söndag 10 Feb 2013, 23:17
This list excludes hip-hop, for which I've made a separate list here:
http://www.last.fm/user/aerytwo/journal/2013/02/11/5qwu2o_best_hip-hop_albums_of_2012
HONORABLE MENTION
20. Pinback - Information Retrieval
19. Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour
18. Thenewno2 - Thefearofmissingout
17. The Sheepdogs - The Sheepdogs
16. Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Out of Frequency
15. Jack White - Blunderbuss
14. Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox
13. Andrew Bird - Hands of Glory
12. Mumford & Sons - Babel
11. Avett Brothers - The Carpenter
BEST ALBUMS OF 2012
10. Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives
As well-known as Death Cab for Cutie has become, Ben Gibbard will now inescapably be known more as superstar Zooey Deschanel’s ex-husband as her star ascends ever higher. His loss. Though we might expect it, we don’t get an album full of sad lamentations of a love lost; he gives us a mixed bag without tipping his hand much as to who or what he’s singing about. Perhaps the line “you’re like a flower garden buried in snow / you’re a hard one to know” was self-directed. Regardless, there’s a lot here to like: the whimsical “Lily” and “Bigger Than Love,” a duet with Aimee Mann, are excellent. His most outstanding track, “Duncan, Where Have You Gone?,” is a gorgeous, shimmering ballad reminiscent of John Lennon’s solo work: everything from the piano chord progression to the backward-looped ahhs. Close your eyes and you can imagine him playing a white Steinway in front of a curtain.
9. Regina Spektor - What We Saw From the Cheap Seats
This album is a welcome return to the form that made Spektor’s 2006 record Begin to Hope so endearing. Her most infectious song this year, Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas), is impossible to get out of your head once you’ve heard it. Lyrically, it’s a nonsensical children’s nursery rhyme with words apparently chosen for no better reason than that they sound funny, like “Bronxy Bronx” “lipped-mouths.” Meanwhile, much the accompaniment could’ve been a demo track for The Little Mermaid’s Under The Sea. Three sweetly delivered melodic ballads, “Jessica,” “How,” and “Firewood” round out the rest of the highlights.
8. Tennis - Young & Old
A husband and wife indie-rock duo from Denver? Sure, OK. Their songwriting is serviceable, but it’s the masterful production by The Black Keys drummer Pat Kearney that shines brightest. Kearney & partner Dan Auerbach are on fire producing other people’s stuff lately (see for example Auerbach’s work with Jessica Lea Mayfield or his career-reinvigorating Dr. John album in the past year). Alaina Moore’s voice recalls early-era Madonna, which is nice, but it’s incredible to hear over a banging yet polished garage-rock foundation. “Origins” is the best example: a perfect blend of fuzzed-up bass, thumping kicks and snares, twinkling piano, doo-wop backing vocals, and a little surf-rock solo as the cherry on top.
7. The Shins - Port of Morrow
The Shins’ fourth album marks a comfortable return landing from James Mercer’s Broken Bells (magnificent) electro-pop escapade with Danger Mouse. Mercer is back with a few new studio tricks up his sleeve, but the sheen on the production doesn’t detract from its indie authenticity. The earworm “It’s Only Life” makes a good case for melody of the year and is among 2012’s best tracks. Meanwhile, “Fall of ‘82” is sort of a modern hybrid between Saturday in the Park (Chicago) and something by Billy Joel. Port of Morrow’s lyrics read like a timely handwritten card from a lifelong friend in a time of need. Here are lines from three different songs: “I’ve been down the very road you’re walking now / It doesn’t have to be so sad and lonesome”, “I know that things can really get tough when you go it alone”, and “You were my lifeline when the world was exploding.” And finally, “Simple Song” includes one of the most universally relatable lines: “I made a fumbling play for your heart / and the act struck a spark.” What a humble, gracious, empathetic dude.
6. John Mayer - Born and Raised
Like many people, I had written John Mayer off after his shameful 2010 interviews where he revealed himself to be a completely insensitive, self-absorbed idiot. So I really didn’t want to like this album and only by chance did I even give it a try. I’m glad I did. The John Mayer behind Born and Raised is contrite, embarrassed by his missteps, and even sympathetic to his new-found haters. His lyrics reflect a sort of coming of age and a desire to do better. And just as important, his music is different this time around. Long gone are the “Body is a Wonderland” days; instead we have southern-twinged introspective 70s folk-rock. The obvious influence is CSNY. On opener Queen of California, one of the greatest songs of 2012, Mayer even name-drops Y as he sings alongside C and N. Mayer’s solo in the song stands on equal footing with any by The Allman Brothers, a reminder that he’s in rarefied company and is one of our generation’s greatest guitar talents.
5. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel
Fiona may be a little bit off her rocker, but she wears it well. The Idler Wheel invites us to come along on a phantasmagoric voyage into her mind. Some of the imagery she conjures with her words is fantastically strange, like that she “looked like a neon zebra shaking rain off her stripes,” or that the “rivulets had you riveted.” These lines are from the album’s biggest triumph, “Anything We Want,” which owes just as much to the album’s percussionist (whose part could stand alone as a complete work). At times, the album can overstretch the bounds between challenging and unlistenable. For instance, “Werewolf” might’ve been the track of the year if not for Apple’s insistence on adding a pack of screaming children to the mix for the final third of the song. But her nonconformity pays big dividends elsewhere. The most exhilarating track is the finale, “Hot Knife,” in which Fiona and her cabaret-singing sister pile layers upon layers of vocals as the song builds to a satisfying conclusion.
4. Andrew Bird - Break it Yourself
Bird actually released two excellent albums in 2012 (Break it Yourself in March and Hands of Glory in October). That’s a noteworthy feat. In “Lazy Projector” he eloquently describes the human mind as a ”forgetting, embellishing, lying machine,” though he may as well have been talking about the media, history books, or any other place where information is recorded and recalled through an unavoidably biased prism. He asserts assuringly, “if it drives you mad, it’ll probably pass” in “Orpheo Looks Back,” a line so good he beautifully reprised it as a ballad in his followup Hands of Glory. It’s mostly the particulars within the instrumentation that propel the album into 2012’s top tier. “Fatal Shore” is a gorgeous example. There’s sheer magic in the interplay between the trembling guitar sliding slowly between chords, and the palm-muted upper-register bass notes punctuating each phrase. Two understandable knocks on Andrew Bird are his wordiness and his insistence on whistling in every song. But listen for long enough and you’ll appreciate an artist who establishes a unique signature sound and decides to stick with it.
3. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
Frontman Dave Longstreth may be this decade’s Billy Corgan: a brilliant songwriter whose artistic vision is complex yet is cursed with a voice that’s occasionally ill-matched for the degree of difficulty in his songs. Rather appropriately, the chorus and guitar solo from the album’s opener “Offspring Are Blank” are a direct descendant of Siamese Dream. Thankfully, the backup singers–especially the talented Amber Coffman–frequently provide the listener with a needed respite. Overall, the album feels most inspired by The Beatles’ Happiness is a Warm Gun. Not only is much of the production White Album-influenced, but it’s a weird yet wonderful blend of unconventional doo-wop, mixed time signatures, and oscillations between contemplative and aggressive. And though much of the album is abstruse, two of its standouts, the sweet folky “Swing Lo Magellan” and cheery “Dance for You,” are palatable upon the first listen. Likewise, the lyrics aren’t all “twilight mandolins” and “crabby handmaidens.” “Impregnable Question” gives us the clearest, most unmistakable missives: “I need you and you’re always on my mind,” and “You’re my love and I want you in my life."
2. Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again
Of every album on this list, Home Again is the one flying far too low under the radar. Kiwanuka’s voice is a treasure to behold. He’s Otis Redding reincarnated, a 24-year old man with a full lifetime of sorrow carried in the threads of his vocals. In “Rest,” he matches Bill Withers’ 70s classic “Lean on Me," giving us a new standard for lending strength to those in need. Between slowly melting guitar licks, he assures, “rest your head on my shoulder / I swear I will carry, carry you on.” The earthy opener “Tell Me A Tale” would feel at home on Van Morrison’s late-60s Astral Weeks with its fluttery instrumentation. And on “Bones,” we’re taken all the way back to the 50s with a Five Satins-like barbershop quartet chorus. Clearly, his sound is timeless; his potential is infinite.
1. The Lumineers - The Lumineers
Chances are, you heard “Ho Hey” more than a few times this year, whether you were trying to or not. Some songs catch fire and pop up everywhere because they’re catchy, some because they’re good. This one’s definitively both, and is just the tip of the iceberg on a start-to-finish gem of a debut album. Lyrically, the simple refrains like “I belong with you, you belong with me” are always complemented by clever head-turning phrases throughout the verses, like “I don’t think you’re right for him,” “the opposite of love’s indifference,” and “it’s a long road to wisdom / it’s a short one to being ignored.” It’s a welcome balance. On the production end, there’s no unnecessary polish. It’s a sparse mix of only the essential instruments, and each song rings out with an airy resonance as if the whole dang thing was recorded live at a flawlessly executed open-air concert. Most of the tracks here are irresistibly fun and will have you instantly humming along and tapping your feet. And as if to prove their talent runs deeper than hand-clapping, foot-stomping countrified barroom singalongs, the band strips away everything but Wesley Schultz’s vocals and an electric guitar in the Ryan Adams-eque Slow it Down. Midway through, he brings his haunting melody up an octave–listen closely and it’ll give you chills.