Sam Goldsmith

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Best Music of 2012: Tracks and CDs

I figured I should get out my finalized (maybe?) top music of 2012 before the Grammys get a say. provide a short list of 50 CDs and 100 tracks (actually 101) ranked in order, the first ten of each getting reviews so and a link so you can preview if you want to check out these artists.

Some things to keep in mind before we start: I ranked 50 records, but that doesn't mean they were all good. By the time we get into the mid 40s, I don't actually recommend those records anymore. However, they're better than most of the records on this list. I think everything in my top 25 is worth a listen. Every single one of the 100 tracks are good, though. And if there's anything you think I missed, please feel free to let me know in the comments box. 2012 was a great year for music and I surely missed some things.

Here we go:

Top CDs of 2012

1)    Spiritualized – Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
 While 2012 was an excellent year for music, choosing a top CD for the year was a no-brainer. “Sweet Heart, Sweet Light” is rooted in rock and roll with masterful call-and-response melodies in perfectly crafted rhythms sung by the charismatic and emotional Jason Pierce. There is an orchestral gigantism as well, with hooks repeating over and over as instruments seep in, such as a brass section or a string section or a choir, until songs last perhaps 9:00 long. This compositional repeating is not repetitive – the music builds slowly and assuredly until it the sound can’t possibly get bigger, which it then somehow does anyway. 

2)    Girlyman – Supernova
If “Sweet Heart, Sweet Light” is a clear #1, “Supernova” is a clear #2. It’s a record you won’t see on many end-of-year lists, and a real shame too, seeing as it is one of the most hauntingly beautiful and emotional records I’ve heard in a long time. Most CDs don’t have a single song that has brought me to tears. “Supernova” has two: “Nothing Left” and “Long Time Gone. This acoustic folk group sings with the purest voices I want to sing with in the stunning harmonies I wish I had written. Much of “Supernova” confronts death as the band processes Doris Muramatsu, their female lead, being diagnosed with leukemia. This record is deep, beautiful, and underappreciated.

3)    Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
 From what I’ve read about this record, you’ll either hate it or love it. I love it to the point of addiction. This mostly soft rock group painstakingly arranges their songs, creating unique musical forms and giving the listener new twists and turns right when they expect to settle in. For me, this means rhythm. Alt-J takes full advantage of double time, the entire drum set, and occasionally the other instruments’ percussive qualities, such as the guitar in “Fitzpleasure” or the upper register of the piano in “Tessellate.” However, sometimes this painstaking compositional style hurts the overall flow of the songs, most notably in “Fitzpleasure.” In addition, “An Awesome Wave” lacks the emotional power that sustains “Sweet Heart, Sweet Light” and “Supernova.” Still, the innovative rhythms and forms give Alt-J staying power. P.S. It’s also very difficult to hear what the lyrics are, and I’ve heard they’re weird. I’ve been able to decode “Do not spray into eyes, I have sprayed you into my eyes” and “She may contain the urge to run away, so hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks.” 

4)    KiloWatts – Acceptitude
 Another record you won’t see on many end-of-year lists, a record introduced to me by my roommate and thereafter playing on my computer whenever I worked on law school applications. This electronic record is soothing and entrancing, perfect background music, although a closer listen doesn’t hurt either. There are some cool harmonies and tonal subtleties that reward focused listening. 

5)    Debo Band – Debo Band
Debo Band is one of the most exciting groups I learned about this year. The 11-piece band based out of Boston has a close relationship with 1960s Ethiopian funk, although that is not what attracts me most to Debo Band. Nor is it the band’s innovations from the tradition, such as its inclusion of an accordion and strings that make the first song, “Akale Wube,” sound almost Irish. Two things set this album apart in my mind: 1) The lead singer, Bruck Tesfaye, is dynamite. Talk about emotion! I only wish he were featured on more tracks. 2) At its best, Debo Band sounds a lot like Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics, the best band ever to be assembled. The grooves, while simpler, come from the same place, as do the harmonies. In fact, I can hear that both Peter Apfelbaum and Debo Band draw heavily from the same influences. 
 
6)    Chick Corea and Gary Burton – Hot House
 Here’s a pair of artists whose work I gobble up without hesitation. My favorite vibraphonist, Gary Burton, teams up with pianist Chick Corea again to do what they have done best for decades: play duets. Now, it’s nearly impossible for a record to measure up to 1972’s “Crystal Silences,” but “Hot House” does justice to the classic’s tradition. This CD gives each master jazz artist as much room to stretch as they need, and at times lets each take an extended solo without backup, taking even fuller advantage of the stripped down instrumentation. As a treat, the last song, “Mozart Goes Dancing,” features strings to juice up the arranging.
 
7)    Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – The Heist
I may just have a weakness for white rappers; if I were more into traditional rap, Homeboy Sandman’s “First of a Living Breed” would have taken this spot on my list. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis create exciting pop rap, but they have infused values in their songs that hip hop would benefit from: a passionate appeal for gay rights, a little more respect for women, or a glorification of thrift shopping (seriously, I think it’s great that “Thrift Shop” has over 68 million views on YouTube). As the album progresses the writing gets deeper and more thought-provoking. And the poppy beats are good too. 
 
8)    Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
I find it funny that, of El-P’s two releases of 2012, the one I like the most by far is the one under someone else’s name, with El-P guest rapping on just one track (a track that sounds a lot like the mediocre tracks from his own record from this year, “Cancer for Cure”). But El-P’s production on “R.A.P. Music” is what makes the project excellent, partly because of El-P’s individual musical genius – the melodic grittiness and grimy synthesizers banging out funky rhythms – and partly because of how well he fits in with Killer Mike’s character – defeatist, angry, and often hopelessly pessimistic. The result is rap that sounds great with depressing lyrics that I find myself trying to overlook. 

9)    Brother Ali – Mourning in America Dreaming in Color
Brother Ali could put just about anything on a record and it would place in my top ten. No matter how good the beats behind him are, everything he says is painfully true. That is certainly true with “Mourning in America Dreaming in Color,” which features the best writing from the worlds of my other favorite records of his rolled into one: his anger at inequality and injustice combined with his endless love and compassion (how many rappers rap so much about love?). This record deals with his love-hate relationship with the United States, finding reasons to be either proud or ashamed of it (or both at the same time) depending on the song. However, unlike 2009’s “Us,” I didn’t fall in love with the sound of this record. While the title track might be one of Brother Ali’s best yet, the others, such as the brilliant “Work Everyday,” get by on astounding lyrics and adequate music. 

10) Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
You’ve probably heard a lot about “Channel Orange,” as it was probably the most successful release of 2012. The R&B record (If I had to choose a genre) a favorite of critics writing in any genre and has made just about every note able top 10 CD list for 2012. “Channel Orange” is considered one of the year’s most groundbreaking records, which is true for four, maybe five songs. In fact, “Bad Religion” is one of the deepest, most passionate songs I have ever heard. And the lyrics throughout are well crafted and thought provoking. But most of the record is just filler for the superior tracks, and Ocean’s lovely restraint on the best songs loses me on the others. Then there are songs that include a dog-whistle pitched buzzing that drives me nuts, and “Pyramids” is an annoyingly corny exploration into trite pop melodies. And the instruments are too low in the mix throughout the record, most notably on the celebrated “Thinkin Bout You.” Still, my four favorite songs are good enough to pull the rest of the record into my top 10 (those are “Bad Religion,” “Lost,” “Super Rich Kids,” and “Sweet Life”). 
11) Brooklyn Rider – Seven Steps
12) Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…
13) Patrick Watson – Adventures in Your Own Backyard
14) Martha Redbone – The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake
15) Janka Nabay – En Yay Sah
16) Homeboy Sandman – First of a Living Breed
17) The Tallest Man On Earth – There’s No Leaving Now
18) Grizzly Bear – Shields
19) Hot Chip – In Our Heads
20) How to Dress Well – Total Loss
21) Dafnis Prieto – Proverb Trio
22) Café Tabuca – El Objecto Antes Llamado Disco
23) Bombas Estéro – Elegancia Tropical
24) Spoonshine – Song of the Sockeye
25) Metric - Synthetica
26) Amadou and Mariam – Folila
27) Gotye – Making Mirrors
28) Alisa Weilerstein – Elgar and Carter Cello Concertos
29) JD MacPherson – Signs and Signifiers
30) Lionel Loueke - Heritage
31) Sam Sparro – Return to Paradise
32) Tame Impala – Lonerism
33) The XX – Coexist
34) Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man
35) El-P – Cancer for the Cure
36) Julia Holter – Ekstasis
37) Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
38) Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It
39) Rick Springfield – Songs for the End of the World
40) Chilly Gonzales – Solo Piano II
41) Bonnie Raitt – Slipstream
42) Jack White – Blunderbuss
43) Mumford and Sons – Babel
44) The Helio Sequence – Negotiations
45) White Rabbits – Milk Famous
46) Sufjan Stevens – Silver and Gold: Songs for Christmas Volumes 6-10
47) Alabama Shakes – Boys and Girls
48) Lana Del Rey – Born to Die
49) Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid M.A.A.D City
50) Baroness – Yellow and Green

Top Tracks of 2012

1)    Frank Ocean – Bad Religion
 The line “If it brings me to my knees” is deep, tormented, and unexpectedly gorgeous enough to make this song my number 1 for this year. Add to that the curt delivery of the verses, barely sounding like a melody at all while hanging around the tonal for tension. A masterfully done track.
2)    Girlyman – Nothing Left
 The staggered rhythms between the guitar, drums, and melody, creating entrapping suspensions, made me think this song was in odd meter at first. No, just 4/4. And those suspensions plus their harmonies made the chords seem rich and complex. No, just standard folk/blues chords. And finally after listening to “Nothing Left” left a good ten times I realized the band was singing about their female vocalist Doris Muramatsu’s recent leukemia diagnosis, and the devastating build to the third verse brought me to tears.
3)    Hot Chip – Flutes
This song’s seven minutes passes before you know it. The hypnotic dotted quarter sub-rhythm that does not line up neatly with the overall meter, coupled with the lengthy chord structure, makes this dance track sound at the same time repetitive and new at every second
4)    Debo Band – Tenesh Kelbe Lay
 This is Debo Band at its best. A very groovy triplet feel with a strong backbeat, and a fantastic feature for vocalist Bruck Tesfaye, who nails the anguish the love song is meant to portray. Plus there’s a fun jam at the end where a number of the instruments, including Tesfaye, get to improvise at once.
5)    Brother Ali – Mourning in America
Ironically I can’t distinguish the lyrics very well in my favorite track from “Mourning in America Dreaming in Color,” even though Brother Ali’s poetry is my favorite quality of his. It doesn’t matter so much on this song since Ant’s production is out of this world and Brother Ali shouts out his rhymes with such intense ferocity I can’t bother to remember to listen for the words themselves. And then, what’s that? A little vocal harmony with himself on the chorus? That’s what I think of in music as a magic moment, something fleeting but is worth listening again and again for.
6)    Alt-J – Tessellate
“Tessellate” is probably Alt-J’s most accessible song, and also the song that benefits best from their thorough compositional style and overall emotional restraint. I particularly like the effect of the breakdowns on the overall form, the use of entire spectrum of tonal sound (from bass to treble), and the space the band gives the main groove to breathe.
7)    Spiritualized – Mary
“Sweet Heart, Sweet Light” is filled with delicious hooks, humungous arrangements, and long jams. “Mary” just happens to be my favorite of those. I appreciate the rhythm plodding forward and I love the chaos of the main jam, with Jason Pierce screaming “Mary!” in unison with a dirty tenor sax. And when it winds down, he sounds like he’s sobbing.
This song is my favorite type of beat making from El-P, where his very electronic keyboards produce funky chord progressions (plus it does that rare thing where the chords never fully resolve, which thrills me). Still, the words are weird at first: the chorus repeats, “If you kill him I won’t tell.” It makes sense with the verses. The first verse is EL-P rapping to the police that he has no information that will help them solve a crime. In the second, he is all too aware of the abusive relationship going on between his neighbors, and once as he passes the woman in the hallway he says, “Do the thing you have to and I swear I’ll tell them nothing.” Actually, the song is a testament to the weird way in which New Yorkers look out for each other.
9)    Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – Same Love
 I am a fan of patient rap songs with soulful feels, and for that reason the music as well as the subject matter makes “Same Love” one of the best tracks of the year in my mind. The piano accompaniment is melodic and compelling, yet fits in well with the chorus and the fuller band that comes with it. And, of course, the lyrics are a heartwarming and powerful statement in support of gay rights.
10) Kilowatts – Hammerstrings/Meanwhile at the Cerebellum Hotel
Two tracks from “Acceptitude” find their way to my list because of how seamlessly they flow into each other. If I had to choose one it would be “Cerebellum Hotel,” because it hits a little harder and has a bluesier melody, but it feels like a second movement of the subtler “Hammerstrings,” with same key and tempo. The soft synthesizers jam well over this electronic take on a triplet swing feel.
11) Julia Holter – Goddess Eyes II
In general “Ekstasis” was too over-the-top weird for me to warm up to, but a couple tracks were fantastic, such as “Goddess Eyes II.” It features unobtrusive electronics to back her largely indistinctive vocals (I think the choir of Holters sings “I can see you but my eyes are not allowed to cry” for most of the song). The song makes a nice groove and her unique sound makes it a worthwhile listen.
12) Killer Mike – Anywhere But Here
Not “Reagan?” Yes, I did like the most popular song from “R.A.P. Music” a lot, but “Anywhere But Here” has a couple things going for it. Once again, it’s my favorite style of beat making from El-P (whose fingerprints are all over the entire record): very accessible with great rhythm in the bass and a sweet, dirty overall sound. In addition, Killer Mike uses an unusual yet tasty rhythmic scheme to express his clever and cynical rhymes.
13) Fiona Apple – Hot Knife
14) Girlyman – Long Time Gone
15) Tame Impala – It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
16) Café Tabuca – De Este Lado Del Camino
17) Killer Mike – Reagan
18) Brother Ali – Work Everyday
19) Frank Ocean – Super Rich Kids
20) Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know
21) Sufjan Stevens – Justice Delivers Its Death (Silver and Gold)
22) Patrick Watson – Morning Sheets
23) Spoonshine – Robin
24) White Rabbits – Hold It To The Fire
25) Bat for Lashes – All My Gold
26) Alt-J – Breezeblocks
27) Chick Corea and Gary Burton – My Ship
28) Spiritualized – Too Late
29) Gotye – I Feel Better
30) Jack White – Love Interruption
31) Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – Thrift Store
32) Homeboy Sandman – Illuminati
33) Frank Ocean – Sweet Life
34) Julia Holter – Moni Mon Amie
35) Frank Ocean – Lost
36) Rick Springfield - Depravity
37) Homeboy Sandman – Eclipsed
38) Girlyman – Supernova
39) Killer Mike – Southern Fried
40) Fiona Apple – Every Single Night
41) Brooklyn Rider – Together Into This Unknowable Night
42) Bat for Lashes – Laura
43) Janka Nabay – Somebody
44) Spoonshine – Bound Away
45) Grizzly Bear – A Simple Answer
46) How To Dress Well – Cold Nites
47) Spiritualized – So Long You Pretty Thing
48) Amadou and Mariam – Metemya
49) Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio – Dirty Us
50) Tame Impala – Elephant
51) Homeboy Sandman – Mine All Mine
52) Patrick Watson – Lighthouse
53) Debo Band – Not Just A Song
54) Spiritualized – Headed For The Top Now
55) Alt-J – Taro
56) Lionel Loueke – Freedom Dance
57) Alt-J – Blood Flood
58) Debo Band – And Lay
59) Fiona Apple – Valentine
60) Sharon Van Etten – Serpents
61) Bomba Estero – Bailar Conmigo
62) Alt-J – Fitzpleasure
63) Homeboy Sandman – Not Really
64) Bomba Estero – Caribbean Power
65) Spiritualized – Hey Jane
66) Patrick Watson – The Quiet Crowd
67) Martha Redbone – On Another’s Sorrow
68) Grizzly Bear – Gun-Shy
69) Debo Band – DC Flower
70) Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – Can’t Hold Us
71) Janka Nabay – Feba
72) Metric – The Void
73) Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – A Wake
74) Sharon Van Etten – We Are Fine
75) Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – Starting Over
76) Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio – Into The Light Love
77) Debo Band – Akale Wube
78) Café Tacuba – Pájaros
79) Martha Redbone – Poison Tree
80) Spiritualized – Life Is A Problem
81) Jack White – I’m Shakin’
82) Bomba Estero – Pájaros
83) Rick Springfield – I Hate Myself
84) Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans
85) Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio – In War
86) Sharon Van Etten – Warsaw
87) Brooklyn Rider – Seven Steps
88) Killer Mike – Ghetto Gospel
89) Homeboy Sandman – For The Kids
90) Killowatts – Windsong
91) Rick Springfield – Love Screws Me Up
92) Metric – Artificial Nocturne
93) Bomba Estero – El Alma Y El Cuerpo
94) Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – Wing$
95) Martha Redbone – The Garden of Love
96) Café Tabuca – Aprovéchate
97) Spiritualized – Get What You Deserve
98) Patrick Watson – Adventures in Your Own Backyard
99) Fiona Apple – Anything We Want
100) Sam Sparro – Yellow Orange Rays
 

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