GOOD EVENING AFTERNOON. You know what the beeswax here is. I'm making it a bit more streamlined than last year, with commentary reserved for the top 10 albums and top 20 songs - oh, and yes Pavel, we're going with SONGS not just singles this year. YOU WIN. This means I find the songs list a bigger deal, so we're going with the albums list first.

 

I still have a list a mile long of albums I need to listen to, so there's a strong chance that if an acclaimed indie fave isn't here (except Alt-J), I probably haven't heard it yet. So encouragements are welcome. But it was tougher than I expected nailing down this final 25 and favourites like Eugene McGuinness and Icona Pop found themselves languishing outside.

 

Anyway, without further ado, #s 25 to 11 in my albums countdown for 2012, complete with a link to a TRACK DU CHOIX from each (nb: none of these tracks appear in the top 100 songs list, to avoid spoiling you!).

 

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025 • Yeasayer • Fragrant World //

024 • Carly Rae Jepsen • Kiss // Tiny Little Bows

023 • How To Dress Well • Total Loss // Struggle

022 • Lise Karlsnes • Dance or Die //

021 • Grimes • Visions // Skin

020 • Saint Etienne • Words and Music by... //

019 • Dragonette • Bodyparts //

018 • Agnes • Veritas //

017 • Bat for Lashes • The Haunted Man //

016 • Purity Ring • Shrines //

015 • Dirty Projectors • Swing Lo Magellan // About to Die

014 • Grizzly Bear • Shields // The Hunt

013 • Ke$ha • Warrior // Out Alive

012 • The Maccabees • Given to the Wild //

011 • Ellie Goulding • Halcyon //

 

Who has made the top ten? WILDLY SPECULATE and I'll commence with the countdown in a bit.

Grimes WAY too low for my liking. She's like the best new artist of 2012 (not counting her previous albums because let's be fair NO1CURR aboot them).

 

Purity Ring are also Canadian! *world shattered* Canadian music scene to rule the world PLEASE?

Grimes WAY too low for my liking. She's like the best new artist of 2012 (not counting her previous albums because let's be fair NO1CURR aboot them).

 

Purity Ring are also Canadian! *world shattered* Canadian music scene to rule the world PLEASE?

 

They are?! Amazing. Although Dragonette are Canadian too so we'll have to take them along too okthanxdonedeal

 

And she's good but a tad overrated I FEEL. Definitely not the best "debut" of the year pour moi.

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Beginning with the bewildering shriek of a synth machine, Tabu has already settled into its default mode: the choral harmonic unity of four rather anonymous ladies underscored by the clattering of every instrument under the Swedish sun. It's an exhilirating, exhausting whirlwind of an album, finding euphoric choruses in the whimsical, sunny starter of 'Ta Mig Till Sommaren' to the melancholic accordion swirl of 'Faller', stumbling through the pulsating dubstep infatuations of 'Puls' and 'Högre' along the way. In terms of pure pop energy, Tabu is probably unmatchable this year - every song has been shaped, baked and packaged ready for singledom.

 

essential track //

Canadian music scene to rule the world PLEASE?

 

Did you know that Carly Rae Jepsen, Justin Bieber and Michael Buble are Canadian as well? :magic:

They are?! Amazing. Although Dragonette are Canadian too so we'll have to take them along too okthanxdonedeal

 

And she's good but a tad overrated I FEEL. Definitely not the best "debut" of the year pour moi.

SCREW THOSE SHITHEADS. THEY ARE EVIL AND TALENTLESS AND STUPID AND DUMB AND CRAPPY.

 

To sum it up, I SO FUCKING HATE DRAGONETTE THAT ANNA ABREU IS LIKE IAMAMIWHOAMI IN COMPARISON (I.E. PERFECTION).

 

SO NO DEAL.

 

Did you know that Carly Rae Jepsen, Justin Bieber and Michael Buble are Canadian as well? :magic:

Of course. Carly is amazing as well btw. And I don't really mind the other two either. So you lost. Again.

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Already something of a deity amongst the scandipop fiends on the internet, the pressure was certainly on Loreen Talhaoui to deliver an album to match the gothic synthpop she'd already delivered in the pained throes of 'My Heart Is Refusing Me' and the ecstatic beeps and crashes of 'Euphoria'. Impossibly, she pulled it off, crafting a surprisingly diverse collection of heartbroken pop music, from erratic cries of 'Breaking Robot' to the standout swooping majesty of 'Everytime'. Most importantly, her voice, her killer instrument with its quivering immediacy of pain and melancholy, makes each instance of the repeated theme freshly affecting, flying and diving around across the shimmering, wailing synths.

 

essential track // Breaking Robot

This list is HUGELY Kanduälska-friendly thus far *.*

 

I also want a list of top ten MOMENTS from 2012, and Jake Shears (x2) to place highly within the aforementioned list (along with other select momes that I shan't list for fear of ruining the list. LIST.)

Fully agree with your description of Heal. Breaking Robot is an absolute gem :wub:

 

Also the Best Emerging Poster award is blatantly a Warwick Uni thing!

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by HausofBalls

This list is HUGELY Kanduälska-friendly thus far *.*

 

I also want a list of top ten MOMENTS from 2012, and Jake Shears (x2) to place highly within the aforementioned list (along with other select momes that I shan't list for fear of ruining the list. LIST.)

 

You're awfully DEMANDING and I don't really have the time to deliver such a list. But I'm glad you are ENJOYING.

 

Fully agree with your description of Heal. Breaking Robot is an absolute gem :wub:

 

Also the Best Emerging Poster award is blatantly a Warwick Uni thing!

 

YES! A Warwick Uni Film student thing! How's that going btw?

Of course. Carly is amazing as well btw. And I don't really mind the other two either. So you lost. Again.

 

My point is that the Canadian music scene ruling the world would be TERRIBLE because of those artists.

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The vastness of material here, coupled with the fact that the vast majority of it is in the same key of miserable, louche melancholy, makes the fact that Lana Del Rey's confusion of albums remain so striking and impressive all the more remarkable. There is always the sense that it's a mode of performance, but Lana remains uniquely untouchable beneath, resurrecting the kind of unknowable glamour and mysterious allure that hasn't been seen since the days of Classic Hollywood. From the first string flourish of 'Born to Die' to the floating lightness of 'Bel Air', Lana Del Rey immerses the listener in a sea of devastation, twisted tropes and exaggerated stereotypes that combine to tell a story that still, despite the volume of it, retains that quality of mysticism and perverse attraction.

 

essential track // Bel Air

YES! A Warwick Uni Film student thing! How's that going btw?

It's going well! Just trying to cram two essays over the holidays :wacko: Can't wait to get back there :D

 

Born To Die :wub:

 

 

Grimes is nice and all but so bloody overrated. Your albums list is looking really good so far though, and I suppose it's a good thing that I've went through periods of completely ignoring your chart because I have no idea what's to come, besides maybe Marina.

 

'Bel Air' seems quite a random Lana fave! Not even close to my fave on 'Paradise', though still gr8 of course.

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by Umi

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Gabrielle Leithaug's striking debut is composed of crystalline synths and blackened, pulsating beats. Her voice is as much an instrument to be edited as any of the computer noises are - the latter half of the aggressively robotic 'Inn i deg' repeats the titular lyric like a mantra, a stalled computer command. But, as her face sticks vividly through the messy collage of graffiti on her album cover, Gabrielle's warm, empathic vocals rest at the centre of Mildt Sagt, rarely doing any vocal acrobatics to accentuate the overwhelming, dynamic emotionality of the songs. It's an exceptionally crafted collation of immediate sounds, glittering with technological invention and emotional clarity.

 

essential track // Eg Flyr

Grimes is nice and all but so bloody overrated. Your albums list is looking really good so far though, and I suppose it's a good thing that I've went through periods of completely ignoring your chart because I have no idea what's to come, besides maybe Marina.

 

'Bel Air' seems quite a random Lana fave! Not even close to my fave on 'Paradise', though still gr8 of course.

 

MTE. Although I do really like her obviously or she wouldn't be here! I'm insulted but HOORAY for surprises.

 

Well, it's my fave that didn't make the top 100 songs list (on which she has three songs), but I have fallen for it big time in the past couple of weeks. It's like floating on a cloud. :heart:

My point is that the Canadian music scene ruling the world would be TERRIBLE because of those artists.

Because these two artists are clearly the only thing to have come out of Canada.

Because these two artists are clearly the only thing to have come out of Canada.

 

1 good artist (Grimes) against 3 terrible artists.

 

I haven't lost yet! :D

PLEASE stop having this useless argument in MY thread.

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From the opening, delicate, creeping moments of 'sever', it's clear than 'kin' is a fairly singular experience. There's a ghostly majesty at work here, a crackle to the sounds, a crinkle to the synths, a wild inflection to the vocals. It's intoxicating. But it isn't without catchy, pulsating rhythms in the spirit of the finest scandipop, and in fact, what Jonna Lee et al prove here is that the stereotypical cheesiness of schlager instrumentation can be reconfigured and recontextualised into an emphatically artistic, singular and morbid experience. What else is the swirling jingle of 'drops' if not a wicked twist on something like 'Jag ljuger så bra'? That connection is perhaps too facile, but 'kin' nonetheless seems informed by the same pulsatingly pure Swedish ethic to energise the soul of the music lover.

 

essential track //