It is amazing that the year of the Mayan doomsday prophecy, the 44th Presidential election, the London and Hunger Games, and of Honey Boo Boo, of course, has begun its final descent into 2013. We took a bunch of albums, EP’s and mixtapes, threw them at the Rock Staff and saw what stuck. This is a collaborative piece in which we, like most editorials this time of year, asked ourselves, “What are the best releases of 2012?” just in time to make a New Year’s Party Playlist. So here it is, A year of music in review…

Albums of the Year:

1. Kendrick Lamar: good kid, M.A.A.D. city
2. alt-j (∆): An Awesome Wave
3. Grizzly Bear: Shields
4. The xx: Coexist
5. Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls
6. Frank Ocean: Channel Orange
7. Tame Impala: Lonerism
8. Jack White: Blunderbluss
9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
10. Grimes: Visions
11. Animal Collective: Centipede Hz
12. Neil Young: Psychedelic Pill
13. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music
14. Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas
15. Cloud Nothings: Attack on Memory
16. G.O.O.D. Music: Cruel Summer
17. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: Trouble
    

    Alt-j snuck up on a lot of music fans this year with their unique sound combining the likes of Radiohead, Grizzly Bear, and Maps & Atlases

18. Django Django: Django Django
19. John Talabot: ƒin
20. Norah Jones: Little Broken Hearts
21. Flying Lotus: Until the Quiet Comes
22. Hot Chip: In Our Heads
23. Fiona Apple: Idler Wheel is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords will Serve you more than Ropes will Ever Do
24. Japandroids: Celebration Rock
25. Father John Misty: Fear Fun
26. Swans: The Seer
27. Jessie Ware: Devotion
28. Purity Ring: Shines
29. Tennis: Young and Old
30. Four Tet: Pink
31. Zedd: Clarity
32. Dirty Projectors: Swing Lo Magellan
33. Beach House: Bloom
34. David Byrne & St. Vincent – Love This Giant
35. Dinosaur Jr.: I Bet on Sky
36. Macklemore + Ryan Lewis: The Heist
37. Dr. John: Locked Down
38. Bat for Lashes: The Haunted Man
39. Flume: Flume
40. Delta Spirit: Delta Spirit
41. The Walkmen: Heaven
42. Imagine Dragons: Night Visions
    

    Mmmmmmm….. Alligator Skin

43. Cat Power: Sun
44. The Lumineers: The Lumineers
45. Chromatics: Kill for Love
46. Fake Blood: Cells
47. Efterklang: Piramida
48. Bob Dylan: Tempest
49. Titus Andronicus: Local Business
50. Mumford & Sons: Babel

Mixtapes of the Year:

1. Joey Bada$$: 1999
2. Action Bronson: Blue Chips
3. Captain Murphy: Duality
4. Childish Gambino: R O Y A L T Y
5. Clams Casino: Instrumentals II

EPs of the Year:

Perhaps the most significant hip hop release of the year, Joey Bada$$’s 1999 is backed by heavyweight underground producers MF DOOM and J Dilla.

1. Daniel Rossen: Silent Hour/ Golden Mile
2. Knife Party: Rage Valley
3. Jack Beats: Careless
4. Azealia Banks: 1991
5. TNGHT: TNGHT