Monday, December 17, 2012

Favorite music of 2012

I had a couple of post ideas I was tossing around (Are blog dead and should they be; reading to reject vs. reading to accept; an anatomy of a scene) and may still write something on these topics in upcoming weeks. But after the Connecticut school shooting I had a hard time concentrating on those topics. One other topic I thought about doing was my favorite music of 2012. That one seems better for now.

I embedded a bunch of videos from Youtube so you can find the rest of the post after the jump.





"Make It Rain" by The Haunted Windchimes were a recent discovery for me, like last week recent. This was the first song I heard from them and since then I've listened to three of their albums in their entirety and love them all.


Heartless Bastards have a sound that feels familiar and yet distinct at the same time. and "Parted Ways" is as good an example of that as any.


"That's What's Up" by Edwin Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes is a great song but it also has one of my favorite moments in music this year; at about the three minute mark the female singer (Jade Castrinos I think) just unloads and it is awesome.

I was an early adopter of The Alabama Shakes. I bought their 4 song ep last year and it was in constant rotation. When their full length album came out this year I said that they would be huge. Lot of great songs and "Hold On" is only one of 'em.

I love the Avett Brothers and the simplicity of "Winter in my Heart" is moving.
I like Mumford and Sons and bought the album but found that I like only a couple of songs, the single "I Will Wait" is one of them. (And yes, I'm aware of the criticisms leveled against them but like them anyway.)

I've listened to Father John Misty's album since it came out and I'm still not sure I like it. But damn it I keep coming back to and I know something is there even if I can't put my finger on it. Every time "I'm Writing a Novel" came on the radio I turned the volume up.

Nick Waterhouse has a classic sound and it's one you want to keep listening to. "Say I Wanna Know" is a great song.



Dr Dog is an old favorite, here's "That Old Black Hole".

I love Michael Kiwanuka. Great sound, great voice. Here's "Home Again"

I'm sure I'm missing some artists, albums and songs but this is a good selection. What was your favorite 2012 music?

No comments: