Boar Music’s Best of 2012
You can sigh and grumble “they don’t make ’em like they used to…” all you like, but to contest that 2012 was a bad year for music would be a laughable folly. By and large, our speakers have been blessed with some incredible ear-poppers over the past twelve months, from the joyous to the innovative to the just plain strange. The pop world was rife with earworms (**Alt-J** scooped the Mercury Prize; ‘Call Me Maybe’ saturated the airwaves); rap and hip hop received a shot in the arm with the arrival of **Kendrick Lamar**, while **Grimes** bridged the gap between darkness and dreaminess; and a host of strong singer-songwriters flowered with their latest releases, from **Sharon Van Etten** to **Fiona Apple**. Sure, we’ve had to put up with the occasional stinker from time to time, but hey, what’s life without a little variety?
And so, without further ado, here are the best sounds of the year that was, hand-picked by The _Boar_’s own panel of tough-nut critics. Get those headphones at the ready and prepare for a shiny new set of playlists!
**Charlie Sammonds**
**Albums:**
1) **How To Dress Well** – _Total Loss_
2) **The Weeknd** – _Trilogy_
3) **Don Broco** – _Priorities_
4) **JJ DOOM** – _Key To The Cuffs_
5) **The xx** – _Coexist_
**Songs:**
1) **Frank Ocean** – _Thinking About You_
2) **Cyril Hahn** – _Say My Name (Destiny’s Child remix)_
3) **The Weeknd** – _The Party & The After Party_
4) **While She Sleeps** – _Dead Behind The Eyes_
5) **Title Fight** – _Leaf_
**Christopher Sharpe**
**Albums:**
1) **Kendrick Lamar** – _good kid, m.A.A.d city_
2) **Alt-J** – _An Awesome Wave_
3) **Aesop Rock** – _Skelethon_
4) **Grizzly Bear** – _Shields_
5) **Death Grips** – _The Money Store_
**Songs:**
1) **Frank Ocean** – _Pyramids_
2) **Kendrick Lamar** – _Cartoon & Cereal_
3) **Burial** – _Kindred_
4) **Death Grips** – _I’ve Seen Footage_
5) **Godspeed You! Black Emperor** – _We Drift Like Worried Fire_
**Ed Graham**
**Albums:**
1) **DIIV** – _Oshin_
2) **Beach House** – _Bloom_
3) **Chromatics** – _Kill For Love_
4) **Frank Ocean** – _Channel Orange_
5) **Sharon Van Etten** – _Tramp_
**Songs:**
1) **Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti** – _Only In My Dreams_
2) **Passion Pit** – _I’ll Be Alright_
3) **Chromatics** – _Back From The Grave_
4) **DIIV** – _Follow_
5) **Lotus Plaza** – _Eveningness_
**Francesca Peak**
**Albums:**
1) **Alabama Shakes** – _Boys And Girls_
2) **Grimes** – _Visions_
3) **Frank Ocean** – _Channel Orange_
4) **Azealia Banks** – _Fantasea_
5) **Jessie Ware** – _Devotion_
**Songs:**
1) **Tame Impala** – _Feels Like We Only Go Backwards_
2) **M.I.A.** – _Bad Girls_
3) **Swedish House Mafia vs. Knife Party** – _Antidote_
4) **Sub Focus** – _Tidal Wave (ft. Alpines)_
5) **Charli XCX** – _You’re The One_
**Jack Denton**
**Albums:**
1) **Two Door Cinema Club** – _Beacon_
2) **Silversun Pickups** – _Neck Of The Woods_
3) **Savant** – _Overworld_
4) **The Maccabees** – _Given To The Wild_
5) **Newton Faulkner** – _Write It On Your Skin_
**Songs:**
1) **Silversun Pickups** – _Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)_
2) **Two Door Cinema Club** – _Next Year_
3) **Beach House** – _Myth_
4) **Scroobius Pip** – _Introdiction_
5) **Charlie Mars** – _How I Roll_
**James Golunski**
**Albums:**
1) **Frank Ocean** – _Channel Orange_
2) **Lana Del Rey** – _Born To Die_
3) **Rihanna** – _Unapologetic_
4) **Taylor Swift** – _Red_
5) **Florence + The Machine** – _MTV Unplugged_
**Songs:**
1) **Lana Del Rey** – _National Anthem_
2) **Rihanna** – _Diamonds_
3) **Christina Aguilera** – _Your Body_
4) **Frank Ocean** – _Thinking About You_
5) **Bruno Mars** – _Locked Out Of Heaven_
**Jamie Bayne**
**Albums:**
1) **Woob** – _Have Landed_
2) **Deerhoof** – _Breakup Song_
3) **The Weeknd** – _Trilogy_
4) **Xiu Xiu** – _Always_
5) **The Flaming Lips** – _The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends_
**Songs:**
1) **Matthew Dear** – _Her Fantasy_
2) **Woob** – _The Great Divide_
3) **Burial** – _Loner_
4) **Gorillaz** – _DoYaThing (ft. Andre 3000 & James Murphy)_
5) **Alt-J** – _Tessellate_
**Joe Wallace**
**Albums:**
1) **Deftones** – _Koi No Yokan_
2) **Devin Townsend Project** – _Epicloud_
3) **Stone Sour** – _House Of Gold And Bones pt. I_
4) **Lamb Of God** – _Resolution_
5) **Testament** – _Dark Roots Of Earth_
**Songs:**
1) **Slash** – _Anastasia_
2) **Deftones** – _Tempest_
3) **Stone Sour** – _Absolute Zero_
4) **Alice In Chains** – _Hollow_
5) **Lamb Of God** – _Desolation_
**Josh Suntharasivam**
**Albums:**
1) **Chromatics** – _Kill For Love_
2) **School Of Seven Bells** – _Ghostory_
3) **Cloud Nothings** – _Attack On Memory_
4) **Sharon Van Etten** – _Tramp_
5) **Kendrick Lamar** – _good kid, m.A.A.d city_
**Songs:**
1) **Jai Paul** – _Jasmine_
2) **Jacques Greene** – _Arrow (ft. Koreless)_
3) **School Of Seven Bells** – _When You Sing_
4) **Chromatics** – _There’s A Light Out On The Horizon_
5) **Sharon Van Etten** – _Give Out_
**Karolina Bartczak**
**Albums:**
1) **Ty Segall Band** – _Slaughterhouse_
2) **Mac DeMarco** – _2_
3) **Ty Segall & White Fence** – _Hair_
4) **Sauna Youth** – _Dreamlands_
5) **King Tuff** – _King Tuff_
**Songs:**
1) **DZ Deathrays** – _Gebbie St_
2) **Fuzz** – _This Time I Got A Reason_
3) **Thee Oh Sees** – _Lupine Dominus_
4) **Total Control** – _Scene From A Marriage_
5) **Rat Columns** – _Dying Day_
**Michael Perry**
**Albums:**
1) **Grimes** – _Visions_
2) **Alt-J** – _An Awesome Wave_
3) **Fiona Apple** – _The Idler Wheel…_
4) **Tame Impala** – _Lonerism_
5) **Beach House** – _Bloom_
**Songs:**
1) **Beach House** – _Wild_
2) **The C2C** – _Down The Road_
3) **Grimes** – _Genesis_
4) **Villagers** – _The Waves_
5) **HAIM** – _Don’t Save Me_
**Samuel Steiner**
**Albums:**
1) **Fiona Apple** – _The Idler Wheel…_
2) **Frank Ocean** – _Channel Orange_
3) **Sharon Van Etten** – _Tramp_
4) **Joey Bada$$** – _1999_
5) **How To Dress Well** – _Total Loss_
**Songs:**
1) **Frank Ocean** – _Pyramids_
2) **Kendrick Lamar** – _Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe_
3) **Sharon Van Etten** – _Leonard_
4) **Bat For Lashes** – _Laura_
5) **David Byrne & St. Vincent** – _Who_
**Trahearne Falvey**
**Albums:**
1) **Fiona Apple** – _The Idler Wheel…_
2) **Dirty Projectors** – _Swing Lo Magellan_
3) **Frank Ocean** – _Channel Orange_
4) **Sharon Van Etten** – _Tramp_
5) **Julia Holter** – _Ekstasis_
**Songs:**
1) **Grimes** – _Oblivion_
2) **Fiona Apple** – _Every Single Night_
3) **Solange** – _Losing You_
4) **Frank Ocean** – _Super Rich Kids (ft. Earl Sweatshirt)
5) **Dirty Projectors** – _Dance For You_
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