The 100 Best Albums of 2012: 20 Runners-Up

I love lists.  Perhaps that’s not the correct word to use, especially if I hope to convince anyone to take a chance on one of the many wonderful journeys the albums below offer.  Maybe I should say “I love music.”  But, truth be told, what else is there to say about an annual obsession every December, to collect, collate and cull an entire year’s worth of listening into my one hundred most favorite experiences.  I confess a certain giddiness around this time each year, usually greater than the feelings inspired by any one album, that manifests itself in the ability to share with people the bounty of an entire year's worth of listening.  So yeah, I love lists.  Mostly top ten lists, but you know what is so great about a top 100 list?  It includes ten of them.  And for what it’s worth, what does “I love music” even mean?  Is there anyone who hates music?  If they’re out there, they sure won't find there way to this blog anyhow.

            Can this list be trusted?  Beauty, as it is famously known, will always remain in the eye of the beholder.  And to me, no art-form is as critic-proof as music, meaning no other art-form is as immediate an appeal to emotion, and as susceptive to cultural prejudices.  “I hate country/rap music.”  “I hate comedies.”  “I hate literature.”  “I hate abstract-expressionism.”  Which comment is most prevalent in the society?  Summarily dismissing any genre only closes doors.  The purpose of this list is to open them.  It is an opportunity to reach fellow discerning ears, not audiophiles, or snobs, but people who listen to music because they want to hear something, not just anything.  This list represents the best I have heard over the last 365 days.  I read somewhere that, because of the internet, there are approximately 25,000 albums released each year.  Throughout 2012 I have heard maybe 1/25 of them.  So there you go.  Could there be, among the other 24,000, one album which is better than my number one?  Of course.  And although I have left no stone unturned, and hold the belief that my list is both exhaustive and correct, I still hold out hope that among those that remain there is another Pet Sounds, or another My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy.  I live for it each day.  If you know of one, tell me at once.

            Gone are the gatekeepers of yesterday, the people who would have stood between me and many of the albums on this list.  The internet has blown the whole thing wide open.  Because of the internet a Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga album is no different than an Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti album; they are both just one mouse click away from your ear.  And because of the internet I am able to say that to you, and you can hear it.  And that’s another reason why I do this list each year.  It’s my way of recognizing the hundreds of artists who have scored the soundtracks to my days in 2012, and left me wanting more.  Every album on this list is worth hearing front to back; I hope you can find joy in some of them too, and share them with anyone who will listen.  Even if you come across something that is not your cup of tea, listen anyway.  There is a reason why every album is on this list.  And those reasons, those very elements of the great human condition, can resonate within us all; just give them a chance.  Love music.



What follows was distilled from a list of about 175 very good-to-great albums, which itself came from a list of over a thousand albums that I listened to in 2012.  The only rule was that it had to be a full-length album, which I define as running over thirty minutes in length or containing at least ten tracks.  No EPs were allowed to be considered, out of fairness.  Adding a few tracks of filler wouldn’t have helped them get on this list anyway.  And while they might have given me fifteen minutes or so of bliss, it’s a much harder task to give me sixty.  Live albums were on the table too, but…good luck with that; The Allman Brothers Live At Fillmore and Nirvana Live At Reading are pretty much once-in-a-blue-moon releases.  Anyway, below are the twenty runners-up in alphabetical order.  They are albums that I did not want to go unnoticed, but for various reasons just didn’t shine as bright.

Happy listening.

 Vanitas by Anaal Nathrakh

One of the bands that helped shape my metal palette, with their 2001 debut The Codex Necro, British industrial death metal duo, yes duo, Anaal Nathrakh are back with another forty minutes of relentless aggression. Vanitas doesn't much expand their sound, but it's a perfect example of what they do best, creating a unique sound from a synthesis of elements from different types of extreme metal, and with some killer melodies to boot.

Centipede Hz by Animal Collective

When I heard Animal Collective was releasing a new album this year I knew that it would be impossible for them to top the genius of "My Girls" and Merriweather Post Pavilion. That fact came to pass as expected. But what I didn't expect was just how hyperactive and frenzied this album would be. There is so much to listen to on this album, songs are filled to the breaking point with at times it seems like too much music. This is AC in full experimental rock mode, an album they have certainly earned the right to make, coming off of their more structured career high. This is usually a top 10 band, so I hope they got it out of their system. If anything the album gave me a new appreciate for Here Comes The Indian and Campfire Stories.

Cobra Juicy by Black Moth Super Rainbow

Pittsburgh experimental band fronted by a man who calls himself Tobacco might just make some of the strangest music you've ever heard (sample lyric: "Neon lemonade, eat my face away). Their fifth album, Cobra Juicy is easily their most accessible, full of memorable hooks that just means the weirdness can stay in your head longer.

Bear Creek by Brandi Carlile

One of 2007's most perfect moments in pop music was Brandi Carlile's "The Story," where impassioned vocals, universal, confessional lyrics ("all of these lines across my face, tell you the story of who I am") and a refreshing nineties sound resonated with many. She followed that up with one of the best albums of 2009, Give Up The Ghost, produced by Rick Rubin, who coaxed an entire album of "Stories" out of her. Now she's gone back to the well, so to speak, enlisting the help of "The Story" songwriter for many of the tracks on her fourth album, Bear Creek, a terrific collection of bluesy, folk rock that seems to streamline the catharses found in her earlier work. Alas, you can't do that stuff forever. Anyone who remembers her from five years ago take note, she's still around, and still making pretty good music.

Free Reign by Clinic

English indie rock band has released an album ever two years like clockwork since 2000's astounding Internal Wrangler, which features their best song "The Return Of Evil Bill."  Stateside they had a hit two years later with "Walking With Thee," from the album of the same name. Their last two albums haven't been on my radar at all, with Free Reign coming completely out of nowhere. It is a captivating listen, with lead singer Ade Blackburn's haunting vocals staying with you long after.

I Bet On Sky by Dinosaur Jr.

The reuniting of J Mascis and Lou Barlow in 2007, after 20 years, could have misfired. The fact that Dinosaur Jr. has been around for nearly 30 years, and most people probably have never heard of them should at the very least tell you they didn't do it for the money (*ahem* Soundgarden). One of the fathers of nineties alternative rock, grunge would ultimately owe a debt to their unique hybrid of punk and pop, drowned in distortion and feedback. Over the last five years they have proved themselves to be the genre's elder statesmen, consistently turning out solid albums. I Bet On Sky is no different.

Cancer 4 Cure by El-P

El Producto is back with his infectious blend of alternative-industrial hip hop. Though this isn't the best album he was associated with in 2012, Cancer 4 Cure puts him both in front and behind the mic, showing off his mastery of technique. While not as trailblazing as his previous albums, occasionally his songs call to mind someone who is much better ("Drones Over Brooklyn"), but this remains a welcome return after a five year absence.

Uno or Dos or Tre by Green Day

After two Who-esque rock operas, one of which was adapted into a broadway musical, what was Green Day to do next, simply go back to Dookie/Nimrod/Warning-era pop punk? Yep, sort of. Uno, Dos and Tre are three parts of a trilogy (and I use that word as loosely as possibly), all released in the last couple months, made up of 37 songs in total. Most bands would take those 37 songs and whittle them down to one really great album of 12-16 tracks. Not Green Day, and I can understand why. None of these 37 songs are actually bad. For my money, Uno is the best, in the way it doesn't races by, conjuring the spirit, if not the necessity, of Dookie. But chances are your mind is already made up about Green Day; besides, it's rare to find a fan who appreciates "Welcome To Paradise," "Brain Stew," "Good Riddance," and "Blvd of Broken Dreams," all with equal enthusiasm.

Reservation by Angel Haze

20-year-old rapper Angel Haze released several mixtapes in 2012, one of which featured a deeply personal account of child abuse put down over Eminem's "Cleaning Out My Closet," which truly must be heard to be believed. On Reservation, her only album-length release this year, she proves a welcome break from a genre of peers who at times seem only interested in one-upping the beats, and not the poetry. With Angel Haze her lyrics, and herself, is front and center.

De Vermis Mysteriis by High On Fire

Mysteries of the Worm is stoner/sludge metal band High On Fire's sixth album since guitarist and vocalist Matt Pike created the group out of the ashes of the heavily influential doom band Sleep. Sleep has since reformed, but High On Fire is the bigger deal, at least now. Stoner metal is not my favorite genre, but Pike keeps things exciting by not wallowing so much in the down tempo; High On Fire is one of the few bands that transcend the genre. Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou produces.

Eremita by Ihsahn

Prolific frontman for Norwegian black metal band Emperor, now gone solo, Ihsahn is back with another album of metal softened with bursts of saxophone. Two years ago he concluded his epic black jazz trilogy with the album After. Now, the whole thing kind of has a been-there-done-that feel, but he nevertheless manages to keep things consistently interesting, finding new avenues for his signature sound.

I Know What Love Isn't by Jens Lekman

Swedish indie pop artist Jens Lekman follows up his brilliant 2007 album Night Falls Over Kortedala with this more modest collection of songs inspired by the demise of a relationship. He's kind of a crooner, and at times his delivery and lyrical turn of a phrase is reminiscent of Stuart Murdoch, but just like Murdoch's band, vocals laid out amidst a lush pop arrangement make for a unique listening experience.

Living Things by Linkin Park

Linkin Park follow up one of the worst albums ever recorded by anyone, with this return to form of sorts, back to their Hybrid Theory days, and it just so happens to be their best album since. Clocking in at a lean 37 minutes, just like HT, it might lack the immediacy and anthemic singles of the former, but it is remarkably consistent, and a welcome dose of rap rock into the current popular music scene. Never thought I would say that.

Utilitarian by Napalm Death

Where hardcore meets death metal, that's Napalm Death. Utilitarian is the band's fifteenth album in just over thirty years. While not quite as good as their 2009 masterpiece, Time Waits For No Slave, Utilitarian is just as relentless and thrilling. And of course, socially conscious too. Listen for John Zorn's saxophone making a cameo appearance in "Everyday Pox."

The World From The side Of The Moon by Phillip Phillips

From season eleven winner of American Idol's coronation song "Home," you would think his debut album would have been the show's first foray into folk and indie rock, in the vein of Fleet Foxes of The Lumineers. Alas, it's pure Dave Matthews. But in a year that also saw releases from Carrie Underwood, Kris Allen, and singles from Kelly Clarkson, Baby Dave's album easily bested them all. DMB had an album out this year too, but let's not get carried away. That The World From The Side Of The Moon doesn't sound like an artist just doing what he's told is a big deal for an Idol alum.

Carolus Rex by Sabaton

Let me just say that it would take an awful lot for me to sing the praises of a power metal record. This is probably one of the best ones I've ever heard.

Valtari by Sigur Ros

I still get chills listening to "Svefn-g-englar" from Agaetis byrjun, Sigur Ros's breakthrough album which I thought was one of the five best albums of last decade. Usually indulging in post-rock epics, two years ago lead singer Jonsi went solo with the more pop-oriented Go, and apparently came out on the other side of that experience with a softer, more electronic influence on his home band. While not the best point-of-entry for the group, Valtari can at times seem aimless, but as ambient records go it's one of the warmest and most comforting around.

Dark Roots Of The Earth by Testament

The best album Metallica hasn't made in over twenty years. James Hetfield, tell Lou Reed you'll call him back and listen up.

A Different Kind Of Truth by Van Halen

That this album wasn't a complete disaster was almost enough to for it to make the countdown. Hard rock seemed to have a resurgence in 2012, and I would be remiss to not include one of its standard-bearers from the eighties, Van Halen, back with their first album of note in over twenty years, and this one is even better than that one. Reuniting with David Lee Roth, the Van Halen brothers tear through thirteen tracks like Sammy Hagar never happened.

Nocturne by Wild Nothing

Wild Nothing is one guy. Jack Tatum. My first exposure to him was when he opened for Bright Eyes on their Peoples Key tour. Some obnoxious kids in front of me scoffed at how all the songs sounded similar. One of them whipped out a smartphone and brought up Pitchfork, presumably so he could learn whether or not he should like them. I saw the look on his face change when he saw the Best New Music designation. It was the only time my attention was diverted. The rest of the time I stood amazed at how warm and inviting the music was, a contagious groove that was far more rewarding for relying on a sustained mood rather than jarring dynamics. It was the sound of a dream pop band helping to define the genre rather than being defined by it, acknowledging their influences rather than just aping them. Nocturne is no deviation from this, and even better to me, it is a terrific example of just how influential The Cure has been through the years.