Features
Readers Poll 2012 Part 2 – Albums Of The Year
By Edward Sharp-Paul
Yesterday, we revealed your picks for Best Comeback, Best New-Ish Act, Best Live Act and Worst Break-Up. Today, it’s your Top 50 albums of the year.
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1. Tame Impala
Lonerism
(Modular)
Despite the remarkable critical near-consensus that Lonerism garnered (NME, Triple J and Pitchfork all thought it was pretty good), there were still a few familiar backhanders being thrown Kevin Parker’s way in 2012: His music is too insular; Lonerism hews too closely to the formula of its 2010 predecessor Innerspeaker (what about the synths?); Tame Impala make hollow nostalgia music; and Tame Impala are good, but not that good.
One senses that the issue underpinning these complaints is that Tame Impala have already become a little bit boring, that their distinctive emotional tenor and aesthetic (and it is distinctive: you can pick a Parker drum fill a mile away), and the relentlessly high standard of their offerings are now so commonplace that all there is left to discuss is whether Parker sounds like John Lennon (he does) and whether this is a bad thing (it isn’t). While the discussions might be getting boring, their music is anything but.
The achievement of Lonerism is twofold: Firstly, there is the songwriting – rare is the album that manages to be crammed with this many hooks while retaining both variation and cohesion, and resisting the easy payoff long enough to sustain the listener’s interest. Certain recurring elements provide continuity – the twinkling synth arpeggios; the melodious, wandering basslines; and those the loose, tripping-down-the-hallway drums – but even these elements are in perpetual motion. Second is its unique immersive quality: depending on how you look at it, Lonerism is a hermetic sonic universe, or a dizzying trip into Kevin Parker’s skull, or both. – Edward Sharp-Paul
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2. Henry Wagons
Expecting Company?
(Spunk!)
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3. Boomgates
Double Natural
(Bedroom Suck)
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4. Lower Plenty
Hard Rubbish
(Special Award)
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5. Dirty Three
Toward The Low Sun
(Anchor & Hope/Remote Control)
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6. The UV Race
Racism
(Aarght!)
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7. Bitch Prefect
Big Time
(Bedroom Suck)
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8. Grand Salvo
Slay Me In My Sleep
(Preservation/Inertia)
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9. Spencer P Jones And The Nothing Butts
Spencer P Jones And The Nothing Butts
(Shock)
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10. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
12-Bar Bruise
(Independent)
11. Holy Balm
It’s You
12. Woollen Kits
Woollen Kits
13. Laurels
Plains
14. Pop Singles
All Gone
15. Bushwalking
First Time
16. Hoodlum Shouts
Young Man, Old Man
17. Graveyard Train
Hollow
18. Ned Collette + Wirewalker
2
19. POND
Beard, Wives, Denim
20. White Walls
White Walls
21. Blank Realm
Go Easy
22. New War
New War
23. Paul Kelly
Spring And Fall
24. Fabulous Diamonds
Commercial Music
25. Oh Mercy
Deep Heat
26. Alpine
A Is For Alpine
27. Mad Nanna
I Made Blood Better
28 Milk Teddy
Zingers
29. The Spinning Rooms
The Spinning Rooms
30. Collarbones
Die Young
31. Saint Jude
Saint Jude
32. Harry Howard And The NDE
Near Death Experience
33. The Smith Street Band
Sunshine & Technology
34. Dave Graney And The MistLY
You’ve Been In My Mind
35. Ocean Party
Social Clubs
36. Bits Of Shit
Cut Sleeves
37. Woollen Kits
Four Girls
38. Emma Russack
Sounds Of Our City
39. Mere Women
Old Life
40. Iowa
Never Saw It Coming
41. DZ Deathrays
Bloodstreams
42. Grand Prismatic
Birds And Beasts
43. Useless Children
Post Ending Pre Completion
44. Liars
WIXIW
45. Something For Kate
Leave Your Soul To Science
46. Constant Mongrel
Everything Goes Wrong
47. Sarah Blasko
I Awake
48. Chris Altmann
Nothing But Nice Things
49. Nikko
Gold And Red
50. The Mark Of Cain
Songs Of The Third And Fifth
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