Oh, the treacherous end-of-year best-of list. \u00a0What makes the cut, and what doesn\u2019t, is always going to stir up controversy. \u00a0The tradition endures despite its shortcomings, the biggest of which being that it\u2019s a bit arbitrary and trite to say that something is \u201cthe best\u201d and compare it side-by-side with things that may be completely different; often the only common denominator amongst the albums on these lists are that they contain music, period.<\/p>\n

That being said, I actually enjoy skimming through the majority of them; I always \u201cdiscover\u201d a record I missed in the previous months, maybe two or three, maybe more. \u00a0It\u2019s impossible to hear everything, after all, so it stands to reason that if you trust the source of the list then the list might reward you.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

As for me, I often make my own list (usually before reading others) and I base it only on one thing – what albums resonated with me most? \u00a0It\u2019s less about what I deem \u201cbest\u201d and what was most meaningful or provocative or simply played over and over and over again without me really tiring of it. \u00a0Albums I can go back to next year or the year after and say – \u201cYES, that was my 2012\u201d. \u00a0The following records go beyond those prerequisites, and are ones that I hope will both prove to be timeless and yet also will transport me back to this time in my life.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan<\/strong><\/div>\n

In the past I\u2019ve been annoyed by Dave Longstreth\u2019s maniacal attention to detail and perfection, even as much as I loved many of his records. \u00a0Part of the reason for this is that I feel like he\u2019s bragging with every turn, saying, \u201cLook at me! \u00a0Look at my genius! \u00a0Look what I can do!\u201d and in a way it\u2019s also that his headiness around composing and inspiration is almost too daunting. \u00a0But Dirty Projectors have worn me down with their undeniable originality and lush arrangements and impossibly gorgeous female vocal virtuosity. \u00a0Whereas the tracks on 2009\u2019s equally brilliant Bitte Orca meandered and shifted arrangements abruptly, some of Swing Lo Magellan\u2019s magic lies in the actual catchiness and accessibility of these tracks. \u00a0They are a little less mathematical and so slightly more vivid. \u00a0Because the album eschews theme in favor of Longstreth\u2019s personal stories and feelings, it resonates in ways that past albums haven\u2019t approached, from a completely different angle. \u00a0Plus, the first time I listened to this record I was in a blanket fort.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Godspeed You! Black Emperor – \u2018Allelujah! Don\u2019t Bend! Ascend!<\/strong><\/div>\n

The exclamation point, usually appearing after an interjection or strong declarative statement, is used in grammar to indicate strong feelings or high volume. \u00a0Never, then, has such rampant use of the punctuation mark been so appropriate than in the release of Godspeed You! Black Emperor\u2019s fourth studio album and its first in ten years. \u00a0The core members of the revolving collective reunited to tour in 2010 after a seven year hiatus, so it\u2019s appropriate that the release contains two reworked versions of unreleased songs that saw a lot of live play. \u00a0In every towering movement, GY!BE proves that they haven\u2019t lost that which makes their music essential – the droning, see-sawing build-ups to explosive orchestration, anarchistic echoes in both sonic spirit and whatever sparse voices can be heard around the din, an intense sense of mood and purpose. \u00a0Godspeed is a band that means a lot to many, and it might have been easy to take advantage of that and throw together something trite that didn\u2019t add much to a dialogue that had ended in ellipses in 2003. \u00a0But \u2018Allelujah! feels entirely right in every way, as though it was made alongside the band\u2019s previous records. \u00a0It cements Godspeed as the singular purveyor of such darkly cathartic and moving pieces. \u00a0And I\u2019m pleased to say that the live show holds up, too – it had me crying actual tears more than once. \u00a0Strong feelings and high volume, indeed.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Grizzly Bear – Shields<\/strong><\/div>\n

Listening to Shields had a peculiar effect on me. \u00a0It was like seeing someone for the first time in a long a time that I used to date when we were both very young, and realizing that they\u2019d grown up. \u00a0And knowing that it hadn\u2019t happened suddenly, but that the person\u2019s absence from my life had made it seem that way, and wondering if I\u2019d grown up, too. \u00a0Horn of Plenty and Yellow House may represent the Grizzly Bear I fell in love with, and Veckatimest represents a period when the band meant less to me, when I fell out of touch with what they were doing. \u00a0But Shields has an incredible power behind it, one that I recognize and respect and receive with a knowing warmth. \u00a0It manages majesty while showing restraint. \u00a0It\u2019s measured and beautiful in an almost mournful way that reins in the poppier tones on tracks like \u201cGun-Shy\u201d \u201cA Simple Answer\u201d and \u201cYet Again\u201d. \u00a0After a controversial article in New York Magazine used Grizzly Bear as an example of the impossible task indie bands face at making a living doing what they love, Shields proves that there\u2019s something to be said for just making art the way you think is best, regardless of what success it brings.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Chromatics – Kill For Love<\/strong><\/div>\n

It was a banner year for Johnny Jewel. \u00a0\u00a0The songs featured in last year\u2019s indie blockbuster Drive helped bring his work to a wider audience and set the stage for what would become the opus that is Kill For Love. \u00a0First came the tour-de-force Symmetry, an ambitious \u201celectro-noir\u201d faux soundtrack project released with Nat Walker. \u00a0The thirty-seven tracks on that album, which featured collaborations with Ruth Radelet, were in a way a precursor to the studied moods and dark nuances that persist on Kill For Love, particularly in its instrumental tracks. \u00a0But those tracks act as tendons, both vulnerable and powerful, for the real muscle – like \u201cAt Your Door\u201d \u201cLady\u201d and \u201cA Matter Of Time\u201d in which Radelet\u2019s haunting, detached desperation are both frightening and sexy at once. \u00a0And then, of course, there\u2019s the glittering, anthemic title track – nearly four minutes of ecstatic synths and lyrics like \u201cI drank the water and I felt alright, I took a pill almost every night, In my mind I was waiting for change while the world just stayed the same\u201d. It would practically hold up in a courtroom if, in fact you did kill someone in the name of love.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Ariel Pink\u2019s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes<\/strong><\/div>\n

Lo-fi recording savant Ariel Pink has been working at making a name for himself for almost a decade, releasing a handful records on Animal Collective\u2019s Paw Tracks imprint. \u00a0But in 2010, backed by 4AD and with high-quality studio recording at his disposal, Pink released Before Today and the world finally took notice. \u00a0Previously renowned for his slipshod home-recording techniques, odd sense of humor and quirky compositions, Before Today signified to Pink\u2019s audience that he was first and foremost a songwriter with a knack for thinking outside the box. \u00a0Pink\u2019s most recent release, Mature Themes, offers a convergence of these two realities; bizarro arrangements, sound effects and subject matter abound, but are anchored by authentic psychedelic flair. \u00a0The record\u2019s underlying ideas about sexuality seem \u2018mature\u2019 by any censor\u2019s standard but are here addressed with biting irony, approached the way a twelve-year-old boy might make a joke about, well… schnitzel. \u00a0That\u2019s the genius of Ariel Pink – one is never sure whether he\u2019s providing valuable social commentary or just poking fun at the fact that he\u2019s in a position to do so. \u00a0He sings \u201cI\u2019m just a rock n\u2019 roller from Beverly Hills\u201d and that is, perhaps, the only way to describe the enigma of his work in any succinct manner. \u00a0But Pink never forgets to throw props to the acts that inspired the creation of this record and everything that came before it, having brought attention to \u201cfather of home recording\u201d R. Stevie Moore through his own enthusiasm for Moore\u2019s work, and here championing brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson, whose transcendent lovesong \u201cBaby\u201d Pink covers in collaboration with Dam-Funk to close out the record.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>How To Dress Well – Total Loss<\/strong><\/div>\n

Tom Krell\u2019s first proper record under the moniker How To Dress Well is a sprawling but sparse meditation on human relationships, namely on the ways that they can support us or disappoint us. \u00a0There are two elements at work that make Krell\u2019s work so remarkable. \u00a0First, there\u2019s Krell\u2019s heartbreaking falsetto and the passions inherent in his pushing it to its most yearning extremes, helped by his earnest lyrics. \u00a0And then, of course, there\u2019s the production – the hue and texture of the music that provides the backdrop for those heart-rending vocals. \u00a0Whether Krell is letting thunderous white noise roll over ethereal R&B hooks, distorting distantly plucked harp, utilizing grandiose samples, or melding soaring strings and churning beats, he does it all with grace and clarity. \u00a0The static and crackle that coated 2010\u2019s Love Remains have melted away, and though there\u2019s plenty of HTDW\u2019s trademark reverb on this record, Total Loss as a whole feels more direct and even beautiful for it, sparing none of the atmosphere. \u00a0Krell has managed to essentialize what it is that makes his music so moving and with Total Loss has found a way to distill and perfect it in this gem of a release.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Goat – World Music<\/strong><\/div>\n

Labeling something \u201cWorld Music\u201d is kind of a bizarre practice; after all, the entirety of music is composed on planet Earth – at least, as far as we know. \u00a0Goat, for instance, are apparently from a tiny village in Sweden founded by a voodoo-practicing occultist and populated by past incarnations of the band currently touring being this, the first album the band has ever recorded. \u00a0It contains the kind outrageous and well-traveled psychedelica that actually makes joining a cult, or a commune, or a collective of mysterious musicians, or whatever, seem like a good idea. \u00a0The members pointedly keep their identities shadowy, part a comment on the fleeting nature of celebrity in modern society but also as a means of forcing focus on the music itself, though it would be hard to ignore the joyous intensity and effortless virtuosity that infuses every track even if you knew who was playing. \u00a0The anonymous female vocalist on these jams is what sends them over the edge; in an era where wispy or witch-like feminine affectation is rampant, the songstress in Goat offers urgent chants, wailing until her voice breaks, her singing sometimes frenzied, sometimes devotional, sometimes both. \u00a0Yes, there are more than a few nods to goat worship, but there are almost as many to disco. \u00a0At its core, World Music is about carefree hedonism, about the act of devouring disparate influences and letting them wash over the senses, about auditory transcendence and the trances it induces.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Merchandise – Children Of Desire<\/strong><\/div>\n

There are two things that stopped this release from catapulting to the top of the list. \u00a0First, it\u2019s technically not a full-length record, although as EPs go it definitely plays longer than most. \u00a0Second and more importantly, Merchandise let me down with their lifeless (read: drummer-less) live sets I saw this year. \u00a0But I\u2019m hoping that they\u2019ll pull it together and blow my socks off eventually, which shouldn\u2019t be very hard since these songs have indelibly etched their mark on my heart. \u00a0The earnest crooning of Carson Cox has drawn comparisons to Morrissey – not much of a leap, especially when he\u2019s singing the lines \u201cOh I fell in love again. \u00a0You know, the kind that\u2019s like quicksand. \u00a0I guess I didn\u2019t understand. \u00a0I just like to lose my head\u201d. \u00a0He\u2019s also got a bit of that sardonic sneer that Moz is known for, most evident during \u201cIn Nightmare Room\u201d with its caustic guitar and repeated line \u201cI kiss your mouth and your face just disappears\u201d. \u00a0But Merchandise don\u2019t simply mimic influences; the sound at which they\u2019ve arrived is completely contemporary and difficult to categorize. \u00a0The most telling lyric is the opening line of \u201cBecome What You Are\u201d an elegant kiss-off to inauthentic appropriation that evolves over the course of ten minutes from pop gem to kinetic, disorderly jangle. \u00a0Cox sings \u201cNow the music\u2019s started, I realized it was all a lie -the guitars were ringing out last year\u2019s punk\u201d \u00a0and a moment later, flippantly waves it all away: \u201cIt don\u2019t really matter what I say. You\u2019re just gonna twist it anyway. Did you even listen to my words? You just like to memorize the chorus\u201d. \u00a0They\u2019re a band wholly committed to the integrity of becoming, of shucking off old skins and processing the experience.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man<\/strong><\/div>\n

Natasha Khan becomes, with each album she releases, more and more essential to music at large, and with The Haunted Man she proves it song for song, from spectral lead single \u201cLaura\u201d to the radiating all-male choir on the album\u2019s title track. \u00a0Khan suffered intense writer\u2019s block at the onset of writing the album, calling on Radiohead\u2019s Thom Yorke for advice, taking dance classes, and finally finding inspiration in life drawing and movies. \u00a0As a result, the album is infused with a reserved theatricality that\u2019s more finely grained and intensely focused than much of her previous work. \u00a0Khan\u2019s voice rises and glides powerfully over her arrangements, which even at their most orchestral remain concise and unfettered by extravagant ornamentation. \u00a0The power and restraint that play out on this album edge it out over those of her contemporaries and solidify her spot in a canon of greats, heir to a particular throne inhabited by such enigmatic women as PJ Harvey, Kate Bush and Bjork.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a>Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes<\/strong><\/div>\n

Though many predicted that the end of the world would coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar, as it turned out December 21st, 2012 was just an ordinary day. \u00a0But if the apocalypse had come, there would be no more fitting soundtrack than the work of Steven Ellison, otherwise known as Flying Lotus. \u00a0Appropriately dark and dream-like, Ellison here eschews the density that made 2010\u2019s Cosmogramma such a complex listen, revisiting free jazz techniques and traditional African rhythms. \u00a0As the album progresses, a sense of journey unfolds, tied together by live bass from collaborator Thundercat. \u00a0Each track is infused with a sort of jittery calm, fluttering and lilting and filled with epiphany. \u00a0Guest vocals from the likes of Erykah Badu and Thom Yorke are treated as no more than additional instrumentation; Ellison is possessed with a sense of purpose and ownership to the music he\u2019s carefully constructed. \u00a0In these tones, one can see whole worlds crumble. \u00a0It\u2019s not unlike an out-of-body experience, really, one in which to listen is to drift outside oneself. \u00a0Ellison has proven that he is a serious producer, interested in growing and exploring subtle musical shifts rather than cashing in on one particular sound and driving it into the ground. \u00a0Until The Quiet Comes provides examples of the loudest kind of quiet one can experience, unfolding as beautifully and austerely as anything Flying Lotus has ever released.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

\n

That rounds out my top ten for the year, but there were a handful of others that stuck with me as well. \u00a0Below find some runners up with links to AudioFemme coverage from throughout the year!
\nPh\u00e9dre – Ph\u00e9dre<\/a>
\nPurity Ring – Shrines<\/a>
\nSwans – The Seer<\/a>
\nDeath Grips – The Money Store<\/a>
\nMac DeMarco – Rock N Roll Nightclub\/2<\/a>
\nLiars – WIXIW<\/a>
\nSharon Van Etten – Tramp<\/a>
\nPeaking Lights – Lucifer<\/a>
\nFrankie Rose – Interstellar<\/a>
\nHoly Other – Held<\/a><\/p>\n

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