The best albums of 2012

Opinion by Dylan Moran

The year has been filled with great music and as an entertainment editor on 3news.co.nz, I’ve had the chance to listen to a lot of it.

Here are my top ten albums of 2012: 

Frank Ocean – Channel Orange

Channel Orange is pretty much a unanimous pick for album of the year by most critics and it’s easy to see why. Ocean defies genres as he rejuvenates the soul genre single-handedly with an album about modern-day romantic tragedies, existentialism and life through his eyes. Those who enjoyed this album and haven’t yet checked out his debut release Nostalgia, Ultra need to.

 

Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, m.A.A.d City

Lamar presents a solid album – again focusing on his life and experiences – and is deserving of every single accolade he receives.

 

Big Boi – Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors

Big Boi’s back after a long absence and for once he’s making the most of his potential. This album is filled with collaborations with indie hitsters Phantogram, Little Dragon and Jai Paul alongside his usual suspects Sleepy Brown and B.O.B. No, Andre 3000 doesn’t appear – there’s so much water under that particular bridge it’s pretty much washed away – but the end result is an amazingly welcome pop-rap album which is a real pleasure.

 

The xx – Coexist

The xx received something of a lashing for this album, with critics saying it was too similar to 2009’s xx. I struggle to find that in any way negative. xx was a fantastic album and so is Coexist.

 

Jack White – Blunderbuss

White’s first solo album since the dissolving of The White Stripes is an absolute stunner.

 

Home Brew – Home Brew

Like them or loathe them, Home Brew put together an absolutely fantastic album and have done more for New Zealand hip hop in the past two years than more recognisable ones have in the last 10.

 

Chromatics – Kill for Love

Chromatics’ fourth studio album sees them riding a wave of post-Drive hype (yes, they made that song) and, despite the added pressure, they deliver. This is a true modern masterpiece in the genre as they supersede the likes of Metric and Desire and even arrive at The xx territory.

 

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All - The OF Tape vol 2

In the first quarter of this year, when this album dropped, OF could do no wrong. It was a solid album and would have been top of many people’s lists for a long time. ‘Oldie’ is a real rap cipher classic – up there with Wu-Tang’s ‘Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)’. Tracks like ‘Sam (Is Dead)’, ‘Doms’ and ‘NY (Ned Flander)’ also bring that typical OF heat. The fact that every single member of the collective features was a massive bonus.

 

Grizzly Bear – Shields

Grizzly Bear have always put out good music, but there’s been a lack of depth and connection behind it - sometimes it felt as though they were just going through the motions. Shields changes all that.

 

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist

Don’t be fooled by this duo’s single ‘Thrift Shop’ - they’re not just another white-boy hipster rap duo. The majority of their songs have some kind of call for social change and meaning behind them. They’re over here in February too.

3 News

source: newshub archive