Guided By Voices - "Keep It In Motion" 2012
New single. Pretty short and sweet. Not spectacular, but some cool songs. The title track almost reminds me of Tom Petty in a way. Check out the video for the title track starring comedian Jon Glaser from the show Delocated.
Bassnectar - "Vava Voom" 2012
I found this release to be slightly underwhelming. It's OK, but he's clearly trying to move on from dubstep to whatever the next thing is, and i'm not sure if he knows what that next thing exactly is. Check out "Butterfly" featuring Mimi Page, "Nothing Has Been Broken" featuring Tina Malia, "Laughter Crescendo (2012 Version)", and the video for the title track featuring Lupe Fiasco.
Danny Brown - "The OD EP" 2012
Man, Danny Brown is just coming from all angles right now, and even though most of his flows are about his sexual conquests, he does it in such a way where it just always sounds good. His voice kinda reminds me of some weird combo of Greg Nice and B-Real, and it definitely annoyed me when I first heard it, but now that i've grown accustomed to hearing him, I actually enjoy it a lot. This EP is just 3 songs with the accompanying instrumentals, but all 3 songs bang. Check out "Baseline", "Shouldn't Of", and the ridiculous video for "Witit". Hopefully his next full length can be this crazy/awesome. I really like these beats a lot.
Soulja Boy - "Keep Living Keep Playing" 2012
Jesus this is terrible. It's almost comedy with how shitty of a rapper he actually is. I would nominate him for any celebrity deathmatch type show if something ended up existing in the future.
Noah23 - "Wingfoot" 2012
So, this relatively awesome underground rapper decides to quit making music suddenly, right when his buzz is at it's highest point and he was on the verge of becoming known for his skills. He took a year off and this is the first product he's released since then. Pretty decent. Some flashes of brilliance. This album seems like it was written and recorded within a few days or a week by an incredibly skilled individual, just going through some practice motions to get back into the game. It'll be interesting to see what he has in store for 2013. Check out "Wonder Why", "Higher Self", "Young Horse", "Ice Water", and "Hipster B-Bop Junkies".
Komonazmuk - "Komonazmuk" 2012
I had only heard this artist before from dubstep singles from the Hench Records compilations, and this is nothing like those songs. Very mellow and kinda underwhelming. It almost reminds me of some of the lower budget type people that used to be on Ninja Tune in the late 90's early 2000's like Neotropic, Animals On Wheels, and 9 Lazy 9. Less trip-hoppy, but still. Check out "Underground", "Theorem", and "Centimental".
Cody Chesnutt - "Landing On A Hundred" 2012
So, Cody Chesnutt has FINALLY put out his long awaited 2nd LP 10 years after blessing the world with his (in my opinion) amazing debut double album "The Headphone Masterpiece". There are 2 questions I had in my mind about this album before I listened to it. Question #1: How is he going to transition from making low budget/lo-fi recordings in his house to working with professional producers in real studios? The answer is quite well, actually. The production on this album is lush and full and he sounds right at home over it. Question #2: Most of what i've read about his sudden absence right when he was poised for big fame was that it was an Al Green style move where he went super Christian to the point where he felt it was wrong to make "secular music", so is this album going to be full of "god songs"? Answer is, not really. There's a couple preachy religious songs, but it's only like 2 or 3 songs out of 12. This album reminds me a lot of the last Aloe Blacc album, but this doesn't come off as a fake Bill Withers album like that one did to me. Cody still has his own personality that shines through in his songwriting. It will be interesting to see if this album stands the test of time or not. It's hard to tell if this is just something i'll listen to this year or for forever. Check out "Under The Spell Of The Handout", "Don't Wanna Go The Other Way", and "Chips Down (In No Landfill)".
Lazerbeak - "Lava Bangers" 2012
One of the producers from Doomtree's solo beat album. This stuff is OK, but nothing about any of these beats really stands out to me either. Just some decent, non-offensive background music. Nothing wrong with that. Check out "Thimble Man", "Ay Bay Bee", and "Had Enough".
The Prodigy - "The Added Fat EP" 2012
This will probably make you feel a little older reading this, but The Prodigy just released a 15 year anniversary edition re-release of their album "Fat Of The Land". The bonus disc that comes with it is new 2012 remixes by some currently popular artists, reworking a couple of the songs into more modern sounds. This sounds really lame on paper to me, but the end results are great. Check out "Firestarter (Alvin Risk Remix)", "Smack My Bitch Up (Major Lazer Remix)", and "Minefields (Baauer Remix)".
"Lawless Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" 2012
So this was the newest movie Nick Cave directed, and naturally he put together the soundtrack as well. They kind of did it T-Bone Burnett style, with a general theme and production style and a few guests, this time in the form of Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, and Mark Lanegan. This works out to be a pretty decent soundtrack, and i'm eager to see the film as well. Check out "So You'll Aim Towards The Sky".
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - "Between The Ditches" 2012
It finally happened. Reverend Peyton finally got the production level he deserved all along for an album. Whoever did this makes them sound great. They got his voice sounding right. His wife's background vocals are more prominent, which is a welcome touch. The guitars are laid in just right. This is just an all around great quality country album. People need to stop sleeping. Check out the video for "Devils Look Like Angels", and also a video for "Something For Nothing". One of the stronger tracks on the album "We'll Get Through", is not on youtube for some odd reason. Also check out "Shut The Screen". Unfortunately most of the songs from this album are not up on youtube to share, but anyone that likes intense guitar playing or actual GOOD country music and not bullshit should check them out. I'm eagerly awaiting them to come here in concert again.
Gandhi's Gunn - "The Longer The Beard The Harder The Sound" 2012
A blind download that turned out to be decent. Some cool stoner metal. I would recommend them to people who like The Sword, Mastodon, or Queens Of The Stone Age. They kinda hit various angles of those band's sounds, to my ears. Check out "Under Siege", "Breaking Balance", "Hypothesis", and "Haywire".
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