2012 albums - your highlights/lowlights

[3LB]

Getting much spin:
Astra - Black Chord
Big Big Train - English Electric Pt.1
Frequency Drift - Laid To Rest
Headspace - I Am Anonymous
Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made
Squackett - A Life Within A Day
Taylor's Universe - Kind Of Red
The Sea & Cake - Runner
Wovenhand - The Laughing Stalk
Muse - The 2nd Law
Mystery Jets - Radlands
Aimee Mann - Charmer
ZZ Top - La Future
Ultravox - Brilliant
Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos
Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits
Great Lake Swimmers - New Wild Everywhere
Nada Surf - The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy

Just OK:
The Shins - Port of Morrow
Ben Folds Five - The Sound of The Life of The Mind
Grizzly Bear - Shields
The Gathering - Disclosure
The Killers - Battle Born
The Darkness - Hot Cakes
Keane - Strangeland

Top 5:
Rush - Clockwork Angels
Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania
Zeus - Busting Visions
David Byrne & St.Vincent - Love This Giant
Pinback - Information Retrieved

meh:
The Pineapple Thief - All The Wars
Anathema - Weather Systems
Izz--Crush of Night

What ifs, maybes and might-have-beens award:
Ian Anderson : TAAB 2 (Whatever Happened To Gerald Bostock)

[ForeverAutumn]

You like the Muse disk? It's not doing anything for me at all. I've spun it about 20 times hoping it will click at some point. But all I hear is a whole lot of meh.

[jonnyhambone]

following your lead,

Getting much spin time:
Baroness
Tame Impala
Grizzly Bear
Andy Stott
Circle
(Codeine box set)...reissue/remaster
Japandroids
Polica

Just OK:
ExitMusic
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
High On Fire
Jakob Olauson

Top 5:
Bob Mould
Mt. Eerie (both Clear Moon & Ocean Roar are great)
Swans
Julia Holter
Sigur Ros

meh (or just not giving them much time...):
Mark Lanegan
Kelly Hogan
Fiona Apple
The Caretaker

...maybe some more that I haven't picked up yet or not thinking of right now.

[3LB]

You like the Muse disk? It's not doing anything for me at all. I've spun it about 20 times hoping it will click at some point. But all I hear is a whole lot of meh.

I like it better than than the last one, The Resistance. I enjoy the songs but I do get where some might have been let down, what with their big media push months before the release by leaking the title track on You Tube, implying some sort of high concept, which it isn't at all. In fact, the title track Unsustainable feels tacked on, and its sister track Isolated System sounds like something Alan Parsons Project might have released in the '80s (I guess if you're going to make a career out of hummingbirding the classics, may as well visit APP too). There still isn't enough distance between the Olympics and the song Survival for me either. I enjoy the bombast of their approach and there are some good songs here. Two songs were actually written and sung by the bassist and they hark back to their earlier works. Its a worthy successor to Resistance.

[Mr MidFi]

OK, I’ll play.

Getting significant spinnage:
Jack White – Blunderbuss
Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
Andrew Bird – Hands of Glory
The Vaccines – Come of Age
Divine Fits – A Thing Called the Divine Fits
DIIV – Oshin
Cat Power – Sun
The Walkmen – Heaven
Green Day – Uno!

Each of these titles range from “pretty damn good” to “ok, better than a poke in the eye”. A few of them are continuing to grow on me, especially the DIIV, Vaccines and Cat Power discs.

2011 releases that would have figured very prominently in my list, but I didn’t get them till this year:
The Vaccines – What Did You Expect…
Bombay Bicycle Club – Different Kind of Fix
The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient

Of those, The Vaccines’ first album would be a very strong contender for my Album of the Year if it’d been released this year. I love that album. Their newer one has taken time to get used to.

Live albums (cuz those don’t really count):
The Decemberists – We All Raise Our Voices to the Air
Porcupine Tree – Octane Twisted
Led Zeppelin – Celebration Day
Wilco – Roadcase #2, Geneva, IL (07.08.12)

The first 3 above are excellent recordings and engaging listens. The Wilco thing is notable because a) the show happened just a few miles from my home, b) it was the best show I’ve seen from them, and c) Andrew Bird appears on a couple of tracks.

Album of the Year:
White Rabbits – Milk Famous

I’ve looked at a fair number of ‘best of’ and ‘year in review’ lists all over the inter-webs, and I haven’t seen these guys mentioned in anybody’s top 20. So clearly, this is just a case of my having atrocious taste. But I calls ‘em like I hears ‘em… and no 2012 release gave me more enjoyable listening minutes than this one did. It’s like a 50/50 mix of Spoon and Phoenix. Hey, it works for me.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

[Finch Platte]

Tried to send you a PM but got this: Hyfi has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space.

[Mr MidFi]

Tried to send you a PM but got this: Hyfi has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space.

Assuming you meant "MidFi" and not "Hyfi"... I've cleared off all my junk, Fyi. And thanks.