Editor's note: For our best of 2012 coverage, we decided to reach out to some friends of the blog to get an idea of what made the year in music so great for them. For today's installment in the guest series, Paul Besch of Quiet Country Audio, a local recording studio and live session series, submitted his best of list. Quiet Country Audio released their final session of the year today, featuring Atlanta experimental rockers o'brother.
Favorite Album of 2012
Every Time I Die - Ex Lives
I feel that more often than not, as bands get deep into their years together they, start to chill out and write more mellow songs. In the case of Every Time I Die, their newest release Ex-Lives' cover says it all. Album #6 proved to be the fastest, loudest, heaviest, and most coherent release of theirs to date. Loved by practically everyone, and hated by…well who the fuck cares. One of the biggest reasons I'm proud to say I'm from Buffalo, NY.
Honorable Mention
Basement - Colourmeinkindness
The only reason I found about this band is because I follow a great audio engineer on instagram by the name of Sam Pura (The Story So Far) who recorded this album. 90's Alternative/Grunge bliss, but with no intention of ever making to to radio. Fueled by honest and passionate song writing, Colourmeinkindness is the band's sophomore release. It is also their swan song as they planned on breaking up during the recording of it. I can't help, but feel that added to the albums power and sincerity.
Favorite Song of 2012
Chris Shinn - "Bound"
This song comes off the long awaited self-titled release by Chris Shinn, former vocalist of one of my favorite bands, Unified Theory (eaturing members of Blind Melon and Pearl Jam). Recorded in Nashville, TN with some of the most talented studio musicians on the planet, including drummer Billy Ward, this song is hauntingly beautiful. Shinn can go from a falsetto to a scream in the middle of a folk-pop song and make you think there is nothing strange about it. Honesty like this doesn't come along every day.
Honorable Mentions
+++ (Crosses) - "Prurient"
I love the Deftones and Far, so when I heard one member from each were starting a band, I almost lost it. At first listen, it was the complete opposite from what I wanted. After a few listens, though, it ended up being on permanent rotation all year long. This song is a beautiful display of creativity from two musicians who have focused on rock music and showed everyone that there are still some tricks up their sleeves.
Hot Water Music - "Drag My Body"
A band I grew up trying to rip off every time I picked up a guitar put out their 8th full length this year, and their first effort in 8 years. So what happens when a band waits that long to put out a new album? They write a song like "Drag My Body" that makes you want to jump the barrier and drive into oncoming traffic while you scream the chorus out the window.
Favorite Concert of 2012
Refused - Sound Academy Toronto 07/22/2012
One of the single biggest musical influences in my life, that I feel discovered ME, when I was at the very impressionable age of 13. Unfortunately, by the time I found out about Refused, they were already broken up. When I heard they were playing the Coachella Music Festival in California, I started eyeing up things around me to sell on eBay to afford tickets and a flight. Thankfully it spawned into a whole year of "saying thank you" to the fans by playing a ton of shows. I was lucky enough to get tickets to the 2nd night at the Sound Academy in Toronto and not only was it the show of my year, but possibly my life. The energy that band gives out is like nothing I had ever seen. Something they said at the show and in many interviews still rings in my head... "Stay curious, stay wild and stay fucking hungry."
Honorable Mention
Thrice - Kool Haus Toronto 05/30/2012
Another band I found at a very young age (I remember buying their first two records on cassette tape) announced this was going to be their end. Toronto was as close to Buffalo as this tour made it, so I felt it my duty to go and bid them farewell. Thrice showed me that you could be pretty, ambient, and beautiful, but on the next song scream so loud in someones face it made their nose hairs blow back into their brain. The setlist spanned their entire 13 year, 10 album career, and did not disappoint. They ended their set with the very fitting "Anthology," lyrically speaking about their career on a whole: "Our lives built on tin cans and string but the cornerstone laid is a wondrous and beautiful thing."
~Paul Besch
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