As it so happens, today is the day we make it halfway through this wonderful list of my Top 50 Albums of 2012. In case you missed the first two parts, here’s #50-41, and here’s #40-31. So what can I tell you about this next set of 10 albums? Well, this collection features a bit of psychedelia, some indie pop, healthy slices of retro-sounding synth pop, some quieter balladry, and two punk inspired records that were produced by Steve Albini. Can you guess what they are before clicking through the jump (or scrolling down) to see them revealed? It can be a challenge, but I believe you can pull it off. Or just look below. These are some great records that if you haven’t heard them, you need to be checking them out as fast as possible. What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!
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Okay, we’ve made it to Day #2 of this Top 50 Albums countdown. Yesterday’s opening set of ten featured some incredible records from the likes of The Walkmen, Jack White, The Smashing Pumpkins and Hot Chip, among others. Go check that out and learn more if you’re interested. As this list gets closer and closer to #1 of course, the titles only get better. This set has got a lot of really interesting genres covered, including psychedelia, folk, R&B, garage rock and even a touch of hip hop. There’s one truly weird entry on here as well, because sometimes you can’t put a genre label on something great. Anyways, there’s lots to love and even more on the way tomorrow. Slip past the jump to check out all that’s going on today though with #40-31!
Welcome, friends, to The Big List. Well, any list that’s part of Listmas is big, but only one deserves the title of Big List. The Top 50 Albums is the most coveted of all lists, and when ancient historians look back upon this period of music, it is these lists they will consult. Or human life will cease to exist. We’re dealing with an impending Mayan apocalypse, people! As you may be able to tell by the photo above, I am trying to make this year’s Listmas very “End of the World” themed, though honestly if we don’t survive you’ll never live to see what my Top 10 Albums of the year are. We’re doing this Top 50 list over the course of the entire week, and I’ll reveal 10 new albums a day until we hit #1. So strap yourselves in, turn off your TV or any other distracting items, and prepare to learn a lot more about some of my favorite albums of 2012. Let’s get this ball rolling!
Here it is, friends. My Top 10 Songs of 2012. I’m so intensely excited to be telling you all about these tracks that meant so much to me this past year. I like to think that these songs encompass the full spectrum of emotions and beauty that I felt over the course of 2012, which was arguably the most difficult year of my adult life so far. So many people I know that died, so many that got married, so many that got sick, and so many that lost (and later found) jobs. It was a whirlwind of happiness, sadness, celebration and grief. At the start of every year, I consciously hope that everything will turn out for the best, and that it will be 12 months of a joyful high. That’s what we all want in our lives – a pure sense of contentedness. But as many will tell you, the highs seem that much higher when you’ve also experienced your fair share of lows. While I’m looking back on 2012 with a sense of disappointment and regret, the lights are most definitely burning brighter for 2013. With that belief and that hope, let me tell you in greater detail about 10 songs that held me close in the bad times, brought me higher in the good times, and made me feel like a champion even as my world was crumbling around me. These are my Top 10 Songs of 2012.
As we drift ever closer to the finale of these Top 50 Songs of 2012, let me tell you a bit about what these next ten songs have going on for themselves thematically speaking. There’s a couple R&B love songs, a couple synth pop love songs, about three songs that are unfiltered and angry as they get, and a couple mellower, more relaxed moments. The key thing they all have in common is passion, whether it be for another person, against another person or for life in general. Not everything in this set will likely please you, but if you can discover something new and enjoyable out of this set, I hope you’ll find it worthwhile anyways. For more, let me encourage you to check out the other songs that have been covered on this list so far. Click for:
#50-41
#40-31
#30-21
Today’s set of ten as part of this Top 50 list cuts right through the middle, but this is the point where I think we really start to hit the meat and potatoes section. Not that the songs that came before it in #50-41 or #40-31 were bad by any means, but as the numbers get lower I get more excited to write about these songs. I genuinely hope you’re enjoying this list so far, and there’s two more days to go until we finally hit #1! For now, please enjoy my Top 50 Songs of 2012, #30-21.
Let me start this second set of my Top 50 Songs of 2012 by giving you a small bit of background on how this list was put together. The rules are simple, really. After assembling a list of songs worthy of ranking, I start at #1 and work my way back to #50. In order to qualify for the Top 50, the song must have appeared on an album, EP or 7″ single released sometime in the calendar year of 2012. In an effort to broaden the scope of this list, I also limited this list so only one track from each artist could be included. If you check out my Runners Up list, you’ll notice a few songs on there from artists appearing on this Top 50 list. They’re extra songs I loved this year but was unable to include due to restrictions of time and space and rules. Other than that though, this list is pretty encompassing of the many great songs this year had to offer. Here’s a link to see songs #50-41, which went up yesterday. Now please enjoy #40-31!
Hello friends, and welcome to the official start of Listmas 2012! It’s been a long time and a lot of songs coming, but we’ve finally made it to that crucial end of the year point where we can look back on the music from the last 11 or so months and place the ultimate judgement upon it. Then we’ll forget all about it weeks later when 2013 starts to consume our brains. Some songs stay with you more than others, just as some songs stand out and make you question what you knew or thought you knew about music as a whole. Selecting my Top 50 Songs of 2012 was no easy task; in fact, I find it much harder to do than selecting my Top 50 Albums of the Year. It’s because albums are collections of songs, and judging 40-60 minutes of music is easier than judging 3-4 minutes. Still, I felt very strongly about a number of tracks this year, so much so that I’ve created a list of 50 more “runners up” that I feel are worth listening to if you haven’t already. I didn’t rank the runners up, but simply placed them in alphabetical order. It makes for a remarkably exciting playlist that I hope you’ll listen to. As for my official Top 50 Songs, that starts in the here and now, and each is assigned a number and official rank. We’ll be doing this 10 songs at a time, one set each day through Friday. That said, please enjoy Faronheit’s Top 50 Songs of 2012: #50-41.
This isn’t much of a post, except to say that in advance of my Top 50 Songs of 2012 list, I wanted to give you more this year. What follows below is a Spotify playlist featuring 50 songs that I consider to be great tracks from this year, but not quite enough to make the official list. I haven’t assigned any of these tracks numbers, and they’re all in alphabetical order by artist. It’s just another great snapshot of some tracks you may have missed, so I hope you’ll at least check some of them out, if not listen to the entire 3 hour playlist. Call it a bit of bonus fun. Enjoy!
In case you haven’t heard, last week Wilco ended their fall/winter U.S. tour in support of their new album “The Whole Love” by performing 5 shows in their hometown of Chicago. Dubbed “The Incredible Shrinking Tour”, each night built upon the one before it as the band started at the 3,500 capacity Civic Opera House and ended a few days later at the 500 capacity Lincoln Hall. Along the way, there would also be stops at The Riviera (2,300), The Vic (1,400) and Metro (1,150). While I would have loved to have attended all 5 shows, time, money and ticket availability reduced me down to only 3 of the 5 nights. Still, 3 Wilco shows are better than 2 or 1 or none, and I also happened to be in attendance at the last two nights in which the band played their smallest shows in years, probably over a decade. Each show I attended also had its own distinct vibe and set list, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to recap and review each one. Let’s go in order.
Well, we’ve made it! At long last, I’m extremely proud to present to you my Top 10 Albums of 2011. It’s been a long and arduous road to get to this point. If you’ve stuck with me through it all, let me just say how much I appreciate it. What you’ll find in the Top 10 below are the records I feel represent this past year in music the best. They went above and beyond the rest of the records I heard to hold a special place in my heart. One that I’ll probably forget about by the time this thing rolls around again next year. But for now, I hope you’ll enjoy this and maybe even discover something new from it as well. It’s been a pretty fun ride as far as music has gone this year, and it makes me wonder what 2012 will bring. I may have a post on that before the end of the year. We’ll see. As of this posting, I’m also set to take a small year-ending 2 week vacation, as I could use a little time away from updating this site every day. I hope your holidays are fantastic, and we’ll officially catch up in January. Should you be so inclined however, I may post a couple of pieces for you to glance at during said vacation. Keep an eye out. Alright, so without further ado, please enjoy this final piece of Listmas, my Top 10 Albums of 2011. Oh, but first, do yourself a favor and catch up with the rest of the list:
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #50-41
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #40-31
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #30-21
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #20-11
And now, for the last time this year, click past the jump to read My Top 10 Albums of 2011!
We are oh so close to the end of this countdown, you can almost taste it. Today’s dishing out of my Top 50 Albums #20-11 makes for a rather enticing bunch. There’s a great variety of styles among this group, including and not limited to punk rock, soft rock, indie pop, psychedelia, electronica, 90s revival, and folk. I love this kind of diversity. You’ll see when we get there, the Top 10 are just as diverse. For now, please enjoy this particular segment of the countdown, and familiarize yourself with the rest of the family by following the links below:
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #50-41
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #40-31
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #30-21
And now, click past the jump to read my Top 50 Albums of 2011: #20-11!
Part of me wishes I had more time to write intros to these individual blocks of 10 albums. Ultimately, it’s the least important element of these countdowns, because the albums with numbers next to them are the real point. So I’m just going to leave this one short and sweet. Today we reach the halfway point in our countdown, then promptly move past it. With each passing day and number, my love for these records grows stronger. Writing about them again in little pieces for this bit of Listmas is a nice refreshing of perspectives I took any number of months ago. I hope you’re enjoying this so far. We’ve only got a couple days left. If you’d like to do some catching up, here’s a couple links to show you what you’ve missed.
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #50-41
Top 50 Albums of 2011: #40-31
And now, click past the jump to read my Top 50 Albums of 2011: #30-21!
Yesterday was a whole lot of fun, crossing off the bottom 10 albums on my Top 50 Albums of 2011 list. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Today we hit Part II, in which #40-31 will spike your blood sugar. If you’re reading this, I’ll now drop a “hint” for you as to what the #1 album might be, just to satisfy your curiosity. I’ve yet to find a publication, in print or online, that has agreed with my choice for Album of the Year. That doesn’t so much tell you what it is, but more like what it isn’t. There should be a good 5-6 records at least you can cross off as candidates for that top slot. Just another couple days and you’ll know the full story. Until then, please check out yesterday’s 10 albums if you have yet to do so. Here’s the link to that.
And now, click past the jump to read my Top 50 Albums of 2011: #40-31!
Welcome my friends, to the second week of Listmas, and the first installment of my Top 50 Albums of the Year. To put it in the simplest terms possible, I love this list. I love everything on it and everything about it. In my opinion, it’s the finest list I’ve ever put together, the most balanced and well-ordered. I feel it truly encompasses the best of the best from 2011, and honestly I couldn’t always say that in previous years. I’ve always doubted myself in one aspect or another. To answer your next question, yes, I’m upset that there were a few albums that couldn’t quite make the cut. I set the limit at 50, because it seems to be the fairest and most encompassing number to use. Coming up with 50 wasn’t so much a problem, but 55 or 60 might have been. At the end of all this, I may include a couple of honorable mentions, but primarily what you’re seeing here is what you get, and I’ve only made one small adjustment from my initial first draft. So we’ll be going through the Top 50 Albums all this week, 10 each day, until we hit number one. I hope it makes for some excitement and a great read on your part, and I also hope you discover something new as well, even if the most voracious of music lovers might recognize every single one of these. And so we begin with #50-41 today. Click past the jump to read onward!
