The Best Albums of 2012

So of the 150 or so new albums I listened to last year, these are the top 20%.

1.  Spoek Mathambo: Father Creeper
2. P!nk: The Truth About Love [RCA]
3. Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE [Def Jam]
4. Jens Lekman: I Know What Love Isn’t [Secretly Canadian]
5. Azealia Banks: 1991 EP [Interscope] 
6. Burial: Kindred EP [Hyperdub]
7. Death Grips: The Money Store [Epic]
8. Beach House: Bloom [Sub Pop]
9. Loudon Wainwright III: Older Than My Old Man Now [2nd Story Sound]
10. Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d. City [Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope]
11. The Mountain Goats: Transcendental Youth [Merge]
12. Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas [Columbia]
13. Allo Darlin’: Europe [Slumberland]
14. Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Americana [Reprise]
15. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die [Polydor/Interscope[
16. Cloud Nothings: Attack On Memory [Carpark]
17. Action Bronson: Blue Chips [Fool’s Gold]
18. Disappears: Pre Language [Kranky]
19. Serengeti: C.A.R. [Anticon]
20. Elle Varner: Perfectly Imperfect [RCA]
21. Saigon: The Greatest Story Never Told: Chapter Two: Bread and Circuses [Suburban Noize]
22. s/s/s/: Beak & Claw EP [Anticon]
23. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music [Williams Street]
24. Patti Smith: Banga [Columbia]
25. Plug: Back in Time [Ninja Tune]
26. Taylor Swift: Red [Big Machine
27. Ab-Soul: Control System [Top Dawg]
28. Skrillex: Bangarang EP [Atlantic]
29. The Coup: Sorry to Bother You [ANTI-]
30. Miguel: Kaleidoscope Dream [RCA]
31. Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Ever Do
32. Japandroids: Celebration Rock [Polyvinyl]
33. JJ Doom: Key to the Kuffs [Lex]