This year, the three albums at the top of Stereogum’s 50 favorite albums of the year are all, in one way or another, Californian studio-pop singer-songwriter opuses. Admittedly, the makers of two of the three aren’t originally from California (they’re from New York and New Orleans) and even though the maker of the other one doesn’t really ever sing. But all three, coming from musical virtuosos with richly observant eyes and powerful emotional vocabularies, exist in that uneasy mental place where an endless string of 73-degree days can’t make up for the tense and roiling things happening deep inside your soul.
All three brought their own contexts. For Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City is endless potential made good — a guy from the rising Black Hippy crew and from the endlessly-spinning internet-rap universe seizing on the idea of being a lost kid in a hostile world, looking for depth wherever he could find it and then interrogating the moments of transcendence he does find. For Frank Ocean, there’s almost too much context (major-label shelvings and Odd Future co-signs and litigious former Eagles and, more than anything, a heartening and brave Tumblr missive about his own same-sex love story), but all those disparate strands of thought somehow melted together into a soul odyssey of frightening depth and empathy. And for Fiona Apple, the woman on top of this list, the context is in the years of bungalow semi-seclusion, of past famous and maybe-genius boyfriends, of a skin so publicly thin that her every onstage hand-flutter looks like an act of courage. On her fourth album, Apple dug deep into her own braaa-ee-aa-ih!-aaain and found a musical vocabulary that mirrored her berserk lyrical synapse-firing. And in an extended music-business apocalypse, all three albums came out on major labels and sold in the six figures in their first weeks. High fives for everything.
Looking deeper at our picks for the year’s best albums, we see no grand narrative, just fascinating strands splayed out in different directions. Old gods like Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Converge brought monolithic dread in wildly different ways, while younger guns like Japandroids, Cloud Nothings, the Men, Baroness, and Screaming Females showed that pummeling fuzz-pound is once again, thankfully, on the upswing in the underground. Ocean personified a gentle and genteel soul-music sophistication that also showed up in the forms of Jessie Ware, Miguel, and How To Dress Well. Intricate and sophisticated indie-pop orchestrations endure in the recent records from Chairlift, Dirty Projectors, Tame Impala, and Grizzly Bear. Rap got a series of shots in the arm from outsize characters like resurgent El-P, tracksuit firebrand, Killer Mike, sad-robot fantasist Future, kid out of time Joey Bada$$, snarling head-tripper ScHoolboy Q, and comic-book food-fetishist Action Bronson.
And then there’s a ton of stuff that’s just on here because it’s great. The Walkmen and Chromatics and Taylor Swift and Nude Beach only have one thing in common: They all made great records this year. Check out Stereogum’s editorial staff’s list of 2012′s 50 best albums below…
STEREOGUM’S TOP 50 ALBUMS OF 2012
50 Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes (Warp)
49 Parquet Courts – Light Up Gold (Dull Tools)
48 The Shins – Port Of Morrow (Columbia/Aural Apothecary)
47 Rick Ross – Rich Forever (Maybach Music)
46 Matthew E. White – Big Inner (Spacebomb/Hometapes)
45 The Evens – The Odds (Dischord)
44 Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man (Capitol)
43 Action Bronson & Party Supplies – Blue Chips (self-released)
42 Sharon Van Etten – Tramp (Jagjaguwar)
41 Sun Kil Moon – Among The Leaves (Caldo Verde)
40 Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph)
39 Jessica Pratt – Jessica Pratt (Birth Records)
38 Mount Eerie – Ocean Roar (P.W. Elverum And Sun)
37 Joey Bada$$ – 1999 (self-released)
36 Chris Cohen – Overgrown Path (Captured Tracks)
35 Swearin’ – Swearin’ (Salinas)
34 Future – Pluto (Epic/A1/Free Bandz)
33 How To Dress Well – Total Loss (Acéphale)
32 Ty Segall – Twins (Drag City)
31 ScHoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions (Top Dawg Entertainment)
30 Torche – Harmonicraft (Volcom)
29 Purity Ring – Shrines (4AD/Last Gang)
28 Cat Power – Sun (Matador)
27 Beach House – Bloom (Sub Pop)
26 Grimes – Visions (4AD/Arbutus)
25 Nude Beach – II (Other Music Recording Company)
24 Sleigh Bells – Reign Of Terror (Mom + Pop)
23 Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music (Williams Street)
22 DIIV – Oshin (Captured Tracks)
21 Screaming Females – Ugly (Don Giovanni)
20 Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light (Fat Possum)
19 Taylor Swift – Red (Big Machine)
18 Baroness – Yellow & Green (Relapse)
17 The Men – Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones)
16 Grizzly Bear – Shields (Warp)
15 El-P – Cancer For Cure (Fat Possum)
14 Chromatics – Kill For Love (Italians Do It Better)
13 Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation)
12 Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream (RCA)
11 Tame Impala – Lonerism (Modular)
10 Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan (Domino)
09 Chairlift – Something (Columbia)
08 The Walkmen – Heaven (Fat Possum)
07 Japandroids – Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl)
06 Cloud Nothings – Attack On Memory (Carpark)
05 Jessie Ware – Devotion (PMR)
04 Swans – The Seer (Young God)
03 Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d. City (TDE/Interscope)
02 Frank Ocean – Channel Orange (Def Jam)
01 Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel… (Epic)
//
Coming up with the Stereogum list meant leaving out some personal favorites of our staff members:
HONORABLE MENTIONS
SCOTT
01 Wymond Miles – Under The Pale Moon
02 James Blackshaw – Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death
03 Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet On Sky
04 Ice Choir – Afar
05 Lotus Plaza – Spooky Action At A Distance
AMRIT
01 PO PO – Dope Boy Magick
02 Vijay Iyer – Accelerando
03 Yeasayer – Fragrant World
04 Santigold – Master Of My Own Make-Believe
05 Delicate Steve – Positive Force
TOM
01 Roc Marciano – Reloaded
02 Tragedy – Darker Days Ahead
03 Cult Of Youth – Love Will Prevail
04 Jack White – Blunderbuss
05 Ceremony – Zoo
MICHAEL
01 METZ – METZ
02 Liars – WIXIW
03 …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Lost Songs
04 Bob Mould – Silver Age
05 Scott Walker – Bish Bosch
CORBAN
01 Chief Keef – Back From The Dead
02 Justin Bieber – Believe
03 Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
04 Jeremih – Late Nights With Jeremih
05 2 Chainz – Based On A T.R.U. Story
//
And our favorite EPs…
STEREOGUM’S TOP 5 EPS OF 2012
01 Solange – True
02 TNGHT – TNGHT
03 Dum Dum Girls – End Of Daze
04 AlunaGeorge – You Know You Like It
05 Sky Ferreira – Ghost
//
Let us know what you think in the comments (as if we have to ask). Check out last year’s list here.
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Fucking. Yes.
Been listening to Solange True non-stop lately glad that was number one on the ep list but did no one listen to the new The Darkness album? It’s awesome rock and roll and out of the twenty lists ive seen so far it has not been mentioned once. What the hell people!?
Nice list. The two that jump out as missing are the new Solange and Cody ChesnuTT albums. Been loving both since I took the recommendation of this article, that does a good job of comparing the two. http://ahorizontalmyth.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/divergent-souls-solange-cody-chesnutt/
Where the fuck is Dr. Dee?
50 Great Albums from 2012 http://open.spotify.com/user/122616544/playlist/23myko9zVsxaHOYngpSF36
why has there been no love for lotus plaza? spooky action at a distance is a really fantastic album. anyone else think it’s being totally panned in these year end lists?
agreed. super solid album…it deserves better.
I loved the new Lotus Plaza record. Check out the top 20 albums of 2012 at On Record Music and read my synopsis. http://www.onrecordmusic.com/on-record-top-20-albums-of-2012/
Interesting that some of the awesome “Stereogum Premiers” this year weren’t mentioned. I think my favorite record this year was Damian Jurado’s “Mariqopa” which was premiered here. Along with Putrifiers II by Thee Oh Sees, also featured.
Did anyone else listen to these albums and not just the premiered songs? Did Stereogum? Am i…. a loan?
They are both up there in my best of, listed below.
1. Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
2. Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream
3. Beach House – Bloom
4. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, mAAD city
5. Animal Collective – Centipede hZ
6. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel..
7. Grizzly Bear – Shields
8. El-P – Cancer 4 Cure
9. Cloud Nothing – Attack on Memory
10. Dead Can Dance – Anastasia
I continually feel heartbroken that Perfume Genius gets no love. That album changed my life, honestly.
Stereogum,
I guess I kind of get the Taylor Swift thing. She’s much better than the droning booze-driven dance-party music on Top 40 stations constantly in that she has actual musical abilities.
However putting her at #19 on this list is basically like giving the middle finger to your fanbase. The VAST majority of Stereogum readers read this blog because it stays away from the Biebers and the Ke$ha’s of the world.
Other thoughts on the list:
Pretty good overall, a few glaring omissions in my mind though:
Passion Pit – Gossamer
Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet On The Sky
Jack White – Blunderbuss
Nice to see The Shins on a list, and bands like Cloud Nothings getting their due.
My own top ten just because:
1. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
2. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Screw, and The Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
3. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
4. Passion Pit – Gossamer
5. Grizzly Bear – Shields
6. Tame Impala – Lonerism
7. Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet On The Sky
8. Metric – Synthetica (also absent from Gum’s list)
9. David Byrne & St. Vincent – Love This Giant (Another glaring omission)
10. Torche – Harmonicraft
I so badly wanted Best Coast to be good enough to make my list but after the first two tracks the album really lost its steam IMO.
I also loved “Serpents” by Sharon Von Etten but not necessarily the whole album… same goes for Milo Greene’s “1957″ and “Runaways” by The Killers
I’ve given up hoping to see Twin Shadow on any lists.
And while everyone’s sharing lists, here’s mine (in rough order):
1. Twin Shadow- Confess
2. iamamiwhoami- Kin
3. Suzanne Sundfor- The Silicone Veil
4. Purity Ring- Shrines
5. Grizzly Bear- Shields
6. School of Seven Bells- Ghostory
7. Yeasayer- Fragrant World
8. Bat for Lashes- The Haunted Man
9. Shearwater- Animal Joy
10. Hot Chip- In Our Heads
TELL ME ABOUT IT!!! “Confess” has some filler, not gonna lie… but 2012 didn’t get better than “Five Seconds” and “Run My Heart”.
I thought it was mostly filler free, but regardless, it should be seeing some more love on the year-end charts.
Django Django and Liars’ WIXIW were my favorite records this year. I’ve listen to at least half of Stereogum’s Top 50 and it feels weird to not have these two albums in it. Love you just the same, Stereogum.
The Django Django song in the new FIFA game is great
Rich Forever but no Nehru Jackets?
Matthew E. White but no Mountain Goats?
Frida Hyvönen’s TO THE SOUL is a mighty fine album that nobody really talked about this year, and it should be on this list.
you guys all forgot about hundred waters. not enough love for their s/t here at year’s end.
Andrew Bird, anybody? Break It Yourself is one of his best in a career full of great albums, and yet it’s gotten so little love from every publication I’ve seen so far.
I find myself agreeing with you too much, stereogum. Does that mean it’s time to find another music resource?
Well…Burial was always a bit of a “Loner”. I guess he’s looking for some Kindred spirits.
I’ll go away now.
Really happy to see Chromatic’s album finally appear on a list, and so highly on one at that. It was my favorite of the year there for a long time.
Ok guys. Let’s pause for a second here and admit that this Taylor Swift addition is just another BS ploy on part of Stereogum to piss people off and increase web-traffic. It’s so frustratingly transparent.
If we get pissed off, Stereogum says we’re taking ourselves too seriously. We’re close-minded. We’re biased. We fail to appreciate mainstream pop solely because it’s mainstream.
They respond to our outrage by writing a think-piece about the intersection of pop and indie. “How far is too far?” they’ll ask. “When will the indie-rock ‘bubble’ burst? When will we be free to appreciate art as art?” It’s a hit, a web-traffic Woodstock, and people flock from all corners of the internet to sound off (I smell ad revenue!)
They thus manufacture this faux conflict between those who appreciate Tay Swift for her “pure pop craftsmanship” and those who are “stuck in the past”, trapped by their inherent bias against Top-40 garbage and pathetically latched onto a bygone era when “Indie” didn’t include Swift’s brand of trite, sycophantic crap.
Of course, in reality, 95% of readers disagree with the inclusion of Taylor Swift on this list at all and likely don’t give a shit about her music. But whatever.
So we accuse Stereogum of doing exactly what they’re doing (that is, fishin’ for hits/manufacturing controversy).
“What?” they say. “Why would placing Taylor Swift, an artist whose target demographic is pre-teenagers and whose face appears on many a sixth graders lunch box, higher on our year-end list than Beach House, Death Grips, Ty Segall, Bat For Lashes, Flying Lotus, AnCo, Diiv, Killer Mike, Father John Misty, and many, many other talented artists beloved by our reader base piss said reader base off? Why would randomly placing such an artist onto a list that otherwise panders to our Pitchfork saturated readership make them angry?” They really want to know!
Deny it all you want, Stereogum. You guys know that this shit gets people going. The quality of Swift’s music is not even what gets ‘em though (even though her work absolutely does not demonstrate the same quality, intelligence and emotional depth the work you snubbed to place her so high on your list does), it’s that you guys are an “independent and alternative music news” site (or at least you claim to be in your “About” section) touting the same crap my 14 year old niece loves because 17 Magazine tells her she should. I’m over it.
Yes, this is a rant. But as a daily reader who really loved you guys a few years ago, I’m more sad than angry that I have to shovel through “provocative” crap just to get some news.
You’re now the indie-rock equivalent of the New York Post. Congrats.
Yes I’m sure they put Taylor Swift at #19 on this list (perhaps the most important spot on any year end list) and then cackled with laughter as they imagined the page views coming in by the hundreds of thousands.
The number at which she’s placed on the list has no bearing on what I said? Are you willing to argue that people AREN’T miffed about their decision to include her? And that controversy doesn’t attract pageviews? Your snark is admirable but I don’t see your point.
jeese, you should’ve just stopped after your first paragraph.
Hey, Where is Cruel Summer of GOOD Music?
Is it Shit??
really, really, really glad to see Miguel get some love. imo he and jeremih made the best r&b records of the year.
i would also say that Ab-Soul’s Control System was the second best TDE album of 2012…..
I think its a crime that Alex Winston’s King Con isn’t on here. That is a powerhouse of an album, and I’m kinda disappointed that it didn’t even get an honorable mention!
No Father John Misty or The Tallest Man on Earth? Those have been my jams since they came out, and I would have expected Grizzly Bear to be a lot higher.
I love you.
Thanks for playlist of the best tracks from the albums, by the way. Im glad it’s not Spotify because it’s not available in my country
Just listened to my first Taylor Swift song courtesy of Stereogum, “We Are Never Getting Back Together”.
The hook was kind of catchy, but…jesus. If you’re gonna give props to that kind of music you better be shelling it out for the droves of other artists I’ve heard that sound exactly like that too.
Oh, and wonderful interludes too. “Like…EVER”. Cringe.
Man…am I the only one not feeling the Top 10? Call me crazy, but I’d easily put Beach House, DIIV, Grizzly Bear, Tame Impala, Chromatics, and Purity Ring above the Top 10 of this list.
And Port of Morrow? Really? That album was just turdiful.
Man, I did not listen to a lot of those albums, haha. Glad to see the El-P love, half the lists seem content to put Killer Mike on and forget that Cancer for Cure existed and was awesome (I’d say slightly better than R.A.P. Music). Tame Impala should have broke the Top 10, and I still just can’t get into the new Baroness. The Spiritualized came in too, high I’d say, too. Would have also like dot see good kid, m.A.A.d city beat Channel Orange, but oh well.
Goat’s World Music should have made the list, and honestly, so should Springsteen, though there was no way it would. That’d be like expecting one of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood ones. I would have liked to see them fit Class Clown Spots a UFO towards the back end, too.
Lastly, I’m hoping that Big Boi’s new one next week will deliver the goods and prove to be the belated #1.
Control System by Ab-soul,nowhere to be found..
I’m saying though…
Huh, no love for Twin Shadow, Julia Holter, Wild Nothing, Django Django or Liars?
I’m late to this thread, but I want to give the entire section +1 for Burial’s Kindred being the most lamented omission. Also, as it’s almost a half hour long, is it really still being considered an EP?
everybody totally forgot Twin Shadows :’(
*Twin Shadow
I gotta say… I just don’t get the Taylor Swift thing this year. And no, I haven’t listened to it. Cos I don’t want to.
So, no Farrah Abraham, eh?
The top three are WAY overrated. Just because a The rest of the list is not bad at all. Good to see The Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and The Men in the top 20.
Let the persecution begin – According to my twisted ears (The F’s have it!):
Underwhelmed by Yeasayer, The xx and Mumford & Sons.
001 Father John Misty – Fear Fun
002 The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends (RSD Version)
003 Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE
004 Damien Jurado – Maraqopa
005 Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It
006 Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
007 Chromatics – Kill for Love
008 Menomena – Moms
009 Beach House – Bloom
010 Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
011 Grizzly Bear – Shields
012 Caetano Veloso and David Byrne – Live at Carnegie Hall
013 Thee Oh Sees – Putrifiers II
014 Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light
015 Django Django – Django Django
016 The Walkmen – Heaven
017 John Talabot – fIN
018 Tame Impala – Lonerism
019 Lambchop – Mr. M
020 Sweet Sweet Lies – The Hare, The Hound & The Tortoise
021 Trembling Bells & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The Marble Downs
022 Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos
023 Islands – A Sleep and A Forgetting
024 Dr. John – Locked Down
025 Fiona Apple – Idler Wheel
026 Jack White – Blunderbuss
027 Dr. Dog – Be the Void
028 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
029 Bob Dylan – Tempest
030 Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
031 Fanfarlo – Rooms Filled with Light
032 Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Here
033 Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
034 Jay Farrar, Yim Yames, Will Johnson and Anders Parker – New Multitudes
035 Tindersticks – The Something Rain
036 Giant Giant Sand – Tucson
037 Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold
038 The 2 Bears – Be Strong
039 Quantic & Alice Russell – Look Around the Corner
040 Twin Shadow – Confess
041 Tanlines – Mixed Emotions
042 David Byrne & St. Vincent – Love This Giant
043 Brendan Benson – What Kind of World
044 Dexys – One Day I’m Going to Soar
045 Wild Nothing – Nocturne
046 Monolake – Ghosts
047 Orbital – Wonky
048 Matthew Dear – Beams
049 Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy
050 The Temper Trap – The Temper Trap
051 Passion Pit – Gossamer
052 Hot Chip – In Our Heads
053 Delta Spirit – Delta Spirit
054 The Shins – Port of Morrow (Severely marked down for appalling song order)
055 VCMG – Ssss
056 Sinead O’Connor – How About I Be Me (And You Be You)
057 Animal Collective – Centipede Hz
058 Richard Hawley – Standing at the Sky’s Edge
059 Woods – Bend Beyond
060 Calexico – Algiers
061 Band of Horses – Mirage Rock
062 Scissor Sisters – Magic Hour
063 M. Ward – A Wasteland Companion
064 Madonna – MDNA
065 Lana Del Rey – Born to Die (Remember her?)
066 Miike Snow – Happy to You
067 The Presets – Pacifica
068 Cat Power – Sun
069 Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man
070 The Vaccines – The Vaccines Come of Age
071 The Dandy Warhols – This Machine
072 Simian Mobile Disco – Unpatterns
073 Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
074 The xx – Coexist
075 Yeasayer – Fragrant World
man how do you listen to that much new music all in one year??
Sweet auricle punishment
Impressive man
the part that perplexes me is how you get the chance to really know an album well enough to be able to put together a ranked list. did he listen to anything else? is this every record he heard?
Shall reply to your question here, Tim. (Reply button’s strangely missing below)
Music is pretty much nonstop for me -
2-3 albums a week (With a minimum of 5 listens each) and the numbers soon add up.
Believe me, it was perplexing putting the list together. :-)
wow, that’s awesome. i like your dedication. i wish that was my job
#1 – Traxman: Da Mind of Traxman
#2 – Jam City: Classical Curves
#3 – Deerhoof: Breakup Song
#4 – Death Grips: Money Store
#5 – Animal Collective: Centipede Hz
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
What you really meant: “I don’t know why all of this BLACK music is on here”
Yes, I must be racist because I don’t recognize rap as legitimate music/art. Every disagreement in the world is because of somebody’s skin color. Grow up.
Rap is not shit. I have heard really good rap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_last_poets). While it may not be my favourite genre, I fully recognise it as valid an artform as any and glad it’s going as strong as it is. Nothing’s sadder than witnessing genres you love dwindle & die, stagnate or being relegated to a time period like Funk, SKA…. Variety is the spice of life and itts a world spoilt full of choices.
@ Corban: If I caught myself listening to Bieber, I’d have to kick my own ass.
needs more heems
My favorites of 2012, in no particular comment-baiting order:
DIIV – Oshin
The Antlers – Undersea
Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
The Tallest Man On Earth – There’s No Leaving Now
The Walkmen – Heaven
Wild Nothing – Nocturne
Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
The Helio Sequence – Negotiations
Lotus Plaza – Spooky Action at a Distance
Air – Le Voyage dans la Lune
Royal Headache – Royal Headache
Daniel Rossen – Silent Hour/Golden Mile
Grizzly Bear – Shields
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Plastic Girl in Closet – Ekubo
Sigur Ros – Valtari
The Maccabees – Given to the Wild
Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
Sinkane – Mars
Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
that hello sequence album was a BIG surprise. i guess losing your collective band hair does wonders for your musical choices.
That list gave me an opportunity to listen to Taylor Swift. But sorry I found the song pretty bad. For good cheesy stuff I would have included Passion Pit instead.
No, it isn’t The Monitor, but doesn’t Local Business deserve a spot in at least the top 50?
Any lists that has those Japandroids poseurs on it is a groaner, and an eye roller and not to be taken seriously! I have never been more insulted by the collegiate insularity of there inane and asinine garbage! I don’t know how it got there but i found this album in my iTunes yesterday and immediately deleted it!
A) write a good song;
B) pick an original name: Japancakes anyone?;
C) learn how to play/tune your instruments;
D) learn how to drive a set beyond opening with howling feedback whilst standing upon the bass drum, it’s all downhill from there gents;
E) don’t get Mt St Helens Vietnam Band to open for you when you suck, you’re sure to be destroyed and live in infamy as the worst two-piece pseudo-band of all time!
I know this makes me sound like an angry old hipster hater sitting in small town Idaho or some such, I assure you that’s not the case, I just think that these guys are the least deserving of hype I’ve come across, save for all the other hipster crap that’s just willfully bad and poorly played as a statement of inefficient musical sacrilege!
Earl and Tyler for president!
I don’t really know what you’re talking about past the first paragraph, but some one had to say it: Japandroids suck. Cloud Nothings’ album wasn’t much better for that matter.
I have a hard time believing that Taylor Swift has made an album that is better than Sleigh Bell’s “Reign of Terror”. I’m gonna have to call shenanigans.
Also I don’t get the hype over Jessie Ware. I find her dull.
Amusing to see Stereogum drop such a mostly-awful list after spending all week trashing other magazines’ lists.
Good list, not nearly as frustrating as the ones from NME, Uncut or Rolling Stone. However, I would have really liked to see the albums from Lone, John Talabot, Django Django and Julia Holter in there. Those releases were all so good!
Probably the most original list I’ve come across to date
http://austintownhall.com/2012/12/06/top-albums-of-2012-50-1/
No idea about the site though.
too much rap… can someone explain to me why rap is so popular in the indie scene? or at all?? also, sleigh bells is not top 50, and am i the only one who finds grimes obnoxious besides the first three songs of her album? and where is perfume genius….such a sold album.
…and john talabot? such a jam
too much rap = indie white guilt
Ariel Pink and Julia Holter are two albums i was sad not to see here.. but still i’m feeling the top 10
also, LAUREL HALO ?!!? what a great mindfuck of an album
I’ve never heard any Swans record before, but everyone is telling me to check our Seer. Should I jump straight into it, or is do they have another album I should start with to get their vibe?
Jump straight in. I haven’t listened to old Swans and it didn’t stop “The Seer” from getting its point across crystal clear. The only other album I’ve heard was their album two years ago after a 15 year hiatus: “My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky”.
I’d go straight in with “The Seer” though. If you have issues digesting a two disc, two hour album, try listening to only the second disc for awhile. Give those songs a good listening before going back to disc 1 as it has the more challenging portions of the album. But gaining an appreciation for the last four songs on “The Seer” are crucial in appreciating the whole.
Unbelievable Lower Dens nowhere near being nominated even in the comment section.
umm… Wild Nothing?
agreed! i had that on repeat for weeks
There were a lot of really great, innovative, and beautifully produced electronic and electro-pop albums put out this year (John Talabot, Lone, Andy Stott, Simian Mobile Disco, Hot Chip, Four Tet, and Actress to name a few)… and all the indie blogs are fawning over Purity Rings and Grimes; sing-songy bullshit laid over cheap, thin-sounding ratatat drum machines. I really don’t get it. Those albums are terrible. At least you guys included FlyLo.
Two words: Hipster trends.
Loving the way the album that was ‘so good we can’t understand it yet’ is missing completely from the top 50
Stereogum is just as trendy as the rest of them. I’m so tired these alternative publications that are all over something one minute and over it in the next.
Also, The Crookes?
Also, I’m starting to think the new Tallest Man on Earth record was just some dream I had…
Sleigh Bells are waaaay too high…
mine list is here http://jukebox.lt/2012/12/06/top-30-jukebox-lt-metu-geriausiuju-albumu/
1. Now, Now “Threads”
2. Guided By Voices “The Bears For Lunch”
3. Cursive “I Am Gemini”
4. Fang Island “Major”
5. Deerhoof “Breakup Song”
6. Animal Collective “Centipede Hz”
7. Godspeed You! Black Emperor “Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!”
8. Pinback “Information Retrieved”
9. Grizzly Bear “Shields”
10. Motel Beds “Dumb Gold”
11. Clinic “Free Reign”
12. The Sea And Cake “Runner”
13. Imperial Teen “Feel The Sound”
14. Thee Oh Sees “Putrifier II”
15. Ty Segall “Twins”
16. Coheed And Cambria “The Afterman – Ascension”
17. Menomena “Moms”
18. Yellow Ostrich “Strange Land”
19. Robert Pollard “Jack Sells The Cow”
20. Baroness “Yellow And Green”
21. Liars “WIXIW”
22. John K. Samson “Provincial”
23. Cloud Nothings “Attack On Memory”
24. Dirty Projectors “Swing Lo Magellan”
25. Tame Impala “Lonerism”
I WANT A SLAUGHTERHOOOOOUUUUUSSSEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
The omission of Animal Collective is unforgivable.
I mean, guys, this site is a business. It’s owned and staffed by a media company. It’s a trendsetter music site which targets a specific demographic for advertising dollars. Payola on the radio clearly isn’t the way to reach new audiences. There’s been a push over the past decade, for better or worse, to reevaluate pop music as a legitimate form of expression, but that’s partially from keen PR reps with labels and advertisers who rely on those artists for sales and realize the power of taste-maker sites like Stereogum and Pitchfork. Blog hype is the brave new world of advertising, which can either build mainstream pop stars out of nothing as in Lana Del Ray or tear them down as in Lana Del Ray. These aren’t really sites that explore new music; they’re content farms collecting what’s currently hot (or what could be) while subversively slipping in artists that this audience wouldn’t normally touch, which has the effect of wearing down that audience after repeated exposure on sites such as this.
I’d like to see a valid argument for Taylor’s inclusion that didn’t leave thinking it was a cynical swipe for money because ‘gum has had a series of fairly obvious attempts at product placement in articles they’ve written over the years, for example hyping Doritos every other paragraph in one of their SXSW write-ups a year or two back. Which is fine if that’s what it is. I just don’t want to then see someone defending Taylor Swift’s craft when she’s a product that’s been market-tested to success.
And this is why I’m an anti-capitalist. Money always corrupts good intentions.
Yes. Nobody listens to Taylor Swift, so her management sat down and came to a conclusion. “Get Stereogum on the phone.”
That’s what you’re saying….
No, I’m saying they want to expand her audience in every way possible. Marketing isn’t just about putting someone famous on TV. It’s about finding ways to convince as many people as possible to buy things they don’t need, even if they don’t like the thing being sold to begin with. Repeated exposure to something negative has an effect on many people where over time they’ll start to accept it. Indie music has been co-opted over the past decade by marketing to accept artists like Taylor Swift or Carly Rae Jepsen because “they’re fun.” More than many groups, indie fans have an attraction to a hivemind mentality which allows sites like Stereogum or Pitchfork to disseminate trends, real or created (hey, chillwave!), to their audiences.
I certainly believe a lot of people listen to Taylor Swift. I just don’t think her audience would be Stereogum’s without the little nod being given by the writers of this site. I also don’t think she’d place on a list like this under normal circumstances. How many of her previous albums placed on Stereogum lists?
Made a Spotify list in case anyone is interested
http://open.spotify.com/user/greenplasticron/playlist/4CQPJVk5vz780xKTeSn8FR
Kinda feel like the Mountain Goats are getting whored, TY was one of my favorites of the year.
THIS LIST IS A JOKE. I’ve seen record store lists going around that are 5000 times better than this.
That damn solange ep is pretty catchy.
also, Melody’s Echo Chamber – how did that one go unnoticed? it’s gorgeous
Fiona Apple deserves to be #1. But I wish that Perfume Genius was on the list and that Iamamiwhoami would get media attention from the States.
Taylor Swift is in the top 20s, while Jack White isn’t on it at all. Hmmm.
I’m really surprised John Talabot’s “Fin” didn’t make the cut. Did it just come out so early in the year that everyone forgot about it? It’s definitely one of the best electronic albums to come out in the last few years.
Perfume Genius.
That’s the one you forgot. Shame.
I thought the Alabama Shakes album was stellar and it is hardly getting any love on any year-end list.
i dont see the big deal about wild nothings. sounds kinda vanilla to me. anyone have a particularly good song i should check out?
No Love This Giant?
Yes, Fiona is number 1!!!
Albums :
Grimes – Visions
Lucas Santtana – O Deus que devasta mas também cura
Django Django – Django Django
Bill Fay – Life Is People
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill
Alt-J – An awesone wave
Dominique A – Vers les lueurs
The Bad Plus – Made possible
Mac DeMarco – Mac DeMarco 2
Lee Fields – Faithfull man
Motorama – Calendar
The Evens – the odds
Meridian brothers – Desesperanza
Baden Baden – Coline
Morceaux :
Spiral – Wye oak
Beach House – Myth
Chairlift – Met before
Alabama Shakes – Hold on
Prince Rama – So destroyed
TV Girl – I Wonder Who She’s Kissing Now
Other Lives – Take us alive
Eternal Summers – Millions
Io Echo – When the Lillies die
Cotton Jones – That wheel
Opossum – Blue meanies
Petite noir – Disappear
The Walkmen – Heaven
Dive – How long have you known
Bahamas – Caught me thinking
Matthew E. White – One of these days
Melody’s Echo Chamber -Some time alone alone
Frankie Rose – Night swim
Jessie Ware – Sweet talk
O Children – Holly wood
Tennis – Origin
Triptides – Going under
Pegase- Without reasons
Manceau – Full time job
Sister Crayon – Arcane
Compilations et rééditions :
The Wake – Here come everybody box set (82-87)
My Bloody Valentine – rééditions
The Palace Brothers – rééditions
Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years – Singles, Nudes & Backsides (1968-71)
Donnie and Joe Emerson – Dreamin’wild
Rodriguez – Searching for Sugarman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Eccentric Soul: A RBG Production
Sound Bites Spring Fever 2012
WOL XIII – Music selection
Various Artists – BIRP! July 2012
Death Grips made two albums this year that could both have made it on here. Little strange that you don’t even give em one….
You probably don’t care, and you probably don’t like that I would do this. But if for some reason you are interested, I have an opinion too and I made a list that shares it here: http://discoverythroughdisconnect.tumblr.com/post/37661209775/favorite-music-releases-of-2012?og=1&fb_action_ids=4164819122202&fb_action_types=tumblr-feed%3Apost&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%224164819122202%22%3A498257003529999%7D&action_type_map=%7B%224164819122202%22%3A%22tumblr-feed%3Apost%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
I’m about to post a comment and here it is (that’s my nod to Perd Hapley):
I think the Grizzly Bear album came out too early in the year and, as a result, it doesn’t get the credit it deserves. If it came out in November, I think it would be in everyone’s top 10.
Honestly it seems the only agreeable effort across the board is the Jessie Ware, Kendrick Lamar, and Frank Ocean present in the top 5 albums.
Great looking list Stereogum! Here’s how mine turned out:
http://feerocksworld.blogspot.com/2012/12/best-albums-of-2012_13.html
what about Alabama Shakes? nobody liked their album? man…
Taylor Swift? COL. Crying Out Loud.
Nice list. My (humble) best of 2012 music list:
http://ludditestereo.net/2012/12/23/best-music-of-2012-20-16/
I like seeing Fiona at #1. http://ow.ly/gspwa