Music in 2012: My Top 50 Albums of the Year (#30-1)

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 not to love about that.

#28 - "Ill Manors", Plan B
Angry, political and meaty, this album didn't exactly hold back and saw Plan B demonstrate some intense and insightful observations. The film wasn't much cop though, was it.

#27 - "The Money Store", Death Grips
Their slightly more legal and proper album of 2012 - ie. the one that wasn't leaked without the label's consent and had an erect dick on the cover - Death Grips' breakthrough seems to be the critics' favourite of their two 2012 offerings. For me, it's not, but that's a bit like saying vanilla isn't my favourite ice cream flavour. It's excellent.

#26 - "Halcyon", Ellie Goulding
Not quite as replayable or pretty as her 2010 album Lights, but that was its strength. A number of melodic, stripped bare tracks that showcased her ability to bedazzle with romance rather than tunes. But if you wanted tunes then 'Anything Could Happen' was more than enough.

#25 - "Playin Me", Cooly G
How many other dub/triphop albums this year did you see with the balls to cover Coldplay's Trouble? Effortlessly cool, really chilled and a quintessentially British artist. Lovely.

#24 - "Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors", Big Boi
Yet again a star-studded showcase from the most dependable half of Outkast. Perhaps not the most cohesive of albums, but it has enough going on and enough quality to make it worth more than a couple of listens.

#23 - "Master of my Make-Believe", Santigold
In retrospect I can see why it was met with a bit of a lukewarm reception: she made the mistake of releasing the album's 3 most exciting and snappy tracks - Big Mouth, Go! and Disparate Youth - months prior to the rest. It's not a write-off, though, and Santi White is still more than capable of getting people dancing.

#22 - "Sun", Cat Power
Her and Regina might as well be crowned the most dependable women in modern folk music, because yet again Cat Power bedazzled us with angsty, mystifying music this year.

#21 - "Words and Music by Saint Etienne", Saint Etienne
 hook hook hook hook hook catch. Faultless album.

 #20 - "In Our Heads", Hot Chip
It might not have contained floor-fillers of the same spirit as Over and Over or Ready for the Floor, but the fourth Hot Chip album was as solid and unusual as ever.

#19 - "Fantasea", Azealia Banks
We're still awaiting the first proper album from Ms. Banks so I suppose it's testament to the awesome ferocity of 212 that this year still saw her succeed, headline festivals and dominate the online music community. This mixtape - the first thing of any real length - was kooky, bumpy, aquatic and mesmerising.

#18 - "Shrines", Purity Ring
Just a really fucking dark and weird album.

#17 - "Attack on Memory", Cloud Nothings
Although tired by the latter half of the 00s, indie rock has enjoyed a couple of really fantastic albums this year. None less excellent than the forward-thinking, melodic, well-crafted Cloud Nothings, whose third album pretty much impressed everyone. Get it if you love the Libertines or Strokes. And who doesn't.

#16 - "No Love Deep Web", Death Grips
Must see these live.

#15 - "Devotion", Jessie Ware
More than enough wonderful pop songs here for a debut, Jessie Ware was basically the most-talked about British female this year (well, ignoring the Adele fallout). With good reason.

#14 - "Given to the Wild", The Maccabees
I'd never listened to the band prior to January's release of this, their third album. JUST RLY BLOODY GOOD. Naturally Pitchfork hated it, because it's British, but fuck them.

#13 - "Celebration Rock", Japandroids
Singlehandedly shook the cobwebs off of post-punk music.

#12 - "Mature Themes", Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Too much going on in this album for me to even begin to tackle. Really rich, weird sound.

#11 - "Lonerism", Tame Impala
I'm not actually sure about placing it this low. I cannot find one bad thing in this... I think it's just on the basis of it not quite seizing me emotionally as much as my top ten.

#10 - "Django Django", Django Django

 The segues of the tracks into each other build and ebb majestically, and give the UK band a debut album to be proud of. Think the Beach Boys get given a remixing by Fatboy Slim.

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

 I'd never bothered to delve into the highly-revered but slightly feminist-centric Fiona Apple back catalogue, but this is a pretty convincing argument to break routine. Staunchly powerful and emotionally weighty songwriting

#8 - "Blunderbuss", Jack White
Although a certain number of his other side-projects were a little iffy - see the Raconteurs - there was nothing to fear this year when Mr. White ditched his sister and went solo. A really fantastic album, and classic blues rock.

#7 - "Bloom", Beach House

 The gods of all indie duos, this was a really summery, blissful and beautiful album.

#6 - "The Haunted Man", Bat for Lashes

 Everything she does is beautiful and you cannot deny it just shut up and listen and let her bewitch you.

#5 - "Visions", Grimes
I might have given her song of the year, but the album doesn't quite hold onto my attention in the same manner. That said, it's still phenomenal, and a weird concoction of goth, electronica and K-pop. Really cannot recommend her enough if you haven't given her a chance already.

#4 - "Gossamer", Passion Pit

 I tend to slightly overrate 'very good' albums as 'great' ones on the basis of how happy they make me. It happened last year with Patrick Wolf, and this year's recipient of my love and emotional response is Passion Pit. So happy.

#3 - "Channel Orange", Frank Ocean
The runaway winner of pretty much every other list going, please don't take my placing of him at #3 as some form of subversive manoeuvre... it was and is an excellent album. I just honestly prefer the top 2...

#2 - "Put Your Back N 2 It", Perfume Genius
In June I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing this man live. It wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs, but then this album is about the most dark, atmospheric and depressing listen of the year - don't let that put you off though, because Mike Hadreas is capable of genius songwriting.

#1 - "good kid, m.A.A.d. city", Kendrick Lamar
My first ten out of ten. As groundbreaking as that sounds, it was just a welcome opportunity to see hip hop drop all of its pretenses and just return to genius, innovative storytelling this year. In retrospect, this is the greatest album since Kanye's MBDTF, and is just as eventful and grand.