Looking back on my 1H2012 review, I see that I was excited for a lot of big albums from the likes of MGMT, QOTSA, Ratatat, The Strokes and Wolfmother that never materialized. Instead, I have listened to a great many new artists and found some great stuff. Meanwhile, the few I was looking forward to that did manage to ship, also managed to disappointment.
##Studs
####emptyset - Collapsed Wow. I heard this EP at Other Music when I randomly stopped in. It smashed my skull open, blew out my brains, collected them in a metal drum and proceeded to pulverize them into a disgusting mess. This is not for the feint of ears; these electronic beats will crush you in the best ways possible.
####Fang Island - Major Fang Island plays celebratory rock. You can’t help but belt out the ginormous choruses and shred your air guitar while listening.
####Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes FlyLo layers all manners of noises and samples to create an absolutely gorgeous 40 something minutes of simultaneous depth and simplicity. It transitions from one scene to the next totally different scene without any leaps or breaks like a long dream. Can’t believe I missed his show earlier this fall.
####Purity Ring - Shrines This album took a little while to grow on me, but after a couple of listens, it’s really taken hold.
####Vattnet Viskar - Vattnet Viskar This metal band from New Hampshire has created a fantastic little EP of fast, loud and pummeling music. They remind me of the faster, heavier sections of Agalloch which is a pretty high a compliment. I’m looking forward to how they evolve on the inevitable LP.
####The xx - Coexist Oh this album. It also took a while to grow on me, but now I can’t stop listening to it. They cut back so much of their sound that there’s almost nothing left, but somehow there’s still plenty to hear.
##Check ‘ems
##Duds
####Baroness - Yellow and Green Red Album and Blue Album were both incredible and while this double feature has its moments, for the most part it is just too soft, meandering and mediocre.
####Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man I’ll have to listen to this one again because I wanted to like it, but the first pass left me with nothing.
####The Killers - Battle Born Cashing in.
####Muse - The 2nd Law Headed in the wrong direction.
Looking forward to everyone else’s year end lists to pick up on anything I may have missed.