Keepers 2012

What will I still listen to in five years? Some years, it's easier to unload what I won't. I'm ready to trade in Blunderbuss; sure, it isn't terrible, but in Nashville, a used Jack White record is more marketable than cigarettes in prison.

Quite a few records had their charms. Centipede Hz from Animal Collective didn't attempt to be a sequel to Merriweather Post Pavilion and boasted a few memorable tracks. Bob Dylan's Tempest proved he can still entertain and has a crack band to back him , but no one needs a 14-minute song about the Titanic. Calexico put out a new record; you know what I think of them. Dinosaur Jr. remained the reunited alt-rock band to beat with I Bet on Sky.

Maybe it's my love of classical music exerting new influence, but chamber and string-influence pop dominated my year. If this year's list feels a little homogeneous, it owes some debt to that trend.

The Divine Fits, A Thing Called Divine Fits
Less a supergroup than a bunch of friends writing songs together,  the Divine Fits drop crack songwriting into a stew with dashes of Spoon, Wolf Parade and a bushel of 1980s synthesizers. Four notes into My Love is Real, I wondered how I got along with it.

Lambchop, Mr. M
Yes, I too am surprised this shares anything with the Nashville Scene, but I could not deny this infectious, hard-to-classify rock record. Blame it on a surprisingly poignant video for Gone Tomorrow involving an amateur wrestler's trials and tribulations. Songwriter Kurt Wagner has genuine talent and don't deserve to labor in obscurity.

Father John Misty, Fear Fun
Former Fleet Foxes drummer and chief harmonizer J. Tillman released a series of relatively inoffensive solo albums. Perhaps those records were just training grounds for Tillman's true debut.

After quitting the band and holing up in Laurel Canyon to find his muse, he charged out with Fear Fun, a magnificent record might have been 2012's best surprise. Tillman's sense of voice coalesces and his tunes become their own animal, not just Fleet Foxes Lite. Fear Fun hints at a bright future. With Hollywood Forever Cemetery Blues, Tillman's voice is the primary instrument, guiding minimal guitar and fuzzy percussion to blissful realms.

More enticing music came from the Fleet Foxes camp in 2012. Poor Moon, which includes two current Foxes, issued an EP and a full-length as well.

Spiritualized, Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
Finally, Jason Pierce has constructed a musical heir to his magnum opus, Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space. The David Bowie references are hardly oblique on So Long You Pretty Things, an epic that brings Pierce's greatest strengths to bear - big hooks, gospel chorus and a personal touch often lacking in such music.Some might put off by the "Help me, Jesus" line in that track, but it fits after an album of frustration and desperation buried in sweet melodies.

Patrick Watson, Adventures in Your Own Backyard
This is rare album where the music fits the title. Watson's tunes abound with eccentric, sometimes lush instrumentation yet his voice usher in the intimacy of white picket fences and green lawns.  Watson reminds me of more introverted Andrew Bird, who left his mark on 2012 with the impressive Break It Yourself. Thanks to Ben Crites for the relentless praise that led me to download this one.

Best Vinyl Reissue (Import Edition)
The Kinks, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
As the most British of the great 1960s British Invasion bands, The Kinks get disregarded beyond the singles or tracks that end up on Wes Anderson soundtracks. . This album had been exceedingly rare, and it received a Record Store Day UK reissue. Pressed on 180-gram white vinyl discs devoted to the Mono and Stereo mixes, it's all the Arthur a Kinks fan would ever want in one gatefold sleeve. The music is exquisite, the soundtrack to an unmade film. Coming near the end of the Kinks' amazing late-60s run, is yet another Ray Davies clinic in songwriting.

Best Vinyl Reissue (Domestic Edition)
Love, Forever Changes
True story: Ben Crites agreed to hunt for a copy of the Black Friday exclusive in Columbus, and found that no store received a copy. On a whim, I popped into The Groove two days later, and found six copies. This version came with a 45 of Alone Again Or and A House Is Not a Motel.
The L.A. band's intricate pop masterpiece has been lauded to death, but this copy filled a major void in my vinyl collection. The best find of 2011 was a used copy of Out There, a double album would have made a great single record.

Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Like all great double albums, the Smashing Pumpkins' magnum opus deserved a proper vinyl reissue. Four albums with only a few minor missteps, a much-needed remastering allows these tracks to shine anew. I don't have this yet, but hope to remedy that soon.

Late to the Game (because everyone misses something the first time around)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Unknown Mortal Orchestra
It is a rare record that satisfies both nostalgia and modern sounds. Unknown Mortal Orchestra effectively straddle that line. Scraps of 1960s garage rock and psychedelia are generously sprinkled around hi-hop percussion.