(Yeah, I know. Content death. We’re hobbyists. Shit happens. I’m back now, anyways.)
2012 has been an insane year for music. Really, we chose the worst time to stop writing about things, because I know that I have a whole lot of shit I want to talk about that I haven’t gotten the chance to. So I’m embarking on a tiny adventure, focused on the year end shit.
We still split things up by genre, and in every genre, there’s these impossible juggernauts that seem unstoppable as category winners. At the same time, we’re not interested in something so droolingly easy as declaring category winners months ahead of time (although there was a brief temptation to rename the Best Album of 2012 award to “The Seer Memorial Runner Up Album of the Year 2012” before even that got hazy). Since we take a genre approach, this gives an easy way to introduce the records we’ve been enjoying that have a real shot at being category winners.
Although, I guess we should just state now that I’m not doing this for the rock category. Our short list for that right now is all murderers, and it would take something really mind searingly impossible to break in. Said shortlist: The Men, Cloud Nothings, Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Converge and Fiona Apple (this is the category we’re most comfortable putting her album in. too structurally coherent for ineffable, not really hooky enough to justify putting in pop.). If something can break through that pack, rest assured, you’ll hear about it.
This is also a totally great time to do what we’ve been meaning to do for a while, and kill “Best Debut Album.” Technicality ruled out too many bands last year, even if Iceage was still a pretty clear favorite either way. So, instead, we’re going to repurpose the category as “Breakthrough Album.” The difference is that a candidate needs to be the emergence of an artist onto our radar, either through something stunningly original, or outlandishly well made. We’ll start this adventure here.The most obvious choice in the category is Frank Ocean, who I think threw everyone for a loop this year, regardless of the existence of nostalgia, Ultra. What else is there? Well, we have three that are for sure locked in.
First, “Natural History” by Dope Body. Dope Body is such a Baltimore band that I suspected it before I confirmed it. The energy and skill of a Ponytail with the anthemic hugeness of Future Islands and the euphoric darkness of Dan Deacon. Now, for an actually meaningful descriptor: Dope Body is an example of my new favorite trend in rock this year: bands that play as hard as they fucking can. Their band name actually comes from a joke about how hard they rehearse: that at the end of it, they look like the doped up bodies walking around their part of town. “Natural History” is a record of musicians just fucking going for it, and hitting it.
Next, “Internal Logic” by Grass Widow. I’ve recently started experimenting with recording through tape, which has shed a lot of light on just how much of a cop-out that low-fidelity recording can be. So the first listen with Grass Widow made me feel kind of nauseous, like it was just some other low-fi thing. Then I got “Under The Atmosphere,” where I was forced to eat my fucking words. The vocals are too clear for this to just be easy-mode tape recording. This record is engineered in such a magnificent way that it captures the strengths of what low-fi is supposed to bring out without sacrificing the crystalline clarity of their harmony. What a hell of a thing they’ve made.
Speaking of hell, last is “All Hell” by Daughn Gibson. I could talk about this record for quite a while, so I’m going to do a bit of self censorship here. It’s country made with samplers and synths, an idea so blisteringly obvious that makes it’s perfect execution all the more enviable. The track linked above is not actually on All Hell, but it’s undoubtedly the best portrait of the sound he’s driving for, as well as showing the incredible promise he has as a developing artist.
NEXT TIME: Best Ineffable Album! Because you’re probably not aware of any of the things we’d be talking about for that category!
Fermata over Whole Rest 