{"id":9596,"date":"2012-02-25T05:05:18","date_gmt":"2012-02-25T13:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=9596"},"modified":"2012-02-25T06:56:02","modified_gmt":"2012-02-25T14:56:02","slug":"the-best-albums-of-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2012-02\/the-best-albums-of-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Albums of 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sure, it’s only February.\u00a0 But we’re so sick of the gunjumpers chiming in with their “Best of” lists prematurely each year that we thought we’d get in on the action.\u00a0 So without further adieu, set forth below are the Best Albums of 2012<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We kid.\u00a0 But they are the Best Albums of 2012–so far<\/strong>.\u00a0 The reason for the list?\u00a0 We’ve recently been asked what new albums we’re devoting most of our listening time to.\u00a0 Realizing there’s a lot of material on this site for some to wade through (particularly for those suffering from amnesia or those not properly prioritizing their lives so as to regularly hit TLR<\/strong><\/em>), we thought we’d list our current favorite albums and provide links to posts in which we wax more prolixic about them.\u00a0 Perhaps you have just received a tax refund<\/strong> and are looking for musical investments.\u00a0 Or maybe you’re putting together a list in preparation for Record Store Day<\/strong><\/a> on April 21s<\/strong>t.\u00a0 Regardless, here are our favorites so far in the young 2012.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong>\u00a0 John K. Samson–Provincial<\/strong><\/p>\n

This album has continued to grow on us since we wrote about it HERE<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Samson’s vocals have always slayed us in The Weakerthans<\/strong>, and he continues to do so on his first solo album.\u00a0 But we also hear musical evolution from Samson (there is even a song with jazz inflections, if you can imagine such a thing).\u00a0 As opposed to many solo outings by band members, Provincial finds Samson in prime form.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Damien Jurado–Mariqopa
\n<\/strong>
\nDamien Jurado<\/strong> has been one of our favorites for a while now, and Mariqopa<\/strong> does not disappoint with its bigger production values supplied by Richard Swift<\/strong>.\u00a0 We frothed at the mouth about this one HERE<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 After repeated listens, our feelings have only gotten stronger about Mariqopa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 The Wooden Sky–Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toronto’s The Wooden Sky<\/strong> have taken over the roots segment of our listening time with their new album, Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you love Americana or alt-country, this is the band and album for you (though they add other facets and textures as we wrote about HERE<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

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4.\u00a0 Joseph Arthur–Redemption City<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joseph Arthur<\/strong> is one of our all-time favorites and he’s outdone himself this time with Redemption City<\/strong>, which is a multifaceted double-album.\u00a0 Arthur has gone the way of Radiohead<\/strong> with Redemption City and is offering the album for whatever amount you deign appropriate, as we wrote about HERE<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 It’s worth its weight in gold, but you make the call.<\/p>\n

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5.\u00a0 The Deep Dark Woods–The Place I Left Behind<\/strong><\/p>\n

We admit this album came out in 2011, but it’s brand new to us.\u00a0 Saskatchewan’s The Deep Dark Woods<\/strong> have given us a boatload of beauty and ache with their album, The Place I Left Behind<\/strong>.\u00a0 We wrote about it HERE<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Sharon Van Etten–Tramp<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sharon Van Etten<\/strong> tramped into our musical lives with her masterful 2010 album Epic<\/strong>.\u00a0 With her new album, Tramp<\/strong>, Van Etten shows she’s here to stay.\u00a0 The album is dense and deep, and again emotionally charged.\u00a0 We wrote a bit about it HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other Options:\u00a0 <\/strong>If you want some new music, any of these albums will serve you well.\u00a0 If you have a good-sized tax refund, you could add Leonard Cohen’s Old Ideas, Laura Gibson’s La Grande<\/strong> or Chuck Prophet’s Temple Beautiful<\/strong> to your cart.\u00a0 If you can wait a bit, M. Ward, The Shins<\/strong>, and Lambchop<\/strong> have laudable new albums due soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sure, it’s only February.\u00a0 But we’re so sick of the gunjumpers chiming in with their “Best of” lists prematurely each year that we thought we’d get in on the action.\u00a0 So without further adieu, set forth below are the Best Albums of 2012. We kid.\u00a0 But they are the Best Albums of 2012–so far.\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}