No need for a Grammy-translator here. We both do the same thing, which is to choose which Album we think is the best. For whatever reason. Here are my choices, and here are my reasons.
The question I always ask myself is: What album am I going to remember? That’s all. Just be memorable. It’s a tougher trick to pull off than it might look. Like a lot of good things in life, it requires some luck, some skill, some pluck and serendipity. I’m willing to bet that the music you love most you remember best because of the times with which you associate that music. I don’t know how computers etch bits of data into themselves, but I know that humans etch bits of data into their own memories with music.
#12. I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying Dirty Projectors‘ “Swing Lo Magellan”. To my ears, much of “alternative” music is marked by a decidedly heavy emphasis on being an alternative to actual musicianship. Which is to say that I don’t often hear a great deal of skill and/or craftsmanship in Alternative music. The singer usually can’t, and proficiency of instrumentation, nuance in vocal arrangement, and diversity of sonic palate are usually not the hallmarks of the music carrying the “alternative” banner. Thankfully, Dirty Projectors sets all that on its ear here.
#11. Gun to my head, if I had to give the name of one musician fringe-celebrity to whom I had to propose marriage without benefit of getting to know her outside of the albums she’s recorded, my name is Kate Earl. Altering her sound substantially from her eponymous electropop 2009 offering, 2012’s “Stronger” is set to more of a breezy, 1970s California country-pop radio vibe. But I dig them both. I do.
#10. David Guetta, you’ve got company. Is the DJ stand big enough for two? In the arena of DJs/Producers who create delicious, little radio morsels so perfectly pop-perfect they make your head and dancefeet explode, Sir Harris would like to challenge Sir Guetta to a walk off. Calvin Harris finally arrived at the party late in 2012 (after teasing us late in 2011 with the track below), and with “18 Months”, I’m not going to say he successfully pulled off his underwear without removing his pants, but I’m not going to not say it either.
#9. I’m not going to mince words. I’m really glad that Snow Patrol exists, and I continue to grow more and more fond of the music they make. 2012’s “Fallen Empires” is another great and solid album by an increasingly great and solid act.
#8. Despite whatever creepiness you may or may not feel at the pairing, David Byrne & St. Vincent sought, in 2012, to come up with some music together that they “could play in bookstores”. Somehow that ended up turning into their rebirth of brass band. I told Curl 2.5 years ago that I thought the 2010s might feature a resurgence in horn-based music. So far, I’m feeling a little salty on the prediction. And good. Horns. Are. The. Shizz. Two stylish auteurs bridging generational divides and making brow-wrinkling harmonies, “Love This Giant” is allowed to play in my bookstore.
#7. I almost feel a little sorry for K’Naan. This is the second time in 3 years that he’s released an album I really like a lot, but just not quite enough to make the Davey’s compilation or win any DAs. Not much of a hard sell, but if you want to get a highly-listenable, diverse, friendly, inventive, fun hip-pop album, get “Country, God, or the Girl”.
#6. It has happened on more than one occasion throughout the Davey’s that two similar artists will release similar types of albums in a year, both will be lauded and appreciated, but one will become the undeniable critics’ choice. Whether it’s because I’m a born contrarian, or because I’m just right, when this has happened before, I’ve often found myself preferring the “other” album. It’s probably the contrarian thing, as I’ve always preferred the “other” in most cases, whether it was the Dukes of Hazzard or Star Wars. Case in point: 2012. Critics can’t stop falling all over themselves to praise and pimp Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange”. Me? I’m here to tell you the better album is Miguel‘s “Kaleidoscope Dream”. Both are resounding returns to a raw form of R&B that hasn’t been heard in forever. Both owe a significant debt of creative gratitude to early, dirty Prince. Both are highly reflective of the current hipster emotional and cultural ethos. But Miguel is better. Why? Because “Kaleidoscope Dream” has no fewer than 6 songs I love, off the top of my head, and Ocean’s overhyped “Channel Orange” only has 1 real standout (according to my tastes), and I don’t love that one anywhere near as much as the 6 of Miguel’s. So there.
#5. I’ve been a fan of Fiona Apple since way back, but even I was a bit suspicious of all the hype surrounding her 2012 release “The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver Of the Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do”. Did she title the blog-wielding critical masses into submission? Well…no. She just released a surprisingly warm, simple, angry yet maturing kitten’s ball of rhythmic, melodic yarn. With sexy, fun, connection-longing and connection-savoring lyrics like this about her community of musicians and their favorite place to play:
I’m huffing Scotches with Loretta and Bob, but barely containing my rapturous song. Jon’s calling names here like Santa’s reindeer, “On Palmer, on Leisz, on Sarah, on Sean.” I love watching the Watkins when they’re rocking with Garza. I want to be part of the band, though. And when Mr. Tench is on the bench, I want to be the piano.
#4. Up until now, Muse was–for me–just that band that sounded a little too much like Radiohead lite, not enough their own thing for me to really grab hold of. So it is not without irony that what made me really fall in love with this album was how much of other bands I heard in it. Queen, U2, INXS, Radiohead. “The 2nd Law” goes all the way back to the 1970s and makes bendy sideturn twists through the 1980s and 1990s, guitaring through all ages and making a rousing bravo call to a return to shredding along the way.
#3. “Real recognize real.” A few years back, NFL running back CJ2K introduced that gem into my human American lexicon. Shortly put, it means that one person of a certain quality can see those qualities in another. Momentarily setting aside the obnoxiously implied notion that it means I think I’m real, it’s the one thing I’d give Ke$ha her prop$ for. She seems real. It’s not a phy$ical attraction. Far from it, actually. Whi$key-$oaked, petulant Tennesee suburban queen posing as trailer-park royalty isn’t really my $teez. And I can’t say it’s an emotional attraction. I don’t know if attraction is really even an applicable term here. But there’s something I’m growing/have grown to reli$h about thi$ thing called a Ke$ha. She featured on the 2010 Davey Awards with the impossibly infectious “Your Love Is My Drug”, and that was at a time when Katy Perry was near the height of her evil powers. There is so much that I find unfortunate, dangerous, doomed, at times repulsive about this $trong, $trong per$onality that is a Ke$ha. And yet…here I find myself again, loving her work. I didn’t expect to. Wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if I’d never bought another Ke$ha album. But “Warrior” wasn’t interested in my meteocologial assessments. Nope. It’s too good for my plans. I’m not really such a big proponent of the Madonna career playbook, but right now Ke$ha is on fire.
#2. Tom Joad told us some places where he’d be and people he’d be with back in the day. Well I’ll tell you where I’ll be. You wanna group a motley crew of oddballs and ne’er-do-wells together, give them some microphones to rip and some bones to pick, I’ll be there. You wanna make a modern-day rap outfit out of Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Irregulars and pay them a shilling a day to spit about societal malfeasance? Sure I’ll be there. Doomtree’s “No Kings” scores so high on the Davey Chart of Downness. Whatever they do next, I’m there.
And the 2012 Davey Award for Album of the Year goes to…
The highpoint of my 2012 was travelling to my best friend’s wedding. Not only because that was such a joyous event, on its own merits, but also because of the other people I got to see all in one place. New people, old people, good people. And I won’t try to couch this Davey Award in anything much at all, other than…This is the album I’ll most associate with that exultant, holy, sacred, cozy, rollicking get-down. Mumford & Sons has become at least a little bit of a lightning rod for criticism. Their quick ascent has come with all the usual backlash that comes with quick ascents. I was a little slow to warm up to this album, as I’m not a huge fan of the first single. But, wow, was there ever some great stuff hidden behind that first release, much of which I hope I’ve interested you to throughout these awards. “Babel” will always remind me of one excellent trip to Atlanta. And that’s worth some Davey when you think about it. That is worth a Davey.
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