20. December 2012

Best Music Albums of 2012

by Mar de Miguel Bonet

This list doesn’t intend to be a full list of the best albums of 2012. I do not believe on that kind of lists. 


When we mention bands/artists and their works, it is impossible that we keep in our memory all the albums that we listened during the year. We certainly remember those ones that we really liked, but we tend to fix our attention on those albums that have been mentioned more often or just the last releases. We can browse certain lists and see if we refresh our memory, but the true is that we forget about many of them.


By other part, our taste on music is very subjective and it can be different just depending on how we feel on a certain day. One person could make many different lists even based on a same criteria, just by the way that person feel that day, and of course depending on the albums that person remember on that day.

 

Best albums lists are just a way to catch the attention to articles that we know for sure that they will be read by many people. They tend to be uncompleted and very unfair, almost never including all the genres, and just including easy listening music ones: rock, pop and few more.  


This is just a list of albums that I liked this year. I am sure that it is not complete.To have a complete list of what I liked, visit our archive, and what ever you find in there it will be my true list for 2012. Everything I posted is everything I liked.

   Best Albums 2012, long list in alphabetical order

  1. A.C. Newman - Shut Down The Streets
  2. Air - Le Voyage Dans La Lune
  3. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
  4. Allo Darlin'- Europe
  5. Alt-j - An Awesome Wave
  6. Animal Noise - Run Loose
  7. Ariel Pink - Mature Themes
  8. Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man
  9. Beach House - Bloom
  10. Best Coast - The Only Place
  11. Beth Orton - Sugaring Season
  12. Bob Dylan - Tempest
  13. Breton - Other People's Problems
  14. Calexico - Algiers
  15. Caspian - Waking Season
  16. Cat Power - sun
  17. Chromatics - -kill for love
  18. Citizens! - Here We Are
  19. Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
  20. Cold Speck - I Predict a Graceful Expulsion
  21. Crystal Castles - III
  22. Damien Jurado - Maraqopa
  23. Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament - The Violence*
  24. Deerhoof - Breakup Song
  25. Devin - Romancing
  26. Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet on Sky
  27. Dirty Three - Toward The Low Sun
  28. Django Django - Django Django
  29. Dry The River - Shallow Bed
  30. Father John Misty - Fear Fun
  31. First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
  32. Foals - Tapes
  33. Frankie Rose - Interstellar
  34. Gary Clark Jr. - Blak and Blu
  35. Glen Hansard - Rhythm And Repose
  36. Grimes - Visions
  37. Grizzly Bear - Shields
  38. Guided By Voices - Let's Go Eat The Factory
  39. Holograms - Holograms
  40. Howler - America Give Up
  41. Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg
  42. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
  43. Jimmy Cliff - Rebirth
  44. Julia Holter - Ekstasis
  45. Keaton Henson - Dear
  46. Kimbra - Vows
  47. King Tuff - King Tuff
  48. Kishi Bashi - 151a
  49. Lambchop - Mr. M
  50. Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
  1. Lower Dens - Nootropics
  2. Lucy Rose -  Like I Used to
  3. Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral
  4. Metric - Synthetica
  5. Metz - Metz
  6. Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again
  7. Mystery Jets - Radlands
  8. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill
  9. Orbital - Wonky
  10. Patrick Watson - Adventures In Your Own Backyard
  11. Patti Smith - Banga
  12. Paul Banks - Banks
  13. Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks
  14. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It
  15. POLIÇA - Give You The Ghost
  16. Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend
  17. Purity Ring - Shrines
  18. Races - Year Of The Witch
  19. Rah Rah - The Poet's Dead
  20. Ramona Falls - Prophet
  21. Rolo Tomassi – Astraea
  22. San Cisco - San Cisco
  23. Sauna Youth - Dreamlands
  24. Screaming Females - Ugly
  25. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
  26. Shearwater - Animal Joy       
  27. Sigur Rós - Valtari
  28. Sleigh Bells - Reign Of Terror
  29. Soundgarden - King Animal
  30. Swans - The Seer
  31. Tame Impala - Lonerism
  32. The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter
  33. The Big Pink - Future This
  34. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Aufheben
  35. The Cast Of Cheers - Family
  36. The Flaming lips - The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends
  37. The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
  38. The Lumineers - The Lumineers
  39. The Maccabees - Given To The Wild
  40. The Men - Open Your Heart
  41. The Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth
  42. The Shins - Port Of Tomorrow
  43. The Vaccines - Come Of Age
  44. Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II
  45. Toy - Toy
  46. Tribes - Baby
  47. Trust - TRST
  48. Two Wounded Birds - Two Wounded Birds
  49. Ty Segall - Twins
  50. Wild Nothing – Nocturne

     *My favourite album this year

   Best Album Covers 2012

It is always funny to see the new trends on album covers. With Instagram and Pinterest you can find some of them very fast, but it takes still a while for these trends to really arrive to album covers art. We have already past the bubble and street lights period, and thanks to God the retro-family one too.

 

Welcome to the double exposition one, the psycho collages, the coloured fluids and the minimalist dots and vectors. While home Photoshop arrangements are the leader of the first two kinds, last lyric videos trend on YouTube are maybe responsible from the last. In any case, there are always good works and my favourites are still the ones made by illustrators and true paints.

 

Here are some of the album covers from 2012 that I like and I want to share with you.

The WORST album cover for 2012, in my opinion: this is a joke

   Best Debut Artists 2012

It is impossible for me to make a list of debut artists. There are hundreds. And good ones there are even more! ;) These are just some famous bands and artists that had their debut album this year and have been featured in almost all the media. These are bands and artists that I like. But Jungle Indie Rock is committed with new artists and new talents, none of them here, and all of them in our mind.

  1. Alabama Shakes
  2. Alt-J
  3. Breton
  4. Charli XCX
  5. Citizens!
  6. Cold Specks
  7. Cut Ribbons
  8. Delilah
  9. Devin
  10. DIIV
  11. Django Django
  12. Dry The River
  13. Dog Is Dead
  14. Echo Lake
  15. Father John Misty (as FJM)
  16. FIDLAR
  17. Gary Clark Jr*
  18. Glen Hansard
  19. Grimes (after 4AD)
  20. Holograms
  21. Howler
  22. Imagine Dragons
  23. Io Echo
  24. Kishi Bashi
  25. Jack White
  1. Jake Bugg
  2. Keaton Henson
  3. King Tuff
  4. Kimbra
  5. Lana del Rey
  6. Lianne La Havas
  7. Lucy Rose
  8. Metz
  9. Michael Kiwanuka
  10. Niki & The Dove
  11. Opossom
  12. POLIÇA
  13. Purity Ring
  14. Races
  15. Rah Rah
  16. Rachel Sermanni
  17. San Cisco
  18. Spector
  19. The Cast Of Cheers
  20. The Lumineers
  21. Toy
  22. Tribes
  23. Trust
  24. Two Wounded Birds
  25. Ty Segall Band

     *My favourite new artist this year

   Best Gigs 2012

Corizonas
Corizonas @Mar, Jungle Indie Rock

Best gigs I have attended in 2012, by date:

  • Ryan Adams (USA). Walt Disney Concert Hall. Los Angeles. February 18, 2012
  • Neuman (SPAIN). La Lata de Bombillas. Zaragoza, March 24, 2012
  • The Dodoz (FRANCE). Polifonik Sound Festival. Barbastro. May 12, 2012
  • Delorentos (IRELAND) + Aurora (SPAIN). Moby Dick, Madrid. May 3, 2012
  • Andrew Bird (USA). Teatro Circo Price. Madrid. June 12, 2012
  • Mikal Cronin (USA) + Julia Holter (USA) + Apparat (GERMANY). Dia de la Musica. June 23, 2012
  • Regina Spektor (RUSSIA/USA). Teatro Circo Price. Madrid.  Teatro Circo Price. July 9, 2012
  • Austin TV (MEXICO) + Wilhelm and The Dancing Animals (SPAIN). Siroco. Madrid, Sept 21, 2012
  • Corizonas (SPAIN) + Mirémonos (SPAIN). Qubo Fest. Guadalajara. Nov 10, 2012
  • Swans + Cats On Fire. Primavera Club. December 7-8th 2012. Matadero, Madrid (SPAIN)


   

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Tags: Mar, Articles, 2012, Mar2012