As a music lover, I’ve got 3 favorite times of the year: Early spring when the weather warms up and bands start touring, summertime for music festivals and right about now: mid-December when the music critics and magazines start releasing their “Best Of” lists of the year.
With hundreds of new releases every Tuesday of the year, I can only listen to so many albums and every year there will inevitably be an album or two that I get totally and utterly engrossed in for weeks at a time (in 2010, it was Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs and the Black Keys’ Brothers, last year was Bon Iver and Lykke Li’s Wounded Rhymes). The release of the “Best Of” lists is exciting because I get to comb through and read about all of the albums that have received hype and accolades that have totally slipped under my radar. I tend to look to SPIN, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, and gorilla vs. bear.
Some recurring albums I’m seeing on a bunch of lists this year so far that I need to get my hands on include Death Grips, Poliça, Baroness, Cloud Nothings and Bat for Lashes.
Forget the music I missed, I want to share with you my favorite albums of 2012; music that inspired, entranced and consumed me. In no particular order (because that would an insanely overwhelming task to undertake!):
- Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
- Grimes – Visions
- Japandroids – Celebration Rock
- Tame Impala – Lonerism
- Ellie Goulding – Halcyon
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist
- The 2 Bears – Be Strong
- Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
- Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
- Of Monsters and Men – My Head is an Animal
Filed under: Miscellaneous Awesomeness, Music & Film Tagged: 2012, Alabama Shakes, Ariel Pink, best music, Ellie Goulding, favorite albums, Frank Ocean, Grimes, Japandroids, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, music, Of Monster and Men, Tame Impala, The 2 Bears, Top 10, Top 10 albums of 2012
