Yet another year in music

31st December 2012

I considered 2012 to be an epic year for music, and I absorbed so much over the last twelve months due in part to Rdio finally launching in the UK, and our new project Rushmore. So, having set my stall out with my 2010 and 2011 roundups, I felt compelled to trawl the year and document the orchestrated noises I couldn’t leave alone in 2012.

Top Albums

So many good albums in 2012. When I first heard Grimes I lost it, so good and unexpected was that album and her talent. I’d loved Sharon Van Etten’s earlier EP, so the new album got right under my skin. Patrick Watson was an unexpected discovery that I’ll treasure. Ultimately, I thought Grizzly Bear’s album was incredibly ambitious without ever feeling pretentious, and spending time with it gradually revealed more and more wonderful, magical bits and pieces.

1. Grizzly Bear: Shields
2. Sharon Van Etten: Tramp
3. Grimes: Visions
4. Patrick Watson: Adventures in Your Own Backyard
5. The Walkmen: Heaven
6. Wild Nothing: Nocturne
7. Twin Shadow: Confess
8. The Tallest Man on Earth: There’s No Leaving Now
9. Jason Lytle: Dept. Of Disappearance
10. Exitmusic: Passage

Albums: Honourable mentions

Summer Heart: About a Feeling, Title Fight: Floral Green, Cat Power: Sun, Paul Banks: Banks, Tennis: Young and Old, Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE, The Maccabees: Given To The Wild, Sigur Rós: Valtari, Metric: Synthetica, Hospitality: Hospitality, Sea of Bees: Orangefarben, DJ Shadow: Total Breakdown: Hidden Transmissions From The MPC Era, 1992-1996.

Top tracks

Grizzly Bear’s Half Gate and Sun In Your Eyes pairing was my fave album closer of the year, but nothing topped the sheer beauty of Beach House track Myth. I played Simple Song to death for three months, the only real highlight of The Shins comeback. Gentle beauty from Patrick Watson and The Tallest Man on Earth are well worth their place too.

1. Beach House: Myth
2. Grimes: Genesis
3. Grizzly Bear: Half Gate
4. Wild Nothing: Nocturne
5. The Shins: Simple Song
6. Patrick Watson: Adventures in Your Own Backyard
7. Of Monsters and Men: Dirty Paws
8. The Tallest Man on Earth: To Just Grow Away
9. Metric: Youth Without Youth
10. Tennis: It All Feels The Same
11. Sharon Van Etten: Serpents

Tracks: Honourable mentions

Santigold: Disparate Youth, Hospitality: Friends of Friends, Dog Is Dead: Get Low, Cat Power: Cherokee and Ruin, Frank Ocean: Pyramids, The Maccabees: Pelican, Wild Nothing: Nowhere, Paul Banks: Young Again.

Best EPs

Not much really, but new EPs from two of my favourite artists are worth a wee note. Dum Dum Girls kill it with EPs, less so with albums.

• The Antlers: Undersea
• Dum Dum Girls: End of Daze

Best cover

• Anthony: Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)

Best gig

• The Stone Roses, Heaton Park, Manchester 30th June (report)

Rdio playlist, you ask?

Why, yes. If you want to listen to the year through my brain then activate this lengthy Rdio playlist of my 2012 Faves. Happy ears.