BEST OF 2012: My Favorite Albums Of The Year

This is the list I look forward to putting together as soon as I’ve completed my list for the previous year. Favorite Albums, Best Albums, Top Albums, call it what you want. I follow and obey the rules and majesty of the long playing album, I honor its majesty and respect its craftsmanship. Some will tell you that the album is a dying artform, a format that is no longer desired (or needed) in this time in our history where everyone wants the hit and only the hit. If you are all about the hit song, this list may not be for you.

The album requires, and perhaps desires, a lot of tender loving care. It is what I look forward to hearing from an artist. Some of the albums on this list come from artists whom I’ve been a fan of for years, if not decades. Some of them feature people who have been making music for a long time. There are many debut albums on this list, for I want something to attack me in the senses and keep me floored. Do I expect to be blown away? Maybe I don’t, but when I am, I want to listen to that album repeatedly. When an album does blown me away, I want to celebrate it and tell everyone about what I heard. I feel these albums deserve a lot of attention, and my reviews for each have shown this.

As for album reviews, in 2012 I wrote 350 of them. The following list, which I decided to form into a compact list of 50, so this list represents 14.3 or so percent of what I reviewed. In the past I made it a goal to come up with a “Best Of Albums” list with an emphasis to select the one I feel was number one. It has never really been difficult for me to do this, because there have been albums in the past where I’ve said “ooh, this will be up there as my top pick.” This year though, I decided to not have a top pick, and that allowed me to simply listen without having to play the “rank master”. Each of these stood out for different reasons, but I tend to like music that pushes its own limits. I want music to be daring and bold. For some styles of music, I want something to push me over the edge. Some of these albums did just that. Other albums made me want to address it elegance so I could say at the end “job well done”. These titles didn’t have to go wild and crazy, i enjoyed it for its simplicity and it showed care from the artist and producer(s) involved.

What is bold and daring, and what is elegant, is up to the individual. If you’ve read my reviews in the last twelve months, you’ll hopefully get a sense of what I tend to ride for, where my support goes to. Each year, I want that to be tested too. I feel these 50 albums represent that push and shove, and definitely my interests on what was a great year for music.

For those of you keeping pie charts, only two of the 50 titles were released on a major label. This is the closest I’ve come to having an all-indie albums list. Here are my 50 Favorite Albums Of The Year that was 2012, listed in alphabetical order.

Arild Andersen/Scottish National Jazz Orchestra-Celebration (ECM)
The Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound-Manzanita (Tee Pee)
The Bastards Of Fate-Who’s a Fuzzy Buddy (This Will Be Our Summer)
Bigg Jus-Machines That Make Civilizations Run (Mush)
Bjork-bastards (One Little Indian)
The Black Seeds-Dust And Dirt (Easy Star)
Bone Dance-s/t (Meloto)
Georg Breinschmid-Fire (Baumann/Preiser)
Bvdub-The First Day (Home Normal)
The Caretaker-Patience (After Sebald) (History Always Favours The Winners)
Evian Christ-Kings And Them (self-released)
Jeremiah Cymerman-Purification/Dissolution (5049)
Jacob Deaton-Tribulation (self-released)
Diamond Terrifier-Kill The Self That Wants To Kill Yourself (Diamond Spy)
Arrington de Dionyso’s Malaikat dan Singa-Trance Punk Manifestos Vol. III (self-released)
Dynoride-What You Wanted (Gentle Edward)
El-P-Cancer For Cure (Fat Possum)