I'm pretty glad that the world ends today. It was fun. 2012 was the best year yet. And I'm especially glad that this is the last list you will ever read on the internet. Bye forever.
BEST ALBUM
Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
10th Anniversary Edition
So I'll stop just short of saying that
2012 seemed like a lousy year for new records. There was a veritable
treasure trove of “stand-out tracks” to be sure, but no full
albums that I sincerely plan on listening to again, beginning-to-end,
a year from now, much less feel like writing a whole fucking
paragraph about. (Maybe Hot Chip.) Bright Lights, on the other hand,
is a record I would gladly listen to again and again and even write a
paragraph about a decade later – so I'm glad they reissued it and
gave me an excuse to openly've had that shit on repeat. It was
from beginning-to-end an excellent record; at once indifferent and
sentimental, cool and urgent, sounding like the love-child of Joy Division and Gang of Four. And its 2002 release took the
incipient, New Indie Scene implications of contemporaries The Strokes
and White Stripes to an eloquent and stylistic Next Level. The band
is still trying to deal with the fact that they'll never match or top
this album, but they're very aware of its impact. The re-release
edition features a ton of b-sides and rarities previously only
available in poorly-labeled Limewire format, presumably offered as a
metaphorical handjob to fans, as a thank-you for all the literal
handjobs their fans (I'm educated guessing) gave them.
Honorable Mention
Hot Chip – In Our Heads
Hot Chip is a pretty good band. Most of
their previous work has exhibited repeat-playability, staying-power
and name-recognition. With In Our Heads, they really didn't have to
try too hard to move a couple records and keep their rent paid a bit
longer. But they DID because they are TRUE gentlemen. It wasn't a
White Album, but then again it wasn't a White Album year (there's
only been a few of those ever). However, Hot Chip did all the things
that a band at their level should be doing – ameliorate their
sound, increase production slightly, and consistently deliver on
songwriting – and they did that stuff well. Anyway, I clearly don't
have anything specific to say about this record other than that I'm
listening to it repeatedly, and that, incidentally, I could have replaced
the words 'Hot Chip' with 'Grizzly Bear.' Next Category!
BEST SONG
The Growlers - “One Million Lovers”
The Growler Dudes have a propensity for putting out some neat tapes. Their recordings have
a mellow, albeit profoundly haunted, surf-vibe aesthetic firmly
pinned. Like going to the beach at night in sunglasses and a Freddy
Krueger sweater. Attempted studio sessions with Dan Auerbach resulted
in dissolution and endless postponement of their next release, but
this song was a much welcomed peace offering in Q3 2012. And, to be fair, I doubt Auerbach would have thought to throw that much panned, slapback delay on that snare track towards the end. Hashtag: Got your back, Growlers, wherever you might be doing drugs tonight.
Honorable Mention
Ariel Pink - “Baby”
From the idiosyncratic bedroom pop of
his early tapes, to the reverb-drown, mood-scores of the Paw Tracks
series, to the surprisingly polished hipster anthems of Before Today,
the musical evolution of Ariel Pink has taken some strange turns.
2012's Mature Themes was more of the Different Same. Even having at
one point committed to a study of his 24+ hour catalog (don't ask), I didn't recognize the artist behind the standout track
“Baby” when I first heard it. I could've mistaken it for Captain
Beefheart performing “So Glad” with Otis Redding's band, with a
healthy dose of Beck's rendition of “Only Have Eyes For You”
thrown in for good measure. Or vice vice vice versa.
BEST SHOW
Santigold - Town Ballroom 5/26/12
I was blown away by Santogold's 2008
debut, but struggled to get into a lot of the stuff she released
after changing the “o” to an “i”. So I wasn't planning on
attending this show until fellow buffaBLOGGER Cliff Parks Jr. offered
to get me in for free (“thanks dude!”). Musically, the group
seamlessly melded punk, dance, and, I guess, world music into an
indelibly catatonic and catchy whole. Imagine if Timbaland gave a
bunch of Devo remixes to MIA and the result was released by Mad
Decent. But the salient things about the Town Ballroom performance
were the Stop Making Sense-esque choreography and the backing
band that looked like concierges from an exotic, imperialised
vacation resort. You couldn't avert your eyes – let alone ears –
even when your sick dance moves required it.
Honorable Mention
Thee Oh Sees/Ty Segall - Town Ballroom 9/25/12
Another show I miraculously got into
for free – funny how free shit tastes so much better – thanks for
all the help this year, Promoters. Anyway, I couldn't describe Thee
Oh Sees better than buffaBLOGGER Mike Torsell, so I'm just going to
direct-quote him:
"At
one point, a friend ran up to me to tell me this music was 'terrifying.' ...Despite, in a certain sense, their pop
sensibilities, there is a definite sinister undertone to this music.
The heavy guitars become droning over time, leaving you tensely
waiting on a final climax to each song. In some cases this occurs and
the result is cathartic and in other cases it just continues until
petering out, leaving a sense of tension to carry over to the next
song. This remaining tension never really clears out, even when the
build up leads to something. This trance like quality to the music
made the show quite memorable."
So yeah, so there's that. I had a nice
time except that one of my friends got in a fight there, and I got
punched real hard by a lady because she thought I was hitting on her
girlfriend (it's called “There's a moshpit behind me, Shithead.”),
and my double-fist pints turned into a soaked and torn faux-leather
jacket, and my glasses got 100% destroyed, and I lost my car keys,
and I don't remember a single second of Ty Segall's set. But I woke
up in my own bed the next day, great show!!
OK that's it.
