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...
