[feature] 10 Great Albums From 2012 You May Have Missed

Jan 03, 2013

Now that you’re good and gorged on year-end lists, why not take a look at some of our selections for releases that we’d like to have seen on more “best album” roundups? Go on, one more won’t hurt.

Daughn Gibson, All Hell

Country music sung by a drifter who doesn’t realize he’s dead. Or the distorted ramblings sent from a frontiersman whose mind is torn between silver screen illusion and his reality’s viciousness. Despite the simplicity of the music’s stark loops, All Hell cackles away all definition with an Elvis-y drawl.

TOPS, Tender Opposites

2012 was the year of trend-baiting dream pop, but this Montreal band brought some sorely needed freshness with their infectious sincerity that formed each mystical song about sad beauty.

Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland, Black Is Beautiful

From the duo behind the just as elusive Hype Williams, a lightly fevered romp through decades of another dimension’s pop history through a buffering lens. Built for the generation where lo-fi means 360p.

Actress, R.I.P.

Interstellar club music. It harvests Aphex Twin’s calmer moments while playing the strengths of digital genre after digital genre against each other, weaving a towering lattice of self-assured innovation.

Twigs, Self-titled EP

Arty yet emotionally fraught trip-hop with a mysterious allure that would intrigue The Weeknd. Might she duplicate his ascent in 2013?

Kindness, World, You Need a Change Of Mind

Probably the most unfairly catchy album of the year. It has the power of a charming sibling, to make you laugh and sing when all you want to do is mope. An extended post-modern paean to pop from one of its most ardent disciples.

Lil Ugly Mane, Mista Thug Isolation

Brutally errant codine-laced psuedo-horrorcore that’s inspired equally by Memphis hip-hop and wanton despair.

Naomi Punk, The Feeling

Hüsker Dü mixed with a black mass. Punk that’s unfettered by the limitations of their genre, that’s working within a structure only they can know.

Django Django, Django Django

The psychedelic experimentation of Silver Apples and the folk-laden harmonies of The Beta Band meet the cheeky humour of Devo. Sounds best at a rave on the International Space Station, but your dorm will do just fine as well.

U.S. Girls, Gem

Is it still bedroom pop if it sounds written in a dungeon? Dingy, airy lo-fi compositions with glam rock aspirations. Ten odes to broken heels and shattered hearts, smeared in last night’s make-up.