Listening Habits 09-10.12

As we’re coming closer to the end of 2012 and the beginning of the annual internet listmania, let’s take a closer look at our favorite albums and tracks of this autumn:

Cat Power’s return to action with "Sun", her first album of original material in six years, turns out to be a runaway success here at Cool Music Central. Both of the album’s singles, "Ruin" and "Cherokee", have been in heavy rotation for the last few months and now the album itself tops our autumn Top 15 list. Arguably this type of success will not solve any of Chan Marshal’s recent troubles, but we do feel she has done an exceptional job with this record and we’d like to send her our best wishes for a speedy recovery. "Peace and Love" to you, too, Chan!

Meanwhile, the '90s comeback is at full swing right now, with several of the era’s indie rock protagonists offering excellent new albums that can stand their own against their ace back catalog. Bob Mould’s "Silver Age" is a return to the sound of his Sugar years, a record that proves he can still produce the same fire and fury that inspired the early '90s alternative rock explosion.

With the release of "I Bet On Sky", Dinosaur Jr.’s third post-reunion album, the original line up of the band now has as many albums as it did in its '80s heyday. Although it’s rather impossible to reproduce the excitement of a record like "Bug", there’s no denying that the new material has the strength to inspire the same awe and keep the band at the top of today’s noisemaking elite, without any help from their past glories.

Other notable returns of our '90s indie rock heroes include the reunited Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with the hard-hitting "Meat and Bone" and Corin Tucker with her ace, blues-killing, second solo work "Kill My Blues". Spoon’s Britt Daniel and Wolf Parade - Handsome Furs vocalist - guitarist Dan Boeckner have joined powers as Divine Fits and have produced a thing of divine noise-pop beauty, "A Thing Called Divine Fits". Ariel Pink has gone hi-fi for "Mature Themes", a record whose psychedelic experimentation pays off handsomely, a statement that is also true for Tame Impala’s "Lonerism". Wild Nothing offer the purest of pop delights with "Nocturne", while Canadian newcomers METZ are here to kick ass and take names with their vicious noise bomb of a debut album. Killer staff, indeed!

Top 15 Albums

1.   Sun - CAT POWER
2.   Silver Age - BOB MOULD
3.   I Bet On Sky - DINOSAUR JR.
4.   A Thing Called Divine Fits - DIVINE FITS
5.   Metz - METZ
6.   Mature Themes - ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
7.   Lonerism - TAME IMPALA
8.   Nocturne - WILD NOTHING
9.   Kill My Blues - CORIN TUCKER BAND
10. Meat And Bone - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
11. Twins - TY SEGALL
12. Circles - MOON DUO
13. Endless Flowers - CROCODILES
14. Centipede Hz - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
15. Four - BLOC PARTY

Top 20 Tracks

1.   Wet Blanket - METZ (mp3 via sub pop)
2.   My Love Is Real - DIVINE FITS
3.   Peace And Love - CAT POWER
4.   Elephant - TAME IMPALA
5.   Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know - DINOSAUR JR.
6.   You’re The Doctor - TY SEGALL
7.   Only In My Dreams - ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
8.   Paradise - WILD NOTHING (mp3 via rolling stone)
9.   Neskowin - CORIN TUCKER BAND
10. I Got Nothing - DUM DUM GIRLS
11. Star Machine - BOB MOULD
12. Black Mold - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
13. Sleepwalker - MOON DUO
14. Endless Flowers - CROCODILES (mp3 via spinner)
15. New Town Burnout - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
16. Octopus - BLOC PARTY
17. Secret Days - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS (mp3 via stereogum)
18. Fireflies - STILL CORNERS (mp3 via pitchfork)
19. Wrath Of God - CRYSTAL CASTLES (mp3 via stereogum)
20. Underground - THE DARK RAGS

Wild Nothing - Paradise, starring Michelle Williams!