- 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
