Dienstag, 25. Dez 2012, 22:50
Well, 2012 - it's sad to see you go. Thanks for not killing us all, and for leaving us with some really great music. Of course, there were some missteps and disappointments (Animal Collective, Metric, Deerhoof, and Mountain Goats, among others) along the way, and, as tends to be the case, my ears failed to find the greatness of certain critically-acclaimed releases (including Frank Ocean, Swans, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, and Tame Impala), but on the whole, you were more than good to us. From the 1234 tracks collected within my iTunes library over the past twelve months, I present here my favorite 25 albums and 50 songs; more so than in previous years, in 2012 I feel my list diverges from those assembled by other indie music enthusiasts. And so, we begin…
TOP 50 SONGS OF 2012
50. Claro Intelecto - Quiet Life
49. Leila - boudica
48. John Talabot - Oro y Sangre
47. Royal Headache - 2 Kinds Of Love
46. Here We Go Magic - How Do I Know
45. Mount Eerie - Through The Trees Pt. 2
44. Passion Pit - Carried Away
43. Andrew Bird - Hole In The Ocean Floor
42. Whirr - Junebouvier
41. Grass Widow - Under The Atmosphere
40. Porcelain Raft - Unless You Speak From Your Heart
39. Actress - Caves Of Paradise
38. The Shins - 40 Mark Strasse
37. The Men - Candy
36. Guided By Voices - Doughnut For A Snowman
35. Field Music - (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing
34. Gotye - State Of The Art
33. Liars - Annual Moon Words
32. Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms
31. Best Coast - The Only Place
30. Bowerbirds - Tuck The Darkness In
29. Exitmusic - Passage
28. Frank Ocean - Sweet Life
27. Fiona Apple - Left Alone
26. Spiritualized - Too Late
25. Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools (Drank)
24. First Aid Kit - Blue
23. Jens Lekman - Some Dandruff On Your Shoulder
22. Jessica Ware - Running
21. Frankie Rose - Pair Of Wings
20. King Tuff - Bad Thing
19. Lower Dens - Brains
18. Julia Holter - Goddess Eyes II
17. Grimes - Vowels = Space And Time
16. Cloud Nothings - Our Plans
15. Lotus Plaza - Dusty Rhodes
14. Metric - Clone
13. Daniel Rossen - Golden Mile
12. Ty Segall - Wave Goodbye
11. Beach House - Troublemaker
10. Wye Oak - Spiral
09. Chromatics - Kill For Love
08. Sharon Van Etten - Leonard
07. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
06. Screaming Females - Leave It All Up To Me
05. Hospitality - Julie
04. Bat For Lashes - Laura
03. Allo Darlin' - Capricornia
02. Grizzly Bear - Yet Again
01. Dum Dum Girls - Lord Knows
TOP 25 ALBUMS OF 2012
25. Chromatics - Kill For Love
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24. Whirr - Pipe Dreams
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23. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
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Released in January, Dylan Baldi's third album as Cloud Nothings is one of the few offerings to make this best-of list after spending almost an entire year in rotation. Its
ability to weather the competition of the past eleven months speaks well to the record's staying power, as the Cleveland outfit's alternation of pummeling, angst-ridden riffage and sweet, light-hearted, almost jocular melodies (the latter of which are somewhat reminiscent of more pop-sounding bands like Tokyo Police Club) lend Cloud Nothings' sound a diverse, refreshing aspect - something largely absent in much of the guitar-driven indie rock of the day.
22. Patti Smith - Banga
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21. Mount Eerie - Clear Moon
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20. Grass Widow - Internal Logic
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Yeah, I know, nowhere near as great as 2010's Past Time, but - god damn, am I not a sucker for that post-punk sound? Because they so effortlessly merge the polyphonic vocal propensities of the genre's first-wave outfits (think The Slits and The Raincoats) with a modern, avant-rock sensibility (think of fellow San Franciscans like Deerhoof), Grass Widow remain my favorites among the current crop of all-girl groups, and Internal Logic is a worthy - and in some ways, much tighter and more focused - followup to the group's earlier efforts.
19. Royal Headache - Royal Headache
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Less skronky than Love Is All and less brooding than Iceage, Royal Headache are a perfect addition to the "What's Your Rupture" label. Over the course of this record's 12 songs (which clock in it at 26 minutes and change), these Australian garage-rockers apply their punk leanings to that 80s phenomenon known as the "Paisley Underground" (see "Really in Love"), traditional 50s-60s style rock 'n' roll (see "Surprise"), and things that sound like what a modern incarnation of the Beatles might be doing (see "Back and Forth") - at every step succeeding in taking their sound in a direction hinted at during some of The Strokes' better moments.
18. Jens Lekman - I Know What Love Isn't
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Jens Lekman is fast becoming the Prefab Sprout of his generation, which as far as I'm concerned is a great, great thing. While not exactly a sharp departure from 2007's breakthrough Night Falls Over Kortedala, on I Know What Love Isn't, the Swedish songwriter merges his literate and instantly recognizable brand of sombre yet upbeat, strings- and piano-driven indie pop with saxophones, flutes, and brass. While the personality presented here is something other than the perpetually lovestruck Lekman we've come to know and love, I still see this guy as an anti-Morrissey of sorts, as even on the bleakly-titled "The End of the World is Bigger Than Love" he manages to remind us that "a broken heart is not the end of the world." Perhaps that's the great thing about Lekman; even when despairing over failed relationships and personal heartache, his music retains a sense of charm and good cheer. Witness personal favorite, "Some Dandruff On Your Shoulder," in which a rather melancholy story about a loveless relationship ("she asks you what's wrong, you say nothing, it's nothing") seemingly disappears within the context of Lekman's joyful, flute- and sax-filled grooving. He might not know what love is, but he sure knows what makes a good song.
17. John Talabot - Fin
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Electronic music is something I know very little about; to be honest, I've never been clear on exactly what the differences between techno and house are, and other sub-fields such as IDM and dubstep continue to boggle and confuse me. This year, I listened to only a handful of albums that could be placed under the (admittedly useless) label "electronic," and none of my favorite German technoheads (Ellen Allien, Dominik Eulberg, Michael Mayer, or Sascha Funke) apparently had anything to do with them. But among Actress' RIP, Andy Sttot's Luxury Problems, Ricardo Villalobos' Dependent and Happy, and Dave Aju's Heirlooms, Spanish producer John Talabot's Fin is easily the best of the field for 2012. More song-centered than The Field, less beat-driven than Gui Boratto, Talabot successfully bridges the worlds of deep house and indietronica.
16. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
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"I am bad at loving you," Sharon Van Etten rather straightfowardly admits on her new album's fourth and best track, entitled "Leonard." While Tramp is a record that is chock-full of cameos and guest appearances (most notably, Zack Condon of Beirut, but also Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak and Julianna Barwick), it nevertheless retains that trademark confessional quality - that candor - that the New Jersey songwriter has come to be known for since the release of 2010's Epic. And while much of Van Etten's earlier lyrical offerings focused her feelings on others, the line that runs through "Leonard" suggests that the singer/songwriter has come to take responsibility for herself, both as a person and an artist. A most welcome maturation, musically and otherwise.
15. Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse
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Fellow Californios and garage-rockers Thee Oh Sees have released a slew of excellent albums over the last few years (including 2012's so-so effort "Putrifiers II"), but this time around it's the Ty Segall Band that takes the cake. Full of youthful exuberance and unvarnished joy, Ty Segall makes music that reminds us how FUN rock 'n' roll is supposed to be, and though over the course of this album's forty minutes we journey from the wailing, ray-gun feedback of "Death" to the destroyed-speaker guitar drudge of "Fuzz War," what really stands out on Slaughterhouse is not so much is this San Francisco band's raucous riffing, but instead, the glorious, don't-give-a-fuck vocal stylings - which especially come to the fore on stand-out track "Wave Goodbye" (which features the line, "I went to church and, I went to school; I played by all of your other rules; but now it's time, to drink the wine, and wave goodbye - BYE, BYE, BYEEEE!")
14. Field Music - Plumb
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Field Music doesn't get enough credit. First gaining attention around the time the so-called Post Punk Revival hit England (ca. 2004), the brothers Brewis (David and Peter) have long since outlasted musical companions such as The Futureheads and Maximo Park. Plumb, the group's fourth album, provides more than a hint as to why this is so: while many of the aforementioned acts simply recycled the XTC + The Jam + Gang of Four formula that initially gained the ear of critics and fans, Field Music has continually pushed its compositional style and musicianship forward over the last 7 years, along the way transforming from something that initially resembled a quirky amalgamation of John Lennon and Andy Partridge into a band with a voice all its own. And yet, despite the critical acclaim its garnered, few have ranked Plumb among the year's bests. Perhaps this band is destined to become "The Sound" or "The Chameleons" of its era.
13. Dum Dum Girls - End of Daze
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Well, I must admit, the folks over at Pitchfork were right about this one: though only 5 songs deep, End of Daze is the most spellbindingly awesome thing Dee Dee and her Dum Dum counterparts have yet authored. After the modestly disappointing Only in Dreams, it seems this band has finally figured out how to combine their noisy, lo-fi sensibilities with the polished pop structures they stale-y aimed at on their 2011 effort. Clocking in at 18 minutes, 6 seconds, this EP packs a wallop, especially on cover "Trees and Flowers" (originally released in 1983 by Scottish New Wave band Strawberry Switchblade) and the stand out (and best song of the year, IMO) "Lord Knows."
12. Frankie Rose - Interstellar
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From Vivian Girls to Dum Dum Girls, over the last few years Frankie Rose has made her way through one of modern indie rock's most interesting (and welcome) developments: the so-called "girl pop revival." Like her erstwhile compatriots, Rose's first solo outing (2010's lackluster Frankie Rose and the Outs) was a lo-fi affair, her songs drenched in that "noise pop" that this era's all-female groups cut their teeth on. Since then, again like her former bandmates, she's updated her sound considerably, exchanging her garage-rock upbringing for something more polished and New Wavey (think The Cure, perhaps). And dare I say it: hers, not the amazing End of Daze (#12 on this list), is the most exciting thing to come out of that world in 2012 - though most critics seem to have forgotten this.
11. Lower Dens - Nootropics
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Another one that has either managed to slip under the radar screen this year, I feel. While a fan of Jana Hunter's earlier solo work, I was late in coming across Lower Dens, missing entirely their excellent 2010 debut Twin-Hand Movement. This one is the better album, I think, as the Baltimore quintet have managed to push indie rock in a direction (cold synths, motorik rhythms) that few other bands have gone this year.
10. Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At A Distance
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After his lackluster 2009 debut album The Floodlight Collective, it seemed apparent to me that Bradford Cox was the true genius behind Deerhunter, but with Spooky Action at a Distance, Lockett Pundt has made me a believer. While there's nothing terribly challenging or unconventional about this album, which sounds like it could have emerged from the Microcastle sessions, Lotus Plaza has managed to craft a remarkably edifying collection of neo-psychedelic indie rock, one whose greatness is especially apparent on standout tracks like "Strangers," "Dusty Rhodes," Eveningness," and "Remember Our Days."
9. Grizzly Bear - Shields
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Ah, Grizzly Bear, you've grown so big! Selling out shows at the 9:30 club and getting interviewed on NPR - what's next!? To be truthful, I've struggled with this album, much of which seems content to play around with some of the band's signature elements (both compositionally and in terms of instrumentation), and a few of its tracks (especially centerpieces "The Hunt" and "A Simple Answer") are either incomplete or simply un-exciting. This is, I hate to admit, probably the worst Grizzly Bear album. But, the front and (especially) back ends are especially strong, and in "Yet Again" and "Sun in Your Eyes" we have probably two of the year's best songs. So there you go, Grizzly Bear, making an inconsistent record that still contains more than it's fair share of genius and brilliance.
8. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
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Dirty Projectors are going to go down in indie rock history; really, since the release of Rise Above (an album in which frontman Dave Longstreth re-imagined the 1981 Black Flag album Damaged from memory) in 2007, the Brooklyn band has been an incredible run, a fact solidified by their breakthrough 2009 release Bitte Orca and extended by this year's excellent - if less pop-oriented - Swing Lo Magellan. As always, the production and instrumentation are fantastic - Longstreth is simply a sonic genius, every bit as much of a soundsmith as is Justin Vernon. As far as experimental indie rock goes, right now there is simply no better band out there than Dirty Projectors.
7. Daniel Rossen - Silent Hour / Golden Mile
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For all the talk regarding the amazingness of Daniel Rossen's solo work, and all the acclaim that's been directed his way by fans of the new Grizzly Bear album, it seems that relatively few indie music enthusiasts have seen fit to rank his excellent debut EP among the year's best offerings. This list offers a corrective to this disturbing trend of critical cowardice, for I'm coming out to say it - yes! Silent Hour / Golden Mile is BETTER than Shields. Working within that collaborationist, musical uber-democracy that is Grizzly Bear, Rosen's songs tend to get swallowed up in the maximalist, meandering pastiche of sound preferred by Droste, Bear, and Taylor. Here the uniqueness of his approach to song-writing oozes from each of this EP's five songs, all of which also spotlight Rossen's incredibly innovative approach to the guitar. Highly recommended.
6. Julia Holter - Ekstasis
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Much in the vein of Julianna Barwick's 2011 masterful album The Magic Place, Julia Holter's Ekstasis (which is Greek for "outside of oneself") is a subdued, vocally-dominated affair, one in which the Los Angeles-located multi-instrumentalist stretches her impressive pipes out across an ambient canopy of droning organs, keyboards, and programmed beats. Highly experimental in style, Holter's second official album may not be every listener's cup of tea, but for me the classically-trained artist's sonic explorations are simply mesmerizing, especially on tracks such as "Fur Felix" and "Goddess Eyes II." File under "unrecognizable"; sounds like Joanna Newsom recording an album with Grouper.
5. Beach House - Bloom
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At the outset, I wasn't really a fan of Bloom, the much-anticipated followup to this Baltimore duo's 2010 breakout album, Teen Dream. Though carved in the mold of its predecessor, upon my first few trips through their 2012 effort it seemed to me that Beach House had traded in its memorable melodies, skillful arrangements, and emotive lyrical content for a more polished, expansive (and expensive) sound. But perhaps more than any other album released over the past 12 months, this one is a grower. While I don't think it quite reaches the highs of Teen Dream, Bloom is a powerful statement in its own right, building on the dream pop palette Beach House created for itself on this pivotal album and using it to craft a new set of incredibly consistent songs. Be patient with this one; takes a while to Bloom!
4. Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
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Though Natasha Khan's musical compositions have earned her comparisons to everyone from Siouxsie Sioux to PJ Harvey to Bjork, her albums have always been irreducible to the sum of these influences. On The Haunted Man, her most recent and best effort yet, the British-born Khan (whose father is Pakistani) has fully come into her own as a songwriter and singer, offering an eleven-track album whose contents seamlessly flow from pulsating dance grooves (esp. on opener "Lilies") to stripped-down confessionals ("Horses of the Sun," "Winter Fields") to eery electro-lullabies ("Rest Your Head"). This one will be great long after 2012's gone.
3. Allo Darlin' - Europe
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Is twee dead? Has modern society presided over the demise of jangle pop? The ukelele-wielding Elizabeth Morris, Allo Darlin's frontwoman, would say "no," but judging by listener's responses to her band's excellent second album, we might reasonably wonder otherwise. Seriously, to my knowledge, Europe has only landed on a few year-end reviews of 2012's musical greats. What's going on here? For me, this band was one of the year's most notable discoveries, and this record's giddy, nostalgic, lovelorn splendor is undeniable. From beginning to end, Europe displays a simple yet endlessly alluring, magnetic charm, as Morris' heartfelt confessions ("I don't know much about love, but I know that it's strong and brutal") and plaintive pleas ("all I wanted, was just to have you") combine with Paul Rains' soothing arpeggiated melodies to create an irresistible tapestry of indie pop magic.
2. Screaming Females - Ugly
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Another record that didn't get anywhere near the amount it deserved in 2012 has to be Screaming Females' Ugly, which I am designating "90s album" of the year. From beginning to end, this album is home to some of the best guitar playing of 2012, and I'm not saying this just I share with frontwoman Marissa Paternoster an ability to play every single lick and solo in every single Smashing Pumpkins song ever written. Throw in Paternoster's unique vocal stylings, and we've got 2012's runner-up record of the year.
1. Hospitality - Hospitality
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Way back in January, a Brooklyn band called Hospitality released its self-titled debut album on Merge. The group consists of Amber Papini (vocals, guitar), Brian Betancourt (bass), and Nathan Michel (percussion), and over the last eleven months their addictive brand of hyper-sophisticated indie pop has garnered them critical acclaim from several sources, including Rolling Stone. However, despite this, their album has generally not been in the running among the creators of the year's "best of" lists. This I find downright despicable; seriously, if you have not yet listened to this group, you NEED to check them out! And get the entire album, because the singles ("Friends of Friends" and "Betty Wang") - despite being awesomely catchy - are NOT among the group's best songs (which, IMHO, would be "Julie," "Sleepover," and "Liberal Arts").