A God-awful Small Affair

I've given you my little doses of celebratory accolades already this festive period, so I guess it now falls to me to herald in the new year with a couple of miscellaneous awards. First off, I'll announce my worst ten albums of the year, before analysing some disappointments, some failed hypes, and what to look out for in 2013. Let's dig in. #10 - "Streets in the Sky", the Enemy I'm usually quite patient with the Enemy because a lot of the critical press have written them off entirely, but to be fair to them their debut album We'll Live and Die in these Towns was wonderful. This was not. Repetitive, uneventful dirge. #9 - "Lex Hives", The Hives Terrible, terrible, monotonous nonsense. Hate it. #8 - "#3", The Script The same GCSE student poetry placed over the same five chord progressions and the most tedious thing to come out of Ireland since ... well, Jedwar d.   #7 - "Sounds from ...

A hefty number of hours of excellent music lies ahead of you... do try to give at least one of these records a listen or two, you might be amazed. The top thirty were even more difficult to arrange, but I thought I'd give it a go. And can I just say, that I'm shocked at the lack of love displayed by most critics and media outlets for my #2 album. I know it was released in January or February, but it was fucking beautiful and shame on you for ignoring it.   #30 - "Icona Pop", Icona Pop Just in case you needed any further proof that Sweden is the best country in the world, 2012 again saw the frosty nation dominate pop music. This, their newest export, is Icona Pop, and they came here to party. #29 - "Reign of Terror", Sleigh Bells I believe I may have made the mistake of labeling this as one of those albums superior to their debut - because it's not - but at the same time it was a confident, noisy, anarchic 36 minutes and what's ...

Now, for the best bit... It's common sense that the album is the most rewarding and complete phenomenon within music, and that's why the whole prediction that the mp3 would kill it off turning out to be a load of nonsense overjoyed me. Sure, there's been a lot of deviation from the format: download-for-free EPs and mixtapes and so on - but these have always existed since the cassette generation. Maybe it's with the benefit of hindsight that I scoff at that, but it's mostly preamble to my painstaking and largely arbitrary decision to crown my favourite fifty albums of 2012. I haven't quite got around to reviewing as many albums as I did in 2011 - 50 fewer, in fact, as it stands, although I endeavour to close that gap by at least five over the festive period - and in all honesty I've not really been wowed in 2012 with as much frequency as I was in 2010 or 2011. For that reason, a lot of the first twenty are filler albums, and aren...

The most important half of my list must now be posted with what can only be described as the deference of the Dalai Lama at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Please accept my decisions with understanding and admiration, otherwise I shall be deeply hurt and ultimately tell you to fuck off. #50 - "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards", Tame Impala #49 - "Anemany", Purity Ring #48 - "Play the Game Boy", A*M*E #47 - "Deep Sea Diver", Bat for Lashes #46 - "Fire's Highway", Japandroids #45 - "Mama Told Me", Big Boi & Kelly Rowland #44 - "Hustle Bones", Death Grips #43 - "Genesis", Grimes #42 - "Open", Regina Spektor #41 - "Take a Walk", Passion Pit #40 - "Love Interruption", Jack White #39 - "Cherokee", Cat Power #38 - "Baby Come Home", Scissor Sisters #37 - "Bad Religion", Frank Ocean #36 - "Anything Could Happen", Ell...

The time of the year's arrived where we reflect on the rest of it and make arbitrary decisions as to which bits of it we enjoyed the most. The major flaw in this process is that tomorrow I shall, most likely, have changed my mind, and be in a different emotional state that appreciates a song more than any of my choices today. For the most part, I've hand-picked 100 songs I've enjoyed in all seasons, and I think will emerge from the year as clear favourites. Let's get started with the first fifty... #100 - "National Anthem", Lana del Rey #99 - "We Were Children", Tribes #98 - "Headphones", Little Boots #97 - "The Only Place", Best Coast #96 - "DJ, Ease My Mind", Niki + the Dove #95 - "A Matter of Time", The Killers #94 - "Nostradamus and Me", Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti #93 - "Bavarian #1 (Say You Will)", Miike Snow #92 - "Gooo", TNGHT #91 - "Let'...