Posted December 13, 201212 yr http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm90/Eyes330/blank.pngĀ http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm90/Eyes330/eyesstay.pngĀ EOY CHARTĀ Ā So, another fine year in music, and with Christmas everywhere you look it's time for me to write a lot about all the songs I have enjoyed this year. If you looked at my thread at any point last year you should be well aware of how long-winded and purple I make my prose on the best songs and albums (as much as possible before going insane) that our hallowed Guetta has seen fit to dump on our doorstep, so no 'tl,dr's PLEASE.Ā Due to my continual wish to not conform to petty things such as rounding my lists to multiples of 10, I will be presenting my top 42 albums, as well as my top 212 songs of the year in this thread. The reason I have chosen these numbers should be obvious, it fitted with my plans and it looks pretty due to association with Azealia and her representing the meaning of life.Ā Albums will come first, then songs. You may get excited now.
December 13, 201212 yr Author ALBUMS: 36-42Ā http://www.tristateindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/rachel-platten-.jpgĀ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ā Well yeah, most of these are albums I've barely listened to rather than those I really dislike as I'm not going to listen to an album I'm going to hate, am I? If I shortlisted any song for my singles list - anything that entered my chart qualifies - and it didn't make the top 212, I will put the number it made it to in brackets.Ā 42. The Script - #3Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ee/Thescripthreealbum.jpg/220px-Thescripthreealbum.jpgĀ Highlights: Hall Of Fame, Broken Arrow, Six Degrees Of Separation, If You Could See Me NowĀ The 42 albums on this list are the 42 that have made it onto my iTunes that I could justify in some way as being related to 2012. Or December 2011, I go November to November for convenience in announcing the chart in December. So bottom of this list is The Script's unimaginatively titled (never a good thing) 3rd album. I've found it hard to get interested in this ever since my brother bought it, it's not bad per se but it's very similar to Science & Faith, but worse. Hall Of Fame and Broken Arrow are the only ones I'd be sorry to lose. Throughout, the best non-single, in this case, Broken Arrow, is linked in the title.Ā Ā http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm90/Eyes330/elisas.pngĀ Highlights: Linjen I Min Hand (335), When You Walk Into The RoomĀ This dansband came to my attention with their fairly wonderful Waterloo pastiche of Linjen I Min Hand. It's the clear highlight of the album by some distance, I've only picked out a second highlight almost at random. It's OK Swedish pop but there's not a whole lot to be excited about. Treat this as an entry for Linjen I Min Handen mostly, the rest of the tracks really just blend into one another as some nice, inoffensive, Swedish warbling.Ā Ā http://www.europopmusic.eu/Images/Review_images/ReviewsQ1_12/Lena_Philipsson.jpgĀ Highlights: Live Tomorrow, Du Fƶljer VƤl Med?, VƤrlden Snurrar, Vart Tog Du VƤgenĀ First album I have listened to by Lena Ph, and I do get a distinct impression that she is not an album artist. The singles are great, she really knows how to pick them, Live Tomorrow is quite excellent, aided by the STHLM mix, and the other two listed are fun listens. With this and Elisa's both finishing so low, I am beginning to get a feeling I'm racist against foreign language albums. It is true it makes it harder for me to get interested about tracks when I can't even understand the title at a glance, and harder to pick standouts. It also may be just the late stage Lena is in her career, or that I never really cared about a song of hers before Live Tomorrow, and even that's not really her song.Ā Ā http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm90/Eyes330/soso.pngĀ Highlights: Who's Gonna Love Me, My Women My Guitars, Happy PeopleĀ A rather interesting project by SoSo and she gave away her album for free! Excellent. The three highlights, again, are all I'd recommend listening to if you are in a hurry, but the rest, despite seemingly consisting half of one-minute interludes isn't bad experimental electro-pop by any means. The cover of My Women My Guitars (never heard of the original) stands out enormously, as does single Who's Gonna Love Me.Ā Ā http://yes.com.ru/upload/iblock/6ff/Rachel%20Platten%202.jpgĀ Highlights: 1000 Ships, Nothing Ever Happens, 53 Steps, Don't Care What Time It IsĀ A very decent pop album, buoyed up by the excellent 1000 Ships, it's not a masterclass in its genre by any means but if you like light airy pop (which is a subgenre I'm SO into) it's one album that should be on your list to get. No rush about it though, I wouldn't say the rest of it is brilliant, but it's kinda sweet. Ā Ā http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JmRKmVS3L._SL500_AA240_.jpgĀ Highlights: Sense (285), Doubt, House, It's Gonna Be LongĀ Like Rachel Platten, it's another great entry for my airy pop loving self - but I haven't found a whole lot of time to listen to it. Sense is a quite excellent track that would be one of the highlights on a major artist's album, and Doubt is good I s'pose. Good effort Amanda, it just lacks a spark for me to LOVE you but I LIKE you.Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5a/Emeli-Sande-Our-Version-Of-Events.jpg/220px-Emeli-Sande-Our-Version-Of-Events.jpgĀ Highlights: Heaven, My Kind Of Love (280), Mountains, RiverĀ The biggest selling album of the year makes it to #36 with me, largely because despite the clear production quality of what Emeli is producing, a lot of it is just rather boring. Heaven was far preferable to dreary shit like Next To Me, but the latter is what's selling for her unfortunately. My Kind Of Love is surprisingly good and Mountains and River are good album tracks but I don't think this is really worthy of selling the most this year, it's certainly no 21. I love love love the title though. That seems quite negative but it's nice, I just wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it.Ā The albums get FAR better from here on out, this is honestly just a warm up.Ā Ā http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-50bvPHDWaMw/T0fCxC1kp6I/AAAAAAAAERM/oStd0LNQimE/s1600/Blixten_LenaPhilipsson_640.jpg
December 13, 201212 yr "Next To Me" is dreary shit but "My Kind of Love" isn't? The latter is the only single from Emeli that I'm not keen on. I personally prefer the album a lot more to "21".Ā The Script seems to be a very "nice" listen but not much more, though that could just be because I've only listened a couple of times.
December 13, 201212 yr Author "Next To Me" is dreary shit but "My Kind of Love" isn't? The latter is the only single from Emeli that I'm not keen on. I personally prefer the album a lot more to "21".Ā The Script seems to be a very "nice" listen but not much more, though that could just be because I've only listened a couple of times.Ā CORRECT. At least My Kind Of Love has some sort of passion behind it. I seem to be firmly in the minority on this though.Ā You've probably listened more than me to #3 then. :lol: I included it because it was added on my iTunes but a lot of the tracks are still on 0 plays - even though I have gone through briefly at least once. It just doesn't interest me too much, at all.
December 13, 201212 yr Author ALBUMS: 35-31Ā http://assets.gcstatic.com/u/apps/asset_manager/uploaded/2012/15/azealia-banks-1333908363-megapod-0.jpgĀ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ā 35. Elsiane - Mechanics Of EmotionĀ http://www.noezis.com/resources/206759-Elsiane_-_Mechanics_of_Emoti.thumbnail.jpgĀ Highlights: Underhelped, Nobody Knows, In The ShadowsĀ On a high of the grower of Vaporous from last year, I downloaded Elsiane's 2012 album hoping for more of the same. Underhelped aside (which is great), it wasn't really anything like it and in some ways it was almost too airy for me. There was a nice amount of energy in Nobody Knows but it sounds very samey all the way through. Good atmospheric music, can't hold a candle to Vaporous.Ā 34. Olly Murs - In Case You Didn't KnowĀ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/InCaseYouDidn'tKnow.jpg/220px-InCaseYouDidn'tKnow.jpgĀ Highlights: I'm OK, In Case You Didn't Know, Heart Skips A BeatĀ Anyone remember this album? I still haven't heard Olly's newest despite rather liking Troublemaker, partly because I fear it'll be as patchy as this. It's half excellent pop that Troublemaker emulates, the highlights are the main ones, but stuff like Oh My Goodness and This Song Is About You (ugh) really drag it down. I suppose I should really stay away from Olly's albums, although now and then I discover a gem like A Million More Years or I'm OK on this that makes it all worthwhile.Ā Ā http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mBbFWg-Q_ps9Yx3kdIpnC_A.jpgĀ Highlights: Out Of Space, Jumanji, f*** Up The Fun, NeptuneĀ And another free album, this time from Azealia Banks. After 212, I have all the time in the world for this woman, and some tracks on this are genius, Out Of Space in particular. Some of it I don't really GET but that's normally the case with a rap album for me, it's very rare I'll love all of it, I'll mainly love the catchy tracks that get chosen as singles. Therefore Fantasea is a good listen in places but there are a lot of demos that are nowhere near 212.Ā 32. Linkin Park - Living ThingsĀ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Linkin_Park_-_Living_Things.jpg/220px-Linkin_Park_-_Living_Things.jpgĀ Highlights: Burn It Down, Powerless, Lost In The EchoĀ Linkin Park's return I suppose I wasn't really prepared for. It doesn't sound like they've pushed much new ground here, it's very much what you would expect from a Linkin Park album, and again, it's got little on past glories. Of course, it's not like they had anywhere else to go without repeating themselves. I suppose my biggest gripe is that it doesn't have a huge amount of replay value. However Burn It Down is a great lead single and Powerless and Lost In The Echo are different but good bookends to a diverse yet familiar record.Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/California37.jpg/220px-California37.jpgĀ Highlights: Bruises, 50 Ways To Say Goodbye, Drive By, When The Fog Rolls InĀ I'll say more about the 3 singles in my song chart but they drag this record up SO SO much. A Train album is probably not really worth your time unless you're really into that kind of stuff, which I kind of am but only the really catchy stuff that gets released. The rest of the album is less well-written Train songs, which occasionally score a catchy tune but more often that not leave you bored.Ā Yanno, the albums that I really like start at #28, so there's not many more patches to go through.Ā Ā http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/loudwire.com/files/2012/06/Linkin-Park.jpg
December 13, 201212 yr I personally prefer the album a lot more to "21".Ā This opinion is invalid and incorrect. :kink:Ā
December 13, 201212 yr Vaporous was from 2007 I think, I just took AGES to get round to finally sending it to BJSC :lol: I didn't much like their 2012 album though :( LOVE the Train and Emeli albums though, shame they're so low!
December 14, 201212 yr Author Vaporous was from 2007 I think, I just took AGES to get round to finally sending it to BJSC :lol: I didn't much like their 2012 album though :( LOVE the Train and Emeli albums though, shame they're so low!Ā A lot of Mechanics Of Emotion seemed like Vaporous but as minimal as possible - I guess there is such a thing as no presence at all on a record.Ā Train and Emeli, I do like their singles, but they are a little MoR for me to love them in an album's entirety, mainly why they finished so low. That said, there are a couple more MoR albums coming up, not sure if they are your type though. Ā Oh 'Amanda Mair' should be SO much higher. Such luscious production.Ā I haven't listened to it a whole lot, but I never fell in love with anything aside from Sense - which does indeed have said great production, and I can sense (ha) some on Doubt. It's solid at least, which is more than I can say for some of the albums around it. Ā ALBUMS: 30-26Ā http://pinboardblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Delilah1.jpgĀ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/36/Goyte_-_Making_Mirrors.png/220px-Goyte_-_Making_Mirrors.pngĀ Highlights: Somebody That I Used To Know, Eyes Wide Open, In Your LightĀ Like its most well-known track, Making Mirrors is a grower of an album. It also reveals that Gotye has really not put out an album filled with Somebody That I Used To Know clones, amazing as that would be. It's fairly diverse and experimental, just not much of it is my type aside from the two singles. And even then, Eyes Wide Open is a pale shadow of STIUTK. Good background music, definitely.Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/FromTheRootsUp.jpg/220px-FromTheRootsUp.jpgĀ Highlights: Go, Love You So (381), 21, Breathe (607), CinnababyĀ Part 2 in the nice background music in this section, Delilah's debut effort certainly attempts to show off her sultry voice as much as possible. On the tracks with a good idea behind them, like the genius Go, it really works. I was ever so slightly amazed that this ever got released, it got pushed back so much I wasn't expecting something great when I got it. It did exceed expectations, it's a good light-soul-electronic album, which is what Go pointed to when it first got released before all the push-backs happened.Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1e/The_Killers_-_Battle_Born.jpg/220px-The_Killers_-_Battle_Born.jpgĀ Highlights: Runaways, Deadlines And Commitments, Miss Atomic Bomb, Battle BornĀ While I love The Killers as a singles band, much like Coldplay, their albums are an entirely different beast and I knew I was not going to enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Runaways. Like all Killers albums though, a few album tracks stand out to me on the first few listens through and I play those till eternity. It's a step up from Day & Age and I was never into Hot Fuss that much (blasphemy I know) so it's currently standing as their 2nd best album for me, and the first album on this list I like the majority of. Deadlines And Commitments is a slow creeper, it's my second most played track from the album after Runaways and I didn't even realise it, great Killers track.Ā 27. Madonna - MDNAĀ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Mdna-standard-edition-cover.jpg/220px-Mdna-standard-edition-cover.jpg Ā Highlights: Gang Bang (310), Masterpiece (213), I Don't Give A (614), Give Me All Your Luvin' (284)Ā Unlike The Killers, I went into this with almost no expectations. I loved Madonna's Confessions era (and need to get the album SOMETIME, I heard there's a rather fabulous track with my name on it) but otherwise she really passed me by before I got this album. It changed my opinion of her, I now vaguely like her. Nah, this album is good, Gang Bang is fabulous and builds all the way through, Masterpiece is beautiful and was genuinely the last track to miss out on my top 212, I Don't Give A is very fun, there are some good other pop tracks, however there are a few too many dubstep influences for my liking. Also, M.I.A's verse on Give Me All Your Luvin' is genuinely the best thing on this record. [/controv]Ā Ā http://static.qobuz.com/images/jaquettes/0894/0894880002380_230.jpgĀ Highlights: Castles, Dark In My Imagination, Unique In Its Madness, The EnemyĀ Everyone remember of Verona, right? No, it's ok, I understand - curse that S O H N fellow. Anyway, Castles was quite wondrous, and I'd heard Dark In.. also so naturally I wondered what the album would be like. And it's good. Not so good I was blown away but it's a lovely pop-electronic-rock-whatever album and although there's not much like Castles and therefore nothing as good as Castles, it's all quite engaging stuff - particularly those 4 highlights. They are an interesting band - kind of in the very centre of my music tastes, so I will continue following them, I'm sure.Ā Ā http://hypemusic.com//wp-content/gallery/of-verona-slider/of-verona-4-hype-music.jpg
December 14, 201212 yr Author ALBUMS: 25-21Ā http://m5.paperblog.com/i/15/155149/music-video-santigold-disparate-youth-L-nLlxWk.jpegĀ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/17/Mika_The_Origin_Of_Love.jpg/220px-Mika_The_Origin_Of_Love.jpgĀ Highlights: Step With Me (425), The Origin Of Love, Celebrate (399), UnderwaterĀ I may not have made my Mika fandom overly clear in my time on Buzzjack but I am a fan, he persistently remains my 5th most played last.fm artist despite efforts from Avril and Alexis to undermine him. It's surprising then that he has no entries in my singles chart, but this is less good than his last two albums, despite being fairly amazing. Life In Cartoon Motion is still one of my favourite albums ever, this is nowhere near that. I would definitely recommend the gorgeous Step With Me though, and it's consistent as a listen at least, no dud tracks really, no Love Todays or Blue Eyes to mess it up. Which is a point in its favour at least.Ā 24. Santigold - Master Of My Make BelieveĀ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/Santigold_-_Master_of_My_Make-Believe.jpg/220px-Santigold_-_Master_of_My_Make-Believe.jpgĀ Highlights: Disparate Youth, Go!, The Keepers, Freak Like MeĀ One of the big surprises of this year was me finally listening to a Santigold song and LOVING it. We'll just ignore Big Mouth for these purposes, but that song was Disparate Youth (to slay Eyes' singles charts near you soon) and it motivated me to listen to this surprisingly great album. Go in particular is a bit of a jam and I love the whole... feel of the record, it's very well produced for someone who completely passed me by prior to this year. I shall have to check out earlier efforts now.Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c6/Scissor_Sisters_Magic_Hour.jpg/220px-Scissor_Sisters_Magic_Hour.jpgĀ Highlights: Only The Horses, Shady Love, Keep Your Shoes OnĀ I was not expecting to put the Scissor Sisters this low, but this album hasn't held up that well over the latter part of the year. It's got nothing on Night Work (which I criminally underrated when I put it in my 2011 chart). Even Let's Have A Kiki got a little boring after a while. The 3 tracks I've highlighted are excellent, classic catchy SS tracks. I haven't seen a whole lot of love for KYSO, it's so effortlessly cool. :wub:Ā Ā http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/ff/Alyssa_reid_the_game_album_cover.png/220px-Alyssa_reid_the_game_album_cover.pngĀ Highlights: Without You, The Game (440), Alone Again, GoĀ After knowing this for more than a year, her new found fame made me put it in my Y/E chart again, and it's grown on me since last year. Without You is rather wondrous, The Game is as excellent as ever (only SĆ©yetan entry to have some connection to suce$$ *.*) and Alone Again is due some uber success in my singles chart. It's all harmless pop, not much depth to it but Alyssa does a good job.Ā 21. Taylor Swift - RedĀ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e8/Taylor_Swift_-_Red.png/220px-Taylor_Swift_-_Red.pngĀ Highlights: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, I Knew You Were Trouble, Red, 22, Begin AgainĀ This year I also really started my love for Taylor Swift. She has a lot of tracks in my singles chart, and tracks from her older albums are growing on me finally too. Yet I have been remarkably uninterested in Red, I tend to pick a few Taylor tracks I love and stick with those. It's a great country-pop sound, and I didn't like having to cut it out of my top 20, but I have shown far more love for the 20 albums above it, all of which are great, perfect albums, mostly.Ā Ā http://static.nme.com/images/gallery/scissorsisters2012PR.jpg
December 14, 201212 yr YAY for Alyssa slaying! :cheer: Alone Again still sounds as fresh as it did when I heard it in January.
December 14, 201212 yr Taylor so close to the top 20. :cry:Ā I'm so pleased to have made it to #29 and beaten that awful Gotye thing! I'd like to thank my family, friends, my pet pig etc.
December 14, 201212 yr I'm so pleased to have made it to #29 and beaten that awful Gotye thing! I'd like to thank my family, friends, my pet pig etc.Ā Why are you thanking Bray?
December 15, 201212 yr Author MIKA above MDNA??Ā It's the closest she's ever come to beating him, this is his worst. But then I get the impression that MDNA isn't Madonna's best either, despite it being the only one I have listened to. It was close, anyway, just a few unnecessary dubstep breakdowns on MDNA that led it to be pushed down a bit.Ā IZ THIS CHART IS CHANGING MY LIFE.Ā Perfect. :D
Create an account or sign in to comment