The Moose's top ten albums of 2012

The only place – Best Coast

Best Coast tops my album and song list this year, and since I’ve explained why I love the track in my top ten, let’s just say the same for the album. Bethany Cosentino steps out from behind the reverb and lets her songs and her voice take the spotlight, and both are outstanding. 

Crybaby – Crybaby

As I mentioned in my top ten tracks, I was lucky enough to visit Rough Trade Records while in London this year, and got chatting to the shop girl who said “Well, If you like the Smiths...” and handed me this record. Equal parts Morrissey and Roy Orbison, this album is old school modern – in the way that Jeff Buckley and Amy Winehouse took to the charts (in their own ways) – and is expertly performed and produced. A real mood record that plays around with lush arrangements, bare bones guitar and voice, and swirling vocal melodies. Standout tracks are ‘I cherish the heartbreak more than the love that I lost’, ‘When the lights go out’ and ‘This time it’s over’.

Rogers Sings Rogerstein – Tim Rogers

As a fan I would follow Tim Rogers to the end of the earth, and this album is no exception. Finding a balance between the lush arrangements of The luxury of hysteria and the crisp acoustic guitar of What rhymes with cars and girls; this album will lift you up just as soon as it breaks your heart (which songs like ‘Part time dads’ and ‘FJ Holden’ will certainly do), while songs like ‘Lets be dreadful’ and ‘I love you just the way you are, now change’ remind me of the bluesy acoustic stompers Robert Plant is working on these days. Overall, though, the standout track is ‘Out of our tiny little minds’.

Hello – Sarah HumphreysSarah Humphreys has so much soul… she has a strong Australian accent and a voice so clear and crisp it speaks to you like she were in the room. Her second full length album Hello is heart-warming from beginning to end. Her songs, based around acoustic guitar and piano, are well constructed pop gems with swirling and unexpected chord changes and wonderful harmonies. Standout tracks include ‘Boy wonder’, ‘Will you, won’t you’, ‘I don’t have to try’ and ‘Why don’t we stay home’ (which to me has the feel of ‘Jacksonville Skyline’ by Whiskey town, if it were set in a sunny Central Coast contentment).  

Love inside a jar – Dave Garnham and the Reasons to Live

I recently spent quite a bit of time working in Darwin, and you won’t find a local who doesn’t know the name Dave Garnham. This bearded troubadour recently won the national ‘Telstra Road to Discovery’ competition, but has been bearing his soul and building a rock solid reputation for his superb alt-country songs and stunning beard. Love inside a jar is a fantastic album documenting Darwin, relationships, heavy hearts and heavy drinking.

That’s why god made the radio – The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys mean more to music history than a lot of the younger generation would accept. The 1960s work of the Brian Wilson-led Beach Boys was ground breaking, and the song writing and vocal harmony work was unbeatable. So, it’s disappointing to see how that legacy was trashed by a band unwilling to move forward with their bandleader, and who dragged their Hawaiian shirts and big hair into the 1980s (picking up John Stamos along the way) and then on into irrelevance. However, this is why it is so great to see that, following Brian Wilson’s career revival of the 2000s and the rerelease of classic lost album Smile, this band is finally getting the respect it deserves, and this reunion album doesn’t let the legacy down. For a band their age that has had key members of their harmony group pass away, this album sounds surprisingly full and lush. With Brian Wilson at the helm, the song writing is superb and the harmonies flawless. The Beach Boys remind me of my father, who is also a big fan – so I’m glad for the both of us that they are finally getting their legacy back on the right track.

Oceania – Smashing Pumpkins

Like the Beach Boys, I don’t think anyone expected the Smashing Pumpkins (whose lead singer is their only remaining founding member) to pull out a tight, well produced rock album like this. Oceania sees Billy continue on, in my opinion, where he should have gone post Machina – interesting, heavy and melodic. This album stands up to Billy’s early work and has peaked my interest in this band again… and for more than just remasters.

Lonerism – Tame Impala

There is a reason this album is the top of so many critics lists this year. It takes the great songwriting of Innerspeaker and pushes it to another place sonically, with huge arrangements, lots of reverb and varied instrumentation. Knowing Kevin Parker records all this on his own before touring it with a live band, I can’t help but imagine that the success of his first album left him feeling like a kid in a candy store with all the gear and freedom he suddenly had access to. This album is melodic, dreamy and knows just when to turn on you with a huge riff, drown you in guitars and soothe you with a long fade out. Originality may not be the key to this bands success, but their ability to successfully synthesize their influences into such a tight and innovative package is admirable.

Standing at the sky’s edge – Richard Hawley

Another find from Rough Trade in London. Richard Hawley, guitarist for Pulp, has produced an album that sits somewhere between Morrissey’s brooding and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s bluesy, alt rock swagger. Deep voiced and moody, sometimes sweet and sometimes – as on ‘Down to the woods’ – all rock and roll. Standing at the sky’s edge is a very textured album that you have to let wash over you. Standout tracks include ‘Down to the woods’, ‘Seek it’ and ‘Don’t stare at the sun’.

The sound and life of the mind – Ben Folds Five

Ben Folds Five is a band whose sound depends on three particular people – remove any piece of the puzzle and it doesn’t have the same feeling – which is interesting as Ben Folds is such an accomplished solo artist. He could have produced these songs with any other backing band… but it wouldn’t sound the same. A lot of the tracks on this album have their own feel, such as album opener ‘Erase me’ (which is very Amanda Palmer/Dresden Dolls), yet sound consistent, and are as good as anything Ben’s ever put out. They sound like a natural continuation of their last record, released over 10 years back. Wounds heal over time, and bands with a strong connection seem to always have it. if you’re a Ben Folds fan you won’t need convincing, if you’re not – just try to resist the groove of ‘Draw a Crowd’.