Greetings friends.
I’ll preface this post with a quick note, it has nothing to do with football. If that bothers you, I understand, just click away. If it doesn’t, allow me to endulge myself a moment by offering up my favorite albums of 2012.
Why am I doing this? I like music and I have a blog, so I might as well use it to talk about music from time to time. I think this is reasonable.
Anyways, here goes…my favorite albums of 2012 (in no particular order):
Divine Fits – “This Thing Called Divine Fits”
It’s like Spoon and Wolf Parade procreated and birthed 11 bad ass songs. Which is technically true as Spoon’s Britt Daniel and WP’s Dan Boeckner are two of the driving forces behind this “super group”. The best part though is Sam Brown’s drumming…which really kicks ass.
Grizzly Bear – “Shields”
Look the previous albums that Grizzly Bear have put out are good but they’ve been pretty damn tough to get in to at times. “Shields” manages to make their music a little more accessible without taking anything away from the work. I’m sure this infuriates hipsters but they’ll just have to get over it. It’s a really beautiful album and might be the best of the year. The Grammy’s ignored this album completely but as that stupid fucking show is nearly as irrelevant as Rolling Stone, that doesn’t really matter.
Fiona Apple - “The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do”
Fiona Apple likely isn’t everyone’s cup o’ tea and I get that. For me though, she’s fantastic, absolutely brilliant really. It’s just as creative as her previous works but it lacks the shine and polish of “Extraordinary Machine”…which isn’t a bad thing. As per usual, her lyrics are downright haunting heartbreaking and a whole plethora of other adjectives.
fun. – “Some Nights”
Look, this album is just plain fun. I’m not trying to witty considering the band’s name, that’s just the truth. Admittedly the most well known track might have been worn down for you as it showed up in commercials a lot but there’s much more to this album than what you probably heard on the radio or TV. It’s frolicking pop music and that’s fun damn you!
Of Monsters and Men – “My Mind is an Animal”
This is easily the best Icelandic folk-pop you’ll ever hear and there’s a good chance you’ll like this album even you don’t like folk-pop. My Dad likes this album and while he’s far more hip musically that I ever realized, that’s still an impressive feat.
Alabama Shakes – “Boys and Girls”
Dirty, gritty Southern blues rock combined with one of the best new rock/soul voices to hit the mainstream? Yes please! Just in case you’ve forgotten what rock n’ roll sounds like, the Alabama Shakes will be glad to remind you.
Honorable Mentions
Jack White – “Blunderbuss”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Oceania”
Neil Young – “Psychedelic Pill”
The Tool™ got it right.
You mentioned it on the audio key party podcast, my favorite was The Avett Brothers new album…