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The Best Albums of 2012

TM, ®, Copyright © 2012 Piero Scaruffi.
History of Rock Music | History of Pop Music
Reviews of 2012 albums | Best of last year | Best albums of all time | Back to music
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
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Ratings: 10=best rock album ever; 9=masterpiece; 8=buy it now; 7=buy it eventually; 6=buy it if you are a fan
Best of Rock Albums
(Read the reviews)

    8/10
    7.5/10
  1. Abu Lahab: Humid Limbs of the Torn Beadsman (self)

  2. Seirom: 1973 (Aurora Borelis)
  3. Lucrecia Dalt: Commotus (Human Ear Music)
  4. King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizard: 12 Bar Bruise (Flightless)
  5. Andy Stott: Luxury Problems (Modern Love)
  6. King Tears Bat Trip: King Tears Bat Trip (Hanged Man)
  7. Billy Woods: History Will Absolve Me (Backwoodz Studioz)
  8. Alabaster dePlume: Copernicus (Debt)
    7/10
  9. Oneirogen: Hypnos (Denovali)
  10. Aluk Todolo: Occult Rock (Ajna Offensive)
  11. Nick Edwards: Plekzationz (Editions Mego)
  12. Julia Holter: Ekstasis (RVNG)
  13. Vladislav Delay: Kuopio (Raster-Norton)
  14. Godspeed You Black Emperor: Allelujah Don't Bend Ascend (Constellation)
  15. Tea Rockers Quintet: Ceremony (EnT-T)
  16. Beach House: Bloom (Subpop)
  17. Zammuto: Zammuto (Temporary Residence)
  18. Demdike Stare: Elemental (Modern Love)
  19. Jim Haynes: Kamchatka (Contour Editions)
  20. Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel (Epic)
  21. Raime: Quarter Turns Over A Living Line (Blackest Ever Black)
  22. Ingenting Kollektiva: Fragments Of Night (Invisible Birds)
  23. Neil Young: Psychedelic Pill (Warner Bros)
  24. Cloud Nothings: Attack On Memory (Carpark)
  25. Perfume Genius: Put Your Back N 2 It (Matador)
  26. Ty Segall: Slaughterhouse (In The Red)
  27. Goat: World Music (Rocket)
  28. Lower Dens: Nootropics (Ribbon)
  29. Theologian: The Chasms Of My Heart (Crucial Blast)
  30. Frank Ocean: Channel Orange (Def Jam)
  31. Chromatics: Kill for Love (Italians Do It Better)
  32. Dan Deacon: America (Domino)
  33. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (2012)
  34. Skogen: Ist Gefallen in den Schnee (Another Timbre)
  35. Algorithm: Polymorphic Code (label)
  36. People Of The North: Steep Formations (Brah)
  37. Angel Olsen: Half Way Home (Bathetic)
  38. Flume: Flume (Mom+Pop)
  39. Igorr: Hallelujah (Ad Noiseam)
  40. Ono: Albino (Moniker)
  41. Ka: Grief Pedigree (Iron Works)
  42. Amanda Palmer: Theatre Is Evil (8ft)
  43. Sarah Mary Chadwick: Eating for Two (Sinderlyn)
  44. Storm Corrosion: Storm Corrosion (Roadrunner)

EPs and minis:

  1. Abu Lahab: We Beheld the Last Contraction of the Seraph (self) 7.5/10
  2. FKA Twigs: EP1 (self), 7.5/10 (EP)
  3. Arca: Baron Libre (Uno), 7.5/10 (EP)
  4. Sutekh Hexen: Behind The Throne (Magic Bullet), 7.5/10
  5. Burial: Kindred (Hyperdub) 7.5/10
  6. Slaves: Spirits Of The Sun (Digitalis), 7.5/10
  7. Hildur Gudnadottir: Leyfdu Ljosinu (Touch)
  8. Lapalux: When You're Gone (Brainfeeder) 7/10
  9. Fucked Up: Year of the Tiger (),7 /10
  10. Carlton Melton: Smoke Drip 7/10
  11. Lee Gamble: Diversions 1994-1996 (Pan) 7/10
  12. Oren Ambarchi: Raga Ooty (Bo Weavil) 7/10
Songs
( Click here to play them on Spotify (thank you Luke!))
  1. Lower Dens: Nova Anthem
  2. Mugstar: Axis Modulator
  3. Fiona Apple: Every Single Night
  4. Abu Lahab: And No Health Was Left in Us
  5. Julia Holter: Marienbad
  6. King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizard: Elbow
  7. Zammuto: Yaj
  8. Django Django: Default
  9. Eyesores: Fire Shuffle
  10. Foxygen: Abandon My Toys
  11. Lucrecia Dalt: Escopolamina
  12. Fiona Apple: Hot Knife
  13. Julia Holter: Fur Felix
  14. Metz: Get Off
  15. Lapalux: Gutter Glitter
  16. Necro Deathmort: Imperial
  17. Titus Andronicus: Upon Viewing Oregon's Landscape with the Flood of Detritus
  18. Beach House: The Hours
  19. Tame Impala: Apocalypse Dreams,
  20. Ariel Pink: Symphony Of The Nymph
  21. Pete Swanson: Pro Style
  22. Perfume Genius: AWOL Marine
  23. Converge: Sadness Comes Home
  24. FKA Twigs: Weak Spot
  25. Lambchop: Gone Tomorrow
  26. Death Grips: I've Seen Footage
  27. Titus Andronicus: I am the Electric Man
  28. Ono: Veil
  29. Stacian: Orbit
  30. Metz: Wet Blanket
  31. Mark Lanegan: The Gravedigger's Song
  32. M Ward: Primitive Girl
  33. Beach House: Wild
  34. Actress: Caves Of Paradise
  35. Soft Moon: Zeros
  36. Japandroids: The House That Heaven Built
  37. Alabaster dePlume: My Curmudgeon
  38. Algorithm: Bouncing Dot
  39. Crystal Castles: Plague
  40. Ariel Pink: On My Dreams
  41. Dead Can Dance: Return of the She-King
  42. Ty Segall: You're The Doctor
  43. Black Moth Super Rainbow: Windshield Smasher
  44. Ono: Berlin Cowboy
  45. King Dude: Jesus In The Courtyard
  46. Arca: Covenant
  47. Woods: Cali In A Cup
  48. Free Radicals: Song for Riley
  49. Carly Rae Jepsen: Call Me Maybe
  50. The Men: Turn It Around
  51. Cigarettes After Sex: Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby
  52. Father John Misty: Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings
  53. Holy Other: Nothing Here
  54. Death Grips: Hacker
  55. Ichiko Aoba: 3-Biki no kuma
  56. Lil Ugly Mane: Slick Rick
  57. Azealia Banks: Luxury
  58. Odesza: Today
  59. oOoOO: i>NoWayBack
  60. Angel Olsen: Free
  61. Tame Impala: Elephant
  62. Billy Woods: Crocodile Tears
  63. Blackie : Radiowave's Last Words
  64. Soap And Skin: Wonder
  65. Grimes: Genesis
  66. Sleigh Bells: Crush
  67. Flume: Insane
  68. A Tribe Called Red: MoombahWow
  69. Chief Keef: I Don't Like
  70. Sarah Mary Chadwick: Knots Unwind
  71. US Girls: Slim Baby
  72. Ka: Collage
  73. Hiatus Kaiyote: Lace Skull
  74. Brendan Benson : The Light of Day
  75. Santogold: Go

Extended compositions
  1. Sutekh Hexen: Behind The Throne
  2. Dan Deacon: Manifest
  3. Hildur Gudnadottir: Leyfdu Ljosinu
  4. Nick Edwards: Chance Meets Causality Uptown
  5. Oneirogen: Kukulkan
  6. Godspeed You Black Emperor: Mladic
  7. King Tears Bat Trip: Stolen Police Car
  8. Cloud Nothings: Wasted Days
  9. Tea Rockers Quintet: Three
  10. Demdike Stare: Kommunion
  11. Fucked Up: Year of the Tiger
  12. Mount Eerie: Pale Lights
  13. Lower Dens: In The End Is The Beginning
  14. Frances White: The Ocean Inside
  15. Richard Garet: Areal
  16. Burial: Kindred
  17. Blanck Mass: White Math
  18. Slaves: Born Into Light
  19. Kristin Norderval: Nightcall
  20. Oren Ambarchi: Raga Ooty Slight Return
  21. Taylor Swift: All Too Well
  22. Li Jianhong: 1969
  23. Neil Young: Driftin' Back
  24. Man Forever: Ur Eternity
  25. Bob Dylan: Tempest
  26. Cat Power: Peace and Love
  27. Dodecahedron: View From Hverfell
  28. Ingenting Kollektiva: Fragments Of Night
  29. Janek Schaefer & Charlemagne Palestine: Raga de l'Apres Midi pour Aude
  30. Gnod: Tron
  31. Neil Young: Ramada Inn
  32. Nick Edwards: Inside The Analog Continuum
  33. Goat: Det Som Aldrig Forandras
  34. Aluk Todolo: Occult Rock I
  35. Black Dice: Carnitas
  36. Theologian: My Body Is Made Of Ash I Live As Ash
  37. Slaves: River
  38. Seirom: For Black Hearts
  39. Carlton Melton: Adrift
  40. Theologian: We Can't All Be Victims
  41. Gnod: Visions Of Load
  42. El Marrano de la Razon: Garin
  43. Cloudland Canyon: Aureliua
  44. Silent Servant: Utopian Disaster
  45. Storm Corrosion: Storm Corrosion
  46. Drcarlsonalbion: Drunk On Angelspeech
  47. Vladislav Delay: Hetkonen
  48. Dan Deacon: True Thrush
  49. Behold the Arctopus: Annihilvore
  50. Guardian Alien: See the World Given to a One Love Entity
  51. Anna Von Hausswolff: Deathbed
  52. Bitchin Bajas: Prismatic Reflections
  53. Burial: Ashtray Wasp
  54. Jim Haynes: Lilith
  55. Good Willsmith: No-One Wants To End Up With Memory
  56. Murmer: Framework 3
  57. Ono: Albino
  58. Horseback: Hallucigenia III - The Emerald Tablet
  59. Toy: Kopter
  60. Shalabi Effect: White Phosphorus Christmas
  61. Ichiko Aoba: 3-Biki no kuma
  62. Horse Lords: Wildcat Strike
  63. A Forest of Stars: Gatherer of the Pure
  64. Colour Haze: Transformation
  65. P.H.O.B.O.S.: Necromegalopolis of Coprolites
Jazz

    7.5/10
  1. Leo Smith: Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform)
  2. Fire Orchestra: Exit
  3. Rhodri Davies: Wound Response
  4. Martin Archer: Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere
    7/10
  5. Phantom Orchard: Trouble In Paradise (Tzadik)
  6. Matt Ulery: By A Little Light
  7. Mary Halvorson Quintet: Bending Bridges
  8. Vijay Iyer: Accelerando
  9. Darius Jones Quartet: Book of Mae'bul
  10. Christian Scott: Christian aTunde Adjuah
  11. Jonah Parzen-Johnson: Michiana
  12. Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio
  13. Geri Allen: A Child Is Born
  14. David Virelles: Continuum
  15. Brad Mehldau Trio: Ode
  16. Masabumi Kikuchi: Sunrise
  17. Henry Threadgill: Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry
  18. Scott Dubois: Landscape Scripture
  19. Miles Okazaki: Figurations

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Best of the 1960s Best of the 1970s Best of the 1980s Best of the 1990s Best of the 2000s Best of the 2010s