New albums and me didn’t really hit it off this year. I don’t know what happened. Baby number two perhaps! Running a business. Time. Whatever the reason, I decided not to do an albums of 2012 list and instead a list of the music that defined 2012 for me. They are not exclusively from 2012 (there are some) but instead a mix across many years that happened to resurface this year. I’ve put the list on 8tracks (embedded below). I hope you enjoy it. Louder first, quieter last. (If I were to pick an artist of the year it would be Will Wiesenfeld of Baths fame who also releases ambient music under the name Geotic which is gorgeous and also entirely free to download off his Geotic website.) – JR

Full list:

My Kind of Woman
Mac Demarco – 2

Green Aisles
Real Estate – Days

Hold On
Alabama Shakes – Alabama Shakes

Class Clown Spots a UFO
Guided By Voices – Class Clown Spots a UFO

The Only Place
Best Coast – The Only Place

Simple Song
The Shins – Port of Morrow

Anchorage
Surfer Blood – Astrocoast

Scary World Theory
Lali Puna – Scary World Theory

128 Harps
Four Tet – Pink

Up North Kids
Papa M – Live from a Shark Cage

Softly, We Go
Evenings – Lately

Sea Bed Meditation
Jurgen Muller – Science of the Sea

Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping
Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill