Hey! Are we still reading year-end best of 2012 lists? Well we better be, because I finally got my shit together. Read this because last year is not so last year yet. Fresh into the new year, I present some of my favourite albums of the last 12 months (re-issues, compilations and dj mix albums excluded as usual).
25. Konkoma
Konkoma
[Soundway}
London-based Ghanaian Afro Funk band produced by reggae producer Prince Fatty.
Top Tracks: "Sibashaya Woza", "Handkerchief", "Me-Kyin-Kyin".
24. Wiley
Evolve or Be Extinct
[Big Dada]
Now that Dizzee Rascal is all pop electro-annoying, Wiley remains my veteran polished Grime-ster of choice.
Top tracks: “Immigration”, “Life at Sea”, “Weirdo”.
23. Eight And A Half
Eight And A Half
[Arts and Crafts]
Two members of The Stills and the drummer from Broken Social Scene made a great indie/ part electronic pop album. Go Toronto! Go Montreal!
Top tracks: “The Turn Around”, “Go Ego”.
22. Terror Danjah
Night Crawler
[Hyperdub]
Chaotic and rough yet smooth and flowing. There is danjah in dis terrah.
Top tracks: “Rum Punch”, “Delicately”.
21. Kone
Legend Days ep
[Alpha Pup]
Apparently drawing influence from American Indian, Polish psyche and folk music of Uzbekistan – it is a celebration of all things indigenous – but more crackly, dusted and experimental.
Top tracks: “Power Came to Them”, “In the Wind”
20. Lone
Galaxy Garden
[R&S]
Celestial, whimsical vibes. Kinda like a comet flying overhead with trees, grass and water coming out of its tail. Sounds like how you’d expect an album called “Galaxy Garden” to sound. Reminds me of an LTJ Bukem Earth/Logical Progression vibe with different beats.
Top tracks: “Lying in the Reeds”, “Crystal Caverns 1991″.
19. Sigur Ros
Valtari
[XL Recordings]
Delicate. Beautiful. Repeat. Hey man, it’s Sigur Ros. This one isn’t as noisy though.
Top Tracks: Sounds like one long-ass delicate beautiful song. In fact, their whole discography sounds like one long-ass delicate, beautiful somg.
18. Santigold
Master of My Make-Believe
[Atlantic]
Yup, I like catchy pop songs with chant out loud choruses. Your move, M.I.A.
Top tracks: “This Isn’t our Parade”, “The Keepers”, “Go!”
17. Barker and Baumecker
Transsektoral
[Ostgut Ton]
Techno with a slight melody and off-kilter stutter. Fantastic.
16. D’Marc Cantu
A New World
[M>O>S>]
Slow building, spacey jackin’ techno tracks with some nice squelchy acid lines from this underrated Michigan producer. Fans of Basic Soul Unit would approve.
Top tracks: “The First Planet”, “The Other Side of House”.
15. Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras Meets the Congos
Icon Give Thank
[Frkwys]
Trippy, chants and tings with the legendary Congos. Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras put their mad psychedelic, dubby imprint on it. I hear different sounds everytime I play this.
Top tracks: “Happy Song”, “Invocation”.
14. Ondatropica
Ondatropica
[Soundway]
Colombian musician Mario Galeano and British producer Quantic put together an exceptional all-star band of musicians to pay tribute to the classic and modern styles of Colombian music. Elements of rap, beatbox, ska, rock and electronic are all over this triple vinyl release. As I write and listen to this, I realize i should have ranked this higher, but reformatting is a bitch.
Top tracks: “Tiene Sabor, Tiene Sazon”, “I Ron Man” (cover of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man!!)
13. Chromatics
Kill For Love
[Italians Do it Better]
Damn! The opening cover of Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” is an amazingly bold way to start a great album. I only heard this album in December, so i’m gonna be rocking it well into 2013.
Top tracks: “Into the Black”, “Kill For Love”.
12. My Dry Wet Mess
Stereo Typing
[Brainfeeder]
Interesting, intricate beats and other weirdness for the Brainfeeder headz. My Dry Wet Mess- bad moniker, bad-ass beats.
Top track: “Berlin Stereo Hands”
11. Hannah Georgas
Hannah Georgas
[Dine Alone]
Well-crafted, sincere songs from…Newmarket, Ontario! Thanks for the intro, Michelle MK!
Top Tracks: “Elephant”, “Enemies”.
10. Grimes
Visions
[Arbutus]
Grimes is like the little sister you had who asked you for help setting up her first mini synthesizer then ended up making tracks insanely more memorable and better than you ever could.
Top tracks: “Oblivion”, “Genesis”, “Open Up”.
9. Dirty Projectors
Swing Lo Magellan
[Domino]
Dirty Projectors remind me of the band Of Montreal – but I hate Of Montreal and love Dirty Projectors. What’s up with that?
Top tracks: “Gun Has No Trigger”, “Dance For You”, “Offspring are Blank”.
8. Mala
Mala in Cuba
[Brownswood]
Mala (as Digital Mystikz with Coki) was my gateway into the dubstep world long before it became a dirty embarassing word to utter. New readers: dubstep wasn’t always heavy bro-step aggro lame sauce. Mala continues to advance bass music with a truly beautiful piece of work recorded while visiting Cuba with Gilles Peterson. He recorded Cuban musicians and fused them with his always interesting beats. Mala in Cuba reminds me of a New Forms-era Roni Size- a fresh injection of vitality into a stale genre.
Top tracks: “Cuba Electronic”, “Calle F”.
7. Andy Stott
Luxury Problems
[Modern Love]
Andy Stott hypnotizes again with his crushing sloth-like beats and haunting processed vocals of his old piano teacher, Alison Skidmore. He even sneaks in a slow drum and bass beat (“Up the Box”) to great effect.
Top tracks: “Numb”, “Luxury Problems”
6. Batida
Batida
[Soundway]
Man, Soundway Records was on fire this year! Batida, or Angolan / Portuguese DJ Mpula aka Pedro Coquenão put out a distinctly modern and vibrant project with its feet firmly rooted in the past. Batida combined samples from old 1970s Angolan tracks with modern electronic dance music. Like Buraka Som Sistema minus the annoying kids stepping on your feet when dancing to it.
Top tracks: “Algeria”, “Tieri O Chapeau”
5. Pallbearer
Sorrow and Extinction
[Profound Lore]
Where the hell did these guys come from? Reminds me of a doom-metal version of Explosions in the Sky with lyrics. I described it to my friend Laurie as being oddly uplifting music- to which she said, “Sorrow and Extinction by PALLBEARER…ya what an uplifting title”. hahaha. They are playing a show in Toronto February 19, 2013.
Top Tracks: All five of them!
4. Daphni
Jiaolong
[Merge]
Dan Snaith is a better Daphni than a Caribou. Well for the dance floor, at least.
Top tracks: “Yes I Know”, “Ahora”
3. Delta Funktionen
Traces
[Delsin]
Proper Detroit Electro (from Holland). Icy cold techno soundscapes that warm my heart and stimulate my cerebrum..or is it my cerebellum?
Top tracks: “On a Distant Journey” (such Kraftwerkian synth lines), “Frozen Land”.
2. Tame Impala
Lonerism
[Modular]
Psychy, warm, fuzzy songs that capture my life in Super 8 film and vintage photographs. Kinda like Instagram/Hipstamatic but waaaaay better.
Top tracks: “Elephant”, “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”, “Music To Walk Home By”.
1. Robert Hood
Motor: Nighttime World 3
[Music Man]
I did a review of this album on this site here. This release harkened back the days of Hood’s Minimal Nation album (1994) which set the techno blueprint for me. Each track on Motor: Nighttime World 3 perfectly crafts and captures a mood that soars to new heights. I recently saw Robert Hood DJ in Toronto for the first time in years. He played a bangin’, mostly old school set that sounded as relevant and powerfully urgent as ever. Glad to hear and see techno innovators like Robert Hood (along with Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills) continuously elevating their game for 20 + years.
Top tracks: “Black Technician”, “Hate Transmissions”, “Motor City”, “The Exodos”
Honourable Mentions
These albums had some wicked standout tracks, but as whole “proper”-flowing albums, they fell just below the top 25 cut-off mark on the urbansteve-o-meter of sonic enjoyment.
Claro Intelecto – Reform Club [Delsin]
Four Tet – Pink [Text Records]
The Orb and Lee Scratch Perry – The ORBSERVER in the Star House [Cooking Vinyl]
Elos – Scenes of Life/Electricity [Alpha Pup]
Addison Groove – Transistor Rhythm [50 Weapons]
LV – Sebenza [Hyperdub]
Saint Vitus – Lillie: F-65 [Season of Mist]
