1. We’ve been here before, Frank Ocean and I. It wasn’t the top of this list—last year’s ranking placed his celebrated Nostalgia, Ultra tape at No. 7 —but the placement came with the qualification, more of a warning, that it was “just the introduction to music according to Frank Ocean.”
I mislead you, Reader. I should have warned you instead about life according to Frank Ocean’s music.
I should have warned, when reviewing Channel Orange in July, against taking Ocean’s coming out too seriously. Five months later, it’s a footnote (like his executive producing credit to his dog on the album’s liner notes), the ambiguity of pronoun usage on “Bad Religion” immaterial. Embrace it, then, on “Forest Gump,” when he proclaims, “you run my mind, boy,” and forget yourself in the summer haze of the beat, and the arms of your girlfriend (or boyfriend) when you listen. Especially if you’re lucky enough to hear it live.
Channel Orange is equally exceptional to the live show, if not more so, because you can revisit it over and over again. In July, my favorite song was the jazzy “Lost.” Now, it’s the cavernous “Pink Matter;” next week, who knows?
One year later, Frank Ocean is unequivocally on top, and, with a last apology to the other artists nominated for the Album of the Year at the upcoming Grammys, it doesn’t look like he’s finished yet. —Ben Siegel
2. Listeners will not find another song quite as undeniably infectious as “Two Weeks” on Grizzly Bear’s fourth album, Shields, but for those mesmerized by their harmonious vocals and tangy guitars, the album serves as a momentous continuation of their atmospheric sound that begs to be unraveled.
The band began recording Shields after a six-month hiatus following the release of their third album, Veckatimest. They rented a house in Texas in June of 2011 and recorded what they thought was going to be their next album. Instead, they ended up discarding most of the tracks, leaving only “Yet Again” and “Sleeping Ute,” the album’s two leading singles.
What resulted from their second round of recordings can only be described as awakening, as the band creates a sound that unceasingly shifts from airy to potent. This is especially evident on “A Simple Answer,” which is a build-up of vocals and instrumentation with every verse, culminating in vocalists Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen fiercely proclaiming, “No wrong or right/Just do whatever you like,” over a buzzing guitar.
Other notable tracks on the album include “gun-shy,” “Speak in Rounds” and “Sleeping Ute,” which continue to crash and clang, or hum, depending on the listener’s style of perception.
—Mara Jezior
3. Kendrick Lamar reintroduces himself in his latest release, good kid, m.A.A.d city, and demonstrates why he is currently one of hip-hop’s finest. Throughout the course of the album, we hear a story-telling Lamar rhyming in smooth tracks such as “The Art of Peer Pressure” and “Poetic Justice,”which features Drake. Yet with a mix of heavy bangers thrown in the collection—such as “Backseat Freestyle”—we also witness a grittier side of the lyricist. This is most evident in how the tracks can turn into solidly kick-ass contributions to party playlists and can easily be made into solid drinking games (think“Swimming Pools”). Kendrick’s flow is also a definite break from what the rest of the hip-hop scene is delivering and matches his creative personality in tracks such as “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.” By perfectly crafting and weaving his lyrics around his flow in this album, it’s not hard to see why this album makes our top-ten list. With this, it’s clear Kendrick has ushered in a game changer.
The album is artistically in-your-face in that it is as melodic as a harp, yet razor sharp like an electric guitar.
-Jorge Estrada
4. Though Love This Giant was recorded by two already established musical geniuses, David Byrne and St. Vincent’s first album together manages to sound like nothing that either of them, or anyone else, has done before.
Byrne and Annie Clarke (also known as St. Vincent) alternately take the lead throughout the album, as Clarke’s sultry, smooth and utterly arresting vocals contrast with Byrne’s iconic, powerfully off-beat manner of delivery. However, the true brilliance of Love This Giant becomes evident when the pair weaves their gorgeous, unorthodox harmonies over a blaringly soulful horn section, jangling acoustic guitars and a throbbing rhythm section.
From the bizarre, bouncing grooves of “Who” and “Lazarus,” to the meshing of the synthetic and natural feels on “The Forest Awakes,” the album refuses to even let the listener consider being bored. David Byrne somehow managed to become even more innovative than he was with Talking Heads without losing an ounce of feeling, proving that he remains one of the greatest minds in music, and you can almost hear Annie Clarke’s smile as she sings “the bombs burst in air/but my hair is alright,” radiating the same strange sense of soul, confidence and creativity that permeates all of Love This Giant, making it by far one of the most interesting albums of 2012.
–Austin Wellens
5. In Tame Impala’s sophomore effort, Lonerism, psychedelic rock soundscapes are painted across a lush palate of keyboard washes and strong bass lines. This five-piece band from Australia, led by Kevin Parker, sounds like a throwback to an era where FM radios across the country would be blasting bands homogenous to Tame Impala regularly. That is not to say that Tame Impala is stuck in the past; despite their late-’60s sound, Parker and the rest of the band push forward the sonic boundaries, incorporating a full range of electronics while keeping their roots firm in classic rock. The album picks up considerable steam with “Music to Walk Home By” and by the time the album gets to “Elephant,” the listener has gone on enough twists and turns that they are fully sucked into the band’s world.
“Sun’s Coming Up” is a fitting closer to the album, as out of context, one might ask if they were listening to The Beatles. Parker, without imitating, sounds like John Lennon. The first half of the song is just a voice and a piano before the final moments of the album, a wash of instrumentals make the listener feel as if they are coming out of a 50-minute dream after it is over. Listen with headphones for the full aural experience, as this is a complete album that necessitates listening from cover to cover.
—Brian Weidy
6. How many of you forgot this Cloud Nothings album came out in 2012? Call this blurb an assault on your recollections then. Because, man oh man, how could you forget Attack on Memory?
Art thou jaundiced? More young’uns with guitars, yeah yeah. Angry vocalist, hoo-rah. What’s that, they got Steve “Bad Penny” Albini to engineer it? Why bother?
Well for one, it rocks. It’s visceral and punkish and pissed. And it’s all delightfully razor thin. Those guitars are stretched tungsten filaments and baby, somebody flipped the switch. And Dylan Baldi? He’s an aural linchpin.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a glass fusillade, acerbic discharge in 33 high-strung minutes.
Sure, look closely and you’ll see some febrile angst when the existential rigor wanes a bit. “Cut You?” Yeah, a bit cringe-worthy, and not in a mature, seasoned, artistic way. The writing’s on the wall—some shortcomings are apparent.
But how can you trump “Wasted Days’” rallying cry and its final harangue—a statement callow and prescient, relevant to disgruntled youth and elder alike, birth and death, a Janus-like cry which reverberates through past, present, and future: “I thought!/I would!/Be more!/Than this!”
—Sean Reichard
7. alt-J’s debut album, An Awesome Wave, is a sexy, muddled take on rock in a time when true originality seems more elusive by the day. Their raunchy, barely discernable lyrics leave listeners’ ears straining for more even after 51 minutes of artsy, British resonance.
First off, their harmonies are as smooth as going down a waterslide, replete with the familiar, pleasant flip of anticipation in your stomach when it drops. alt-J masterfully build up each of their tracks, making use of silence and near a cappella moments to jar listeners back into reality at the entrance of snare, synth and various other percussive elements. At times their haunting tracks make it sound like someone playing a keyboard alone in an empty, echoing tunnel.
“Fitzpleasure” is easily the standout track of the album. The song invokes images of a hazy horizon and Navajo patterns as twangy, Southwestern guitars pound out a melody. Pair this with the sounds of grinding bass and the intense, clear vocals of singer/guitarist Joe Newman and you’ve got a vintage Clint Eastwood film on acid—and in song format.
An Awesome Wave sounds like a playlist you would take on a road trip or adventure where you hope to discover something new about yourself. Immerse yourself in An Awesome Wave and you’ll emerge from the experience a little unsettled, and ready to hit “repeat.”
—Jaime Brackeen
8. The album cover displays a stark black-and-white line drawing of a veiled masochist with “Death Grips” incised into her chest while a sadist wields a leash tied around her neck. Surprisingly, this isn’t the most shocking aspect of Death Grips’ first major label LP, The Money Store. It contains over 40 minutes of drummer Zach Hill’s heart-thumping, eardrum-shattering beats layered under lead vocalist MC Ride shrieking out themes, portraying a character prone to horrific displays of violence, incurable paranoia and excessive drug use.
The lyrics, such as “ankles tied to cinder blocks,” “Burmese babies under each arm,” “teachin’ bitches how to swim” and “bloodstained knuckle brass,” create Death Grips’ gruesome and gang-infused nightmare of a world.
It beats you across the face and drags you through the dirt, but you come back for more. Amidst harsh drones and eerie vocal samples lays one of 2012’s most influential records. Combining industrial drum patterns and expertly produced electronics and rap elements, The Money Store isn’t just another album produced for shock value. Instead, it’s a forward-thinking experimental piece of music accomplishing all of its intentions. If you can’t recognize this record’s brilliance, well, in the words of MC Ride, “you must be smokin’ rock.”
—Mike Schuerman
9. If you’re unfamiliar with Philadelphia-based trio Hop Along, you no longer have an excuse. Lead singer and guitarist Frances Quinlan recorded her first album Freshman Year at the ripe age of 19 and 2012 release Get Disowned takes the creative ideas she laid down in 2005 to a whole new level.
The album has a distinct sense of emotional sincerity and angst riveling that of The Antlers’ 2009 masterpiece Hospice. But even the incredibly talented Peter Silberman can’t unload lyrics quite like Quinlan. Her songwriting is not only poetic, it’s chillingly beautiful. It’s humbling.
While Quinlan is certainly the focus of the band, brother Mark Quinlan on drums and Tyler Long on bass compliment her style in just the right way. The first track “Some Grace” makes one think the album will be slow and relaxing. Then indie-anthem “Tibetan Pop Stars” comes screaming through the speakers and completely changes everything.
From start to finish, this is without a doubt one of the best albums of 2012. Nobody else is making music like this. Let’s hope Hop Along bounces their way to Madison soon.
—Andy Holsteen
10. We could have justified putting Menomena’s latest album, Moms, on this list for the lyrical content alone. Every line is laced with metaphor. Imagery drips with Technicolor clarity. And from the first time the band flashes the span of their musical wings in opening track “Plumage,” listeners know they’re in for a ride.
If you don’t spend some time listening to this album closely, it’s easy to miss some of its finer elements—wind chimes, galloping floor toms, symbol crashes, horns, guitar, what at times sounds like a jazz flute and ivory chords oscillating between pounding and pleasant plinks—all blending together in a perfect continuum of uninterrupted song. The music pulses out an onslaught of emotion, the wordless soul mate of Danny Seim and Justin Harris’ raw and revealing lyrics. Play or read one element by itself and you would still feel the angst, the longing and the loss, but keep them together as intended and there’s little room left for questioning the epic magnitude of Moms.
It deals with some dark thoughts. Missing a dead mother, relationships loved and lost and perhaps even some harbored resentment for their fathers in songs like “Giftshoppe” (“I contributed to this/ giftshoppe fodder/ … /I’ll forget but not forgive”). You almost don’t notice the buildup throughout the entire 43-odd minutes of musical journaling until the final release in the final track “One Horse.”
Seim and Harris rekindle hope that real musicianship is far from on its way out.
—Jaime Brackeen
