Paradox Messmer

Django Django - "Wor"

This is the first song of 2012 that totally made me go OMFG and lose my shit! Because it brought back the primal spirit of rock n' roll in full furious force with its rollicking build up of a guitar assault that is a throwback to the golden age of underground rock while still managing to sound new and fresh. That aptly describes the rest of this debut album, which is destined to be a classic for years to come.

Islands - In a Dream it Seemed Real

These Canadian indie greats came out with an album in 2012 that was highly personal for the frontman, dealing with his divorce from someone he calls in one song his best friend. It's an emotionally soaring album full of ups and downs, mostly downs, but there is still a breath of hope in there like with any great album about a turning point in a man's life. This song is gorgeous, haunting and poetic. Go get this album.

Bailey Acanthus

The xx – Chained – Coexist

It was actually a tie between this song, Angels, and Fiction from the Coexist album. I chose this one because it soothes my rough edges and takes me into a beautiful limbo. It's no secret I have have trumpeted about the virtues of this whole album since it dropped, and it is often on repeat. Somehow, I have not tired of it.

Alt-J Breezeblocks - An Awesome Wave

This would have to be one of the other most played songs/videos I consumed in 2012. The video is just brilliant, though a dark and unpleasant theme. What I get out of it is that love has it's dark sisters; jealousy, revenge, rage, and perhaps madness. (the other message is don't cheat, it may backfire like you would not believe) ;-)

Tia Violet

2012 was such a good year for music so its been really difficult to narrow it down to just two songs but these stick out for me at the moment, mainly due to RL gig memories :)

The Courteeners - Lose Control

Its no secret how much of a fan I am of The Courteeners. "Lose Control" was available as a pre-release in December 2012 and is just a taster of whats to come from their long awaited third album which should be released Feb/March 2013.

The Vaccines - No Hope

From their second album "Come of Age" released September 2012, this was the first single. Amazing live band, great song and great album. 'Nuff said!

Shine Sideshow

In 2012 I've been very unfaithful, music-wise. I'm made for long, intense relationships with an album: I used to listen to the same one over and over, until I could sing every song without missing any word. But in 2012 I've been jumping from song to song and record to record, mostly aimlessly, but let's say I was experimenting. So, leaving a mark in my 2012 aren't the artists I've been eagerly awaiting new releases from, like Rufus Wainwright or Alanis Morrissette (yes, I adore her), but the ones that actually survived in a sea of songs I've listened to only once or twice, before hitting that particular folder in my head called "oblivion".

From Finner by Of Monsters and Men
"My head is an animal" was a surprise for me and probably the album I've listened to the most in the first part of 2012 (before my Smiths phase, but that's quite a different story: just be glad it's inappropriate for me to rant about it here). If a song is about the sea (or seagulls, salt and sushi - but this last one is pretty rare), chances are that I probably like it: and this happens to be my favourite track off the album, indeed.

The Enemy by The Raveonettes
A more personal choice: my memory will always link this song to a beautiful concert I attended last December in Paris. I like how even the Raveonettes' songs that sound lighthearted and bright, always come with a slightly dark accent, a hopeless sort of reminder that, well, we're doomed anyway.

2012 "best of"

Best of? I can't really say a best of for 2012. It was a great year for music. Especially as it wound down. That being said this Frank Turner tune I caught from another DJ (Props to Windsor here) is one I haven't been able to top listening to.

It has awesome energy, music, and lyrics. The lyrics I think are brilliant because while they have a defined meaning so to speak they have several spots that are ambiguous enough to have RL meaning / application at least to me. Thus I would have to say this tune touched on me the most out of anything from 2012 I listened to.

twenty l one l pilots - Ode To Sleep

Welcome to what this Ohio duo call "Schizoid Pop!" This song slides between electronic, rap, and indie pop using transitions that sound right out a score from Phantom of the Opera.

Wonky Doll and the Echo - The Cut

I have to admit, with a name like Wonky, I suspected this would be love at first listen.  This indie rock foursome comes from Athens, Greece and describes their sound as "post-punk revival." My favorite single from their 2012 LP, Pleasant Thoughts, is The Cut. To me, this sounds like The Cure, Depeche Mode, and The Chain Gang of 1974 molded into one audibly delicious piece of ear candy...enjoy :)