2012 turned out to be the year of the Cat - Cat Power that is. Chan Marshall's triumphant return with "Sun", her excellent ninth studio album, was announced in June with the digital release of "Ruin", the surprising upbeat first single of the record.
Given that usually Cat Power's musical mood falls into the category of "bleak" and "gloomy" (to use allmusic's description) and the fact that this record was written around the time of a bad breakup, "Ruin"'s upbeat pop tempo and uplifting piano melody was certainly not what we had expected. Chan may be singing about "sitting on a ruin" but she's putting things into perspective. The message is simple: before you start bitching and complaining about your life, you better take a look around and see what's going on with the rest of the world. Maybe your situation is not as bad as you thought.
Before we proceed with the presentation of the rest of our Top 50, here are the rules of the game: 1) All tracks included in our list were either released as singles in some shape or form (digital or physical) in the past 12 months or offered as free mp3s. 2) Only one track from each artist or group is included in the Top 50 to ensure a wider musical variety in our selection.
With these rules in mind, it's time to unveil 2012's ultimate playlist! There's no Christmas without a Festive 50, so here is ours:
Top 50 Singles of 2012
1. Ruin - CAT POWER
2. The Gravedigger’s Song - MARK LANEGAN BAND
3. Fineshrine - PURITY RING
4. Genesis - GRIMES
5. My Love Is Real - DIVINE FITS
6. Lazuli - BEACH HOUSE
7. Love Interruption - JACK WHITE
8. End of Daze EP ("Lord Knows" mp3) - DUM DUM GIRLS
9. Onwards To The Wall EP ("So Far Away" mp3) - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
10. Doused - DIIV
11. Creeping - 2:54
12. Lay Your Cards Out - POLIÇA
13. Know Me - FRANKIE ROSE
14. Elephant - TAME IMPALA
15. Keep It In Motion - GUIDED BY VOICES
16. Stay Useless - CLOUD NOTHINGS
17. The House That Heaven Built - JAPANDROIDS
18. Watch The Corners - DINOSAUR JR.
19. The Only Place - BEST COAST
20. Capricornia - ALLO DARLIN'
21. Kill For Love - CHROMATICS
22. Only in My Dreams - ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
23. Gun Has No Trigger - DIRTY PROJECTORS
24. Brats - LIARS
25. Plague - CRYSTAL CASTLES
26. Wet Blanket - METZ
27. The Full Retard - EL-P
28. Put Your Sad Down EP ("Secret Days" mp3) - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
29. All Your Gold - BAT FOR LASHES
30. Youth Without Youth - METRIC
31. Off The Wall - LEE RANALDO
32. Brains - LOWER DENS
33. Lupine Dominus - THEE OH SEES
34. The Hill - TY SEGALL
35. Moonlight Mile - THE BABIES
36. My Heart Beats - VERONICA FALLS
37. Betty Wang - HOSPITALITY
38. Default - DJANGO DJANGO
39. R U Mine - ARCTIC MONKEYS
40. Motoring - TOY
41. Hey Jane - SPIRITUALIZED
42. Comeback Kid - SLEIGH BELLS
43. Big Beast (ft. Bun B, T.I., Trouble, & El-P) - KILLER MIKE
44. Mind Control - FRIENDS
45. Fireflies - STILL CORNERS
46. Shadow - WILD NOTHING
47. Leonard - SHARON VAN ETTEN
48. The Rifle's Spiral - THE SHINS
49. I Want You - PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL
50. Octopus - BLOC PARTY
(mp3s via stereogum, 4AD, kexp blog, Sub Pop, Matador, gorilla vs bear, insomniaradio, Rolling Stone)
Next week: We're giving 2012 a proper goodbye with our Albums of the Year list. Keep that champagne on ice!
