Top 10 Albums Of 2012, page 1

They say the album is dying. To a certain extent that's true, and we discovered clues right on our own doorstep; when they had to select their favourite long player of 2012, a few of our staff and contributors struggled to think of at least five they had listened to all year. Hell, take a squiz through your ipod and it's more than likely that the tracks outweigh the albums.

Though to say the format is heading for eventual doom is pure exaggeration. The internet may be affecting listening habits to a degree where people are consuming albums less, but they will never completely die out. Why? Because musicians will always bear the need to create LPs as a form of artistic expression separate from the 12'', EP or lone track. If you take a look at the quality exhibited in our top 10 albums for this year, that's a very good thing.

10. Tame Impala - 'Lonerism'

Closer to a 'rock' album than dance music, but still, 'Lonerism' is one nifty piece of beach rock served up with some California (or Perth, perhaps?) sunshine and probably some pretty gnarly waves. It's reminiscent of dusk on Sunset Boulevard. The songs are simple, with not much more involved than a guitar, drum kit and some borderline emo vocals, but like all good music, each song evokes some deep emotion that prevents one from hitting "skip." There's some abstract and repetitive electronic goodness in there, too, and just as all great albums, 'Lonerism' needs to be listened to as a whole rather than in pieces.

9. Netsky - '2'

Netsky's second full-length is the epitome of everything that's great about drum and bass, bringing together moments of liquid heaven, old school nostalgia, dance floor insanity, pure chaos and euphoria that work together to create a showcase of his diversity as a producer. The album has provided some of the biggest DnB anthems of the year with the riot-causing ‘Love Has Gone’, ‘Give & Take’ and the uplifting ‘Come Alive’. But ‘2’ isn’t just for the clubs. ‘Detonate’, ‘Puppy’ and ‘Jetlag Funk’ show Netsky’s ingenious experimentation with sounds and instrumentation, which have led to his legendary ‘Netsky LIVE!’ shows. There’s liquid beauty in the transcendent and understated ‘No Beginning’ and Selah Sue’s mesmersing vocals on ‘Get Away From Here’. Full of big melodies, anthems, instant charm and heartfelt depth, it's one of the year's finest.

8. The Orb & Lee 'Scratch' Perry - ‘The Observer In The Star House’

When The Orb’s Alex Paterson told us that he and Thomas Fehlmann were working on a new album with dub and reggae legend Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, it simultaneously excited and alarmed in equal measure. As with all revered musicians who decide to get together and record music in the latter stages of their careers, the very idea had the potential to be a trainwreck of truly epic proportions, particularly when dealing with the kind of trippy, ambient house The Orb usually peddle. All fears, though, were unfounded, as ‘The Observer In The Star House’ found a comfortable space between cool four-to-the-floor house and funky reagge - a perfect canvas for Perry to spout his meandering and image-evoking vocalizations. Not wheel re-inventing stuff, but when it’s this good, it doesn’t need to be.

7. BNJMN – 'Black Square'

Released on vinyl in October of 2011, BNJMN’s 'Black Square' made it to CD in January of this year. So good it richly deserves a run in two years, the album epitomises the dynamic interplay of flow and diversity that any LP should contain. Tracks like 'Keep The Power Out' shares the uncanny ability of 90s rave anthems to transport you into an otherworldly space of floaty meditation on the back of its ethereal vocal loops and spaced out, glitchy percussion. Meanwhile, more dance floor oriented numbers like 'Open The Floodgates' bring an element of bounce to the album, and sit equally comfortably in a tech house or bass set. But despite some passing resemblance to future garage maestro Burial (especially in 'Primal Pathways'), BNJMN’s use of syncopated stabs on tracks like 'Lava' have as much to do with Underworld records from the early 90s as the skittish rhythms of future garage or modern bass music. This is a refreshing change, and BNJMN’s ability to seamlessly blend the past and present of dance music makes this album a must listen whether you live in 1994 or 2012.

6. The Gaslamp Killer – 'Breakthrough'

Brushing aside the outrageous dance moves and Dali-esque moustaches he seems increasingly fond of, The Gaslamp Killer has never been afraid of being offbeat and just that little bit strange. Luckily for us, his eccentricities bore the uncomfortably brilliant debut album that is 'Breakthrough'. Not quite electronica, not quite trip-hop, 'Breakthrough' breaks down everything you thought you knew about music and will keep challenging long after you’ve let it play through for the 25th time. Bordering on lavish self indulgence at times as it combines psychedelia with Turkish inspired riffs, extended drum solos and even a casual nod to jazz in amongst some truly menacing basslines, listening to 'Breakthrough' is a fascinating insight to the genius of William Benjamin Bensussen. He takes you on a jagged, at times incredibly bleak journey through what feels like every corner of his mind and by refusing to commit to any linear style or genre, creates a weird and wonderful world that you won’t be in any hurry to escape.

5. Jam City - 'Classical Curves'

As one of the year's most hyped releases, Jam City’s 'Classical Curves' played a new role in the musical sphere of young Londoner Jack Latham, utilizing the extended capabilities of the LP format in a blend of romanticized electronic music. Inspired by a failed role for a futurist design house and an unspoken stint in sportswear espionage, Latham reveled in the paranoia of silence as much an overwhelming wall of noise. Ecstatic highlight ‘How We Relate to the Body’ and fashion-forward ‘Her’ highlighted Latham’s sound-­couture ethos, with the sneakers-­on-­wax effect of ‘The Courts’ a welcome return to his more club-­orientated experiments.

Paranoid sound effects of crashing glass, mobile phones and electronic car keys act as a visual reference to Jam’s mysterious background, as tracks like ‘Hyatt Park Nights Pt. 2’ and ‘Club Thanz’ defined his understanding of sounds from 70s experimental electronica to golden era Grime’s devil mixes. Curves illuminated the confidence (and knowledge) of a producer unafraid to take the kick drum out of a techno monster and make it something existentially new, redefining 2012’s musical boundaries in the process

4. Voices From The Lake - 'Voices From The Lake'

The aptly-titled Voices from the Lake represents the combined creative efforts of two maestros of Italian techno, Donato Dozzy and the lesser-known and (as you will be forced to admit after a few listens) highly underrated Neel, aka Giuseppe Tillieci. The album is based on a live set the two did at Japan's acclaimed Labyrinth festival, and although it is divided into separate tracks, it's unlikely you'll skip back and forth. Take it for what it is: 70 continuous minutes of deep, hypnotic techno.

VFTL peaks early(-ish) with a rework of Dozzy's track "S.T.". The original's bright, gauzy synths have been toned down, muted and generally toned down to fit in with the rest of the album, so that it feels perfectly at home. The way preceding track "Circe" segués in oh-so-delicately, acting as a long intro, is just beautiful. And then, as the ghostly voice choir reaches the top of its faint yet glimmering crescendo, those chords come in. By the time the softened, subtle kick arrives, you're already lost. VFTL is not an album to be listened to piecemeal. It's something to listen to from start to finish; something to get immersed in. You don't dive straight in, though. You wade out gently, patiently, before you explore its depths. And once you're in, it's guaranteed you won't want to come out again.

3. Matthew Dear - 'Beams'

Mixing elements of everything from Talking Heads to Joy Division, Matthew's heart-on-sleeve long player shows a man comfortable to make the jump, from lone producer to fully-functioning, performance stealing front man and leader of a live band. The album's key sound is bass, the link between some of the disparate styles and sounds. He mixes rhythmic bass line with racey, driving tempo on 'Ahead of Myself', a biographical monologue steeped in hesitation and a certain amount of pessimism, with more sun-burnt, warped synth lines and cantering tempos. It’s a far cry from his early, techno inspired Audion material - but this is a different kettle of musical fish; a thorough development in bottom-heavy, melodically appealing avant-garde pop - the sort of stuff that can be appreciated by many, or in any situation. From the club to home, to the introverted and extravagant, Beams stands proud as an accomplished work of splendor and variety. Punk inspired, bleak numbers such as 'Earthforms' and 'Overtime' ground the listener within a sonic headlock of pummeling tempo and groove laden songwriting; alert, nu-disco tones preside on Up & Out and more familiar, mechanized territory features on tracks such as 'Get The Rhyme Right', a rigid, unrelenting rhythmic drive, flanked by minor tonal guitars and sporting Dear's juxtaposed lyrics.

Some may feel the art - or even the format - of the album is dying out in the current days of digital consumption, but Beams proves that if you experiment, shape shift and develop in the right way (read: without losing your integrity) then you can achieve what you like. This idea of creative freedom forms the core theme underlying Dear's magnificent album and stands as proof that the format is far from dead. Solid gold.

2. Scuba - 'Personality'

If the blissed-out trance of tracks like ‘Never’ and ‘Adrenalin’ perplexed a large chunk of Scuba fans when they cropped up on the 'Adrenalin EP' towards the end of 2011, then his third full length ‘Personality’ must have really fucked with their heads. One reviewer even pondered whether Paul Rose was actually taking the piss. If you compare the murky dubstep of his first two albums to the commercial leaning big-room house and breakbeat (for the most part) of ‘Personality’, it’s an understandable question.

But even though Scuba's tongue might have been just slightly planted in his cheek, he wasn’t taking the piss, and for those who were able to see past the typically tired claims of “sell-out” many were levelling at the producer, ‘Personality’ was a joyfully infectious ride through beefed-up nostalgia of tracks like ‘NE1BUTU’ and ‘July’ (which sounded like The Prodigy circa the ‘Experience’ era), as well as more grey toned garage and drum and bass. Whether or not the year closing single ‘Hardbody’ is indicative of more accessible cuts still to come - or whether it's merely a leftover tidbit from the ‘Personality’ recording sessions - one thing’s for sure; all eyes are on Scuba to see what he does next.

1. John Talabot – 'fIN'

John Talabot’s rise began in 2009 with the release of his (somewhat underrated) EP, 'My Old School'. At first blush 'fIN' is a more melancholy record, the chunkier bass and tougher sounding percussion lull you into thinking it is more standard house fare, far from the summery vibes of those previous EPs. But a closer look reveals a more subtle picture - although some of the surface aesthetic is different, the overall balance of bitter and sweet is still there. The funk of 'Last Land', with its driving, loopy disco strings is enough to move the most recalcitrant dance floor to a frenzy. Similarly, many of us will attest to the uplifting power behind the familiar strains of 'So Will be Now' or 'When the Past was Present', mostly from dance floor experience of blissing out to their hypnotic vocal loops. Equal measures of funky, off-beat, melancholic and uplifting, each track from 'fIN' proves Talabot’s mettle as a diverse and original producer and cements the album as Pulse Radio's best in 2012.

Pulse.

did not listen to any of them...

I have heard a few of the Scuba tracks (mainly due to sasha & Zabiela caning them) but thats about it!!     Don't like Netsky.. The Orb belong back in the day of little fluffy clouds.. Don't like Gaslamp Killer (Did'nt he do that awful essential mix??) .. Heard of Mathew Dear but never took the time to listen to any of his stuff????? Don't know anything about the others.... now then .. Little fluffy clouds.. That takes me back    

i loved gaslamp killer;s EM

I like EPs and LPs these days because I just cannot be arsed to sit and listen to a complete album.