Records of the Year 2012 - Editorial Picks

This marks the end of the first year, in which we actually managed to provide music throughout the whole year! Running this website takes a bit of time and I am glad that we managed to increase the size of our team with Moses to keep up the volume of posts. We still got hit a bit by the end of the year business where a million other things creep up, but we hope you still enjoyed our recommendations in 2012 as well and will stay with us for a mighty interesting (and legally free) 2013! (Click the album picture for the link)

Marco's Top 3

I just noticed that my recommendations this year are  quite ... Indie/Pop heavy, but nonetheless, these are the recommendations I want EVERYONE to hear. In my opinion they are classics that shouldnt be forgotten, and so I list them once more to give them the attention they deserve.

Calm Hands - Somewhere June: Indie Pop/Electronica

I want to shout about the awesomeness that is this record from the rooftops of every building. Its enchanting, catchy and incredibly satisfying Electronica Pop that deserves a space in everyones music library.
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Rospoem - Carried by Crows EP: Alternative Pop

An incredible voice that will stay with me for a long time to come. Highly impressive and emotionally touching, this is an EP that one wont easily forget. I sincerely hope this was not the last thing we heard of him.

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Gulls - Down the Hatch: Indie/Surf Pop

A sideproject by one of the Magic Man geniusses. Less Electronica, more Surf Pop, this record came out to be an incredibly upbeat and easy listen for all kinds of summer moments. Pretty sure I'll dig this out next summer again.
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Matthew's Top 4

This year my musical tastes were dominated by two major influences, hard rock (mostly off the blog), and a very much metric tonne of synth music - from the trippiest synth-pop to the darkest, dankest dwellings of dark wave, it has been a feast. The records are:

Plaisance - Regatta: Synthpop

A great chilled out vibe of being out on the open ocean, like a sailing a yacht through your ears straight out the 1980's.
 
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Paralelo - Fig 1: Post Punk

Paralelo's Fig 1 (and it's two excellent follow ups) were definitely the most enjoyable come down[s] of the year, cathartic post-punk with no equal for me this year.
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MINH [MAY] - Hunt Your Own...: New Wave/Rock

Hunt Your Own swings closer to a lot of the music I listened to outside the blog, with it's harder edge guitar rock, and political leanings bared for all to hear.

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Kali Ma - SIDDHARTHA EP: Synthpop

I went in somewhat skeptical into this synthpop concept album about Buddhism. I ended up taking the best psychedelic trip of the year with Kali Ma's EP, and I didn't have to leave my chair.
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Moses's Top 3

The sheer number of outstanding releases this year didn’t make my job narrowing down my favorites to just three any easier, but I suppose it did make my job much, much more fun. If I had room, there’s at least five more releases I could have gushed about. You’ll have to live with these three, though.

Bit Bit Orunge – Orbit: Cosmic electronic

Bit Bit Orunge wrote Orbit in six days, but it’s surprisingly rich with detail: he has a mastery of songwriting that carries over well into these understated but gorgeous epics. Soft electronic blips and piano lullabies play side-by-side, sometimes wandering in lonely nothings for a while, sometimes fading into the distance—and sometimes exploding into brilliant sparks of light, and if only for those precious but rare moments of reaffirmation, I can wait out these chilly times.
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Shnabubula - Free Play: Improvisational Piano

Chiptune musician/jazz pianist Samuel Ascher-Weiss is an absolute chameleon. In just one short year, he’s released four albums, all of them different but spectacular in their own way. Of the four, the wide-eyed, free-spirited Free Play remains my favorite. Though the diverse array of instruments layered on top of Ascher-Weiss’s piano improvisations here was only added in production, every piece fits so well that you would hardly notice—and even when it seems like he’s boxed himself into a corner, he has a knack for melody that proves resilient. If you’re convinced that musical inspiration doesn’t exist anymore, this is a much-needed antidote.

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sun cellar - Abstraction: Experimental/Math Rock
This album will go down as the most immediate experience I recall in my time reviewing for wasfuersohr. Usually, you have to listen for around a minute or so before you get an idea of what an artist is trying to do, but with Abstraction, I was thrown headfirst into one of the most intense, cathartic, and catchy jam sessions in recent memory. That’s all I can say, to be honest: you’ll just have to hit play on this one to find out what I’m talking about.

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