2012

1. Shearwater – Animal Joy (Sub Pop)
2. Murder By Death – Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon (Bloodshot)
3. Emel Mathlouthi – Kelmti Horra (World Village)
4. Metric – Synthetica (Mom & Pop)
5. Alt-J – An Awesome Wave (Infectious)
6. Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound – S/T (Side One Dummy)
7. Ana Tijoux – La Bala (Nacional)
8. Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man (Capitol)
9. The Bombay Royale – You Me Bullets Love (Hope Street)
10. Mexican Institute of Sound – Politico (Nacional)

• Santigold featuring Karen O.-GO!– “Master Of My Make” – Believe (Atlantic)
• Richard Hawley – “She Brings The Sunlight” – Standing At The Skyís Edge (Parlophone)
• Tame Impala – “Be Above It” – Lonerism (Modular)
• Redd Kross – “Stay Away From Downtown”- Researching The Blues (Merge)
• Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – “Melody Dean” – Theater Is Evil (8 ft.)
• Imperial Teen – “Runaway”- Feel The Sound (Merge)
• Jack White – “I’m Shakin” – Blunderbuss (Third Man)
• Mark Lanegan Band – “Ode To Sad Disco” – Blues Funeral (Sub Pop)
• Father John Misty – “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” – Fear Fun (Sub Pop)
• Cloud Nothings – “Stay Useless” – Attack On Memory (ADA/ Carpark)
• The Electric Mess – “I Thought About You” – Standing at the Edge of the World (S/R)
• Divine Fits – “Would That Not Be Nice” – A Thing Called Divine Fits (Merge)
• Parquet Courts – “Stoned and Starving” – Light Up Gold (What’s Your Rupture?)
• The Coup – “The Guillotine” – Sorry To Bother You… (Anti-)
• Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – “Institutionalized” – A Tribute To Repo Man (American Laundromat)
• Killer Mike – “Anywhere But Here” – R.A.P. Music (Williams Street)
• Marina and the Diamonds – “How To Be A Heartbreaker” – Electra Heart (Atlantic)
• Foxy Shazam – “Holy Touch” – The Church Of Rock N Roll (Capitol/ I.R.S)
• Muse – “Survival” – The 2nd Law (Helium-3/Warner Brothers)
• Ty Segall Band – “The Tongue” – Slaughterhouse (In The Red)
• Grace Potter & The Nocturnals – “Stars” – The Lion The Beast The Beat (Hollywood)
• Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Mature Themes” – Mature Themes (4AD)
• Marianne Faithfull – “Angel” – Just Tell Me That You Want Me (Hear)
• The Walkmen – “Heartbreaker” – Heaven (Fat Possum)
• U.S. Girls – “Down In The Boondocks” – Gem (Fat Cat)

• Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch – Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity (Important)
• Shintaro Sakamoto – How To Live With A Phanthom (Other Music)
• CAN – The Lost Tapes (Mute)
• Action Bronson – Blue Chips (Fool’s Gold Records)
• Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man (Parlophone)
• John Zorn – The Gnostic Preludes (Tzadik)
• Dum Dum Girls – End of Daze (Sub Pop)
• Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE (Island Def Jam)
• Expo 70 – Soft Wave Continuum (Sonic Meditations)
• Troy Ave. – Bricks In My Backpack 3: The Harry Powder Trilogy (S/R)
• Sympathy Nervous – Plastic Love (Minimal Wave)
• Sun Araw – Formatting Formants: Live from Adelaide 2012    (Sun Ark Records)
• Frankie Rose – Interstellar (Slumberland Records)
• Hundred Waters – S/T (Elestial Sound)
• The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico 45th Anniversary [Super Deluxe Box Set] (Polydor)
• Peaking Lights – Lucifer (Mexican Summer)
• Guided by Voices – The Bears For Lunch (GBV, Inc)
• Joey Bada$$ – 1999 (Cinematic / Creative Control)
• Philip Sanderson – Hollow Gravity (Puer Gravy)
• Tame Impala – Lonerism (Modular Recordings)
• WYLD WYZRDZ – Acceptance (Inner Islands)
• Trouble Books – Concatenating Fields (Bark and Hiss)

• Alt-J – An Awesome Wave (Infectious Music)
• Theo Bleckmann – Hello Earth! (The Music Of Kate Bush) (Winter & Winter)
• Bowerbirds – The Clearing (Dead Oceans)
• Brooklyn Rider – Seven Steps (S/R)
• Carolina Chocolate Drops – Leaving Eden (Nonesuch)
• Mary Chapin Carpenter – Ashes And Roses (Zoe)
• Chairlift – Something (Columbia)
• Neneh Cherry and The Thing – The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound)
• Clocked Out and Topology – From Small Things Grow (S/R)
• Kelan Philip Cohran And The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – S/T (Honest Jon’s)
• Ravi Coltrane – Spirit Fiction (Blue Note)
• The Coup – Sorry To Bother You (Anti-)
• The dB’s – Falling Off The Sky (Bar/None)
• Debo Band – Debo Band (Next Ambiance/Sub Pop)
• Iris Dement – Sing The Delta (Flariella)
• Exitmusic – Passage (Secretly Canadian)
• Michael Harrison & Maya Beiser – Time Loops (Cantaloupe)
• Billy Hart Quartet – All Our Reasons (ECM)
• Julia Holter – Ekstasis (RVNG Int’l)
• Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola – Not Getting Behind Is The New Getting Ahead  (S/R)
• Icebreaker; BJ Cole – Apollo (Cantaloupe)
• Vijay Iyer Trio – Accelerando (ACT)
• Japandroids – Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl)
• Kishi Bashi – 151a (Joyful Noise)
• Luce Trio – Pieces Vol. 1 (Musæum Clausum)
• Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream (RCA)
• Anais Mitchell – Young Man In America (Wilderland)
• Frank Ocean – Channel ORANGE (Def Jam)
• Sinead O’Connor – How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? (One Little Indian)
• Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction (Profound Lore)
• Acid Pauli – Mst (Clown And Sunset)
• Jenny Scheinman – Mischief & Mayhem (S/R)
• Sigur Rós – Valtari (XL)
• So Percussion; Grey McMurray – Where (We) Live (Cantaloupe)
• Ebo Taylor – Appia Kwa Bridge (Strut)
• Ryan Teague – Field Drawings (Village Green)
• THEESatisfaction – Awe Natural (Sub  Pop)
• Ryan Truesdell – Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans (artistShare)
• Matt Ulery – By A Little Light (Greenleaf)
• Sharon Van Etten – Tramp (Jagjaguwar)

Top 12 Films for 2012

• Michael Haneke’s AMOUR
• Nicholas Jarecki’s ARBITRAGE
• Benh Zeitlin’s BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
• Jennifer Lynch’s CHAINED
• Craig Zobel’s COMPLIANCE
• David Cronenberg’s COSMOPOLIS
• Terence Davies’ THE DEEP BLUE SEA
• Leos Carax’ HOLY MOTORS
• Ang Lee’s THE LIFE OF PI
• Colin Trevorrow’s SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED
• Ron Fricke & Mark Magidson’s SAMSARA
• Malik Bendjelloul’s SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

• Barn Burning
• Charito & FunkCH3N
• Chonk
• Ensemble Mik Nawooj
• It Thing
• Los Boleros Havana Dance Party (remote from The Ashkenaz)
• The Phenomenauts
• The She’s
• Victory & Associates
• Waterstrider
• Whoosie What’s It’s

Fave Compilations

• Brave New Surf (Double Crown)
• Future Sounds of Buenos Aires (ZZK)
• Tallinn Music Week Compilation Vol 4 (TMW)

Some of the Songs That Really Hit Me

• Congo Sanchez – “T.E.T.O. (Strut)” – Congo Sanchez Vol. 1 (ESL)
• Cumbia Machin – “Indika” – Esuper Cumbia (Esuper)
• Diego’s Umbrella – “Thrash Mexican Budapest” – Proper Cowboy (Ninth Street Opus)
• Edem – “Over Again” – Volta Regime (Last 2)
• El Rey – “Cherry Cheeks” – BRAVE NEW SURF (Double Crown)
• Ewert and the Two Dragons – Good Man Down – Good Man Down (I Love You)
• Fog Digging Sessions – “Cambodian Cat” – Post-Hummus (S/R)
• Funk Ark – “419” – High Noon (ESL)
• Diego Garcia – “You Were Never There” – Laura (Nacional)
• Grimes – “Oblivion” – Visions (4AD)
• Guru – “Lapaz Toyota” – Democracy 2 (Empire Entertainment)
• The Imagineers – “Mariana” – See As I Say (S/R)
• The Lions – “Roll It Round” – A Sampler (Stones Throw)
• Rene Lopez – “Shing-a-Ling Is What I Bring” – E.L.S. (Nat Geo)
• Malcolm Lincoln – “Loaded With Zoul” – Loaded With Zoul (Universal)
• The New Kinetics – “Polly Pocket” – Contact (Aural Gravy)
• Melvin Jones – “Funkytown Shuffle” – Pivot  (Turnaround)
• 2 Bears – “Warm and Easy” – Be Strong (S/R)
• Mati Zundel – “Señor Montecostez” – Amazonico Gravitante (Waxploitation)

All Good List

• All Good Funk Alliance – Jacks of All Trades (Fort Knox)
• The Imagineers – See As I Say (S/R)
• Melvin Jones – Pivot (Turnaround)
• Limiñanas – Crystal Anis (Hozac)
• Los Straitjackets – Jet Set (Yep Roc)
• Mariel Vandersteel – Hickory (Hearth)

Fave Why Baby Why Picks

• Matias Cena y Los Fictions – “Arnhem” – Arauco Cajun (Algorecords)
• Eastbound Jesus – “Corn Whiskey” – Holy Smokes (S/R)
• 8 Ball Aitken – “Nobody Looks Ugly After Midnight” – The Tamworth Tapes (Phoenix Movement)
• Gitla – “The Brambling” – Single (S/R)
• Orbo and the Longshots – “Highway Tears” – Prairie Sun (Blue Mood)
• Ramblin’ Ambassadors – “Dallas B. Goode” – Ramble On (Mint)
• Stig – “Puumaa Ma Metsastan” – single – (Warner Finland)
• Mariel Vandersteel – “Hickory” – Hickory (Hearth)
• The Wood Brothers – “Stumbled In” – Smoke Ring Halo (Southern Ground)
• The Yawpers – “Runner” – S/T (Adventure)

• Lana Del Rey – Born To Die (S/R)
• Diego Garcia – Laura (Nacional)
• The Helio Sequence – Negotiations (Sub Pop)
• Korallreven – An Album By Korallreven (Acephale)
• The Mallard – Yes On Blood (Castle Face)
• JD McPherson – Signs & Signifiers (Rounder)
• Nada Surf – The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy (Barsuk)
• The People’s Temple – More For The Masses (Hozac)
• Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra – Reel To Reel (Ubiquity)
• Slug Guts – Playin’ In Time With The Deadbeat (Sacred Bones)
• Tennis – Young & Old (Fat Possum)
• The Walkmen – Heaven (Fat Possum)
• Wild Nothing – Nocturne (Captured Tracks)
• Yppah – Eighty One (Ninja Tune)