Another year comes to an end and with it another great collection of albums and amazing music! Which ones will stand the test of time? We shall see, but here are our picks for favorite albums of 2012!!
As for the process, it was pretty simple. I just rounded up all our contributors and had them each send me their fave albums, then I combined them with mine and here's what we came up with in no particular order (except that maybe I tried to get the art works to match up a bit). I linked each artists Facebook and iTunes so you can do a little more investigating.
After looking at some of the other Best Of lists out there I am pretty happy with our selections. Of course there will probably be some records that we missed, but all in all it's a pretty fine representation of what we do at Off the Radar.
Thanks for all your support throughout the year and we wish you all a Happy New Year!
Hope you had a great Christmas! Ready for New Years?!? For fun I went through my 2011 playlists and picked out some of my favoritesingles of the year. I arranged them in some type of cohesive order, but not really best to worst or anything. The only exceptions being track one & two M83's "Midnight City" and Gotye's "Somebody I Used to Know" that are probably my two favorite singles of the year. I included links where you can read posts we did on OTR throughout the year, grab the mp3, check out the video or all of it. Lots of great material/music for you. Enjoy!
P.S. This list doesn't include remixes which there were tons of amazing ones this year that would make up a whole other list.
M83 "Midnight City" (post) (video) Gotye "Somebody That I Used to Know" (post/mp3/video) Black Light Dinner Party "Older Together" (post/mp3/video) Geoffrey O'Connor "Whatever Leads Me To You" (post/mp3/video) Flight Facilities ft Jess "Foreign Language" (post) Class Actress "Weekend" (post/mp3) Metronomy "The Bay" (post/video/remix) Pallers "Come Rain, Come Sunshine" (post/mp3) Cut Copy "Need You Now" (post/mp3/video) The Magician ft Jeppe "I Don't Know What To Do" (post) Edwin Van Cleef ft Gemini Club "Never Be Alone At Night"(post) Fabian "This Night" (post) (video) Venice Beach "Midnite" (link) Meridian "Magic" (post/mp3/video) Destroyer "Savage Night at the Opera" (post) Low Roar "Tonight Tonight Tonight" (post/mp3) Radiohead "Lotus Flower" (post/video) Neon Indian "Polish Girl" (link) Starfucker "Julius" (post/mp3/video) U.S. Royalty "Monte Carlo" (post/mp3) Mansions on the Moon "Leaves Fall" (post/mp3) New Navy "Zimbabwe" (video) Saint Motel "Puzzle Pieces" (post/mp3) (video) Johan Agebjorn & Le Prix ft Lake Heartbeat "Watch the World Go By" (post/mp3) (video) Hooray for Earth "Sails" (post) Little Majorette "Overflow" (post/mp3) Strange Talk "Eskimo Boy" (post/mp3/video) Housse De Racket "Roman" (post/mp3) Digitalism "2 Hearts" (post/mp3) Mitzi "All I Heard" (post/mp3) Foster the People "Pumped Up Kicks" (post/remixes) Chris Malinchak ft Damon C Scott "No Secrets" (post/mp3) (video) Goldroom "Morgan's Bay" (post) Active Child "Hanging On" (post/mp3) The Horrors "Still Life" (post/video) The One AM Radio "Sunlight" (post/mp3/video) Azari & III "Manic" (post/video) Voltaire Twins "Animalia" (post/mp3/video/remix) Summer Camp "Better Off Without You"(post/mp3/video) Sam La More "Paradise" (link) Bit Funk "Rap Music" (link) Oliver "I Need You" (post) Clancy "Panther" (post) Rambla Boys "Cocomero" (post/mp3) Baron Von Luxxury "The Last Seduction" (post/mp3/video)
Another year has passed and 2011 has left us with some amazing albums! Here is a list I compiled from my favorites as well as favorites from fellow contributors Michael and Erika. We all have slightly different tastes so together it leaves us with a nice representation of the year. These are in no particular order (that would be too difficult/unnecessary to do). Enjoy and thanks for listening! Have a great holiday weekend!
Hooray for Earth :: True Loves
Hooray For Earth was without a doubt the album I listened to the most in 2011. I listened to it when I was inspired to write, happy about something dumb, sad about something dumber, while I was questioning government policies, when I was showering, while I walked to the train, when I was playing board games in the park, while I was laying on the beach eating lobster rolls in Montauk, While I was closing down the bar I worked at... You get the picture, I listened to this album a lot. EO
Destroyer's 'Kaputt' is probably my favorite record of the year. So smooth and well produced. It's an instant classic. Got many plays from me at home and in my car. Those type of records always stick with me. "Savage Night at the Opera" is near perfection. RM
Not as great as 'In Ghost Colours', but they definitely tried to expand their sound and opening track "Need You Now" carries the album on it's shoulders. One of my favorite tracks of the year. Always gets the crowds riled up when I play it out with it's great gradual progression until the peak where he sings "know we're going crazy, but I need you now" at the top of his lungs in full desperation mode. I think we can all relate to that feeling. Always great live too, one of my favorite shows of 2011. RM
This one got big huh. Who will be able to look back on 2011 and not recall "Pumped Up Kicks" getting blasted practically everywhere. Despite that it still took a hell of a lot of listens before I finally started to grow weary of it and there's lot of other great indie pop tracks here to keep you interested. Now to see if they can handle the difficult sophomore transition. RM
Really enjoyed this indie pop record. Their lead singer has an amazing voice and they had a bunch of great remixes that allowed me to play it on the dance floor as well as my apartment. RM
Really wasn't expecting to like the new Drums album that much, but I was wrong. Stronger/more varied album than their debut, meaning no sophomore slump here and we all know how often that happens. RM
Since it's release last March, this fantastic sophmore album from Portland'sStarfucker has been a staple of my 2011 soundtrack. This album is a solid work of smooth electronic synth melodies, great vocals and just the right amount of bleeps, it's amazing single "Julius" being the flagship example. MU
Seems most best of list's this year forgot/ignored The Strokes, but I'm not sure why. They put out a really fun dancey record with some excellent tracks that saw them change things up a bit. Probably their best since their classic 2001 debut 'Is This It'. I prob would have picked a different first single though, maybe that was it. RM
Another instant classic. The Horrors changed their style again. This time into more of a shoegazey/post punk style and I love it! I didn't think I could like them more and I did. A great late night smokes album. RM
As one of the original ambassadors of the Dreamwave movement, Washed Out has refined the genre down to a science. This album is so smooth and easy on the ears its like a soft pillow of music to lull you into a magical dream land. Easily his best work to date. MU
Real Estate's'Days' is easily within my top five albums of this year. An album that is, from start to finish, just plain and simple feel good shoegazey indie rock that's warm, inviting and filled with nostalgia and good feelings. MU
Posssibly the best single to come out in 2011 is M83's "Midnight City" what an amazing track! I liked the album, but I feel it suffered a bit from being too long and instrumental. I'd have cut about half of the tracks and made it a one disc of the best stuff. Then it'd prob be as good as their magnificent 'Saturdays = Youth', but hey I'll take "Midnight City" and the music that he creates which is better than most of the stuff out there, even on his bad days. RM
Found out about this late in the year. "Somebody I Used to Know" is probably one of my favorite songs of the year along with M83's "Midnight City". Heartbreaking and beautiful. I found myself pressing repeat many times with that one and the amazing video for it. RM
Thanks to Spotify and Facebook, I know that all my friends were constantly listening to this album as well. It's smooth transitions between pop and electronica make it an album that doesn't get old. I've had a new favorite track weekly since it was released. The kind of fun you remember. EO
This album finally tames her previous art rock efforts with this beautiful quirk-pop album. It's brutally honest and leaves itself to interpretation which ultimately makes it very accessible (hence it being on everyones best of lists). You don't have to get the depth of her songs to be transfixed. Did I mention she's stunning? EO
I'm not sure if this came out at the end of 2010 or right in the beginning of 2011. Amazon says January 15th so I'm gonna have to include it on here. A great chillwave record that works well on road trips. RM
I don't think there is a single album that got more listening out of it for me during the summer of 2011 than the Generationals' Actor-Caster. The New Orleans band puts out very straight forward, upbeat indie rock that song after song is addictive and catchy, probably none more so than the albums opener "Ten-Twenty-Ten". MU
I realize that folk rock of this caliber is a bit of an acquired taste. But no one can deny that this album deserves its place in the years Best Of list. It is a highly skillful work and probably Fleet Foxes most creative/experimental effort yet. These guys are true artists and tracks like the albums namesake "Helplessness Blues" demonstrate their brilliance. MU
While Neon Indian has always had skills in electronic noise-pop, Era Extraña is a much more of a refined work than it's predecessor Psychic Chasms. He has maintained, yet edited and sculpted, his experimentalism into this well produced album that makes masterpieces out of reverb soaked vocals and deep layers of electronic bleeps and bloops. MU
In Heaven is a really fun album full of dreamy indie-pop gems. While my favourite Twin Sister song still has to be "Lady Daydream" from their 2k10 release Color Your Life, this, as the band's debut full length, really explores their unique sound. A prime example of which is its track Bad Street, which is a quirky fun pop jam. MU
Lykke Li is a true artist. Her pop sensibility really shines in this dark, heart-break themed yet often musically upbeat album. Tracks, like "Sadness Is a Blessing" have not only enchanted us throughout this year, but have also given us some of the most amazing accompanying music videos showing the extent of the lovely Swede's creative prowess. MU
They made us wait a long time, but Holy Ghost! finally gave us an album after years of only singles here and there and it was worth the wait! So many great dance tracks on here "Wait and See", "Hold My Breath", "Say My Name". I definitely played these out tons in my DJ sets throughout the year. RM
Another album kinda like The Strokes that didn't quite catch on this year despite being classic PB&J indie pop and having one of the coolest album art works around. RM
Can't believe I almost left this one out! With Its January of 2011 release, Tennis' album 'Cape Dory' was so early in the year it was easy to confuse it with a 2010 release. However, this one was easily one of the best albums of the year. Like a breathe of fresh sea air, it is from start to finish a whimsy throwback nautical summer vacation in sound, which is funny considering the duo is from Denver. Cape Dory is the ultimate get-away album that has accompanied me on many a road-trip throughout the year! MU
