2012 Review: Debut Albums of the Year

The preparation of our "2012 Albums" list is well under way and at this point the battle for number one is between two equally worthy candidates. May the best woman win (hint, hint). But until we make up our mind and present the final results in about two weeks time, here’s another one of our mini year-end lists.

Last week we singled out the best albums from the old school, this time we are dealing with the new blood: the best debut albums of the year from new artists and bands. This means that new groups by already established musicians (for example Divine Fits) or first solo efforts by members of well-known bands are not eligible for this particular list.

Although 2012 has not been a vintage year for debuts, we did have a number of highly promising first efforts. The most outstanding of them all came from Canadian duo Purity Ring who released "Shrines" in July, an album that masterfully combines the best elements from the last three decades of electronic music. By the end of summer we were declaring "Shrines" to be our favorite album of the season and now it’s time to bestow upon it the title of "Debut Album of the Year" - well done Megan and Corin!

Here are the twelve debut albums that stood out for us in 2012:

Top 12 Debut Albums of 2012

1.   Shrines - PURITY RING



2.   Give You The Ghost - POLIÇA



3.   Metz - METZ



4.   2:54 - 2:54



5.   Django Django - DJANGO DJANGO



6.   Manifest! - FRIENDS



7.   Toy - TOY



8.   Hospitality - HOSPITALITY



9.   The Horror - POP. 1280



10. Oshin - DIIV



11. Melody's Echo Chamber - MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER



12. Quarantine - LAUREL HALO



Check out below our favorite debuts from previous years:

Top Debuts of 2011
Top Debuts of 2010
Top Debuts of 2009
Top Debuts of 2008