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Look Back - Your Favorite Albums of 2012


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What are your favorite albums released in 2012? Feel free to list one or two, or dozens. Your call.

 

 

Album of the Year: Daughn Gibson - All Hell

 

...the rest, in no particular order:

 

[Artist / Album]

 

Burial - Kindred EP

The Weeknd - Trilogy

Mohn - Mohn

Joel Frederiksen - Requiem for a Pink Moon

Beacon - For Now

CFCF - Exercises

King Creosote - Diamond Mine

Diiv - Oshin

Crystal Castles - III

Tame Impala - Lonerism

Mac Demarco - 2

Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action at a Distance

Grimes - Visions

Beach House - Bloom

Grizzly Bear - Shields

How to Dress Well - Total Loss

Chairlift - Something

Dum Dum Girls - End of Daze

 

Single of the Year: Action Bronson - Bird on a Wire

 

(warning, explicit lyrics)

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | dual Rythmik E15HP subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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my favorite 2012 - joe bonamassa - live at beacon theater ; do yourself a favor and check it out on youtube

main system; mac mini/mac os mountain lion/bel canto usb/cambridge audio dac magic/creek destiny intregrated/reference 3a mm de cappo i/svs pb-12-nsd/dh labs cables and wires/denon ah-d2000

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Have a listen at: https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l/411252

 

 

The 2nd of 12 glorious surround Audio Blurays from 2L - the Nordic Sound i gifted myself for Christmas.

 

Quiet Winter Night by Hoff Ensemble Audio BluRay

24/192 5.1-channel surround (DTS) recorded and mixed by Morten Lindberg

 

Also available on the Bluray:

24/192 2.0-channel stereo

+ mShuttle MP3 and FLAC

 

 

Ripped on Mac by backing up to HD with MakeMKV and then using DVD Audio Extractor 7.0.2.

 

Played with Decibel from Promise Pegasus 6TB on system listed below.

 

3205d1356466108-surround-album-day-quiet.jpeg

 

Glorious lyric jazz and recording!

Crisp and clear as a Quiet Winter Night in Norway.

 

 

Find more favorite surround recordings at: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f15-music-general/surround-album-day-13805/

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I don't know if it's just me, but the highlights of 2012 seemed very few and far between. I continue to enjoy the well-known

 

Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen

Little Broken Hearts by Norah Jones

 

as well as the lesser-known

 

Travelling Alone by Tift Merritt

Street Parade by Theresa Andersson

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  • Amber Rubarth - Sessions From The 17th Ward
  • Bela Fleck with the Marcus Roberts Trio - Across The Imaginary Divide
  • Calexico - Algiers
  • Cassandra Wilson - Another Country
  • Jack White - Blunderbuss
  • Jamey Johnson - Living For A Song: A Tribute To Hank Cochran
  • Jimmy Cliff - Rebirth
  • Joe Jackson - - Duke
  • John Fullbright - From The Ground Up
  • Justin Townes Earle - Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
  • Meshell Ndegeocelo - Pour Une Souveraine: A Dedication To Nina Simone
  • Macy Gray - Talking Book
  • Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again
  • Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts
  • Wycliffe Gordon - Dreams Of New Orleans

"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open."
Frank Zappa
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I just realized I left a very good album off my list: Dead Can Dance - Anastasis

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | dual Rythmik E15HP subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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Some that I liked are mentioned above

 

Norah Jones: Little Broken Hearts

Jack White: Blunderbuss

 

Others are

 

Alabama Shakes: Boys and Girls

Cash Box Kings: Holler and Stomp

Diana Krall: Glad Rag Doll

 

and I am sure I will think of more as the evening goes on...

No electron left behind.

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Of Men and Monsters "My Head is an Animal"

 

Best,

John

Positive emotions enhance our musical experiences.

 

Synology DS213+ NAS -> Auralic Vega w/Linear Power Supply -> Auralic Vega DAC (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> XLR -> Auralic Taurus Pre -> XLR -> Pass Labs XA-30.5 power amplifier (on 4" maple and 4 Stillpoints) -> Hawthorne Audio Reference K2 Speakers in MTM configuration (Symposium Jr HD rollerball isolation) and Hawthorne Audio Bass Augmentation Baffles (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> Bi-amped w/ two Rythmic OB plate amps) -> Extensive Room Treatments (x2 SRL Acoustics Prime 37 diffusion plus key absorption and extensive bass trapping) and Pi Audio Uberbuss' for the front end and amplification

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I just realized I left a very good album off my list: Dead Can Dance - Anastasis

 

Old DCD fan - been wondering about this one.

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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  • 2 weeks later...

These are some of my favourites from 2012 - but there are many more ;)

 

  • Gretchen Peters - Hello Cruel World
  • Simone Felice - S/T
  • Justin Townes Earle - Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
  • Phantom Limb - The Pines
  • Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream
  • Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Big Moon Ritual
  • Bill Fay - Life is People
  • Jimmy LaFave - Depending on the Distance
  • Tift Merritt - Travelling Alone
  • Matraca Berg - Love's Truck Stop
  • The Staves - Dead & Born & Grown
  • Rose Cousins - We Have Made a Spark
  • Jack White - Blunderbuss
  • Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made

 

Tim

Tim

 

"Songs are really just very interesting things to be doing with the air." - Tom Waits

 

Main: Custom W10/JRiver/FLAC music server | Rega DAC | Rega Brio-R | MA Bronze2

 

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By far the best new album I heard in 2012 was:

 

Bap Kennedy -- Sailor's Revenge.

 

Bap is an amazing songwriter and an excellent singer/guitarist as well. The album was produced by Mark Knopfler in his studio, and Mark and his band play on almost every track. Highly recommended!

 

Best,

Marc

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Interesting lists...only recognize one band/artist on Blake's list.

 

I'd recommend Ravi Coltrane's "Spirit Fiction" and John Abercrombie's "Within a Song"...both great, from very different places. Both, why I love jazz.

 

Have to check out what I'm missing...

Tone with Soul

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By far the best new album I heard in 2012 was:

 

Bap Kennedy -- Sailor's Revenge.

Damn I missed this one and I whole heartedly agree :)

Tim

 

"Songs are really just very interesting things to be doing with the air." - Tom Waits

 

Main: Custom W10/JRiver/FLAC music server | Rega DAC | Rega Brio-R | MA Bronze2

 

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Great information here everyone. Keep 'em coming.

 

Listening to Ravi Coltrane's Spirit Fiction as I type this, based on 57Gold's post.

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | dual Rythmik E15HP subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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Yep, brain cramp.

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | dual Rythmik E15HP subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos

 

Amazing and incredibly smooth sound and production complemented by fantastic tunes. Very musical and funky. Standouts for me are "Memorabilia", "Miss Marlene" and "Good Stuff". The official 24bit/88.2kHz download is pure bliss.

 

I have to emphasize how smooth the sound on this one is. Whereas Kamakiriad and Morph The Cat have a very crisp and thus somewhat tiring sound, Sunken Condos sounds as if it was recorded in the 70s with the clarity and details of modern day equipment. It's the most natural sound I've heard from Fagen.

Listening Room: ALIX.2D2 (Voyage MPD) --> Arcam rDAC --> Marantz PM-15S2 --> Quadral Wotan Mk V

Drinking Room: ALIX.2D2 --> M2Tech hiFace 2 --> Cambridge Audio Azur 740C --> Rotel RC-06/RB-06 --> B&W XT4

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On the go head-fi: Sennheiser IE 8

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This fusion of East & West is somewhat reminicsant of Ry Cooder's work with Mohan Vishwa Bhatt on 'A Meeting by the River'. But the distinction between Rajasthan & Flamenco is quite less than one might assume. More supporting evidence that music truly is the universal language of Man.

 

Well produced & worthy of a listen, IMHO.

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71bzR2ozqWL._AA300_.jpg

Bill

 

Practicing Curmudgeon & Audio Snob

 

....just an "ON" switch, Please!

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Sunken Condos tho not in 5.1 was still great.

Gillian Welch

Gotye

Alt J

Cat Power

Norah Jones

 

This year wasn't one of the more exciting ones in memory. 2011 wasn't too bad. I did see a bit more from certain artists clearly focused on great sound. Just not a huge number.

Macbook Pro 2010->DLNA/UPNP fed by Drobo->Oppo BDP-93->Yamaha RXV2065 ->Panasonic GT25 -> 5.0 system Bowers & Wilkins 683 towers, 685 surrounds, HTM61 center ->Mostly SPDIF, or Analog out. Some HDMI depending on source[br]Selling Art Is Tying Your Ego To A Leash And Walking It Like A DoG[br]

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