If someone would’ve told me my ten favourite albums of 2012 would’ve been these a year ago I probably would have said “what?!” as I only knew (and liked) two artists out of the ten prior to this year. Those two would be Ty Segall, who I liked but didn’t love, and Niki & The Dove who I had just discovered with the release of their The Drummer EP in October last year. But hey, this is what’s so wonderful about being a music fan, isn’t it? The discovery of new acts, both actually new (World Tour) and new to you (Jens Lekman, Damien Jurado etc).
Several acts whom I’d previously heard but never become a fan of turned out to become my favourites this year, with Jens Lekman and Damien Jurado being the most obvious examples. Lekman’s beautiful and heartbreaking I Know What Love Isn’t completely blew me away emotionally in a way that I never would’ve expected. And then How To Dress Well did the same a month later with Total Loss. Several of my very favourite acts around ended up further down on the list (The Tallest Man On Earth, Sun Kil Moon and Patterson Hood for example) in favour of new discoveries like John Talabot and DIIV. And Chromatics’ Kill For Love finally overwon my doubts (and it’s own length) and ended up as one of my absolute favourites. Here’s hoping 2013 will bring as many new discoveries.
10.
John Talabot
ƒin
[Permanent Vacation]
09.
World Tour
Believe
[Cascine]
08.
Damian Jarodo
Maraqopa
[Secretly Canadian]
07.
Niki & The Dove
Instinct
[Sub Pop]
06.
DIIV
Oshin
[Captured Tracks]
05.
Ty Segall
Twins
[Drag City]
04.
Chromatics
Kill For Love
[Italians Do It Better]
03.
Japandroids
Celebration Rock
[Italians Do It Better]
02.
Jens Lekman
I Know What Love Isn’t
[Secretly Canadian]
01.
How To Dress Well
Total Loss
[Weird World]
