The EPs of 2014 were a spectacular list. I bought 48 EPs released in 2014 and narrowing it down to my favorites proved to be an enjoyable challenge. I decided to set the bar at an average song rating greater than 4. This left off 8 other notable EPs that had average song rating of 4. In a shorter format, I felt the higher average necessary otherwise a single great song could catapult an EP into this distinguishable class.
I followed my process from last year for picking favorite songs. While most frequent listens is a good barometer of my favorite songs, it is clearly not the only measure (particularly with high counts coming to songs my wife or kids love).
So, I adjusted the process. I had two rules when assembling the list:
Song must have 5 stars (152 songs)
Could not duplicate artist
Then I listed to the songs and picked the ones that stuck with me the most. I really did my best to pair the list down (I did cut 121 5-star songs), but still have 31 phenomenal songs. This list of my favorite songs of 2012 is below in alphabetical order by artist. All great songs, I hope you enjoy. Let me know your thoughts on any standouts or omissions.
Annabel’s Anti-Decisions from Youth in Youth (Count Your Lucky Stars)
Cheap Girls’ Cored to Empty from Giant Orange (Rise)
Coping’s Love Tigress from Nope (Bandcamp)
Defiance, Ohio’s I’m Against the Government from the Calling (Self Released)
Downtown Struts’ Postcards from Victoria (Pirates Press)
Dowsing’s Terminals’ from It’s Still Pretty Terrible (Count Your Lucky Stars)
Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate)’s Turbo Stasis from Arrow/Empire Split (Count Your Lucky Stars)
Out of curiosity, I compared my top 17 albums of 2012 with some of the other popular lists to see how much overlap there was. The answer is not much. For the second year in a row, there was only one overlap and both times it was the number one album from punk news. So, if nothing else my list could be some new music for you.
I decided to list every album that had average song rating greater than 4, since they would all be worthy of mentioning and buying. I have 17 albums that earned that distinction.
The EPs of 2012 were a spectacular list. I bought 46 EPs released in 2012 and narrowing it down to my favorites proved to be an enjoyable challenge. I decided to set the bar at an average song rating greater than 4. This left off 8 other notable EPs that had average song rating of 4. In a shorter format, I felt the higher average necessary otherwise a single great song could catapult an EP into this distinguishable class.
The other interesting thing about this list is the domination of bandcamp records. I have never seen this level of domination before with 8 of the top 11 coming from a single group. Bandcamp is not really a label and more of a store for self released albums. So, i guess it makes sense that bandcamp is more popular for the the shorter format.
The end of the year is upon us again. I do love this time of year. You get a moment to step away from the routine and think. I like to remember the great times of the year, while setting strategy and objectives for the new year.
I also love using my downtime to listen to a lot of music. It truly is a labor of love going through all the music of a particular year – remembering and enjoying the standouts, listening and rating the ones that were forgotten, and discovering some new ones along the way. For me there is pleasure and comfort in creating a sense of order to the massive quantity of music and memories into a single artifact that i can use as a catalyst to recall the best moments of a particular span of time.
For those not initiated, my lists are always for the period two years ago. I believe that favorite album compilations should lag by two years for two primary time constraining reasons: to address the staying power of the album and to acquire a suitable number of fine albums.
2012 was a great year. I bought 109 albums and 1583 songs from 2012. While 1583 songs is a lot, 2012 is the only year in the 5 year span of 2009 – 2013 that I did not have 2000 songs. That said still a lot of music to review and go through and I will spend the next week finishing the rating and selecting my tops from 2012.
Here were the artists that I listened to the most times in 2013. Some new, some old – but lists feels right to me on what i enjoyed most often this year.
Is the record label importance shrinking? On one hand you would say yes. My two favorite groupings for albums this year were Bandcamp and self released, non curated groupings. However, on the other hand there are a number of strong labels out there that continue to deliver great releases from new bands (Tiny Engines, Plan-It-X, Asian Man). So, while I think the power has shifted some, a good record label is still important. If for nothing else, it is still an excellent way to find new music.
Here are some interesting facts on the year:
I bought 2 or more LPs on 21 different labels in 2011. Merge Records had the largest share (6 LPs), excluding non curated where I bought 12 from Bandcamp
For labels with at least two LPs, Plan-It-X had the highest average song rating in 2011 with a 4.09 average. Highest average for single LP was 6131 Records.
For labels with at least two LPs, Frenchkiss and Plan-It-X had the highest listens per song at 12.
As I have stated earlier, I think it is too early to judge the music of 2013; but since I keep getting asked for my favorites of 2013. I will give you five in no particular order that really stood out to me. Hard for me to believe these wont be on the list in two years, but time will tell.
1. Sonny and the Sunsets’ Antenna to the Afterworld (Polyvinyl)
