Top 10 albums of 2012 critics' picks: Adrian Mack

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      If it seems like I’m handing out career-achievement awards for half of this list, it’s probably related to the number of times this year I got three tracks into the latest best-fucking-thing-ever and ended up rolling my eyes and reaching for Let It Bleed instead. Farewell, indie rock (please).

      Bobby Womack
      The Bravest Man in the Universe
      Bobby Womack has been, at times, a very, very troubled man, as the 68-year-old soul belter admits with palpable regret and much wisdom over this astonishing comeback disc. Even with its self-conscious electronic arrangements and time-stamped cameos (hello and goodbye, Lana Del Ray), this thing is a raging artistic success.

       

      Royal Headache
      Royal Headache
      I realize that we’re all fabulous young moderns with awesome space-phones and a nodding acquaintance with the dominant electronic sounds of the time, but some things are just fucking eternal, like peanut butter in your chocolate and an Australian guy with Steve Marriott’s voice screaming along with a band that sounds like Swell Maps.

       

      Neil Young and Crazy Horse
      Americana
      Chosen over Psychedelic Pill because, er, I haven’t heard Psychedelic Pill. Even then, I’m not sure if the pure joy I derived from this album could be matched, not least because it soared so high above anybody’s expectations. Best moment: the conceptual coup de grace of sticking the Silhouettes’ doo-wop standard “Get a Job” right in the middle of Young’s growling take on American folk standards like “Clementine”.

       

      Scott Walker
      Bish Bosch
      Amazingly, Bish Bosch manages to be both the bleakest and the funniest record in the trilogy Walker began so terrifyingly in 1995 with Tilt. Here’s the thing: point me to one other 69-year-old former pop god whose work so devastatingly reflects the terrible losses we’ve endured since the cultural pinnacle of the ’60s. The sun ain’t gonna shine anymore, indeed.

       

      Tame Impala
      Lonerism
      Not just the album we lonerists have long deserved, but decisive proof that the future-retro math of debut Innerspeaker could not only be duplicated under lab conditions but actually refined and improved.

       

      Rodney DeCroo
      Allegheny
      Included here for his whole canon as much as Allegheny itself, DeCroo’s magnificent spoken-word album is like the melancholic epilogue to the inspired streak of roots-rock records that preceded it.

       

      Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras Meet the Congos
      Icon Give Thank
      Or the Congos meet the smart-asses uptown, if you like. A fascinating clash of old-world manners and new dub schizophrenia, it’s as if everybody involved has forged a new musical Esperanto by the time the album ends.

       

      Monophonics
      In Your Brain
      There’s a shit ton of great neo-soul out there but Monophonics keep it dirtier than most, which is why I have it piped into the master bedroom through the speaker hidden behind my black velvet painting of Pam Grier.

       

      Jake Bugg
      Jake Bugg
      This gem of a debut went huge in the U.K., which is hardly surprising since it sounds like Alex Turner collaborating with an 18-year-old version of Lonnie Donegan. The neo-skiffle movement starts (and likely ends) here.

       

      Goat
      World Music
      And so Sweden’s psych-masters Dungen begat Goat, who replaced the flutes and pastoral leanings with something that sounds like the Exorcist II soundtrack as played by voodoo pygmies. Un-fucking-believable.

       

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      Comments

      4 Comments

      QuayLewd

      Dec 13, 2012 at 4:40pm

      Fuck me. Goat simply kicks ass.

      Let me repeat: Fuck me. Goat simply kicks ass.

      Thanks for the head's up Adrian. "I heard it here first" so to speak...(never heard them 'till now)

      McBig

      Dec 15, 2012 at 10:27am

      MACK ATTACK!!

      Please, Please, Please

      Dec 17, 2012 at 9:40am

      Indie rock, as in the DIY ethos, manage your own affairs, non genre specific "business model" is great

      Indie rock, the subgenre populated by barely able to play, lo fi prententious crap should have been stillborn, or better yet, aborted

      Doug

      Dec 22, 2012 at 10:03am

      Mr. Mack's discredits himself with the liberal use of profanity, and this is supported by the quality of the reviews. This is music? Even Neil Young is a disappointment.