NME's 50 Best Albums of 2012

NME's 50 Best Albums of 2012

Original Source →

50.

July 24, 2012
Critic Score
78
35 reviews

‘Shrines’ is a euphoric treat in its own right, made all the more thrilling by its heady potential. 

49.

October 2, 2012
Critic Score
83
34 reviews

Ultimately, this album is the sound of the future.

48.

January 30, 2012
Critic Score
78
20 reviews

‘Be Strong’ is one of the smartest and funniest dance records you’ve heard in a long while.

47.

February 14, 2012
Critic Score
82
24 reviews

46.

June 12, 2012
Critic Score
78
34 reviews
The only problem is that at times, it feels like all parties are a little intimidated by each other, stopping just short of going the whole way with the primal force that the best moments prove Womack is still capable of.

45.

January 31, 2012
Critic Score
63
39 reviews

Although it’s not quite the perfect pop record ‘Video Games’ might have led us to wish for, ‘Born To Die’ still marks the arrival of a fresh – and refreshingly self-aware – sensibility in pop.

44.

October 22, 2012
Critic Score
90
32 reviews

It might lack the raw appeal of Kendrick’s 2011 mixtape ‘Section.80’, but it’s also a big-budget reminder that the 25-year-old hasn’t forgotten his roots. 

43.

November 5, 2012
Critic Score
66
4 reviews

42.

March 27, 2012
Critic Score
73
25 reviews

‘Sonik Kicks’ is the sound of Paul Weller growing old the only way he could – not particularly gracefully, but with no small amount of style. 

41.

October 9, 2012
Critic Score
78
23 reviews

It has the reckless spirit of a record that hasn’t been over-analysed, but with an intense flurry of ideas from someone in the absolute prime of their creativity.

40.

February 14, 2012
Critic Score
78
26 reviews

A shyly introspective listen that, much like The xx’s first album, sits awkwardly with the industry furore surrounding it.

39.

June 5, 2012
Critic Score
81
33 reviews

36.

September 4, 2012
Critic Score
65
21 reviews

‘…Come Of Age’, then, is not perfect, but it’s a damn fine specimen of a band on the way to something great.

35.

October 9, 2012
Critic Score
79
22 reviews

34.

October 15, 2012
Critic Score
77
44 reviews

For large swathes, it's like being plunged into a fairytale soundtracked by skin-prickling electro and populated by downtrodden sods hunting for breadcrumbs of comfort.

33.

June 11, 2012
Critic Score
75
41 reviews

32.

April 2, 2012
Critic Score
76
20 reviews

Coxon has made one of the best albums of his career – a pop record with dangerously anti-social tendencies. 

31.

September 18, 2012
Critic Score
66
23 reviews

After the twin peaks of ‘Watch The Throne’ and ‘My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy’’s rap-pop grandeur, ‘Cruel Summer’ feels slight in comparison. 

29.

October 16, 2012
Critic Score
75
19 reviews

What '2' makes clear, quickly, is that DeMarco is a skilful songwriter.

28.

April 17, 2012
Critic Score
78
36 reviews

This record is, as you’d expect, by turns breathtaking, entrancing, deafening and challenging, and Spiritualized are still the Vatican of bands.

27.

August 20, 2012
Critic Score
81
35 reviews

Like all the great British pop records of the past five years, ‘Devotion’ combines the present and the past to make a record that sounds both contemporary and timeless.

26.

August 13, 2012
Critic Score
59
15 reviews

‘Enjoy It While It Lasts’ is a more than enjoyable collection of old-school indie gems.

25.

August 21, 2012
Critic Score
70
34 reviews

It’s a hardcore record from a top-shelf kind of a guy, but the work of a unique mind. 

24.

February 10, 2012
Critic Score
79
4 reviews

22.

May 15, 2012
Critic Score
77
40 reviews

There’s also pleasure in hearing a band do what they do so peerlessly well: croon sweet, sweet lullabies to console us in our fleshy prisons. 

21.

September 4, 2012
Critic Score
79
43 reviews

20.

January 17, 2012
Critic Score
67
17 reviews

19.

September 10, 2012
Critic Score
76
21 reviews

It’s weird and wonderful and you’ll want to listen again as soon as it’s over.

18.

January 16, 2012
Critic Score
67
12 reviews

17.

September 18, 2012
Critic Score
79
38 reviews

For all the strange twists and turns, the rich layers and dark beauty to be found, nothing here grabs you and sets up home in your heart like ‘Veckatimest’ did. 

16.

September 25, 2012
Critic Score
76
17 reviews

Here are two people who already see the best in each other, and with ‘Melody’s Echo Chamber’ they’ve tried to make everyone else see it too. It shows.

15.

February 7, 2012
Critic Score
81
34 reviews

It has been a joy to see Van Etten growing in confidence as an artist – and this isn’t just her finest album, but one of early 2012’s best.

14.

September 11, 2012
Critic Score
78
46 reviews

It hides more than ‘xx’ did, sneaking its miserable joys behind bare spaces, surprise time signatures and subtle dramas.

13.

June 26, 2012
Critic Score
77
23 reviews

12.

September 11, 2012
Critic Score
76
39 reviews

The arrangements are exquisite from top to bottom, and producer Congleton – who worked with Clark on ‘Strange Mercy’ – helps make it easy for us all to love this giant of a record.

11.

January 30, 2012
Critic Score
81
26 reviews
It's a dream of the psychedelic tropics, a heady explosion of colours, an album that takes what it means to be 'in an indie band' and gives it a good shake.

10.

April 24, 2012
Critic Score
82
41 reviews

While ‘Blunderbuss’ isn’t that definitive, unarguable document we’ve been seeking, it still feels like his most candid and personal record yet. 

9.

October 15, 2012
Critic Score
78
12 reviews

8.

May 7, 2012
Critic Score
66
24 reviews

It still defiantly goes against the grain, but also explodes with immediate, attention-grabbing riffs.

7.

March 6, 2012
Critic Score
72
10 reviews

It is also miles better than ‘Innerspeaker’, and quite possibly the best album released so far this year.

5.

May 28, 2012
Critic Score
78
22 reviews
By making geometry sound raunchy, this Leeds-born band are bridging the gap between Wild Beasts' sauciness and smart Dance-pop.

4.

November 12, 2012
Critic Score
73
40 reviews

In toning down the shock and awe, they’ve revealed the beating heart at the centre of their work.

2.

February 21, 2012
Critic Score
80
41 reviews

It’s like skipping through a thousand excellent tracks on your iPod shuffle and isolating 13 perfect moments.

1.

October 5, 2012
Critic Score
86
35 reviews

Sounds phase in and out, drums thunder, guitars chime with warm, valve amp bite, voices are multi-tracked into luscious harmonies, snatched sentences of speech burble in the background, loops repeat and vocals echo distantly, like they’re drifting in from a radio in another room.

Original Source: http://www.nme.com/blogs/the-big-picture/50-best-albums-of-2012
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