[ Every year, my friend Mike, of Land of Absurdity, contributes his list of favorite albums.  It almost makes up for the fact that I never bother to put these sorts of lists together anymore. Such is life. -S ]
Well, the Mayan Apocalypse is upon us, and you would think people would be in a hurry to create magnum opuses and release them to the masses before the end of the world, but alas, they didn’t. I’ve listened to a lot of stuff this year thanks to The Spotify, but a lot of bands that I regularly listen to did not have the presence that they did last year. Nevertheless here are the:
Seven Albums That Came Out in 2012 That Mike Listened To and Enjoyed the Most
Hot Chip – In Our Heads
I’m pretty sure I listened to How Do You Do and Night and Day as many times as Sarah listened to Andrew Bird this year. So that tells you how much I dig that song. The rest of the album is great too. It’s an eclectic mix of dancey electronica beats and British….well Britishness.
In Our Heads was released on June 12 by Domino.
Hot Chip: Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Store
Miike Snow – Happy to You
This was my first pick for album of the year, however it came out so early in the year that it was soon beat out by Hot Chip for thing I listened to the most. This album has a sound that is very different from Miike Snow’s debut, but is still excellent.
Happy to You was released on March 26 by Republic.
Miike Snow:Â Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Store
Of Montreal – Daughter of Cloud
I love me some weird music from time to time, and boy does Of Montreal Deliver. Of Montreal does a fantastic job on this album of making weird music listenable. Just like Talking Heads and King Crimson of the past.
Daughter of Cloud was released on October 22 by Polyvinyl.
Of Montreal:Â Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Store
K’Naan – Country, God or The Girl
I don’t really listen to that much rap music normally, but ever since I saw K’Naan at Lollapalooza in ’08, I’ve been hooked on his music. His third album has actually garnered commercial airplay. So that’s pretty cool.
Country, God or the Girl was released on October 16 by Octone.
K’Naan:Â Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Store
Paper Route – The Peace of Wild Things
Glass Heart Hymn is easily my pick for track of the year. Beating out even those two Hot Chip songs I mentioned up there. I thought the departure of Andy Smith would have affected Paper Route negatively, but JT, Gavin, and Chad put together an album even better than Absence (I featured that on this list a while ago and got Sarah mucho site hitos.)
The Peace of Wild things was released on September 11 by Tree of Hearts.
Paper Route:Â Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Store
The Vaccines – Come of Age
Both The Soft Pack and The Vaccines released albums this year, which made it tough to pick one surf rock album to add to the list. I really liked The Soft Pack’s offering, especially Captain Ace, but The Vaccines sophomore album is just better top to bottom. Which is what you want from surf music.
Come of Age was released on September 11 by Columbia.
The Vaccines:Â Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Store
Rein[Forced] – X Amount of Stab Wounds in the Back
This is my local shout out this year. Jim is this dude from Pittsburgh that used to be in a band called Forced, and then the other guy in the band died. And then Jim got pancreatic cancer. He survived, and managed to write some really good powernoise as Rein[Forced]. He finally released an album and it is awesome.
X Amount of Stab Wounds in the Back was released on August 14 by WTII.
Rein[Forced]:Â Official Website | Facebook
Honorable Mentions
Die Antwoord – Ten$ion
The South African rap duo put out an interesting album, but it just didn’t make it onto the list.
Celldweller – Wish on a Black Star
I can’t really count this as an album released this year, since its been released over the past few years in sections.
And of course the Worst album of the year.
Wiz Khalifa – O.N.I.F.C.
Maybe it’s because I don’t feel the need to smoke weed, let alone tell everyone I know that I am smoking weed, or maybe it’s because I really don’t care to listen to 17 songs talking about how much money you have or are spending, but I just don’t get Wiz Khalifa. I get it, you smoke weed and have a lot of money. Did you really have to spend 17 songs telling me this? Yeah, you’re a guy who was from Pittsburgh and happened to get popular and now have a lot of money. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT. Rap about something substantial!