Top 20 Albums of 2012*

1. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It
Heartbreaking, delicate, beautiful yet strangely uplifting Perfume Genius’ second album showed that his incredible debut wasn’t just a fluke, but the product of a rare genius.
Listen to: ‘Sister Song’

2. Grimes – Visions
Sublime electronica combined with vocals that dodge between haunting and strangely baby-ish. Enveloping and enduring.
Listen to: ‘Oblivion’

3. Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
Subtly rousing emo-indie, dreamy in places and simple but effective indie rock in others.
Listen to: ‘No Future/No Past

4. Stumbleine – Spiderwebbed
Atmospheric combinations of weird electronic noises and Cocteau Twins-esque vocals. It carries you away on gradually layered waves, surreal and addictive.
Listen to: ‘The Beat My Heart Skips’

5. Sigur Ros – Valtari
Pretty much everything that you could hope for from a new Sigur Ros album.
Listen to: ‘Ekki Mukk’

6. Tall Ships - Everything Touching
Including a fantastic (if at first surprising) revamping of EP track ‘Ode To Ancestors’ this album cements Tall Ships in their place as one of the most exciting bands around.
Listen To: ‘Books’

7. The Bronze Medal - The Bronze Medal
A release I’m unlikely to ever grow tired of listening to, it blends together into one mass of sublime yet powerful vocals and melodious guitars.
Listen To: ‘Womb'

8. Joyce Manor  - Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired
Combining raw angry energy and furious guitars with melodies that wouldn’t seem out of place in the charts Joyce Manor were always going to be a hit. This album does feel pretty short, but there’s certainly something to be said for their directness.
Listen To: ‘These Kind Of Ice Skates’

9. The-Dream/Terius Nash – 1977
Originally released as a free download  last year, this album is hopefully finally going to get the notice it deserves. Nash’s lyrics are as clever as ever, laying his feelings bare in a way that’s almost difficult to hear.
Listen To: ‘Form Of Flattery'

10. Taylor Swift - Red
Swift has moved away from the more mediocre pop fare she favoured, growing into a powerful pop phenomena. This album is frankly just bangin’ (except that track with Ed Sheeran. We pretend that hasn't happened).
Listen To: ‘The Lucky One’

11. How To Dress Well - Total Loss
12. Drake - Take  Care
13. First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
14. Frightened Rabbit - State Hospital*
15. The Heartbreaks - Funtimes
16. Ace Bushy Striptease - Outside It's Cold Just Like Your Body And
17. Lucy Rose - Like I Used To
18. Sfumato – These Things Between
19. Peace - EP Delicious*
20. The Twilight Sad - No One Can Ever Know                                    
*A couple of these are admittedly EPs

Honourable mentions to:

• Keel Her

Listen to: 'With Me Tonight'

• Kitty Pryde

Listen to: 'Okay Cupid'

The Bronze Medal - The Bronze Medal

For a while the only tracks by The Bronze Medal available have been a heartbreaking serenade on the importance of calcium for strong teeth called ‘Milk’ and a couple of acoustic videos on youtube (including a beautifully harmonised Frightened Rabbit cover). No more, however, must I listen to the same two songs on repeat to get my fix, as they’ve released an EP.


Only four tracks long, it’s perhaps a little short for my taste, but then that’s only because I could listen to the gorgeous, yearning sound they create for hours. With distinctively powerful and emotive vocals that somehow also manage to sound fragile, and a constant undertone of longing and sadness The Bronze Medal are probably best compared to bands like Dry The River and We Were Promised Jetpacks. But that’s not to say they’re going over old ground musically, the final track of their self-titled EP ‘Womb’ epitomises their Mogwai-like talent for morose guitar music, but with the addition of those soft, mournful vocals, the crescendo-ing waves of sound become yet more painfully beautiful.