Top 12 Albums of 2012

The world didn't end and neither did good music in 2012, despite proclamations to the contrary. Here is ReeVewz annual best album list for the past 12 months.  One common theme from top to bottom is that several of the albums featured the most impressive work by those particular artists in years--and in some cases, decades.

* Indicates reviewed/referenced in High Times magazine and/or online at High Times.com 

1. Paralytic Stalks...Of Montreal.  Kevin Barnes' lyrical and musical genius was never more evident than on Paralytic, the dense complexities of the song structures to be analyzed for aeons. Here Barnes successfully coalesces his earlier Barrett/Beatles influences with his more recent Bowie/Prince dabbling.

2. Clockwork Angels...Rush.  The Canadian power-trio's best album in 31 years is a conceptual masterpiece, with "Headlong Flight" the standout track for both musicianship and melody.

3. Psychedelic Pill...Neil Young.  Like Rush, Young dipped back to his '70's influences to create something fresh and necessary.  If the 16-minute "Walk Like a Giant" isn't enough, try the 27-minute opener "Driftin' Back".

4. Noctourniquet...Mars Volta.  After the disappointment of 2009's Octrahedron, Omar and Cedric bounced back in a big way with this album of one strong song after another, highlighted by another round of brilliant vocalizing by Bixler-Zavala (more on him below).

5. Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake...Eliot Lipp. Shark et al is the electronica album of the year, a concept piece fusing the organic and the synthetic in a way that appeals to prog geeks as much as it does club bouncing hipsters.  Also wins best LP cover of the year.

*6. Electric Sea...Buckethead...Per usual, Mr. Head released about 420 albums this year, so there are an abundance of choices.  But we're going with this touching, mostly acoustic offering from arguably the most diverse guitarist in rock history.

*7. Oblivion Hunter...Lightning Bolt...Oblivion is the best EP of '12, a re-re of "lost 2008 material" that makes a travel-size representation of the Bolts' two-man assault.  Their experimentation is ever on display, as on 13-minute "World Wobbly Wide".

*8.  Anywhere...Anywhere With this eponymous release, Cedric Bixler-Zavala established himself as the musical MVP of 2012, not only singing but playing persuasive percussion.  Also featuring former Triclops! guitarist Christian Beaulieu and bass-god Mike Watt, Anywhere is ferocious and psychedelic all while being largely acoustic.

9. The General Strike...Anti-Flag...The punk album of the year, AF continues their assault on conservative insanity and inanity delivering genuine punk instead of pop-laced junk food.  Strike opens creatively with a 20-second thrash mini-track before kicking into head-rushing "The Neoliberal Anthem".

*10. Unlocked--Live From the Georgia Theater...Conspirator...This is the jamband live album of the year, the best representation of Conspirator's sound to date, bringing the studio proficiency of Brownstein and Magner into the live arena with dynamic results.

11. Centipede Hz...Animal Collective...While this isn't as realized as their 2009 smash Merriweather Post Pavilion, on Centipede AC went back to their darker roots and excavated some gems, most notably the thrice-changing and always thrilling track closer "Amanita", in the discussion for song of the year.

*12. That's Why God Made the Radio...The Beach Boys...In 2011, the Boys topped the list with Smile, this year they're on the bottom rung, but the fact they're here at all on this long awaited and sometimes feared reunion album is a pleasant surprise. The last three songs comprise a sentimental suite that ranks right up there with just about anything in the BB' canon.

Hopefully, "This" isn't the place

Sean Penn was in the two worst films of 2011.  Although at least in the laughably pretentious Tree of Life Penn only played a pissed-off adult version of one of the children abused by the father played by Brad Pitt.  In This Must Be The Place, Penn bares the brunt of the responsibility himself—at least in front of the lens.  Much has been made of Penn’s collaboration with director Paolo Sorrentino, who wrote the script specifically with Penn in mind. 

Penn plays retired rock star Cheyenne a raven-tressed ‘80’s holdover hunting a Nazi prison guard camp who imprisoned Cheyenne’s recently deceased father during the Holocaust.  Yes, boys and girls, it’s an indie-Holocaust themed movie, ain’t that whacky?!    

Cheyenne as portrayed by Penn is the most self-conscious character in cinematic history—or maybe he’s the least self-conscious, but either way he’s strictly an artistic caricature, there’s nothing flesh and blood about him.  And his mumbling affected pattern of speech is a distraction that does nothing but remind the viewer she’s watching a film.  Jeff Spicoli would crack up and blow bong hits right into Cheyenne’s stupid monkey face.

Conceptually, this film might have been brilliant and totally original if executed properly, but the film’s plodding pace, the annoying and boring characters and Sorrentino’s “Hey, if you need me I’m in the next room” directorial style eventually drags the viewer down into a bottomless pit of thrift-store aesthetics.  And what David Byrne is doing playing himself in this mess is beyond the ken of mortal man.

This weekend, please be any place but in front of this film. 

Reevew: Superman vrs The Elite

SVTE is a soon to be released straight to DVD DC animated feature and we got a sneak peak here at ReeVewz, intriguing beginning with a kiddie cartoon of Supes that suggests this will be a serious deconstruction of the Man of Steel..and it is to a degree, examining how Superman fits into a post-9/11 world where his brand of justice may be too antiquated when Supes is confronted by a new team of multi-dimensional traveling heroes ("The Elite") who have no problem with killing the baddies. SVTE is also an attempt to create an edgier Superman animated feature with not-so-veiled references to sex and use of preteen naughty words like “suck” and “ass”. But in the end it’s just another Superman versus villains outcome, where black and white convention is promoted over gray ambiguity. It could have been much more interesting if Superman was forced to co-exist with The Elite instead of the final showdown against them with predictable results. SVTE worth a one-time watch or rental, but not something you'll want to revisit.

2012 Academy Award predictions

Best Picture--The Artist

Best Director--Michel Hazanavicius

Best Actor--George Clooney

Best Actress-Viola Davis

Supporting Actor--Jonah Hill

Supporting Actress--Berenice Bejo

Original Screenplay--Midnight in Paris

Adapted Screenplay--Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Original Score--The Artist

Cinematography--The Artist

Editing--The Artist

Top 11 Albums of 2011

Hey, Mark Miller here, contributing writer and music critic for High Times.  Since 11 is one of my lucky numbers, figure I'd rank the top 11 albums of 2011, instead of the usual top 10 list.  This isn't the High Times list, just my personal rankings.  Here goes everything...

(* = reviewed by me in the pages of High Times)

*1. SMiLE...Beach Boys  It may be over 40 years old, but it's still the best album of this or any other year.

2.  Dead Roots Stirring...Elder  It's got the expected metal and stoner elements but also contains riffs that could be from lost classic 70's albums. Most surprising album of '11.

3.  Tomboy...Panda Bear...Not as earth-shattering as 2007's Person Pitch, but still contains some of the year's strongest vocals and music, the title track is a powerhouse.   While I didn't review Tomboy for HT, I did interview Panda, link is here: http://hightimes.com/lounge/mmiller/7078

4.  Vaccine...Younger Brother...Electronica album of the year.  Album cover of the year.  "Shine" was the best song of the year. That enough?

*5. The Local Fuzz...Atomic Bitchwax...A 42 minute song with just about that many distinct riffs.  An always inventive album, like the soundtrack to the world's longest comic book.

*6. A Godlike Inferno...Ancient VVisdom....Satanic folk rock provided some of the year's best sing-alongs

*7.  Gotta Get Up Now....Roger Miret and the Disasters....The Agnostic Front frontman delivered the best hardcore punk album of the year with some interesting twists and managed to put out a new album with Agnostic as well. 

8. 7 Skies H3....Flaming Lips...If Bitchwax' 42 minute album/song wasn't good enough, how about 24 hours straight of the Lips?  Though this album was polarizing for some, it was certainly ambitious, trippy and musically successful enough to make the list

9.  Death by Stereo...Umphrey's McGee...They deliver the best jamband album of the year by departing from the usual formula and opting for an 80's sound that comes off refreshing.  Kris Myers' drumming on "Domino Theory" is the year's best percussion. 

10. Mirador...Sungrazer...Straight outta Holland comes this post-prog trio whose sounds go hand in hand with the best buds the Dutch coffee shops have to offer. 

11. Green Naugahyde....Primus...Not as good as their glory year albums, but still worthy of inclusion on the list as original/new drummer Jay Lane helps deliver their best LP in 15 years

Honorable mention:

thecontrollersphere...Of Montreal...Best EP of 2011, and "Holiday Call" is the epic of the year


Into Bass and Time...Ancient Astronauts...Best rap album of the year

The Night the Sun Came Up...Dev...Best pop dance album of the year.  Where Gaga is pretentious, Dev is inventive

Parallax...Atlas Sound...Most melodic album of the year