[feature] Our 15 Favourite Artist Twitters of 2012

Dec 24, 2012

by chris hampton

Twitter rules. It connects us with people we’re interested in, broadcasts our minute-to-minute thoughts however mundane, and is a great way to kill time when you’re making a poop. Like most of you, our feeds are full of our favourite artists, some of whom are particularly entertaining – here are our 15 favourite of the year. Who did we miss?

Phil Elverum

coffee shop idea: Life Is Empty And Short And This Is The Most Sad That I Have Ever Bean

— Phil Elverum (@PWElverum) December 1, 2012

Whether sharing wonderful poems or life inspiration, we love getting a glimpse into the brilliant, hilarious mind of lo-fi mystic Phil Elverum of The Microphones and Mount Eerie.

RiFF RaFF

THE ONLY THiNG i LiKE TO SEE WHEN i WAKE UP iS ASS CHEEKS & WAFFLES — RiFF RaFF (@JODYHiGHROLLER) November 17, 2012

Harmony Korine took inspiration from Houston rapper RiFF RaFF for James Franco’s character in Spring Breakers. The dude calls himself the “rap game shooter mcgavin” — the “rap game cindy crawford,” too. Amongst all the talk of Gucci and girlfriend copping, RiFF RaFF also tweets on relationship advice and self-help.

Gold Panda

Witness the turmoil of a balding, failing electronica artist. LIVE.

— 金大熊猫 (@goldpanda) March 20, 2012

Gold Panda’s tweets are reliably self-deprecating, but he’s just happy that audiences turn out to watch him press his space bar.

Heems

THIS JUST IN: PIZZA AND BAGELS HAVE AGREED TO BOYCOTT ALL MY HATERS. GOOD LUCK LOSERS. — Himanshu K. Suri (@HIMANSHU) November 18, 2012

Heems of Das Racist just dropped Wild Water Kingdom, and haters should be warned, he has some truly bad things in store for you.

Amanda Palmer

HELP ME OBI WAN CANOBI YOU’RE MY ONLY HOPE twitpic.com/bgssxu

— Amanda Palmer (@amandapalmer) November 27, 2012

Amanda Palmer sends out lots of pictures and videos from shows and all that usual Twitter stuff, but she’s at her best when she’s late for dinner with her man Neil Gaiman because she ‘s having too much fun wearing bras on her head (see above).

?uestlove

in stuff i can’t make up news: DMX singing “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” (with ad libs bit.ly/YqfBel #JimHalpertStare — Questo of The Roots (@questlove) December 3, 2012

?uestlove’s says he’s “your favorite twitterer’s favorite music snob.” I’m not one for self-proclaimers, but just look at this diamond he mined.

Earl Sweatshirt

ONCE I GET WORD OF THE WORLD ENDING CATCH ME MOUNTAINSIDE SHROOMING WITH A COOLER OF STRAWBERRY LEMONADE DIPSET/ KING KRULE/ LIL B PLAYLIST

— Earl Sweatshirt (@earlxsweat) December 1, 2012

Everyone knows Earl Sweatshirt’s a funny kid, but he’s a smart kid, too. That’s the kind of thoughtful doomsday planning I can get behind. He also has no qualms challenging the cultural worth of Stephen King.

Damian Abraham

Littlest Hobo still holds up. — Damian Abraham (@leftfordamian) September 17, 2012

To be certain, The Littlest Hobo still stands up, but Pink Eyes will also let you know who and what he doesn’t like, namely, Tom Waits and a certain municipal politician.

Action Bronson

HOLY FUCK WHAT A CHICKEN BISCUIT instagr.am/p/SRjyV7l9cT/

— EURO BRONSON (@ActionBronson) November 21, 2012

Action Bronson posts better food pictures than most critics, and better beard pictures than Rick Ross.

Jon Wurster

“North Korea’s best roots rock band.” — Jon Wurster (@jonwurster) November 12, 2012

Superchunk drummer and Best Show regular Jon Wurster dependably tweets good one-liners like the above, but scroll back in time for his especially great coverage of the autobiography of Kiss’ Peter Criss.

Hudson Mohawke

‘Have you ever been directly involved in the coercive transplantation of human organs or bodily tissue?’ — hudson mohawke (@HudMo) November 13, 2012

Hudson Mohawke has been tweeting billboard and menu curios from his tour with Lunice as TNGHT, but this short burst of honest-to-goodness visa application questions were particularly memorable.

The Black Lips

I went to a bull fight a wrestling match and a witches flea market and pyramids in Mexico all fucking fastastic

— Black Lips+cox (@TheBlackLips) November 9, 2012

The Black Lips know how to have a good time. They’re also keen collectors. A Xanax mug and an authentic WW2 bomber jacket (“a guy actually fought and kicked nazi ass in this thing,” says Cole Alexander) count among the treasures they’ve documented here. Also, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter tweets from this handle on occasion.

St. Vincent

Power out here in NYC!Hope everyone has candles and a fleshlight!#Sandy — st vincent (@st_vincent) October 30, 2012

Reliably smart, cute quips from the charming Annie Clark, but check out this Sandy advisory. Autocorrected?

The Mountain Goats

“This toy comes with 12 original songs that sap the will to live. For the boy’s sake, I feign delight in them, but I think he’s onto me.”

— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) November 17, 2012

Not surprising that the guy who penned “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton” knows his way around a tweet. John Darnielle is a new father and this little burst of imagined Amazon reviews for kid’s toys was pretty great.