It is a little over halfway through 2012 and a large breadth of music has been released in this time. This of course means that it is time to list what, in our opinion, are the best albums so far this year. We do this not to proselytize our readers into congratulating us on our superb music tastes, but instead to evaluate the current musical landscape. Today’s list will also provide some loose guidelines for when we do make our end of the year list – although it is merely a predictor and not definitive on how we will feel at the end of the year.
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Top Ten Thursday: Best Albums of 2012….so far
28 JunBeach House Review: Bloom
14 MayBeach House
Bloom
On 2010’s Teen Dream, Baltimore duo Beach House (guitarist Alex Scally and singer Victoria Legrand) made the sort of unique record that is not only chalk full of simple alluring pop tunes but was also, as a whole, simply timeless – perfect for any time of year, a record to retreat to like few others. So obviously in following up a near-masterpiece, the excitement existed to not only see if the follow-up would reach the heights of Teen Dream, but also what direction it would take the band. Bloom, Beach House’s fourth effort, stays fairly consistent with the duo’s past efforts for really good results, though not quite in the ballpark of Teen Dream.
Top Ten Thursday: Dynamic Duos
23 FebThe week of Valentine’s Day, we did a breakup songs list and nothing else relating to love. This week, we have given off a couples barrage with reviews of Sleigh Bells and Tennis, two duos, and now this list. While most bands are five, the Beatles were the Fab Four, and three is a magic number, two can no doubt still kill it in rock & roll. Here is our top ten musical duos.
Top Ten Thursday: 2010 Albums in Retrospect
1 DecAs we gear up for the conclusion of another memorable year in music and our upcoming 2011 Best-of lists, we thought it would be fun to turn back the clock to a year ago, and look at the greatest albums of 2010. However, as hindsight is crystal clear, we have adjusted our rankings based on how we feel now, so some albums that may not have made our list last year that grew on us may show up here and vice-versa.
1. Kanye West-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
The polarizing rapper’s magnum opus; a sort of wonderful ride through the psyche of the conflicted artist. MBDTF challenges the idea of what a hip-hop record is with songs like “Runaway” and “Lost In The World”, and also has its fair share of big-time hits with songs like “Power” and “All Of The Lights”.
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