What a ride 2012 has been! And like every year preceding it music has been one of the defining factors. You know, it’s the music you have jammed to, and generally enjoyed for various reasons throughout the year. All the album releases, the LPs, EPs and single releases, coupled with their oft times accompanying videos have kept us engaged and even nodding our respective heads to the beat. And let us not forget the various mixtapes that have littered the musical head space the whole year long. All the various formats are our musical barometers so to speak, by which you’ve mile-marked the events in your life.
This is my second year running Mitten Mouth Music, and let me tell you its been quite a ride. And, as is the case with most music writers of merit (of which I most certainly count myself) I’ve been undulated with a virtual Tsunami of music. So many bands, putting out a mind boggling volume of material. Some new artists, some old ones, as well as those artists making great music, yet hardly anybody has heard of ’em. And really that is one of my greatest joys: ferreting out the good stuff from the little nooks and crannies of the internet and presenting them to you. From Soundcloud to Bandcamp, shifting through all the music submissions to my mittenmoutmusic@gmail.com inbox and so on. I’ve been up to my very literal neck in music for 365-days and that’s just the way I like it.
Then there are my fellow bloggers, a few of which help keep me informed about what is happening elsewhere in the various musical hemispheres. My hat off to disco naïveté, tasted shapes, the venom blog and mostly junk food ,just to name a few, for making music blogging a thing of quality and eclectic content.
Well, its time to recap the 2012 year in music, and like I said what a year it has been, with as many surprises as you’d expect from a year reputed to be the end the world (those Mayans were such jokesters). And being how the world didn’t end (that’s a good thing, right?) we might as well keep on enjoying the sights and sounds that have been providing us with the near perfect medium by which joyous highs and melancholy lows inhabit … the music.
Ok, this year I decided to do things a bit differently: for one I chosen to forgo the typical tabulations of hits per page or views per post and all that drek, instead I’ve called on a few friends to help me and you, round out this year in music. Here goes nothing.
So you may be asking yourself, “who the hell are these “friends” I speak of? Well, some are blog followers and some are artists and band members. Some you may have heard of, and some you should be listening to right now. For example, when I asked Jade Hopcraft via Twitter what her favorite bands of the year where, she responded with, “Ohh Blimey” then tweeted me her picks:
1. Dry The River, Album: Shallow Bed
2. Alt-J, Album: An Awesome Wave
3. To Kill A King, Album: Word Of Mouth EP
4. Alabama Shakes , Album: Boys & Girls
5. Matt Corby, Album: Into The Flame
6. Kyla La Grange, Album: Ashes
7. The Staves , Album: Dead & Born & Grown
8. Rachel Sermanni, Album: Under Mountains
One of the biggest advantages about writing a music blog is the opportunity to meet the bands and artists, in social media is a big part of staying connected. So, whether it’s Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace or Facebook, never has it been easier search for new music. Now, I’m no groupie but it a big thrill to reach out to an artist and have them reach back. I’ve gotten to know several, albeit in a very limited way, but still it’s cool. I’ve been corresponding with André Brorsson whose band Stars In Coma is one of my picks for 2012 (check ’em out), I asked him about his top-ten picks of 2012 and here’s his selections in no particular order:
1. of Montreal, Album: Paralytic Stalks
2. Ariel Pink, Album: Mature Themes
3. Mac DeMarco, Album: 2
4. Clock Opera, Album: Ways to Forget
5. Kishi Bashi, Album: 151a
6. Sophia Knapp, Album: Into The Waves
7. Amanda Mair, Album: Amanda Mair
8. Kindness World, Album: You Need a Change of Mind
9. Beachwood Sparks, Album: Tarnished Gold
10 Twin Shadow, Album: Confess
Now, just so you know not all of the bands I review came to my attention by their music submissions initially. At times I get introduced to music by what of small indie labels looking for additional promotion or exposure opportunities, or it’s music I discover just perusing my various haunts. But, I encourage artist to send in their music! I can’t quite remember how I cam upon the music of the Maglia Rosa Group, but I remember being instantly fascinated with lead singer/songwriter Daisy L’s beautiful voice. Well, this talented young woman also goes by the moniker Daisy X and their wonderful band Maglia Rosa Group. By the way, she also follows MMM on Facebook, which is utterly endearing, check out her picks for 2012:
1. Bjork, Album: Bastards
2. Battles, Album: Dross Glop
3. Sigur Ros, Album: Valtari
4. Luke Abbott, Album: Modern Driveway
5. Animal Collective, Album: Centipide Hz
6. Nathan Fake, Album: Steam Days
7. The Antlers, Album: Undersea
8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Album: Allelujah, Don’t Bend, Ascend!
9. Cold Pumas, Album: Persistent Malaise
10. Daphni, Album: Jiaolong
Michigan-based musician Nathan K. (the K is for Klanges) released his album Dishes (June) and iSPY Magazine‘s Jeff Milo had this to say, “This is a diary, in that often overly-employed/clichéd sense, a maturing singer/songwriter, singing death in the face, writing in one room and contemplating many other rooms of various kinds, constructed or corporeal, that he’s inhabited, heretofore. And, yes, the richness of the music, those crackling banjos and demurely drifting violin strings, blend together to match the bulk of the ballads’ lyrics.” I contacted Nathan recently and asked him for his tops picks of year were:
Bro. Stephen, Album: Baptist Girls
Lana Del Rey, Album: Born To Die
Chromatics, Album: Kill For Love
Gratiot Lake Road, Album: Stamp Sand Shores
Nathan, always one to reflect, offered up some picks from years past, but this is also the music he finds to carry him through long bouts of touring and also just because the music has found it’s way into his heart:
Fred Thomas, Album: Sink Like A Symphony (2006)
Long Whisker, Album: Huge Power (June 2011)
Small Houses, Album: North (October 2011)
Jeff Pianki, Album: Paper Window ( 2010)
Petals Rang The Bell, Album: Petals Rang The Bell (December 2011)
Cheyenne Medders, Album: Kiss With Busted Lips (2007)
The Silent Years, Album: The Globe (2008)
But musicians aren’t the only ones here who have an opinion on who made some of the most memorial music of the year. One of the faithful followers of my blog is a young woman by the name of Teddi Stavee, and when I asked her about the bands who made an indelible impression on her this year she was more than forthcoming:
Lost in the Trees, Song: Tall Ceilings, Album: Church That Fits Our Needs
Life on Planet 9, Song: Linestepper, Album: Bittersweet
Purity Ring, Song: Grandloves, Album: Shrines
Clock Opera, Song: Once and For All, Album: Ways to Forget
Emily Underhill, Releases: Fly and Snow
Laura Mvula, Song: She, Album: Sing to the Moon
Young Magic, Song: Sparkly, Album: Melt
Ruby Frost, Song: Water to Ice, Album: Volition
Peace, Song: California Daze, Album: Delicious EP
The White Buffalo, Song: Wish It Was True, Album: Once Upon A Time In The West
Stay tuned, I’ll be keeping a running commentary about the Best of 2012 all week, so if have your own recommendations feel free to drop us a line. Peace.
Thank you!!!! :o)
You’re welcome.