Of all the songs I listened to last year, only about 0.2% of them were actually released in 2012.
As much as I want to deny it, the truth is it has nothing to do with the quality of music being made these days. Instead, it has everything to do with me being a lazy, aging music consumer. You see, it’s much easier for me to listen to a decade-old Muse album for the thousandth time, rather than put a bit of effort into finding out if their new album is any good.
Also, their old albums were released before they became the poster-band for glittery vampires … so that’s always a bonus.
So maybe I’m not the most qualified person to be telling you about the best songs of the year. Yet, like a uni student who reads the summary of one Karl Marx book and suddenly assumes anyone cares about his opinions on communism, I spent a little time catching up with the music world on Youtube – and now I reckon I’m good to go.
So here are 10 songs I enjoyed (and voted for in Triple J’s Hottest 100) from the year when Nibiru collided with the Earth and ended all life …
You guys remember that? Good times!
Picture Credit: ShiroSynth
1. Sleigh Bells – Comeback Kid
Sleigh Bells are all about mixing sweet melodic vocals with super heavy guitars and electronic drums. It’s an experiment that doesn’t always work out, but when it does it’s a thing of beauty.
Australia’s favourite moody pop singer turns the drama up to 11 on this track, with wonderful results.
3. The Hives – Patrolling Days
This was a highlight of The Hives performance at Southbound this year. It sees the band at their catchy, energetic best and apparently, even at a mere 4 minutes, it’s their longest song to date.
With this track, the Perth songstress took a step away from her punk/rock/blues roots and showed us she could be just as cool and sexy when dabbling in the world of pop.
My brother recommended this one to me, and I was immediately intrigued by the unique voice. I may have also been swayed by this seriously disturbing but quite brilliant video.
6. Emperors – Be Ready When I Say Go
It was a big year for Perth act, Emperors, including this track being chosen as Itunes’ Rock Song of the Year. Local tradition states that I should be unhappy about this (see section 5.1.3 of Perth’s “Tall Poppy Syndrome Act – 1997″) but f*** it, I reckon it’s a good one too.
7. Future of the Left – Sheena is a T-Shirt Salesman
If you’re thinking, “What’s with all this soft-core BS?”, prepare for 2 minutes of being cheered the f*** up.
8. Regina Spektor – All the Rowboats
I’ve always liked Regina (well, since I heard of her in 2006 anyway) but I felt like she was often too goofy for her own good. With this track, she thankfully shuns the inner goofball to gives us plenty of darkness and atmosphere instead.
It’s quite hipster-ish of me to include a track by a band that might not exist anymore, from an album that (as far as I know) is only available on Soundcloud. But as I hinted at before, this is genuinely one of my favourite records of the year.
10. Kate Martin – Candle Burnin’, Wax Drippin’
Back in June I posted a bunch of tracks from Triple J’s Unearthed website. I still really enjoy most of those songs, and this is one that has particularly stayed with me.
Care to share your own favourites?
See my Hottest 100 votes for the previous year, here.
Great list.
I tried to make room for FOTL in my votes.
I won Emporers album when I resubscribed to RTRfm, but I haven’t picked it up yet. My bad.
Thanks for the comment! Yeah the Emperors album would be well worth picking up (especially if it’s free!). Their older EP, ‘Sam’, is great too. Did you see FOTL when they came to Perth last? Was a rad gig, even though it was insanely loud (I know that’s appropriate for FOTL, but I do find Rosemount is often just TOO loud – I blame the mixing desk being so far away from the stage that it’s practically in the next room) and it had one of the weirdest finales to a rock show I’ve ever seen
Yeh I’ve seen then twice. Once last year at the Rosemount and at southbound 3? years ago.
Both times were really good. The Rosemount can be really good or pretty average. A lot depends on where you stand.
I saw the Tallest Man on Earth play there last year and it was just amazing. I’ve never heard a room so silent.
Good to hear. Yeah I guess I have seen some sonically great gigs there too. So yeah it does depend. Maybe it’s less hit and miss with quieter acts, because I remember Mountain Goats sounding fantastic too.
The Hives are the main reason I went to Southbound and even though the crowd wasn’t as energetic as last time, they are still the best live act ever!! Nice list.
Thanks! Yeah I would put Hives high on the list of best live acts. Glad to hear you love them too
Hey! Awesome list, I’m glad Abbe May made it on there, her record is due out soonish and it’s going to be awesome. Alt-J as well! Your pick got higher than mine, the highest I managed to pick was “Get Free” by Major Lazer, which made it in at number 6 (I’m still steadfastly convinced it was the best song of the year). What did you think of number 1??
Hi Jules, thanks for stopping by!
I honestly only heard #1 for the first time today. Guess it shows how much I’ve lost touch, or at least how much I tend to listen to other stations more these days (basically RTR FM). But yeah listening to it, I can say it’s definitely … okay. Pretty amusing.
My initial reaction to the results was definitely “wtf?” but y’know, as I said, I’m getting old. A couple of my votes did pretty well so that’s cool. And I listened to the top 10 today and it aint so bad. Get Free is another I wasn’t familiar with, but it’s a good tune