2012--your favorite albums, what's held up, what hasn't...

[GulDukat]

I was thinking about 2012 (can't believe it was a decade ago), and what my favorite albums were, what I still listen to, etc. There are a handful of albums that come to mind.

I really liked Oceania by the Smashing Pumpkins and feel that's one of Billy Corgan's best albums. It's rooted in the classic SP sound, but takes some chances and it just a terrific body-of-work. I really liked that lineup too and felt that the album and tour were far stronger than the half-baked reunion albums that came later. Oceania Live in NYC was great too, a late career peak, imho. The Boston show for that tour was my favorite time seeing The Smashing Pumpkins.

2012 was also the year of the dinosaur, as Van Halen, Aerosmith, KISS and Rush all released (what will likely be) their final albums. I really liked Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth and am so glad that VH ended their career on such a high note with David Lee Roth. Aerosmith's Music From Another Dimension (produced by Jack Douglas) has some great material, along with some fluff. I don't remember KISS's Monster at all. I should give it another spin. I also need to listen to Clockwork Angels by Rush again.

I also really liked Blues Funeral by Mark Lanegan. I don't know why that album wasn't better reviewed.

Slash's Apocalyptic Love was a good, meat-and-potatoes rock album. While not a classic, I dig it.

ETA: How could I forget King Animal by Soundgarden!?

[sonic_discord]

Has held up:
The Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania (an amazing & under-rated album. It's the only SP2.0 album that can truly hold up to the early albums)
Tenacious D – Rize of the Fenix
Baroness – Yellow & Green
Soundgarden – King Animal
Green Day – ¡Uno!

Has not:
Marilyn Manson – Born Villain (wasn't good then, hasn't aged any better)
Green Day – ¡Dos!
Green Day – ¡Tré!

[GulDukat]

I forgot about King Animal! Great album that has really held up.

[Jazzkokehead]

Taree alone was good enough to make King Animal worth it. But it was a a a great comeback album. Hard to believe it's been a decade.

[BRoswell]

'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
An Omen EP - How To Destroy Angels
Blunderbuss - Jack White
Cancer 4 Cure - El-P
In Decay - Com Truise
In Our Heads - Hot Chip
Kill For Love - Chromatics
Rize of the Fenix - Tenacious D
The Seer - Swans
Valtari - Sigur Ros

[burnmotherfucker!]

2012 was a great year for music from what I remember. Neil Halstead's Palindrome Hunches is a really underrated record. Joy Formidable's Cholla EP, Garbage's We Are Not Your Kind of People, Deftones' Koi No Yokan, Dark Horses' Black Music, Crystal Castles' (III). Chelsea Wolfe's Unknown Rooms was amazing. But two records from 2012 stand above the rest for me.

Swans-The Seer is just a titan of a record and I think the best thing they've done.

And my favorite from that year, Fiona Apple's Idler Wheel. Masterpiece. Raw as fuck.

[laur.a]

Soulsavers – The Light The Dead See
ist the Album of the year 2012...

[dlb]

I also really liked Blues Funeral by Mark Lanegan. I don't know why that album wasn't better reviewed.

Still my favorite Lanegan record without a doubt and quite possibly THE record of 2012 for me.

[GulDukat]

Still my favorite Lanegan record without a doubt and quite possibly THE record of 2012 for me.

Saw ML at a club in Cambridge MA for that tour. Awesome show.

[Failure]

This was my 2012 Top-10 (at the time):

1. Deftones- Koi No Yokan
2. Fiona Apple- The Idler Wheel
3. Garbage- Not Your Kind Of People
4. Black Light Burns- The Moment You Realize You're Going To Fail
5. Green Day- Uno!
6. Soundgarden-King Animal
7. Green Day- Dos!
8. Green Day- Tre!
9. Smashing Pumpkins-Oceania
10. Tie: Stone Sour- House Of Gold And Bones Volume 1 and Muse- The 2nd Law

I think I would stick by everything on that list, with the notable exception of Dos! and Tre!. Those are pretty terrible albums. Green Day will always be a guilty pleasure for me and I have to say those are their 2 worst records (by far).

[frankie teardrop]

tamaryn- tender new signs
the cranberries- roses
lana del rey- paradise/born to die
diiv- oshin
be forest- cold
linea aspera- linea aspera
breathless- green to blue
scott walker- bish bosch
2:54- 2:54
led er est- the diver
killing joke- mmxii
the chromatics- kill for love
alcest- les voyages de l'ame
agent side grinder- hardware
smashing pumpkins- oceania
fiona apple- the idler wheel
deftones- koi no yokan

[hologram parade]

i still listen to most of this stuff a lot, def a great year for music

Hecker & Lopatin • Instrumental Tourist
Nicolas Jaar • Space Is Only Noise
Beach House • Bloom
Andy Stott • Luxury Problems
Tame Impala • Lonerism
Grizzly Bear • Shields
Four Tet • Pink
Julia Holter • Ekstasis
Byrne & Vincent • Love This Giant
Andrew Bird • Break It Yourself
Death Grips • The Money Store
Sharon Van Etten • Tramp
Iamamiwhoami • Kin
Purity Ring • Shrines
First Aid Kit • The Lions Roar
Melodys Echo Chamber • S/T
Crystal Castles • (III)
Air • La Voyage Dans La Lune

[brotha52]

Still Good:
HTDA - An omen EP
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Kendrick Laar - m.A.A.d city
Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE
Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

Not So Much:
Die Antwoord - Ten$ion
Easy Star's Thrillah
Kanye West - Cruel Summer

[botley]

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis — Lawless OST

Always loved the Cave/Ellis pairing for their dark film score material, ever since The Proposition proved they could do it with panache. This one takes the menace and turns it up to BANJO. Especially love that they're mostly stripped-down, classic folk/blues/rock songs with stunning vocals... RIP Mark Lanegan ... from Grandaddy to Captain Beefheart, this blends the hooch-running hoedown vibe with some serious melancholy.

Cowboy Junkies — The Wilderness

Toronto's own moody folk-rock superstars arrived at the fourth in a tetralogy of albums called The Nomad Series with this entry. I splurged and got the 5-CD box set that adds a whole other album of bonuses. They went for a more ethereal, atmospheric vibe on this one, eschewing their usual live-off-the-floor aesthetic for some brooding soundscapes and scene-dressing to give the songs more of visual suggestion. Pretty cool shit.

El-P — Cancer 4 Cure

I remember being real excited for this to come out, I had pre-ordered the deluxe CD and even had the included poster on my wall that summer. It's still full of bangers. Just unfortunate that El's frivolous use of the R-word (and doubling-down when someone attempted to educate him on Twitter about it) has kind of tainted it a bit. Check out the Letterman performance of "Stay Down" tho:



Squarepusher — Ufabulum

Another album of wall-to-wall bangers and originally sold packaged with one of my favourite ever glow-in-the-dark shirts to boot.

Julie Slick — Terroir

Bass player to the prog gods, and the guest list alone makes this worth checking out. Some deep ass grooves and aggro goodness! Very highly recommended.

[r_z]

I'll concentrate on what's still really fucking good:

A Place To Bury Strangers - Worship
The Antlers - Undersea
Ka - Grief Pedigree
Aesop Rock - Skelethon
Seluah - Red Parole
Matthew Dear - Beams
Nacho Picasso - Exalted
Nacho Picasso - Lord Of The Fly

[SchwarzerAbt]

My top 5:

Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra - Theatre is Evil
The Magnetic Fields - Love at the Buttom of the Sea
Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Colour
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
Kraftklub - Mit K