Pure Funk's Top 10 Albums of 2012
2012 was a great year for music. Almost every year is. Sure, the haters were once again claiming the death of every genre from Hip-Hop to Techno to Rock (which has been declared dead every year for the last 30 years).
Contrary to popular belief, Hip-Hop had an extremely fruitful year. From the quirky East Coast rappers (Le1f, Mykki Blanco), to rapid-fire females (Angel Haze, Iggy Azaelea), from Chicago (King Louie, Chief Keef) to London (Tnght), everybody was finding new ways to approach the genre.
R&B (another yearly candidate for death) was back with a vengeance, with R&B/Dance backing up another great year on the charts, and new hybrids appearing every month (Frank Ocean, Jeremih, Miguel).
Dubstep still ruled the festivals, Tiesto and co were taking residencies in Vegas for obscene amounts of cash and Beiber was getting props from the critics. Yes it was an odd year, but seriously, when is it not. That's what makes music and music culture fascinating and fun.
As always, we've focussed our attention on the the Hip-Hop, R&B and Dance releases that got us psyched in 2012, and there were more than a few. Don't take this for gospel, there's a lot of stuff I didn't get time to listen to.
However, if you haven't heard any of these albums, you're in for a treat. Enjoy.
Bob
- Kendrick Lamar -
Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City
It’s a
coming-of-age story, capturing a tumultuous time in a young man’s life. It’s a commentary on life in general as it
exists in Compton, a suburb of Los Angeles made famous by many rappers over the years, but also a poor
suburb beset by violence.
It’s a west
coast Hip-Hop album, in both production (overseen by Compton’s greatest export Dr Dre), and in its
reverance of the history of Californian rap (appearances by MC Eiht, references to Ice Cube lyrics).
It’s about the
power of family to influence decisions and to ultimately save. It’s about the temptations in the broader
society that test those same familial bonds (drugs, alcohol, and peer
pressure).
Kendrick
Lamar’s new album is about many things, as most great albums are.
Never was the
term 'West Coast Classic' more appropriate.
- Passion Pit – Gossamer
Michael
Angelakos’s problems are all over this album.
Whether it’s addressed directly (‘Constant Conversations’) or indirectly
(the bi-polar dynamic of sad lyrics and ebullient music), the despair of fighting
within ones own head and the consequences thereof informs every song on here.
All this
emotion and polemicism would count for nothing if the music wasn’t up to par,
but the Pit have upped the ante from their debut.
‘It’s Alright’
is a chaotic rocket blast and one of the best tracks of the year, whilst the
haunting ‘Constant Conversations’ could’ve easily been an R&B hit, if the
lyrics weren’t so sobering.
By exploring
the battle with his own demons, Angelakos has crafted a hopefully and
optimistic classic, albeit one that highlights how hard being hopeful and
optimistic can be.
- EL-P – Cancer for Cure
EL-P is a
rappers rapper, the kind of guy that starts his own label and releases his own
music, the kind that never follows trends or makes commercial concessions. 2012 was the year that the rap world finally
caught up with EL-P and he responded to the challenge by unleashing a nuanced,
abrasive yet rallying opus that trades in dirt but transcends through strong
narrative.
‘Request
Denied’ kicks off the album, its high-tempo electronica sounding like the best
track The Prodigy never recorded. That
EL-P can accentuate that track with organ flourishes and wah-wah guitar,
without losing pace or power, is a testament to his ability. That he can also deliver a dexterous verse
over the top leaves you dizzy, and that’s just the first track!
‘The Full Retard’
takes its name from a Tropic Thunder
quote, but it’s a whole lot more than a one note joke. Dystopia is a favourite
EL-P topic, and ‘Drones
over Brooklyn’ uses darkly comedic lyrics to make a point through the
paranoia. Danny Brown and Mr Muthafuckin
Esquire stop by for ‘Oh Hail’, and neither misses the chance to rip over the
blazing beat, laying waste in fine fashion.
El-P has nailed
this ambitious album, creating not just an atmosphere of fear, but also articulating
it in a subversive fashion. Hip-Hop
never sounded so gloriously pessimistic.
- Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
EL-P didn’t
just kill his own shit, he also layed down 12 tracks of east coast perfection
for Southern MC Killer Mike, resurrecting and re-energising Mike’s career,
while Mike used the template to bitch-slap a host of cultural pinatas.
Unlike El-P’s
album, Mike is more of a populist rapper, looking to explore the edges of good
and evil instead of taking sides. Whilst
‘Don’t Die’ holds him up as a touchstone for every black person who’s been harassed
by cops, ‘Jo-Jo’s chillin’ find him story-telling about about a dude who gets
away with drug running and airplane sex.
In Mike’s world, being a good man is complicated.
Like his kiler
opening track, Mike is a ‘Big Beast’ who can’t be tamed.
- Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Up until now,
the sometime Odd Future
crooner had been restricted to releasing mixtapes and straight-to-youtube
oddities.
Nobody knew
what to expect from Ocean, and he lived up to those unexpectations.
Channel Orange was big in scope, and nostalgic in
sound. There were comparisons to Stevie Wonder (‘Fertilizer’) and Prince (‘Pilot Jones’). He indulged in 10 minute long strip club
anthems with tasteful John
Mayer guitar solo’s (‘Pyramids’)
and he recorded with the Neptunes (‘Sweet Life’).
He gave the
music space, beckoning us to stay with him for the long ride and rewarding the
patient listener. He also gave us his
idea of love, a complicated menagerie of feelings, like the love of co-habiting
with your drug-dealer or dealing with the fact your missus is a stripper.
Ocean may have
been a headline creator with his personal
life this year, but more notable was his music, a wealthy piece of work
that never feels less than lived in.
- Lone – Galaxy Garden
London Producer
Matt Culler, better known as Lone, gave us the best rave-inspired dance album
in 2012. Don’t get it twisted though,
this is no retro snooze. Lone’s music
has always sounded like no-one elses, even when his sound is tenuously
connected to more commercial dance music sounds.
Dance has been
skewing maximal for a while, with Skrillex and the Swedish House dudes
destroying speakers with familiar sounds, but while Lone also likes to be
‘loud’ and ‘busy’, he plies his trade in more original ways.
‘Crystal Caverns 1991’
does sound like eerily like something you may have heard in that year, only
it’s heavier and more complex. For all its
ravey aspirations ‘Raindance’
is positively transcendant, whilst ‘Lying in the reeds’ rushes forward
surrounded by the marimbas and 808’s.
If anyone was
able to capture the past, present and future of dance music in 2012 it was Lone.
- Actress – R.I.P.
Another London
artist, Actress is the moniker of Darren Cunningham, who has also been plying
his trade for years in the underground, perfecting his own brand of sub-techno.
Heavy on the
bass and light on the drums, R.I.P. is a lesson in persistence as Actress
jettisons the classic four/four kick drum and finds ways for the music to drive
the beat.
‘Ascending’ rises in this
fashion, skipping along without so much as a snare, but yet it still remains
undeniably hypnotic. The big beats
finally arrive on the sub-bass anthem ‘Marble plexus’, but even
then they’re muted, like you’re standing outside the club whilst the gig inside
is in full swing. ‘Jardin’ sounds like
Actress’s attempt at Aphex
Twin’s ‘Avril 14th’, but again the sombre ballad couldn’t be
mistaken for anyone elses song.
R.I.P. doesn’t
offer itself up willingly. Listeners
might find that you will have to live with this record for two or three listens
to fully appreciate the pace and structure of this truly unique style.
A dance music
album without drums, what’ll they think of next.
- Miguel – Kaliedoscope Dream
After a
lacklustre major-label debut and several buzz-building EP’s, Kaleidoscope Dream dropped and showed
how promise and potential can be harnessed into a cohesive, sexy, mature
R&B album without relying on R&B cliches.
‘Adorn’ leads
the album off strongly, an ode to the one you love that sounds sincere and yet
also gets your feet moving, not an easy task.
As it sounds ‘The
thrill’ uses multi-tracked vocals to highlight the rush of doing something
bad, whilst ‘Candles in
the sun’ quotes Notorious
BIG to emphasise the drama of poverty-stricken streets.
Miguel takes
some well-worn musical paths, and then purposely strays from them to produce
something altogether familiar and foreign, yet ultimately funky.
- Tnght – Tnght
Two UK bass
luminaries, Lunice and Hudson Mohawke, teamed up over a love of Hip-Hop.
Typically these ‘superstar’ collaborations are disasterous, resulting in the
musical equivalent of the four-assed
monkey.
These two
transcended their genres and styles and delivered the most trunk-rattling
tracks of the year. ‘Goo’ sounded like trap
music performed by an orchestra of killer bees. The unique blend of ever-changing pitches
and sounds made for music that never got repetitive, and whilst the sparse
melodies caught some maximalist fans off guard, it just made the dick-punching
drums hit all that much harder.
‘Higher Ground’
and ‘Bugg’n’ were so
good that Lunice was tapped to produce for Kanye West.
- (TIE) Four Tet – Pink
Four Tet’s (Aka Keiren Hebden) last album ‘There is love in
you’ was borne out a need to have people dance, and it’s driving percussion was
focus-grouped to death in London’s ‘Plastik People’ club
nights as part of his residency there, the heaving crowds a sturdy barometer of
dancefloor success.
Pink compiles a bunch of singles released this year
following an unusual streak of creativity.
There are dusty breaks galore and heavy wobbling bass on the strong
opening track ‘Locked’,
but this sound is discard on ‘Lion’, which rides a 4/4,
beat more remisnicent of his last album.
‘Jupiters’ find Four Tet in his element, delivering complex
beat patterns and sounds would be a mess in a lesser producers hands but are
still danceable here. Less thematic than
previous albums, you can get your heavy bass and house fix with ‘Pyramids’,
while also chilling out with the beatless blips and bloops of ‘Peace for
Earth’.
‘Pink’ is a tight and taut selection of eclectic dance tunes
that reference dance musics past, whilst still remaining confidently in the
present; a rare feat indeed.
Hot Chip – In our
heads
Hot Chip has been a reliably eclectic dance-pop band for
almost a decade, and while they never stray too far from what they do best,
they still find ways to create relevant and emotionally connected music. The fact that you can also dance to most of
their stuff is just a bonus.
The first two tracks ‘Motion Sickness’and ‘How
do you do’ show off most of the facets that make Hot Chip as enjoyable as they
are. 4/4 beats, gliding synth lines and
Alexis Taylor’s gorgeous (and waveringly vulnerable) falsetto all combine for a
juicy, danceable confection with a hint of sadness and nostalgia behind it.
90’s R&B and 80’s pop have always been key influences in
the attitude and song structure of their music and ‘Don’t deny my heart’ is a
perfect example of both. Sounding like a
lost Whitney Houston
instrumental, Taylor imbues the happy synthesizers with a sombre longing
that leaves the song triumphant and sad all at one.
