Wow what a year for music. If you didn't think there was anything decent then you didn't look hard enough cause it was coming out of the woodwork this year. This was truly one of the toughest lists I had to compile. Two Wounded Birds not only released the best album of the year but also broke up. The Maccabees made a statement with their 3rd album that they are only getting bigger and brighter. Beach House made a shimmery, hypnotic beautiful noise that was perfect for summer and fall. Sigur Rós went back to their musical soundscapes with a album that could soundtrack any winter. Tame Impala made a sonically brilliant new brand of psychedelia for a new generation. Martin Rossiter's album was a refreshing return from a voice that made many long for more Gene records. The Helio Sequence was a surprise listen that deserves more praise than it's gotten and more. Alt-J came out of nowhere to capture the Mercury Prize and bring their strange folktronica to the masses. The Chevin made a perfect debut record with not a trace of filler and slipped in under the radar but will hopefully get the attention they deserve. Peace released an EP that leaves the door wide open for them to take 2013 by storm. There's local CD's in there as well so keep your eyes peeled. Sorry if I missed yours. Well I hope you all enjoyed the list and found some new and old favourites. As always share the love of music with those that you know would appreciate it just as much. I know I missed some but that's why you're here.
Cheers!
1. Two Wounded Birds - S/T
2. The Maccabees - Given To The Wild
3. Beach House - Bloom
4. Tame Impala - Lonerism
5. Sigur Rós - Valtari
6. Martin Rossiter - The Defenestration of St. Martin
7. The Helio Sequence - Negotiations
8. Paul Banks - Banks
9. Two Door Cinema Club - Beacon
10. Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
11. Black Pistol Fire - Big Beat '59
12. Silversun Pickups - Neck Of The Wood
13. Neil Halstead - Palindrome Hunches
14. Zulu Winter - Language
15. 22-20s - Got It If You Want It
16. The Raveonettes - Observator
17. Cold Showers - Love & Regret
18. Peace - Delicious EP
19. Tribes - Baby
20. The Chevin - Borderland
Notable mentions:
Alberta Cross - Songs Of Patience
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Throw It To The Universe
The Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
Muse - The 2nd Law
James Walsh - Lullaby
Gotye - Like Drawing Blood
Jack White - Blunderbuss
The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania
Bloc Party - Four
Spiritualized - Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
The Killers - Battle Born
Mumford and Sons - Babel
Dum Dum Girls - End Of Daze
The UFO Club - The UFO Club
Fractures - Satyr EP
Metz - Metz
Twin Shadow - Confess
Mac Demarco - 2
Beware of Darkness - Howl EP
The Laurels - Plains
The Vaccines - Come of Age
Howler - America Give Up
How To Destroy Angels - An Omen EP
2:54 - S/T
Toy - S/T
The XX - Coexist
Wintersleep - Hello Hum
Motorama - Calendar
Willie Nelson - Heroes
Lawless Soundtrack
Wild Nothing - Nocturne
Life In Film - Needles and Pins EP
White Rabbits - Milk Famous
Whirr - Distressor
Jake Bugg - S/T
Allah-La's - S/T
The Whigs - Enjoy The Company
The Walkmen - Heaven
Walk The Moon - S/T
Savages - Flying To Berlin Single
Violens - True
The View - Cheeky For A Reason
Veronica Falls - Covers
The Vandelles - Strange Girls Don't Cry
Van She - Idea of Happiness
Caspian - Waking Season
Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse
Ty Segall - Twins
The Chap - We Are Nobody
Two Step Horror - Bad Sides & Rejects
Twisted Wheel - Do It Again
Black Phoenix Orchestra - A Manics Madness
Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits
Stagnant Pools - Temporary Rooms
Spector - Enjoy It While It Lasts
Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester
DZ Deathrays - Bloodstreams
The Tragically Hip - Now For Plan A
Titus Andronicus - Local Business
Citizens! - Here We Are
The Ting Tings - Songs From Nowheresville
The Temper Trap - S/T
Young Prisms - In Between
Tamaryn - Tender New Signs
Tales Of Murder And Dust - Hallucination of Beauty
Sun Kil Moon - Among The Leaves
Young Magic - Melt
Yeasayer - Fragrant World
Sun Airway - Soft Fall
Stars - The North
SPC ECO - Dark Notes
The Twang - 10:20
Trespassers William - Cast
Soulsavers - The Light The Dead See
The Soft Pack - Strapped
Dark Horses - Black Music
The Soft Moon - Zeros
White Laces - Moves
Soundgarden - King Animal
White Hills - Oddity III: Basic Information
Sleepy Sun - Spine Hits
93 Million Miles From The Sun - Northern Sky
Airiel - Kid Games
Alkatine - Red Silk Jacket
Natural Child - Hard In Heaven
Mystery Jets - Radlands
Moon Duo - Circles
Mono - For My Parents
Drive Soundtrack
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs
Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine/Electricity Single
Aqua Nebula Oscillator - Third
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Bob Dylan - Tempest
Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound - Manzanita
Atoms For Peace - Default Single
Band Of Horses - Mirage Rock
Band Of Skulls - Sweet Sour
Air - Le Voyage Dans La Lune
Lambchop - Mr. M
Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
Beacon - For Now
Breton - Other People's Problems
BEAK> - BEAK>
Beck - I Just Started Hating Some People Today Single
Young Galaxy - Shoreless Kid
Shores - Leavening
Shiny Toy Guns - III
Nine Black Alps - Sirens
The Shins - Port Of Morrow
The Sheepdogs - S/T
The See See - Fountayne Mountain
The Cranberries - Roses
Seafoam - Seafoam EP
Sea Dweller - Signs Of A Perfect Disaster
The Rosebuds - Love Deluxe
Robot Monsta - Ghost
Ringo Deathstarr - Mauve
Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge
Reverend And The Makers - @Reverend_Makers
The Raveonettes - Into The Night
Rachel Zeffira - The Deserters
Race Horses - Furniture
The Presets - Pacifica
Post War Years - The Bell EP
Post War Years - Glass House EP
Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend
Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
Placebo - B3
A Place To Bury Strangers - Worship
Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks
Paul Banks - Julian Plenti Lives
Paper Route - The Peace Of Wild Things
Palma Violets - Best Of Friends Single
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Acid Reflex
Outfit - Another Night's Dreams Reach Earth Again - EP
Other Lives - Tamer Animals
Other Lives - Mind The Gap EP
O. Children - Apnea
No Joy - Negaverse EP
Mirror Lake - The Last Of The Summer Wine
Mind Spiders - Meltdown
Miles Kane - First Of My Kind EP
Metric - Synthetica
Merchandise - Children Of Desire
Menomena - Moms
Memory Tapes - Grace/Confusion
Melody's Echo Chamber - S/T
Maximo Park - The National Health
The Mary Onettes - Love Forever
Mark Lanegan Band - blues Funeral
Marilyn Manson - Born Villian
Man Without Country - Foe
The Magic Castles - S/T
Mac Demarco - Rock N Roll Night Club
The Luyas - Animator
Lower Dens - NooTropics
Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At A Distance
The Lost Rivers - Sin and Lostness
Blood Red Shoes - In Time To Voices
Graham Coxon - A+E
Lost Left - Levollinen
Little Comets - Life Is Elsewhere
Litmus - Slaughterbahn
Laurence and The Slab Boys - Lo-Fi Disgrace
Last Dinosaurs - In A Million Years
The Futureheads - Rant
Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine
The Dandy Warhols - This Machine
Kent - Jag är inte rädd för mörkret
Father John Misty - Fear Fun
Keane - Strangeland
Garbage - Not Your Kind Of People
The Hives - Lex Hives
Passion Pit - Gossamer
Blur - Under The Westway/The Puritan Single
Imagine Dragons - Night Visions
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Mumford and Sons - Babel
Green Day - Uno!/ Dos!/ Tre!
Godspeed You Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
The Big Pink - Future This
Birth of Joy - Life In Babalou
Black Market Karma - Cocoon
Black Market Karma - Comatose
Black Market Karma - Semper Fi
Black Market Karma - Easy Listening
Black Mountain - Year Zero: The Original Soundtrack
Black Tambourine - OneTwoThreeFour
The Blue Angel Lounge - Ewig EP
Born Blonde - What The Desert Taught You
The Boxer Rebellion - B-Sides & Rarities Vol. 1 & 2
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Aufheben
British Sea Power - EP 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
Brother Sun, Sister Moon - S/T
Candlebox - Love Stories and Other Musings
Carina Round - Tigermending
Castratii - Eora
Ceremony - Safranin Sounds
Chad Valley - Young Hunger
Chairlift - Something
Christian Bland & The Revelators - Pigboat Blues
Clinic - Free Reign
Clock Opera - Ways To Forget
The Cloud Room - Zither
The Cribs - In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull
Crocodiles - Endless Flowers
Cursive - I Am Gemini
Daniel Land & The Modern Painters - The Space Between Us
Delay Trees - Doze
DeWolff - DeWolff IV
DIIV - Oshin
Dirty Ghosts - Metal Moon
Disappears - Pre Language
Django Django - S/T
Echo Lake - Wild Peace
Eight And A Half - S/T
Elbow - Dead In The Boot
The Enemy - Streets In The Sky
Engineers - S/T(2012)
The Entrance Band - Fine Flow
Eternal Tapestry - Dawn In 2 Dimensions
Evil Eyes - Over My Shoulder
Evil Eyes - Keep Your Mind On Me
Evil Eyes - S/T
Exitmusic - Passage
The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips & Heady Fwends
The Fresh And Onlys - Long Slow Dance
Frightened Rabbit - State Hospital EP
The Ghosts - The End
Giant Drag - Twosie To Losie
Gliss - Hunting
The Growlers - Beach Goth
Guillemots - Hello Land!
Hacienda - Shakedown
Happy Hands Club - Parking Lot
The Heartbreaks - Funtimes
Ian Skelly - Cut From A Star
Ice Choir - Afar
Imperial Teen - Feel The Sound
The Invisible - Rispah
Jason Lytle - Dept. Of Disappearance
The Jungle Giants - She's A Riot EP
Kadavar - S/T
Last Days Of April - 79
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Magpies On Fire/Victorian Machinery Single
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Never Is A Long Time / Love Of Your Life Single
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Strange Man ⁄ Long Progression Single
Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Sunset Sleeps / Hometown Gypsy - Single
Hot Chip - In Our Heads
Mark Lanegan - Dark Mark Does Christmas 2012
The Deadlight Messenger - Demo EP
Egyptian Hip Hop - Good Don't Sleep
Smoke & Jackal - EP1
The Black Waves - First EP
Swim Deep - Honey
Mammoth Grove - EP 2
Neil Halstead - Palindrome Hunches Tour EP
Taken By Trees - Other Worlds
The Suppliers - S/T
Ancestors - In Dreams and Time
These United States - S/T
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Here
Flowshine - Mountain Queen
Wayfarer - Wayfarer EP
The Black Angels - Watch Out Boy/I'd Rather Be Lonely
Ty Segall & White Fence - Hair
+++(Crosses) - EP ++
A Place To Bury Strangers - Onwards Towards The Wall
Milk Music - Beyond Living
DZ Deathrays - Brutal Tapes
The End...
