Music of 2012 Pt. 1: The I have no name for this section

Now let me start off by saying, these lists I’m going to make are in no particular order. My eventual top 5 article will be, but for now the miscellaneous sections will be in a random assortment.

I was thinking of how I wanted to structure this end of year write-up, a lot of ideas passed through my head and I came up with this. However irrational and dumb it may be, it’s my format so shut up and leave me alone.

Forgive me for Blogspot's horrid formatting, I tried to make this as clean as possible.

With that said, let’s get started.

I do other things thank you very much.

"Albums I missed and need to check out"

Yeah yeah I know, I missed some albums this year. I do other things besides sit in the dark in my room with my Sennheisers and listen to the latest music releases thank you! Although I have grown accustomed to that atmosphere recently that’s not sad, is it? No? Okay.

Anyways, I tend to be consumed with other things going on around me that I lose track of certain projects being released throughout the year, these are the three albums I’m most upset about missing out on.

The Heist – Macklemore x Ryan Lewis

Yes I’ve heard Thrift Shop, everyone has. Stop telling me to listen to it. But really it’s funny, I actually bought The Heist, and it’s here right next to me, I just haven’t got around to it. I’ve dabbled with a few songs that got me interested in hearing what these guys had to offer. Everyone has said many positive things about the album and frankly, I’ve been looking for somewhere to get started with Macklemore’s collection. I just didn’t have a strong urge to check him out even though he was the most unfamiliar name to me on XXL’s 2012 Freshman List. Needless to say, I’ll be following him close from now on.

Celebration Rock – Japandroids

The Japandroids have been on my list of artists to check out for some time and it wasn’t until I saw their latest release Celebration Rock on nearly every major list of top albums of 2012 that I decided to put them on this short-list. 

I’ve fallen behind on current rock bands and I’ve been looking where to start to catch back up. I figured this album would be a good place to start and then going back into the Japandroids catalog from there, hopefully branching out into more bands and getting back into the genre like I used to be.

Port of Morrow – The Shins

Now this one surprised even me. I love The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow and Wincing the Night Away are two great albums and some of my favorites. 

With all of the projects that have come out this year, Port of Morrow just got pushed to the back of my interest list. Not to the fault of The Shins because I’ve read that the album is good, I just had my interest elsewhere at the time of release and never got around to it.

I suck at first impressions.

"Albums I need to spend more time with."

If you know me then you know that I’m usually awful with first impressions. Either I try too hard to make a good one or seem distant from where the setting is and appear uninterested. Neither are necessarily intentional on my part, but subconscious if anything, and that translates to my music taste. I’ll say I like an album and then try too hard to find things that are good and end up overreacting or I may hate an album but sit with it longer and end up loving it. You’ll be seeing me eat my words a lot during these next few blog entries because of that.

Payback – Danny! Or D. Swain

I picked up on this one late; I was close to having to assign it to my list of albums I need to check out. But Danny! Is one of my favorite rappers and Charm is one of my favorite albums of all-time so I made it a priority to check it out as soon as possible. 

First impression: Holy sh- how has this guy not blown up by now? He’s gotten cosigns from ?uestlove and Jay-Z and his story is the perfect antithesis to a bunch of the braggadocios artists out now. 

In his album Charm he was an up and comer trying to make it big, just asking for a chance. Now in Payback he’s still searching for that big break, although he is bigger, he isn’t as big as he thinks he should be. And I agree with him. The actual subject of the album is a sequel to his release And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and the conclusion (?) to the trilogy that includes Charm as the beginning. Again, my first impression may be wrong but I find myself very relatable to Danny!’s subject matters which makes him one of my favorite rappers to listen to and this latest release doesn’t disappoint. I don’t think I’m wrong with this album but for the sake of being proven wrong, Payback is the first album on this list.

Control System – Ab-Soul

Ishmael needs more time with a Black Hippy album? Yeah, unfortunately I listened to this album only once when it came out earlier in the year and it got lost in the shuffle. 

Black Hippy is my favorite thing in hip-hop right now so I'm a little disappointed in myself for letting this album go to the back of my mind. It's been showered with praise by those who have given it proper time. 
Ab-Soul in my opinion is the second most talented member of the group behind Kendrick Lamar, his versatility brings so much to the group. He's very prominent with Schoolboy Q in the weed-rap sub-genre but has been known to go off on his lyrical tangents most notably on Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 on the track Ab-Soul's Outro.

Violent Wave – Circa Survive

My first impression of Circa albums are always great. Maybe it's the man-crush I've had on Anthony Green since high-school? That's probably it, but nonetheless I did really enjoy this album, but only gave it once listen before I moved on and again, it got lost in the shuffle. 

Juturna and Blue Sky Noise are two of my favorite albums of the past few years, and Green's song writing is nothing short of superb. This album is probably at the very top of my list of albums to jump back on after this year. Before I get swamped with 2013 material. 

We Don’t Even Live Here – P.O.S.

I actually checked this album very recently and fell in love with P.O.S.' sound. I've been diving into each Doomtree member's solo work and came across We Don't Eve Live Here.

I first heard F*ck Your Stuff and knew I would dig the sound off the bat, very aggressive and in your face production. Based off of how I've enjoyed each Doomtree members' solo project, I assume this will be the same but just for reasons stated in the title of this section, I hold back on my final judgments.

Wait, this didn't suck?!

"Surprise album of 2012."

Somethin' Bout Kreay - Kreayshawn

Now before you say anything. yes, I know this album broke the record for worst album sales by a major label artist. Yes, I know it's Kreayshawn, but I actually enjoyed this album...no seriously I did. Shut the hell up.

It's fun and it's exactly how I wanted it to sound after I heard the internet hit single Gucci Gucci. Songs like Left Ey3 and Luv Haus are very catchy pop songs that can catch on to a party vibe. 

So yes, Kreayshawn actually gets my label for surprise of the year. I didn't expect to enjoy this album at all, but even though it may have to be considered a guilty pleasure I did, very much.

That concludes part one of this writeup. Part two will be the albums that just barely missed my Top 5 of 2012. Stay tuned.