Best of 2012

This was originally written for the hiplanta blog I write for my metal top fifteen that I'm writing for this blog will be up Sunday ...I'm still sorting the bottom five out...so spoilers for that list will be found here as I did touch on some metal for this article

When it came to mainstream/ commercial music 2012 was pretty horrid, despite the Internet's ability to hold a treasure trove of awesome music waiting to be found, the American Sheeple continued to let the lowest common denominator sink lower making anything on commercial radio unlistenable. How ever a lot great stuff came out from the darker corners of the universe in fact having dug up some goth music blogs in Greece ( of all places, praise Pluto) so I'm going to amend this list after I finally get me iPod on some of the death rock revivalist stuff I have been chasing down all year. Some artists     like Cold in Berlin are excluded from the list as they are unattainable not only from iTunes but also from their record label , who I hunted down trying to get their stuff.

My metal list after lots of downloading and digging through the nine levels of hell still stands strong so here's my list of the top ten non-metal albums of  2012, which will be followed by my album of the year which is also the number one album on my overall top10 list of 2012 , followed by  my top ten of assorted categories  and awards. So let's count down the non metal.

Top Ten Non-Metal Albums of 2012

10-"No Youth" by Wreck and Reference- Just because it's not metal doesn't mean it's not going to be heavy, as that's how I roll. This duo I comprised of a sampler who handles the croons and screams and a drummer, who holds this stark experiment in musical bi-polar together . Dark wave with an edge at times, these guys are influenced by metal as much as they are Kraftwerk and Godflesh.

9-"Les Voyages De L' Ame" by Alcest- If  I was going to have a shoe-gaze album of the year this ethereal French band would win it. Though unlike Sigur Rios, whose meandering drifts off these guys have a drummer whose into metal and knows how to drive the songs forward. Niege's vocals sound great on this, I think the reason it's not higher is it's a little straight forward in the songwriting department and it had to grow on me , but survived a year in my iPod.

8-"Unknown Rooms" by Chelsea Wolfe - This one came out in October and I just got my hands on it, so the even more ghostly approach to the songs is still growing on me , if  you read my personal blog Abysmal Hymns, I'm reviewing it Sunday and from initial listens will get at least a nine, so that should say something. Her voice is great it's just as depressing as an acoustic album with cello e.q'ed so bassy it booms like a doom album.

7-"The Haunted Man" by Bat for Lashes- Natasha Khan raises the bar for the experimental cold wave influenced pop diva contest so Zola Jesus look over your shoulder girl. Influenced heavily by Annie Lennox and Kate Bush, this is how I like my pop music melancholy even when I'm dancing.

6-"self titled" by Pinkish Black- Another electronic duo , this one a singer/keyboardist who can crush you with his left hand and a drummer. These two stir up a cauldron of very dense darkness that sometimes drones at other time pounds the point home, the album gradually gets heavier with each song and should be played loudly at night.

5- "Information Retrieved" by Pinback- These guys matured a lot on this album which traded in the quirky bounce of the past for a more brooding listen. The bass and guitar interplay is stellar and they are masters of setting melodies and harmonies ontop of one another in compelling ways. I give these guys credit for time and time again not taking the easy way out, even on the most commercial sounding track on here which could have come close to veering into the Fray territory , they still give it a creative twist making it an enduring album.

4-" Love Will Prevail" by Cult of Youth- Considering who the top three are these guys have accomplished something to have crafted a masterpiece that is able to sit next to  legends.  Morose yet still full of hope, the songwriting is really knocked out of the ball park. It borders punk and old wave and rolls along for countless listens o.k ....Last Fm said I listened to it 52 times since November . They really reestablished a musical indentity for themselves , and distanced themselves further from Death in June comparisons with the songs often boisterous energy.

3- "MMXII" by Killing Joke- I already had a deep respect for this band and their tremendous influence , but this really blew me away Jaz's  voice sounds invigorated with his pipes more powerful and fluid that singers half his age, so it should go on record age is never an excuse to to rock the fuck out. Sounds more relevant than any other industrial album that came out in recent years.

2-"Anastasis" by Dead Can Dance- This one was tough and I didn't want to say it was a tie, although this is a very different album than the number one band, and it's my two favorite bands going for the top spot.  this album has some of the years best vocals on it and I might have even listened to it a little more than the number one band's album, as it's an easier listen, but that's the reason it's not in the top spot Because they played it a little safe on this where the number one album was wildly experimental, relentless and darker. That doesn't take away from the fact this album sits next to the classics of Dead Can Dances epic legacy, even if it's a little tame and straightforward for them. 

1-"the Seer" by Swans,  A double album in a year where every one can only muster out an e.ps worth of  intensity Gira and company slap you with a double dose.  I love is album Because it succeed s on two levels, it embraces a return to their more classic sound but still tries new this and integrates it into their sound. Sonically this is heavier than most of the metal albums that came out this year. Gira. 's voice sounds  much better, the groove on this are thick and Sidney as their new bass player has now made himself at home. It like listening to it as one complete work and according to last fm I have gone on that adventure over four hundred times. It was all I could listen to for a couple weeks until i got Dead Can Dance and then they fought for my iPod. 

Overall top ten albums of 2012

1. The seer by Swans

2. Anastasis by Dead Can Dance

3. Ritual of  Passing by Atriarch

4. MMXII by Killing Joke

 5.  Love will prevail by Cult of Youth

6.Sorrow and extinction by Pallbearer 

7. Silencing Machine by Nachtmystium 

8.s/t by Pinkish Black

9. Atra Mors by Evoken

10. Information Retrieved by Pinback

Other bests

1 Best live performance ...Dead Can Dance

2 Best pop album ....the Haunted man by Bat for Lashes

3 Best Rap album...the money Store by Death Grips

4...Best post - rock ...Only the Ocean Knows by An Autumn for Crippled Children

5.Best Prog album... In Somniphobia by Sigh

6. Best Metal album...Ritual of Passing by Atriarch

7. Worst Album...Coexist by the XX

8.Best Black Metal...Silencing Machine by Nachtmystium 

9. Biggest Sell out....Shining

10. Best Tribute band....the Musical Box

Swans - the Seer

O.k I have some new readers, who may or may not be aware that Swans are my favorite band. With that being the case, I'm not one to but my heroes on a pedestal for them to shit on, in fact it means with my higher expectations I listen with even more scrutiny. I have been listening to Swans for almost 20 years so those expectations are high.

What Micheal Gira and friends have created in their latest release the seer is a sprawling two hour double album that feels like it continues where "White Light at the Mouth of Infinity" left off, the beautiful dissonance is in perfect balance where on the "My father will guide me up a rope to the sky" album, it felt sweatier and muskier like lumberjacks on acid. Sonic and intense but not as melodically nuances as the seer. Both albums do the Swans legacy proud.

A double album with a truck load of guest artists making this sonic slab. Among the part guest are Karen O, as well as members of Low, the Akron Family and Big Blood. The usual suspects on board Norman Westerberg and Thor Harris , along with the return of Jarboe who lends her voice to a couple of songs, so any hopes on a full scale reunion with her I'm keeping on simmer.

the first strains of hypnotically chiming guitar of "Lunacy" sends you down the rabbit hole of this opus. The sense of familiarity coupled with new sounds, most notably on lunacy a dark melodic tinge like pre radio pink Floyd. It might just be my point of reference but the progressive rock shading doesn't stop their as the syncopation in mother of the world reminds me of king crimson. Swans have always defied labels this album is no exception. As a whole it feel heavier than most of their post children of god catalogue, and would serve as a good gateway drug for any metal head. The bass attacks on mother of the world in a very metallic manner. This album does a excellent job of balancing its drive with the more introspective moments of strummed guitar, often occurring in the span of one song.

The guest performances for the most are understated,The vocals of Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker are layered around Gira in an eerie choir like swell. Karen O steps out of character for more of an Americana approach on " song for a warrior " . Her vocals are phrased closer to some one like Aimee Mann than a real country artist. This song lives up to Gira's claim he wrote them all on an acoustic first.

Jarboe first appears here on the seers return, which is slinky an oddly upbeat as the rubbery bass line propels it. Her vocals are low in the mix shadow Gira's Tom Waitish swagger and when they creep out to the forefront are more of a rhythmic accent. On the nineteen minute A piece of the sky, she only adds some oohs faintly in the back ground and mixed in with the Akron Family,so she is dramatically underused, which is a shame as she cold have added a more interesting ambiance to the part Karen O sang.

Among the other instruments added to the shining collage of ambient noise the songs here have a tendency to coagulate from are mandolin, clarinet,bag pipes, horns, cello, violin,Accordion and bassoon. They never give the "yellow submarine" parade feel to the proceeding but work at sonic textures, what doing acid at band camp might have sounded like.

The noisier passages of ambiance return, almost picking up where songs for the blind left off. At the beginning of the title track they sound like an orchestra tuning their instruments before it ebbs into the pulse of percussion. All this post rock black metal bands who want to play around with Godspeed you black emperor elements, need to use this albums as their text book, as Godspeed ... Owes their careers to Swans. when the title track builds into a cacophonous flurry it which it constricts into a pound harder than any metal album in recent memory.

The tribal percussion leading into the song "avatar" is classic Swans hypnosis, has a very primal drive smoothed over by Gira's cynical croon. In a similar vein to "better than you" but a more transcendent in delivery and the last minute has almost aback metal feel but with out blast beats. The closer "apostate" feels almost post apocalyptic with the feed back creating a siren like effect, minimal and dark the bubbling tremolo of bass lurking beneath floats like a leviathan under the Ambiant noise until they lurch into the song at the four minute mark. Chris pravdica of Gunga Din abilities as a bassist add a lot to this album he works well with the band blending groove with abrasion.


Micheal Gira's vocals sound great , the are more relaxed and don't have the rough hewn grit of " our father.." , maybe it took that record for him to get his voice back to where it wanted to be. The resonance in the lower registers of his baritone is breath taking and has me hoping their set in October will be more conducive for him display this live. The vocals use a lot of droning chants to accent

Gira claims these songs are unfinished, which I guess it depends on if your are going for a more philosophical approach of is any preformed art finished of it's the live performance the further explorations of it. As Gira says...
" now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they'll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while."

I do recall hearing a variation of the Song the seer when they came through last time, not sure if they really played this 30 minute version, but to the studio versions credit it will remain the only thirty minute song on my iPod , I'm a slave to shuffle these days but it's good to have the album in its entirety as it will work best to fall day when I'm working at home. The only song I don't foresee making the cut is " 93 avenue b blues" which is free jazz like noise John Zorn would be proud of , do appreciate the harshness of it's climax I'm sure Litugury's Hunter Hendrix will find it very inspiring and it's only five minutes of chaotic atmosphere so not too taxing.

My only complaint is it could use more Jarboe , but I liked the last album and she is not even on it,so I will take what I can get . Overall this album exceeded my expectations and is everything I could want Swans album to be, the Karen O song has even grown on me so this album gets a ten, as I keep listening to it and it diminishes my desire to listen to other music which seems trite in comparison.