I bought lots of stuff this year (as I usually do) but a big percentage of it was filling in gaps in the collection, and not many new releases. There just wasn't as much new stuff that piqued my interest this year. With that being said...
(in no particular order...)
Top Albums of 2012
1) Strife - Witness a Rebirth
There's nothing groundbreaking on this album. I'm just so excited that Strife reunited, I HAD to include this on the list! If you like Strife, you'll probably like this CD as much as their older discs.
Highlights: Torn Apart, Life or Death
2) Kepi Ghoulie - Kepi for Kids
This is probably my favorite thing Kepi has released since "The Beast With Five Hands" came out.
Highlights: Days That End in "Y", Do The Kangaroo
3) Mike Park - Smile
Mike Park continues to amaze me. I listen to the Skankin Pickle CDs and love every minute of them (ska is not a genre that I'm often impressed by, but Pickle always came through for me). I listen to The Bruce Lee Band, and his solo stuff, and Mike's ability to write so many different styles of music, yet always produce great songs, just blows me away. This is his "childrens album". Seriously. :)
Highlights: 12345678 Drums, When The Light Turns Red You Stop, Turn Off The Lights
4) Crosses - (the 3 EPs)
I combined the 3 EPs Crosses released into 1 entry. They're all from the same songwriting sessions, and kind of all go hand in hand together. So there ya go. Crosses = Chino from Deftones and Shaun from Far (and Chris from Far, plus Chuck Doom and 2 other people I'm blanking on at the moment). More keyboardy and pop-focused than Deftones, less ambient and "all over the place" than the Team Sleep record, though if you told me this was a Team Sleep CD, I'd probably believe you. REALLY enjoying listening to this! (When Depeche Mode tours the US next year, Crosses should be the opening band. Seriously.)
Highlights: This is a Trick, Prurient
5) Public Image Ltd - This is PiL
It's 2012 and Public Image Ltd put out a new CD. My mind is officially blown. It's got everything a PiL record has. Short songs, weird songs, longer ambient songs, it picks up exactly where they left off. Not the first PiL album I'd recommend to new fans (start with "9" or "LP"), but I'm really digging it.
Highlights: I Must Be Dreaming, Fool, One Drop, Deeper Water
6) The BoDeans - American Made
I did not want to like this album. The idea of The BoDeans making a disc without Sam in the band just seemed wrong. I wanted it to stink, I wanted it to sound half-hearted, and not grab my attention the way other BoDeans records have done. I was completely wrong -- this album rules. (Has anyone bought Sam's solo disc yet? How is it?)
Highlights: Jay Leno, I'm On Fire, Everything You Wanted
7) Men Without Hats - Love In The Age of War
It's 2012 and there is a new Men Without Hats CD. My mind is officially blown again. I'm bias, as I've always loved this band, but it's really flippin good. It sounds exactly like what I want from Men Without Hats. This album could have been released in 1988, it picks up exactly where Men Without Hats left off.
Highlights: The Girl With The Silicon Eyes, This War, Head Above Water
8) Say Anything - Anarchy, My Dear
I always thought Something Corporate were better than the other Drive Thru bands they were often affiliated with. Andrew is a better front man, and the fact that he writes so much material on piano gave them a different, unique aspect to songwriting, that a lot of those other bands just didn't have. Say Anything is kind of the same for me -- Max's lyrics and melody styles stand out above the rest of the bands that Say Anything are often associated with.
Highlights: Burn a Miracle, Anarchy My Dear, Overbiter
9) Deftones - Koi No Yokan
The more Deftones release albums, the more inspiring they get. No other metal/alt/whatever band out right now can touch these guys.
Highlights: Rosemary, What Happened To You, Poltergeist
10) VCMG - Ssss
VCMG = Vince from Erasure and Martin from Depeche Mode. It's mostly them nerding out with analog keyboards, making ambient space noises and such. Excellent background music while I write code.
Highlights: Bendy Bass, Spock, Aftermaths
Honorable mentions:
Kevin Seconds - Don't Let me Lose ya
Green Day - Duo
Cause and Effect - The Happiness EP
The Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth
Lamb of God - Resolution
Motion City Soundtrack - Go
Hot Water Music - Exister
Thomas Dolby - A Map of the Floating City
Ghost - Opus Eponymous (Okay so this technically came out in 2011, but i just discovered them a few months ago when they opened for Mastadon, and it was the creepiest, most hysterical thing I'd seen on stage in ages. Had to give this disc a mention. I'm pretty sure all the guys in this band are actually accountants for a living...or some equally bland day-job...can anybody verify that for me please?)
-nolan