Top-Five Albums of 2012: Honorable Mentions and Singles

For the music portion of this year, I’ve honed it down to five albums—even though there are many more I’d like to mention. Seems like it was a fairly good year for music—at least for me. Ultimately though, I decided which albums I listened to the most/became the most obsessed with after hearing them.

And as a bonus, I’m also going to include another band that was new to me this year, even though they didn’t come out with an album this year. Those will be in no particular order.

First up, though, are the honorable mentions, the albums that I quite liked but were just not listened to quite as much and/or they’ve received more than enough praise elsewhere already.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

• Sigur Ros’ “Valtari” – I’ve been a fan of them since I first heard “The Nothing Song” on Vanilla Sky. Each and every album has been a good one in my eyes, and I’ve listened to all of them much more than is probably healthy. This one, in particular though, has even more of an ethereal quality to it. So many have said their music is “transcendent,” but I never thought it applied until this album. It’s simply “holy,” and there’s no other word for it.
• Santigold’s “Master of My Make-Believe” – What’s there to say? Really. This is simply a fun and great pop/hip-hop mashup. Personally, she reminds me of a bit more “radio friendly” version of M.I.A. But she definitely has enough of her own sound and design to stay wholly unique. Honestly, this album is worth it just for “Disparate Youth,” “GO!,” and “Freak Like Me.”
• Sea Wolf’s “Old World Romance” – This was a late find, but it’s already had some heavy rotation. He reminds me of a Beck/Aqualung/Band of Horses mash-up, and “Whirlpool” is an amazing track.
• Deftones’ “Koi No Yokan” – This is a great blend of the older and newer stylings of Deftones, and even though I’ve only had a few listens on it, it’s a solid album. Not many bands can shift, change, and grow for as many years as this band has and continue to be both new and retain their original sound like Deftones have. If you’re a past fan, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have bought this album.
• How to Destroy Angels’ “An Omen” – Much as I wanted a full-length release, this is still another excellent entry to Trent Reznor’s new band. While it’s more of “background” music than anything you’ll really sing or hum or rock out to throughout the day, it’s a handful of good tracks nonetheless.

Singles:

Either they weren’t on a full release album, or the album as a whole didn’t quite make it, these are a few tracks that I listened to way more than I should have.

• Dragonette’s “Lay Low” and “My Legs” – I know. It’s ridiculous. This is music for college sorority girls as they’re headed out to some big party, but Glob help me, these songs are way TOO catchy and—in my eyes—perfect examples of how fun bubble-gum pop music can be.
• M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” – The beat for this… holy crap… just holy crap… When it hits the “0:40” mark, the groove just cuts straight to the core. Love it.
• Bad Veins' “Dancing on TV” – This track is too fun. Reminds of the best of Weezer and has some wonderful lyrics to go along with it.
• Owl City’s “Dreams and Disasters” – While the album as a whole is fairly decent, this track rises above and beyond the others in a BIG way. Love the beat. Love the lyrics. It’s another example of pop done right.
• The XX’s “Angels” – Dreamlike and beautiful, from the music to the lyrics. Nothing more needs to be said.
• Placebo’s “B3” – I’ll write more on this band at another point in time, but not only was I surprised that they were still putting out tunes, but that this was also a mighty fine little ditty from their EP of the same name.

Songs that Made Me Like the Band: "Passenger"

Seeing as I spent last night rocking out to Deftones—for the first time—live at Vegas’ House of Blues, I figured it would be a perfect time to discuss what drew me to this band in the first place.

All of my friends rocked out to Deftones long before I did. Most of them started when their second album, Around the Fur dropped. This was also right about when Deftones toured with Korn (after the joint venture of “Wicked” on Korn’s Life is Peachy) and had become that “smaller sort” of popular band. "My Own Summer (Shove It)" seemed to be all over the radio and my friends’ sound systems. My cousin, in particular, was already hanging their posters on his walls and was quite enamored with the album. As a result, I was forced to listen to it on one too many occasions. But, for me, their sound didn’t mesh. I didn't think Chino fit the band, or that the band didn’t fit Chino. Those first two albums sounded like two people having separate conversations but were too stubborn to give in and join the other. On its own, the band sounded good, and if he’d been soloing it up, I would’ve liked Chino, too. But together, the two positives became a negative.

Of course, everyone thought I might have down syndrome and didn't know what the balls I was talking about. I suppose I couldn't blame them since, at this point, my earholes were living on a steady diet of Korn, The Cardigans, and Failure. And despite Deftones having been compared to Korn, I couldn’t get on board with them.

Then White Pony came out, and their first single, "In the House of Flies" already had my attention: It was so different than their last two albums, and I actually thought the band and Chino were working together—finally. My friends snagged this album up, and “Passenger” was one of the first tracks my good friend Aaron forced on me, as Tool had become another of our crew's favorites. (I mean, really, Maynard has a killer voice. As my coauthor put it, “Voice of calm, words of chaos.” One of my favorite male singers, hands down.)

So when I heard that track, all of the dissonance of Deftones’ previous albums came crashing down around me, replaced by this stunning rhythm and dream-like quality to the vocals. And the way the chorus builds each time with Maynard's "Roll the windows down..." holy shit, it made me want to do just that. Like this was a song that demanded to be blasted in the wee small hours of the morning, when it’s at its darkest moment, with every window down, hand playing in the air currents, and screaming the lyrics at the top of my lungs.

Sadly, I don't recall ever having actually done that, but this song made me feel like Deftones, finally, found their distinct voice. There were still a few “off” tracks with White Pony, some a bit too disjointed for me, but when their next, self-titled, album dropped, I thought they nailed it. And the three subsequent discs are—in my opinion—most excellent.

Oh, and the concert? I screamed along to “Passenger.” And even without Maynard, it was bad ass. Bad. Ass.