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TC's top 40 albums of 2012
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PROGRESS: Winter · Spring · Summer · Fall · #40-36 · #35-31 · #30-26 · #25-21 · #20-16 · #15-11 · #10-6 · #5-1
Let's keep it movin' movin' with the next set of my top 40 albums of 2012, taking us from #30 to #21!
Best Coast have come a long way in a couple of years. Just 2 1/2 short years ago, they put out a (great) lo-fi surf-rock album Crazy For You that was basically all about slacking off, smoking weed, and paying tribute to lead singer Bethany Cosentino's cat, Snacks. But the carefree days are over as the mid-20s hit Bethany like a freight train and she struggled with figuring out her life as opposed to just the next few hours. Enter The Only Place, on which tracks like "Why I Cry", "Better Girl", and "Up All Night" present a more introspective, polished effort. Meanwhile, the title track is the best ode to the state of California that any person could hope to make, and the album's cover art was adapted from the sheet music to California's 100-year-old official state song. Despite all the changes the band has gone through, Best Coast still live up to their name, representing California like no other.
I've been a fan of Natasha Khan a.k.a. Bat for Lashes for several years, so I always look forward to what she'll come up with next. Her previous albums were fairly bombastic at times, with overwhelmingly loud percussion and a dizzying array of instruments highlighting some of the tracks. This time around, that kind of ornamentation has been stripped away, shining the spotlight on Natasha's impressive vocal range and haunting words. Though I was a fan of the other-worldly, dream-like atmosphere that surrounded and enveloped her previous efforts, I'm equally appreciative of the more austere approach on The Haunted Man because she pulls it off so well. Tracks like "All Your Gold", "Horses Of The Sun", and the lead single "Laura" came with a powerful, raw emotional punch that left me ramshackled.
Every now and then an EP is great enough in its limited number of tracks to make it onto my top 40 albums, hiding out among all the LPs on the list. This year that honor goes to End Of Daze, a 5-track EP from Dum Dum Girls, who previously showed up on my year-end review in 2011 with their full-length album Only In Dreams. Three tracks on this EP were originally meant for that album but were withheld because of their more ethereal sound. They're joined by two brand new tracks that are similarly atmospheric, "Season In Hell" and of course "Lord Knows", one of my most played songs of the year. At the beginning of 2012, I was constantly playing Dum Dum Girls' excellent cover of The Smiths' "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" from their previous EP, He Gets Me High; and at the end of 2012, I couldn't put down End Of Daze. All in all, a pretty great year if you ask me.
You'd be forgiven for thinking Poliça originates from somewhere overseas, thanks to that "ç" in their name, but it turns out they're actually from Minneapolis, their band name is derived from the Polish word "polica" (which means "policy"), and there's not even a "ç" in the Polish alphabet -- so, who knows, you figure it out. Regardless, I love this album Give You The Ghost. The sound is a bit electronic, progressive rock-ish, lots of percussion, with moody and delicate vocals echoed and amplified by some sort of crazy, bubbly distortion. It's packed full of tracks that never leave your head like "Violent Games", "Dark Star", and "Lay Your Cards Out", which I couldn't get enough of this year. If you haven't heard Poliça, you're in for a treat.
Dinosaur Jr. have been around for decades, with songs in their back catalog like "Start Choppin'" and "Feel The Pain" that were staples of '90s alternative and indie rock. The band has put out three new albums since regrouping several years ago, and while I enjoyed the previous two, I Bet On Sky is the first one to break onto my top 40 -- a cause for celebration, I say. Everything you love about the distinguishing sound of Dinosaur Jr. is here, from their mighty guitar solos to their trademark distortion and feedback. I Bet On Sky is, plainly, a great rock record. I played the early single "Watch The Corners" into the ground I liked it so much, and once the album came along in the fall, tracks like "Don't Pretend You Didn't Know", "I Know It Oh So Well" and "See It On Your Side" were some of my favorites.
By any reasonable estimation, Tristan Prettyman isn't a new artist -- she toured with (and dated) Jason Mraz several years ago, and she has released a handful of albums since 2005 -- but 2012 was the first year I really took notice. Cedar & Gold is a great pop record that reminded me on first listen of albums by some other singer-songwriters I've enjoyed over the years like Kate Voegele and Christina Perri. Tristan wrote this album after splitting up with Jason Mraz, reuniting, getting engaged, and then splitting up again, so it's like the breakup record of breakup records. "Some of these songs were written in 'f**k you' moments," she said succinctly to LA Weekly. Among the highlights here are "Second Chance", "When You Come Down", the hilarious bonus track "The Rebound", and the lead single "My Oh My", which is fantastic.
Chromatics have been around in some capacity for over a decade. They formed in Portland in 2001 and have since been through more lineup changes than I can make sense of, leaving a list of former band members twice as long as their current members. But none of that matters to me because I never heard of them until 2012 anyway. I'm typically not a fan of sprawling, overlong albums -- Kill For Love hits the edges of the disc at 77 minutes -- but I'll make an exception here because it's so good. This album opens with an unbelievable stripped-down cover of Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)", sticks around for a few punchy new tracks, and then twists, circles, and winds through an instrumental, dreamy synthpop landscape before emerging on the other side with the tremendous "The River" and calling it quits. Kill For Love is an immersive experience. Lose yourself in it.
Santigold catapulted onto the scene in 2008 with my #1 album of that year, Santogold, before a bizarre lawsuit saw her swap a vowel in her stage name. Four years later I was happy to see she would be returning with a new album, Master Of My Make Believe. The first track "Go!" featuring Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs actually debuted in 2011 and made it onto my rundown of singles last year, but the rest of the album didn't come until this year. I was impressed right away with the sleek but frantic "Disparate Youth", and further tracks like "The Keepers" and "Look At These Hoes" kept me coming back to the album throughout the year. Though it wasn't the front-to-back smash that would've seen a repeat #1 showing, Master Of My Make Believe is still a strong album from Santigold and well-deserving of a spot on my top 40.
It's hard to give proper consideration to an album that gets released with only one month left in the year, but Ke$ha left me in that position with Warrior, a confounding, dancey electro-rock stunner of an album that I'm still wrapping my head around as I write this. As with Animal, here Ke$ha is still a no-holds-barred party girl with inexplicable sweetness at her core, but there's a definite rock-and-roll bent to this album, with an admirable and diverse range of influences drawn from classic rock, garage, punk, and glam rock. "Die Young" and "C'Mon" are certified hits while the rest of the album veers into uncharted territory, featuring some mind-bending collaborations with Iggy Pop, The Black Keys, fun., and The Flaming Lips. Warrior is ambitious, crazy, and downright weird. Ke$ha knows this, she owns it, and we're all better off for it.
In some circles, 2012 was the year of Claire Boucher, a.k.a. Grimes. She had begun to make a name for herself over the past couple of years through her almost indescribable brand of digitally self-produced, avant-garde, experimental music, and with the release of Visions this year, she took the indie world by storm. Her version of indie pop is creative, strange, dreamy but a bit creepy, and certainly hypnotic. AMG said Grimes "honed the mix of little-girl-lost vocals and dark synth-scapes she'd forged on her first two albums into something just as unique, but far catchier" on Visions. "Genesis" and "Oblivion" are the album's greatest hits; "Visiting Statue" and "Skin" are some of my other favorite tracks. Ultimately, sometimes I don't even know what's going on when I'm listening to Grimes -- she challenges my expectations of what music is.
Very soon, look out for the next installment of albums, #20 to #11! We're running out of time, people.
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Member Since: 10/13/2003
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Member Since: 9/6/2012
Posts: 46,465
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Haven't listened to Grimes yet, but I'm looking forward
to it. I've heard some tracks and I like the songs.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 10/1/2002
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Not familiar with most of this set - but I loved reading your write ups, provides a great background!
Interesting take on the Kesha album - most people who like her, seem to love her. "Die Young" did good for me!
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PROGRESS: Winter · Spring · Summer · Fall · #40-36 · #35-31 · #30-26 · #25-21 · #20-16 · #15-11 · #10-6 · #5-1
We've come so far, we can't turn back now. 144 songs in the bank, 20 albums down, and 20 to go. Let's do this.
Splitting the countdown this year is Of Monsters & Men. I swear the first time I heard "Little Talks" I thought for sure it featured Ellie Goulding. I soon found out, of course, that's not true. Instead, the lead singer of this band is Reykjavík's own Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir. She recruited a handful of Iceland's finest musicians to accompany her on this project that has drawn comparisons to Mumford & Sons and Arcade Fire -- and when you can do that out of the gate, you know you've got something pretty great going. I picked up the U.S. reissue of My Head Is An Animal for both "Little Talks" and "Mountain Sound", and I was greeted by 10 more solid tracks that helped cement Of Monsters & Men as a breakout band and one of 2012's best discoveries.
"Kickball" Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls has released a couple of solo albums under the name La Sera, and you know what? This time, she nailed it. While her first solo album was great work but not necessarily distinct from her other projects, Sees The Light creates its own identity and succeeds wonderfully. This album is energetic and punchy when it wants to be, but it also has some room for emotion and reflection. "Break My Heart", one of the album's best tracks, had a must-see video that was nothing short of adorable, featuring a potpourri of items in Katy's room coming to life and turning against her. La Sera is full of charisma, individuality and charm that really comes out in this album. With 10 songs clocking in at a total of 30 minutes, Sees The Light is an ideal album: There's nothing not to like, and when you finish listening, you immediately feel like queueing it up again.
Breaking onto the scene in the spring of 2012 with her Criminal EP, singer-songwriter and musician ZZ Ward is somebody you can't put in a genre box. From the moment I first heard her hit single "Put The Gun Down", I was impressed by the multitude of influences colliding on the track, as if pop, blues, soul, and hip hop were all put into a blender. On top of that, the presentation at least of ZZ Ward is pretty hard-edged (whether it reflects her actual personality or not), giving her a standout characteristic from other typically non-threatening female singer-songwriters. There are so many top-notch tracks on Til The Casket Drops, from "Blue Eyes Blind", "Cryin' Wolf" featuring Kendrick Lamar, and "Save My Life", to all 4 tracks originally on the Criminal EP, including "Move Like U Stole It" and the album's title track. In terms of today's mainstream music, ZZ Ward is refreshing and different -- just the right combination to shake things up.
Straight outta Brooklyn, Friends is a bit of an eclectic group, bringing together indie pop and rock with inspiration from dance, funk, and disco. I first heard their single "I'm His Girl" around the beginning of the year, and I got hooked on it immediately. That was followed up on Manifest! by the trippy "Friend Crush", one of the band's defining songs, as well as "Mind Control", which is both frenetic and energetic. These songs are incredibly strong and instantly recognizable -- the sound of this band is really unlike anything I've heard. More than just addictive, it's hard not to shout along with the infectious hooks you'll find on these songs and throughout the album. There's a bit of filler here and there, but the great songs are so great it's enough to send Manifest! well into my top 20 albums and make Friends one of my favorite new bands of 2012.
Some of the best pop artists in the world come from Sweden. Case in point: Icona Pop. This duo (Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt) take synthpop and inject it with a postmodern punk attitude and unreal, almost overpowering electric expression. From what I can tell, they began to gather attention when Chiddy Bang featured a hook of theirs on his single "Mind Your Manners" that blew up in the U.S. in early 2012. From there, they teamed up with new indie pop darling Charli XCX to create an anthem of sorts in "I Love It", which was released to critical acclaim. Their self-titled LP was then released in Sweden in November, and man is this thing fire. Tracks like "Sun Goes Down", "We Got The World", "Downtown", "Ready For The Weekend", "Manners" (a full-length adaptation of their Chiddy Bang hook), and "My Party" (a remake of the '60s classic) turn pop upside down. If I hadn't just discovered the album at the end of 2012, it would be a #1 contender. It's saying a lot that such a new discovery is so high up on my top 40 albums of the entire year. If that's not enough, just take a good look at that album art -- what the hell is going on there? It might be the greatest cover I've ever seen. I wanna reenact it. Anyway, Icona Pop are way ahead of their time. They're the future, right now. Let's go.
It would've been hard for Canada's infinitely lovable indie/new wave band Metric to top Fantasies, their last album released in 2009, which in my opinion was one of the best albums of the decade. So, spoiler alert: They didn't. But they came close! Synthetica is still a really great album. They effortlessly took over the alt rock scene again when the bombastic "Youth Without Youth" was released this spring, and the follow-up "Speed The Collapse" came shortly after. Probably my favorite track from the album is "Breathing Underwater", which strikes that balance of power and emotion that Metric does best and that I enjoy the most. The entire rest of the album is also well done, from the title track to "The Wanderlust" featuring Lou Reed and "Nothing But Time", the album's closer. I would describe Synthetica as a solid Metric album that I listened to a lot, and that alone is enough to propel it to these heights on my top 40 albums. I can't wait to see what they do next.
Me and Cat Power go way back, all the way to 2003 when I discovered You Are Free, her excellent album released that year. She has always specialized in lo-fi, folk and blues influenced indie rock, taking the opportunity on each album to go in a slightly different direction with it. This time, though, she amped it up a bit. It doesn't make sense on the surface: Cat Power doing songs that are driven by a discernible beat? But it works! Don't get me wrong, Cat Power's not doing four-to-the-floor dance music or anything, but it's still bolder and more experimental than her previous eclectic and acoustic-driven work. It was a huge risk to take in terms of the Cat Power catalog and I think it paid off. EW noted for example that Cat Power "has never sounded as confident or in control" as she does on Sun. The first track released from the album, "Ruin", ruled my summer, and "Cherokee" followed up in the early fall. Outside of those, I really enjoyed "3, 6, 9", "Always On My Own", and "Nothin' But Time" featuring Iggy Pop. Despite whatever other external factors continue to cause trouble for Cat Power, she got it together for Sun and tried something different with strong success.
I've never met her, but I'm confident enough to say Aimee Mann is one of the best human beings on the planet. I mean, she's a living legend of a musician through her work with 'Til Tuesday and her soundtrack for the film Magnolia; she bridges music and comedy through collaborations with my hero Janeane Garofalo, David Cross, Portlandia, Tim and Eric, and Tom Scharpling, just to name a few; and she records some of the best new independent albums every few years. This time around we get Charmer, which features a title track I played dozens of times; "Labrador", the music video for which was a shot-for-shot remake of "Voices Carry" and one of the best videos I've probably ever seen; "Living A Lie", a collaboration with James Mercer from The Shins; other really great tracks like "Gumby" and "Gamma Ray"; and so much more. I feel legitimately fortunate to have everything Aimee Mann chooses to give us.
Believe me, I don't have the time or space here for a proper think-piece on Lana Del Rey. What was real, what was fake? What was genuine, what was manufactured? I don't even know. Last year at this time, I was enamored as anybody with the mystery surrounding Lana Del Rey's origins, her "gangster Nancy Sinatra" persona, and the story behind her genre-bending music, which blended elements of baroque pop, trip hop, alternative hip hop, and indie pop with bleak, downbeat music and vocal stylings. Upon the eventual release of Born To Die in January, critical reaction was split, and when she appeared on SNL, her carefully crafted persona fell apart in front of our eyes. From there, I think we were just left with a moderately successful new pop singer with a collection of beat-infused, retro-inspired melodies, and that's all there was to it. Who knows. No matter the case, I enjoyed Born To Die enough to play some of its tracks dozens of times, from the title track and early releases "Video Games", "Blue Jeans", and "Off To The Races"; to album tracks like "Diet Mountain Dew", "Radio", and "Carmen"; to "Ride", a new addition on the Paradise EP that was part of the album's deluxe edition. Add it all up and there's enough here to assemble one of the best albums of 2012, no matter how we got here or what it all means.
Over the years, Toronto's own Dragonette kinda retroactively became one of my favorite bands. Though I largely slept on the original releases of Galore in 2007 and Fixin' To Thrill in 2009, I went back to discover them after being turned onto the band's excellent Mixin' To Thrill bonus disc released in 2010. I took quickly to Dragonette's new wave throwback style, amicable sensibility, and unabashed, eye-opening lyrical content and delivery. So when I got word early in 2012 that the band would be releasing a brand new album, Bodyparts, I was on board from the get go. It all clicked perfectly several months ahead of the album when the band released "Let It Go", a hot hot hot track that became far-and-away one of my favorite and most played songs of the year. I could go on forever about it, but I'll spare you. Some more of my favorites from the album include "Run Run Run", "Untouchable", and "My Work Is Done", among others. As SSG put it, Dragonette is "the perfect blend of electro-pop glamour and rock-and-roll swagger" -- and that's why I love them so.
Look at that! My top 10 albums of 2012 are on the way next. Thanks so much for your support through it all.
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Member Since: 1/26/2006
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I know most of the artists in here, but I haven't heard the albums, just Born To Die and The Haunted Man, nice ones! 
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TWO SETS OF GREATNESS TO COMMENT ON:
Love Best Coast and The Only Place. That is very true that they changed quite a bit between albums. Best Coast Grows Up was tbe rejected title for the album (no it wasn't). Bat for Lashes! Haven't listened to that album, but I love the use of "austere." That Dum Dum Girls EP is Dum Dum Great! Polica (almost typed Policia, which made me recall Ben Stiller in Anchorman), love that album cover. I haven't heard their music, so if you say I am in for a treat, then I LOOK FORWARD TO THIS FORTHCOMING TREAT. DINOSAUR JR.! **** YEAH. One of the best bands around. Love I Bet On Sky. I haven't heard of this Tristan Prettyman, so I will add that to The Docket. Chromatics! Nice! I like what i've heard from that album. Santigold, great. Props for continuing to stick up for Ke$ha. She's here to stay! I like Grimes quite a bit. Western Canada, represent!
Next set, good for those Of Monsters and Men for breaking out! They had a big year, and it's great to honour that. Katy Goodman! YEAHHHHHHH. I need to listen to that! I recognize that album cover as her Twitter avatar, but I haven't actually listened to the thing. I SHOULD. NOW I WILL. TANKS. I've heard a lot about this ZZ Ward. Now I need to actually listen to her. Next is F*R*I*E*N*D*S Oh, wrong thing. This is the band. I haven't heard, but once again, I SHOULD AND WILL. Icona Pop! Goodness, I am so out of the loop, I only just heard "I Love It" recently, when it was included on the GIRLS soundtrack. Great song! And your write-up does a great job of selling it. And I agree, amazing album cover. Metric! Great! Cat Power! *attaches old Paint graphic of Cat Power, circa 2004? 2005?* I can't believe I left that album off of mine. Sun is super great! And you did it justice. AIMEE MANN AWWWWWWWW YEAHHHHHH. Absolutely one of the best human beings on the planet, and Charmer is one of the very best of the year! I'm glad you placed it on your list in a high position. Also nice job with the write-up, spotlighting her COMEDY CRED. Props for placing the LDR album on your list. It won't place on mine, but that whole thing from early 2012 was a load of ********. If you don't like LDR, you can go jump in a lake, and are a GRADE-A DOPE. A GRAPE APE DOPE. Also, some more CANCON with Dragonette! Cancon all over the place on yours, far more than mine. If you weren't an Honorary Canadian before, now you definitely are.
GREAT STUFF, LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FINAL TEN.
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The Only Place, Master of My Make Believe, Warrior, Visions, My Head Is an Animal, Icona Pop, Synthetica, BORN TO DIE 
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
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Warrior is good, not perfect like "Animal" imo, but still really good. Grimes, she was a great discovery this year Icona Pop! their music  and my favorite is of course "Born To Die", that album is perfection for me, love every track!
Metric 
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PROGRESS: Winter · Spring · Summer · Fall · #40-36 · #35-31 · #30-26 · #25-21 · #20-16 · #15-11 · #10-6 · #5-1
THIS. IS. IT. It's time to put a cap on TC's top 40 albums of 2012 with my top 10 albums of the year. Here we go!
I've been a fan of The Shins for the better part of a decade. They helped define early '00s indie with Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow. So I was excited to see James Mercer and crew (well, James Mercer and his new crew) would be returning with Port Of Morrow early this year. The lead single "Simple Song", which debuted right around the beginning of 2012, began to carry a lot of personal meaning and became my single most played song of the year -- its accompanying music video was also one of the most creative and best of 2012. Throughout the year, I found myself returning to the whole album and its other wonderful tracks like "The Rifle's Spiral", "It's Only Life", and "September", to mention a few. Port Of Morrow is another strong showing from Mercer and represents indie rock at its best.
Purity Ring are a new duo from Montreal whose music blends traditional elements of dream pop with haunting, futuristic electronic noise, merging ridiculously honey-sweet vocals with mysterious, dark, and ominous lyrics. Put it all together and Shrines is a strange, fascinating trip. I first discovered the album about half-way through the year and I got addicted in no time. Every track on the album has a grim, mangled one-word title: "Fireshrine", "Ungirthed", "Belispeak", and "Lofticries" are some of my favorite tracks, but the crown has to go to "Obedear", a foreboding, subversive take on electro-pop -- its first 30 seconds sound like an almost post-apocalyptic down-tempo club track -- that crafts a perfect, delightfully uncomfortable listening experience, if that makes any sense at all. Shrines is candy-coated and crawling with demons, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I don't have to tell you Bruce Springsteen is a living legend. The Boss been active in music for more than 40 years, taking over the world with The E Street Band year after year. Wrecking Ball is his most cohesive, urgent, and all-around best album in least a decade. In terms of content, Wrecking Ball came at the perfect time, filled to the brim with Bruce's trademark socioeconomic and political themes that hit an important and desperately needed critical tone for 2012. "We Take Care Of Our Own" debuted at the beginning of the year and served as somewhat of a theme song for President Obama's re-election campaign. I also particularly enjoyed "Land Of Hope And Dreams" and "Rocky Ground", an experimental track drawing influences from both gospel and hip hop. The album's standout is "Death To My Hometown", which barrels into your ears in the style of amped-up Irish folk music, with gritty vocal delivery and lyrics of righteous indignation -- the closest thing to a protest song we'll find in this decade. My year in Bruce peaked when I saw him in concert with The E Street Band on the weekend directly following Hurricane Sandy and leading up to Election Day. Needless to say, that nearly 4-hour monster of a show was an unparalleled experience -- an event I'll remember for a lifetime.
Taylor Swift has gone through somewhat of a remarkable transformation and evolution over the past 5 years, from a bright-eyed but feisty young country hopeful to an established, driving force leading the world of pop. I'll admit I wasn't sure what to expect from Red the first time I heard "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" in the late summer -- my mind initially drew comparisons to Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" -- but it didn't take me long to come around and realize there was much more going on here than the juvenile teasing you might see on the surface. "Never Ever" was representative of an expressly confident, genuine, and bold direction that would set the stage for the rest of Red, and that became clear upon hearing the full album. I couldn't escape the powerful and commanding presence of "I Knew You Were Trouble"; the charming and outwardly sincere "Stay Stay Stay"; or the incredible departure of my favorite track "State Of Grace", whose ethereal guitar-driven sound, forceful instrumental interludes, and metaphorical, sophisticated lyrical content had U2 written all over it. As someone who has been on board since virtually the beginning, I can say Red is my favorite Taylor Swift album to date.
Sharon Van Etten is an indie and folk rock singer-songwriter and musician I took notice of early this year upon the release of her third album, Tramp. The truly excellent lead track "Serpents" was one of the most resilient songs of the year for me -- I pretty much never stopped playing it. "Warsaw", "Give Out", "Kevin's", and "I'm Wrong" were some of my other favorites off of the album. I got to see SVE live along with Flock Of Dimes (Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak) in the spring, which was great. I was standing in the front row wearing an "I'm with Coco" shirt, which prompted her during a break between songs to recall her then-recent performance on Conan, comment on Andy Richter being one of her favorite people on the planet (which I agree with 10,000%), and then go off on a tangent about her other favorite TV shows and characters including Seinfeld and Kramer, which led to a short back-and-forth of quotes and plenty of laughs. I've never felt so responsible for completely derailing a live show in progress. It was fantastic -- and incredibly endearing. I knew at that point SVE was not just a great musician, but a pretty awesome all-around person.
I had been a casual fan of Fiona Apple since the days of seeing her then-scandalous "Criminal" on VH1's Insomniac Music Theater, but the long and arduous process we all went through in 2004 and 2005 to hear and see the release of Extraordinary Machine -- and the ultimately outstanding result of that album -- cemented Fiona Apple's status as one of my favorite artists. After that, it was a long 7 years waiting for more new material. So I was ecstatic upon the announcement and release of The Idler Wheel in 2012. The lead track "Every Single Night" was released in the spring to near-universal acclaim. Billboard said it best: It was "exactly what Fiona Apple's cult of devotees had been yearning for", radio airplay and accessibility be damned. The song and video were both winding, spiraling, and exquisitely weird. My other favorite tracks like "Werewolf", "Periphery", "Anything We Want", and "Hot Knife", along with the rest of the album, followed this template, serving as a risky, powerful, unabashed, and raw artistic outlet of emotion. The Idler Wheel isn't designed for casual listening -- it's best experienced front-to-back with minimal distractions, so that you can be fully consumed by its excruciating anguish and intensity. Now more than ever, Fiona Apple is unapologetically herself -- one of the most truly individual artists of our time.
Last year at this time, I said Electra Heart was one of the most fascinating projects in all of music. Looking back now, that remains true. We had only heard "Radioactive" and about 2/3 of "Fear & Loathing" at that time, but the mystery and uneasiness surrounding the presentation of Marina's retro-inspired, idealized but fragile and artificial Electra Heart character was already enough to be enthralling and captivating. Upon the release of the album, Marina revealed that the Electra Heart character is "the antithesis of everything I stand for", representing "the corrupt side of American ideology" and exhibiting her worst fear: Becoming as superficial and "vacuous" of a person as the character she plays. The album itself is stylistically modern electro-pop; lyrically, it's a dizzying deconstruction of that archaic, picturesque but inwardly troubled American starlet. The songs within take on every aspect of Electra Heart's rise and fall: The bombastic "Bubblegum Bitch" is the initiation; "Primadonna" and "Homewrecker" are the height of the character; "Starring Role" and "Hypocrates" are a dark turn from carefree into introspective and self-doubting; "Teen Idle" is downright suicidal; and "Fear & Loathing" builds with ominous fervor and explodes into the ultimate destruction of Electra Heart. Through it all, Marina & The Diamonds crafted one of the finest concept pop albums I've ever heard.
I remember saying around the beginning of the year that I really wanted just some straight-up, punchy, uncomplicated rock music in 2012 -- and man, did Japandroids deliver. Celebration Rock is the Canadian indie rock band's second album but the first one I heard. Japandroids were unavoidable across the indie and alt-rock space this year and for good reason: Their modern take on punk and classic rock is one of the best albums of any kind to come along in quite some time. At just 35 minutes long over 8 tracks, Celebration Rock doesn't mess around: It gets in and gets out, and that's just the way I like it. Pitchfork summarized the album's content pretty well: "The duo taps into a power greater than itself to address impossibly vast and elemental topics -- friendship, lust, revenge, art, self-actualization -- with songs every bit as big." Musically, the volume is high, the tempo is fast, the drums are loud, and the chorus of almost every track is a group shout-along festival of rock. Japandroids knocked it out of the park on Celebration Rock. My favorite tracks include the melodic "Fire's Highway", the homage to "American Girl" on "Evil's Sway", and of course the anthem-like "The House That Heaven Built", with its defining line that says it all: "If they try to slow you down, tell 'em all go to hell!"
What a year it has been for Ellie Goulding. When I first discovered her in 2010, the original UK release of her album Lights didn't even include its title track that would become a sleeper hit all the way into 2012 and eventually dominate the U.S. charts. "Lights" did so well for so long that it was still competing in real time with Ellie Goulding's new releases off of Halcyon, her wonderful newest album released this fall. Halcyon expands on the dreamy, snyth-infused electro-pop found on Lights and takes it into the stratosphere, shining a brighter spotlight on Ellie Goulding's uniquely quirky, smoky vocal style along the way. The first track I heard was "Hanging On" in the early summer, a varying, beat-driven but down-tempo creation that got me geared up for the release of the album. In the early fall, the more up-tempo and instantly infectious "Anything Could Happen" quickly became a breakout hit. Upon the release of the album a few weeks later, I couldn't put it down, repeatedly playing other tracks like "Only You", "Explosions", "I Know You Care", and "I Need Your Love", the album's closer. But my personal favorite from the moment I heard it is "Figure 8", which Time said "injects a scenic quality that bludgeons with cinematic density" (I love that description) and acts as a metaphor for heartbreak through its scorching, glass-shattering energy and fury. I can't get enough of it or the album in general. In case you didn't know it before, Ellie Goulding has certainly made it clear with Halcyon that she's no one-hit wonder -- she's here to stay.
Jack White needs no introduction: His incredible work over the years with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather speaks for itself. But this year, he took a path he had never taken before, recording and releasing his first solo album, Blunderbuss, through his own label Third Man Records. He said of his decision to release a solo album: "I've put off making records under my own name for a long time, but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch and had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas." Blunderbuss is at once a culmination of Jack White's past experiences and an exploration of his broader influences, combining elements of garage rock, blues, soul and folk rock into a veritable masterpiece. The first single "Love Interruption" got the year off to an amazing start; the raucous "Sixteen Saltines" redefined modern rock and easily became one of my top songs of the year; "Missing Pieces", "Freedom At 21", and "I'm Shakin'" were all required listening on repeat; and "Hypocritical Kiss", "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy", and "Trash Tongue Talker" were some of my other favorites. I've been a huge fan of everything Jack White has done for more than 11 years. I was as sad as anybody about the end of The White Stripes last year, but an unfazed Jack White set out on his own this year with his alternating all-female and all-male backing bands -- as seen during his excellent SNL performance -- and owned the stage just the same. While I can't and wouldn't compare Blunderbuss head-to-head with any of the albums he released with his other projects, I'm proud to say unequivocally that it's my favorite album of the year. This time, Jack White brought the house down. Make no mistake about it, Blunderbuss is my #1 album of 2012.
SINGLES (SPRING)
Ultraviolet Sound - "Girl Talk"
September - "Party In My Head"
Alabama Shakes - "Hold On"
Little Boots - "Every Night I Say A Prayer"
Blur - "Under The Westway"
Feist - "Black Tongue"
Ladyhawke - "Black White & Blue"
Alex Clare - "Too Close"
Cher Lloyd - "Want U Back"
Zambri - "ICBYS"
Kathleen Edwards - "Change The Sheets"
Walk The Moon - "Anna Sun"
Neon Trees - "Everybody Talks"
Tennis - "Origins"
Sarah Jaffe - "Glorified High"
M83 - "Midnight City"
Yelawolf f/ Kid Rock - "Let's Roll"
Garbage - "Blood For Poppies"
MuteMath - "Allies"
The Ting Tings - "Hit Me Down Sonny"
Nicki Minaj - "Starships"
Jessica Paré - "Zou Bisou Bisou"
The Hives - "Go Right Ahead"
Crocodiles - "Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)"
Guinevere - "Crazy Crazy"
Katrina - "Shame On Me"
Jessica Sutta - "Show Me"
One Direction - "What Makes You Beautiful"
Linkin Park - "Burn It Down"
The Gaslight Anthem - "45"
Class Actress - "Keep You"
Jesca Hoop - "Born To"
David Guetta f/ Sia - "Titanium"
Frank Ocean - "Thinkin Bout You"
Arcade Fire - "She's A Rainbow / Ruby Tuesday"
Kylie Minogue - "Timebomb"
SINGLES (FALL)
Tegan and Sara - "Closer"
The Rolling Stones - "Doom And Gloom"
Adele - "Skyfall"
Sky Ferreira - "Lost In My Bedroom"
Allen Stone - "Sleep"
The Wallflowers f/ Mick Jones - "Reboot The Mission"
Megan & Liz - "Bad For Me"
Bex - "Life Of The Party"
Little Big Town - "Tornado"
Madison Cain - "Dirt"
Melanie Amaro - "Don't Fail Me Now"
Band Of Horses - "Knock Knock"
Avett Brothers - "Live And Die"
Blouse - "Shadow"
Lisa Marie Presley - "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet"
Kelly Clarkson - "Catch My Breath"
Rihanna - "Diamonds"
Youngblood Hawke - "We Come Running"
Bridgit Mendler - "Ready Or Not"
Olly Murs - "Troublemaker"
Christina Aguilera - "Your Body"
Spencer & Hill f/ Nadia Ali - "Believe It"
Ultraviolet Sound - "Neon Child"
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out Of Heaven"
Alicia Keys - "Girl On Fire"
The Lumineers - "Ho Hey"
Vicci Martinez f/ Cee Lo Green - "Come Along"
Pink - "Try"
Solange - "Losing You"
Chvrches - "The Mother We Share"
The Joy Formidable - "This Ladder Is Ours"
Shiny Toy Guns - "Somewhere To Hide"
Churchill - "Change"
Paul McCartney & "Sirvana" - "Cut Me Some Slack"
Sam And The Womp - "Bom Bom"
Girls Aloud - "Something New"
TOP 40 ALBUMS
20. Of Monsters & Men - My Head Is An Animal
19. La Sera - Sees The Light
18. ZZ Ward - Til The Casket Drops
17. Friends - Manifest!
16. Icona Pop - Icona Pop
15. Metric - Synthetica
14. Cat Power - Sun
13. Aimee Mann - Charmer
12. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
11. Dragonette - Bodyparts
10. The Shins - Port Of Morrow
9. Purity Ring - Shrines
8. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
7. Taylor Swift - Red
6. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
5. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel
4. Marina & The Diamonds - Electra Heart
3. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
2. Ellie Goulding - Halcyon
1. Jack White - Blunderbuss
That's it for TC's top 40 albums of 2012. It was great to be able to complete this review of my favorite music for the 10th consecutive year -- an amazing milestone! Thanks so much for reading. I hope you have a great 2013 and beyond.
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Member Since: 1/26/2006
Posts: 17,384
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I definitely need to check Japandroids' latest album, I like "The House That Heaven Built". Blunderbuss is a great album! It's still growing on me.
And I love your write-up about Port Of Morrow, an exceptional album 
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Member Since: 3/27/2008
Posts: 8,259
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 6/9/2002
Posts: 6,789
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THE FINAL TEN AND WHAT A TEAN THEY ARE. (Note: I know I spelled ten as “tean” but i’m leaving it like that).
Very happy to see The Shins have a strong showing on your list! Very well deserved. An amazing album. Purity Ring! Nice! Yet another Alberta-based act (they grew up in Edmonton) that moved to Montreal. HEY, ALBERTA IS PRETTY GREAT AND SOME OF YOU SHOULD STAY HERE. I am the new head of the Alberta Tourism Bureau/Board, and that’s what we are going with. A rough draft. Wrecking Ball, amazing! A great album, and that you got to see him and The E-Street Band this year play for nearly 4 hours (!), I mean, what tops that? Not Much. A true 2012 highlight. Loved Taylor Swift’s The Freewave Weekly, and you are very correct that “State of Grace” is a stealth U2 song. SVE! YEAH!!! Awesome! I love your write-up on her excellent album, which includes the wonderful story from the concert that you attended. I mentioned that the The Boss concert was a true highlight of 2012? So was this! Man, you sure lucked out on seeing and experiencing one of a kind concerts this year. And absolutely Andy Richter is one of the best people on the planet, says the ATRL member who has had a promo still from Andy Barker P.I. as his avatar since 2007.
Now, I must say, when I saw that Fiona was #5, I was shocked! If we were doing pre-year-end betting, I would have bet that The Idler Wheel would have been your #1. But #5 is pretty darn great, as well! I imagine the non-casual listening aspect of it may have prevented it from being higher, which is true. I remember when you said that about Electra Heart, and it definitely lived up to it, from what I heard! Glad it delivered for you! And then you’ve got Vancouver’s Japanadroids! An undeniable album! Ellie Goulding! Awesome! And good write-up on Halcyon. Indeed, she is here to stay. And then another at #1, BLUNDERBUSS! A very worthy #1! Not only because the album is obviously fantastic and a great culmination for everything from his career up to this point (which is basically what you said, but I said it far clumsier), but because you have charted all of Jack White’s previous albums over the years, from his many bands, and you finally have the chance to rank him at #1. In that way, it is very reminiscent of last year’s #1, Foo Fighters – Wasting Light. A worthy parallel!
Ten Years Gone (riff plays), and you have delivered yet another fantastic year-end list. You are the Dick Clark of this ATRL year-end ****. AN INSTITUTION! Year-End time wouldn't be the same without your list. Here’s to ten more! 
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Member Since: 10/13/2003
Posts: 48,022
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Ellie Goulding + Taylor Swift <333
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 4/24/2011
Posts: 8,547
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Quote:
39. Carly Rae Jepsen - Kiss
36. Emeli Sandé - Our Version Of Events
35. Jessie Ware - Devotion
33. Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts
31. Regina Spektor - What We Saw From The Cheap Seats
29. Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
27. Poliça - Give You The Ghost
24. Chromatics - Kill For Love
23. Santigold - Master Of My Make Believe
22. Ke$ha - Warrior
21. Grimes - Visions
20. Of Monsters & Men - My Head Is An Animal
17. Friends - Manifest!
16. Icona Pop - Icona Pop
15. Metric - Synthetica
12. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
11. Dragonette - Bodyparts
10. The Shins - Port Of Morrow
9. Purity Ring - Shrines
8. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
7. Taylor Swift - Red
5. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel
4. Marina & The Diamonds - Electra Heart
2. Ellie Goulding - Halcyon
1. Jack White - Blunderbuss
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All of these = amazing albums.
Kind of surprised of not seeing '(III)' over here, but well.
Honestly, TRF.
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Member Since: 5/9/2009
Posts: 6,397
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Of Monster & Men, ZZ Ward, Metric, Cat Power, Aimee, & Lana Del Rey each have good to great albums that define what good style and unique sound that each play on their own.
Port of Morrow is indeed a great Indie Rock album that sounds so damn incredible, we arrive dead on the scene when the club and nature has been wiped out by Shrines, Glad that you had a wrecking ball of a lifetime to see Brace and his trust-worthy band, Red is either bleeding to my ears or sweet strawberries in a cherry-picking afternoon, nice to see people looking into State of Grace very well, Fiona’s album is not bad, man how amazing can an Electra Heart beat, should check out Japanoids’ album, Ellie has crafted a great Halcyon to be free and in content with, a great pop album that is so different and amazing, & Great to see Jack’s album #1 in your list and I agree what you say about Jack and his past releases that this IS the album where it shines and be his own man. Good Best of overall and can’t wait to see you again next time.
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Member Since: 10/2/2011
Posts: 43,174
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Wrecking Ball, Electra Heart, Halcyon and Blunderbuss are 2012's gems for sure. Great list!
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 5/9/2003
Posts: 3,779
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Fantastic top ten! Usually you have a few artists in there that I've never heard of but eventually catch on to. This year I can proudly say I've heard at least parts of all of them! Will just have to look a little lower to find new favorites this year.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 12/7/2008
Posts: 87,284
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Red, Halcyon, Electra Heart, The Idler Wheel
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Member Since: 1/3/2011
Posts: 30,381
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I am a fan of Warrior tbh
Be Sure to comment on my Last Update 
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