The Needle Drop's Top 50 Albums of 2012

The Needle Drop's Top 50 Albums of 2012

Original Source →

2.

October 22, 2012
Critic Score
90
32 reviews

With good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar drops what's easily hip hop's most cinematic album of 2012.

3.

Ondatrópica - Ondatrópica
July 16, 2012
Critic Score
83
4 reviews
Cumbia supergroup Ondatrópica puts over forty musicians to work on what might be the most essential Latin music record of 2012.

4.

May 22, 2012
Critic Score
74
12 reviews
On their latest album, Maryland band Dope Body blends the sounds of hardcore punk, funk, noise, hard rock, and sludge metal. Then they turn it into a party.

5.

June 19, 2012
Critic Score
87
33 reviews

On her first album in seven years, singer-songwriter Fiona refines her usual style into something simpler, but emotionally potent.

6.

November 13, 2012
Critic Score
75
6 reviews

7.

April 3, 2012
Critic Score
85
3 reviews
With improved production, more original material, more instrumentation, and some intense performances, the new BADBADNOTGOOD album ups the previous LP in every way.

8.

February 21, 2012
Critic Score
80
31 reviews
With loads of beautiful sounds and intensely sad emotions, the new Perfume Genius record brings together an assembly of powerful, yet short, songs.

9.

October 16, 2012
Critic Score
83
33 reviews
With its first album in 10 years, Canadian post-rock giants Godspeed You! Black Emperor manage to bring the same intensity, grit, melodic sensibilities, and ambition that has made the band's previous material so great.

10.

May 11, 2012
Critic Score
79
10 reviews
California rapper Ab-Soul's sophomore release is as varied as it is exciting. Strong flows, clever rhymes, and lots of personality.

11.

August 28, 2012
Critic Score
86
34 reviews
NEW SWANS...SO...FREAKY!

12.

billy woods - History Will Absolve Me
April 10, 2012
Critic Score
80
2 reviews

With a bed of stellar production and several releases under his belt as one half of the Super Chron Flight Brothers, elusive D.C. MC Billy Woods returns to making solo material with History Will Absolve Me.

13.

Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine
July 31, 2012
Critic Score
80
7 reviews

14.

May 15, 2012
Critic Score
83
28 reviews
On this album-length collaboration, MC Killer Mike and producer El-P manage to complement one another perfectly any major changes in their respective approaches to hip hop.

15.

April 17, 2012
Critic Score
78
36 reviews

While it's not as psychedelic as more acclaimed Spiritualized albums, Sweet Heart Sweet Light delivers a solid set of songs that return to the band's best old school ideas, and refines the more straightforward tracks that have been featured on recent releases.

16.

December 4, 2012
Critic Score
78
33 reviews

While Bish Bosch isn't the strangest thing walking the planet, that certainly seems to be what he aims for on what is easily his most absurd album yet.

17.

Soap&Skin - Narrow
February 13, 2012
Critic Score
78
5 reviews

18.

August 25, 2012
Critic Score
75
6 reviews

20.

August 28, 2012
Critic Score
79
28 reviews

21.

October 9, 2012
Critic Score
85
20 reviews

With more than twenty years under its belt, Massachusetts hardcore act Converge is still going strong on its latest album, All We Love We Leave Behind.

22.

Loma Prieta - I.V.
January 17, 2012
Critic Score
85
2 reviews

23.

April 17, 2012
Critic Score
83
3 reviews
White Suns approach to noise rock is more noise than rock, reminding me what exactly it is that makes the genre so unique.

24.

June 12, 2012
Critic Score
77
11 reviews

26.

March 12, 2012
Critic Score
81
5 reviews

27.

Big K.R.I.T. - 4eva N a Day
March 5, 2012
Critic Score
77
13 reviews

29.

Pile - Dripping
October 23, 2012
Critic Score
80
2 reviews

30.

June 11, 2012
Critic Score
75
41 reviews
Still sweet, still catchy, still Hot Chip.

32.

November 20, 2012
Critic Score
79
9 reviews

33.

Holograms - Holograms
July 10, 2012
Critic Score
75
12 reviews
Sweden's Holograms aren't the most original band on the block, but their take on post-punk is enjoyably passionate, catchy, and dark

34.

March 26, 2012
Critic Score
82
10 reviews

36.

Xibalba - Hasta La Muerte
August 14, 2012
Critic Score
69
6 reviews

37.

May 28, 2012
Critic Score
78
22 reviews
On their full-length debut, the UK's Alt-J bursts out of the gate with a group of songs that are equal parts creative, eccentric, and playful. Art pop for those with sunny dispositions.

38.

April 2, 2012
Critic Score
77
4 reviews

39.

September 4, 2012
Critic Score
76
24 reviews

41.

October 5, 2012
Critic Score
86
35 reviews

With a more colorful recording, bolder experiments, and more expansive jams, Australia's Tame Impala shows nothing but improvement on their sophomore effort, Lonerism.

42.

October 22, 2012
Critic Score
76
5 reviews

43.

September 25, 2012
Critic Score
74
8 reviews

44.

April 24, 2012
Critic Score
77
16 reviews

45.

May 15, 2012
Critic Score
77
40 reviews

On Bloom, Beach House does what they do best and continues to pen some of the best dream pop tunes out there today.

46.

Murder Construct - Results
August 28, 2012
Critic Score
77
3 reviews

47.

April 3, 2012
Critic Score
77
13 reviews

48.

February 14, 2012
Critic Score
82
24 reviews
On his debut album, Spanish electronic music producer creates one hypnotic groove after another, incorporating different sounds and ideas with each track.

49.

The Gaslamp Killer - Breakthrough
September 18, 2012
Critic Score
70
20 reviews
Brainfeeder's Gaslamp Killer embarks on his most ambitious project yet, delivering an album worth of tracks that features an array of glitchy and textured hip hop instrumentals that feature an array of sounds, styles, and musical guests.
Original Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBdnBBgmCTM
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