| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |
70. Frank Ocean “Sweet Life”
We’ve given up hope for a Neptunes-resurgence despite their continuing appearances in our Hot Mixes over the years. (“Trouble On My Mind” in 2011, “Fun Fun Fun” in 2010, “I’m Good” in 2009, “Us Placers” in 2007, Hell Hath No Fury in 2006, and various appearances from every year prior. The only year they missed completely was 2008, which is better than a lot of other people can say.) For this reason, we were happy to learn that Pharrell is partially responsible for the early-80’s Stevie Wonder homage “Sweet Life” (acting as a companion-song to “Super Rich Kids,” the song that follows on Channel Orange) divulging the blinding effects of materialism to someone unreachable. “Why see the world when you’ve got the beach?” | Soundcloud | Youtube |
69. Beak> “Liar”
“Claustrophobic” is probably the best term to describe Beak>’s sophomore release which arrived on Bandcamp unexpectedly in late-June. Their first record is one of our favorite albums of the past decade, and we always assumed they were a one-off project. So it became a total surprise when this immediately turned into (possibly) our favorite full-length of 2012. It’s truly the best kraut-influenced record since the early-70’s spawned all of Can, Neu! and Faust’s best full-lengths. “Liar” sounds like it could be used during a Sesame Street segment demonstrating the process of some sort of bizarre factory-produced item, like Halloween masks or something. 68. Pile “Grunt Like a Pig”
Yet another 7/8 jam. (Animal Collective’s “Moonjock” is also in a much slower 7/8. Could this be our official time signature of the year? Both songs use it with a similar cadence to Radiohead’s “2+2=5” and one section of Tool’s “Forty Six & 2” but that’s just music nerd shit that literally no one ever cares to hear and so we’ll move on...) One of Pile’s signature strengths lie in their ability to build tension through enormous dynamic changes. However, “Grunt like a Pig” immediately stood-out for us as NOT using this motif, instead plowing through the muck and filth with some serious-ass fire power for the entirety of its 3 minutes with crucial buried scream-vocals tremendously benefitting. Gimme tension fuck yes. 67. Carly Rae Jepsen “This Kiss”
2012 marked the 10th anniversary of Kylie Minogue's Fever LP (or 11th anniversary depending on your country). We hear “This Kiss” as a proper tribute to this album, specifically its classic “Love At First Sight” (also ripped off more recently by Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” and Katy Perry’s “California Gurls”). While the chorus isn’t as huge as “Call Me Maybe,” “This Kiss” feels like a more fully realized single, less labored and more carefree. (The kids disagreed, and this only reached #87, but what the fuck do they know anyway?) | Soundcloud | Youtube |
66. Joey Bada$$ featuring Capital Steez “Survival Tactics”
Comparing 17-year-old rappers who broke in 2012: Chief Keef embraces abrasive, harsh club-elements and his singles have been described as “earworms” when they’re actually not. As for Joey Bada$$, we don’t really see anything wrong with preferring warmer production, inspired jazz and funk samples, and rappers who can actually rap. There’s an abundance of unfortunate hiphop fans who take it personally when the sound of the radio moves farther from where it was in 1994, which is not really our stance. But hopefully these people finally got what they wanted with Joey Bada$$’s 1999 (probably the most solid 90's-influenced rap album of the past 10 years) even though it has no shot of ever getting played on commercial radio. | Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |
65. Mac Demarco “Dreaming”
The same general theme of so many pop songs throughout history, it’s likely to never get old. Searching for fulfillment, wondering if it’s possible. “Maybe I’m out of luck, maybe it’s running still.” Mac Demarco’s first album Rock & Roll Nightclub from early 2012 was full of warped jams like “Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans,” setting a neutralizing tone and helping to define his placement among singer-songwriters working strictly with home-recording technology. When “Dreaming” appeared early on his second higher-profile release only months later, the progression was obvious: Instead of more expensive methods of recording, the subject matter was suddenly deeper, without tongue-in-cheek sarcasm or (noticeable) tape manipulation. We still love his first LP, but 2 will likely be placing in our 10 favorite LP’s from 2012 (which may come as a surprise since we’re bigger fans of Ween’s pre-Chocolate & Cheese-era). | Youtube | Hype Machine |
64. Action Bronson & Party Supplies “Steve Wynn”
Let’s all fully understand how fortunate we are to be alive during the era of the greatest fat ginger rapper of all time. We give much mad props to Action Bronson for completely not giving a fuck, straight-up candy-gobbling and blunt-puffing in his videos. That’s some #yolo shit right there. The bass sample inserted by Party Supplies is a big part of what pushed “Steve Wynn” into our 2012 favorites. This is the one where the music pauses for the line “long as she got big nipples and a tan face.” Well done, sir. | Soundcloud | Youtube |
63. Kendrick Lamar “The Art of Peer Pressure”
Outside of the context of good kid, M.A.A.D. city, this song could work well as the “trailer” to Kendrick’s “short film” (described on the album cover). It's split into four parts: - The quickly sung 15-second intro goes like this: “Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody sit your bitchass down and listen to this true mothafuckin story told by Kendrick Lamar on Rosecrans ya bish.”
- Immediately after this, we unexpectedly hear classic 90's Dr. Dre, made all the more amazing after realizing it's the first time Dre has produced anything with a lone-keyboard-note whistle since the days of Tupac. It sadly only lasts for one verse, but it's necessary to help the story.
- The third section abruptly changes to an even darker Outkast-style beat, when Kendrick starts questioning the loyalty of “the homies.”
- And then there’s a skit at the end, which doesn’t mean much out of context but assists the album’s story progression. (And this also gets removed for the video version.)
| Youtube | Hype Machine |
62. Big Boi featuring Theophilus London “She Said OK”
What’s the word everyone used to describe this song? Oh yeah, “languid.” Cool word, not. How about "fucking hilarious?" Do you like that word? The first line of the song is "Let me see them tittayys." Yeah, something suggests this song wasn't really meant to be taken as seriously as his previous stuff, despite the detailed soulful and subdued Atlanta-style instrumentation. Overall, we found the three bonus tracks far more satisfying than the album itself. Maybe he should stick closer to ATL-soul and steer clear of fusions with modern indie-rock, a style which sounds best separated from hiphop. His efforts seem well-intentioned, but not anything we were interested in hearing more than once, whereas “She Said OK” is the type of song we’ll always welcome. Also we've been informed that a Family Guy joke is referenced somewhere in the lyrics, but it didn’t register for us since we don’t watch that crap. We’re hoping Outkast have been storing up amazing songs for the past 9 years, anticipating the moment when their legal obligations finally allow them to work as a unit once again. We’ve been waiting forever. The kids need Outkast. They really do. | Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |
61. Dinosaur Jr. “Rude”
We were ready to label the recent Barlow contribution “Rude” as the most Sebadoh-sounding Dinosaur Jr song since “Poledo,” but then we remembered Without A Sound which included a few Mascis-penned vocal melodies (including big hits “Feel The Pain” and “I Don’t Think So”) which felt somewhat congruent with Barlow’s writing style, helping to place “Rude” in a different light. It’s one of the biggest reminders since their 2006 reformation of how well J and Lou complement each other, while also displaying their differences in execution. Mascis does not typically lean towards “Rude’s” pop-formula-brevity (similar to 60’s-Britpop style) or drastic emotional contradictions, such as bleak lyrics (“It’s better for my health / If I don’t intrude / ‘Cause caring is rude / Nature is crude”) juxtaposed by a melodic major-key vocal melody and uptempo happy-sounding accompaniment. Halfway through, Mascis supplies a vital 8-bar solo, obliging the song’s “fake smile and pretend” theme for just a moment. The song easily places alongside “Poledo” and “Take a Run at the Sun” as one of Dinosaur Jr's most noteworthy anomalies and a standout amongst their reunion material. | Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |
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Hot Mix 2012 on Spotify
| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |
Similar to Ariel Pink's 2010 album, the most straight-faced and least warped song turned out to be a faithful cover. "Baby" is originally by a band called 
The odds are very good that Hot 97 is playing either this song or "Clique" right now, since they play one of these two songs every 10 minutes or so. Which makes sense. The build in the bridge section does sound pretty great on the radio. And "white girls politickin' that's that Sarah Palin." But seriously, why so much hype? More than half of Watch The Throne is better than this song. Clearly we won't be doing it any justice by discussing it here. Read these instead: 
We figured the “hiphop-song-poem” genre was dead and gone forever. 
Projectile-vomit scream-singing at its finest. The first song on this album is fittingly titled “You Don’t Look So Good,” which really sets the tone for the "all things vomit" that follows, with "Cut to Ribons" as track 2. It sounds like all the stuff that happens after "one too many." Do you ever find buttons in your vomit when you know you haven’t eaten any buttons? 
While "Bad History Demos" continues floating around on cassette and online as we anticipate the proper version of this album, its lofi sludge still cut deeper than almost any other rock record of 2012. It’s not “Blues” in the classic sense, but at the moment we’re having trouble thinking of a better sonic comparison than Leadbelly, whose recordings were mostly just one guy singing in a room by himself taped with primitive 1930’s recording technology. Sean’s voice is clearly not anything like Leadbelly (closer to the guy from Helvetia) but the aura of this particular recording is such a blow to the gut that we can’t think of anything closer at the moment. We’re hearing its kickoff track “There Goes the Sun” (possibly the sequel to 2011’s “Here Comes the Sun”) as deep meandering transience. The sun possibly returns in the second half of the song, but either way it’s just gonna disappear in a few more hours. 
And speaking of fat history... (Cool transitions today.) Well we looked it up on Wikipedia, and it turns out that 
Muddy weighty overdrive distortion tries to sink us into quicksand, but the song's momentum is too intense, propelling us straight into orbit, blasting across lightyears of stars in under three minutes. Joe "Weirdo" Rockcrit sez: "I liked this band better when they were called Sonic Youth." PFF. We scoff in Joe's face. The production suggests far more than this, and the girl singer sounds closer to Belinda from My Bloody Valentine than Kim Gordon. And more importantly, these songs are killer. Broken Water are our new Olympia heroes. Tempest is solid as fuck. Don't sleep on this one! 
Easily detestable for detractors of modern pop trends, “Starships” seems purposely disjointed, stuffing 3 or 4 ideas that have little to do with each other into a 3-minute-30-second radio single. It starts with an intro of Katy Perry with Ke$ha sung over it, followed by 30-seconds of Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” with Britney Spears’ “Til The World Ends” sung over it, followed by an LMFAO drop, and then it all repeats. Nicki Minaj herself strangely becomes the song’s most crucial solidifying factor and possibly an apt description of how ADHD and fucked up her brain gets. Not long after realizing this, we said “fuck it” and gave in. 
When it comes to GBV, there’s no quantity over quality issues. It simply wouldn’t be a true reunion of the classic line-up if they actually cared enough to narrow their three 2012 full-lengths (and numerous non-album tracks) down to an all-killer 14-song record. Firstly, it becomes more of an adventure for the listener, and more of a revelation when locating those brand-new instant-classics. Second and more importantly, GBV are so drunk that they might misjudge and exclude a great song or two. Let's not risk the possibility of forgetting “Chocolate Boy” or “Keep It In Motion” when assessing this year's best jams. “Billy Wire” turned out to be our 2012 favorite mostly thanks to the chorus modulation reminiscent of Cheap Trick-flavored 80’s power pop. 
Huge both in song-length and overall sound, “Sucker” entices the fist-in-the-air scream-along, although phonetically screaming should suffice in this case, since we have no idea what words they’re singing, but you can sorta make out the syllables. It doesn’t matter though; Colossal cyclops mutants as mammoth as “Sucker” don’t usually speak English, but rather make loud deep grunty noises that sound like they could possibly be words. Smash mountains to bits. 
His understated coolest-dude-ever vocal performance is unjustifiably the least lauded aspect of “Pyramids,” but it’s easy to understand why. It sounds like two separate songs that need each other to become complete, and as a result, the multi-part experimentation drew early comparisons to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, except “Pyramids” is far more rewarding than anything on that album. 
#2 “Hot Cheetos & Takis” is among the most interesting commentaries on America’s ongoing obesity epidemic. Apparently Hot Cheetos are deliciously addictive and getting banned from schools nationwide (
From one of the most cohesive split-releases in recent memory, partially a result of Mike Thomas’ dual-role as recording and mastering engineer, all 4 songs present an unexpected bonding of genetics between Two Inch and Grass is Green (perhaps an unintentional reflection of the title "Split Dicks"). Our other favorite TIA song from 2012 (
Strangely fascinating despite its numerous shortcomings, we wouldn’t be surprised if “I Do” were dropped from the last 3 or 4 Young Jeezy releases before finally earning a spot on his 2011 LP: The sped-up samples sound very 2004. Phoned-in Jay-Z and Andre verses are both exhausted, although Andre throws around a few inspired moments before completely weirding-out everyone with an awkward description of how hot his unborn daughter’s going to look when she’s a teenager. Also, “I Do” was recently nominated for a Grammy, unsurprisingly, since older (white) musician types usually prefer “safe” family-friendly behind-the-curve hiphop. #toothfairy 
The Blob meets The Creature From The Black Lagoon at a bar one night. They fall in love and fuck for 9000 years. These are the noises they make while they’re fucking. 
Call us dummies if you’d like, but we’ll admit it took us nearly two years of returning to 2007’s Autumn of the Seraphs before realizing its place among the very best of the 2000’s. Upon its release, only the quirky and playful “Good To Sea” immediately revealed itself as “instant classic" (which is not very helpful for "end of the year lists" but as long as nobody else minds waiting, neither do we). As for their most recent batch, “Denslow” is the quirk-ball we grew to love first. 
Who would've thought Lil B's first attempt at a "rock" song would sound like acoustic J Mascis + The Fog fronted by Wesley Willis? Nice example of awesome-song-disguised-as-shitty-song (or possibly the other way around, we’re not exactly sure) which seems to be the (#BASED) basis underlining Lil B’s entire catalog and rock-star image. Karaoke DJ’s, take notice: Very fun to (badly) sing along (in the car or otherwise). (P.S. BasedGod also released an outstanding #rare 
This appears to be their last release to date, which we incorrectly assumed was the jam they played at the Orthodox Church in Moscow, resulting in their worldwide infamy and incarceration. Outside of political context, its blistering rawness caught our attention. Better than we expected. No idea what words they're singing, but the song clearly packs just as much anger, urgency and sarcasm (assuming sarcasm exists in Russia) as “Rise Above” or “Anarchy In The UK.” Keep fighting the good fight. 
A fairly intense two minute balls-trip: arms reach out of the walls although they don’t actually grab anything; whispers creep from behind. Two minutes later they all disappear. While the majority of Ronson shows Grass Is Green progressing into unfamiliar territory beyond their first two releases, we hear “Dance Punk” as accumulating all of their best early moments into one enormous exclamation point. 
DAME JONES and his rich kid squad tried to hit us up with some HOT CHEETOS & TAKIS. We're already linked to this video but here it is: 
One of those videos where a kid pretends he's the rapper and walks around lipsynching, except this time it has charm and the kid does a good performance so it's a-okay: 
This video from The Death Set is contain a shot from Troll 2 which is pretty much the only reason why it's here. 