Apocalypse Now: The Best Records of 2012

Dan Khan

1) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

2) Beach House - Bloom

3) Grizzly Bear - Shields

4) Four Tet- Pink

5) Jack White - Blunderbuss

6) The Helio Sequence - Negotiations

7) The Walkmen - Heaven

8) John Frusciante - PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone

9) David Byrne & St. Vincent - Love This Giant

10) Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas

11) Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

12) Metric - Synthetica

13) Ty Segall - Twins

14) Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

15) Sigur Rós - Valtari

Scout

1. School of Seven Bells - Ghostory

- Maybe there were better albums this year, but none that burrow into my soul and sit there, forcing me to feel things I don't always want to. Their music can, at its best, pull emotions out of your lowest depths. This is their most complete album and can feel like it lasts for days and days.

2. Father John Misty - Fear Fun

- Whatever name he chooses, he's still one of our best songwriters, and this is a bigger canvas for him to paint on, so his voice gets to roam, his guitars get to play dress-up, and we get to enjoy the beautiful, haunting, unforgettable show again and again and again. I've listened to this maybe a hundred times this year and I'm still not sick of it.

3. Patrick Watson - Adventures In Your Own Backyard

- I can't even imagine how much time he spent on each of these songs. What a fucking brain on the guy! You get lost in the gorgeousness of his songs and this album is especially bountiful.

4. Beak> - >>

5. Crocodiles - Endless Flowers

6. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

7. Grizzly Bear - Shields

8. The Ty Segall Band - Slaughter House

- Hearing any of Ty's albums is like discovering Rock music all over/for the first time/whatever. He's a mad genius and his lab is constantly exploding. Ty made three albums this year and I just like this one best. That second song, holy shit. This album is like watching an artist 'slash his canvas' to coin a phrase.

9. The K-Holes - Dismania

10. Bahamas - Power Chords

- I call having loved him first. Afie must be having the time of his life right now and he absolutely should be. He's so good at this, he was born to do this, so I'm glad people noticed.

11. Disappears - Pre Language

12. David Byrne & St. Vincent - Love This Giant

13. Chromatics - Kill For Love

14. We Avalanche - Time Travels

- Like Elliott Smith doing Lomax. They're going to get huge, these fellows. They play music in the vein of a lot incredibly popular bands, but they put so much care into the texture and nuance of every moment, while others are content to just play the song. They have the precision of scientists which doesn't diminish from the awesome force they use to shred.

15. Screaming Females - Ugly