The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2B - Thursday, January 10, 2013 :TeihgDalihanLdlym
Best Albums of 2012
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3. Beah'Hous
44Bloom4 4 4
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2. Frank Ocean
Channel Orange
Ocean has fashioned a record track is derived from reality -
that requires effort for under- Ocean's reality, of substance
standing - a record that doesn't over form. Anything, from his
get assigned as background early life to love life, is fair game.
noise to energize a teenager's In Ocean's Los Angeles life,
party (hence the unvarnished "the maids come around too
production of its tracks to high- much, parents ain't around
light his lyrical artistry). enough." Any other' modern
And the-e is a great deal to R&B artist would gloat about
highlight on Channel Orange. how he has the cash flow for
Ocean understands that quality a maid, and she's so fine from
lyricism and sentiment aren't behind.
born from sugarcoated, Shake- This is the Frank Ocean dif-
spearean poetry transformed ference.
into song. The essence of each -GREGORYHICKS
ARBUTUS
4. Grimes
Visions
Beach House is no stranger to
success. The Baltimore duo got
its first taste of indie fame after
releasing Teen Dream in 2010,
a sweet and hazy collection of
songs that gently lulled its lis-
teners and drew in a fan base.
Now, two years later, Bloom is
just as sweet - it's a soft, potent
cultivation of everything Beach
House for which it has already
been known.
Like former hits "Norway"
and "Take Care," tracks like
"Myth" and "Lazuli" are just as
quietly powerful, deeply per-
sonal and haunting: Victoria
Legrand's rich, smokyvocals rise
and fall over hazy guitar chords
and keyboard keys, creating a
tender, dreamlike world of oohs,
ahhs and instrumentals.
The album is darker and more
refined than anything the band
has created in the past - it isn't
a reproduction of classic Beach
House sounds and vibes, but liv-
ing proof that the duo itself has
bloomed.
-CHLOE STACHOWIAK
It's tempting to call Visions
"pop" - the album, the fourth
release from electro-artist
Grimes, packs enough sugary
falsetto vocals and dance beats
to fuel a Forever 21 playlist for
days. But stamping this kind of
label on the album would just
be too simple: Visions is a beau-
tifully complicated creature
that thrives on intricacy and
confusion, constantly twisting
and convoluting what seems
like straight-forward sounds
into something more obscure.
Quiet melodies are mashed
with other melodies, and beats
are layered on top of other
beats. Vocals are looped, lay-
ered and manipulated further,
appearing both bold and trans-
lucent in any given moment.
The end result is more fasci-
nating and murky than main-
stream dance or electronic pop
- Visions is a fleeting ghost
that fades and flitters away
before anyone can fully latch
onto it.
-CHLOE STACHOWIAK
Best Singles
of 2012
0
oUNG TURKS
1. Frank Ocean
"Pyramids"
2. Kendrick Lamar
"Swimming Pools (Drank)"
5. the xx
Coexist
"Space can actually be a band's
most valuable instrument" is
essentially the overarching theme
of the xx's second album, Coexist.
Furthering its minimalist pursuit
of "Basic Space," this London trio
crafted abeautifulandsubtlecollec-
tion ofsongs in 2012 that might have
beentooslighttocatchtheearsofan
in-your-face, dubstep generation.
Though these songs unde-
niably progress at a deliberate
pace, Coexist's most breathtaking
moments are a result of the band's
increasingly pause-laden style.
The four-second gap in sound
that occurs before the crescendo
of guitar, drums and vocals at
the halfway point of "Missing,"
for example, feels like the heart-
dropping sensation of a free-fall-
ing thrill ride.
While it lacks the pop sensi-
bility of the group's 2009 debut,
Coexist is a heartbreaking and
powerful sophomore effort that
deserves repeated listening.
-JOHN LYNCH
Don't listen to Frank Ocean's
grandiose epic "Pyramids"
unless you're prepared to eat,
breathe and sleep it for months.
This patchwork quilt of influ-
ences lasts for 10 brilliant min-
utes, but contains an entire
album's worth of creativity.
Frank Ocean was bound to hit
that No. 1 spot. His effortless
cool made him Odd Future's
sole mom-approved member,
and the Jay-Z co-sign didn't
hurt. But when "Pyramids"
came out, the world finally
found Frank.
His dynamism is evident in
every second of "Pyramids."
Combining R&B and dance
music in a tale of two Cleopatras,
Ocean croons about unrequited
love, betrayal and prostitution.
The deliberate combination of
warped electro-beats and John
Mayer guitar will please patient
listeners and throw them down
the very rabbit holes where the
two queens reside.
"Pyramids" is a once-in-a-
career triumph for most artists,
but here's hoping that Frank
Ocean has a lifetime of classics
ahead of him..
-ANDREWECKHOUS
"Swimming Pools" begins like
anyother pop-rap hit. As looming
synths build upon a steadily clap-
ping snare, a reverberating voice
beckons its audience to "pour up"
and "drank." What distances the
track from any other "party" rap
hit, however, is the evolution the
song takes as it builds upon the
dark synths of its beginning.
On the surface, the song is pure
fun - it rides like a Drake track
and encourages binge drinking -
but as it lyrically morphs, a deeper
thematic presence settles in. Ken-
drick goes from the scenes of a
party to memories of his alcoholic
grandfather, from shot-taking to
sorrow-drowning, from diving
in swimming pools of liquor to
concerns of the poison he's con-
suming.
If it's even possible, Kendrick
crafts a perennial party playlist
song with deep conscience, one that
forces its possibly intoxicated lis-
teners to think about the decisions
they make and even their lives as a
whole. It seems that only Kendrick
could beckon such a response, and
he does so with great success -
turn on any pop station and you'll
probably hear itsometime soon.
-TOMKLEPACZ
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RCA
ARBUSTUS
RIBBON
3. Miguel
"Adorn"
3. Grimes
"Oblivion"
3. Lower Dens
"Brains"
2012's most unlikely radio hit
was also one of its finest records.
The Grammy-nominated song,
"Adorn," was the defining track
of Miguel's Kaleidoscope Dream,
an album that acted as the excla-
mation point at the end of a year
filled with progressive R&B
music.
The song, which was previ-
ously released as a demo on the
free 2012 EP, Art Dealer Chic,
begins with the sound of syrupy
synths and murmured back-
ground vocals. Unlike the demo,
the album version features a Claire Boucher, the Canadian
beautiful, atmospheric break- artist better known as Grimes, is
down for the third verse that a tiny, banged fairy-like creature.
adds to the song's unique sound. Her voice is cartoonishly angel-
With a blend of Marvin ic, and she has an adorable lisp.
Gaye-like vocals, a new school, Some people think she's a witch.
electro-funk beat and amorous She sells pussy rings. Her music is
lyrics ("These lips can't wait confident in itsaweirdness. And if
to taste your skin"), Miguel's there is any one song that would
"Adorn" dominated the air- best represent the fierce feminin-
waves and (surely) the bed- ity of Grimes, it is "Oblivion."
rooms of anyone seducing The single is dark and hypnot-
anyone anywhere in the year ic, unable to ignore. Beneath her
2012. bizarre concoction of out-of-this-
-JOHN LYNCH world sounds, Grimes explores
the all-too-real topic of sexual Singles give musicians the
assault in "Oblivion." "I never opportunity to smack listeners
walk about after dark," she sings in the face. WHAM. Wasn't that
airily, a deep robotic thumping song amazing?
backing the song. There's some- But Baltimore band Lower
thing ominous to "Oblivion," but Dens took a slightly differ-
Grimes seems. to dismiss fear, ent approach with its single
responding to "Girl, you know "Brains." This is a song that
you've got to watch your health" caresses then constricts, begin-
withcutesysuccessionsofla la las. ning slowly then tightening its
Grimes isn't exactly listen- grip just as you start to relax.
ing to what anyone else thinks "Brains" kicks off with a
she should do, but she's far from drum/bass combination ticking
oblivious. along like a bomb, Jana Hunter's
-KATIE STEEN voice light and confident as she
tells us, "Everything will change
while you're asleep." The song
seems to cloud-over as Hunter
mutters along in a lull - poetic
but incomprehensible unless a
lyric search is performed.
"Brains" is a song that per-
forms under the surface, almost
subconsciously "while you're
asleep," until, amid the hushed
mumbling, Hunter shouts clear
as day "feel the teeth of the
machine" and the song over-
flows in a flurry of noise.
-KATIE STEEN
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