Tuesday, January 01, 2013

best of 2012

the way i listen to music has changed.  to be honest, with the addition of Spotify (and now Spotify Premium) to my listening habits, as well as SiriusXM and even internet radio, my music consumption has changed.

i don't think i purchased as much music this year - at least not from iTunes - although i did purchase some via Amazon.com, much of what i listened to this year was via Spotify.  I'd routinely use the Shazaam app on my iPhone to 'tag' certain songs that i liked and heard on SiriusXM, then i'd build playlists of said songs in Spotify or on iTunes.

On SiriusXM, most of my listening consisted of channels 33, 34, 35 & 36.  (33 is New Wave; 34 is Lithium - grundge from the 90's; while 35 is XMU - indie rock and 36 is Alt nation).  XMU fulfilled the majority of my music time this year (or at least since April, when we got 6 months free of SiriusXM)

So i listened to a lot of new music this year - but out of that, i'd say that i listened to more singles than albums.  But none-the-less, here is a list of my favorite albums of 2012 - in no particular order.

Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal
Metric - Synthetica
Bear in Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
The XX - Coexist
Mumford & Sons - Babel
The Lumineers - s/t
DIIV - Oshin
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton
Sola-Mi - Nexus
Josh Garrels - Love & War: B-Sides & Rarities
Dum Dum Girls - End of Daze
Beach House - Bloom
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar



Here are some great singles from 2012:
Purity Ring – Fineshrine
Silversun Pickups – The Pit
Passion Pit – Take A Walk
Of Monsters And Men – Mountain Sound
Mumford & Sons – Lover of the Light
Grimes – Oblivion
alt-J – Fitzpleasure
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti – Only In My Dreams
Atoms For Peace – Default
Beach Fossils – Shallow
Beach House – Wild
Django Django – Default
Dan Croll – From Nowhere
Dum Dum Girls – Lord Knows
First Aid Kit – Emmylou
Royal Teeth – Wild
Japandroids – Adrenaline Nightshift
Muse – Survival
Grizzly Bear – Yet Again
Santigold – Disparate Youth
Imagine Dragons – It's Time
Lord Huron – Time To Run
The Chevin – Champion
Blondfire – Where The Kids Are
White Rabbits – Heavy Metal
Wild Nothing – Shadow
Pinback – Proceed to Memory
Youngblood Hawke – We Come Running
Metz – Sad Pricks
Metric – Youth Without Youth
Bear In Heaven – The Reflection Of You