Albums of the year 2012

Can't do mine until I find out if this My Bloody Valentine album is really coming out on Friday.

Thank fuck someone did this. I need some recommendations - I've had a shocker this year in terms of finding out new stuff and that. My favourite might turn out to bet the Ruff Sqwad comp I got today, and that can't be right, it's 8 years old.

I also liked LV. Actually I liked Frank Ocean too, so that's 2.

This is the first year for me where I've felt like I haven't got a clue what's going on in music. Too much stuff produced, no time to catch up. Just flicked through a couple of annual best-of lists and...nope, no clue about most of it. How can anyone keep up, for that matter?

Hype Williams/Blunt/Copeland have provided a soundtrack for that fogginess.

Favourites: Laurel Halo - Quarantine (Hyperdub), Taylor Swift - RED, Kassem Mosse / Mix Mup - MM/KM (The Trilogy Tapes), Bee Mask - Pears LP (Spectrum Spools), Raime - Quarter Turns Over A Living Line (BEB), Shackleton - Music For The Quiet Hour

rest:

Lee Gamble - Dutch Tvashtar Plumes & Diversions 1994-1996 (Pan)
Russel Haswell - Factual (Editions Mego)
Container - LP (Spectrum Spools)
Ruff Sqwad - White Label Classics
Holly Herndon - Movement (Rvng Intl)
Legowelt - The Paranormal Soul (Clone)
Caribou - Jialong
Pangaea - Release (Hessle)
Aaron Dilloway - Modern Jester
Bee Mask - Vaporwave / Scanops
Lukid - Lonely At The Top (Werkdiscs)
Madteo - TTTree Low G. Tapes: Mad Dip Revue (The Trilogy Tapes)
Vatican Shadow - Ghosts Of Chechnya / Kneel Before Religious Icons (Hospital Productions) / (Type)
Future - Pluto
OPN / Rene Hell - Music For Reliquary House / In 1980 I Was A Blue Square
Gunplay - Bogota Rich
Lil Durk - I'm Still A Hitta
Flaming Tunes - s/t (BEB)
Suzanne Ciani - Lixiviation Ciani/Music Inc. 1969-1985 (Finders Keepers)
Helm - Impossible Symmetry (Pan)
Grimes - Visions
Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
Actress - RIP (Honest Jon's)
CFCF - Exercises
Hype Williams - Black Is Beautiful (Hyperdub)
Jam City - Classical Curves (Night Slugs)
Lana Del Rey - B2D
Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday (1st half)
Rick Ross - Rich Forever
Robert Turman - Flux (Spectrum Spools)
Zelienople - The World Is House On Fire (Type)

Still need to listen to some of the ones in the second list more than 4-5 times each, plus lots of more stuff I want to check out (Terrence Dixon, Dro Carey/Tuff Sherm, Silent Servant and what seems like dozens more).

As often happens, lots of the stuff I listened to the most this year wasn't new. But of the new stuff...

2012 albums I enjoyed:
X-TG -- Desertshore/The Final Report (partly for the music, partly because it's a beautifully packaged tribute to Sleazy)
Liars -- WIXIW
Jam City -- Classic Curves (lots of tracks that don't sound quite right, which i kind of dig)
Bass Clef -- Reeling Skullways
Chromatics -- Kill for Love
LHF -- Keepers of the Light
The 2 Bears -- Be Strong (their Rinse shows too...yeah, kind of lame I know but just find them really enjoyable and fun to listen to)
Andy Stott -- Luxury Problems (more interesting and listenable than his previous two)
(Would love to include the Ruff Sqwad comp but sticking with new releases.)

2012 singles/EPs i enjoyed:
Swindle -- Do the Jazz, Pineapple
Blawan-- He His She She (mental, what do you even call this shit?)
Fatima Al Qadiri -- Genre Specific Xperiments and Desert Strike EPs (awesome in its fakeness)
Rollo Jean -- San Tropez, Cellar of Love

I pretty much just listened to a fuckload of old ZZ Top this year. It was a very good year.

blacktulip said:

I pretty much just listened to a fuckload of old ZZ Top this year. It was a very good year.

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"tres hombres" is an all-time fav.

Leo said:

"tres hombres" is an all-time fav.

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That was my starting point - breathtaking record!

I can only think of two albums that i've heard from this year, Swans - The Seer and the Kendrick Lamar album - both excellent. quite surprised there hasn't been more talk about the Kendrick album on here actually.

edit: oh yeah The Nicki Minaj one too, some genius stuff on that.

Albums / EPs / Singles

LHF - Keepers of the Light
Girl Unit - Club Rez
Untold - Change in a Dynamic Environment
Scratcha DVA - Fly Juice EP
Beneath - No Symbols 1 & 2
Lana Del Rey - B2D
Rick Ross - Rich Forever

Kendrick Lemar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Wiley - Its All Fun and Games Till Vol. 1
Shackleton - Music For The Quiet Hour
Actress - RIP
Kassem Mosse + Mix Mup - MM/KM
Pangaea - Release
Lukid - Lonely At The Top

e/y said:

Favourites: Laurel Halo - Quarantine (Hyperdub), Taylor Swift - RED, Kassem Mosse / Mix Mup - MM/KM (The Trilogy Tapes), Bee Mask - Pears LP (Spectrum Spools), Raime - Quarter Turns Over A Living Line (BEB), Shackleton - Music For The Quiet Hour

rest:

(a big ol list)

Still need to listen to some of the ones in the second list more than 4-5 times each, plus lots of more stuff I want to check out (Terrence Dixon, Dro Carey/Tuff Sherm, Silent Servant and what seems like dozens more).

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See, that's kind of how I felt about almost everything this year. I was just looking at what I bought in the early part of the year and I almost can't remember listening to any of it. New albums have a half life of a week for me now. My attention span is worse than it was when I was a teenager.

Kendrick has singlehandedly made me think I should start paying proper attention to hip hop again. On which note I also like the Roc Marciano a lot.

Peaking Lights's schtick is something I can listen to all day

Also like the Actress and that weird Sun Araw thing with Congos a lot.

Frank O was pretty cool, too.

rick ross - rich forever
actress - RIP
rustie - glass swords (from 2011 but i played it more this year)
kendrick lamar - good kid maaad city (i think i might prefer his crew as mcs though)
drake - take care (2011 again but it came out at the very end)
weeknd stuff
jj doom
gunplay
bigg jus (prob album of the year for me)
scratcha dva (not the vocal tracks)
dj diamond/parts of traxman's album
nicki minaj
bambouno
hype williams' album might be 2nd album of the year for me
nas - life is good (not amazing as an album, but i still love nas, even when hes going a bit nostalgic/MOR like he is here)
Konx-om-Pax - Regional Surrealism (this seems really underrated)

feel like theres an absolute ton of albums that ive not heard this year that ive wanted to but just havent got the time (still not heard the LV though im not their hugest fan tbh). ive gone back to a discman this year too so have spent quite a bit of time listening to loads of cds ive bought over the years but never really bothered with.

i still want to hear miguel, how to dress well and kevin rowland's new one. wanted to like the cooly g album way more than i did but her vocals ruined it for me.

LV - Sebenza
DJ Rashad - Teklife Vol.1
Kassem Mosse & Mix Mup - S/T
Madteo - Noi No
Bass Clef - Reeling Skullways
Actress - RIP
LHF - Keepers of the Light
Henny Moan – The Coming Thaw
Dean Blunt – The Narcissist II
Nick Edwards – Plekzationz

I've been thinking about this a lot recently as this is the first year in a while were a lot of my time has been spent listening to whole albums, rather than mostly individual tracks or EPs or mixes.

The two that I keep coming back to are LHF - Keepers Of The Light and Cooly G - Playin' Me. I am completely enraptured by either, within seconds, every time I press play.

hucks said:

See, that's kind of how I felt about almost everything this year. I was just looking at what I bought in the early part of the year and I almost can't remember listening to any of it. New albums have a half life of a week for me now. My attention span is worse than it was when I was a teenager.

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funny that, me too. this year, i bought albums by artists i really love -- actress, cooly g, shackleton, last year's kode9 -- and doubt i played them more than a handful of times each. used to listen to a lot of albums on the ipod when out and about but now find that time sucked up by the multitude of weekly free mixes (fact/RA/xlr8r/rinse podcasts, etc.) maybe i just need to focus instead of trying to keep up with everything, which is impossible.

The only albums I loved truly, wholly & unconditionally this year were LV, Cooly G, LHF and our own.

Helm - Impossible Symmetry
Bee Mask - When We Were Eating Unripe Pears
Ekman - LP
Ukkonen - The Isolated Rhythms of...
Villalobos - Dependant & Happy
Deep Magic - Closed Eyes
Raime - Quarter Turns Over A Living Line
Lussuria - American Babylon I/II/III
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch
Rene Audiard - Pechorin
Dariius - Dariius
Prostitutes - Psychedelic Black
Don't - AR005
Aaron Dilloway - Modern Jester
Porter Ricks - Biokinetics reissue
Silent Servant - Negative Fascination
John Bender ‎– Memories Of Mindless Mechanical Monologues 1976-1985
Élg - Mil Pluton
MM/KM - s/t
Kareem - Mesmer
The Haxan Cloak - The Men Parted The Sea To Devour The Water
Trepaneringsritualen - Deathward, To The Womb
Todd Terje - It's The Arps
Shackleton - Drawbar Organ EP/Music For The Quiet Hour
Nina Kraviz - s/t
Rolling Acres - Tape #5
MB - Neuro Habitat reissue
LIES - American Noise
Tin Man - Neo Neo Acid
Frozen Border - Minutes In Ice