Year in Music - How Will 2012 Be Remembered?
We're stumbling into year-end territory, and I'm planning some of DiS' year-end editorial at the minute (or at least revisiting albums and trying to see if there's a way to bring things into focus, to commission some pieces).
What events, themes and 'things' do you think will definite this year in music?
p.s. I've started compiling a playlist of stuff I've liked/DiS has championed this year. What's missing? http://open.spotify.com/user/seaninsound/playlist/7eTFllPZxW6TI2mK0WzOmY
- Relevant artist taggings:
- Icona Pop »[x]
- Troll »[x]
- Cry of shits »[x]
- I Remember Nothing »[x]
- Remember Remember »[x]
- Remember Honolulu »[x]
- Year Of The Man »[x]
- Story Of The Year »[x]
- Stumble »[x]
- Plan A »[x]
- Editors »[x]
- The Walk & Rogerseventytwo »[x]
- american flamewhip »[x]
- dick laurent is dead »[x]
- Mummy Says I'm Special »[x]
- NUKE »[x]
- TV On The Radio »[x]
- Face For Radio (U.S.) »[x]
- Face For Radio (UK) »[x]
- Jessica Delfino »[x]
- The Cunts »[x]
- Carly Rae Jepsen »[x]
- Taylor Swift »[x]
- Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky »[x]
- Gwen Stefani »[x]
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As a patchy year
but a good one for the electronically-inclined, generally.
It's been the weakest year of this decade so far imo, but then 2010 and 2011 were so fucking strong it'd be hard for it not to be.
didn't a lot of people say 2010 and 2011 were weak years tho?
Not I, but I heard people hear saying as much. Maybe all years take a yearendageddon to make sense?
the only I can ever make sense of anything is through lists
*only way
Well 2010 and 2011 weren't *incredible*,
but for album releases 2012 was even worse. Despite some exceptions, often electronic, I think this was the poorest year since I started listening to music. But obviously press and blogs have to say everything's THE BEST EVER so you keep reading.
There were loads of amazing gigs though, really loads. From tiny all the way to the O2.
I think I kinda made that admission in my Emeralds pre-amble a few years back, but maybe it should be A THING this year. There are some exceptional bodies of work (Blondes, in particular) and strong albums, but they all seem to have a few weak tracks (or a few really strong tracks, and a lot of middling ones). I can't think of an album this year that feels like a true era-defining classic - save for maybe Liars and Chromatics, but then they haven't had the hit songs or wider recognition which would make my argument for this. Quite surprised Sharon Van Etten and Twin Shadow haven't been even bigger successes. And that the Chairlift album seemed to get a little bit lost. Not looking forward to people getting OTT about Jessie Ware and Beach House, whilst ignoring things like School of Seven Bells and Efterklang. Gonna be a weird year-end this year, and possibly a little more varied than previous years.
Chromatics' album is way too long. So there is some filler...
School of Seven Bells' album on the other side is great from start to end.
!
"but a good one for the electronically-inclined, generally."
According to you, what were the best electronically-inclined releases? I want to check if I missed something good...
What you are missing:
- RM Hubbert's new album Thirteen Lost and Found
- Arrange's New Memory
- Graven Hurst's The Ghost in Daylight
- Phantogram's Nightlife EP
- Tall Ships' Everything Touching
Nightlife was last year though
:(
Indeed.
Nightlife is an excellent EP. I still listen to it pretty often.
same as it ever was
for those of you not on Spotify, the playlist has the following tracks (will round it up to 100 in the coming weeks)
Chromatics – Lady
The Twilight Sad – Nil
Cat Power – Manhattan
Sharon Van Etten – Leonard
Twin Shadow – Run My Heart
Metric – Breathing Underwater
FOE – Tyrant Song
Blood Red Shoes – In Time To Voices
Liars – Brats
Chairlift – I Belong In Your Arms
Bear In Heaven – The Reflection Of You
Yppah – Blue Schwinn
Blondes – Business
Efterklang – Hollow Mountain
Tori Amos – Silent All These Years
Correatown – Further
Bat For Lashes – Rest Your Head
School Of Seven Bells – The Night
POLIÇA – Lay Your Cards Out
Exitmusic – The Modern Age
CFCF – Exercise 2 (School)
Keaton Henson – You Don't Know How Lucky You Are
The xx – Tides
Fiona Apple – Hot Knife
Marina And The Diamonds – Teen Idle
The Magnetic Fields – Andrew In Drag
The Shins – Fall Of '82
Grizzly Bear – Speak In Rounds
The Maccabees – Feel To Follow
The Sea And Cake – A Mere
Field Music – A New Town
The Walkmen – The Witch
Japandroids – The Nights of Wine and Roses
Bruce Springsteen – Death To My Hometown
Spiritualized – I Am What I Am
Nico Muhly – Part I
How To Dress Well – Ocean Floor For Everything
Jessie Ware – Strangest Feeling
Muse – Madness
Grimes – Oblivion
Yeasayer – Henrietta
John Talabot – Destiny feat. Pional
Sleigh Bells – End of the Line
Errors – Pleasure Palaces
Echo Lake – Wild Peace
dEUS – One Thing About Waves
Bloc Party – V.A.L.I.S.
Future Of The Left – sorry dad, i was late for the riots
Django Django – Hail Bop
Nathan Fake – Iceni Strings
Daphni – Ye Ye
Ghosting Season – Lost At Sea - Original Mix
Motion Sickness Of Time Travel – The Center
Perfume Genius – All Waters
Eight And A Half – Scissors
Actress – Ascending
Gatekeeper – Exolift
Why – Sod In The Seed
Dirty Projectors – Gun Has No Trigger
Beach House – Myth
Air – Seven Stars
Orbital – New France - feat. Zola Jesus
Shearwater – Breaking the Yearlings
Andrew Bird – Lusitania
Lee Ranaldo – Off The Wall
The Cribs – Confident Men
RYAT – Owl
Death Grips – Lost Boys
William Basinski – dlp 1.1
Halls – White Chalk
Would not have picked the Tyrant Song
I mean, I loved the FOE album, but that song ain't her strongest.
It may be the most instant. I couldn't decide. I really love the album. Probably just like that one more as it was one of the first I heard.
Cold Hard Rock
switched. T U N E
technically a single last year
but whatevs, tune
You've got to have 'Mladic' on there
And something from the Swans album.
They'll certainly pad out the length.
i'll need to listen to this
so many bands/albums i haven't bothered to listen to. hopefully i'll pick up on something i missed first time round.
Although I love the William Basinski track, I must say it kills the flow of this mixtape.
It won't
a lack of standout singles as the charts are still (largely) clogged up with grating 'club' shite
but a quality year for albums.
- lots of older heads storming back into the fold: Fiona, Swans, Killer Mike, Godspeed....Scott Walker?
- some very exciting new r'n'b/rap talent making good on early promise: Frank Ocean, Kendrick, Death Grips, Miguel, Schoolboy Q
- a smattering of excellent alternative rock from still-fresh acts: Japandroids, Cloud Nothings, Tame Impala, The Men, Ty Segall
- perhaps the biggest thing is a superb spread of electronic releases from across the board, to name a few: Chromatics, Flying Lotus, Voices From The Lake, Actress, Four Tet, Claro Intelecto, John Talabot, Motion Sickness of Time Travel, Forward Strategy Group, Burial etc etc
absolutely shocking year for British non-electronic artists, mind
So much ^this
maybe DiS do more to promote british artists? Like a "best of British" year end list or something. Seems a lot of British indie label artists struggle to get the kind of attention a lot of US indie and major label UK acts get. Think django django are the only "unestablished" artist on this year's mercury list NOT on a major...
when it comes to looking back at the year from an end-of-decade persepective
2012 will have a lot more to say for itself than 2011; but less than 2010.
A Good Year for Baristas?
Every single one I've been in lately has been playing the new Beach House. A few are still playing Bon Iver tho.
it won't be
A Bad Year for Buzzbands?
Deap Vally are apparently not a super-ironic joke?! Savages are apparently the most amazing new band in the world right now, and yet all I hear is Yeah Yeah Yeahs b-sides...? So many more acts getting a moment of attention that seems to have even less logic to it than much of what made it into that buzzbands playlist. Who was your least favourite hyped act this year? There are a lot to choose from...
Howler
Like what the fuck is the point ..... was nice to see Beach House get some mainstream love, also Errors and Graham Coxon released good records ......... also was it this year that (Viva) Brother split up? That was pretty cool.
the year all the post hardcorey emo bands ran out of money and had to pretend they liked each other again
JESSY WER@!@!!!!
Seems a bit off not having any Flying Lotus in there
I'd maybe throw in Electric Candyman or Putty Boy Strut
For what it's worth, it's utterly pointless even losing sleep over this kind of thing
It's just yet another year during which some records came out ranging from good to bad and differing in most people's opinion anyhow.
For what it's worth, I think there have been 3 solid gold records this year: Aesop Rock, Bats and Swans, plus a whole heap of things I've really liked (Hot Chip, FOTL, El-P, Death Grips, RM Hubbert, Field Music, Four Tet) so that's a decent return in my eyes.
it will probably be remembered
as the year that confirmed that music fans, in general, are much more interested in the past than the future.
for me? an amazing year of beautiful albums - swans, sun kil moon, breton, neil halstead, music tapes, action bronson, - and tons of amazing shows and festivals. a classic for me personally in terms of music...
It was no 2007
thats for sure
Here's my assessment of the last decade in music
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_mGq93ifzOcg/SGmDnpx9EXI/AAAAAAAAAHo/PS0ZEUtcI1A/s400/Barren+Blog.jpg
Fixed
http://i.imgur.com/s7DSR.jpg
Whoa
That's very indie. Props to the audience.
Hmm...
The welcome return of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Dead Can Dance.
The release of the remastered My Bloody Valentine back-catalogue.
Baroness nearly getting wiped out in a tour bus.
Errors' masterful blend of chill wave, post rock and electronica.
Purity Ring stepping up as the new face of 4AD.
Hot Chip and The 2 Bears making albums it feels impossible to like more than one other.
St. Vincent and David Byrns getting horny together.
TBC: Scott Walker scaring the shit out of everyone again.
Certified:
Scott Walker is scaring the shit out of everyone again.
The year of Call Me Maybe
I'll probably claim that it was the worst in recent memory
until I start reading the end of year lists and all of the discussion surrounding them and realise how much I've missed out on, resulting in spending the first 4 months of 2013 catching up on 2012, deciding that it was actually a good year, missing what is being released in 2013 in the process meaning that I won't start appreciating music from the current year until nearer the end of 2013...
And repeat for 2013/14.
This is pretty much exactly what I've felt every year for the past few
and exactly what I've done the following year. I've really tried to keep up this year - on that basis it feels like a good-ish year. The best bits of this year (for me) - Grimes, Liars, Now Now and Black Swan are easily up there with the keepers from last year (Kurt Vile, EMA, Ringo Deathstarr, Wild Beasts and Walls). The runners up feel pretty good this year too.
As that year that Sean thought finished in October.
Is there much else DiS-relevant on the release schedule? We're now getting Jan-Feb 2013 releases in, and to do great coverage takes time.
Most lists will start running in mid-November when the December issues of magazines hit shelves (some of these have already gone to print, so feel free to write a letter to your local MP if you have an issue with that).
From mid-November 'retail' (or HMV as its now known) flip all their new release racks to the year's biggest sellers and 'gift ideas' and the only new releases tend to be massive pop albums, best ofs, boxsets and few things that labels try to bury (like Fallout Boy or whatever)
But don't forget last year Kate Bush dropped 50 Words for Snow on us after October.
And that turned out to be album of the year, for me.
In list format.
YAY
3 out of 10
Best year yet.
Which is to say, that most music is uninspired - y'know hymns, songs for school plays, some kid on acid playing a marimba with his foot...
Don't really see how we could hit the lofty heights of 5/10 any time soon.
a pretty great year for rap and related artists
Aesop, Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, Frank Ocean, the RZA soundtrack, A$AP's upcoming album ... swish
There definitely should be a song from the Frank Ocean album in that playlist
I vote for Pyramids
Forrest Gump, you run my mind boy
added
HEEEEEEEY SEXY LADY
Very weak year for straight up indie rock
Divine Fits is the only good one off the top of my head.
Is this the one with the guy from Spoon?
I wanted to hear that if it is.
*guy from Handsome Furs
what? Boeckner has another thing going?
how have I not heard about this earlier?
and the guy from Spoon
good album
Just read this and went to amazon and bought it.
Didn't know anything about it. You know Boeckner is in the superb Wolf Parade also? Fucking love Wolf Parade, and like Spoon a lot, too.
yeah, but Handsome Furs >>>>>>>>>> Wolf Parade
yeah, but Shine A Light >>>>>>>> anything else Krug's ever written
Tall Ships
Can't speak for anyone else
But this is almost certainly going to be the year I stop thinking about music in terms of fucking release date.
I did this some years back and it changed my life.
I have no interest at all anymore in the 'this year was better than that year' debates. Keepin it smug.
i'm still interested in the whole end of year lists thing
but it always seemed stupid to me to compare one year to another, there'll be albums you love and albums you hate every year, what does it matter if here's a few more this year than that year?
I think I just like it because
Everyone makes playlists which are a good way of discovering some of the best music from the past twelve months.
The fact that this adheres to a calendar year and is then propped up against other calendar years is not something I particularly care about.
I def dont mind the listing of good stuff
at the end of years but its not like there's ONLY 50 albums I can check cos XXXX said I need to. I myself make a bunch of end of year lists, its fun.
You could discover music from any given year for the rest of your life and be fixated on that year being the best ever if you wanted to.
the year that GY!BE came back with a bang
and Tame Impala nailed the sophomore album syndrome
Mladic has to go in, best thing they've done for me
Warrior Song by Swans
Car Song by RM Hubbert
I'd put in shouts for Pinkunoizu, Tall Ships, AC Newman and Caspian as well.
a poor year so far
Including for dance music. There's been a lot of albums out admittedly but quite a few of them are just compilations of stuff from last year and generally look back to what was good a year or two ago. There's also nowhere near as much good stuff going on in the EPs which is the real area you look at for dance music health. For the most part it's all turned into stale, tasteful retreads of 90s genres.
Finally, a thread in which I don't feel totally alone in calling 2012 a poor year
Got better in the August-September period, but still worse than average. Especially since I think 2011 was honestly excellent.
Sorry sean, but couldn't give any input on the themes/scenes etc. of 2012. I reckon many DiSsers will be similarly apathetic. I recently asked someone I knew what the latest Four Tet release was like, his respone amounted to "yeah it's great because it's reflecting many of the things going on in the current London dance scene". Couldn't give a flying one.
Loads of stuff!
Plenty of good bands this year! Nico Vega and London's DEAF YETi for starters. Then there was the rerelease of all the Blur masters. What's not to like?
it's all a bit shit innit
I think the Jack White solo debut deserves a mention.
Certainly not a vintage year
I feel like i've had to search hard for the good stuff
the US garage/lo-fi movement has produced jems from Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Mac de Marco, The Intelliegence, Woods
I recon some of the Pitchfork big hitters have really underwhelmed with poor efforts from Animal Collective, Beach House, Ariel Pink
Grizzly Bear being the exception with probably my album of the year.
The Tame Impala record is also doing the business and the Flying Lotus LP is still leaving me a bit cold but i keep coming back to it.
Goat - World Music deserves a special mention for pure freakout magic and is my 'Peaking Lights- 936' of 2012 strangely their follow up 'Lucifer' is probably my biggest dissapoinment of the year which I still havn't quite got over.
Hyperdub were on fire early in the year with releases from Dean Blunt/Inga Copeland, Laural Halo and Burial all finding their way into my collection
also enjoyed efforts by David Byrne & St Vincent, John Maus, Diiv, Beak, SFV Acid and Ital
A good year but not a great year
Field Music
and Future of the Left
faves for me
incidentally
wouldn't have picked Sorry Dad... as my FOTL song in your list Sean, but then it's one of those albums that people seem to be picking different favourites from.
The rise of EDM in the USA
will have a major impact in the coming years.
Incidently, the downfall of guitar music cannot seem to be stopped at the moment.
the downfall of guitar music
will never happen. seeing bands like gnod and hey colossus at supersonic, and the fact some of the best albums have come from guitar bands: goat, KTL, swans, godspeed, reminds me that guitar music will always prevail. i just hope that it means it'll no longer be acceptable for a band to play mediocre indie rock and be fawned over.
The Seer by Swans is probably my favourite album of at least the last five years
but it's an unscalable peak amidst a sea of mediocrity. There's been an overwhelming number of disappointing albums from usually great artists (Dirty Projectors, WHY?, Beach House, and to a lesser extent Animal Collective), with a couple of notable exceptions (Grizzly Bear, Menomena). As well as Swans though, there have been some very solid returns from some golden oldies, GSY!BE and Mission Of Burma in particular.
The Year Of The Erosion Of The Indie Ethos
posted this quite early
bump
I didn't forget that thread
I'm working on a little overview of my own, so fed up hearing people say the year has been rubbish. Very exciting year sonically overall, more details to follow. :)
The year we lost M.C.A
: (
most years are pretty good
especially if you like hip hop or electronic music or other genre's people can churn out loads of stuff for minimal expense
indie and that's pretty rubbish generally so it probably was this year as well
dingus khan > the good ship
Impressions from 2012
- Can't remember a year where the tracks in the chart have been so poor. There is so much of difference between the 'good' music you can get on the internet (without trying too hard) and the stuff peddled on the airwaves, it's frightening!
Reason: Have people with more in - depth musical experience or thirst for musical experience totally given up on the radio and chart format? - concentrating their attention to the internet and websites like Spotify, Soundcloud etc ..
... thus vacating the inferior playground of chart success to pre - teens, teens and people who don't care too much about music?
- Great year for what I would call good/great pop music. Once again, I think it is symptomatic that none of the albums I am going to mention below have managed to dent the charts, got any significant radio air time and have remained marginalised.
Is the only way people are going to get to know great/decent pop tunes through TV adverts?
I was reflecting how the best music on TV these days are on the ads (Santigold included.)!
So great pop .. (this is getting a bit tl;dr)
- Grimes
- Santigold
- Plvs Vltra
- Twin Shadow
- Metric
- Lost Lander
- Porcelain Raft
- NZCA/LINES
- Purity Ring (I think it might a bit too witchy maybe to fall in that category.)
- Francois and the Atlas Mountains
- Django, django (It's got that happy pop feeling)
- Citizens!
- Passion Pit
I missed loads but these are the albums I like. They have got that light hearted pop feel to them. Where do you hear them on the mainstream radios? Maybe Grimes, and I'm not sure how famous and mainstream she's become.
Next rock and other genres ...
On a personal level it`s probably my favourite since 95.
yeah, people will scratch their heads
years aren't memorable for music anymore.
To be honest...
both 2011 and 2012 are going to be remembered for hip/r&b (yes, i know they're not the same fucking genre but they're synonymous for much of the indie bedwetter crowd) becoming the most innovative and hot genres in music criticism culture.
The budding popularity and praise of Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, The Weeknd, Drake, Shabazz Palaces, Death Grips, Killer Mike, A$AP Rocky, El-P, Schoolboy Q, etc pretty much reaffirms this.
hip-hop/r&b*
and yeah, i'm looking through the favorite hip-hop releases of 2012 thread and there's a certain buzz about the health of the genre that doesn't exist in any of the standard rock/electronic threads.
it's definitely going to be remembered as a year
Jackin'
2012 was beige-vanilla-magnolia
If so many people on this site can get excited by terminally dull fare from Chromatics and Cloud Nothings then the music scene is truly stale
the year that "genres" finally fell apart
Everything seems to have been so cross-genre this year that I've struggled to see where records fit.