
I'm not even gonna attempt to put these in any type of order other than alphabetical (by artist name) because A) I'm a lazy P.O.S., and B) I tried, I honestly did, but gave up, the moment I found myself weighing the merits of a drone doom album with its electronic, jazz, and alt-rock counterparts and just drawing a blank. Can't do it. Just can't do it. Alphabetical it is. Now for what it's worth, I like to think I've got an eclectic palette, but that doesn't necessarily mean I intercept all the music that's released (at least not as thoroughly as I try to keep it RE: hip hop). For instance: I didn't even know that the Menahan Street Band released an album this year until it made the Deen's list (see what I did there?). So while this list may seem authoritative (at least to me), I'm sure there are plenty of amazing records that dropped in 2012 that simply slipped past my radar. That's what the comments section is for, I guess. Here we go...

A Fine Frenzy - Pines

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz

Anya Marina - Felony Flats

Baby Woodrose - Third Eye Surgery

Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man

Beach House - Bloom

Black Bombaim - Titans

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Cobra Juicy

Cat Power - Sun

Dr. John - Locked Down

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

Esperanza Spalding - Radio Music Society

Estoner - The Stump Will Rise

Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE

Gary Clark, Jr. - Blak and Blu

Grizzly Bear - Shields

Hot Fiction - Apply Within

Jack White - Blunderbuss

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas

Melody's Echo Chamber - Melody's Echo Chamber

Menahan Street Band - The Crossing

Milo Greene - Milo Greene

Mount Carmel - Real Women

Nick Waterhouse - Time's All Gone

Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts

Patti Smith - Banga

Pelican - AtaraxiaTaraxis

Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio

The Shaolin Afronauts - Quest Under Capricorn

Shawn Lee - Synthesizers in Space

Sic Alps - Sic Alps

Skylar Grey - The Buried Sessions of Skylar Grey [EP]

Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania

Tame Impala - Lonerism

Ty Segall - Twins

Ty Segall & White Fence - Hair

The xx - Coexist
So what'd I miss? Lemme know...