A Round of Sound

Finally, it’s time for the annual playlist that caps off my countdown. Rather than do a ranking of favorite songs, I choose to compile what I think is a good representation for the year in music, all on an 80 minute CD-R. This year, many of my favorite songs were just too long to fit on this mix, (“Pyramids”, “Wasted Days”, “Hey Jane”, “Nothin’ But Time”, etc…) and of course I always have to leave off some of my favorites because of dead time in the track due to production techniques of its respective album.

Other notes: I managed to squeeze 20 tracks onto this years mix, up one from 2011. The lowest ranked album that has a song appear on the mix comes from an album I didn’t really care for, Port of Morrow by The Shins which was my #63 album of the year. In addition to that track, there are 3 other songs coming from albums outside my top 25. There are nine tracks representing my #11-#25 albums, and 7 tracks from my top 10 albums. As usual, the order of the Mixtape is not a ranking, but rather an order based on how the song appears on its respective album.

Below, you’ll see the tracklist, and after the jump you can listen to every track if you so choose. If you happen to be a  Spotify user, I’ve also created a Spotify playlist of my Mixtape (not including “Wildest Moments” and “Tallulah” due to them not being available on Spotify), which you can link to below. Also included is a link to my Amazon.com list which has my entire top 25 albums of the year, nice and neat in a one page form (as well as access to my all my lists since 2001). And finally, for the 5th straight year I give thanks to Amy Boyd for providing me with the album art for my Mixtape. She’s now a Pentagram employee, making this album art the most legit thing on my blog right now.

So, there you have it for 2012. I’m already 3 albums into my 2013 releases, so if you’ll excuse me I’ve got some listening to do.

Top Albums of 2012 (Amazon.com link)

2012 Mixtape (Spotify playlist)

1) “45” – The Gaslight Anthem :: Handwritten
2) “Sleeping Ute” – Grizzly Bear :: Shields
3) “Myth” – Beach House :: Bloom
4) “We Can’t Be Beat” – The Walkmen :: Heaven
5) “Thinkin Bout You” – Frank Ocean :: Channel Orange
6) “Simple Song” – The Shins :: Port of Morrow
7) “Wildest Moments” – Jessie Ware :: Devotion
8) “Five Seconds” – Twin Shadow :: Confess
9) “Oblivion” – Grimes :: Visions
10) “Danse Caribe” – Andrew Bird :: Break It Yourself
11) “I Belong In Your Arms” – Chairlift :: Something
12) “Backseat Freestyle” – Kendrick Lamar :: good kid, m.A.A.d. city
13) “Serpents” – Sharon Van Etten :: Tramp
14) “Constant Conversations” – Passion Pit :: Gossamer
15) “Stay Useless” – Cloud Nothings :: Attack On Memory
16) “Laura” – Bat For Lashes :: The Haunted Man
17) “Werewolf” – Fiona Apple :: The Idler Wheel…
18) “In A Big City” – Titus Andronicus :: Local Business
19) “Tallulah” – Allo Darlin’ :: Europe
20) “The House That Heaven Built”  – Japandroids :: Celebration Rock

———-

[“45” – The Gaslight Anthem :: Handwritten]

———-

[“Sleeping Ute” – Grizzly Bear :: Shields]

———-

[“Myth” – Beach House :: Bloom]

———-

[“We Can’t Be Beat” – The Walkmen :: Heaven]

———-

[“Thinkin Bout You” – Frank Ocean :: Channel Orange]

———-

[“Simple Song” – The Shins :: Port of Morrow]

———-

[“Wildest Moments” – Jessie Ware :: Devotion]

———-

[“Five Seconds” – Twin Shadow :: Confess]

———-

[“Oblivion” – Grimes :: Visions]

———-

[“Danse Caribe” – Andrew Bird :: Break It Yourself]

———-

[“I Belong In Your Arms” – Chairlift :: Something]

———-

[“Backseat Freestyle” – Kendrick Lamar :: good kid, m.A.A.d. city]

———-

[“Serpents” – Sharon Van Etten :: Tramp]

———-

[“Constant Conversations” – Passion Pit :: Gossamer]

———-

[“Stay Useless” – Cloud Nothings :: Attack On Memory]

———-

[“Laura” – Bat For Lashes :: The Haunted Man]

———-

[“Werewolf” – Fiona Apple :: The Idler Wheel…]

———-

[“In A Big City” – Titus Andronicus :: Local Business]

———-

[“Tallulah” – Allo Darlin’ :: Europe]

———-

[“The House That Heaven Built”  – Japandroids :: Celebration Rock]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 at 1:30 pm and is filed under All, Music, Rounds of Sound, Top Albums of 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.