10 The Dirty Projectors –
Swing Lo Magellan
“Onward through the murk and the uncertainty”
The Dirty Projectors and Animal Collective both followed up their colossal 2009 releases this year. I was at first apprehensive thinking either act was going to ramp up the strangeness. The opposite happened; both added extra shine to their approach. While AnCo through “more” into the track, the Projectors streamlined their sound heavily. The arrangements pared down to that of a standard rock band on most tracks, David Longstreth’s trademark erratic guitar playing is only hinted at. About all that remains from the traditional Dirty Projectors sound are the jazzy rhythm section and Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle’s wonderful harmony. This sounds like the Projectors abandoning their sound in the face of popularity, but what I hear are the Projectors, now with caught attentions, free to make a small, intimate pastoral record in the vein of Paul McCartney’s Ram. Most of the songs sound inspired by the album’s production site, Delaware County, New York (reportedly, they stayed in a haunted house.) Many of the songs are flat out love songs. Perhaps the stripped arrangements are more due to the personal nature of the songs this time around. There is nothing personal, or even human, about the sounds heard in songs like “Cannibal Resource” and “Stillness is the Move.” However, you can picture Longstreth swaying to “Dance For You,” and the band lounging and jamming to the impromptu-sounding “Unto Cesar,” complete with mid-song directions and interruptions. To criticize the Projectors for not sticking to the script is to disallow any experimentation, and to dislike some of Longstreth’s best pens.
9 Pile –
Dripping
“I’ve been making friends outside. I’m finally alone.”
Pile is a Bostonian rock outfit that plays within the rock and roll sound with each release. On Dripping they arrive at a distinctly alternative rock destination, and they bring much needed freshness to the field. Freshness and alternative have not been bedfellows since "Paranoid Android." Needless to say, I was smitten on first listen. Rick Maguire's flat singing and ferocious screams take me back to a day when guitar music on the top 40 station was not unheard of. It's not just their throwback sound or attitude, but Maguire presents some very punchy, earnest songs. However, unlike most boiler-plate rock bands past-and-present, Pile has very progressive tendencies. The songs ebb and flow rather than race to the finish or stick to any formula. I felt like a kid again as I listened to this album. Alternative nation is alive in Pile.
8 Godspeed You! Black Emperor –
Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
“With his arms outstretched”
This surprise album starts with squawking strings and rises from there until around the 6 minute mark when we hear our first semblance of melody. Their first album in ten years and they pick up as if it was only a 10 minute break. The band is as incendiary as ever. “Mladic” sounds like an uprising, complete with celebration at the end. “We Drift like Worried Fire” is my personal favorite from the record. The melody the band uses grows from beautiful and innocent to triumphant chaos, mesmerizing. Many sleep on the two drones on the album, but I find them just as nuanced and evocative as the 20 minute focal points. On October 1st at around 5pm the first soft word of this album emerged, by 10pm people were already enjoying the record sold at their live shows. This is in an age where artists with any amount of money pay to have the internet hype machine churn for months leading up to a new release. Not Godspeed though. Welcome back.
7 Converge –
All We Love We Leave Behind
“Lost from the start”
I almost missed out on this album, and it has since become one of my favorite records this year. You see, we all have music phobias: maybe its rap, maybe its top 40 radio pop, maybe its music with no lyrics. I have done well to shed most of my hang ups, but one of the last ones that I nearly stayed complicit on was music with screamed, confrontational vocals. This album forced me to confront this fear. Converge is critically lauded and many were amped when AWLWLB became available online; I had to be missing out. Spoiler alert: I was. The music is frenetic and electric, but oh so controlled. As wild as it gets on this record, the musicianship is immaculate. Jacob Bannon hurls himself through every song and it surprised me as I shed my phobia how clear the melodies remained within the screams. Most of the songs are short shots in the arm, but my personal favorites are the longer tracks: the title track, “Sadness Comes Home,” and the slow burner “Coral Blue.” For such a loud and heavy record, it is crystal clear with guitarist Kurt Ballou’s production. Once I had this record under my belt, the world of heavy music was open to me and I could enjoy other Ballou productions like Black Breath’s
Sentenced to Life and High on Fire’s
De Vermis Mystriis. A very important record for me, and one that has a lot to offer to any listener.
6 Kendrick Lamar –
Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City
“Kendrick have a dream”
Can you hear that? It’s the hype train! Kendrick Lamar gained a lot of buzz after his debut last year, Section 80. He has thus far made a career of making songs that are very personal, precise, and story-driven. All of that is on display on this record. Kendrick might as well apply to write for Pixar, because his story-telling game is in top form. This album follows Kendrick through an evening, hooking up with his “hood rat,” breaking and entering with his friends, someone gets murdered after a gang run-in, etc. This is harrowing, immersive stuff. The track “Backstreet Freestyle” seems to be uncharacteristic until you realize that it’s the kind of song rapped by Kendrick and his friends as they cruise. Kendrick Lamar’s beats are trap-ish and sounds like the kind of lowest common denominator rap that can be too popular at times. Of course, Kendrick subverts this all by making an album that’s a morality tale regarding that kind of culture. Stop tripping off those damn dominoes, steer clear of them shenanigans.
5 Beach House –
Bloom
“The rest you know”
Dream pop at its most enduring. Beach House continues their exploration into their sound. Fans of 2010’s Teen Dream, and all their previous work, may be put off by how familiar Bloom sounds, but don’t let that exclude the music. Beach House sounds just as ethereal and even more moving than ever. They swell the soundstage and then pop it with an arppegiated melody like in the song “Wild. Beach House is very sparing with their melodies. They keep them short and repetitive and allow them to slowly grow and shrink and…flower. Victoria Legrand sounds superb on this record especially. Her voice is a lullaby and a blanket in one. It may not be the most immediate album on this list, but it is one of the most memorable.
4 Killer Mike –
R.A.P. Music
“You are witnessing elegance”
What hip-hop album could possibly top Kendrick’s? Killer Mike and El-P have something to say. Killer Mike’s flow is so smooth, his rhymes are so wordy and specific yet he makes it sound easy. Killer Mike spends a good chunk of the album commenting on society, especially the track “Reagan” which is a track that any other rapper would turn into a farce. Who else could rap about oil lobbies? He muses about his place in society, a story about shooting a police officer that channels La Dispute’s “King Park” from last year, and endlessly about engrained racism in America. Killer Mike has been in the rap game a while now, and never had a record this big before. What’s the missing ingredient? El-P’s production. The production on this record is explosive. The bass is thick like tar. El-P had his own record this year that I couldn’t get into very deeply; there is rare chemistry between the producer and the MC that makes the album more than the sum of its parts. Mike may insist “this ain’t dance music, this is r-a-p,” but I dare you not to get your boogie on to the title track.
3 Swans –
The Seer
“On a ladder to God”
Oh man. Swans’ The Seer is a magnanimous summation of everything Swan has done. It is beautiful and punishing. "The Apostate” the 23 minute closure is cacophonous and wretched before rebuilding into psychedelic jam from hell. When I hear this, I imagine Micheal Gira listening to The Flaming Lips’ Embryonic and saying “I’ll show you how it’s done.” The track before, “A Piece of Sky” is also 20 minutes long and takes a different approach to the long form. 10 minutes is a drone leading into a post rock segment that resolves with a very pretty acoustic song, and it is front to back enjoyable. Disc 1’s focal point is the title track, which really includes the two tracks surrounding it. The way the bag pipes at the start of “The Seer” slams into the end of “The Wolf” is jarring and unsettling. “I see it all, I see it all, I see it all” Gira ruminates; the song grows and grows until it literally beats you over the head 20 minutes in. The Seer isn’t all pain and noise. “The Seer Returns” has a chewy, almost funky, groove to it; “Mother of the World” is quite accessible while still having teeth, and a tasty repetition. Of course if its accessibility you want, then you want the gothic “The Daughter Brings the Water” or the gorgeous country “Song for a Warrior” featuring Karen O. There is something for everybody. At first there were rumblings that this would be Swans’ final release. It looks less likely to be the case, but if it were, it would be quite the capstone.
2 Frank Ocean –
Channel ORANGE
“My TV ain't HD, that's too real”
Every once in a while an album will be released that has artistic credibility, popular acclaim, and appeal to listeners old and young. Channel ORANGE is this, an instant classic. Frank Ocean shows he has the chops of a veteran. “Sierra Leone” sounds straight out of the Stevie Wonder playbook and Marvin Gaye’s on “Sweet Life.” Frank Ocean is quick to remind us how young he is. As well as intercutting video game sound effects, found audio recorded off a cell phone, and Dragon Ball Z references he also mixes in the hip-hop aesthetic into his music. Most obvious in “Super Rich Kids” which features fellow Wolf Earl Sweatshirt, but also in the nasty beats on “Crack Rock” and “Lost.” “Pyramids” pushes the boundaries of his music with its progressive structures and guitar line provided by John Mayer. “Monks” even sounds like a song that should have already existed. Frank Ocean has set the bar ridiculously high. If he can stay at this level or exceed it, watch out music world.
1 Death Grips –
The Money Store / NO LOVE DEEP WEB
“Noided”
Call me a cheater for naming two albums as number one. While these two albums are distinct from each other, together they make up Death Grips ultimate statement of the year – which is the bigger deal. Death Grips is number one for a single reason: my fiancé loves them. Not to say that I’m a pushover, but she doesn’t have that pretentious, know-it-all disposition towards music that I do. Top 40 is fine for her, her most anticipated release this year was the latest Regina Spektor record (a very good record in its own right.) And yet she loves Death Grips and all their nastiness and abrasiveness. One night I played for her Radiohead’s Kid A, which I prefaced as the record most critics agree is “the best of the last decade.” We discussed how revolutionary it was at the time and how many artists have picked off of it since. She then asked if I thought any record has been as influential and new as Kid A for this decade so far. The first suggestion off my tongue was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. After some muddling, I tossed, “maybe Death Grips’ The Money Store.” Her eyes lit up.
She agreed that Death Grips had no equal. Their blend of rap, hip-hop, metal, hardcore, and electronic music is unparalleled. They are gross and offensive but, as she agrees, completely charming at it. MC Ride has such a unique, dangerous, non-stop flow. He has scream (“Come up and get me”) keep it low key (“Get Got” and “Double Helix”) fun (“Hacker”) and violent (“No Love”.) He can even holler at you, “Suck my dick” and make you think he’s the best MC in the game. The Money Store is the most accessible and apparent record of theirs with very charged production. There are party songs, freak outs, and dirges as well. “I’ve Seen Footage” is my de facto song of the year. It feels like evokes Teen Spirit in me. It’s dancey and fun with an infectious catchphrase while being loud, noisy, with macabre visuals. It is a blast. Not only is their music inventive, but their lyrics are inspired. They could very well just lean on hackneyed, shock lyrics like you’d hear from Odd Future, Death Grips steps up and writes very detailed and specific lyrics. How many other musicians will rhyme about a basilisk?
No Love Deep Web was released that hallowed day of October 1, 2012 (the same day as Godspeed announced and released their new album, as well as the day Converge’s new album became available on the internet,) released at midnight without their labels permission with album art as explicit and in your face as their music. No Love is a much different beat. Where The Money Store is more about the external world, No Love is about the inner world. The instrumentation is dialed down to the point where it is there solely to facilitate MC Ride. His voice is the star of this record; it bounces off the walls and is inescapable. One word to describe No Love Deep Web: paranoid. Ride sounds like he is inches from a breakdown. No Love is an album where you have to infer some of the message, but soon you’ll think songs like “Hunger Games” and “Stockton” are just as catchy and quotable as “Double Helix” and “The Fever.”
The Money Store is their breakout album and No Love Deep Web is the group staying true to their integrity. The Money Store was released in April by Epic and received mass acclaim. The group was set to tour, but their heart was in the follow-up. Death Grips went over the label’s head and cancelled the tour and hopped a plane to China to record No Love Deep Web. It’s hard to say Death Grips ever intended to work with their label on the second record. It was mastered louder than a label would normally permit. And of course, the cover art. It is shocking, it’s a big…middle finger to the label. The album’s title is literally written on Zach Hill’s penis. The band literally forces you to look at a penis. I love this album cover. Death Grips is challenging EVERYTHING. They are challenging the record industry, the media, and society for deciding some genitalia should be celebrated while others should be hidden by literally turning into art. (Of course, I am copping out with the censored art for your sake. As much as I love the message, I don’t need to get anyone in trouble.) By the end of the month, Death Grips was released from their contract, more popular than when they signed. Death Grips beat the industry at its own game.
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Can't believe I finished! Sweet chocolate Jesus, feels like I was working on that all year. Did I get something wrong? Is my order a complete mess? Did I leave off an album you think should be on there? Do you, heaven forbid, agree with something I said? Even more shocking, did I introduce you to something new? Please let me know! I didn't write this just to never speak of 2012 ever again!