P.S. You may be wondering what the picture has to do with any of this? I cannot tell you. It is just what happened when I put the words "Butt Plunger" into Google image search.
Here it is. My Best Of List for 2012 (in no particular order)...
Diamond Rugs - s/t The debut album from this all-star lineup including John McCauley of Deer Tick as well as members from The Black Lips, Los Lobos and Dead Confederate. This record is a perfect combination of grunge and country in my opinion. A perfect example is the song "Country Mile" which goes from lap steel backed alt-country to grungy headbang inducing breakdown-age interchangeably, and somehow does it successfully.
Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls This was the much anticipated debut LP from these southern soul rockers. After their amazing EP from the year before, this band blew up faster than an inflatable doll given to a lonely trucker. It was great to see how much success they have seen because they are truly talented songwriters and singer Brittany Howard, a postal worker turned rock Goddess, pours her heart out with her soulful holler and animated stage presence.
Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball Bruce came back with a strong offering this year. In my opinion, his strongest album in years. The record, written to address the countries hard times, calls out Wall Street, the Banks, and the Oil corporations with lines such as these, from "Death to My Hometown":
Now get yourself a song to sing and sing it ’til you’re done
Yeah, sing it hard and sing it well
Send the robber baron’s straight to hell
The greedy thieves that came around
And ate the flesh of everything they’ve found
Whose crimes have gone unpunished now
Walk the streets as free men now
And they brought death to our hometown, boys
Even though the Boss is wealthy as all hell, he still stands in the corner with us not wealthy and writes songs about our everyday struggles. He helped in the Obama campaign this past election, and even offered his song "We Take Care Of Our Own". This is very unlike Kid Rock who was one of the few musicians, alongside a drunken Meatloaf who backed Mitt Romney, and who writes songs with lyrics such as:
Bawitdaba-da bang-da-bang-diggy-diggy-diggy
Said the boogie-said up jump the boogie
Bawitdaba-da bang-da-bang-diggy-diggy
Said the boogie-said up jump the boogie
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas This gets my vote for the record of 2012 that actually makes me tear up every time I hear it. In this album, Leonard gets spiritual, addressing his mortality. Cohen turned 78 this year and recently did some touring in support of the record in which he put on 3 hour shows! Much respect. Unfortunately, I missed the NYC shows at the Barclay Center and Madison Square Garden. I better hope that wasn't my last chance.
Jack White - Blunderbuss Jack came back minus Meg, but still with her last name, to give us Blunderbuss. Blunderbuss is a weird word, but also what the White Stripes would sound like with some production, stronger drumming and a backing band. I back it. Not to mention the video for "Freedom at 21" is amazing. It portrays a bonerizing police woman who arrests Jack for being too bad-ass. Last time I was arrested, it was for crashing into a guard rail and "trying to flee the scene", this cop was definitley not "bonerizing" and I might have given the "please---I'll do anything!" line... only one of us ended up getting off. ME! Thanks public defender!
The Lumineers - s/t Another band who seemed to come out of nowhere to dominate the music scene. As recently seen on tour with Dave Matthews Band(not weirdo backed, well except for maybe the drummer), this 3 piece based out of Colorado delivered quite the debut album. After hearing the song "Ho Hey" on a college radio station, I was hooked. While having just very simple folk guitar riffs, the vocals are what truly shine and make this band stand on their own.
Titus Andronicus - Local Business I need a late pass for this band. This is the first record of theirs I bought. And yes I did buy it. On Amazon with a gift card in which the transaction didn't work at first and I had to request a "chat session" with "Erin from Amazon" to figure out why it wasn't working. It's like, you try to buy the records and support the bands and this is what happens?! Hell, I probably could've downloaded the thing in 2 seconds. Anyhow this record is like a punk record with piano and harmonica and it rips.
Justin Townes Earle - Nothings Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now As you weirdo's might know from reading this thing, JTE is one of my favorites. This record deserves to be on this list almost simply because the title is so damn long. Aside from that, you get 11 soothing songs with dead honest lyrics effortlessly delivered, to tickle your heart strings. Total man crush.
Bob Dylan - The Tempest ...It's Dylan, and he's still at it after all these years. Isn't that enough??
Father John Misty - Fear Fun Father John Misty is actually Josh Tillman who played drums for Fleet Foxes up until 2011. Why he uses this moniker, that before hearing good things about this album, made me not want to listen at all, I don't know? That being said, it is good. Also, it is on Sub Pop, the label that brought us "Bleach". Dark country tinged jams that bring you relaxation while sipping on a bottle of Jack Daniels. I saw this dude sing a Tom Petty song at the Petty Tribute show. He is really tall. But he was also standing on a stage.
Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball Bruce came back with a strong offering this year. In my opinion, his strongest album in years. The record, written to address the countries hard times, calls out Wall Street, the Banks, and the Oil corporations with lines such as these, from "Death to My Hometown":
Now get yourself a song to sing and sing it ’til you’re done
Yeah, sing it hard and sing it well
Send the robber baron’s straight to hell
The greedy thieves that came around
And ate the flesh of everything they’ve found
Whose crimes have gone unpunished now
Walk the streets as free men now
And they brought death to our hometown, boys
Even though the Boss is wealthy as all hell, he still stands in the corner with us not wealthy and writes songs about our everyday struggles. He helped in the Obama campaign this past election, and even offered his song "We Take Care Of Our Own". This is very unlike Kid Rock who was one of the few musicians, alongside a drunken Meatloaf who backed Mitt Romney, and who writes songs with lyrics such as:
Bawitdaba-da bang-da-bang-diggy-diggy-diggy
Said the boogie-said up jump the boogie
Bawitdaba-da bang-da-bang-diggy-diggy
Said the boogie-said up jump the boogie
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas This gets my vote for the record of 2012 that actually makes me tear up every time I hear it. In this album, Leonard gets spiritual, addressing his mortality. Cohen turned 78 this year and recently did some touring in support of the record in which he put on 3 hour shows! Much respect. Unfortunately, I missed the NYC shows at the Barclay Center and Madison Square Garden. I better hope that wasn't my last chance.
Jack White - Blunderbuss Jack came back minus Meg, but still with her last name, to give us Blunderbuss. Blunderbuss is a weird word, but also what the White Stripes would sound like with some production, stronger drumming and a backing band. I back it. Not to mention the video for "Freedom at 21" is amazing. It portrays a bonerizing police woman who arrests Jack for being too bad-ass. Last time I was arrested, it was for crashing into a guard rail and "trying to flee the scene", this cop was definitley not "bonerizing" and I might have given the "please---I'll do anything!" line... only one of us ended up getting off. ME! Thanks public defender!
The Lumineers - s/t Another band who seemed to come out of nowhere to dominate the music scene. As recently seen on tour with Dave Matthews Band(not weirdo backed, well except for maybe the drummer), this 3 piece based out of Colorado delivered quite the debut album. After hearing the song "Ho Hey" on a college radio station, I was hooked. While having just very simple folk guitar riffs, the vocals are what truly shine and make this band stand on their own.
Titus Andronicus - Local Business I need a late pass for this band. This is the first record of theirs I bought. And yes I did buy it. On Amazon with a gift card in which the transaction didn't work at first and I had to request a "chat session" with "Erin from Amazon" to figure out why it wasn't working. It's like, you try to buy the records and support the bands and this is what happens?! Hell, I probably could've downloaded the thing in 2 seconds. Anyhow this record is like a punk record with piano and harmonica and it rips.
Justin Townes Earle - Nothings Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now As you weirdo's might know from reading this thing, JTE is one of my favorites. This record deserves to be on this list almost simply because the title is so damn long. Aside from that, you get 11 soothing songs with dead honest lyrics effortlessly delivered, to tickle your heart strings. Total man crush.
Bob Dylan - The Tempest ...It's Dylan, and he's still at it after all these years. Isn't that enough??
Father John Misty - Fear Fun Father John Misty is actually Josh Tillman who played drums for Fleet Foxes up until 2011. Why he uses this moniker, that before hearing good things about this album, made me not want to listen at all, I don't know? That being said, it is good. Also, it is on Sub Pop, the label that brought us "Bleach". Dark country tinged jams that bring you relaxation while sipping on a bottle of Jack Daniels. I saw this dude sing a Tom Petty song at the Petty Tribute show. He is really tall. But he was also standing on a stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment