You Ain’t No Picasso’s Favorite Albums of 2012
January 7th, 2013 by Matt
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Recorded in 2010, Louis CK’s Word was used in bits and pieces in those cutaway comedy scenes in Louie. As such, it suffered a bit because you’ve probably heard some of this before. But it’s such strong material delivered by such a great performer that it’s hardly a detriment at all. Really, it was good to finally get a clean audio copy of those bits. |
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During his second CD, John Mulaney went from being the guy who co-writes for the character Stefon on SNL to being one of my favorite stand-up comedians. His topics are often comedy staples (girlfriend, childhood, living in New York) but his sense of humor brings us to new places within those topics. |
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I have to give comedy album of the year to Tig Notaro. Live was record a short time after Tig found out she had breast cancer in both breasts. You never get over the initial sting of listening to someone talk about their mortality, but Tig gives you permission to laugh with her. It’s insane that something this sad and personal can be the funniest thing I heard all year. |
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I love listening to this record and trying to pick out which partner contributed which section. Who wrote the lyrics to which song? Who composed or OKed the main riff on a track? It’s fun to see how two well known musicians combine in such a new way. Both stars leave a strong fingerprint on this record, but it’s where they overlap that the excitement begins. |
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I listened to a lot more metal in 2012 than I ever had previously, but The Sword was the only record that grabbed me as soon as it started. It’s an easy to love record in the vein of Black Sabbath without sounding like they’re rehashing decades-old musical ideas. |
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There’s a little bit of TV on the Radio kicking around inside Maps & Atlases’ new record and I love it. I’d describe the record as a whole as “fearless pop.” They aren’t afraid to take odd turns with what is typically straightforward music. |
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Dan Deacon stole Animal Collective’s thunder in 2012. He didn’t do it by changing his game completely an annexing their territory, but he hit the mark that we all hoped Animal Collective would hit again: intricate weirdo pop that’s both catchy and grating. America is the record that Dan Deacon lovers can use to prove that their hero is a great musician who’s just now starting to peak. He brings more soul out with his electronica compositions than more any other artist of any genre did this year. |
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Honestly I couldn’t really talk about this record to you at great length if we were to start up a conversation about it face to face. But over the course of the year, I played this over and over again at work until I was sure I loved just about every second of it. Still, I can’t name a song on it but who said you have to be able to do that to love a record? |
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At first I thought the Lumineers’ self-titled debut was little more than dressing for “Ho Hey.” Wrong wrong wrong. There are definite highs and lows in there, but it’s a very strong record. |
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I was waiting for 151a to come out ever since I saw Kishi Bashi open for Of Montreal in 2011 and it was even better than I’d hoped. K has such a great ear for composition and melody that he makes this incredible record seem effortless. There’s a diversity here that makes every song seem like a strong point in the album. |
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I wrote on YANP about what a dum-dum I was for judging this album prematurely on its boring cover. But after my second or third spin I realized that this was a Menomena record that was nearly on par with Friend & Foe (a record I love). It’s amazingly well produced, balancing powerful riffs, intricate backing instrumentation and lyrics full of heart. |
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I did a bit of crusading for this record in 2012. I played it over and over again at work. I talked about it endlessly online. I even launched into a big dissection of the protagonist of the song “Hospital (Win Your Love)” to my girlfriend until she told me to stop talking about a girl who wants broken bones for the attention. The point is that I love this record and wanted to spend half of 2012 talking about it. |
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If there’s an album on this list that I think I owe more listens to, it’s Grizzly Bear’s Shields. It usually takes me a dozen or so listens to a Grizzly Bear record to really feel like I’ve got a sense for its musical fingerprint. They aren’t records that open all the way very easily. But for the listening that I have done with it, I can say that it’s a fantastic record that shows growth where they easily could have settled for sameness. |
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A couple months ago we were playing a Beatles record at CD Central and a customer offhandedly remarked “it’s good to hear some Tame Impala in here.” I give that guy major credit for being gutsy enough to bet that I would have heard this record and would agree it sounds a lot like the Lennon-y side of the Beatles without getting too far into ripoff territory. |
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This is the record where I realized I’ll always love albums that sound like the indie rock I loved when I was in my early college years. Shearwater’s Animal Joy is a powerful, beautiful record that recalls the best of indie rock from the past 15 years. |
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Prior to this year I didn’t really know enough about Hot Chip to care about them. I gave Hot Chip’s In Our Heads a curiosity spin when it first came out and just about flipped. The record is a gem not only because of their beats, synth riffs and great vocals, but there’s some incredible songwriting on display. This is no dance record full of fluff. There’s tons of heart on display here. |
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Can I confess something to you? I didn’t really like Deerhoof’s Deerhoof vs Evil (and wasn’t too ga-ga for Offend Maggie). So when they announced Breakup Song, I was less excited than I expected to be. But shortly after hitting play on my copy of this record, I was 100% on board with this record. I’d put it in the top 3 Deerhoof records, no problem — which is big, considering those are some of my all-time favorite albums. Breakup Songs is catchy, powerful and a little insane; it’s 30 minutes of everything great about music in 2012. |
Tags: Dan Deacon·Deerhoof·grizzly bear·Hot Chip·Jesca Hoop·Kishi Bashi·Lumineers·Maps & Atlases·Menomena·Shearwater·Sword·Tame Impala·ty segall
TheCoolestGuyEver // Jan 8, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Cool! I always love reading you year end lists, always cool stuff that passed under my radar! Was worried you weren’t doing one this year! Oh, and I was wondering, what did you make of the Flaming Lips collaboration record?