Brit-rock weekly NME, that most hype-driven of print magazines, has just given the world its list of the 50 best albums of 2012, and, as with all lists, there are good and bad and weird things about it. Good: Tame Impala at #1! I understand that lots of people like that album! It is still an interesting choice! Also, nice showings for personal favorites like Frank Ocean, Cat Power, and Jessie Ware. Bad: If the only rap albums on your list are Cruel Summer and Ratking and Kendrick Lamar, and the former two are ranked higher than the Kendrick, you should just ignore rap altogether; we know it’s what you’d rather be doing anyway. Weird, though expected: So, so heavy on Brit-rock guitar bands that nobody outside the UK, or possibly the NME office, cares a white about. Anyone want to tell me what a Jake Bugg is? No, nevermind, stop, I don’t care. Check the full list out below. Warning! Contains controversy!
50 Purity Ring – Shrines
49 Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes
48 The 2 Bears – Be Strong
47 John Talabot – fIN
46 Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man In The Universe
45 Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
44 Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, mAAd City
43 Ratking – Wiki93
42 Paul Weller – Sonik Kicks
41 Ty Segall – Twins
40 Polica – Give You The Ghost
39 Liars – WIXIW
38 TEED – Trouble
37 Enter Shikari – A Flash Flood Of Colour
36 The Vaccines - Come Of Age
35 Metz – Metz
34 Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man
33 Hot Chip – In Our Heads
32 Graham Coxon – A+E
31 G.O.O.D. Music – Cruel Summer
30 Breton – Other People’s Problems
29 Mac DeMarco – 2
28 Spiritualized – Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
27 Jessie Ware – Devotion
26 Spector – Enjoy It While It Lasts
25 Ariel Pink – Mature Themes
24 Merchandise – Children Of Desire
23 Richard Hawley – Standing At The Sky’s Edge
22 Beach House – Bloom
21 Cat Power – Sun
20 Howler – America Give Up
19 Toy – Toy
18 Tribes – Baby
17 Grizzly Bear – Shields
16 Melody’s Echo Chamber – Melody’s Echo Chamber
15 Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
14 The xx – Coexist
13 DIIV – Oshin
12 David Byrne & St. Vincent – Love This Giant
11 Django Django – Django Django
10 Jack White – Blunderbuss
09 Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg
08 The Cribs – In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull
07 Pond – Beard Wives Denim
06 The Maccabees – Given To The Wild
05 Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
04 Crystal Castles – (iii)
03 Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
02 Grimes – Visions
01 Tame Impala – Lonerism
(via Brooklyn Vegan)
I know taste is subjective and all, but I still lose my shit every time Fiona Apple doesn’t appear on one of these lists.
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I have complaints about this list, because it isn’t tailored perfectly to my tastes.
This joke is so old, is it funny again yet?
but seriously, no japandroids or father john misty? this is why your empire fell england.
I have complaints against meta complaints against lists.
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That’s Jesus, in raptor form – best not fuck with it
Raptor Jesus,
just when I think you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this…
and TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!
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I. Like. Al. BUNS and I cannot lie.
Most underrated comment ever.
Not that I ever cared about NME’s opinion, but not having Fiona Apple anywhere on the list just voids it even more.
They really seem to have it out for her this year though, anyone else remember when they published a picture of Alanis Morissette next to an article about her?
‘Anyone want to tell me what a Jake Bugg is?’
My Granma has his album; I have not investigated farther.
He’s a young guy with an ‘old’ sound. I thought most of his fans were quite young. Now I’m curious about what else is in your Granma’s collection?
pervert
Why the hell would it “void” the list? It’s an opinion; it’s as valid as yours, which clearly believes Apple belongs on a list. This shit drives me crazy every year – remind me why we all need to have the same list?
Seeing Tame Impala on the top is great. Not as bad as i expected from NME. I expected to need a sick bag.
On a second look at the rest of the top 10, I’m getting a little sick in my mouth.
i got sick in my pants when I saw tame impy at the top
Lol, NME, lol.
They forgot about Father John Misty and Fiona Apple. That’s it, I’m never going to England.
But that’s where Charli XCX and Burial and Jessie Ware and Bat for Lashes are! Maybe if they set up a quarantine around the NME office, you could exist there without worrying about living under the specter of NME and Mojo and Q magazines. Does anyone know if there are any music mags in England that match the awesomeness of the electronic scene there? I can’t think of any off the top of my dome, other than Mixmag, which i consider to be a good magazine because they once had a Katy B interview in there. Even Paste and Spin are reliable by comparison to NME, and Under the Radar and The Big Takeover are vastly better.
This has been “The History of British vs. American Music Magazines.” I’m crabtron. You’re reading Stereogum. Stay tuned. I’ll leave the light on for you. Good night and good luck. I’m Robert Osborne. You’re watching Turner Classic Movies. I’m crabtron. I’m losing my mind.
Please don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that NME represents England in any way, shape or form.
Chairlift.
furreelz
Chairlift is getting snubbed all over the place, man.
Yes for John Talabot! “fIN” is a great album and one that I think has been a bit lost since it came out right at the beginning of the year.
Fer real. Mmmmmmm Pional guest spots left and right.
Lana Del Rey AHAHAHAHAHAAHA
No Japandroids? And that XX record is boring as F*ck…
Grimes? GRIMES??
GRIMES!!!
grimes.
Not too bad considering it’s NME, it was always going to have some shite on it, particularly the dreaded Alt-J
For the temerity of dissing Alt-J, I shall inflict my surname on yours.
This list is mediocre.
well shit.
I love End-Of-Year-Lists Season because it’s like having loads of friends with different musical tastes reccomend albums to me. And because there are so many lists made, the statistically most mentioned albums contribute to a clear ‘most popular of Year XXXX’ list which I can then use to make happy of my ears.
Good take.
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Anyone wanna make a “list of lists” lists. With most appearances and guest placement scores?
Metacritic tries to do that: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/music-critic-top-ten-lists-best-albums-of-2011
And they also do a list based on their weighted-review-average-metric thing: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-albums-of-2011
http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2012/
so far, this list is better than the other two. and i applaud them for keeping it to albums that only came out in 2012.
wait. i just read past lonerism being number one, and actually i don’t recognize a ton of people on there.
I like Grimes but she isn’t close to being an act I can support with all my love and passion, even though I can see her growing into one. So at #2… especially when they forgot Fiona Apple…
Not to mention Crystal Castles at 4, the very presence of the Vaccines, and the overall silliness of the top 10… come on, y’all.
forgot = consciously excluded I’m silly whatever
I feel like D-Tits & I could “Cheers” a beer down to Tame Impeez at the numero uno slot.
How the hell, even objectively…is Cruel Summer a better album than good kid, m.A.A.d. city?
NME logic: because kanye
cruel summer was dogshit terrible.
Like, I’m not saying Cruel Summer was bad. I thought it was alright, but there’s so much wrong with that album and so much right with Kendrick’s…ugh.
Hipster dufus list!
Wow, I thought for sure they’d find some excuse to work in Noel Gallagher or Ian Brown. They even remembered the Metz and Pond albums. I think the people complaining don’t remember how the NME’s lists usually look.
The ties between Noel Gallagher and Jake Bugg are pretty close…
There’s still a whole month of releases left…
Yeah, I’m not finalizing everything until I hear Big Boi (which hasn’t leaked?) and Scott Walker (which has, I think, but I haven’t been able to give a good attentive listen to yet.) But so it goes. Mojo did include El Camino on their 2012 list even though it was released in 2011 last year, so…
mbv
As much as I tell my self “Wait for My Bloody Valentine”, I just can’t if he doesn’t give us a date like…this week. Otherwise the album will just have to settle for not being on my list.
Or if it’s really late in the year, I could sneak it onto next year’s list.
I really don’t think he’s going to announce anything. I predict it will just appear on their website, and people will start freaking out about it and that’s how word will spread. The word has been that it will come out in mid-December, but I think it will happen Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The guy who runs mybloodyvalentine.net has said that he will be handing over the reigns to Kevin soon, and that site will become the other official mbv site.
For NME this list is pretty goddamn dec
adent?
kchairs?
ried?
emberist?
ent.
endent
repit
athalon.
orous
ayed
apitated.
ember?
ahedron
omposed?
o
This is the same website that did this:
http://www.nme.com/reviews/kendrick-lamar/13799
And why is Grimes at number 2? I mean, I like Grimes as much as the next person that lives in Vancouver, but, I mean, I’m running outta commas here…
Thanks for not posting the number one album this time as the thumbnail!
NME strikes again. That top five is complete bullshit, but at least the rest has METZ and Ty Segall, which Paste and MOJO neglected to list.
Also, why is everyone so down on Alt-J? Just wondering if there’s anything beyond them being “overhyped.”
Pitchfork took a giant shit on them because they were offended at the “new Radiohead” labels. I honestly don’t see much of a similarity between the two bands. Anyway, they’re my number two for the year, so I’ve been wondering the same thing.
p4k gave it like a 4 or something. That place has plenty of disciples, so that probably doesn’t help. I thought the album was decent, but nothing special.
In my view they’re the latest in the series of boring, over-hyped British bands that keep appearing on NME lists long after everyone else has forgotten about them. The very definition of “meh”.
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dave matthews? did you listen to the wrong album?
what is Alt-J and why do i not even want to listen to it solely on account of the name
Their band name is ∆. So they also go by alt-J, but I would attack them for 4 paragraphs in P Fork saying they should be called option-J and then I would give them a 10 when it gets reissued in a decade and say that their eschewing Character Palette for old school keyboard commands was unappreciated non-ironic irony. Then I would tweet about how dumb the sh*storm was that I solely created with my chundermuffinry!
∆
holy shit, that does work.
the witch house kids are gonna be pissed now that the secret is out!
It would be unwise to ignore Alt-J based solely on their band name. Actually, it would be unwise to carry this mentality around regarding anything music related. Good reviews/bad reviews, this band’s album was by far the most enigmatic of 2012 and should not at all be refused a listen.
True, i mean Will.I.Am freakin almost added a hashtag to his namehttp://stereogum.com/882791/will-i-am-adds-hashtag-to-album-name/news/
fair enough, i’ll check it out. i’m down with the wordless symbol thing, i was just avoiding it for the same reason that i’d never listen to anyone who goes by “hipster-G.” or “#hipster-G,” for that matter.
I take solace in knowing it could have been so much worse.
Tame Impala needs to be higher.
Classic.
I want to perhaps explain why Fiona Apple not being on this list isn’t that big of a deal. We all recognize her brilliance. That Fiona Apple released an album that was entirely exceptional shouldn’t be surprising. In the same way no one would lose their shit over Lebron James scoring 30, having 10 rebounds and 8 assists in a game, I’m a little surprised the world is still in awe that Fiona Apple accomplished with The Idler Wheel that which she has only ever accomplished, which is to make great music. Now, if Norris Cole scored 30/10/8, it’d be worth talking about. And he deserves praise. But that’s because it’s unexpected. His numbers are the same as Lebron’s, but different athlete’s have different standards. When Lebron dropped 50 in Boston in a playoff elimination game, that’s worth recognizing. I think these lists should celebrate more underappreciated artists who contributed to a great musical year, not craft a purely objective standard of quantifiable “best” work. Because it becomes a bit predictable.
When Fiona’s discography is laid out, is the Idler Wheel her most transcendent work? Probably not. I comfortably would say it’ll be the album I’ll come back to the least. Not saying it isn’t great. It is. But Fiona scored 30 points with it, not 50. She did what we all expected from her, which is be amazing. Do we need to discuss it? Not really.
that’s one hell of an analysis, but i still can’t see how lebron would be snubbed from, say, all-star consideration on account of being consistently excellent.
I’ll use one last sports analogy before I shut up. Some people have a problem with Major League Baseball including a player from every team at the All Star Game. I don’t. It might give some attention to random players having good seasons instead of having all Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies selections. As a fan, I know their rosters. They have great players that always make the All Star Team. That’s fine but that’s boring. Unless Texierra or Pujols is having a monster years on their great standard, they don’t really need recognition. Yes, their numbers are always good. Its just that they’re not worth talking about. I want to see Mike Trout or Josh Reddick or Adam Jones. Does that mean the All Star Team is going to have all of the best performers from that season? Not always. But it’s worth giving new players exposure for the benefit of the game. I didn’t need NME to tell me Fiona Apple was great. I knew that already. Was she great on her standard of greatness? I don’t think so. So she doesn’t need NME’s ink. These lists can be a great tool to expose fans to other artists who are worth listening to. Which I think is more important than getting a list “right” or “wrong”.
ok, that one works.
I think that’s a great point about exposing fans to artists who are worth listening to. However, the way you view Fiona Apple, in how she’s in the business of making great music, is similar to a lot of people’s view on Radiohead. We don’t need NME or any publication to validate Radiohead as a great band, but they’re always on an AOTY list when they put out a record. The King of Limbs was #20 on NME’s list last year. Now I see the inherent flaw in my argument, because obviously Fiona and Radiohead are not the same, and therefore their fan bases aren’t the same, but I’m just offering a comparison.
I lived long enough to see an NBA analogy used for Fiona Apple.
Apple doesn’t really feature on the UK’s radar I’m afraid. Hence the complete lack of her appearance on any end of year list.
I don’t understand, The Maccabees’ “Given to the Wild” was released in 2012 ? “Pelican” was part of my 2011 playlist on spotify http://open.spotify.com/user/roulmapoule/playlist/2cZEhe5XQlV4kXV5tGbq9V
Spotify is not a part of the real world. In the real world, the album was released on January 9.
Also, I like Grimes, but damn.
feel like there’s only 3 really good songs on the Grimes album. The rest is just sort of demo-ish….style over substance?
I’m one of the biggest Cribs guys around. One of my fondest memories is hanging out with two of the Jarmans before a local show — incredibly good guys. I named one of my kids after one of them.
But 8th? For the year? I don’t think even Mans Needs did that well! Confirms my suspicions that it was a pretty weak year for music.
Top 10′s garbage for the most part. Impressed they put Tame Impala at the top.
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^ proof that truth hurts :D
LOnerism is INCREDIBLY Boring for a so called psych rock album.
Finally, some mention of Spiritualized.
How did they not find a way to put the Strokes on here? Its NME.
Western Australia represent!
This is very obviously just my opinion and I never get too caught up w/ year end lists, I like what I like. But overall, were there really 16 albums better than Shields?? Lonerism, however, just may be one of them…
I just checked out this Jake Bugg character on youtube…I really wish I hadn’t done that.
David Byrne & St. Vincent, Why u #12
I love them both but Love this Giant was a huge disappointment
The worst part about this list season is the creeping realization that I didn’t love as much music as I did last year. That being said, I wonder how long it’ll take for Yeasayer to show up on one of these lists. Fragrant World was horribly underrated.
Solomon…you had me at Fragrant World was horrible
I really like Fragrant World too
Christ, am I the only one who loved the Animal Collective album? I feel like people are leaving it off their lists because they’ve practically been TOLD they should ignore it. I think it’s a way, way better album than Grimes… or most of these, actually.
I was extremely disappointed by the AnCo album when everyone else was just totally freaking out about it here, when it was put up for streaming. But I tried my best to put aside my snap judgment and continued listening to it many times to see if it grew on me. It really didn’t. I wasn’t “told” I should ignore it–I paid attention very closely, and eventually just stopped because there was so very little of it that I enjoyed listening to. Then I read the *big* review and it really just confirmed the conclusion I had already reached.
It just really has very few memorable melodies to latch on to. I was also incredibly disappointed in the lack of variation in texture/atmosphere … most of the songs just sorta sound like a muddled mess of ideas that never really cohere. I was expecting much, much better from them, considering how consistently excellent all of their releases had been from “Here Comes the Indian”-on.
That, I think, has been the issue with most people’s take on the album – everyone EXPECTED much, much more. The bar had been raised so high after 9 years of stellar songwriting. So when they release an album that doesn’t raise the stakes – which is the case here – it’s considered a massive disappointment. The expectations were just too high and the album couldn’t possibly live up. The *big* review was just one example of this.
But, when that’s all put aside, what we have is a complicated album with some truly great Animal Collective moments. It’s not a brilliant album but it’s no flop either. There’s been a real shortage of brilliant music released this year and I think this one hold’s its own among the everything else released this year.
I’d have to agree to disagree. I don’t really think there are any great moments here–good ones (“Applesauce”, “Today’s Supernatural”) but not great. I also don’t think I’m judging it more harshly because of expectations. For example, I knew “Tomboy” was very unlikely to meet the high bar set by “Person Pitch,” and I don’t think it quite did, but I think it’s a pretty great album regardless.Ditto for “America” coming after “Bromst” and “Swing Lo Magellan as the follow-up to “Bitte Orca.”
“Amanita” is all kinds of great moments.
No i have 1-Beach House 2- Tame Impala 3- TRUST 4-Animal Collective 5- TANLINES. This is the most fucked list i have ever seen.
If I don’t see a list with Swans in the top 10 soon, I am probably going to lose my shit.
Swans are so niche that you’re probably not going to see them on any list other than Pitchfork’s. I want Ed Schrader’s Music Beat on ANY list and I know that ain’t happening.
I know, I know. though it probably should end up on stereogum’s list too, and hopefully some others.
the seer is number one on the list in my heart, dude. im with you.
The seer rules. in fact, you wont see a lot of of the more significant heavier releases on these list for sure.
I will pay allegiance to any year-end list that has the wherewithal to include The Quakers and/or Aesop Rock. Excluding The Source as the source.
Aesop’s album was fantastic. Unfortunately, the critics and bloggers love “real” rap right now, not indie stuff, so expect it to be left off of plenty of lists. If it was released 5 years ago it would’ve come with an explosion. Thus is life.
check out blu’s “give me my flowers while i can still smell them.” another great hip-hop album that was mostly ignored.
a heartfelt concept album about a man who tragically begins to lose his sense of smell
That Quakers album is the shit!
I could also swing the other direction and couldn’t seem to find Torche’s Harmonicraft on many year-end lists.
Too British
Let me start by saying “Churrasco Taco with onions, cilantro, and green sauce”….YUMMERS! Best tacos in town made with fresh ingredients right in front of you, for you! The chefs are friendly to all their customers and love what they do. You also can’t beat the price! This is a “little hole in the wall”, literally, that should not be missed by anyone!!! Totally recommend!!!
yeah Churrasco Taco was definitely in my top 10
terrible list, NME
What’s number one? I didn’t look. Is it Muse?
It’s Two Door Cinema Club, for sure!
I just looked. It’s Tame Impala. Are either of the Gallagher brothers in that band? They have to be, right?
I think Mac Demarco is just great.
Grimes just isn’t that good. I love Lonerism but I’m not sure it’s a #1. No dirty projectors is a shame and the XX album is shit. Liars, Ariel Pink, Grizzly Bear and Beach House should be higher. COMPLAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
also why is MIA on the cover if she’s not in the top 50 and didn’t release an album this year?
Tracks on tracks on tracks, I presume.
I mean, Bad Girls is pretty damn dope.
I wonder if there is ever any list where people don’t complain… I bet it would have like 40 #1′s and it is maybe a “top 500 albums of 2012″
All three Ty Segall albums should be on every year end list. Slaughterhouse was a revelation.
They all made Uncut’s top 75
You can tell from the list that this is a British publication. Completely devoid of R&B/Hip Hop in a strong year for the two genres.
Frank Ocean seems more like an obligatory add to the list.
He did come out so they gotta be nice to new gays.
Yeah, the only two Hip-Hop albums here were Kendrick’s and G.O.O.D. Music’s. And both of them were in the bottom half. El-P, Killer Mike, and Aesop aren’t here at all.
I’m a little confused on why Lana Del Rey is on this list.
Wow, no Burial? Or Kindred being an EP doesn’t count?
Yeah, I was wondering that. Also, what’s it gonna take for Chromatics to appear on one of these lists? Spin, will you correct this? Or will we have to wait for Pitchfork’s list? Can we wait that long?
Still no Twin Shadow and Wild Nothing? K
Wild Nothing is top 10 for me
Wow Enter Shitkari and Lana Del Ray made a best of list? At least there’s no Muse there, I suppose
What a weird list! I am watching these artists and songs 1st time in my life i didn’t even hear about them before watching this list
So I guess The Money Store never happened? At least that’s what all these lists appear to be saying.
severe lack of La Sera on any of these lists…
Amazed by the Japandroids snub. Either their list really sucks or this was a bad year for music. I need to collect my thoughts.
Guys, Lana Del Rey is PSYCHED about her appearance on this list:
Can someone explain to me properly what is so bad about the alt-j album? I actually enjoyed it; interesting rhythms, melodies and in my opinion ‘different’ in a good way. Same goes for the Maccabees. I can understand shitting on Jake Bugg and Lana Del Rey for being one-dimensional trite, but those two other bands seem to be caught in the crux of ‘hipster’ abjection just cause Pitchfork don’t like them.
Totally agree. Alt-J is my favourite of the year, closely followed by Dirty Projectors and after initially disliking the Maccabees album I soon grew to love it. Pitchfork regularly gives British bands a hard time for some reason (Radiohead excepted (but how could they not?)).
Agreed, loved Swing Lo Magellan, great live as well. Anyone hating on it cause it’s a bit more straight-forward and poppy than the abstract arrangements of Bitte Orca can fuck off. I hate people comparing bands’ albums on a scale of how much better or worse it was to their last effort. I completely agree, take Foals’ Total Life Forever – an amazing album that Pitchfork wouldn’t bat an eyelid at. Most people who go on these websites don’t have their own opinions and look to subjective musical opinions as testament to an objective truth. Form your own opinions, I liked the Idler wheel is something something long pretentious title a lot, but in no way is it one of the 10 best albums of the year. Shields is probably my favourite this year though.
and to be honest I prefered Extraordinary Machine to Idler Wheel… now someone explain why Alt- J album is bad??
‘Ey brah, I gotta assume you’re talkin about me here since I just did this a couple days ago. There’s something I want to say to you in response, but I can’t find the words. Maybe Ke$ha can help?
Outstanding statement.
Pitchfork will undoubtedly bend on one knee and hold out their coveted list to the music listening population with palms up, and then we are to all go…”Oooooooh, how magnificent!”
Here’s their tops….Frank Ocean, Kendrick, Beach House, Japandroids, Grizzly Bear, betcha Tame Impala and most likely Swans. I’ll even throw in a little Chromatics or Converge just to let all of know the remember things
Now whose predictable?
Listen to what feels good. Enjoy your hard earned dollars spent on music….that’s what makes these lists so great and diverse. It’s merely opinion. Let the beatniks go sip on their Negronis with their fancy eye glass frames and scarves loosely wrapped around their skinny necks and come up with their own snooty revelations as to what is good or not.
Thank you! I was actually just about to say that. Generally I don’t mind pitchfork and find it useful in terms of learning about new music, but God they piss me off when they just decide that an album deserves an absurdly low number of stars and can’t even properly justify it. Now because of their stupid review many people are going to pass on the album and it might have been something that very well enjoyed.
The rub here is that its critical opinion, and yeah, it’s a fact of life in the entertainment biz, we all know this and it applies to stage, to movies & books to music, and on and on, but what it does to us the readers, is something far more destructive. It brainwashes us into believing that their educated opinions should be considered ‘general rule.’
I understand, and am not at all ignorant regarding the power of The Critic, but my argument goes beyond the easy bust, “Hey, screw you, I liked that album,” but aside from a band that has obvious talent flaws or blatant plagiarism of sound style for example, an album should be taken in as a whole rather than the sum of its parts, like Alt-J and be reflected upon at the end of a year, rather than a release on a particular day.
Another example is Frank Ocean, who is surely going to be named Album of the Year by Pitchfork. That piece of work far exceeds the musical notes we listen to, and if you really dissect it, its not as epic as it appears, at first, but that album will be historic for reasons that may even end up identifying it as a snapshot of a place in time, a moment in history, which would truly make it an album worthy of the highest praise, for sure.
I am as big a fan of Pitchfork as can be, and I am sure 90% of the people that read Stereogum or any music mag for that matter will say the same. Christ, I won’t lie, I tend to base too much of my music catalog on what is written by the very talented writers that make up these online mags, but to dispute a collection of opinions coming from each of this publications is way too shallow for my taste.
Alt-J deserves recognition as one of the better albums of the year. It’s not as complex as maybe, say a Grizzly Bear, or as safe as Bloom, or even as trailblazing as Kendrick, but it made A LOT of people go and find them, listen a little more deeply to what lies under the tracks, and ultimately come away thinking that, “Whoa, I haven’t heard this yet, this year.”
The simple truth is that no one over here in the UK could care less about Fiona Apple and are mildly bemused as to why america prefers her to St Vincent, but then no one in the UK could care less about Jake Bugg either ???
It’s cool that you speak for everyone in the UK. That must be exhausting.
Kitandholly is/are kind of right though. Most of us could give a shit about R&B either. Only 13 year old girls listen to R&B over here.
Um, what? Fiona Apple and St. Vincent have nothing in common besides a vagina.
how is grimes album a top 10 contender? kendrick lamar’s album is definitely better then grimes. john talabot’s fin is being snuffed it’s easily a top 15 album!
Children of Desire!!! My favorite album of the year. Good to see it on this list.
who cares!!
Forgot Chromatics, Chairlift, Shackleton, Micachu, AnCo, iamamiwhoami, Vessel, et al.
Very surprised to not see Drudkh-Eternal Turn Of The Wheel featured.
First list to include Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs! If you’re reading these lists to discover new gems, this is one
The fact that Cruel Summer is even on this list should stick out as a red flag to anyone with a pair of working ears and some appropriate expectations for Kanye…
hahahaa their tagline on the front cover “HOW MANY HAVE YOU HEARD?”
Out of curiosity, I also tried to see if there were any pictures of Lola Bunny coming out of a hole. But “Lola Bunny hole” turned out to be the wrong thing to type into Google image search. Let’s just say there are a lot of unwholesome pictures of Lola on the internet. There’s one that features her 69-ing with Minerva Mink from Animaniacs.
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Glad to see Australian bands (well, one anyway) getting kudos as well as British & US bands. I haven’t seen Prisoner by The Jezabels on any lists so far, and that’s a real shame, because it’s fantastic.
Prisoner was released in 2011
Pond was at #7 as well.
Yeh I don’t get why that Flume album has gone so under the blogosphere radar.. disappointing
PUSSY RING POWER!!!!!!! weird though that they’d love the Grimes album that much yet have LDR so much lower…and Ariel Pink has a new album and Sgum hasn’t hyped it to hell?! YET?!
Goods: Tame Impala, Frank Ocean, David Byrne & St. Vincent, Half that Django Django record is splendid, Seeing the new Grizzly Bear so high is lovely, Cat Power, Jessie Ware, Hot Chip, Metz, Liars and Kendrick Lamar should be waaayyy higher (two of the best albums of the year)
Shit: Grimes (why the fuck this is 2nd of the year I have not the foggiest), The Cribs, jake Bugg, Jack White, Sharon Van Etten, Howler, Ariel Pink, Enter Shikari (how on earth did this even make the list?)
For real? That Sharon Van Etten album is amazing.
What do you guys think of the list?
Japandroids isn’t on list, therefore list is total crap.
what’s a japandroid?
This list is an early contender for the top spot on my list of the worst 2012 end of year album review lists.
Missing IMO: Thee Oh Sees (Love the new one), Allah Las, King Tuff, Sonny and the Sunsets country album, Sea and Cake. Great list nonetheless. I love that Melody Echo Chamber record.
Sonny and the Sunsets can do no wrong.
he don’t need u. or melodymaker for that matter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IF7PCWD00A
The Darkness!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!?
I will keep mentioning them until I get a hell yeah!
Street Spirit.
Great Radiohead cover?
Or GREATEST Radiohead cover?
I’m leaning towards the latter.
Also hell yeah.
El-P? Killer Mike?
Does anyone remember The Men’s Open Your Heart?
Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
#51 The Heavy – The Glorious Dead
There’s some stuff I haven’t heard hear, so I’ll give’em the benefit of the doubt on those. I also appreciate Grimes in the top 10 from a patriotic point of view (fellow Canadian). But when The XX’s extremely disappointing Coexist appeared anywhere on this list and Bob Mould did not, I knew this was one of those hipster mono-vision phenomenon. Crystal Castles? Come on…
And by “hear”, I meant “here” — although it works really well if I were writing an Earl Sweatshirt song.
Made a Spotify playlist of the Top 50 in anyone is interested
http://open.spotify.com/user/greenplasticron/playlist/2VGcDQCXCPiVk33X9q05Rh
Compared to Spin, Rolling Stones and Uncut, this is a great list! At least it’s not full of dying dinosaurs and boring women!