Best of Mania! Part 1: The Albums

Another year has drifted away, and it's time for me to bestow upon you my mind shattering best of 2012 lists.  I'll split it into a few small posts.  First up will be my favorite albums of the year. I'm sure it will be a fairly enlightening experience for everyone who reads it.


Boy. I kind of set the bar a little high there.  Mind blowing?  What was I thinking?  Let's be a little more realistic.  I think you'll be adequately informed of my decisions.  Same rules apply as my previous lists in that I think numbering is a bit arbitrary and false. But then again so is a best of list, as taste is subjective and really as if there is really only one album that stands above all others.  Just silly.  So more accurately, here is a list of albums I liked a whole bunch of.  Some I will write a few words about.  Enjoy!

The Tops

Allo Darlin' - Europe
Apple, Fiona - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
Beachwood Sparks - The Tarnished Gold
Blood Orange - Coastal Grooves - I really enjoyed this album, and I'm surprised it wasn't on more best of lists.  It's so enjoyable.  Crazy.
Chromatics - Kill for Love
Dear, Matthew - Beams
Diamond Rings - Free Dimensional
Django Django - Django Django - I can't express how good this album is.  I love it a lot, but I'm kind of partial to certain kinds of British synthy post punk.  Still, I think it's a crime it wasn't more heralded.
Dr. Dog - Be the Void
El-P - Cancer 4 Cure -
Eternal Summers - Correct Behavior - I think this album will be one of those albums that people retrospectively talk about being brilliant.  I could be wrong on that, but I doubt it.  It's a brilliant little album that never fails to pick me up.
Father John Misty - Fear Fun
First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
Grimes - Visions
Gentleman Jesse - Leaving Atlanta
Hospitality - Hospitality
Hot Chip - In Our Heads
Ice Choir - Afar
Kindness - World You Need a Change of Mind - This was a total surprise.  I had never heard of it before, and was not prepared for the crazy sounds contained inside.  I am also shocked of it's disappearance off so many peoples lists at the end of the year considering how much everyone talked it up when it came out.  It was robbed damn it!
Jaffe, Sarah - The Body Wins
Lamar, Kendrik - good kid, m.A.A.d. city - This was the year I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit more musically. Rap and I have been tenuous friends at best. But this along with EL-P really impressed me this year.
Lavender Diamond - Incorruptible Heart
Lekman, Jens - I Know What Love Isn't - I will say this is probably the album I listened to the most of this year.  It's a rare perfect album, meaning there isn't a bad or even mediocre song in the batch.  I listen to it start to finish every time.  Which is a lot.
Mandell, Eleni - I can see the Future
McGuinness, Eugene - Invitation to the Voyage - Again, how is it this was on no ones list?  I didn't even see it reviewed anywhere.  Which is a shame, because it is a fantastic album.  I call criminal negligence on this one.
Micachu and the Shapes - Never - Ditto as above.
Mynabirds, The - Generals
Ocean, Frank  - Channel Orange - I'm not one for modern R&B.  It comes off as too cheesy most times for me.  So color me surprised on this one.  Really liked it.
Passion Pit - Gossamer
Purity Rings - Shrines
Rose, Rose - Interstellar
Rye Rye - Go! Pop! Bang!
Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe
Shins, The - Port of Morrow
Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Tanlines - Mixed Emotions
Tihista's, Kevin; Red Terror - On this Dark Street
Ting Tings, The - Sounds from Nowheresville - I'm in the minority on this, but I think this is one of great underrated albums of the year. 
Wainwright, Rufus - Out of the Game
Wild Nothing - Nocturne

Runners Up:

Next up are my runners up.  These are for whatever reason, albums I like a whole lot, but they weren't my favorites.  There is some really good stuff on here.  I love the hell out of Brendan Benson, this just wasn't his best album, and it speaks to the caliber of competition everyone was up against.  Lana Del Rey just needs to focus on here lyrics a little more.  It's a hell of a debut, and I think here follow up may just blow everyone away since it'll be removed from the tidal wave of backlash unfairly hurled against her this year.  Each one of these albums has one of my favorite songs of the year on it, and that's no small feat.

Baylin, Jessie - Little Spark
Beach House - Bloom
Benson, Brendan - What Kind of World
Best Coast - The Only Place
Dragonette - Bodyparts
Fun. - Some Nights
Gift of Gab - The Next Logical Progression
Gossip - A Joyful Noise
Goulding, Ellie - Halcyon
Hives, The - Lex Hives
Jones, Norah - Little Broken Hearts
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
Marina and the Diamonds - Electra Heart
Mika - The Origin of Love
Mystery Jets - Radlands
Prince Rama - Top Ten Hits Of The End Of The World as Channeled by Prince Rama
Scissor Sisters - Magic Hour
School of Seven Bells - Ghostory
Tennis - Young and Old
Tucker, Corin; Band - Kill My Blues
Twin Shadow - Confess
Van She - Idea of Happiness
Waterhouse, Nick - Time's All Gone

Albums I Missed, but I'm Sure I Will Like When I Catch Up:

Look, as much as I love music, I am not all encompassing.  I miss stuff.  I don't get free albums to review.  I have to pay for these, when I should be paying bills.  Also, I do have other interests.  Not that you would know it from my multitude of posts.  Some stuff just gets lost in the tide.  So here are albums by artists that I have previously enjoyed, newer bands I liked a few songs of but didn't hear the whole album, and albums I just haven't got around to listening to.  My apologies to the artists on this lists.  I will try harder.

Bird, Andrew - Break it Yourself
Bryne, David & St. Vincent - Love this Giant
Carlile, Brandi - Bear Creek
Heartless Bastards - Arrow
Holograms - Holograms
Imperial Teen - Feel the Sound
Ladyhawke - Anxiety
Lemonade - Neptune
Mann, Aimee - Charmer
Metric - Synthetica
Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth
Pepper, Gregory - Escape from Crystal Skull Mountain
Pinback - Information Retrieved
POP ETC. - POP ETC.

Misc. Category (i.e. EPs, Mixtapes, Tributes, Remixes, Singles)

The title kind of says it all.  This is for all the things I really liked but didn't have a whole lot of to make individual categories.

Belle & Sebastian - Crash (Primitives Cover) - Single
Blood Orange - Forget It (Class Actress Remix)
Dum Dum Girls - End of Daze EP
Ferree, Benjy - G.U.S. - 7"
Foxygen - Take the Kids Off Broadway EP
Jewel, Johhny - Running From the Sun - Mixtape
Jewel, Johhny - Black and White - Mixtape
Just Tell Me What You Want: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
POP ETC. - Mixtape
TV Girl - The Wild, The Innocent, The TV Shuffle - Mixtape

Favorite Live Performance

This one is kind of a cheat, because I didn't see that many live shows.  It was in the single digits territory.  But I missed a lot.  A bad habit I mean to rectify in the new year.

Nick Lowe and Eleni Mandell:
Eleni Mandell is always a joy to see live.  She has a very laid back sense of ease to her live shows, and she has one of the most dry sense of wits I've had the pleasure of seeing live.  She always sounds wonderful and I always have a great time.  This was no exception, except I was late (for many anger inducing reasons).  I missed the opening half of her set, and I regret that.  The half I did see was great however, and it was in a stunning venue in Kansas City.  Nick Lowe I was the wild card.  I have been a fan for a long time, but I've never had the chance to see him and had no idea what to expect.  I needn't have worried.  He was pretty much what you would expect.  Funny, charming, and just amazing sounding.  I have rarely seen such a great performance, and I will treasure that until I die.

So there you have it.  End of Part 1.  I will return shortly with my Part 2, a list of favorite songs of the year.  It will be... a list.