound
documenting the frightening aftermath of the club-ridden vapors that float
skywards after they've been pounded into the machine.
46Burial
Kindred

Recently, the enigmatic Burial has embraced the idea of electronic music not being
so strictly limited to the LP format, but rather, long EPs with a couple lengthy
tracks covering a rich amount of sonic ground. While still sticking to the basis of his
poignant 2-step and sleep-deprived atmospheres, the three tracks here each make
a different statement. "Kindred" a static-drenched guttural dreamscape warped in
chopped lyrics of lost love, "Loner" the frightening memory of a haunted, strobe-
immersed club, and "Ashtray Wasp" the siren of an unforgiving night below the
slums of perpetually rained-on population; all a testament from one of electronic
music's most vital voices.
45Datavis
Ethics

While Will Burnett was out turning heads with the sluggish FM-funk of Datavision
Ltd., and constructing the sound of a rising internet culture on INTERNET CLUB,
Burnett was quietly constructing his best music unnoticed as Datavis. While I
certainly enjoyed his other two aliases, Datavis' meandering crystalline smudge is
what really stuck with me this year. Ethics brings to turntablist extraordinaire Philip
Jeck and his cathartic take on ambient music, as its wrapped in mystery, spooky
nostalgia, and all kinds of little sonic intricacies that suggests the possibility of this
whole EP being created in the moment, improvising from the eye of a foggy 6AM
sunrise and meditational insomnia.
44Claro Intelecto
Reform Club

Reform Club is 4/4 for clear-headed junkies. Life post-drugs may lack any sharp highs and be a bit repetitive, but it's a beautiful
thing once you?re past the horror and realize how fragile everything is around you. The lows will always be apart of you, there's
no stopping that, but now there's nothing stopping you from becoming the person you could never become. Use this club to
fight whatever burden wants to control you.
43Jessie Ware
Devotion

It seems everytime R&B takes an interesting new direction, pop music levels up.
Jessie Ware isn't writing a new chapter as much as she's taking two elements
(traditional, soulful R&B & UK Garage) and seamlessly fusing them into soulful
future-R&B that works as well on the radio as it does on an esoteric blog (what's
sup). She's gets just about everything right on this brilliant debut; the voice, the
hooks, and quirky instrumentals that never distract too far from her soulful gospel.
42Malibu Locals Only
We Rusticated Earth

Down in grandma's basement, there's an old piano that sits there in the darkness.
It's been slowly crumbling away for decades, as dust and the muggy light from the
window atop of it decay the rusted strings inside out of tune. But every time I?m
sitting there playing it, with the sound of a cousin furiously blowing air into an NES
cartridge to get the damn thing to play on the black and white television, the
sound floats out like a midnight ghoul with a grin on its face; it's so excruciatingly
urgent, far more so than any other piano I've heard. It's almost like every time
someone presses down on the floppy keys, you?re taking in a dialogue of "Here's
me, no bullshit. Like it or not this who I am, this is what I really sound like." Then
the NES finally flashes on with a little buzzed distortion in the corner, and out
comes a melancholic parody of the Mario Bros. theme from the effort of the
exhausted cabinet speakers. Everything in the room on the point of a beautiful
decline, like a swan song of pure unbridled honesty.
41Rivet
Amid the Roar

Looking back on the year, there were almost as many strong EPs as there were LPs
in the world of electronic music, and Rivet's Amid the Roar stands out as one of the
finest. With three endlessly enjoyable earworms of deep tech-house to pump up
any proper party, one could only imagine what kind of material this is leading up to
an LP.
40DIIV
Oshin

I remember this summer I planned a fishing trip with my brother for the wee hours
of the morning to yonder out to a big pond by a Citibank, where you can literally
throw a reel into the water and get a bite everytime. Of course, the little shits you
catch are about as big as a Pepsi can, but still it was a good ol' American time.
Little to my loosening attention span, I "accidently" stayed up all night the night of
and somehow managed to drive me and my brother to the pond, and have a damn
good time in the process. Looking back, Oshin made that trip. Driving past the over
saturated grass and the ultra-bright sunrise reflecting off business parks, blinding
my field of view, become an extremely atmospheric thing listening to the loose
jangle jams of DIIV. Their washed out haze suited the sparkling pond and Pepsi-can
fish oh so well. Sometimes getting off this laptop has benefits.
39Allah Las
Allah Las

Allah-Las take in the best elements for their dreamy garage rock; scratchy, classic
sounding vocals, surf splashed guitar jangles, and a wee hint of psychedelia in for
good measure. The sound results in one of the most enjoyable rock albums of the
year, to-the-point simplicity from a faraway land from one of the finest new bands
of the year.
38Ty Segall Band
Slaughterhouse

When he's not making an ass of himself dismissing all that isn't rock, Ty Segall is a
pretty cool fuckin' dude. None of his (many) records this year represent that better
than Slaughterhouse; the loudest, rawest, most in-your-face garage rock record of
the year. Sounding like he got amped up on some proper drugs and told his band to
play something TRUE, he turns on the tape and has at it. Question is, how'd they
manage to pull off all those catchy hooks?
37Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
Visiting This World

It's kind of odd how seamlessly beautiful sounds can fit with harsh sounds. Few
prove that point better than Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, who continues to mix achingly
gorgeous drones with chaotic swirls of static and noise, that spiral up this ladder to
heaven like a spooky siren leading you to a great peace. Or maybe, judging from
the cover art, it's the other way around; beauty has its limit, all good things come
to an end. All a flower is doing is slowly dying.
36James Ferraro
Sushi

On Sushi, Ferraro takes the quirky internet gospel he created on last year's Far
Side Virtual and downloads two new music apps; Hip Hop and Techno. These apps
suit him well, giving him a chance to expand his new crystalline desktop background
with all kinds of fun programs that's sure to keep the kids up late with sags under
their little eyes. In the future, the drug lords of east & west Baltimore will
communicate through iPads; when they're 20 years irrelevant. Fuck the police.
35Roomful of Teeth
Roomful of Teeth

So after some hesitation, you decide walk into the weird looking barbershop. The
door makes a little ring when you grasp your sweaty palm on the door and open it,
to be greeted by a series of awkward smiling barbers dressed in tribal looking
outfits. You?re immediately sat down in one of the wooden seats that looks more
like a throne, and some kind of native cloth is thrown around you to catch the hair.
Maybe it was the mood, or maybe it was the fact that you watched the Lion King
three times in a row the night before, but over the speakers it sounds like they
were playing a warped Take 6 record; pure vocal harmony but spiritual, tribal,
jagged, twisted, uncomfortable. The barber starts to chop your hair away in all
kinds of angles; front, back, sideways, upside down. It's weird to watch, but he's
so gracefully and elegant doing it, such confidence in his face. Finally he spins you
around and you glance in the mirror; it looks exactly like you wanted it to. Once
you walk out you notice people starting to stare, some laughing. You look down
into a puddle, your hair still looking every bit like you wanted it to. They still laugh.
34Malibu Locals Only
Matterhorn Pt 2

There's a moment on "City Lights; Night Flash" after you've been soaking in rain
with a cozy piano melody and dreamy electronic keys, 2:59 to be exact (when the
rain's drizzled down to just single drops), when a rapturous piano line fills the track
with such a complete sense of innocence that I can't help but melt into this
crippled state of awe. It's probably my favorite minute or so of music this year. The
rest is wonderful too, with all kinds of field and nature recordings underneath
gorgeous piano and keyboard lines, but that moment had me floored.
33Lone
Galaxy Garden

The dreamier, technicolor side of Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64,
Dreamcast, GameCube soundtracks, ideal for interstellar clubbing. Also: see cover
art.
32I:Cube
M Megamix

I:Cube's idea of short 1-2-minute bursts of sparkling French house is nothing short
of brilliant, maximizing a prolific amount of cosmic grooves while seamlessly flowing
it all into one hour long infinity party. More dance music should be structured like
this.
31Pig Destroyer
Book Burner

This one goes out to all the dads that still use the belt.
30The Caretaker
Patience (After Sebald)

One of Leyland Kirby?s strongest assets as a musician is his ability to contrast
moods, themes, and concepts, and on Patience he manages to find an intriguing
balance between beauty and hostility. Though it is technically a soundtrack to
Grant Gee's documentary of the same name, Patience doesn?t have to rely on the
accompaniment of a visual aid to be effective. Though it?s bleaker and less
immediate than its predecessor, it expands his sound beyond the ballroom while
retaining the wide-eyed beauty and ghastly haunt that?s made him such distinct
personality in the world of ambient music.
29Ulrich Schnauss and ASC
77

I'm probably in a small minority here, but I've always preferred video game
soundtracks to film scores. I suppose nostalgia has a lot to do with it, but there's
something attractive about music composed specifically for imaginative worlds,
dimensions, and universes. You could argue the job of a film score is similar
(depending on the film), but in a video game (or at least, the best ones) your
allowed to experience these realms at your own will; exploring the land, taking in
"culture", feeling a sense of risk and urgency through its obstacles, and undergoing
these things down to their very mechanics (weather, climate, gravity). The reason
I bring this up is that I can't help but compare this EP to the early Spyro
soundtracks for Playstation. The game's crystalline soundscapes with a kind of
moody, electronic folk element can be heard here to great effect. Though on 77
that sound takes a modern-twist, featuring sets of muted drum 'n bass and electro-
rhythms that would carry the series over brilliantly to the next-gen. The Spyro
sound is in no doubt thanks to Schnauss' signature, lofty color wheeled palette;
painting the game's dreamy, highly saturated levels to a glossy finish. This kind of
relationship is similar to how the keyboard lines on Bon Iver's "Beth/Rest", Nas' "Bye
Baby", and Lil Ugly Mane's "Breezem Out" all sound like (to my ear) the water theme
from Super Mario 64, and when you can find an association in modern music that
links you back to wonderful memories of your childhood, it's a beautiful thing.
28 Hildur Gu?nad?ttir
Leyf?u lj?sinu

Apparently recorded with just three microphones, no post-studio tampering, one
woman and a cello, Hildur Gu?nad?ttir manages to channel a lot of emotions with
such minimal set up. Beginning with a sterile cello melody, plucking along until being
vaporized by a ghastly sweep of musty orchestration, carrying the cellist up and up
the sky until the track reaches a heavenly climax surpassed by few this year;
Leyf?u lj?sinu remains one of the lovely albums of the year.
27Scott Walker
Bish Bosch

Brawlers, Bawlers, & Bastards. Walker warns anybody who seeks to ride this
haunted train of rust that there's no seats, no railing, no support. Just you in a
flimsy box hoping you don't wake the demons outside. Though I'll tell you, there's a
nice ol' cabaret on the sixth trolley that's got a swingin' big band and some ice cold
spirits to offer. That is, if you can hop across the fiery blaze that blocks it.
26Purl and Deflektion
Growing

Electronic label Dewtone has been putting out some of the most gorgeous
atmospheric electronic music this year, and Purl & Deflektion's Growing is their swan
song. Wrapped in layer after layer of dreamy crystallized drone and deep, pumping
bass lines, Growing is like the sped-up micro-growth of a plant. Photosynthetic
material slowly pumping energy through the stem, while carbon dioxide matter is
exhausted from the leafs. It's polished to an absolute gem, but organic like the life
that feeds it.
25Mister Lies
Hidden Neighbours

In some ways Mister Lies is the polar opposite of Burial. They share similar rhythmic
qualities, but where Burial is concerned with darkness and obscurity, Mister Lies is
concerned with euphoria and tranquility. Alot of the songs here are kind of
meditative in their deep and relaxing nature ("False Astronomy", "Cleam") and others
grand and highly orchestral ("Hidden Neighbors (For Beverly)"). All in all in makes for
one the finest EPs in 2012.
24Drape
An Idea and Its Map

I'd like to thank the sound the Seyda Neen Silt Strider makes the minute you get
off the boat. This howling means I'm playing the best game ever made.
23 d'Eon
LP

After releasing a split with Grimes last year, it's weird to look back on how it all
turned out. Grimes blew up, and well, d'Eon didn't. While I do like Grimes, it's sad
because d'Eon is a much more interesting character. He managed to put out some of
the most interesting and prolific music this year, with the nostalgia-overloaded,
ambient-crushing Music For Keyboards series and (most importantly) on LP, where
d'Eon manages to take the 80s pop of Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins with elements of
contemporary R&B, dream pop, new age, and electronic fuckery and create the most
unique pop record of the year. It's a massive album with a massive sound, and
remains one of the most overlooked of 2012.
22Killer Mike
R.A.P. Music

One of the reasons OutKast managed to become a vital voice in hip hop was their
emphasis of the groove, the funk, & the soul. Killer Mike's claim to fame could be
found guest-spotting for the Kast, until R.A.P. Music came around and changed all
of that. With its thick, curvy grooves, brooding lyrical juke, and wonky electro
production (thanks El-P) Killer Mike has finally arrived, representing the best of the
old and the new. The old school grooves of the furious "Don't Die", the BBQ
PARTAAY "Southern Fried", and the spiritual catharsis "R.A.P. Music"; Killer Mike
defined what rap should be in 2012.
21Vikki Jackman, Andrew Chalk, Jean Noel
A Paper Dolls Whisper of Spring

Vikki Jackman and Andrew Chalk have quietly been some of the great minds in
ambient music over the years. Jackman specializes in subtle, childlike rhythmic
patterns under lucid drones, and Chalk in droning orchestral slumber, resonating in
all kinds of emotional thickness. Jackman and Chalk combine these two ideas with
Jean-N?el Rebilly on A Paper Doll's Whisper of Spring, like a rainy day music box
gradually taps out foggy notes, as the ominous clouds above carry the notes higher
and higher on elevated drones. Easily one of the most intimate records of the year.
20Taylor Deupree
Faint

Faint is like a deconstruction of sound to its smallest form. Gentle waves of static
are decomposed and strung out, relieving their core. Distant drones curve a faint
skeleton behind it, guiding silvery glitches, errors, and malfunctions along the
memory of a signature as they play out a cold and distant melody. It's the
ambience of natural phenomena, zoomed in and focused so sharply it feels like lens
will shatter at any moment. But it never does. It simply continues to resonate a
pretty song, unnoticed.
19Reso
Tangram

Since last year's Valken / War Machine EP, Reso has managed to transform the
obnoxious Americanized recall of dubstep into an intricately wielded cannon of
colossal beats, complex drum 'n bass patterns, lucid tech drones, and a flood of
computer error to give the songs a sense of head warping disarray. Reso's
archetype Tangram is no different, taking that sound and expanding it in every
direction. Whether it's bold technical onslaught ("Exoframe", "Ishimura"), aggressive
drum 'n bass invasions ("Axion", "Check 1,2"), or gorgeous downtempo ambience
("Virtua Rhythm", "Nempo"), Tangram offers dubstep an invigorating vision of the
future.
18She
Electric Girl

Taking the spunk and charm of a J-pop record with the groove and technicality of a
French House record, Electric Girl is the party album of the year. It's like if Capsule
produced a Justice record; full of delightful robo-girl glitch with Ed Banger-style
distorted groove and bass. Running through neo-Toyko with your virtual
Tamagotchi in your backpack, ready for an intense DDR tournament below the city
in an sunken internet cafe with sweat and urgency on the face of every kid who
watches your long awaited, much deserved victory.
17Emeralds
Just to Feel Anything

Virtually panned by every publication out there, Just to Feel Anything remains one
of the most misunderstood records of the year. Eyebrows raised as drum machines,
a more traditional (Berlin-school) structure of progressive electronic, and Mark
McGuire's firebird guitar solos were introduced, following the dreamy, hypnotic
passages of their 2010 breakthrough Does It Look Like I'm Here. Hinted at in the
twinkling audio synthesis of Steve Hauschildt's Tragedy & Geometry and Mark
McGuire's Nightshade, here Emeralds find themselves ascending away from the
sunken obscurity of Does It Look Like I'm Here and floating towards a mourning of
80s FM gloom, led by McGuire's gorgeous moonlit condominium guitar lines and
Hauschildt's escalating synthesizer rhythms that sound like an 2am NES stuck on a
boss battle. It's the sound of an ominous silhouette of Miami Vice detectives as the
credits roll, or Tommy Vercetti walking out from the docks and into a neon
drenched night club to pop quarters into an arcade game.
16King Tears Bat Trip
King Tears Bat Trip

A hellishly distorted tenor sax, brutal noise guitar, powerful afro-beat buildups, and
endlessly catchy fuck-all grooves hypnotize in an absolutely unrelentingly insane
album from start to finish over the course of two mind-numbing "songs". King Tears
Bat Trip's debut is one of the most thrilling and engaging jazz albums I've heard in a
long, long time.
15Converge
All We Love We Leave Behind

I'm not one to pretend I know what I'm talking about when it comes to metalcore,
or that I listen to it much, but there's something about Converge that's always
managed to hold my interest. With a genre so built around speed, intensity, and
brutality, it's easy for it to fall apart when any one part isn't working; be it vocals,
guitars, drums, etc. Here Converge get it all right: fierce vocals, chaotic and
snarling guitars, and pummeling drums with enough rhythm sense to avoid sounding
grating and indecisive. Though it's also a matter of how they handle their brutality,
and All We Love We Leave Behind sees the band balancing their signature
relentlessness, with slower, equally engaging sludge jams to create the most
complete metal experience of the year.
14Livetune
Tell Your World

Let's get one thing straight, Hatsune Miku is not a real person. In fact, she's a
singing synthesizer application with a female persona, and is portrayed to be a 16-
year-old girl with long blue pigtails and has her own anime. Yes, the Japanese are
fucked. The program is known as a "Vocalic", and features other characters with
distinctive vocal characteristics that's become something of a subgenre to J-pop in
recent years. Just think Japanese Roger Troutman. Though Livetune is indeed
human, being the alias of KHz, a Japanese producer who produces pop songs using
this vocaloid. Shamelessly synthetic and endlessly catchy, Tell Your World is the
finest J-pop record I've heard in a long time, and represents the genre better than
anything else out there right now. Open your mind and get lost in the ever-flowing
technicolor dream world that is Tell Your World.
13Mediafired
The Pathway Through Whatever

As "Vaporwave" turned more into an essay on internet culture than a legitimate
genre (though a thorough enough essay that it was able to be legitimized here on
good ol' RYM, thanks again for that), its self-deprecating style-over-substance will
surely doom other sleep deprived bedroom pirates with a hard on for kitsch
commercialism that they inadvertently acquired nostalgia for (fucking me) seeking
to create similiar music in the future into parodies of a dead sound. Though it's all
bullshit really, at least in Mediafired's case, because the only thing these songs
have in common with the aimless, meandering, and flamboyant vapordrag of
INTERNET CLUB, Macintosh Plus, and IRONYvirtual is that the songs sound like they
could be made by any old functioning sociopath slacker with a basic understaning
of how to download an mp3 and audacity (trial version of ableton if you really want
to get glossy). That being said, I do respect the artistic integrity of Mediafired.
Sure, I could download the mp3 of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights", slap it on
audacity, cut it off to around the 0:53 to 0:56 part, and seal it into a 2 minute and
26 second seamless loop and call it "Pixies", but I didn't. He did, and it sounds
fucking lush. I could take the mp3 to Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" and
essentially make a screwed 'n chopped remix that sounds nothing like the original
and call it "Spring Is Here", but I didn't. He did, and it's one of the best songs of
the year. I could take a collection of slowed down, looped, glitched, pitch-bent,
and echoed samples taken in through years of TV, film, FM radio, and the
supermarket and warp them into something new, adventurous, and unfamiliar, and
call the whole thing The Pathway Through Whatever, but I didn't. He did, and it's
one of the best albums of 2012.
12 Lil B
God's Father

From a man who puts out a new mixtape every couple of weeks, usually over an
hour long each, it's a wonder how the hell he managed pull off this 34-track, 2-hour
opus. No, he's not the greatest rapper alive (he's not even a great rapper), but
lyrically he's one of the most interesting in the game. Whenever I turn on the local
classic R&B station, there's about a 25% chance I'll hear a sample from God's
Father. "Hey, that's Lil B!" ...Is it though? Funny the backwards ideology that
comes with hearing a sample before the original. While he certainly steps up his
flow here ("Gods Father" is probably the best he's ever sounded) God's Father is all
about these god damn instrumentals, featuring some of the top beats of the year
("I Own Swag", "Fuck Ya Money", "Tropics", "Fonk Aint Dead", "Remy", "I Aint Neva
Won", "Deep Ass Thoughts", "Glourious BasedGod", "Secrete Obsession", "Turned Me
Cold", "Wake Up Mr Flowers 3mix"). It seems like Lil B is always operating from the
fourth wall as he's out shouting "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS" or "Sometimes I think
I can talk to the bugs, but that's another chapter" under absolutely gold beats that
make for a surreal mental hijack. The fact alone that a 2-hour mixtape works at all
is a huge accomplishment, but that the fact this is the strongest hip hop album of
2012 is something to go fucking ape shit never-ending-rave about.
11Seafoam
Seafoam

Oh surfy dream pop, how I fancy you. Cascades of lulling daydream tranquility pour
from coral reefs, a streaming set of jangly seagull-strung chords gently ripple
against misty vocals. Slow motion waves glide across a watery horizon, splashes of
vocal ambience greet a thick rising sun beyond it. Early morning dew and chlorine
dreams ascend from coastal grooves, gorgeous guitar line's bathe the sea in the
whisper of cyan surf. No EP was better this year, lacking a single weak track.
Brilliant stuff.
10Merchandise
Children of Desire

Merchandise take a couple of familiar influences from The Smiths and post-punk as
a whole and smear it into something unfamiliar; ominous cathedral heavy production
drenched in gigantic floods of synth, organ, and noise. The result is gorgeous pop
music tangled in thick weaves of experimentation, heard best on the massive "Roser
Park"; as Carson Cox's Morrissey / Layne Stanley hybrid vocals sway over aerial pop
songs on love and loss that are catchy, harsh, emotional, & experimental, all at
once.
9Lotus Plaza
Spooky Action at a Distance

Have to wonder how long Lockett Pundt's had been sitting up there at Deerhunter
shows with these absolutely gorgeous jangly daydreams o'plenty. As well as they'd
work as Deerhunter songs, Lotus Plaza manage to give these songs a unique spin of
their own by creating a set of dreamy, suburban-tuned nostalgia for late night
drives, after hours of reminiscing through elementary school playgrounds.
8 Bvdub
Don't Say You Know

I'm surprised it took this long to create the kind of epic, monolithic sized ambient
drum 'n bass tracks of Don't Say You Know, but thankfully it happened at all. bvdub
has managed to stay prolific over the past couple of years with an array of techno
and ambient albums, but Don't Say You Know feels important. Every track basks in
gorgeous puddles of ethereal drones, slowly building and building, until being taken
over by a charging drum 'n bass pattern lifting the mix to a skyward climax high
above the clouds. It's deeply affecting music, with the same emotional tug as the
grandest, prettiest post-rock, but also has the spirit and mystical qualities of
ambient and new age.
7Animal Collective
Centipede Hz

Centipede Hz was a tough sell. Attempting to follow up the breakthrough album of
one of the most beloved indie bands in the world was bound to spark criticism, no
matter what direction they decided to head in. Ditching any indication of laid-back
or ambience Merriweather hinted at, Centipede is packed to the brim with whirling
synthesizers, aquatic vocal freaky, surging electronics, twisting rhythmic patterns,
and radio screwed fuckery. The FM-sonic transitions holding Centipede together
remind me of Joseph Hammer's I Love You, Please Love Me Too, where he took
small random samples of seemingly unconnected songs and laid them out into two
long strings of seamless, hypnotic "songs". Centipede sort of works on that same
level, taking all their native rhythmic qualities and signature psychedelic harmonies
and taking every instrument they can find and wrapping them in a helix of spiraling
distortion, caution tape surrounding the edges. The result is nothing short of
amazing.
6Mac DeMarco
2

Mac DeMarco is like the ideal friend who's funny, crazy, delightful, and always nice
at the same time, down for anything but understands when enough is enough. I'm
not sure how I came to such a conclusion, but the careless utopian backyard
daydream that is 2 is enough to feel like I've got a good understanding of the man.
Jangly, innocent, and off-color like a fuzzy mid 90s children's show (Pete & Pete I'm
looking at you), stripped of any gimmicks and blissfully ignorant to an increasingly
pessimistic world. 2 is a lot like a modern day version of R.E.M.'s Murmur in that the
songs are incredibly simple and familiar, yet hold a sophisticated charm that nobody
is tapping into at this level. It's subtle and irresistibly honest, a quiet force.
5Eli Keszler
Catching Net

Eli Keszler is a deconstructionist. On Catching Net, the drum isn't simply something
to bang on with a stick; it's something to resonate off of, something to saw at with
a hammer, something to throw around a room, something to rip apart entirely.
Combined with a set of crotales, micro-controller metal plates, piano wires, pin
blocks, tuning pins, various bass drums, a snare drum, a noise guitar, a clarinet,
installed motors, and installation piece in the Boston Center for the Arts consisting
of large metallic wires being strung on via mechanical set up on a wall, which also
happens to serve as a gallery piece, Eli Keszler creates a sound like no other.
Absolutely lost in a chaotic mirage of gnarled and twisted percussion of every
volume, timbre, and tempo coming at every angle, guitar feedback drones and
frenzied string plucking, the loud trembling of a rusty motor making hazard on the
floor, sharp sine waves cutting sanity, and an ominous clarinet buzzing in the
distance; it's total fucking chaos, but absolutely thrilling in a way no other album
was this year.
4Ultraista
Ultraista

After almost two decades of guiding Radiohead into martyrdom, it was only right for
Nigel Godrich to get out and start making some proper tunes of his own. Ultra?sta is
the perfect way to make it happen. Guided by the sultry hypnosis of vocalist Laura
Bettinson, these 10 seductive color-wheeled vignettes flirt with synth pop, new
wave, and trip hop, blinded by a flashing floodlight revealing the spectrum of their
colored silhouette, resulting in the best pop record of the year. How appropriate
David Lynch would remix "Strange Formula"; sophisticated pop music for neon
lounges draped in blood red curtains, zigzag patterns highlight the floor, and a small
stage for Ultra?sta to play phantoms on. Are we really here, or is it all just a dream?
3 Godspeed You! Black Emperor
'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

I've always put it upon myself whenever I listen to a Godspeed record to make sure
it's away from what I'm normally doing. In most cases it's taking my dog on a walk;
a really long walk that ends up lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour.
Not that Godspeed's music can't be enjoyed in other ways, I just think it would be
difficult to get the same experience out of taking in a slowly scaling, 20+-minute
epic passively, sitting down staring into a computer screen, vs. being out in the
open, walking to the sound of the stirring, inevitable climax with every sense of
your being in full attention of the orchestration. Not everybody's opinion can hold
equal, and not everybody's going to listen to this music and hear what I hear. But,
I do believe the music of Godspeed You! Black Emperor commands a thrust for
adventure, an open-ended journey through music's many horizons that no two
people will experience the same. It's music for the big picture; songs that challenge
predictable notions and in the process stimulate the mind, delving through the
recesses of grave memories, deep ideas, sentimental reflections, and moving
recollections until a breathtaking emotional catharsis leaves a grand impression on
what the future can be to those who wish to escape the predictability, lies, and
corruption of the world we live in for their own ultimatum.
2Gimu
A Silent Stroll On Sombre St

Shrouded in mystery and passionate like few other albums were this year, A Silent
Stroll on Sombre St. is the drone perfected. Similar to William Basinski's gradually
disappearing disintegration loops, as each song is relatively simple, usually opening
from a cloud of hostility, as an impending siren slowly rises from the ashes, swaying
up and down through the rusty tunnel surrounding it before the matter is exhausted
out a pipe and into a twisted gaseous state to float onwards in the skies. With his
magnum opus, Gimu creates short heartaches wrapped in veils of emotional wear
and tear; static, noise, and buzz light a spark trailing down a dreary wick, slowly
leading to a series of roaring explosions, expanding the sky in a immensity of light,
color, and smoke.
1Swans
The Seer

First and for most when I think about great albums of all time, their power rests in
the idea of escapism. When I sit down and start to dissect the year's best music, the
single solitary piece that defined it all will always be the one that took me the
furthest away from reality; into a state of solace curated by the album's presence.
Strip away the nonsense of the band's legacy and the 30 years it took to create, and
you have the most brooding, massive, and intense album of the year. The fiery filth
of ablazed occult life on Disc 1. Introduced by the processed mind-altering, cult-
cleansing "Lunacy", the numbing fury of the mad king "Mother of the World", the
haunting fireside prelude "The Wolf", the monumental epitaph at the center of a fallen
civilization "The Seer", the rolling pummeled chant in the distance "The Seer Returns",
the nightmare of hellish infinity "93 Ave. Blues", and the dreary work-chant gospel of
"The Daughter Brings the Water". Further one you're greeted by the enchanted
spiritual ecstasy of Disc 2. Opening with the lovely horizon-eyed ballad "Song for a
Warrior", the towering colossus in the sky with the heart of a thousand souls
"Avatar", the fire exposed folk lament billowing majesty back to the ground "A Piece
of the Sky", and the watershed eye of the beast at the end of all things "Apostate".
Exhilarating, enchanting, exhausting and empowering-- no album this year was
better.
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