Top 10 Bands That Should Have Made The Top 50 But Didn't

This, it turns out, is probably my favorite part of doing the Top 50. Every year, there's a smattering of albums that I think I should have listened to more, and will do so shortly or were released too late to make the top 50. There's at least ten more albums that I think you should definitely check out (actually there's more, but let's be reasonable). These, as always, are in no particular order.

1. Tame Impala - Lonerism

These Australian psych-rockers made this list two years ago here. Their album came out in October this year, which made it difficult to put in the main list, but I will get to rectify seeing them live as they are playing The Cain's on February 28, you can get your tix here.





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2. Acid Pauli - Mst

Acid Pauli is Martin Gretschmann, who is also a member of the Notwist, Console and God & 13. Typically characterized as House, this is anything but House. Experimental ambient electronica with an afrobeat/tropicali influence is what I would put this under. It is very unique and really expressive. I love listening to this album and it makes a great background album to anything you have going on.





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3. Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits

This is an indie super group from Austin that includes Britt Daniel of Spoon, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, Sam Brown from New Bomb Turks and Alex Fischel. You can certainly hear the influence of both bands, but I think they combine together to form something more amazing. A disco electronic groove to Spoon's bluesy influence. It is incredibly well done and hope for their success.





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4. Waxahatchee - American Weekend

Waxahatchee is former P.S. Eliot member, Katie Crutchfield. She lives in Brooklyn and recorded this album in her bedroom. This is beautiful, introspective, deep singer/songwriter stuff. Songs about broken love and love lost, sung with a guitar and wispy vocals. Nothing grabs my heart more than music like this.





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5. Chromatics - Kill For Love

This is an incredibly talented band out of Portland, Oregon. The band consists of singer Ruth Radelet, guitarist Adam Miller, drummer Nat Walker, and producer/multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel. This newest album is long, but such an incredible collection of songs. From the beginning Neil Young cover of Into The Black to the title track and on, this album takes you on a musical journey of goodness you won't forget.





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6. Damien Jurado - Maraqopa

I love Damien Jurado, but this recent pairing with producer Richard Swift has really brought out the songwriting capabilities of this Seattle native. This is haunting 60's Brit pop, sometimes Nick Drake inspired. Nods to psych folk and deep soulful lyrics make this my favorite album to listen to right now. He also released three EP's in conjunction with this album, titled 'Yellow', 'Blue' and 'Red', with equally captivating sounds. This is a continuation of his 2010 work, St. Bartlett. If you haven't yet, give these albums a spin.





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7. Yeasayer - Fragrant World

These psych-pop Brooklyners have been making waves in the indie scene since their inception in 2007. The band consists of Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder. Part dance, part psych, all good. I have found myself pulled back to this album repeatedly.





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8. Diagrams - Black Light

This is the brain child of former Tunng lead, Sam Genders and a rotating collective of musicians. U.K. based, this is more electronic than his former incarnation which was classified as folktronica. I absolutely love the darkness of his voice.





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9. The Townhouses - Diaspora

Found these guys on Bandcamp. "The Townhouses is the solo project of Melbourne artist, Leigh Hannah. The sound is based on Leigh's obsession with Ethnomusicology. He wistfully mixes Tropicalia, Gamelan, African and Ambient soundscapes to create an experimental collage of breezy summer vibes." You can download a big chunk of this on Soundcloud.

The Townhouses-Indian Elephant from Christian Filardo on Vimeo.

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10. Kelly Hogan - I Like To Keep Myself In Pain

This has been a nice surprise. Usually the twang in the lyrics and music would be enough to turn me away from this. However, the production quality is fantastic and the soulfulness of the lyrics and the power of her voice, as well as some blues infustion and the heavy use of organ is enough to bring me back to this album over and over. She hails from Atlanta, Georgia.





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2012 Top 50 Recap

Here are the top 50 in summary, click on any link below in case you missed any.

1. Django Django - Django Django

2. Father John Misty - Fear Fun

3. Grizzly Bear - Shields

4. Frankie Rose - Interstellar

5. Gold Motel - Gold Motel

6. Cat Power - Sun

7. Kopecky Family Band - Kids Raising Kids

8. The Maccabees - Given To The Wild

9. Mumford & Sons - Babel

10. M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

11. Band Of Skulls - Sweet Sour

12. The History of Pan!c - Fight! Fight! Fight!

13. Stars - The North

14. Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself

15. The Darcys - Aja

16. Hospitality - Hospitality

17. Mystery Jets - Radlands

18. Punch Brothers - Movement And Location

19. Shearwater - Animal Joy

20. Deep Sea Diver - History Speaks

21. Imperial Teen - Feel The Sound

22. Beach House - Bloom

23. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Form & Control

24. The Shins - Port Of Morrow

25. Ramona Falls - Prophet

26. The Helio Sequence - Negotiations

27. The Lumineers - The Lumineers

28. King Tuff - King Tuff

29. Good Old War - Come Back As Rain

30. Passion Pit - Gossamer

31. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It

32. Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship

33. Bears - Greater Lakes

34. Santigold - Master Of My Make-Believe

35. Miike Snow - Happy To You

36. Metric - Synthetica

37. First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar

38. Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim

39. Dirty Ghosts - Metal Moon

40. Polica - Give You The Ghost

41. Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls

42. Fanfarlo - Rooms Filled With Light

43. Freelance Whales - Diluvia

44. Sarah Jaffe - The Body Wins

45. Friends - Manifest!

46. Dent May - Do Things

47. Bear In Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool

48. Best Coast - The Only Place

49. Man Without Country - Foe

50. Horse Feathers - Cynic's New Year

1. Django Django

1. Django Django - Django Django

This has been the breakout band of the year. It is a group of Londoners; David Maclean (drummer and producer), Vincent Neff, (singer and guitarist), Jimmy Dixon, (bassist) and Tommy Grace (synth operator). David is the brother of John Maclean of The Beta Band. Funky, quirky, electronic, acoustic, bubbling, quixotic, this album is everything I want music to be. I love to be introduced to something new in music and these guys have done just that. Saw them in San Francisco as well and they were electric on stage and had the whole crowd dancing to their hypnotic beats. I have yet to tire of this album and since it's in the number one slot, it has been listened to incessantly all year. If you haven't listened to this album yet this year then hurry up and buy it already. It's on sale right now at Amazon for $5.00 here. I have given you ample listening opportunities below.













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2. Father John Misty

2. Father John Misty - Fear Fun

Father John Misty is the nom de plume of J. Tillman. He has put out a number of solo works under his own name and has also been the drummer for Fleet Foxes. His parents wanted him to be a pastor, and you can hear this influence in many of these songs. I had the good fortune of seeing him live this year and his flamboyant style took me aback, but it was a lot of fun at the show. You can check out the awesomeness on the SS Coachella video below. This album never left my rotation and I never tired of listening to it. Exceptional lyrics, tight pop songs with a hint of folk and 70's psychedelia. Father John left Fleet Foxes and quit producing his solo records because he was bored of the music and decided he wanted to write a novel. Instead, he wrote this album and you can hear meta references to that subject all through it. He is also incredibly well read and has a library of which to be extremely jealous. You can call me Nancy.







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3. Grizzly Bear

3. Grizzly Bear - Shields

This is my surprise, come-out-of-nowhere album, not because it's surprising how awesome it is, but by how late in the year it came out. This was only released in mid September. The other albums here in the top 5 were released much earlier in the year. Grizzly Bear made an appearance in the top 50 back in 2009 here. Daniel Rossen has been a very busy musician. He released a solo EP earlier this year, which is amazing as well. The band consists of Edward Droste (vocals, keyboards, omnichord), Daniel Rossen (vocals, guitar, banjo, keyboards), Chris Taylor (bass, backing vocals, various instruments, producer) and Christopher Bear (drums, backing vocals). The experimental nature of this band make them musical geniuses, but the way they pull it off to allow so many into their music without ostracizing them is what amazes me most. Beautiful, dark, and well put-together. I just got lost in this album and didn't come out for days and days. I think everyone in my family got tired of me listening to it incessantly.





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4. Frankie Rose

4. Frankie Rose - Interstellar

Frankie Rose made my top fifty with this album two years ago here. She has been a member of Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls and The Vivian Girls. In this album, Frankie Rose has ventured out on her own and into new territory. Her previous albums, while excellent, have a garage pop punk sound to them. In this album, it is an 80's new wave synth-pop sound she has opted for and succeeds admirably. It is an album that has rarely spent time out of rotation and every time one of her songs pop up, I smile. I thought for sure this would make the number one spot, but just fell shy for reasons you will soon see.





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5. Gold Motel

5. Gold Motel - Gold Motel

Gold Motel is Greta Morgan, formerly of The Hush Sound. It is the result of her moving from Chicago to Los Angeles to find inspiration. You can certainly hear the influence of 60's laden beach pop in the songs off this album. Her voice is liquid gold. She is joined by Eric Hehr (guitar, songs) and Dan Duszynski (guitar, vocals, songs), and features Matt Minx (bass) and Adam Coldhouse (drums) on the studio releases. I place this in the category of beach pop, but also influenced by Motown and twee as well. This album makes listening to music fun.





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6. Cat Power

6. Cat Power - Sun

Cat Power is Charlyn Marie Marshall or Chan (pronounced Shawn) Marshall. This is her first album in six years and it was completely worth the wait. This is her most 'optimistic' album to date and she did all the instrumentation on it herself. The result is a much denser, electronic sound that is exquisitely intricate. This young lady has had her share of troubles, including going broke and almost cancelling her tour this year. So, my suggestion is to buy this album if you haven't already yet, because the world needs more music like this and it deserves to be rewarded. You can also see a video below in which she pokes fun at her past life.

Kids Songs With Cat Power from Cat Power

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7. Kopecky Family Band

7. Kopecky Family Band - Kids Raising Kids

The Kopecky Family Band is, simply, the best. In addition to putting out more exceptional music, they were kind enough to play for my show, Tasting Notes. The group is out of Nashville and consists of Gabe (guitar, vocals) and Kelsey (vocals, keys), along with Steven (lead guitar), Corey (bass), Markus (cello), and David (drums). The interplay vocally between Gabe and Kelsey provide something special to this extremely talented six piece. Having discovered them a couple years ago at SXSW and picking up their EP, The Disaster, I fell immediately in love. They've played here in the city twice this year, as well as a VDub session and for the radio show. If you missed that, you can see them in Fort Worth at Lolla's on January 18th. This is their first full length album after three EP's, and well worth the wait. They really knocked it out of the park. You can view the Vdub session and their time in the studio with me below. Their visit to OK City was one of the high points of my year.










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8. The Maccabees

8. The Maccabees - Given To The Wild

I have been loving on these guys for a few years now thanks to my friend Lori. I think this is their best album to date. It is my particular favorite brand of indie pop. On this album I think they got a lot more adventurous and put out something really special. This is the third album from this group out of South London, England. They picked the name of their group by randomly picking a word out of the Bible, even though none of the group are religious. The band consists of: Orlando Weeks, Hugo White, Felix White, Rupert Jarvis, and Sam Doyle.





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9. Mumford & Sons

9. Mumford & Sons - Babel

I did not want to like this album. After completely wearing out Sigh No More, I needed a break from Mumford. I think this album was perfectly timed, however. I have abused it as well. What can I say, these boys from London, England know how to write fantastic songs. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (vocals, guitar, drums, mandolin), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, accordion, drums), "Country" Winston Marshall (vocals, banjo, guitar, resonator guitar), and Ted Dwane (vocals, string bass, drums, guitar). They grabbed a spot in the top 50 in 2009 as well here. They work a lot with Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn. This was definitely one of the funnest live shows I have been too, and the coldest.





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