DCILYmusic: tylerb.'s Year End Thoughts 2012.
by tylerb.
This was one of the first years of my life where music took a back
seat to more important matters happening around me. To say that I felt
completely lost this year would be an understatement, and normally I
turn to music to help me out in these types of situations. But this is
one of the first years that I can remember in a long time where nothing
really fit my mood (until the very end of the year), and I couldn't
really remember if the album actually came out in 2011 or 2012. It
wasn't until after I started listing out the albums I listened to here
and there that I realized just how much stuff came out. I'm terrible
with ranking things, so I'm just going to try and group them into some
random categories.
Here goes:
1. The year of the old reliables:
The Walkmen - Heaven
Pinback - Information Retrieved
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky
At this point in the above
mentioned's careers you can pretty much predict that you're going to get
a mostly consistent and solid album from front to back. These are
albums you can throw on when you're having trouble figuring out what
you're in the mood to listen to. That might not seem like the best
compliment in the world, but whatever. Even though they've only put out
two albums to date, I'd also like to lump The XX's "Coexist" into that
mix too. If they continue down this similar path, then I'd be cool with
that.
2. Albums I didn't pay as much attention to as I initially thought I would:
Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
Japandroids - Celebration Rock
Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action at a Distance
Wild Nothing - Nocturne
Twin Shadow - Confess
These
are all albums that started out in heavy rotation but then for whatever
reason went by the wayside. However whenever a song from any of them come
on my iPod's shuffle I thoroughly enjoy it and tell myself, "I really
should go back and revisit this album."
3a. The albums that I played the most:
The Men - Open Your Heart
Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits
Chromatics - Kill For Love
The Evens - The Odds
The Weeknd - Trilogy
Crystal Castles - III
Schoolboy Q - Habits & Contradictions
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
3b. EP's I played the most:
Burial - Kindred
Solange - True
Empty Flowers - Six
This
year my car's CD player decided that it would eject CDs whenever it
damn well pleased, so sometimes I had to make a conscious choice of what
I wanted to get stuck in there. The above albums and EPs were ones that
I would actively choose to get stuck in there so I'm guessing those are
the ones that could be classified as my "favorites" this year. With all
that said, I'd like to give a huge shout out to the band Mineral. They
aren't around anymore (though who knows, reunions are the new what next
and I'm sure they've discussed it), but their two CDs The Power of
Failing and EndSerenading were two CD's that got me through the
absolute hardest thing I've ever had to experience on this Earth.
Here's to hoping 2013 has a much better outlook!
Everyone have a safe and happy holiday.