Ion's Favorites of 2012: 20 Albums Outside of Hip-Hop (OOHH)
Happy New Year! I know 2012 is now well in the past, so I'd like to put a fitting kabbash on it, by breaking down my favorite OOHH (outside of hip hop, and that made me go "oohh") albums of 2012 by category or musical style, presented in no particular order (and I apologize if you find my categorization is inaccurate or buffoonish, I tried my darndest) and not necessarily better or worse than any of the hip-hop I posted about before...
http://prizeandshine.tumblr.com/post/38846423844/ions-favorites-of-2012-12-bay-area-hip-hop-albums
http://prizeandshine.tumblr.com/post/39008711581/ions-favorites-of-2012-20-hip-hop-releases
...just different. Hope this helps those shopping for a certain sound from 2012!
Favorite Psychedelic/Shoegaze: Tame Impala's Lonerism
This is not an area of music I keep up with much these days, though I'm a big fan of late 60's psych freakouts. I did find Tame Impala's new album very entertaining from start to finish with its juicy wah-wah, faded reverberated vocals and funky drum rhythms - a great follow-up to their last album, Innerspeaker. Similar sounding releases I liked were Black Moth Super Rainbow's Cobra Juicy, Wild Nothing's Nocturne, DIIV's Oshin, Mature Themes from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, and Lotus Plaza's Spooky Action at a Distance
Favorite Beats-Driven Rock: Dirty Projectors' Swing Lo Magellan
I kinda made up this category in order to lump together many albums that had some rock/guitar, maybe some electronic elements, and being for the most part uptempo (handclapping and vocal harmonies a plus!!). In the end I picked the new Dirty Projectors album as my fave, with Django Django's self-titled debut a close second, followed by many formidable albums (Hot Chip's In Our Heads, Alt-J's An Awesome Wave, Matthew Dear's Beams, Dan Deacon's America, Poolside's Pacific Standard Time, and Animal Collective's Centipede Hz to name a few). You can make a case for any of these albums to be in the top whatever, but I give it to the DPs' songs for having such innate joy and feelings of candidness, as if you're chilling with them in a backstage green room.
Favorite Dream Pop: Asbjørn's Sunken Ships
Okay, so I used to not take the name for this subgenre of music seriously, and probably still can't get it straight. Let's just go with saying I consider dream pop to have less rock riffs, more buttery floaty textures and soundscapes. Most critics chose Beach House's Bloom as 2012's quintessential dream pop album, but I found it a bit too calm and vanilla for me to get into. Something from Colorado band Chairlift was I thought more anthemic and fun. However I have to say my favorite is the debut album from Danish producer Asbjørn, who sounds like a cross between James Blake and Gotye, and has written some spectacular pop songs with vulnerable intimate lyrics. Also check out the debut self-titled album from an Oakland group I'm a big fan of, The Seshen, plus The Slideshow Effect from Memoryhouse
Favorite "Darker Dreams": Actress' R.I.P. and John Talabot's fIN
Made this one up to address the darker, more wicked albums of 2012 that could still be called dream pop (night terrors pop? purgatory pop? some people say "witch-house" but that's equally as bizarre), mostly because this was the toughest category to choose a favorite from, so tough that I ended up picking two: R.I.P. because it embodies the sounds of my dreams/nightmares better than anything else I've heard ever, and fIN because its just so entertainingly textured and one of 2012's greatest achievements in electronica. So hard for me to put these two behemoths ahead of Grimes' Visions, Crystal Castles' (III), Purity Ring's Shrines, Holy Other's Held, and Iamamiwhoami's Kin, all great listens if you like your textures and lyrics more haunting.
Favorite Eighties Wave: The Chromatics' Kill for Love
If it helps, think of dream pop that sounds like it came straight from the 1980s, a sonic representation of the electric sheep that androids and replicants dream about. Oh and you need to play this at night for maximum effect. Again, tough category, but The Chromatics' new album (and first in 5 years) is a massive, hypnotic cruising soundtrack with great moments both fast and slow. If you dig this sound, also check out Twin Shadow's Confess, Chad Valley's Young Hunger, and the new collection from John Maus called A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material.
Favorite Electronic Jazzmatazz: Flying Lotus' Until the Quiet Comes
So many talented jazz-influenced hip-hop-meets-electronic producers out today. It's the nexus where many of today's most talented producers reside, and hardly anyone is more popular today than Brainfeeder's Flying Lotus, whose Until the Quiet Comes is the next chapter in what's becoming a hall-of-fame discography. A bit less sample-busy than Cosmogramma but just as melodic and awe-inspiring. If this gets you nodding your head, I also recommend Shigeto's Lineage, Freddie Joachim's Fiberglass Kisses, Elaquent's The Scenic Route, The Union's Analogtronics and Anthony Valadez's Just Dreaming.
Favorite Electronic Futurefreakery: Thriftworks' Rainmaker and B.Lewis' A Lion's Aperture
Lucky in 2012 to have the pleasure to meet, see performances from, and talk production techniques with these two guys, and yes I am being kinda Bay Area-centric here (Thriftworks resides in Berkeley and B.Lewis from the South Bay) but both their albums have a mythical majesty, a determination to experiment with effects but also to be perfectly executed so that every sound is in its right location. While Rainmaker makes brilliant connections between ancient temple hymns, glitch-hop and dubstep, A Lion's Aperture is a treatise on how to weave pitch-shifted R&B acapellas into funky synth landscapes complete with meticulously-crafted percussion workouts. Looking forward to new albums from them both very soon! Must also acknowledge some of the other great projects such as Insightful's Blossom Beautiful, XXYYXX's self-titled album, Bonobo's Black Sands Remixed, and Lapalux's When You're Gone EP
Favorite Electronic Hyperrhythms: Lone's Galaxy Garden
Sometimes I like my music fast, or to feel fast at least. Drum n' bass, juke, footwork, booty bass are some examples, but the best results here occur when subgenre definitions are thrown out, styles fuse, playfulness ensues, and warp-speed tracks turn into a flipbook of beautiful moving images. That's how I feel about the new album from producer Lone, which features two collaborations with Machinedrum and some exciting chord progressions that have had me seeing colors for months. Also recommend Burial's Kindred EP, Kilowatts' Acceptitude, DJ Rashad's Teklife Vol. 1: Welcome to the Chi, Squarepusher's Ufabulum, EPROM's Metahuman, and Ital Tek's Nebula Dance.
Favorite Electronic Four-to-the Floor: Four Tet's Pink and Breakbot's By Your Side
Four Tet and Breakbot come from neighboring countries, UK and France, and they both like to keep their track BPMs around the mid-120s, yet the two artists are very different in their sounds. Four Tet's latest offering, Pink, expertly adds and subtracts delicious layers over the course of 8 extended deeper house jams. Meanwhile, Breakbot's long-awaited full-length debut on Ed Banger records, which has been hyped since 2010's great "Baby I'm Yours" single, has an array of enjoyable nu-disco tunes in the vein of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album. If Sebastian's Total was my guilty dance-party pleasure of last year, By Your Side is mine for 2012. Can't forget to mention some other great releases such as Disclosure's The Face EP, Simian Mobile Disco's Unpatterns, Lindstrom's Smalhans, and Fort Romeau's Kingdoms.
Favorite Jazz: Robert Glasper Experiment's Black Radio
Most of the new jazz I go for these days is piano-driven as I have always admired great pianists such as Art Tatum, Ahmad Jamal, Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock. This year my favorite jazz album was Black Radio as it went so much further into the connection between jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop than anything I had ever experienced before. Add to that an all-star cast of featured guests (Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Me'shell Ndegocello, etc) and its a recipe for a landmark album, one that I'll be talking about and sharing with friends for years to come. If you like this, I also recommend the Vijay Iyer Trio's Accelerando, The Bad Plus's Made Possible, and Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society.
Favorite Funk: Snarky Puppy's GroundUP
The amazing live-recorded GroundUP from this Texas-based instrumental fusion band is technically jazz, but I found it also to be the funkiest album I listened to this year, reminding me of jazz fusion acts like Tom Scott & the L.A. Express or The Tony Williams Lifetime. It's an exhilarating ride, and that's all I'll say, I don't want to spoil anything else. I would also recommend the new album from Australia band The Bamboos called 4, a compilation put out this year by Secret Stash Records called Twin Cities Funk & Soul, and The Cactus Channel's Haptics.
Favorite World Music: Debo Band's self-titled album
I guess I'm splitting hairs again here because the self-titled debut from Boston-by-way-of-Sudan band Debo Band is both jazz and funk, and excels at both, but the focus of the band is on honoring and updating the sound of Ethiopian funk and soul that thrived in the country capital Addis Ababa in the early 1970s. The scales and harmonies here especially pay tribute to that sound, and the album is chocked full of impressive brass swells and afrobeat breakdowns. I also really liked the reissue of 1970s Nigerian band The Funkees, called Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro-Rock Exponents and put out by Soundway Records. Also recommend the new self-titled album from Antibalas out on Daptone Records, and a dance-driven album from Central African Republic-based producer Boddhi Satva called Invocation.
Favorite Soul and R&B: Old-School Female: Quantic & Alice Russell with The Combo Barbaro's Look Around the Corner
I have great appreciation for modern singer/songwriters who can belt out tunes like Aretha Franklin or sound like they were recording a session for Motown Records (Amy Winehouse was one for example). Look Around the Corner, an album released nearly a year ago on Tru Thoughts Recordings uniting two of their biggest artists, plus the Combo Barbaro out of South America, is a real gem, combining elements of '60s soul, '70s Mandrill-esque funk-rock and latin jazz. Russell's spirited vocals are just right on top of this dusty, sunny-afternoon backdrops. Also falling into this category are a couple other albums I liked: Meklit & Quinn, the new album from Bay Area soul singers Meklit Hadero & Quinn Deveaux, and Soul Sessions Vol. 2 from Joss Stone.
Favorite Soul and R&B: Old-School Male: Lee Fields & the Expressions' Faithful Man
Lee Fields hasn't been away from recording too long (his last album My World dropped in 2009) but his latest offering Faithful Man is another reminder of just how enduring his voice is, 43 years since his career began. The arrangements are stunningly gorgeous throwbacks and would fit right in with a playlist of Bobby Womack and Isaac Hayes tunes. I put this album slightly ahead of Bobby Womack's The Bravest Man in the Universe, which sounds a bit more electronic under the co-production of Damon Albarn. In the similar vein, I also enjoyed Cody Chestnutt's Landing on a Hundred, Michael Kiwanuka's Home Again and Allen Stone's self-titled album.
Favorite Soul and R&B: New-School Female: Jessie Ware's Devotion
A lot of great releases once again, and while 2012 didn't have a tour-de-force like Adele's 21, it did have a great pack of debut full-length albums from up-and-coming singer/songwriters more down-to-earth than diva in persona. In my mind, Devotion leads the pack because its mix of soaring symphonic instrumentation, breathy blissful vocals, and resonating romantic lyrics, making for an emotional listen from start-to-finish (yes I cried a little, shouldn't I?). Other albums I liked were Alicia Keys' Girl on Fire, Melanie Fiona's The MF Life, Lana Del Rey's Born to Die, Kendra Morris's Banshee, and Lianne La Havas's Is Your Love Big Enough (I'm sure there's more though).
Favorite Soul and R&B: New-School Male: Frank Ocean's Channel Orange and Miguel's Kaleidoscope Dream
Last but not least, we get to the R&B males everyone's talking about in 2012 (and hopefully beyond). For me, Channel Orange is so appealing because it feels so organic and built from scratch, both lyrically and sonically, seemingly not giving a fuck about radio-ready playability in age where nearly all mainstream R&B save The Weeknd is going EDM (finding love in a hopeless place...). Nearly all things said or done by Frank Ocean, plus the killer cameos of Earl Sweatshirt and Andre 3000, are attention-grabbers, and this great debut falls somewhere between D'Angelo's Voodoo and Maxwell's Now for a new generation. Parallel to that comes the exceptionally-produced new album Kaleidoscope Dream from singer/songwriter Miguel, who has an incredibly silky voice deserving of its own spotlight. Get both! And if you want more, check out Dwele's Greater Than One, Ne-Yo's R.E.D., and BJ the Chicago Kid's Pineapple Now and Laters.
Whew exhausted. Anyway, hope this was useful. Time to start looking at 2013 and get excited for what we'll hear next. Keep your ears clean!