Oh, I’m sorry. Did you expect me to write a list about movies? Well, it’s my blog and I can do what I want. And there’s no way I’m making a Top 10 list until I see “Django Unchained” on Christmas Day anyway, so you’re just going to have to wait.
But despite never having done one before, I really wanted to make a Top 10 list of my favorite albums of the year. I listened to more music, went to more concerts and read more music criticism this year than any year in the past, and likely several years combined. I wanted to share the music I’ve discovered this year, but I also wanted to test myself in writing about music, which as several friends have previously informed me, I shouldn’t be ashamed of.
Does that make me an expert? No. It’s almost a guarantee that a few of the albums I have here will appear on my list exclusively. Some of those that are universally loved don’t really come into my wheelhouse (for what it’s worth, I enjoyed “Channel Orange”), and although I listened to enough to make a decent list, I still have a long way to go.
Almost all of these albums are artists I discovered in the last year alone, ousting out albums by long time favorites like Bruce Springsteen, Jack White, The Killers, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, St. Vincent and David Byrne, Aerosmith (did you honestly listen to this? I didn’t), two by Neil Young and two (so far) by Green Day that didn’t register with me as strongly.
What I did come up with however shows that although I’m mostly a rock guy, I cling to music that is arty, dreamy, poppy and heavy. Hopefully next year I can claim to have a list as diverse.
1. Grizzly Bear – Shields
“Everything all at once,” “A mounting wave of sound,” “No wrong, no right,” “Do whatever you like;” These lyrics from Grizzly Bear’s “What’s Wrong” and “A Simple Answer” exemplify the ingenious art rock found on “Shields.” Equal parts soothing and spacy, exotic and experimental, sharp and exciting and often altogether on the same track, Grizzly Bear’s intricate orchestration of a cacophony of horns (see: epic closing track “Sun in Your Eyes”), cringing distortion (see: the bananas breakdown on “Yet Again” or their hardest rocking yet, “Speak in Rounds) and abstract lyricism make for a work of art so wondrous in every detail.
2. The Men – Open Your Heart
It isn’t often that you can call a hardcore garage rock album eclectic, but then “Open Your Heart” is. The token line about The Men is that they’ve assembled a record collection of punk, indie rock, shoegaze, hardcore and even country in one album. But if you’re like me and don’t have a vinyl collection that deep, “Open Your Heart” is an explosive record that still operates as a foray into the unknown. Not every track is blisteringly fast and loud, although those that are (“Turn it Around,” “Cube,” “Animal”) rule without sacrificing catchy hooks, but no one has its foot off the gas. Songs with the slow burn build up like “Oscillation” and “Presence” display post-rock brilliance that allow the album to breathe, and “Country Song” and “Candy” are throwback numbers that show just how enduringly versatile and infectious these guys are.
3. Sharon van Etten – Tramp
Many artists can write lyrics that reveal just how wounded they are, but only a select few can convey that kind of emotion while feeling warm, inclusive and relatable. Sharon van Etten’s sound has graduated to something so much more consistent than that of her previous LP “Epic.” On “Tramp” she proves she can still do the girl with a guitar thing as well as anyone (“Give Out,” “Ask”) but also lighten the tone in folky ukelele tracks (“Leonard’s,” “We Are Fine”) and wash it all away in trance inducing electric numbers (“Serpents,” “Magic Chords,” “I’m Wrong,” “Joke or a Lie”). In doing so, her gifts as a poetic songwriter shine through, showing that her pain is mutual in lyrics like “We all make mistakes” on “All I Can” or in the haunting male/female harmony on “Magic Chords.” I’ve listened to this album more than any this year because it’s the only one that’s so soothingly personal.
4. Beach House – Bloom
The common criticism of “Bloom” in comparison to Beach House’s breakout hit “Teen Dream” was that they were almost going on autopilot now that they’ve mastered the dream pop sound. But the fluttering guitar melodies on “Bloom” would hardly fit in with the lite, bouncy beats and hooks on their previous LP. This time around they’ve combined their trance-inducing drum machine with the syncopated toms heard on “Wild” and elsewhere to create songs with an actual pulse. Mix in the cascading keyboards on “Wishes” and “Lazuli” and you’ve got a dream like no other. “What comes after this,” Victoria Legrand sings on “Myth,” quite possibly the song of the year: “Momentary bliss.”
5. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
It’s called “Celebration Rock” for a reason. With just a guitar and drums, Japandroids put together an explosion of no-nonsense, stadium size rock appropriate for fist pumping, head banging, beer chugging, air strumming and unison shouting. David Prowse creates an avalanche of drum fills on “Younger Us,” and Brian King’s guitar has the ability to sound like several as he resounds just a handful of chords. This is the most exuberantly fun album of the year.
6. Titus Andronicus – Local Business
Titus Andronicus casually rocking out is like some garage rock bands putting their full weight behind a sprawling concept album. “Local Business” is not the magnificent rock anthem “The Monitor” is, but it gets at personal demons with grave severity on the thundering “spit it out” breakdown while still celebrating raucous guitar rock on upbeat, fist-pumping movers. Patrick Stickles’s lyrics are still dense, but they’re tinged with humor and cynicism in another completely memorable way. Yet seeing Titus live is still the best way to go; these guys do their thing so well.
7. The Shins – Port of Morrow
Probably no Shins fan would claim “Port of Morrow” is the band’s best album, but that very reason has branded it an unfortunately underrated indie rock gem. If The Shins have demonstrated anything on “Port of Morrow,” it’s their versatility, churning out indie-pop ballads like “It’s Only Life” and “For a Fool,” biting rock tracks like “The Rifle’s Spiral” and “Simple Song,” folksier arrangements like “September” and even jazzier and more psychedelic experiments like the title track or “Bait and Switch.” James Mercer can take his voice to Sting highs and Neil Diamond lows, his personal but dense lyricism is as strong as ever, and the album’s multiple solos suggest that this move to a major label has given his guitar some much-needed muscles.
8. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
You would never think the emo lyric “I thought I would be more than this,” sung over and over in Dylan Baldi’s whiny, bratty and nasally yell, would have as much muscle as Cloud Nothings conjures up for nearly nine minutes on “Attack on Memory’s” finest track, “Wasted Days.” And yet by playing with his backing band, Baldi takes his simple, yet ugly and discordant riffs, either on the drone-opener “No Future/No Past” or the instrumental “Separation” and builds from nothing into something awesome without ever being less than loud, fast and wild.
9. Tennis – Young and Old
I always said I must be such a girl for loving Tennis, but that’s because “Cape Dory” was all love, sunshine and puppies. “Young and Old” adds a hint of melancholy to their breezy sound that goes a long way. Tennis does the beachcomber style so much better than the buzzier Best Coast. Through expanded bass and drum lines, they’ve added actual groove to songs like the slow plod of “My Better Self” or the upbeat march “High Road.” Even Aliana Moore’s vocals have attained some wailing bite in front of their signature swimming Beach Boy guitars on “It All feels the Same” and the bouncy keyboards on “Traveling.” Those critical of Tennis’s feel good vibes are a reflection of the closing line to “High Road,” “paradise is all around, but happiness is never found.”
10. Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse
Ty Segall and crew have arguably reached the most extreme apex of guitar garage rock. “Slaughterhouse” is an intense, near exhausting album. Segall simultaneously shows pumped-up joy (“FUCK! YEAH!” he announces at the end of “Wave Goodbye”) and disdain (“FUCK THIS FUCKING SONG,” he screams at the end of the Bo Diddley blues cover from the ‘60s “Diddy Wah Diddy”) with his crushingly rapid riffs and blood-curdling screams. The noise-rock realms he gets into on the nearly 10 minute “Fuzz War” pushes the boundaries of what you can even call music versus dicking around with a guitar, as does the whole album, but man it’s exciting.
11-20 (listed alphabetically by band)
- Exitmusic – Passage
- Glen Hansard – Rhythm and Repose
- Gold Motel – Gold Motel
- Jack White – Blunderbuss
- Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill
- School of Seven Bells – Ghostory
- Screaming Females – Ugly
- Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror
- Twin Shadow – Confess
- The Walkmen – Heaven
20 Best Songs of 2012
- Myth – Beach House
- Turn it Around – The Men
- Simple Song – The Shins
- Give Out – Sharon van Etten
- Yet Again – Grizzly Bear
- Skyfall – Adele
- Low Times – School of Seven Bells
- Wasted Days – Cloud Nothings
- Psychedelic Pill – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
- My Eating Disorder – Titus Andronicus
- Traveling – Tennis
- Love Interruption – Jack White
- Oh Love – Green Day
- Krokodil – St. Vincent
- Heartbreaker – The Walkmen
- Bird of Sorrow – Glen Hansard
- Fire’s Highway – Japandroids
- Cube – The Men
- Slaughterhouse – Ty Segall Band
- Serpents – Sharon van Etten
My Still to Listen List
- Ceremony – Zoo
- Jens Lekman – I Know What Love Isn’t
- Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet on Sky
- Green Day – Tre
- Damien Jurado – Maraquopa
- Gary Clark, Jr. – Blak and Blu
- King Tuff – King Tuff
- Ty Segall – Twins
Best Concerts
- Titus Andronicus w/Ceremony at Metro, 11/26/12
- The Men at Pitchfork Fest, 7/16/12
- The Joy Formidable w/A Place to Bury Strangers and Exitmusic at The Bluebird, 3/22/12
- Beach House at Pitchfork Fest, 7/16/12
- Fitz & the Tantrums at The Bluebird, 3/6/12 (Free show!)
- Ty Segall w/Thee Oh Sees at Logan Square Auditorium, 9/28/12
- The Shins at Lollapalooza, 8/3/12
- The Black Keys at Lollapalooza, 8/3/12
- St. Vincent w/Shearwater at Old National Center, 5/11/12
- (tie) Aerosmith w/Cheap Trick at United Center, 6/22/12 and Radiohead w/Caribou at First Midwest Bank Amphitheater 6/10/12
Have not heard of any of these artists, but we seem to have a very different taste in music. I’m more into hip hop/soul/R&B.
Yeah, not really my thing. Although I may have a list for you to check out once my friend writes it.
Cool, just let me know…I’d be interested in reading that.