Top 25 Albums of 2012 (as of October)

It's October. Tame Impala's long awaited Lonerism has finally been released. There are no announced releases for 2012 left that I'm looking forward to. New records from Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Toro Y Moi have been announced, but they're coming out next year (they might leak this year, but technically that wouldn't count). I'm eagerly awaiting the next release from MGMT, but I expect it will slip into 2013, at this point.

There could be some surprise music releases in the next few months, but typically there isn't too much. Maybe a surprise release from Bradford Cox (Deerhunter / Atlas Sound). He hasn't released a record yet this year! If he doesn't, this will be the first year that he hasn't in a long while. 

There could be an album that's been released already that I haven't discovered, or could yet discover a greater appreciation for. But anyway, here's how my personal rankings for the Top 25 Albums of 2012 are shaping up so far.

Yes, I love the Yeasayer record that much. I could easily have it at #1, but Hot Chip's In Our Heads remains so utterly enjoyable to listen to that it's currently holding on to the top spot. Yeasayer's Fragrant World must be ahead of its time. The instrumentation on that record is so interesting, every song is a gem. Tame Impala's Lonerism is the newest entry on this list, but it's easily a Top 5 record, got it at #3 for now.

Antlers' fantastic Undersea isn't on here because it's an EP. I was hoping to make that a separate list for the best EPs of the year, but so far I've only got that and Le Common Diamond's self-titled EP. Not much of a list. At any rate, I'll have to give both of those records separate recognition.

01) Hot Chip - In Our Heads

02) Yeasayer - Fragrant World

03) Tame Impala - Lonerism

04) Beach House - Bloom

05) Twin Shadow - Confess

06) Grimes - Visions

07) Purity Ring - Shrines

08) Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

09) Miike Snow - Happy to You

10) Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend

11) New Build - Yesterday Was Lived and Lost

12) Animal Collective - Centipede Hz

13) Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes

14) Grizzly Bear - Shields

15) Jack White - Blunderbuss

16) Frank Ocean - Channel ORANGE

17) Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits

18) Passion Pit - Gossamer

19) Bear In Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool

20) Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action From A Distance

21) How to Dress Well - Total Loss

22) Lower Dens - Nootropics

23) DIIV - Oshin

24) Lemonade - Diver

25) Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory

More Daytrotter Sessions

Some other notable Daytrotter sessions y'all should check out:

Wavves

of Montreal

Deerhunter

Grizzly Bear

Dirty Projectors

Surfer Blood

Sunset Rubdown

This list is by no means comprehensive!  Check out everything the site has to offer.

last.fm - Artists 06-10

06. Animal Collective - 812 plays
Only my top 5 have cracked 1k plays, that's a solid divider.

Yes, I totally got on board the Animal Collective train when Merriweather Post Pavilion came out.  I mean, "My Girls" blew me away.  And it was only in this time that I started listening to the sort of music that AnCo produce.

I'll still hold MPP as my favorite album of theirs, and without a doubt one of the best albums to come out in 2009 (though Logos might be better).  But I really love Sung Tongs.  Strawberry Jam is really good too - I'm surprised a lot of fans don't like it.  I dig Feels, but it's probably my least favorite of these 4.

Similar to of Montreal, Animal Collective have several albums prior to Sung Tongs, but I haven't really gotten into any of that material.  Still, that's 4 pretty amazing albums, plus an EP - last fall's Fall Be Kind, especially the Grateful Dead sampling "What Would I Want? Sky".

07. Grizzly Bear - 681 plays
Grizzly Bear!  I would place them akin to Deerhunter in that they're also very atmospheric to me.  Veckatimest took me away to a different place.  I saw them in Central Park opening for The Decemberists, before I actually knew them.  Must see them again now.

08. The Shins - 640 plays
Really good poppy indie stuff.  I don't listen to The Shins so much anymore, though I'm definitely digging the Broken Bells album.

09. Atlas Sound - 630 plays
Bradford Cox has 2 groups in my Top 10!  Started off as Bradford doing bedroom electronic type stuff apart from Deerhunter, but it goes beyond that with Logos.  I fucking love Logos.

10. Destroyer - 611 plays
Dan Bejar, one of the singers for The New Pornographers, also has his own project - with a bunch of albums.  You would really have to say The New Pornos is his side project.  Some good stuff here - "New Ways of Living" is one helluva tune.  His eccentricities pretty much run rampant here, while they are kept in check and combined with different elements (A.C. Newman's brand of power pop) in The New Pornos.

Christoph's Top 10 Albums of 2009

10) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
I love the bass sound on this album.  Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was my last experience with the Lips - for some reason I never got around to listening to At War With the Mystics.  Anyway, where Yoshimi was sunny and poppy, Embryonic is dark and heavy and intense.  Both are awesome flip sides of the same coin.  Album closer "Watching the Planets" is the standout track for me.

"Oh, oh, oh, finding the answer.  Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.  Finding that there ain't no answer to find."

09) Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Sunset Rubdown is supposedly the side project of Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade, but this being Sunset Rubdown's 4th album compared to Wolf Parade's 2, you could be fooled into thinking this was Spencer's main gig.  Anyway, while previous albums Shut Up, I Am Dreaming and Random Spirit Lover are really good, I think Dragonslayer is their best set yet.  It's got more of a live sound than its predecessors, and the strong female backing vocals really compliment Spencer's yelp quite nicely.  Album opener "Silver Moons" grabs me from the start.

"I believe in growing old with grace.  I believe she only loved my face.  I believe I acted like a child, making faces at acquired tastes.  And now silver moons belong to you..."

08) Passion Pit - Manners
I love Passion Pit.  I first starting getting into this Massachusetts band a few months before this album came out.  Their first release was an EP called Chunk of Change.  It featured an incredible song called "Sleepyhead", with chipmunk vocals and an awesome beat.  That track is included here on their debut album Manners as well, for good reason, but there are new tracks that match that song's gloriousness.  "Make Light", "Little Secrets", "The Reeling", and "Moth's Wings" are all spectacular.  Passion Pit have a bubbly electro pop sound with strong falsetto vocals from singer Michael Angelakos.  This is happy music, it puts a smile on my face.  A very impressive debut, and I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.

"Let this be our little secret.  No one needs to know we're feeling...higher and higher and higher, higher and higher and higher."