1. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Mature Themes


Perhaps not as clear a #1 as recent years, but I think in time this record will have the longest stay for me, and will further reveal itself as brilliant for its accessibility through its humour, and the fact that it just sounds pretty awesome.

2. Ape School Junior Violence


I waited a long long time for this to be heard, and since its release on Hometapes its been as completely under-heard as Ape School's s/t debut on Ninja Tune, both of which I've worked on. In my opinion, wonderfully crafted, imaginative and bizarre songs, with biting topical lyrics, and dense (but measured) sonics, unlike anything much else being made these days. It would be my #1 if not for some of the songs that have been left off it. RIYL: Scott Walker, Prefab Sprout, War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, etc. Stream here: http://www.scionsessions.ca/apeschool-jrviolence.html

3. Spiritualized Sweet Heart Sweet Light


For my money, the most balanced Spiritualized record since Pure Phase, perhaps, which is my uncontested favourite.

4. Shackleton Music For The Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ


I don't know much about this artist, but I can say that this is the type of electronic music that refutes the genre, and simply creates textural music, rhythms in place of beats, with gravity, commentary, and an all-encompassing mood. It creeps up and floors me every time.

5. WIN WIN Double Vision


The more musical half of Spank Rock reforming with Ghost Dad to create a music unlike anything its main signifiers would suggest. It's smart, colourful, sensual, economical, and just plain grooves in an unobtrusive. Very pleasantly surprised by this, and I constantly return to it.

6. Andrew Bird Break It Yourself
7. The Walkmen Heaven
8. Matthew E. White Big Inner
9. Bruce Springsteen Wrecking Ball
10. Neil Young & Crazy Horse Psychedelic Pill
11. Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras Meet The Congos FRKWYS vol. 9: Icon Give Thank
12. Grizzly Bear Shields
13. Leonard Cohen Old Ideas
14. Animal Collective Centipede Hz
15. The Men Open Your Heart
16. Cloud Nothings Attack On Memory
17. Lower Dens Nootropics
18. Beach House Bloom
19. Liars WIXIW
20. Japandroids Celebration Rock

Honorable Mentions:

Loops Of Your Heart "And Never Ending Nights"
d'Eon "LP"
CFCF "Exercises"
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros "Here"
Frankie Rose "Interstellar"
Scott Walker "Bish Bosch"
Clare & The Reasons "KR-51"
Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Friends "Y'Anbessaw Tezeta"
Best Coast "The Only Place"
Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy "The Marble Downs"
AU "Both Lights"
Dntel "Aimlessness"
Earth "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light Part II"
Dustin Wong "Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads"
Grimes "Visions"
Nite Jewel "One Second of Love"
Bear In Heaven "I Love You, It's Cool"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Americana"
Six Organs of Admittance "Ascent"
Teen Daze "The Inner Mansions"
Hundred Waters "Hundred Waters"
Rangda "Formerly Extinct"
Toro Y Moi "June 2009"
Absolutely Free "U.F.O."
Moon King "Obsession 1"
Phèdre "Phèdre"
Doldrums "Egypt"
Death Grips "The Money Store"
Andre Williams & The Sadies "Night & Day"
Bahamas "Barchords"
Bardo Pond "Yntra"
Flying Lotus "Until The Quiet Comes"
METZ "METZ"
Andrew Bird "Hand of Glory"

All in all, a great year of music, with a lot of good albums, but very few obvious standouts, and few breakthroughs for me.

I would love to hear your feedback on this list, and most importantly suggestions of what I may have missed, based on what I've put down here. I'm sure there are a ton of strong releases I didn't make it to this year.

noice

Spiritualized is the only thing in your Top 5 I've spent any time with. I'm not a big fan per se and the record won't make my list, but it does scratch a certain itch when I'm in the mood.

Was that Andrew Bird record good? I think I listened once or twice, didn't delete it (good sign) but just never got back around to it.

im a fan of this list. glad to see shackleton love. somehow i never ended up listening to the ariel pink

Yes, really good, in my opinion. I've been sort of a fair-weather fan of Andrew Bird's for a while, but this album grabs me fully. He seems a little bit more committed to simpler melodies and textures throughout the whole record, and a subtly uplifting, almost tropical sound; whereas with other releases I've liked some parts a lot more than others. It took a few listens – and granted I listened to it mostly at work – but it took hold.

Great list... will have lots of crossover with my list...(which of course is my standard for measuring quality).

Courage to list Psychedelic Pill. Yet blind mis-judgement to list Americana. Why not? Missed Shackleton, ordered it now based on your description and the context of your list. Hence the value of Obner.

I love "Psychedelic Pill". The band sounds locked in, the recording is really good, and the songwriting is less awkward (though no less honest) than anything Neil's written in years – to say the least! There's a few really good Horse songs on there, and they sound like they've even gained a step.

(I just finished "Waging Heavy Peace" about an hour ago, so some of this might be afterglow. Loved that book! Thanks, Neil. Also, seeing him with Crazy Horse again for the first time since I first saw em in '96 was incredible!)

I've got "Americana" somewhere in my Top 40. Granted it deserves more listens than I've given it, and it is revealing itself as a slow grower to me. I don't know, it seems like a warm-up to "Psychedelic Pill", but I'm probably looking upon it in improper context. Will listen again later.

I encourage you to check out that Ape School, and let me know what you think.

Agree that Shackleton stuff is really great.

I've only listened once to Pyschedelic Pill, so it won't make my list.

Love the Ariel Pink. Spiritualized will make my list, but not as high as I initially thought. The Men, Liars, Beach House and Japandroids will be there as well.

One that will not: Animal Collective

Guess I'll re-visit that Ariel Pink. I spotified it around the time it came out and remember a few decent tracks, but never came back to it.

I need to hear that Shackleton. I really like some of the other stuff I've heard of theirs (his? hers?).

I don't know where to go from here... What else should I check out? Apparently his live show is incredible.

Not their strongest effort compared to anything since "Sung Tongs" inclusive, by any stretch, but with repeated listens, it has revealed itself as a pretty solid album.

Great list!

Also need to hear that Shackleton. It's been on my radar for a little while, and the pieces I've heard are pretty interesting.

Agree that the Animal Collective is pretty solid, but it ended up pretty far down on my list.

I'm not the right person to ask. I've heard very little. I've listened to the Fireworks EP which I like, and various tracks on blogs and such.

Glad to see this on there. As always great list man, we will have quite a bit of overlap.

Thanks for this, Ish.

for a guy who's "thing" is whislting and violin, he sure keeps his albums fresh. this one truly might be my favorite of his. the Hands of Glory EP or mini-album should go hand in hand with this too.

You know I did listen to that Bear in Heaven quite a few times, but I can't recall a single song from it off the top of my head. They did play a great show on the same bill as Matthew Dear at SXSW that was great.

Checked this out based entirely on it's inclusion in your top ten and have become strangely obsessed with this record. This shit is so weird, but seems so accessible at the same time. Would have made my top ten for sure had I heard it last year. Thanks.

So that Shackleton album is shaping up to be one of my favorite electronic releases of 2012.

In a similar vein, Demdike Stare's Elemental is also really great.

Pretty much slept on both of those until right at the end of the year, but I've been listening to them the past few weeks and enjoying them both a whole lot.

Awesome!! That Daughn Gibson record would have been in my top 5 easily (if not atop the list) had I heard it earlier. I've become "strangely obsessed" with it in much the same way that the Matthew E. White record grew on us both.

Excellent. I will definitely check out that Demdike Stare based on this association. Glad you're feeling it.