Blog

I love the number 31. This is because my favourite NBA basketball player of all time - Reggie Miller - wore it.

I logged onto last.fm just after midnight ticked over from 2012 into 2013 and I opened up all of my charts for the previous 12 months. I want to present them, but I don't want to give you information overload.

Combine these two little snippets of information and it becomes obvious what I must do; present my top 31 most played Albums, Artists and Tracks of 2012.

I may also add some commentary here and there.

Note well that this is not my subjective ranked favourite stuff that was released in 2012, but rather just the raw number of listens (of stuff from all time periods) that I scrobbled.

New releases are tagged with *NEW*.
Bands I saw live (in 2012) are tagged with *SAW*

Albums:
1. Jack White – Blunderbuss (137 plays) - *NEW*
2. The Shins – Port of Morrow (132 plays) - *NEW*
3. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls (126 plays) - *NEW*
…

2012, a.k.a. the Year my Taste in Music Died

Tracks: 34,145

Top 10 artists of 2012
1) The Kinks
2) Azealia Banks
3) John Mulaney
4) One Direction
5) BBC Radio 4
6) Gotye
7) Tim Key
8) Oasis
9) Robyn
10) The Beatles

Top 10 songs of 2012
1) The Kinks - Sweet Lady Genevieve
2) Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know
3) Azealia Banks - Hood Bitch
4) Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
5) Azealia Banks – 212 (feat. Lazy Jay)
6) Rizzle Kicks – When I Was A Youngster
7) Nicki Minaj – Starships
8) One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
9) Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend
10) Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe

Top 10 artists overall
1) The Beatles
2) Blur
3) The Kinks
4) The Mighty Boosh
5) The Strokes
6) Lily Allen
7) Ryan Adams
8) The Killers
9) Beastie Boys
10) Flight of the Conchords

Top 10 songs overall
1) The Kinks - Sweet Lady Genevieve
2) Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know
3) The Pogues – Fairytale of New York
4) David Jordan – Sun Goes Down
…

Albums of 2012http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgmez7HFyX1qe0eclo1_500.gif


















130 – 121












130
Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror
http://sunsetintherearview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Sleigh-Bells-Reign-of-Terror.jpg

Sleigh Bells is one of the best bands to come out of the YouTube era, without question. But that doesn't change the fact that they spawned from a site that is nothing more than an Internet comment cesspool. And that fact begins to seep into this release and flush out its biggest weakness: it's relentlessly repetitive.

This is an amazing album, but it just keeps going. It keeps saying the exact same thing over and over and over again. It just keeps shooting out its message in the exact same method over and over and over again. Which sucks, because this is a great sound.

It's okay though, because this album definitely isn't drawn out. It's a bunch of two-to-four minute jams that add up to only thirty six minutes of your time. …

Seen live (in somewhat chronological order):

Ian Brown
Justice
CSS
Metronomy
The Prodigy
The Kills
Hercules and Love Affair
Felix Da Housecat
Fatboy Slim
Simian Mobile Disco
Crystal Castles x3
Nine Inch Nails
Jane's Addiction
The Specials
James
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The new young pony club
Gang of Four
Pete Doherty
Massive Attack
Pixies
Sons & Daughters
The Slits
PENS
The Big Pink
Fleetwood Mac
Yo La Tengo x3
Asobi Seksu
My Bloody Valentine x4
No Age
Sonic Youth
De La Soul
Sun Ra Arkestra
The Horrors
Fucked Up
Buzzcocks
wounded knees
J Mascis
Swervedriver
A Place to Bury Strangers x2
School of Seven Bells
The Pastels
Primal Scream
Television Personalities
Josh T. Pearson
Bob Mould
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart x2
Silversun Pickups
Placebo
Broadcast
The Raveonettes
Public Image Ltd.
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Japandroids
Patti Smith
And So I Watched You From Afar
Health x2
Uffie
Flight of the Conchords
Blood Red Shoes
Jessica Hoop
Gold Panda
…

To see the first round, and a summary of all of the rules and restrictions go here.

Anyway, on with the action:


(32) Los Campesinos! vs (17) The Shins
(... And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison vs. For a Fool)
- Four sweaty boys with guitars tell me nothing about my life. It is truly a great line from a pretty dang good Los Campesinos! song. I often get the kind of group singalong part at the end of this song stuck in my head. The Shins once again go back to the well of their new album. And 'For A Fool' is definitely a better song than 'Port Of Morrow'. But it isn't good enough. Our 32nd ranked Brits move on once again!

(8) Belle and Sebastian vs (24) Ben Kweller
(Dress Up in You vs. Problems)
- If you asked me how 'Dress Up In You' goes I would not have known, but now that it is playing I recognise it. I guess this is because I often listen to B&S as albums rather than individual songs. This song meanders a little as it strolls along and a plaintive trumpet sounds in the background. …

Я тут вспомнил что у меня есть ластик и пешил написать, что Flight of the Conchords - просто красавчики, такой стеб над репом

Tracks: 30,695

Top 10 artists of 2011
1) The Beatles
2) The Kinks
3) Murray Gold
4) David Bowie
5) Adele
6) Mark Ronson & The Business Intl
7) Tim Key
8) The Lonely Island
9) Girl Talk
10) The Rolling Stones

Top 10 songs of 2011
1) Alesha Dixon – Drummer Boy
2) Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights
3) David Bowie – Space Oddity
4) Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?
5) Adele – Someone Like You
6) Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure
7) The Rolling Stones – She's A Rainbow
8) Mumford & Sons – Roll Away Your Stone
9) Cheryl Cole – Fight for This Love
10) Mark Ronson & The Business Intl – Record Collection (feat. Simon Le Bon and Wiley)

Top 10 artists overall
1) The Beatles
2) Blur
3) The Mighty Boosh
4) The Kinks
5) Ryan Adams
6) The Strokes
7) Lily Allen
8) Beastie Boys
9) The Killers
10) Flight of the Conchords

Top 10 songs overall
1) David Jordan – Sun Goes Down
2) The Pogues – Fairytale of New York
3) Róisín Murphy – Ramalama (Bang Bang)
…

So, I got engaged about a month ago. On the 4th of June 2011.

I just had my engagement party this past weekend, on the 9th of July 2011.

I spent some time choosing the songs, to try and choose not only songs that would get the party started, or songs that I love, but also songs that I know my fiancee loves. Sometimes I would choose my favourite song from one of her favourite artists (e.g. Spoon - The Underdog), and sometimes her favourite song by one of my favourite artists (e.g. Regurgitator - Superstraight).

Anyway, here is the list, in reverse played order from that night:

Ben Kweller – Wasted and Ready
Gomez – Girlshapedlovedrug
The Bens – Just Pretend
The White Stripes – You're Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl)
Regurgitator – ! (The Song Formerly Known As)
Los Campesinos! – My Year In Lists
The Grates – Sukkafish
Jens Lekman – You Are the Light
The Get Up Kids – Mass Pike
Brand New – Soco Amaretto Lime
The Black Keys – Tighten Up
Prince – 1999
The Black Keys – Have Love Will Travel
…