Back to 2012 (Re-Ranking the Best of Lists) • Page 2

Big ones for me are anberlin, early November, anchor & Braille, yellowcard. Technically I listened to circa a lot that year but not sure I’ve listened to violent waves in its entirety since.

 

1. Killer Mike - RAP Music
2. Deftones - Koi No Yokan
3. Passion Pit - Gossamer
4. mewithoutYou - Ten Stories
5. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
6. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
7. Bad Books - II
8. Circa Survive - Violent Waves
9. El-P - Cancer 4 Cure
10. Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods
11. Fun. - Some Nights
12. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, mAAd city
13. Menomena - Moms
14. Kowloon Walled City - Container Ships
15. P.O.S - We Don’t Even Live Here
16. Old Man Gloom - NO
17. Baroness - Yellow & Green
18. Taylor Swift - Red
19. Unsane - Wreck
20. Cloudkicker - Fade
21. Torche - Harmonicraft

 

Oh, good call. Probably the Deftones album I listen to the most if I'm being honest.

 

wait what

 

Without going through all my country I have from that year-

Gaslight - Handwritten.
Yellowcard - Southern Air

All time low - don't panic.

Early November - In currents.


Everything else.

 

Anyone else getting some Mandela effect vibes hearing that Some Nights was 2012? Could've sworn it was 2008/2009

 

1. The Menzingers- On the Impossible Past
2. Gaslight Anthem- Handwritten
3. Japandroids- Celebration Rock
4. Forever Came Calling- Contender
5. Pentimento- Self Titled

 

Yes! Both forever underrated.

 

2012 I tuned heavily into Channel Orange.
I think I told myself I liked Please Remain Calm more than I really did. I loved their self titled record.

 

2012 was a big edm/hip-hop year for me as I was heading into my junior year of college... So, at the time I was listening to a lot of Skrillex, Zomboy, GRiZ, Deadmau5, Kendrick, Swedish House Mafia, Porter Robinson, Excision, Wiz, Drake, Zedd, Joey Bada$$ and Logic.

2012 (re-ranked with 2020 eyes):

1. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, M.A.D City
2. Death Grips - The Money Store
3. The Menzingers - On the Impossible Past
4. Tame Impala - Lonerism
5. The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
6. Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE
7. Joey Bada$$ - 1999
8. Killer Mike - R.A.P Music
9. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
10. Mac Demarco - 2
11. Basement - Colormeinkindness
12. Daytrader - Twelve Years
13. Swedish House Mafia - Until Now
14. Every Time I Die - Ex Lives
15. Deftones - Koi No Yokan
16. Lil Ugly Mane - Mista Thug Isolation
17. Converge - All We Love We Left Behind
18. Yellowcard - Southern Air
19. Beach House - Bloom
20. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
21. Calvin Harris - 18 Months
22. Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 2
23. The XX - Coexist
24. The Shins - Port of Morrow
25. Kanye West Presents Cruel Summer


Speaking of 2012 - remember Project X? It seemed kind of a big pop culture thing that year - a hit movie (financially), lots of copycat parties popping up, and now - its a movie that does not exist

 

I loved that movie. what do you mean it doesn't exist?

 

A movie that does not exist is one that no longer has any sort of cultural footprint, and that has been widely been forgotten since its release

 

I suppose it was technically released in 2011 (though I believe in 2012 in North America) but everyone should go back and listen to Gotye's "Making Mirrors". Yes, it has that one song everyone knows but it's an extremely versatile album with a ton of hooky songs partnered with cool sonic experiments. Was my number 1 album of 2012.

 

I remember liking that Ben Folds Five album more than I expected.
Foxy Shazam got a lot of plays too

 

WOW I forgot about this band! I haven't thought about them in years, but I remember the one release they had was SO good and very unique for the scene, especially at the time. Did the members ever go on to do anything else?

 

Sadly, both never got proper follow-ups.

If I recall correctly, the lead singer did a solo split with someone else from the scene (blanking on who) around 2013. Not sure if he ever made a full record.

 

Yeah he had a split with Matt Vincent from The American Scene. I actually really like Matt Vincent's half of that split a ton.

 

Oh yeah, that's right. I never got into The American Scene much.

 

It was the first full album of theirs i got into. So it will always be special to me

than being said i return to diamond eyes and white pony more than this nowadays

 

You may like his half of the split regardless (Matt Vincent's half) - all acoustic stuff akin to The Tower and The Fool

 

This was the year right here. Menzingers, Gaslight Anthem and fun got so much play. Same with Kendrick and Frank Ocean.

I remember the energy on this site watching fun. grow from this little scene bubble to being all over the place. It was one of those times I felt so proud to be here and have something that we knew about go to the rest of the world. I also remember the hate for the vocoder on some of the songs smh. I do wonder what would've come next with them.

 

Huge year.

Those Kendrick and Frank albums are still my favs by each artist. Definitely the best Japandroids album (what a closing run). Probably my second favourite Gaslight album.

One band that doesn't seem to get a ton of love around here is Tame Impala. (Doesn't really matter if they do or don't because they are huge now.) But 2012 was the year they went from 'throwback psych rock band' to being absolutely revered. I've never loved Lonerism as much as some but it definitely has some great songs.
Another Aussie band to check out is Ball Park Music who released their best (imo) album in 2012, Museum. Definitely recommended for people who like fun. and pop rock like that.

One thing I noticed going back over the year is that two of the Green Day trilogy albums would still be in my top 10. I did not like Dos outside a couple of songs but thing Uno and Tre had a lot of good songs, if not any great ones. The truth is I know other acts put out better albums but I listened to the Green Day albums more. I know all the words.

Then there is On The Impossible Past. End of 2012 I was tossing up between OTIP or Handwritten for my album of the year. Not a contest nowadays. OTIP has become a top 10 album of all time for me. Just hits all my musical sweet spots -- literary, catchy, nostalgic, heartfelt, punk, pop-rock, etc etc.

Revised top 10
1 - The Menzingers: On The Impossible Past
2 - Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid M.A.A.D City
3 - The Gaslight Anthem: Handwritten
4 - Frank Ocean: Channel Orange
5 - Japandroids: Celebration Rock
6 - Masked Intruder: Masked Intruder
7 - Tame Impala: Lonerism
8 - Green Day: Tre!
9 - Green Day: Uno!
10 - fun.: Some Nights
(bonus) 11 - Ball Park Music: Museum

Glaring omissions:
Red (have listened to the whole thing once ever, will rectify that one day)
The Idler Wheel (never listened to it, plan to)
Visions (feeling less and less urge to delve into Grimes by the day)

This was also a year I had some bigtime letdowns from artists I was really into at the time.
The main ones were:
Coexist by The xx (so boring, their previous album was fantastic and their third album was great too).
Women and Work by Lucero (1372 Overton Park was brilliant, this one just didn't impact me at all)
The aforementioned Dos (would rather just listen to Foxboro but honestly don't love that sound in general)
Cruel Summer (the only Ye record I hadn't loved to that point)

 

Wow, this definitely a year I'd like to go back and re-rank myself. Southern Air is 100% my top. It's one of my favorite albums of all time. Still remember reading a preview on the site (maybe from you Jason?) that Always Summer was the spiritual successor to Ocean Avenue, queue excitement. Add to that The Menzingers, Taylor Swift, and hometown heroes Every Time I die, it was a killer year my tastes then and now.

 

I can't believe some of these albums are already 8 years old and I felt like I had been waiting for them for so long (Circa Survive, The Early November, Caspian). My favorite late discovery was From Indian Lakes, I think I only heard it at the beginning of 2013, I exactly remember the random moment of it all.

AOTY would be "Threads" by Now, Now! I keep saying I wasn't used to make any lists till 2013 to be exact, but here I can easily go back and select this one for sure!