Astral Cat's Best of 2012

Now that 2013 is well underway, Astral Cat decided to look back over the past year and highlight some of the badass-ery that 2012 had to offer. Some selections are accompanied by notes, while others I had no particular thoughts on, other than the fact that they're amazing. Ranking music is like comparing apples to oranges to grapes to zebras, so there's none of that here, just a list of 2012's best music in no particular order.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor  Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

Post-rock legends GYBE have the gift of patience, being able to slowly develop an idea and build it almost to it's absolute breaking point, to a space where the music becomes a pure mass of sound, yet it isn't chaotic.

Flying Lotus  Until the Quiet Comes

Father John Misty  Fear Fun

If all were right with the world, "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" and "Funtimes in Babylon" would be #1 Billboard hits.

Four Tet  Pink

Burial  Kindred

William Bevan, aka Burial, doesn't produce songs. He composes symphonic masterpieces of sound collage.

Clams Casino  Instrumentals 2

Brad Mehldau Trio  Ode and Where Do You Start

Two albums this year from probably the most innovative jazz pianist in the world today and his amazing trio. Take your pick.

Black Moth Super Rainbow  Cobra Juicy

Dan Deacon  America

Fittingly titled, as America could be the first and only electronic "Americana" album, which somehow finds its place alongside Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Aaron Copeland as it does the electronic work of Terry Riley and the hyperactive synthpop of Devo.

Marco Benevento  Tigerface

Christian Scott  Christian aTunde Adjuah

Esa-Pekka Salonen  Out of Nowhere: Violin Concerto & Nyx

Come for Salonen's stunning Grawemeyer Award winning Violin Concerto, performed brilliantly by soloist Leila Josefowicz, but stay for Nyx, an enthralling orchestral piece evocative (but not derivative) of Debussy and Mahler.

Actress  R.I.P

Purity Ring  Shrines

Brian Eno  Lux

This isn't music you listen to. It's something you experience and allow to exist around you. Eno doesn't compose music so much as he manipulates the primitive elements of music.

Lotus Plaza  Spooky Action at a Distance  

Squarepusher  Ufabulum

For fans of electronic music, when someone like Squarepusher releases a new album, it's akin to the thrill that must have accompanied a brand new record by The Beatles in the 1960s, or by Pink Floyd in the 70s. Does this album reflect the definitive Squarepusher sound? In my opinion, no, not really. That being said, this album shows Squarepusher operating at a level beyond his peers, even when he's not reinventing the wheel.

Have an opinion? Let us know on Facebook!