Best Albums of 2012 (so far) + Songs Mix

photo via cubagallery

We’ve hit the halfway point for 2012 and that can only mean it’s time for our annual mid-year recap of the best albums of the year so far. Looking through my list of favorite albums, I’ve noticed a surprising dominance of guitar-oriented rock and folk music and a general lack of electronica (with Grimes, Hot Chip and Chromatics being the exceptions). I’ve listed the albums below with a sample track from each and (new this year!) I’ve added my 30 favorite songs of the year, which you can listen to in a handy-dandy Spotify playlist. So without further ado, these are the best albums (and songs) released in 2012 so far.

Best Albums of 2012 (so far)

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar (January 24, Witchita)
MP3 The Lion’s Roar

 

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Hospitality – Hospitality (January 31, Merge)
MP3 Friends of Friends

 

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Shearwater – Animal Joy (February 14, Sub Pop)
MP3 You As You Were

 

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Grimes – Visions (February 21, 4AD)
MP3 Genesis

 

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Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself (March 6, Mom + Pop)
MP3 Eyeoneye

 

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Bowerbirds – The Clearing (March 6, Dead Oceans)
MP3 Tuck The Darkness In

 

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Kindness – World, You Need A Change Of Mind (March 20, Casablanca)
MP3 House

 

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Chromatics – Kill For Love (Mar 28, Soundcloud)
MP3 Kill For Love

 

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Allo, Darlin – Europe (April 17, Slumberland)
MP3 Capricornia

 

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Moonface – with Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery (April 17, Jagjagwar)
MP3 Teary Eyes and Bloody Lips

 

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Spiritualized – Sweet Heart, Sweet Light (April 17, Fat Possum)
MP3 Hey Jane

 

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Beach House – Bloom (May 15, Sub Pop)
MP3 Myth

 

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Sigur Rós – Valtari (May 29, XL)
MP3 Ekki mukk

 

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Japandroids – Celebration Rock (May 29, Polyvinyl)
MP3 The House That Heaven Built

 

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Hot Chip – In Our Heads (June 12, Domino)
MP3 Night And Day

 

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Honorable Mentions:
Cloud Nothings
Sharon Van Etten
Alabama Shakes
of Montreal
Tallest Man On Earth
Fanfarlo
Porcelain Raft
Sun Kil Moon

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Best Songs of 2012 (so far) Mix

Click here to listen via Spotify Playlist. Click below to view the tracklist.

[spoiler intro=”View Tracklist”]

Alabama Shakes – Be Mine
Allo, Darlin’ – Capricornia
Andrew Bird – Danse Carribe
Beach House – Lazuli
Best Coast – Up All Night
Bobby Womack – Please Forgive My Heart
Bowerbirds – Tuck The Darkness In
Chairlift – I Belong In Your Arms
Chromatics – Kill For Love*
Cloud Nothings – Wasted Days
Eternal Summers – Millions*
Father John Misty – Nancy From Now On
First Aid Kit – EmmyLou
Grimes – Oblivion
Grizzly Bear – Sleeping Ute
Here We Go Magic – How Do I Know
Hospitality – Eighth Avenue
Hot Chip – Don’t Deny Your Heart
Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built
Kindness – SEOD
Moonface – Teary Eyes and Bloody Lips
of Montreal – Dour Percentage
Porcelain Raft – Unless You Speak From The Heart
Sharon Van Etten – Serpents
Shearwater – You As You Were
The Shins – Simple Song
Sigur Ros – Varúð
Spiritualized – So Long You Pretty Thing
Tallest Man On Earth – 1904
The Walkmen – We Can’t Be Beat

*unavailable on Spotify[/spoiler]

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Leave your favorite albums / songs in the comments. Thanks for reading!

 

MP3: Why? – Sod in the Seed

The last we heard from Why? was 2009’s gloomy but very pretty Eskimo Snow, but gladly Yoni Wolf and co. are now back with some new material, in the form of an EP called Sod In The Seed. The title track was just released and it’s a nice return to the hip-hop / avant-garde hybrid style and sharp, ultra-clever lyrics of Alopecia. The song has an infectious strummed hook and carefree flow that’s reminiscent of Gorillaz’s “Feel Good Inc” to me. Download below.

MP3 Why? – Sod In The Seed

Sod In The Seed is out August 14 on Anticon.

Questlove's SuperJam (ft. D'Angelo) @ Bonnaroo (6/9)

I definitely agree with You Ain’t No Picasso’s assessment of ?uestlove‘s Super Jam, I had an amazing time but I know there was so many people that would have enjoyed it much more, seeing that it was D’Angelo‘s first live U.S. performance in 12 years. My experience with D’angelo doesn’t extend much past his controversial “Untitled” music video which I remember was played / discussed quite a bit on VH1 and MTV back in the day, but luckily that didn’t affect my enjoyment of his performance.

Along with D’Angelo, ?uestlove brought out guitarist Jesse Johnson from The Time, Prince‘s saxophonist Eric Leeds, a bunch of Roots members, and perhaps most interestingly, bassist Pino Palladino who filled John Entwhistle’s place in The Who. The band jammed on a number of classic songs from Jimi Hendrix to Funkadelic to Led Zeppelin to The Beatles’ “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window”, using the covers as a starting to point to play off each other and turn the tracks into their own funky creations. It was certainly one of the most special, you-had-to-be-there moments of the festival.

MP3 D’Angelo – Untitled (How Does It Feel)

Follow the jump for more SuperJam pictures. Click here to see the full set.

The Roots @ Bonnaroo (6/9)

After taking the gig as Jimmy Fallon‘s house band, The Roots popularity has soared but they don’t get to do as many live shows. So getting the chance to see them in a prime spot at Bonnaroo on Saturday night was very special treat, and the legendary Philly crew definitely rose to the occasion. After a rousing introduction from J.B. Smoove (AKA Leon Black from Curb) Hip Hop’s best live band came out and immediately launched into a cover of The Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere” (easily the best out of the numerous MCA tributes I heard over the weekend).

Of course, if you’d have to choose a highlight it’d have to be ?uestlove’s  raw, freestyle drumming, but there isn’t one member of the incredibly tight Roots crew that isn’t a complete joy to watch from Captain Kirk’s vigorous guitar riffing to Black Thought’s rapid-fire verses. Since I last saw them, The Roots have  added some members, most notably a goofy, extremely energetic dude named Tuba Gooding Jr. that served dual purpose as sousaphonist and hype-man, bouncing around on-stage, off-stage and at times, in the middle of the crowd.

The band’s setlist consisted a variety of expertly-performed covers from Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scott-Heron, Bo Diddley to Guns ‘N Roses mixed in with some Roots classics like “The Next Movement”, “Here I Come” and  the ultimate party starter, “The Seed”. They threw in a couple of newer tracks also like “How I Got Over” and “The Fire” (although surprisingly nothing from Undun). One of the best moments was a energized “You Got Me” which featured Kirk and his falsetto filling in for Erykah Badu while the band ran circles around the stage.

One great aspect of The Roots’ show is that every song bleeds into the next one with freestyle instrumental breaks filling in all the spaces in the performance. Normally, I find bands that featuring heavy “jamming” to be a bore live, but The Roots always keep it tight and keep it fun. It’s like a pure stream of charisma and talent constantly pouring from the stage. I’ll go ahead and say what everyone that has seen The Roots live says: Do whatever you can to see this band play (even if you hate hip-hop). It’s a live experience like none other.

MP3 The Seed (2.0)
MP3 You Got Me 

Follow the jump for more The Roots pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Santigold @ Bonnaroo (6/9)

Despite generally enjoying Santigold‘s music (especially her debut album), for some reason I didn’t expect much going into her live show. Boy, was I was wrong. The Brooklyn electro-pop songstress put on a hell of a performance that was certainly one of the most pleasant surprises of the festival for me.

Santi came out with her whimsically-costumed band and booty dancers and quickly performed great renditions of two of my favorite of her songs, “L.E.S. Artistes” and “Lights Out”, doing so with enthusiasm and attitude to spare. The good times were just getting started though, before “Creator” she invited anyone who wanted, to come dance on stage (adding that if anyone tried to hump her back-up singers, they would punch you in the face). The resulting on-stage dance riot was one of the most memorable moments of a weekend packed with memorable moments.

MP3 Lights Out
MP3 Big Mouth

Follow the jump for more Santigold pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Das Racist @ Bonnaroo (6/9)

While I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of Das Racist, I can’t deny the Brooklyn hip-hop trio puts on a very fun live show. Whether it was randomly breaking into freestyles, repeatedly confusing Bonnaroo with the “Gathering of the Juggalos” or hilariously demanding the audience to turn around and face Bonnaroo’s central fountain (while calling out everyone who didn’t), the group definitely lived up to their goofball personas. While I sometimes find their music to be grating on record, live their songs were gladly stripped the songs down to the essentials, beats and raps, which turned tracks like “Michael Jackson” and “Rainbow in the Dark” into dance-friendly party jams.

MP3 Michael Jackson

Follow the jump for more Das Racist pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Radiohead @ Bonnaroo (6/8)

Even though I’d just seen them a few months earlier, Radiohead was still my most anticipated set of the weekend and from the moment that their gargantuan, multi-colored LED wall and myriad of tilting, floating screens turned on, the band absolutely triumphed. I was closer to the stage then when I saw them at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, which made their extravagant light show even more visceral and immersive (particularly during the neon green rain effect during “The Gloaming”) and fortunately, there was plenty of variation in the setlist, so their performance felt like an entirely new experience.

Thom Yorke has gone on record that their previous Bonnaroo appearance was his favorite Radiohead set, and you could tell he was in unbelievably good spirits, cracking off-the-wall joke, using odd fake accents, and dedicating tracks to Jack White (who we should probably expect a collaboration from) and the Chilli Peppers. The set drew mostly from their newer material, emphasizing the band’s brainy, ethereal dance music over the experimental guitar-rock that I’m sure many expected. Even detractors of the band’s newest material though, undoubtedly found a lot to love in the assault of sounds coming from the speakers, which benefits greatly from having Johnny Greenwood’s masterful layering and dual drummers producing the nuanced electronic sounds on-stage.

The emphasis on new material also served to make the older songs even more exhilarating. “Karma Police” was introduced mid-set and invoked an choir of tens of thousands singing to the chorus, live staple “Idioteque” provided a frenzied close to the first set and “Everything In It’s Right Place” (which was marvelously introduced with a snippet of “True Love Waits) provided a thrilling spotlight on Thom Yorke’s soaring falsetto. Long after surpassing their two-hour set time, the band closed with an awe-inspiring performance of their most breathtaking, dynamic track “Paranoid Android”, which was easily went down as my favorite moment of the festival. I can’t imagine a better ending to a truly mind-blowing performance.

MP3 Paranoid Android
MP3 True Love Waits

Follow the jump for many more Radiohead pictures. Click here to see the full set.

MP3: Laetitia Sadier – Find Me The Pulse Of The Universe

Champaign/Urbana’s Pygmalion Festival added a ton of great bands this week (Dirty Projectors, Best Coast, Sleigh Bells among them) but one of the most interesting adds is Laetitia Sadier, former lead singer of legendary post-rock band, Stereolab. Sadier will be releasing her sophomore solo album this summer, and first single is the dreamy, jangly French-pop inspired tune “Find Me The Pulse of the Universe”. Download below.

MP3: Laetitia Sadier – Find Me The Pulse Of The Universe

The Avett Brothers @ Bonnaroo (6/8)

While all the bands I had seen up till them were first-timers to the Bonnaroo stage, The Avett Brothers are four-time veterans and it was clear by their charismatic performance and their legions of adoring fans that they were right at home at the ‘Roo. Although I’m not as familiar with the Avett’s recorded works as I could be (my knowledge doesn’t extend much past Emotionalism & I And Love And You), I do love watching them play their spirited folk-rock singalongs live. Their performance varied from high-energy stompers like “Will You Return?” and “Kick Drum Heart” to gorgeous acoustic pieces like “Murder in the City” and “Paranoia in B-Flat Minor”, the constant being their unmistakable charm and overwhelming sincerity.

MP3 Murder In The City

Follow the jump for more Avett Brothers pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Two Door Cinema Club @ Bonnaroo (6/8)

Although it’s been over two years since I first heard and was instantly hooked by Two Door Cinema Club, I’d never gotten the chance to see them live until Friday afternoon at Bonnaroo. The Northern Ireland band has been shot into indie stardom recently, due in part to the viral spread of the “What You Know” video, and a massive crowd gathered to see the band play their enthralling and addictively catchy electro-rock.

The band burned through their debut album Tourist History, the highlight being exuberant summer-anthem “Something Good Can Work”. For a band who famously did not have a drummer when they began (relying soley on drum machines), it was fantastic to see such a kinetic force behind the drum set. They also previewed a number of songs from their imminent new album, which sounds like it should be another exhilarating release from the Irish lads.

MP3 Something Good Can Work

Follow the jump for more Two Door Cinema Club pictures. Click here to see the full set.