The Best Records of 2012

In 2012 I consumed more music than any year in recent memory. It was tough to narrow it down to 50 albums of new music and 20 reissues etc. If a couple of the years don’t match up if you look stuff up, tough. It's my list. The first section has my 50 best new albums, with the top 10 in numerical order, with 1 being the best, and the remainder in alphabetical order. I also included a video highlighting each of the top 10. It was too difficult to order all of them this year. The second section has the 20 best reissues etc. in alphabetical order. Questions, comments, and criticism are more than welcome.

The 50 Best New Albums of 2012

1.  Neneh Cherry & The Thing – The Cherry Thing

2. Julia Holter – Exstasis

3. Les Momies De Palerme - Brûlez Ce Coeur

4. Holly Herndon – Movement

5. Nuojuva - Valot Kaukaa

6. Valgeir Sigurðsson – Architecture of Loss

7. Brian Eno – Lux

8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

9. Melody's Echo Chamber – S/T

10. Bérangère Maximin – No One Is An Island

2:54 – S/T

Allo Darlin – Europe

Beach House – Bloom

Bears – Greater Lakes

Best Coast – The Only Place

Blanche Blanche Blanche - Wink With Both Eyes

Peter Buck – S/T

David Byrne & St. Vincent – Love This Giant

John Cale – Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood

Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory

Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

Diiv – Oshin

Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan

Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits

Bob Dylan - Tempest

Grimes – Visions

Grizzly Bear - Shields

Hospitality – S/T

Jim Jarmusch & Jozef Van Wissem - The Mystery of Heaven / Concerning the Entrance into Eternity

Lower Dens – Nootropics

Lee Ranaldo – Between The Times and the Tides

Laetitia Sadier – Silencio

Menomena – Moms

Micachu and the Shapes – Never

Mono – For My Parents

Off! - S/T

Yoko Ono / Kim Gordon / Thurston Moore - YOKOKIMTHURSTON

Prince Rama – Top 10 Hits of the End of the World

Purity Ring - S/T

Ramona Falls – Prophet

Frankie Rose – Interstellar

Sigur Rós – Valtari

School of Seven Bells – Ghostory

Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror

Stars – The North

Teen – In Limbo

Thee Satisfaction – Awe Naturale

Wild Nothing – Nocturne

Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man In the Universe

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill

The 20 Best Reissues, Box Sets, Compilation, or Live Records of 2012, in Alphabetical Order

V/A – SID Chip Sounds: Music of the Commodore 64

Johnny Cash – Live Austin, TX

Eraserhead - OST

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

GZA - Liquid Swords

Lee Hazlewood – A House Safe For Tigers

Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years

My Bloody Valentine - EPs

My Bloody Valentine – Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

Paul Simon – Graceland

Pauline Oliveros - Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961 – 1970

Roxy Music - The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982

Royal Trux – Accellerator

Sonic Youth – Smart Bar, Chicago, 1985

Stereolab – Mars Audiac Quintet

Stereolab – Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements

Cat Stevens – Tea for the Tillerman

Velvet Underground - & Nico 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Box set