The Top 20 Albums of 2013

Presenting my annual (and annually tardy) Top 20 albums of the year.  2013 had an absolute flood of great new music, but I would also say there were fewer records that completely knocked my socks off.  It was hard to make decisions on the final list as there were many competing offerings that easily could have made the cut.  But the upper echelons of musical greatness were fewer.  So, a great year, but it’s likely only a couple would make the grade against entries from previous years.

First, albums that didn’t make it, but nonetheless deserve mention (i.e., 7.5/10 or greater on my personal rating scale): 

• Yamantaka // Sonic Titan  (electro space goth...great!)
• Cults (a more varied and mature release from indie rockpoppers)
  
• Ulrich Schnauss (languid, trippy electronica)
• Alexander Von Mehren (for lovers of complex bachelor pad jazz-pop, a la High Llamas, Stereolab and Hylozoists)
• Heaven  (NY fuzz pop, discovered when they opened for the Swervedriver reunion tour)
• Frightened Rabbit (great effort from Scottish indie rockers, but surprised they weren’t up there on my list)
• The Dodos (best release since their debut)
• The Joy Formidable (big wall of noise pop but oddly polished)
• Edward Sharpe (great, but a slight let down given they occupied the number one slot last year)
• Sigur Ros (a little bit outside their formula which was always good, but becoming repetitive.  A bit heavier, to great effect)
• Panda Riot (great fuzzy dream pop reminiscent of Pains of Being Pure At Heart)
• Young Galaxy (I adore this chilled out electro-pop band.  A bit too dancy this time around, but wonderful nonetheless)
• Volcano Choir (essentially Bon Iver, with a wider palette of song types)
• Black Hearted Brother (This is Neil Halstead trying to reincarnate Slowdive.  A good record, but did not live up to massively high hopes)
• Washed Out (more great chill wave)
• Way Yes (bubbly, worldbeat electro sounds recalling Animal Collective and Ruby Suns)
• Yuck (the rawness of the first record is scaled back to a more melodic shoegaze approach)
• Deerhunter (blown away at first, but didn’t stick with me with repeated listens.  Love the way Bradford Cox tries new things each time, though)
• Jim Guthrie (after several inspired 8-bit video game soundtracks, Guthrie returns to original Now, More Than Ever form)
• Low (not the best Low record, but signature sounds.  Feels like I have known this record since the 90s)
• Hayden (revitalized, catchy indie-folk tracks).
• Day Joy (reverbed orchestral pop)
• Crystal Stilts (catchy Nuggets-style garage pop)
• Songs By Thom (self-released cassette randomly bought at Amoeba Records in LA.  Geeky, lo-fi confessionals)
• Wooden Shjips (motorik psych jams.  Repetition done well)
• Frankie Rose (modernized 50’s fuzzy sock hops and indie gems)
• Cave Singers (reminds of War on Drugs or Citay in a more standard rock format)
• Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene dude’s recent solo release).
• Steve Mason (Beta Band guy with an RnB angle)
• Joanna Gruesome (great girl power pop)
• Moonface (Spencer Krug and his piano.  Requires attention, but when you are in it, he delivers powerfully).
• Bent Shapes (more punk pop)
• Akron/Family (difficult to categorize – experimental psych jams and sound mash ups)
• Riverrun (if this was an ambient instrumental list, this would be Top 3)
• Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie “Prince Billy” (honest rendering of the Everly Brothers).

And now my annual disappointments.  Contrary to pretty much everybody I know, I dislike Reflektor by Arcade Fire.  I’ve tried my best.  But the LCD Soundsystem dance pop rework leaves me cold and longing for the Arcade Fire I know and love.  I don’t begrudge the format change, really, but my high hopes were dashed.  

 

I did not have huge expectations of Vampire Weekend, really, because I have only ever merely liked them.  But seeing them at the top of most year end lists annoys me.  The songs are all okay, but they are hardly revelatory. 

 

I have been a long-time fan of Eels, but the 2013 record is bland and sucky.  Just awful. 

The Terror by Flaming Lips was similarly crappy in my estimation.  No hooks – just difficult sounds and sonic pretensions.  Wavves was more of the same, and while I quite liked their debut, I felt like I was listening to that album’s cast offs.  Atoms For Peace just drifts by me without much notice, which is the complete opposite to how Radiohead most often grabs my full attention.  Iceage’s promising debut was followed by a hard core mess that does not lift me, but grates on me.  I support what they are doing though. 

My biggest disappointment was Adam Franklin and Bolts of Melody, but only in relative terms.  Franklin is my favorite performer, whether it be with Swervedriver or his many side projects.  This album, Black Horses, feels thrown together, with a recycling of some older songs and filler that wanders.  It is an understatement to say I am looking forward to the first Swervedriver album since 1998, which is apparently dropping in 2015.

Okay, on to the list proper!  Click on "choice tracks" to preview selected songs.

20. Stars and Sons – Colour Me Red

I cannot for the life of me recall where I discovered this gem, but suffice to say, they are fairly obscure.  No entry in wiki or allmusic and from the looks of it, no label either.  Just a couple digital long players on bandcamp and, presumably, a fuck load of energy and ambition.  This band sounds BIG.  Almost (but not quite) over the top in their execution of full on orchestral glam-pop that recalls a more frantic Polyphonic Spree, with the bounce of Ben Folds, and the bluster of Broken Social Scene (they derived their name from a BSS song).  I also hear Fang Island, Go! Team, Spacehog and…Queen?  At least in terms of that wide open palette of aural assault.  It’s almost too much at times, but it is mostly astounding and invigorating.  Choice track:  “Family Tree”.

19.  No Joy – Wait To Pleasure

 

Canada is rarely considered a hotbed of shoegaze – that has a been a distinctly British tradition beginning with My Bloody Valentine and Creation Records, and bleeding over to America in certain wonderful pockets.  Among the Canadian exceptions are Montreal shoegaze revivalists No Joy (with deferential nods to Sianspheric and Besnard Lakes).  Championed by indie darlings and label mates, Best Coast, the band concocts reverb drenched tracks that swirl and coalesce in ways similar to MBV, Slowdive, Ride, and Lush.  It is a messy and trippy affair of interweaving guitar squalls and ethereal vocals that often reach the same sonic heights of the trailblazers just mentioned.  Beautiful noise.  Choice Track: “Hare Tarot Lies”

18.  Grim Tower – Anarchic Breezes

 

Grim Tower is the psych-folk side project of Stephen McBean (Black Mountain, Pink Mountaintops) and Imaad Wasif (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), with contributions from members of Brian Jonestown Masscare and Darker My Love.  The result is predictably great – dark, forboding, psychedelic dirges that channel aspects of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Moby Grape and the Velvet Underground.  Those touchstones may also be misleading, however, as the album is primarily driven by acoustic guitars.  McBean and Wasif reportedly spent several months experimenting with strangely detuned guitars in McBean’s backyard, and then sifted through the tapes to build and refine a full-length.   It is McBean’s rich vocals that give the songs their 1970s psych-rock character (as they similarly do in his other bands).  The sludgy bass, resonating acoustic strums, and electric flourishes pull it all together into an album that would undoubtedly blow the collective consciousness of many a Haight-Ashbury acid casualty.  This is a criminally overlooked album in my opinion.  Choice track:  “Reign Down”

17.  Light Heat – S/T

 

I have been waiting impatiently for Quentin Stoltzfus of defunct fave, Mazarin, to come out from wherever he has been hiding with some new music.  Mazarin’s last album, We’re Already There (2005), was a great one, and the first two are positively legend in my music room (note the #1 song of the Top 500 – “What Sees The Sky” from A Tall Tale Storyline).   Last I heard, some dumb ass bar band was quibbling with the name copyright and then…silence. Eight years later he has returned with a new outfit and his backing musicians are none other than the Walkmen band.  He’s picked up where he has left off.  I am not necessarily as floored by the effort as I had hoped.  But it is a solid return of fuzzy, melodic, droney indie rock.  Welcome back.  Choice track: “Elevation”.

16.  No Age – An Object

 

No Age are the ultimate post-punk band (since we are verrrry post-punk now, I suppose it’s best to call them “retro post punk”).  An Object continues their messy, crunchy, claustrophobic noise-punk.  What is so inspiring is the intentionality of it all.   They are brave in their decisions – their chord progressions, riffs, beats, and vocal melodies are always a bit strange and seemingly limiting in where they can go.  But they know what they are doing, in the same innovative way as Wire.  They know how to bash through it all to make a pathway other bands couldn’t think of pursuing.   Choice (and fairly accessible) track:  “An Impression”.

15.  Cayucas - Bigfoot   

These happy, spritely dudes dropped out of nowhere.  I don’t recall how I discovered the debut video for the insanely catchy “High School Lover”, but I sense Cayucas has made in-roads into popular consciousness – their tunes are popping up in the environment here and there and seem tailor-made for car and mobile phone commercials (and not in a bad way).  Their songs are impossibly “summery”,  if you get my meaning.  Bright and airy, with bouncing tropicalia bass lines and sweet backing harmonies.  It’s the sort music you would hope to have in your ears as you ride a tandem bicycle through a street carnival where literally everyone is happy.  Their songs kind of resemble an unironic Beck or the world music-informed sounds of Paul Simon – but contemporized somehow.   A treat!  Choice track:  “High School Lover”.

14.  On An On – Give In

A tough band to Google effectively, On An On launched their debut this year.  I have seen little press on this record, which is a shame.  The band concocts an engrossing mix of determined guitar riffs, ethereal synths, insistent electro beats, and wonderfully reverbed vocals.  They sound very familiar most of the time, in a good way, fitting snugly in the contemporary indie pantheon.  I hear early Radiohead, Embrace, Doves, Broken Social Scene, and even a bit of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-era Wilco.  Fabulous debut.   Choice track:  “Ghosts”.

13.  Nightlands – Oak Island

 

I was massively impressed with Nightlands’ first offering, Forget the Mantra.  They have returned with Oak Island, another gigantic sounding synthetic/organic landscape.  The production is remarkable – an extremely well-mixed and separated collection of interconnected sounds and melodies that have undoubtedly been derived from exponential layering.  There are persistent ambient textures that are grounded by more traditional acoustic instruments.  The vocals are gorgeous.  This is one of those records that seems entirely new in its approach yet harkens back to older (even ancient) musical tropes.  Sometimes it feels like I am listening to the Moody Blues, Vangelis, or Godley and Creme.  Or random new age world music.  Most of the time I feel like I am listening to otherworldly spiritual anthems.  Choice track:  “So Far So Long”.

12.  Shugo Tokumaru – In Focus?

 

Ever since experiencing the brilliance of the Katamri Damacy video game soundtrack, I have been keeping my ears open for more intelligent Japanese pop.  It was hard to know where to look, but I came across the fabulously entertaining Shugo Tokumaru.  I’m not sure if he does gaming work, but take the sugar-spun theme songs from the bygone 8-bit era and give them full digital/analog orchestration and you have In Focus?  When I listen to this record, I feel like I am in a side-scrolling, pastel coloured platformer.  In terms of vision, ambitiousness, and technical prowess, this could be record of the year.  The range of sounds is extraordinary – the midi programming required seems intimidatingly complex.  And yet it does not sound like a cheap digital rendering in the least.  It is warm, organic, and impossibly happy.  I suppose that’s the only problem with it.  Just like you are not always in the mood to watch cartoons, you have to be in a sort of fantastical frame of mind to appreciate this brilliant work.  Choice track (and brilliant video): “Katachi”.

11.  Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess Imperceptible UFO

 Every new Besnard Lakes record (and 2011’s side project The Soft Province) ends up appearing in my yearly Top 20.  They have excelled once again in 2013.  UFO provides the Lakes’ signature sound – massive sprawling guitars, rich organs and keyboards,  resonant bass lines, and the sweet dual voices of Jace Lacek and Olga Goreas.  It’s always gorgeously dense rock music, but with a gauzy, laid back atmosphere that never fails to build, swell, and explode.   Think Pink Floyd, Slowdive, and School of Seven Bells.  But very often bigger. Choice track: “46 Satires”.

10.  Yo La Tengo – Fade

 

Now revered grandparents of the indie-rock scene, Yo La Tengo has never been afraid to grow, evolve and experiment;  but they never lose sight of their highly successfully recipe of catchy hooks and honest melodies.  Fade is another triumph, which is remarkable given that this is their 13^th studio album, not including numerous b-side compilations, soundtracks, and side tracks.  The measured eclecticism is retained and some experimental sound projects keep us on our toes.  But the main attractions are once again the simple guitar pop ditties, featuring Ira and Georgia’s understated but wholesomely familiar vocals.  Yo La Tengo are old friends, lifetime companions that never ever let you down.  Choice track: “I’ll Be Around”.

9.  William Tyler – Impossible Truth

A subgenre of music that I continually enjoy is neo-classical and experimental guitar.  With John Fahey as the historical touch point, I love the drone, the delicate, and the ambient sounds that can be coaxed from the solo acoustic guitar.  It’s sometimes tough to find that sweet spot among the many players out there in the world and the risk of falling into warmed over New Age is constant (see much of the Windham Hill catalogue).  Then I discovered the boutique label Tompkins Square, which revives and releases obscure outsider Americana (Frank Fairfield, for example, was a revelation to me) as well as contemporary instrumental guitar.  This is where I discovered Robbie Basho, James Blackshaw, Jesse Spearhawk, and William Tyler.  Tyler is among the most talented of acoustic guitar composers in recent years and, curiously, he has crossed over to indie rock leader Merge Records.  His 2013 offering is an absolutely gorgeous, symphonic trip of harmonic drones, waves of pedal steel, and shining melodies.  It is fingerpicking bliss and a perfect soundtrack for the natural world, inner meditations, and everything in between. Choice track: "Cadillac Desert".

8.  Ex-Cops – True Hallucinations

 

Another surprising and relatively obscure entry into the Top 20, Ex-Cops’ True Hallucinations hits the core pleasure centre of my indie-rock/pop tastes.  This unassuming little long player harnesses the lovely guitar pop that unites so many of my favorite artists, such as Pains of Being Pure At Heart, The Minders, Beulah, High Dials, The Bats, Dump, and American Analog Set.  I imagine many listeners would find this recording to be pleasant but perhaps unremarkable.  But for me, aside from a misguided Genesis sample to open the set (the prog drums from “Mama”), I find every song attractive – whispery reverbed vocals, trebly Cure-like guitars, and catchy verse-chorus-verse hooks.  The songs tend to be a bit lo-fi, but that adds to the affection.   Snappy, foot-tapping excursions, recalling the carefree early days of Matador and Merge records.  Choice track:  “James”.

7.  Youth Lagoon – Wondrous Bughouse

Bedroom avant-pop noise maker, Trevor Powers, turned heads with his 2011 self-produced gem, The Year of Hibernation.  Lo-fi, but richly textured, Youth Lagoon creates big and beautiful pop collages that feel like cousins to Daniel Johnston’s naïve homespun songs, but augmented by the considerable power of laptop audio tools.  The result is…weird…and lives in the same musical houses as early Mercury Rev, Pete Samples, Panda Bear, Altas Sound, Maybe Smith, and Wild Nothing.  Much has been said about the dystopia, isolation, and depression within Powers’ songs, but frankly I’ve yet to get past the maddeningly gorgeous wall of modulating synths and gurgling sound effects.  I might never get there, as his fragile voice feels like just another instrument.  Choice track:  “Mute”.

6. Rogue Wave – Nightingale Floors

Who listens to Rogue Wave?  Anyone?  Anyone?  I have yet to meet a fan and it’s downright isolating.  Along with Kingsbury Manx and Mazarin, Rogue Wave is one of those bands that feels like a secret I desperately want to share.  Their obscurity – or at least my perception of it – is tremendously weird.  There is no reason whatsoever that Rogue Wave should not have had a career arc any different from that of The Shins, The Decemberists, Death Cab For Cutie, or The New Pornographers.   Across five full-lengths I don’t think there is single Rogue Wave song I dislike.  This is perfectly crafted, impeccably produced, catchy-as-hell indie rock.   While I am sure they have a decent following (somewhere), their accomplished output just drifts by the music press with barely a raised eyebrow.  Do yourself a favor and pick up some Rogue Wave.  One of the most consistent pleasures of the last decade.  Choice track:  “Used To It”.

5.  Phosphorescent – Muchacho

While the moniker may tend to evoke a chill-wave outfit, Phosphorescent is quite the opposite.  I have never been fully comfortable with throwing the term “Southern Gothic” around, because that literary tradition doesn’t clearly translate to music for me.  Well, it kind of does, but I feel like I am guessing.  But what we are talking about here is that sort honest, heartfelt mix of gospel rock, country, blues, and folk that sets apart bands like Wilco, Lambchop, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Calexico.  Matthew Houck is a bonafide poet, exhorting about love, loss, sin, and power, and although the vocals crack and croak, he has a brilliant presence that is no different from Jack White or Brittany Howard.  And, oddly, if Bono sang these songs, it would be the album that should have replaced Rattle and Hum before U2 reinvented themselves with Achtung Baby.   Choice track: “Terror In The Canyons (TheWounded Master)”.

4.  My Bloody Valentine

Me and every other indie-rock/shoegaze afficiando wondered if Kevin Shields, that neurotic perfectionist, would ever be satisfied enough to release a worthy follow up to Loveless, the 1990 foundation for so much guitar music that followed.  I think there was also a general feeling that it would not be “new enough” – so many bands have appropriated MBV’s signature sound of woozy, gliding guitar and wall of noise feedback.  The other worry is that Shields would say fuck it, and do something completely different in an attempt to free himself from the original prototype.   I first heard the ridiculously long-awaited follow up via pre-order download, while horribly ill with the flu in Sofia, Bulgaria.  I don’t know how this fits into the story, really, but I thought the album was either going to keep me alive or kill me outright.  No in between.  Safely back home, with multiple relistens, I decided that all our hand-wringing was unnecessary.  The album is every bit as good as Loveless, it just hits less hard, because the precedent has already been established.  It feels like a fully formed companion piece and it could have been released in 1991.  I also got to hear many tracks live in Toronto, and the consistency of the new songs with the old is remarkable.  He must have kept all those pedals of his.  (Side note:  “You Made Me Realize”, the show’s closer, was like wake-boarding behind a jet plane during an electrical storm.  I’ve never been so physically assaulted by sound.  I imagine I will never hear/feel that again).  “More of the same” is not a problem here, since “the same” was so precious little to begin with.  Choice track:  “Who Sees You”.

 

3.  Eluvium – Nightmare Ending

As Eluvium, Matthew Cooper has released a string of piano-based ambient and neo-classical albums.  All are at least pleasant meditations and some soar to great heights.  The latest, Nightmare Ending, is a double album and a veritable masterpiece.  Eluvium moves far beyond the mediocrity of tinkly new age piano solos into a complex, minimalist dream world of symphonic waves, spacious drones, and delicate piano lines.  It rivals and exceeds the best stuff that Brian Eno has ever put out and that is certainly saying something.  And to close this hymnal magnum opus, a rare and gentle vocal is supplied by Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo.  Eluvium, I sense, is well regarded in both indie circles and the more the more rarefied  world of contemporary neo-classical.  A happy cross-over and it makes me wonder what I might be missing that’s buried in the classical underground.  Choice track:  “Don’t Get Any Closer”.

2.  Mutual Benefit – Love’s Crushing Diamond

 

The annoyingly named subgenre “freak folk” was liberally applied in the mid 2000s to any number of acoustically inclined but experimental nouveux hippies and outsiders, like early Animal Collective and Akron/Family, Joanna Newsom, Mum, Devendra Banhart, and Mystic Chords of Memory.  Unfortunate and limiting the moniker may have been, but ultimately it attempted to capture a slice of modern indie that felt distinct enough, and that I adored.  It has kind of died down, or perhaps just the label has.  But in 2013 Mutual Benefit arrived to my ears, admittedly more folk than freak.  I was immediately smitten with this wonderful album that reminded me of how innovative acoustic music can be when there is careful instrumentation paired with a sense of whimsy and light experimentalism.    Warm and inviting, like a livingroom sing-a-long with friends and lovers.  Choice track:  “Let’s Play /Statue of a Man”.

1.  Foxygen – We Are The 21^st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic

The last time I felt this particular way about an album is when I happened upon Strung Out In Heaven by Brian Jonestown Massacre way back in 1998.  I had never heard a contemporary record that was so bloody perfect in its homage to roots of Rock and Roll.  There can be a fine line between rip off and homage but BJM might as well have time travelled onto my stereo.  Every track felt like it could have come straight out of 1968, and authored by the Stones, The Animals, The Byrds, or any other psychedelicized band from Nuggets-era rockdom.  I have not heard an album since that was so brilliant and reverent in execution until now.  Others have tried and succeeded here and there (e.g., Black Mountain channels Zeppelin and Sabbath wonderfully).  But Foxygen absolutely nail it.  And the two main bandmates are just out their teens. They are mind blowing in their ability to perfect the style and production of 60’s rock and pop.  There are so many elements here – the Stones (of course), Eric Burdon, The Mamas and Papas, Them, The Velvet Underground, Donovan, Motown, and so on.  This is my number one album of 2014 and it would have been a definite chart-topper in 1969.  Choice Track:  “San Francisco”.

 

And to end with my Top 3 favorite song of the year.  Tough call, but I'm going with

1. "High School Lover" by Cayucas.

2. "Taking My Time" by Jim Guthrie

3. "Let's Play / Statue Of A Man" by Mutual Benefit

The Top 20 Albums of 2012

I have to say, the 2012 musical output felt mediocore for many months.  I was consistently underwhelmed by quite a few offerings and too often disappointed by the good records that I expected would be great.  But ultimately, the year redeemed itself in the last third, and when the dust settled, there were once again plenty of terrific records.   I would not say that there were any particular genres or musical trends that captured my attention this year and I was pretty much all over the place, covering folk-hippie, garage-pop, electronic, shoegaze, indie-rock, and heavy post-punk. 

My Top 20 surprised me with 8 or so brand new (to me) bands entering the fray at the expense of a number of bands I may have taken for granted.  So let’s start with the disappointments.  Note that these are relative to previous outings and the general awesomeness required for Top 20 placing.  These weren’t all bad albums, but ones that fell short of expectations:  Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Spiritualized, Stars, Here We Go Magic, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Magnetic Fields, Titus Andronicus, Silversun Pickups, Sun Airway, Best Coast and Ringo Deathstarr all put out good albums, but not great and not on par with their history (although Stars seem to be carving out a history of mediocrity).  These are some of my most favorite bands, so this was distressing. The category of “crappy”, on the other hand, was visited by usual luminaries Cat Power, Bear in Heaven, Ariel Pink and, well, Rush (a purchase based on vast respect, not expectations).   Ariel Pink was especially awful and it felt so intentional that I don’t think I’ll be paying much attention to him anymore.  Memoryhouse (from hometown Guelph!) sort of disappointed too…had high hopes for a Cocteau Twins/Lush renewal.   It was not to be.  And I will not understand all the Cat Power love.  The new album is a shadow of her previous The Greatest.  I’m glad Chan Marhsall seems to be happier, however. And there will be no Frank Ocean on this list, a perennial number 1 in the press.  Exceptional voice, slick production, some innovation – yet boring as fuck.

A list limited to 20 spots of course has some casualties and, by tradition, it is only fair to name those bands with records that by my estimation warranted an 8/10 or better (i.e., excellent!).  Non-list making excellence goes to Patrick Watson, School of Seven Bells, Beach House, Merchandise, Fang Island, Frankie Rose, The Heart Strings, The Shins, Metz, Wintersleep, Grizzly Bear, Sleigh Bells, James Blackshaw, Lavender Diamond, and Snowblink.  Triumphant records!

On the EP front, a large shout-out goes to the horribly named Gashcat, who had a full-length last year (which I missed) and a new e.p. this year, Devil Kid Demos.  Gashcat is the second coming of Neutral Milk Hotel (with a bit of Mountain Goats) and is seriously amazing.  This is list of long-players, but this EP deserves mentioning.  As do Shadow by Ringo Deathstarr and State Hospital by Frightened Rabbit.

And now, the Top 20 of 2012!  

20. Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball

While I am certainly not a rabid fan, I have a definite respect for what I know of Springsteen’s canon.  I’m not sure why I have not gone deeper.  Hardcore Springsteen fans blanch when I notify them that my favorite album is Born in the USA and that “Glory Days” ranks as one of my favorite songs.  Personal history, I guess.  Anyhow, I keep loose tabs on the man.  Wrecking Ball caught me by surprise.  It is a definite departure from his regular fare.  It is a shit-kicking, foot-stomping, old folk revival.  I could certainly do without the vacuous religiosity, which I find curious coming from a man who routinely confronts oppressive power structures.  But the attraction is in the music itself – a tremendous, raucous populism that is as angry as it is celebratory.  Kudos, Boss.  Choice track:  “Death to My Hometown”.

19.  The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth

There is currently a petition to the US government to name John Darnielle the Poet Laureate.  I know little of contemporary  poetry  and so cannot comment on the legitimacy of this request.  But I care about poetry in the vehicle of song, and John Darnielle is an American giant.  He retains his minimalist approach, largely sticking to catchy acoustic (and often frenetic) strumming, bass, and drums, but with some added piano lines and occasional brass.  Over straightforward progressions he weaves profoundly clever meditations on love, life, and loss.  Every song is a penetrating and captivating story.  Choice track:  “Harlem Roulette”.  

18.  Chester Endersby Gwazda – Shroud

Gwazda is a Baltimore compatriot of electro-dance geek Dan Deacon, co-producing/engineering the latter’s America album (#14 on this list) and serving as band member on the 2012 tour.  When I saw Deacon in Toronto, Gwazda opened.  It was a catchy little set, with some prepackaged samples, his guitar, and some pleasant singing.  Enough for me to check him out online.  His bandcamp page yielded Shroud, which was an unexpected treat.  It sounds a lot like Deacon in some ways, and one suspects they shared equipment.  The difference is that while Deacon defaults to hyperactive dance beats and krautrock freak outs, Gwazda reels it all into a catchier pop form, with better and more prominent singing, guitar centrepieces, and clearer song structures.  Dan Deacon meets Panda Bear meets The Beach Boys.  Choice track:  “Skewed”.

17.  Melody’s Echo Chamber – S/T

The name chosen by band lead Melody Prochet is appropos.  This is heavily reverbed, airy, and ethereal guitar-based pop, recalling The Cocteau Twins and Lush, and aligned with a number of contemporary acts like School of Seven Bells, Little Scream, and Washed Out.  Gossamer and woozy with angelic, laid back vocals that, well, kind of put you in some sort of echo chamber.  A great debut.  Choice track:  “Endless Shore”. 

16.  Lightships – Electric Cables

Lightships is the debut solo outing by Teenage Fanclub’s bassist Gerard Love.  I’ve always been a TFC fan and was understandably curious.  The signature voice is there, but this is a much more toned-down, mellow album than typical TFC fare.   And it works wonderfully.  Catchy, melodic folk-pop reminiscient of Mojave 3/Neil Halstead, The Kingsbury Manx, and Kurt Vile.  Love has a decisive knack for spinning nostalgia-inducing gems.  Sit back and visit your distant memories.  Choice track:  “Muddy Rivers”.  

15.  Trail of Dead – Lost Songs

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead seem revitalized and somehow set free from the endless queue of detractors who seem to love to lambaste them at every turn (“bombastic”, “self-important”, “bloated”, blah blah blah).  Lost Songs, their 8^th full-length, sounds like a triumphant return to the excellence of Source Tags and Codes, their 3^rd record and venerable indie-rock favorite.  And for this reason, the are favorable comparisons to early Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Built to Spill, and Pearl Jam’s heavier rants.  But they mostly sound like early Trail of Dead, and that’s a damn fine thing.  Anthemic, pounding, and gritty.  Choice track:  “Opera Obscura”.  

14.  Eternal Summers – Correct Behavior

This Virginian duo turned trio produce that delicious brand of infectious indie pop popularized by bands like The Pastels, The Aislers Set, The Concretes, Vivian Girls, The Wedding Present, and The Go-Go’s.  And at times, they throw a few curveballs that remind of The Sundays, early Yo La Tengo, or Run On.  They been quoted as calling their style “dream punk”.  This seems to fit their upbeat, three-chord rave-ups with trebly, over-driven  guitar and sassy bubblegum vocals.  Heavy on the reverb, light on the pomp, but all rock , Correct Behaviour is happy-go-lucky while substantive.  This year, it’s essential listening.  Choice track:  “Heaven and Hell”. 

13.  Dan Deacon –  America

This year’s concert of the year was Dan Deacon.  There is something special about Deacon’s participatory populism of “music with the people” and there are very few artists who could get this 40-something into a seething dance pit of electronica rave geeks.  But that’s what happened.  Mind-blowing live show (and audience smartphone lightshow) aside, Deacon’s new album is wonderful, provided you dig 180 bpm, vintage 8-bit sonics, chipmunk voicings, and a brilliant use of repetition and release.    While modern dance music is diverse, the bulk of it leaves me profoundly bored.  Not so with America, an authentic tribalistic dance freak out that welcomes one, welcomes all.  The fact that the record is an explicitly political document is an added feature that I haven’t even begun to sort out.  I’m too busy bouncing around.  Choice track (and great video!):  “True Thrush” 

12. A.C. Newman – Shut Down the Streets

Leading off with one of the best songs of the year (“I’m Not Talking”) Carl Newman does what he does best – creates a New Pornographers album without any distracting Dan Bejar songs.  While admittedly the New Pornos are often more peppy and louder, Newman’s lead songwriting influence repeats itself in  all his solo work.  With brilliant, crystalline production, every track is an ear pleaser. A great pop song should grab you with the verse, trip you up with a well-timed bridge, and then pin you down with the chorus.  Doing this consistently is a difficult art, and so many tunes fail to bring all the moves together.  Carl Newman demonstrates once again that he is a true master of the art-from and, in 2012, a revered grandfather of indie rock.  Choice track:  “I’m Not Talking” 

11.  Sharon Van Etten – Tramp

I struggle to identify the music that Sharon Van Etten plays.  It seems old, classic, and timeless but I am wary of calling it folk, blues, country, or rock.  Sometimes it’s these things, I suppose.  But to sum it up better, she has a tremendous voice and presence over top of a compelling mix of mournful, chiming guitars (that sound like they were recorded in a cathedral), disciplined, spare drums, and Van Etten’s acoustic strums that keep it all together.  With a gaggle of indie-rock luminaries contributing (members of The National, Wye Oak, The Walkmen), the songs are woeful and lamenting, but never whiny and almost always powerful.  She clearly has some shit to work out.  Regardless, her future looks bright, as she is poised (along with Annie Clark of St. Vincent) to be one the greatest and influential female rock voices of the 2000’s sophmore decade. Choice track:  “Leonard”. 

10.  Lord Huron – Lonesome Dreams

Lord Huron was a great new 2012 discovery, although memory fails as to how they arrived at my ears.  With beautiful, bright and airy production, the band reaches the same stellar heights as Fleet Foxes and Beachwood Sparks.  The songs effortlessly invoke open spaces and natural grandeur, like a soundtrack to a mountain visit or canyon hike.  It’s that sort of feel-good orchestral folk that pairs well with sunny days and solitude.  I look forward to hearing more and don’t be surprised if they begin to enter the mainstream radar in much the same way as Fleet Foxes did.  Choice track:  “Ends of the Earth”.

9.  Plants and Animals – The End of That

After the critical darlinghood of their debut Parc Avenue, Plants and Animals got absolutely panned in their reviews of their follow up La La Land.  While there has been a slight uptick, the reviews for this third album have been similarly crappy (metacritic average of 64%).  I have this to say:  What is wrong with all you jackassess?  Holy shit, this is a great album!  There, my substantless rebuttal is complete.  Seriously folks, we’re back to Parc Avenue standards here, with groovy verse delivery, big swelling choruses, and some great rock musicianship.  Included is an amazing Velvet Underground impression on the title track.  Choice track: “Lightshow”.

8.  Parquet Courts – Light Up Gold

Ah, what a find!  Based on an mp3 post on www.popstache.com, I checked out these precocious youngsters’ bandcamp and was summarily blown.  This is old school power pop, channeling The Modern Lovers and the simple/raw garage/surf rock of the 60’s; and later pop-punk bands like The Feelies, The Muffs, and the Flying Nun Records sound.  And Wire and Pavement. When I listen to this album, I am sometimes embarrassed for my other favorite records that suddenly seem bloated and self-absorbed.  The Parquet Courts are….base.  They are an anachronism, yet their sound is vital to the present.  How have we arrived at this place where putting out a basic (and kind of sloppy) proto-punk record is an acheivement to be lauded? It is what it is.  Long live Parquet Courts!  Choice track: “Careers in Combat”.  Check out the whole album on their bandcamp. 

7.  Japandroids – Celebration Rock

No puffed up irony here.  This is indeed “Celebration Rock”.  Japandroids are an extraordinary Canadian duo that rock as hard as anybody out there, and with a nostalgia for the days of youth long past that is almost anguished.  Every song feels like an eulogy delivered during a post-punk wake.  These boys manage to elicit the same feelings that Billy Corgan used to conjure with his early Smashing Pumpkins.   The idolatary of youth, freedom, recklessness, and celebration, with turned-to-11 power chords and heart attack inducing drum lines.  To think they almost called it quits before their debut.  I hope they never lose that loving feeling.  Choice track:  “Younger Us”.

6.  Freelance Whales – Diluvia

I enjoyed the first couple FW records but was sometimes put off by their “dorkestral” conceits.  Too many instruments with the sort of swelling choral arrangements that unexpectedly become tiresome.  It’s tough to explain, but I suppose it’s the fault of trend-setters Arcade Fire (who are amazing) and The Decemberists (who are not).  A transformation has taken place, however.  Freelance Whales are far closer to Young Galaxy in my estimation (a contemporary favorite of mine) – there is still lots to pay attention to, but you are not hit over the head with it.  It is more measured, refined, and complex in an attractive way.  A surprise showing this year, Diluvia is an incredible restructuring of a good band into a great one.  Choice track: “Spitting Image”.

5.  Woods – Bend Beyond

Woods impressed me with 2010’s Echo Lake, which offered a delightful chunk of lo-fi, 60’s-influenced garage rock.  It was messy and raw, but catchy as hell.  So I was excited for this 2012 follow-up (somehow I missed Sun and Shade, but I will correct that momentarily).  I was not disappointed.  The same formula is used here, but improved somehow.  Maybe just the songs, top to bottom, are stronger.  It feels like a dusty psychedelic/folk garage record that was found and lovingly released by Nuggets compilers.  Akin to the retro-vibes of Black Mountain/Pink Mountaintops and Blitzen Trapper, Bend Beyond is perfect homage to underground rock of yore.  Choice track:  “Cali in a Cup”.

4.  The Men – Open Your Heart

YEAH!  The Men officially kicked my ass in 2012, with diverse rock numbers found on Open Your Heart.  I had to look past the fact that the title track (and the best track) is a massive rip off of The Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen In Love” (listen here).  I got over it.   I know and enjoy bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeahs Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand and all those early 2000s bands who revived and updated the punk aesthetic (i.e., when grunge ultimately failed us all).  The Men are kind of like that, but better, and not homogeneously so.  There is intriguing diversity on this record, not just the blood and guts.  Insistent, manic, and irreverent with no bullshit.  They just bring it.  Choice track:  “Open Your Heart”.

3.  Jim Guthrie – Indie Game: The Movie Soundtrack

Hometown Guelphie and former Human Highway and Royal City member has carved out a whole new niche for himself.  Guthrie thankfully has turned his considerable talents away from advertising jingles (e.g., Capital One’s insanely catchy “Hand in my Pocket”) to soundtracking video games and, in this case, a documentary on independent video game creation.  Far removed from his brilliant, orchestral record Now More Than Ever, Guthrie has returned to his original penchant for digitized, 8-bit sounds, but it is more fully updated, cohesive and realized.  Following wonderful concept records Swords and Sworcery (a game soundtrack) and Children of the Clone, Guthrie returns with a soundtrack to the documentary Indie Game.  This is an amazing, compelling doc that I highly recommend to all, regardless of your level of interest in the medium.  The soundtrack provided the perfect expository mood to the film but I wondered if it would stand alone.  It does, and then some.  Guthrie has mastered this form of musical expression, using seemingly archaic tools like a PSone with MTV’s music generator software.  It is at once futuristic and anachronistic – like playing Atari 2600 in 2020.   And through all the bleeps and bloops, Guthrie coaxes out emotional poignant melodies that will stick in your head like pixelated afterimages.  Choice track: “Maybe You’ll Get Some, Maybe You Won’t”.

2.  Dana Buoy – Summer Bodies

I am big fan of Akron/Family and even bigger fan of Animal Collective (although their 2012 entry, Centipede Hz fell short of their lofty standards, IMO).  Here we get both at once, with the solo effort of A/Fs Dana Janssen doing his best impression of Panda Bear.  This one truly caught me by surprise and was immediately slotted into my mental nominations for Album of the Year when I first heard it.  I don’t see a lot of press on this record, which I find surprising given Janseens full-time outfit.  What we have here is a glorious, polyphonic, multi-rhythmic celebration which sources The Beach Boys, Freelance Whales, Yeasayer, and The Dodos, with heady doses of tropicalia, psychedelia, and an exceptional knack for hooky melodies.  Simultaneously, the music feels equally at home with the likes of Washed Out, Small Black, Delorean, and Youth Lagoon.  This is the most quintessentially “contemporary” album within the indie-rock landscape, yet it feels so unique. And definitely undervalued.  Get it.  It’s great.  Choice track: “Call To Be”. 

1.  Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes – Here

I know next to nothing about Alex Ebert’s previous outfit Ima Robot.  Actually, I am youtubing them right now and my initial 3-song opinion is that they are tepid and contrived.  This is relevant because I have been getting the sense that Ebert’s current outfit, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes have been experiencing an awful, petty, and horribly misplaced backlash based on the perceived malignancy of his prior band.  We’ve seen this before – successful but polarizing figure reinvents themselves but fails critically due to the undroppable baggage associated with their previous incarnation – we could call it Justin Timberlake Syndrome, perhaps (this is a slightly different version of the “critically acclaimed artist who reinvents themselves poorly and sours the fanbase” – see Sinead O’Connor’s  Am I Not Your Girl?).   In any case, I am flabbergasted at the widespread panning of the album Here, my undisputed #1 of 2012.  It’s unforgiveable.  Apparently a precocious, image-driven, drug-addict cannot possibly reform themselves and hope to release an album that is accepted on its own merits.  To the cynical and unprincipled music press, ES and the MZs is merely another fabrication of Ebert, another contrived vehicle to woo the susceptible, superficial consumer.  I call bullshit.  I had the exact same experience when Tim Delaughter formed The Polyphonic Spree out of the ashes of pop-grunge outfit, Tripping Daisy.  People couldn’t hack it.  White gowns? Really?  You were MTV pranksters and now you’re preaching communal flower-power love, like some whacked-out cult.  The reality is that the Spree made fabulous music and DeLaughter’s image motivation was irrelevant.  Similarly, Here  is a skilled, joyous, romp down the rusty tracks laid down by old-timey americana/folk artists.  It feels like folk in the most traditional sense – when music had to be consumed live, and shared in a vibrant communal space.  Maybe Ebert IS being calculated in propagating this image – why is he suddenly a roots-informed leader of a hippie collective, transformed from an androgynous pop singer?  Does it matter?  Hell no.  Every song on this record feels authentic, because the authenticity can be found in the sound, the instrumentation, vocals, the choruses, the production, the lyrics…the whole aesthetic.  I think it’s brilliant and this is my anti-review review.  Listen without prejudice. Choice track (and stellar vid):  “Man on Fire”.