Reaper's Favorite Albums of 2012

[Reaper16]

As always, this is a list of my personal favorite albums of the year. It's not meant to be an objective "best-of" list, because while I listen to hundreds of new albums each year I still fall far short of listening to enough to feel comfortable making an objective claim. My usual genre tendencies towards metal and hip-hop are as present as ever. Hopefully you'll find some albums you will come to dig through this list.

I'll be posting it out over the next day or so. I'm doing 30 albums this year.

30.) Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
29.) Kamelot - Silverthorn
28.) Monolithe - III
27.) Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Lost in the New Real
26.) Tame Impala - Lonerism
25.) Heems - Nehru Jackets
24.) Panopticon - Kentucky
23.) Anathema - Weather Systems
22.) Brother Ali - Mourning in America, Dreaming in Color
21.) Dan Deacon - America
20.) Sigh - In Somnophobia
19.) El-P - Cancer 4 Cure
18.) Devin Townsend Project - Epicloud
17.) Ondatropica - Ondatropica
16.) Death Grips - No Love Deep Web
15.) First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
14.) Pharaoh - Bury the Light
13.) Krallice - Years Past Matter
12.) Enslaved - RIITIIR
11.) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
10.) P.O.S. - We Don't Even Live Here
9.) Royal Thunder - CVI
8.) Lazerbeak - Lava Bangers
7.) Swans - The Seer
6.) Mgla - With Hearts Towards None
5.) Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
4.) Alcest - Les Voyages De L'Âme
3.) Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
2.) Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
1.) Death Grips - The Money Store

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by thurman merman

Reaper, I noticed you have a lot of Rhymesayers stuff on here, but no Aesop Rock. Did you listen to Skelethon?

Yup. I've never been a big fan of Aesop, and his newest did nothing to change my mind.

[QuikSsurfer]

Do you not listen to progressive metal anymore? Are bands like Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist, Baroness all mediocre? All three of those bands had crazy good releases.
You're changing, Reaper.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by QuikSsurfer

Do you not listen to progressive metal anymore? Are bands like Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist, Baroness all mediocre? All three of those bands had crazy good releases.
You're changing, Reaper.

There are 6 albums in my top 30 that are or are related to progressive metal! That's like 20% of the list. The only genre with more albums on this list is hip-hop, with 8 albums.

Hip-hop has, frankly, been more "progressive" in recent years. There's tons of exciting things going on with hip-hop production.

I like the Baroness album(s). If I went to 40 albums it'd have landed in the 40-31 area.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

Wow this A$ap Rocky album might be the best album of the year even though it doesn't officially come out until jan 15 2013. Do yourself a favor and peep it.

After three listens, I think that is a better album than 2011's LiveLoveA$AP, even though that album has like 4 songs I like a lot better than any songs on the new one.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

1. Death Grips – The Money Store

Im trying to like it...but...I don't get it. Part of me likes it, part of me doesn't.

Too often im reminded of:



IMO, the vocalist sounds just like Wes Willis.

[MoreLemonPledge]

I know it's not necessarily in your musical spectrum, but I absolutely loved WIXIW by Liars. Great album, if you're into Radiohead knock-offs.

[MoreLemonPledge]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Im trying to like it...but...I don't get it. Part of me likes it, part of me doesn't.

Too often im reminded of:



IMO, the vocalist sounds just like Wes Willis.

Go suck a honey badger's ass.

No, the first time I heard it I thought of Wesley Willis, too. But it's still really, really ****ing good.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by MoreLemonPledge

Go suck a honey badger's ass.

No, the first time I heard it I thought of Wesley Willis, too. But it's still really, really ****ing good.

yeah, maybe i just need to download the whole thing and re-train my brain.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

yeah, maybe i just need to download the whole thing and re-train my brain.

Death Grips are abrasive and offputting as hell at first, imo. After a few listens, I started enjoying them more. They still aren't in heavy rotation for me because I have to be in the right mood to really enjoy them.

[MoreLemonPledge]

This should not already be on the second page...

[MoreLemonPledge]

OK, I won't go nearly as in-depth as Reaper, but my top 5 are:

5. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
4. Jack White - Blunderbuss
3. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
2. Frank Ocean - Channel ORANGE
1. Death Grips - The Money Store / No Love Deep Web (I'm not cheating by putting the two together. Money Store would have taken the top spot alone, but I personally can't separate the two albums.)

[Molitoth]

Ok ok. So I dove into death grips a bit more last night. I watched an interview and some live videos.

I now see WHY people are intrigued by this group. It IS different.
I'm not a fan of the vocals at all though. Imagine if he was a great lyricist and had much better flow.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Molitoth

Ok ok. So I dove into death grips a bit more last night. I watched an interview and some live videos.

I now see WHY people are intrigued by this group. It IS different.
I'm not a fan of the vocals at all though. Imagine if he was a great lyricist and had much better flow.

To paraphrase a recent blurb I read on Death Grips:

If you listen to it for a few minutes, it sounds like abrasive noise. After 20 minutes, it becomes almost meditative and trance-inducing... in a really brutal way.

[NewChief]

My children now shout/sing/chant in their best Stef voice, "I eat PUDDING!" to the tune of "I've Seen Footage."

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by NewChief

My children now shout/sing/chant in their best Stef voice, "I eat PUDDING!" to the tune of "I've Seen Footage."

If I started a thread titled "Reaper's Favorite Dads of 2012," you'd top the list.