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_