Best 13 Albums of 2012
It sure felt like it was an awful good year in music this year. It's been interesting compiling this list after paying so much closer attention to new releases on a week to week basis: some of the albums released in the first quarter of the year feel like they came out a decade ago. Still, these selections have managed to stay at the forefront of my mind, and I fully expect to be reaching for these albums often in the years to come. 13) Tribes - Baby
I listened the hell out of this album at the beginning of the year. Old-school 90's Britpop with plenty of singalong choruses.
We Were Children
In honor of the veritable orgy of aural delights that was released yesterday, I'm not wearing any pants as I write this post.
alt-J - An Awesome Wave
I may be out on an island on this, but I absolutely love this arty, schizophrenic, occasionally just plain weird debut album from the British band alt-J. It's difficult for me to describe their sound, and that's part of the appeal: though you hear traces of other indie or folk acts in different parts of their songs, alt-J has more or less managed to create a sound of their own, which is one of the highest compliments I can give a debut album. This band manages to accompany folky guitars and vocal harmonies with off-kilter polyrhythmic beats that sparkle at times, bounce at times, and rock at times. Over all this the lead singer Joe Newman gives what I will call a quirkily affected vocal performance, singing out of the back of his throat in a way that reminded me several times of the lead singer of System of a Down. People's mileage may vary on the guy's voice, but unlike some other bad indie singers - the guy from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah comes to mind - it seems to be an intentional effort on the Newman's part: on a couple of the more straightforward songs, he sounds perfectly normal.
Anyway, this is my favorite album of a week filled with some great music. I will most definitely be tracking this band's career:
Today was a good day, and I haven't even seen the lights of the Goodyear Blimp reminding me Ice Cube's a pimp (yet). Usually I have a clear cut favorite album of the week, and this week any of three could lay claim to it. On second thought, maybe there is a clear winner:
Kelly Hogan - I Like to Keep Myself in Pain
Thank God for Metacritic; I might have missed this release otherwise. And holy shit is this a good album. Kelly Hogan has made a living primarily singing backup for a number of bigger acts: she's probably most famous as Neko Case's second-in-command on her solo efforts, and Hogan gets a lot of big names to help her on this album: M. Ward, Vic Chestnutt, Robyn Hitchcock, and Stephen Merritt wrote songs for the album, and somehow she got Booker T Jones to play keyboard and James Gadson to play drums for her. Hogan possesses an incredibly strong, slightly country twang-y voice, and on this album she shows she knows how to control it. Musically, the album plays like a cross between country and soul. I have to admit I was somewhat skeptical after listening to the pretty country-heavy opener, but once the Edie Brickell-ish second track "We Can't Have Nice Things" came on, I was sold and remained enthralled until the end. I strongly recommend this album.
