Apparently the only thing elbuzzard.com is going to be used for is to post a Best Music list once a year, so that Jimmy Valentine can find it 6 months later. I’m ok with that.
Here’s my Best Albums of 2012:
1. Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself – This is Andrew Bird’s best album since The Mysterious Production of Eggs. It’s also the only album that I really listened to consistently throughout the whole year. The others’ popularity came and went of the course of the year.
2. Feufollet – En Couleurs – Yes, it’s a zydeco album. Yes, it’s in Cajun French. Yes, it did not come out in 2012, that’s just when I discovered it. I listened to this repeatedly while I dug up my backyard and worked on my shed. It’s great digging in the backyard music.
3. Christeene – Waste Up, Kneez Down – For some reason, I thought I had put this on last year’s best of list, but it did in fact come out in 2012. Maybe it was on my mid-year best of list. No matter. I’m not just putting this on here for Paul’s sake, I do actually think it is my third favorite album of 2012. I love the corny, in-your-face music, especially on Bustin’ Brown.
4. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls – I was really into this album when it came out early in the year. I had read an article in Garden & Gun about them, and then all of a sudden they were everywhere. Now, at the end of the year, I haven’t listened to them in months, or heard about the band anywhere. I did give the album a re-listen a little while ago, and it’s a good album.
5. First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar – Country music from Sweden or some other Norse country. Emmylou is great song.
6. Theresa Andersson – Street Parade – I didn’t care for this at first, I thought it was slow and boring. It crept up on me though, mostly as I listened to it as background music at work and I found myself liking parts of the album that I didn’t like before.
7. Dr. John – Locked Down – Koster claims that this is just a Dr. John album at it’s core. He’s right, but Dr. John has been putting out a lot of uninspired albums for many years. This is a Dr. John album in the vein of Desitively Bonnaroo and Gris-Gris. In other words, good Dr. John the Night Tripper, not bad Dr. John and The Studio Musicians Sing All the NOLA Standards Again.
8. Menomena – Moms – It’s a Menomena album. It’s not great, but if you like Menomena, then here’s their album, which sounds just like them.
9. Muse – The 2nd Law – I’m ready to be mocked for including this. This is some seriously corny music. The singer’s falsetto screams make me laugh every time. I would love to hear Muse do a cover of Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime. I grew up on Operation: Mindcrime. I love this over-blown, self-serious crap.
This year’s music had a theme: Get Ready to Be Disappointed by Phoned-In Performances.
Here’s a list of the biggest disappointments:
The xx – Coexist – I have an idea: Let’s take all the dynamism that made the debut album great and cover it up with string sections!
Titus Andronicus – Local Business – I have an idea: Let’s copy Bruce Springsteen because we are from New Jersey and so is he!
How to Dress Well – Total Loss – I have an idea: The record company says we have to make another album, let’s just noodle around in the studio for a couple days.
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange – I have an idea: Let’s get every trendy music blog to rave about Frank Ocean because he signs R&B songs about being gay, and they won’t even notice that the album is actually really shitty, rambling, dull R&B songs about being gay.