2012 was like this for me:

Black metal pandas. And music. Lots of music.

I found this awesome piece of awesome on symmetal.com, easily one of my favorite blogs now.

Here’s my music lists of 2012:

Top 40 Albums, Some Honorable Mentions, Some Great Songs, and Some Shows I Went To And Really Really Really Liked.

NSFW if penis is something you abhor (and if so, what is the matter with you?)

40. Grizzly Bear – Shields

39. Grimes – Visions

For a while I thought Grimes looked like Brooke Candy, but now I understand. Gotcha.

38. Metz – S/T

37. Frankie Rose – Interstellar

36. Pig Destroyer – Book Burner

35. High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis

34. Cat Power – Sun

33. Burial – Kindred EP

32. Dead Can Dance – Children of the Sun

31. Trash Talk – 119

30. Philip Glass – _REWORK (Philip Glass Remixed)

29. DIIV – Oshin

28. Dub Trio – IV

27. Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions

26. Jessie Ware – Devotion

25. Poliça - Give You The Ghost

24. Holy Other – Hold

23. Nachtmystium – Silencing Machine

22. Black Breath – Sentenced To Life

21. Neurosis – Honor Found In Decay

20. How To Dress Well – Total Loss

19. Flying Lotus – Until the Quiet Comes

18. Liars – WIXIW

17. Les Discretes – Ariette Oubliees

16. Blut Aus Nord – 777-Cosmosophy

15. The Weeknd – Trilogy

14. Purity Ring – Shrines

13. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

12. Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror

11. Andy Stott – Luxury Problems

10. Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid M.A.A.D. City

9. Crystal Castles – (III)

8. Alcest – Les Voyages de L’Ame

7. Kvelertak – S/T (2011 release but don’t give a fuck)

6. Death Grips – NO LOVE DEEP WEB

Y U MAD DOE

5. Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE

4. Chromatics – Kill For Love

3. Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind

Cutest.

Also: best cover design of the year:

2. Baroness – Yellow & Green

Really, really glad this band survived their terrible bus accident in the UK.

Read John Dyer Baizley’s letter to Baroness fans regarding the accident and recovery. 

OKAY, this is also the best album cover design of the year.

My favorite album of the year, the weirdest and longest record I could play 4x a day for months:

1. Swans – The Seer

Ain’t no man like Gira.

Honorables:

Alphabetical order, just like kindergarten:

Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls

Allah-Las – S/T

Aziz Ansari – Dangerously Delicious

Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man

Big Black Delta – BBDEP1 EP

Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man In The Universe

Daniel Rossen – Silent Hour Golden Mile EP

Dum Dum Girls – End of Daze EP

Early Graves – Red Horse

Gaza – No Absolute for Human Suffering

Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage

Gypsyhawk – Revelry & Resistance

Holograms – S/T

ISIS – Temporal

Japandroids – Celebration Rock

Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music

King Krule –  S/T EP

Light Asylum – S/T

Lorn – Ask the Dust

The Men – Open Your Heart

Mutilation Rites – I Am Legion, Empyrean

Peace’d Out – S/T EP

Pinkish Black – S/T

Porcelain Raft – Strange Weekend

Sigur Ros – Valtari

Split Cranium – S/T

The Secret – Agnus Dei

The Soft Moon – Zeroes

Trailer Trash Tracys – Ester

Twin Shadow – Confess

Vatican Shadow – Ghosts of Chechnya

Watain – Lawless Darkness

Witchcraft – Legend

I really cared about comedy this year and could not stop listening to Aziz Ansari and Louis CK. I’m in love.

Some Awesome Songs That Came Out In 2012:

Swans // Mother of the World

Kendrick Lamar // M.A.A.D. City

Major Lazer // Get Free

Frank Ocean // Pyramids

Chromatics // Lady

Crystal Castles // Plague

Andy Stott // Lost And Found

Jessie Ware // Night Light

Les Discrets // La Traversee

M.I.A. // Bad Girls

Baroness // Take My Bones Away

Kvelertak / Mjod

Tig Notaro on her album, LIVE

Best Shows of 2012:

By date:

Wu-Tang Clan @ Club Nokia 1.21.2012

Wolves in the Throne Room / Chelsea Wolfe @ Echoplex 1.26.2012

Retox @ The Smell 2.18.2012

Deafheaven, Marriages, DNF, Whirr @ The Smell 3.9.2012

Refused / Death Grips @ The Glasshouse 4.12.2012*

Explosions in the Sky @ The Glasshouse 4.18.2012

Behemoth / Watain @ HOB Sunset 4.25.2012

The Weeknd w/ special guest Drake @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery 5.5.2012

Jesus and the Mary Chain @ Hollywood Park 6.15.2012

Pelican / Black Breath @ The Glasshouse 6.23.2012

Chelsea Wolfe / Russian Circles / Deafheaven / And So I Watch You From Afar @ El Rey 6.29.2012

Sigur Ros @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery 8.12.2012

HEALTH @ The Echo 8.30.2012

Refused, Converge, American Nightmare, Sleigh Bells, Chromatics, Glass Candy all at FYF Fest 2012

Swans / Xiu Xiu @ The Fonda 9.11.2012

*Actually my favorite musical experience this year; crazy good.

I stole a lot of photos from everywhere. Contact me to get credit or to have them pulled down. I ain’t scared.