Top Fo'iy Nigh!

Well, while others listed only top 1 or 10 or 15, I in my usual excess, made 49. Why 49? Well cause after I made the list I realized that one of the albums was from 2011, and that can never be accepted! Accursed past! So, it's split up into top 26-49, then 25-15, then 14-6, then Top 5. Truly insane i know. Inside there its mostly alphabetic order cause I'm lazy and also, really, in realityland, who can do such a feat! That's just not real life! Description wise we'll see what happens, i may just highlight some hotties or whatevs. I'm aware that I missed many awesome albums from this year, which are thus not included in this list. That's why i like these lists so i can see what i missed and check it out. Maybe you can get some o' that from my list too!

Wet your chops to these traczzz:

Top 26-49 (in alphabetical order)

These are all great but were they great enough? NOPE cuz they don't makes its top 25ers!! BUt seryiously they are grat and you should listen!

Actress - R.I.P. not as good as last year, even though i seem to be the only person to think that.

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz kinda disappointing but not terrible

Bitchin Bajas - Vibraquatic This band and album seems like it was made by Aaron Senter

Beach House - Bloom mostly the song Myth, also i've never paid attention to beach house. are they good?

Charlatan Meets The North Sea - S/T

Chrome Wings / Ladyshapes Split 

Colin Stetson & Mats Gustafsson - Stones (wow! double sax double fax, although I kinda feel like a tool that both of my jazz related releases involve Mats Gustafsson)

Ectoplasm & DenMother - 416

Gangrene - Vodka & Ayahuasca Oh No is always better with others than by himself

Hell Maf / Daz-Ini - Hell Maf Remix Daz-Ini: Pour Encore Plus de Ma French Rap!

Inspired School Of Astral Music - Celestrial Stairway 

Jahiliyya Fields - Unicursal Hexagram

The Jazz Jousters - Some Other Time Bill Evans remixed to instrumental hip-hop, great but could have been bette.

Jeary! - Jeary For Dolo!

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Visiting This World

Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, m.A.A.d City not as good as everyone says but still good

Lambchop - Mr. M I've always ignored lambchop but suddenly didn't and then this album was really great and exactly what i needed at the first moment i heard it.

The Kevin Costner Suicide Pact - My Hand Holding a Still Photograph of the Same Scene better than the band name might suggest

Mark Bradley - Offerings

Mondo Lava/Eternal Tapestry

Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio on paper it was a dream but then at first i wasn't into it but then later i was quite a bit and still am.

Sean McCann, Matthew Sullivan & Jeff Witscher - Barb

Spectral Being - Ritualistic Burning

Sylvia Monnier - Never More Camellias

Top 25-15 (Also In Alphabetical Order)

Hey now, almost there to the top. things are getting serious, hot and heavy in here and who knows how this will all end up. don't kowtow!

Captain Murphy - Duality (Self-Released)

Flying Lotus's free stoner (think Madliby/MF Doomish) rap mixtape. Just released so almost didn't make the list but its just that good. Everything FlyLo does is a golden hen which should be caressed. And its free!

Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes (Warp)

As I was saying earlier about Golden Hen's, This is also a golden hen. Flying Lotus is great always and forever!

Former Selves - Limits (Rotifer) /Many Moons (Hooker Vision)

Just found Former Selves this year. Lots of great stuff. Here are two of them. Mostly quiet ambient.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (Constellation)

Ol Godspeed back in the stable eh? I was worried this would suck bad but its not only great but great!  It still sounds like Godspeed but it also doesn't sound outdated. It sounds very current in the experimentally droney scene in many ways but not in like a "hey we're old guys trying to get in on the trends" way but just a "hey we know how to make good music" way.

Holy Other - Held (Tri Angle)

This was a last minute find. sweet dance jams from a fine label. honestly haven't listened to it enough but its great. check it!

How To Dress Well - Total Loss (Acephale)

Now I love lo-fi stuff and do not think that when a lo-fi artists loses the lo-fi they are "maturing". In fact I thought that I wouldn't like this and just figured I would be a one album how to dress well fan. But geez this is still good! Quite very good infact!

Lindstrøm - Smalhans (Smalltown Supersound)

If you like dance music at all your probably know who Lindstrøm is. Well this is him being him. Nothing spectacular or insane about this release, just a very good Lindstrøm album. I guess he is a reliable guy this guy. good alb.

Nova Scotian Arms - Cult Spectrum (Digitalis)

Great droney boneys from steady releasing steed.

Raime - Quarter Turns Over A Living Line (Blackest Ever Black)

Reading descriptions of this I thought this would not be my thing at all. It sounds like its very industrial and darkly industrial at that. But i love it all the way through. Very surprised. Perhaps you might feel the same?

Seth Martin and the Menders - Putting the Sky to Sleep (Self-Released)

An excellent album of gentleman's folk from a good friend made in Korea. Listened to it many times and it gets better with the more listens. Available as a name your price download on bandcamp. go get it!

Sundrips - Dream Studies (Koppklys)

Sundrips put out great blissful slightly noisy drone/ambient all the time with mostly high success. this is true here too as this another great album by themsters, despite the terrible cover art.

Top 14-6 (Also In Alphabetical Order)

Now this is where its at! WOW! what a grat plac to hain out! If you don't know these gemjams then you are missing the boatride! or maybe you took the wrong boat to somewhere dumb...If you ignored everything else i said, don't ignore me now! please don't ignore me guys! hey guys!

Andy Stott - Luxury Problems (Modern Love)

Definitely Top 14 material. Dance music which is not very dancy and if described would almost sound like something industrial but i swear its not. Experimental dance music...uh It's good you guys, just check it out

Emeralds - Just To Feel Anything (Editions Mego)

You know these guys, still at it, still doing right by the lord of jams. Probably should have put this in the Top 5.

Guenter Schlienz - Tape Studies (SicSic)

Hey Hey. Another new fella for me. I knew I would love this from the getty up. Put a PCB on the cover of a tape and call it tape studies and I'm sold. And its great. Definitely top ten material.

Inner Tube - S/T (Pacific City Sound Visions)

Check out that cover. Yessss. The music pretty much sounds like that looks. Super Good Collab between emeralds Mark McGuire and Spencer Clark/James Ferraro Pal Charles Berlitz.

very good. possibly belongs in the top 5.

Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music (Williams Street)

Way way back when I only know about Killer Mike as a guest rapper on Outkast stuff i was kinda like, "who is this guy?" and not necessarily in a good way. But slowly the fellow came into his own and started tearing it up. This is his best album yet, and I feel like he's only just going to keep getting better. Definitely my top Hip-Hop album of the year.

Oliwa - Rituals (Zeon Light)

This was a totally random bandcamp find for me and it turns out these buenos aires synth jams are one of my top albums of the year. very good. get in on it. A name your price download from band camp or a tape from Zeon Light (actually all Zeon releases appear to be name your price band camp downloads)

Panabrite - The Baroque Atrium (Preservation)

Panabrite is another reliable force for good. A go to for all your nostalgic synth needs. He had several this year but i think this is tops.

Sand Circles - Motor City (Not Not Fun)

When I first started getting into the world of lo-fi psych/drone cassettes etc... Not Not Fun was my go to. I thought they were untouchable. Later I decided that they were actually sort of hit or miss and that there are plenty of other labels i like better. However that doesn't mean that the label sucks or can't put out the goods. Here is clearly the case. one of best albums of the year. a sort of fake soundtrack to a post apocalyptic wasteland detroit or something. tops.

Suaves Figures - Nouveaux Gymnastes (Sangoplasmo)

A great album of gentle synth jams. First time to hear of Suaves Figures. I'm not sure if its meant to be a synth update to Erik Satie but the name and tone makes one feel as such. I could probably look it up but i'm not going to. Top 10 to be sure!

Top 5-1 (In pretty much order of ranking, probably)

OMG it just keeps getting more intense and battle hardened. Are you ready for theseeses!

Lunar Miasma - Impermanent Nature (SicSic)

Another all hands on the golden hen deck person, pretty much everything Greek Synth jammer Lunar Miasma puts out can be trusted to be either totally great or down right awesome. There were several releases I could have put here but i chose this one.  The third track, Insight (Gone II) is one of my favorite tracks of the year.

잠비나이 (Jambinai) - 차연 (Differance) (GMC Records)

Another Top fiver. Jambinai are a sweet Korean experimental band. They play sort of doomy drone with lots of korean traditional instruments. Sometimes there is a metal influence as a result of the main dude's previous bands having been that sort of thing. Awesome 1st full length release by great newish band who hopefully will go on to destroy the earth. Totally good news. If you can't find this and would like a taste, let me know.

Duane Pitre - Monolithic Youth (Sonic Meditations)

Duane Pitre used to be a pro skater and then i think he was in some bands or something. Now he makes full on blisstimes drones. He is an unsung hero of the drone, whom I feel no one is ever talking about but should be. You love it. This is awesome. As is everything he does. In the Top 3!

Daphni - Jiaolong (Jiaolong)

Oh Dan from Caribou/Manitoba! You also are a golden hen! Daphni is he going straight on techno with great results, possibly my #2 Album of 2012!

Fire! with Oren Ambarchi - In The Mouth A Hand (Rune Grammofon)

YES! Fire! is Scandanavian Free Jazz legend/stalwart Mats Gustafsson and two other apparently sweet dudes. Also sweet Guitarist Oren Ambarchi comes along for the ride. They've been around for a bit but although I listen to lots of Mats Gustafsson related stuff, I somehow missed this group. This is probably my top album of the year. Soooooooooo Gooooooood. If you like heavy psychy jamouts and were like "hey maybe i should like some free jazz but I don't know", then you should get in on this real fast real bad. You need to give it time and immerse in it. At first I tried listening to it very quickly and was like meh, but later it nailed me hard!


And the rest is history! Let the history books behold!