I planned on taking a stab at writing an erudite and compelling take on 2012’s
music by exploring the notions of derivation and decentralization in the modern music scene. Unfortunately, dear reader, I can’t find the
time to deliver the goods. Fortunately
for you, however, you can read a post on this very subject on my friend's Best of 2012 list over at joys of speed. It probably would just make sense for you to
read his music blog on a regular basis, period.
Let’s just suffice it to say that many (but not all!) of the albums on my list are either clearly inspired by bands I have already listened to on a regular basis from yesteryear, or are artists that I have been following for 5, 10, or 20+ years.
Besides, we spend the clear majority of our home music time spinning country/western records from the 1950s to the 1970s and also archival Latin American and African music from the 60s and 70s on the turntable. I can tell you a lot more about what was going on in Nashville, Cartagena, Austin, or Lagos in 1972 than I could tell you about popular music in the U.S. in 2012.
Let’s just suffice it to say that many (but not all!) of the albums on my list are either clearly inspired by bands I have already listened to on a regular basis from yesteryear, or are artists that I have been following for 5, 10, or 20+ years.
Besides, we spend the clear majority of our home music time spinning country/western records from the 1950s to the 1970s and also archival Latin American and African music from the 60s and 70s on the turntable. I can tell you a lot more about what was going on in Nashville, Cartagena, Austin, or Lagos in 1972 than I could tell you about popular music in the U.S. in 2012.
1.
Olds Sleeper – Head
First and New Year’s Poem
*Olds Sleeper is a medium-fi home recorder from rural, southern
Pennsylvania. For efficiencies sake, I'd describe him as sort of a cross between Bukka White, Townes Van Zandt, J.J. Cale, and Tom
Waits. I know that sounds like crazy
talk, but I swear on my copy of TVZ’s “Live at the Old Quarter” it is true. Olds
put out two albums in 2012 and I included both of them. [Cheating, I know. You better get used to it as it happens a few
more times.] He also records albums as Jellyspine Jenkins. All of his albums can be streamed for free (and
downloads purchased) at his Bandcamp site:
http://oldssleeper.bandcamp.com
2.
Goat – World
Music
*Voodoo fusion from northern Sweden.
They never appear in public without wearing goat masks. Can meets Fela meets Sabbath meets…and so
forth. Take a listen to the album on Youtube and then
buy their album on lovely purple vinyl.
3.
Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse, Hair [with
White Fence], and Twins
*A tremendous trio of albums by this fine San Francisco-based psych-freak-garage rocker. He is prolific and has
the creative stamina to match the productivity.
He has had an album on my year-end favorites list for 3 years running. I finally caught him in concert with his band (and White Fence) in May ’12 at the High Noon Saloon
in Madison, WI. They rawked. Take a listen to Twins on Youtube.
4.
Bob Dylan – Tempest
*Yet another obscure medium-fi home recorder—this time from the Midwest. Wow, some dude from the Iron Range in
northern MN releases his first album after a lifetime of working at a grocery
store in Hibbing. What a late bloomer! I wonder which customer inspired the song “Pay
in Blood” on the album?
5.
Patterson Hood –
Heat Lightening Rumbles in the
Distance
*I had been a bit underwhelmed by the last two or three Drive-By Truckers (one
of my very favorite bands of the last decade) releases, but Hood’s second solo
album is a dandy. This is a restrained
album (don’t expect DBT 3-guitar wailing) with great instrumentation to
go with his descriptions of life, violence, love, sorrow, and the 'southern thang.'
6.
Lambchop – Mr.
M
*Another
mellow, haunting, quirky, and wonderful masterpiece by this orchestral, countrypolitan Nashville
institution. I’ve been buying and
digging their albums since 1996.
7.
Guided by Voices – Let’s Go Eat the Factory, Class Clown Spots a UFO, and The Bears for Lunch
*I was at the “final” Guided by Voices shows on Dec. 30th and
31st, 2004 at the Metro in Chicago.
If you would have told me after that farewell 3-hour concert that the
“original” mid-1990s GbV lineup would be releasing three great new albums in 2012, I
probably wouldn’t have remembered as I was exhausted from the 100+ songs played
over the course of the two nights. Though maybe I should have seen the signs of reunification through the foggy haze of those last two shows--Mitch Mitchell and Tobin Sprout played with Pollard those nights for the first time in some years and everyone seemed to be having a grand time.
8.
Japandroids – Celebration Rock
*To be honest, I thought they would have a sophomore slump after a great
debut with Post-Nothing in 2009. I was wrong.
This was a cornerstone of my early summer soundtrack.
9.
Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
*Third
album by Ms. Van Etten. Produced by that
dude from The National. Striking lyrics
and that voice. That voice!
10.
Alt-J – An
Awesome Wave
*I don’t use a Mac but this album still rang the bell for me. Plus, triangles are my favorite shapes too!
11.
Bomba Estereo -- Elegancia Tropical
*The sophomore album by a Colombian band that I started digging after a
trip to the country in 2010.
Electro-rock that pulls from all sorts of traditional Colombian musical
traditions.
12.
Iris DeMent – Sing the Delta
*Her first album in forever.
Nearly 15 years? I am still
kicking myself for missing the local Prine/DeMent show in the spring.
13.
King Tuff – King
Tuff
*You may know him as the singer in J. Mascis’ doom metal band Witch, but
this is his garage band project. There is a bit
more polish this go around as compared to the King Tuff debut release a few years back. Hooks and drooling guitars abound.
14.
Bob Mould – Silver
Age
*”Return to form.” “Best release
since Copper Blue.” “Helps the listener
make sense of his authored plots for his WCW pro wrestling gig.” "Mould seems to be enjoying rocking again." Believe the hype.
15.
Tame Impala – Lonerism
*A top-notch retro (with modern flourishes), atmospheric, psych voyage from
Oz. I was underwhelmed by 2010's Innerspeaker but really dig this one.
16.
Thee Oh Sees – Putrifiers II
*The
1,447th album release since 2007 by these San Fran garage rockers. This one has fewer rough edges—not
necessarily a good thing but a nice change of pace.
17.
Jack White – Blunderbuss
*As JW’s appearance slowly morphs into Michael Jackson’s:
who will be his Elizabeth Taylor?
18.
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
*She may very well need a chaperone.
19.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill
*Embrace
the squall. Could any other artist sing
lines like “Gonna get a hip hop haircut“ and “I used to dig Picasso“ to such
great effect?
20.
Dr. John -- Locked
Down
*The
Doctor goes deep swamp on this fine rockin’ album. While I’m not a big fan of The Black Keys,
Dan A. does a great job with the production on this one.
21.
Ray Wylie Hubbard -- The Grifter's Hymnal
*Seriously. Get up against the
wall, red neck mothers. Stop your sons
from kicking hippies’ asses and raising hell.
22.
The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth
*My
favorite Darnielle release in some years.
23.
Shintaro Sakamoto -- How to Live with a Phantom
*By far and away my favorite Japanese sunshine pop-rock album of the
year.
24.
METZ – METZ
*A booted kick in the head from this Canadian power trio. My favorite “rock” album of the year.
25.
Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
*Really
like this and it probably should be higher up the list. My favorite since The Future.
