2012.5
Jumping on the bandwagon. Check these babies out. |
| 50 |  | Beach House
Bloom
Good, but just. |
| 49 |  | Virtual Boy
Virtual Boy
Downtempo for the dubstep generation. |
| 48 |  | Blondes
Blondes
What the fuck is microhouse. Can we just dance or something. |
| 47 |  | Black Dice
Mr. Impossible
The most fun I've had with a noise album since OOIOO came out with their last
release. |
| 46 |  | Chromatics
Kill For Love
Almost as long as Fiona Apple's album title. But plow through and you'll find
something remarkably cogent and personal. |
| 45 |  | Miryo
MIRYO a.k.a JOHONEY
Miryo talks/raps/sings about earlobes, apparently. It sounds great. |
| 44 |  | Porcelain Raft
Strange Weekend
Working with a familiar sonic palette, Mauro Remiddi creates unexpectedly good
songs that are almost as beautiful as he is. |
| 43 |  | Pepe Deluxe
Queen of the Wave
A bit too kitschy to really convince, but this album still blows minds. |
| 42 | | oOoOO
Our Love Is Hurting Us
I'm still sad that "witch house" isn't really a thing anymore. Also sad that I can't put
the RITUALZ album from last year on this list. Oh, well. This is close enough. |
| 41 |  | Huoratron
Cryptocracy
Heavy stuff. See milquetoast white people mosh. |
| 40 |  | Disasterpeace
FEZ
Unexpectedly lovely. One of the most important chiptune releases of recent years. |
| 39 |  | EXO-K
Mama
The boy band tradition is alive and well. Bless. |
| 38 |  | Hospitality
Hospitality
Man, what would it be like if Vampire Weekend wrote genuinely smart songs? |
| 37 |  | Demdike Stare
Elemental
Sweep the dust off the floor (thump thump thump). |
| 36 |  | Friends
Manifest!
Kickin' back. |
| 35 |  | Hello Venus
Venus
The sort of maximalist bleacher pop Gwen Stefani wishes she could make. |
| 34 |  | Jason Urick
I Love You
Do yoga to this shit. |
| 33 |  | Lone
Galaxy Garden
In various settings: ecstatic, relaxing, hypnotic. |
| 32 |  | Meysell Quintana
Miracle of the Sun
GTB represent! Bitcrushed waves that sound impossibly organic. |
| 31 |  | Sigur Ros
Valtari
To paraphrase CMG, treading water in the clearest, most beautiful lake in the
universe. |
| 30 |  | Orcas
Orcas
Forget "amniotic pop" as a blog genre. This is real, submerged, dub-inflected pop,
and it sounds gorgeous. |
| 29 |  | Justin Bieber
Believe
He's all grown up, and he's putting out some of the best pop records on the radio
right now. |
| 28 |  | Fiona Apple
The Idler Wheel...
It's as if she never left us. |
| 27 |  | Daughn Gibson
All Hell
Creepy-sultry. Intoxicating stuff. |
| 26 |  | OST
Invisible Ink For Sketching Ghosts
Linklater is practically infallible to me, so this shit is a given. Damn good. |
| 25 |  | 4minute
Volume Up
K-pop does the sax solo thing better than anybody here did. |
| 24 |  | Zammuto
Zammuto
A tuneful abstraction that's as touchingly human as it is rough-hewn. |
| 23 |  | ahnnu
couch
Homebrewed beats any Brainfeeder freak would love. |
| 22 |  | The 2 Bears
Be Strong
Give the music all your lovin'. |
| 21 |  | HEALTH
MAX PAYNE 3
Whoever was in charge of this collaboration is underpaid. |
| 20 |  | The Trap's Jaw
An Awful Lot of Wires
GTB represent! Also, 16kbps MP3's produce extremely rewarding timbres. |
| 19 |  | A Pink
Une Annee
The best pop chorus of 2012 ("Bubibu") and the most unabashedly happy pop you'll
hear all year. |
| 18 |  | of Montreal
Paralytic Stalks
Kevin Barnes shatters his psyche and the demented parade from Paprika comes
shooting out. |
| 17 |  | Lana Del Rey
Born To Die
She might be bougie, but damn if she isn't a creative genius. |
| 16 |  | One Direction
Up All Night
Perfect pop, mercifully free of cynicism. |
| 15 |  | Death Grips
The Money Store
I want this shit in my areaaaaadfkgjfdsjkgdfdslkgasdf. Also, see white people mosh
again. |
| 14 |  | Diplo
Express Yourself
A monstrous "sea of broquility". |
| 13 |  | Tyme. x Tujiko
GYU
Gorgeous, sighing, transparent pop. |
| 12 |  | Julia Holter
Ekstasis
"Boy In The Moon" is a song that exists in this world. That is all you need to know. |
| 11 |  | Karantamba
Ndigal
Cosmopolitan aesthetes can't fetishize this. It's too vital. |
| 10 |  | Peaking Lights
Lucifer
Enough good vibes to fill a whole summer. |
| 9 |  | Actress
R.I.P
Heartbeats. |
| 8 |  | Black Bananas
Rad Times Xpress IV
Herrema goes hard. |
| 7 | | Leila
U&I
Circuitry frying. |
| 6 |  | King Felix
Spring EP
Laurel Halo's second release on this list, a pitch-perfect melding of traditional
orchestral color with hummingbird beats. Gorgeous. |
| 5 |  | Gatekeeper
Exo
Goofy but brutal industrial techno, coming soon to a Gamestop near you. (I think.) |
| 4 |  | Mouse on Mars
Parastrophics
Witty, glitchy, squelchy dance music. Also, Facebook's a cockblocker. |
| 3 |  | Burial
Kindred
That bass is deep as fuck. |
| 2 |  | Laurel Halo
Quarantine
Pulseless electronic pop fighting to have a heart. |
| 1 |  | Grimes
Visions
DIY art-pop that's refreshingly hard to pin down. |
|
