2012 RECAP
Starting with the mixes.
I continue my trend of generally not aggressively seeking out what's new, but rather passively listening to spotify and cruising yall's youtube links for 12-14 hours a day while I work, and if something strikes me as interesting I'll throw it in my 2012 Cool Song playlist. So there's no real intensive rank-n-sort effort going on here, just a general cross-section of stuff that happened to get played more than once on purpose.
:::2012 Songs:::
Barry Moserhttp://open.spotify.com/user/youngtobac ... ulOkrCOlOeBear In Heaven Kiss Me CrazyNever fail to deliver the dreamy songs that feel like falling in love with a cotton candy machine.
Grimes GenesisUnashamedly falling in on the Grimes bandwagon. This is what I think the girl from Die Antwoord would sound like if she dropped the mutants and rebuilt her brain from fresh stem cells. Never mind, this wouldn't be like that at all.
Wovenhand Terre HauteTerra Haute is like 3 hours from here. It exists like this song sounds. Desolate. Oppressive. Guitary.
Desolate RisenI drove all the way to Toronto on this album last spring. (See Feats of Strength section). It rained the whole way. Ne'er was a thicker vibe felt.
The American Dollar Steeltown Pt. 2In every hollowed out club in every lonesome midwestern college town, there was this band. This isn't groundbreaking, but it brings back some very specific memories of being drunk in a van.
Futurecop! Gateaux BlasterJelly sandals. Ocean Pacific. Sun Burn. Ralph Macchio.
Lemaitre AppreciateA tropical sunset song. Steak dinner on the horizon. I love these feelings.
Kontravoid Native StateStill hanging onto the dark/new/no wave throwback throwback throwback. Don't judge.
Baron Von Luxxury Rosebud Was the Name of His SledGreat, sad chorus here. A hook that makes me want to write poems about buildings.
Fostercare DaedalusAs a whole, this album is hit or miss, but there are some cool bits that pop in and out hither and thither.
Vacationer Everyone KnowsReally reminds me of The Bees. And I really like The Bees. They allow Bees in here.
Southern Shores Take Me AnywhereDay 2 of my tropical sunset. Tonight, shrimp cocktail and mojitos.
San Cisco AwkwardA little jingly jangly that reminds me of last years (?) Jamaica.
Maxence Cyrin Eye of the StormIf you want to peer into the depths of my soul, all you have to do is bring a sad piano.
Petrels Winchester Croydon WinchesterThis stuff is kind of neat and freeform. I really like the scuba suit on the cover. Marine stuff on a cover will increase the chances I will like an album by about 20%.
From the Mouth of the Sun Sitting In a Roofless RoomSparse, ambient piano. More of the sad. If you like Max Richter or Goldmund, and also suicide, you'll probably like this.
Jeans Wilder Gravity BongPretty chill, reverby lo-fi tunes.
Selebrities Secret GardenLove that chilled, cobalt grey guitar sound. Reminiscent musically of Clan of Xymox, but with a troubled, wounded female singer.
Lazerhawk VisitorsDirected by Wes Craven.
Miami Nights 1984 Tiger42Trapper Keepers. White tigers. Go-Bots.
Loscil KhanamootMy go-to Don't Bother Me music for 2012.
Shook Love for YouThe #shook meme hit the hpn board pretty hard, so somehow I came across this. Some nice neo-Stevie Wonder grooves.
Mitch Murder Heading SouthPretty much what it sounded like when I started falling in love with girls in the 3rd grade.
Tame Impala ElephantI would have liked to avoid putting an artist on this for two consecutive years, but this song is like a shotgun made out of chewing tobacco that shoots eagle shaped bullets. #jucksounds
Ricardo Donoso Chemical StructuresMy 2nd go-to Don't Bother Me track of 2012. Alone in a planetarium I sit...
Principles of Geometry AmerichaelStiff. Robot. Dancing. Tooka tooka tooka.
Black Bug Razor FaceThis is simple. I like this. Simple. Good. This.
Kettel & Secede AdmittanceThanks for this one, Dale. Lotta good tracks on here. This one in particular is a sad, sad march into the fog. Godspeed, diminutive androgynous Hensonian warrior. May your quest be ever epic and bring you riches untold.
:::2012 Louder Songs:::A lot of music by previously appearing artists from earlier years, which is not generally a thing I do, but I liked all this stuff and was a little lazy this year on the heavy side.
Barry Moserhttp://open.spotify.com/user/youngtobac ... UZsAOIwjK7Terrorizer Generation ChaosGeneration of Vipers EternalLord Mantis LeviaCoffins Mortuary in DarknessGeneral Surgery Lab RatKreator Victory Will ComeNile Natural Liberation of Fear Through...Martyrdod KlassfiendenAsphyx DeathhammerWolfbrigade Feed the FlamesYoung and In the Way Dark SeedCoke Bust Under the StreetlightsConverge Aimless ArrowAfgrund Living the NightmareThe Secret Agnus DeiWitchcraft Deconstruction
:::Cool Stuff that Happened:::*Flew my son all the way out to Disneyland west coast on his first plane ride and his favorite thing was this roadside train museum.

*Went to the Wynwood Walls in Miami. Failed to see Steve Wynwood.

*Started a tattoo of a train all up on my leg.

*Continued this guy.

*Voted. Voted so hard.

*Started dating someone I'm really crazy about. Totally smitten here, guys.

*Played live again for the first time in almost half a decade.

*Recorded and archived my grandmother's biography in her own words. If you'd like to hear it,
click here.

*Made a mix for the Head Gardener. If you'd like to hear it,
click here.
*
Drove from Joshua Tree to Twin Peaks in a rental car.*Company got bought. Went from design lackey to management. Babes and suds parties ensued.
*Started a monthly jet commute to Princeton, NJ.
*Started a MasterMind professional accountability group with a respected colleague.
*Paid off my car.
*Paid off my credit cards.
:::Feats of Strength:::Drove to Toronto on an angry whim and climbed this thing:

Conquered the Poconos Tough Mudder on a work trip. Me and a Brit Android developer.

Ran a 100 mile overnight relay with this crew in Bloomington, IN.

Met one of Phil's cool ultramarathon friends and ran 13.1 miles up and down Lake Shore Drive with her.

Also:
*4 for the 4th 4-Mile Run - Yorktown, IN
*Warrior Dash - Crawfordsville, IN
*Magnolia 12k - Seattle, WA
*Tough Mudder - Maysville, KY
*Turkey Trot - Noblesville, IN
*Bop to the Top Stairclimb - Indianapolis
*Shamrock Run 5K - Indianapolis
:::Concerts and Events:::Philip Glass, Lightning Bolt, Frank Ocean @ All Tomorrows Parties - Pier 42, NYC

And:
*Anthony Bourdain - IU Theater, Bloomington, IN
*Devil Wears Prada - Egyptian Room @ The Murat, Indianapolis
*GWAR - The Vogue, Indianapolis
*Chiodos - Egyptian Room @ The Murat, Indianapolis
:::Films and Television Series Finished in Their Entirety:::Carnivale
Sucker Punch
Source Code
The Old Grey Whistle Test
Ultramarathon Man
Up
Country Boys
Lightning Bolt: The Power of Salad
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Transformers
Sex: The Annabel Chong Story
Suspiria
Powaqqatsi
Alice Sweet Alice
The Dead Pit
[REC]
Hearts and Minds
War Horse
MASH
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Desert Victory
The Fighting Lady
Antichrist
Southland Tales
Kill Your Idols
Lockdown
Two Weeks in Hell
The Office UK
A Town Called Panic
Ink
Microcosmos
Arrested Development
Man On Wire
Toy Story 3
Them!
Spirit of the Marathon
King Corn
Heathers
Labyrinth of Darkness (Jiri Barta)
Hatchet
Portlandia
Kurt Cobain: About a Son
Super Troopers
Cosmos
The Pixar Story
Stephen Fry in America
The God Who Wasn't There
Waste Land
Buena Vista Social Club
Invaders from Mars
Whale Rider
God Grew Tired of Us
Being Elmo
The African Queen
Kimjongilia
Marwencol
Ken Burns: Statue of Liberty
Running the Sahara
The Omega Man
For the Bible Tells Me So
Blood into Wine
The Modernism of Julius Shulman
Milton Glaser: Inform and Delight
Drugstore Cowboy
The Resurrected
Frontline: Sick around the World
Visioneers
Santa Sangre
Afghan Star
October Country
Heavy Metal in Baghdad
Freakonomics
Krull
Serpico
River's Edge
Demolition Man
Louie
Uncle Boonmee
The Endless Summer
Ghost in the Shell
I Think We're Alone Now
Inside Deep Throat
Robert Thurman on Buddhism
Tuvalu
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
Life After Django Reinhardt
The Dark Ages
Weird Science
Valhalla Rising
The Red Balloon
The War Game
Strange Powers: Stephen Merritt
Stephen Hawkings: Into the Universe
The True Glory
Nowhere in Africa
Bubba Ho-Tep
The Keep
Parents
I Spit on Your Grave
The Countess
The Invisible Man
Hour of the Wolf
The Dentist
Let the Right One In
The Philosopher Kings
Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State
Hell and Back Again
Triumph of the Will
Downfall
The Thin Red Line
The Universe of Keith Haring
The Life of Pi
The Devil Inside
Storefront Hitchcock
A Cat in Paris
Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth
Last Days Here
If you got this far, wow. Thinking about sleeping more in 2013.