The Life and Times and Amazing Adventures of DJ Bunny Ears.

It's finally here. My top albums list. And yes, it is coming super late, as it always does. But hey, at least I got it in before the Grammy's. And more importantly, I bet I still turn you onto some stuff that was totally off your radar last year. And I only put in the really good stuff, so you know this is a quality list. So without further ado, please enjoy. And let me know if you think I left something off worth sharing. 

DJ Bunny Ears Top 100 Albums of 2012

1. Flying Lotus Until The Morning Comes
2. Frank Orange Channel Orange
3. Tame Impala Lonerism
4. Chromatics Kill For Love
5. Peaking Lucifer
6. The Men Open Your Heart
7. Kendrick Lamar good kid, M.A.D.D. city
8. Sigur Rós Valtari
9. Melody’s Echo Chamber S/T
10. Dirty Projectors Swing Lo Magellan
11. Andy Stott Luxury Problems
12. Spiritualized Sweet Heart Sweet Light
13. Beach House Bloom
14. Liars Wixiw
15. Hot Chip In Our Heads
16. Lord Huron Lonesome Dreams
17. Actress R.I.P.
18. Grizzly Bear Shields
19. The Walkmen Heaven
20. Father John Misty Fear Fun
21. Santigold Master Of My Make Believe
22. Grimes Visions
23. alt-J (∆) An Awesome Wave
24. The xx Coexist
25. Night Moves Colored Emotions
26. Poliça Give You The Ghost
27. Cat Power Sun
28. Four Tet Pink
29. Bahamas Barchords
30. Chilly Gonzales Solo Piano II
31. Animal Collective Centipede Hz
32. Matthew Dear Beams
33. Sun Araw, M. Geddes Gengras and The Congos Icon Give Thank & Icon Eye
34. Bat For Lashes The Haunted Man
35. The Shins Port Of Morrow
36. Willis Earl Beal Acousmatic Sorcery
37. Thee Oh Sees Putrifiers II
38. Beachwood Sparks The Tarnished Gold
39. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Mature Themes
40. Divine Fits A Thing Called Divine Fits
41. Japandroids Celebration Rock
42. Hospitality S/T
43. Foxygen Take The Kids Off Broadway
44. Dan Deacon America
45. Taken By Trees Other Worlds
46. Chairlift Something
47. Dinosaur Jr. I Bet On Sky
48. Alabama Shakes Boys & Girls
49. David Byrne & St. Vincent Love This Giant
50. Miike Snow Happy To You
51. The Mountain Goats Transcendental Youth
52. Here We Go Magic A Different Ship
53. Neighbors Good Luck, Kid
54. Neneh Cherry & The Thing The Cherry Thing
55. Burial Kindred EP
56. Jessie Ware Devotion
57. Lower Dens Nootropics
58. Neil Young & Crazy Horse Psychedelic Pill
59. TOY S/T
60. The Sea & Cake Runner
61. El-P Cancer 4 Cure
62. Lotus Plaza Spooky Action At A Distance
63. Nick Waterhouse Time’s All Gone
64. Beak> >>
65. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Here
66. Wild Nothing Nocture
67. M. Ward A Wasteland Companion
68. Purity Ring Shrines
69. DIIV Oshin
70. Of Monsters And Men My Head Is An Animal
71. Patrick Watson Adventures In Your Own Backyard
72. Dr. John Locked Down
73. Django Django S/T
74. Bob Dylan Tempest
75. Godspeed You! Black Emperor ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
76. Nosaj Thing Home
77. King Tuff S/T
78. How To Dress Well Total Loss
79. Poolside Pacific Standard Time
80. Lusine The Waiting Room
81. Bright Moments Natives
82. Kareem Riggins Alone Together
83. Band Of Horses Mirage Rock
84. Titus Andronicus Local Business
85. Light Asylum S/T
86. Moon Duo Circles
87. Menahan Street Band The Crossing
88. Tanlines Mixed Emotions
89. Prinzhorn Dance School Clay Class
90. The Soft Moon Zeros
91. Zambri House Of Baasa
92. Bright Moments Natives
93. Best Coast The Only Place
94. Matt & Kim Lightning
95. Teen In Limbo
96. METZ S/T
97. Neil Halstead Palindrome Hunches
98. Brian Eno LUX
99. The Tallest Man On Earth There’s No Leaving Now
100. THEESatifaction AwE NaturalE

Honorable Mentions

• Jack White Blunderbuss
• Pinback Information Retrieved
• Bear In Heaven I Love You, It’s Cool
• Cloud Nothings Attack On Memory
• Clinic Free Reign
• Calexico Algiers
• AC Newman Shut Down The Streets
• Ty Segall Twins
• Clark Iradelphic
• Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin Instrumental Tourist
• Efterklang Piramida
• JJ Doom Key To The Kuffs
• Rihanna Unapologetic
• Ty Segall Band Slaugterhouse
• Kishi Bashi 151A
• Allah-Las S/T
• Black Moth Super Rainbow Cobra Juicy
• Air Le Voyage Dans La Lune
• Beat Connection The Palace Garden
• Andrew Bird Break It Yourself
• Andrew Bird Hands Of Glory
• Deerhoof Breakup Songs
• Icky Blossoms S/T
• Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose
• Swans The Seer
• Langhorn Slim & The Law The Way We Move
• Dum Dum Girls End Of Daze EP
• Leonard Cohen Old Ideas
• Lonely Drifter Karen Poles
• Woods Bend Beyond
• The Magnetic Fields Love At The Bottom Of The Sea
• The Lumineers S/T
• Lambchop Mr. M
• First Aid Kit The Lion’s Roar
• TNGHT S/T
• Gonjasufi Muzzle
• Jonti Twirligig
• Leila U&I
• MC Yogi Pilgramage
• Ramona Falls Prophet
• Gary Clark Jr. Blak And Blu
• Owen Marshall The Naked Truth
• Damon Albarn Dr. Dee
• Chet Faker Thinking In Textures
• The Heavy The Glorious Dead
• Gaslamp Killer Breakthrough
• Kool Head Black Wave
• Bloc Party Four
• El Perro Del Mar Pale Fire
• MNDR Feed Me Diamonds
• Mumford & Sons Babel
• Poor Moon S/T
• The Presets Pacifica
• The Raveonettes Observator
• Robert Pollard Jack Sells The Cow
• Two Door Cinema Club Beacon
• Pop Levi Medicine
• Two Fingers Stunt Rhythms
• Nas Life Is Good
• Ellie Goulding Halcyon
• The Fresh & Onlys Long Slow Dance
• Holograms S/T
• Mac Demarco Mac Demarco 2
• The Soft Pack Strapped
• Calvin Harris 18 Months
• Chad Valley Young Hunger
• Sinkane Mars
• James Yorkston I Was A Cat From A Book
• JJAMZ Suicide Pact
• K-Holes Dismania
• Kate Miller-Heidke Nightflight
• Metric Sythentica
• Pop Etc. S/T
• Delicate Steve Positive Force
• The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends
• Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band One Of My Kind
• The 2 Bears Be Strong
• Com Truise In Decay
• Passion Pit Gossamer
• Oberhofer Time Capsules II
• Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin Reverse Shark Attack
• The Vaccines Come Of Age
• Sqaurepusher Ufabulum

Compilations, Reissues, Soundtracks, 12”s

• V/A Personal Space
• V/A Kayne West presents G.O.O.D. Music: Cruel Summer
• John Maus A Collection Of Rarities And Previously Unreleased Material
• Blur “21” box set
• Dump NYC Tonight
• Vis-à-Vis Obi Agye Me Dofo
• Simigwa Gyedu-Blay Ambolley
• V/A Loving On The Flipside
• The Funkees Dancing Time
• George Danquah Hot And Jumpy
• Afro Funk Body Music
• V/A Original Raw Soul III
• V/A Spiritual Jazz Vol. 3
• V/A Songs On Conceptual Art
• V/A Ecstasy
• Every Mississippi Records release in 2012
• Every NowAgain Records release in 2012

Getting my Lee Hazelwood vibes on today via the new duets album from Binki Shapiro & Adam Green. All original songs - pretty solid throughout. Check this gem "If You Want Me To".

http://www.rounder.com/artists/adam-green-binki-shapiro

Song of the day from album of the week. "Letter of Intent" by Ducktails of their new album, The Flower Lane. It's out next week on Domino. Dreamy stuff.

http://www.dominorecordco.us/usa/albums/11-10-12/the-flower-lane/

Just going through all my music from last year to make sure that I haven't missed anything. Came across this Bright Moments album called "Natives" that I remember liking but that had gotten lost in the mix of everything else aliong the way. So I had a relisten and recalled why I dig it. He plays with Beirut and Arcade Fire, among others, which you'll recognize immediately. Check out this track that is titled after my hometown, Milwaukee. Good stuff. This'll make the Top 100 list, for sure.

http://www.brightmomentsmusic.com/

Happy 2013 all. My top albums of 2012 list is on the way. Hang tight. In the meantime, check out one of the tracks I've been digging for a little while from Foxygen, off their upcoming album, 'We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic'. Called "Shuggie". Here's to great things in 2013.

http://www.jagjaguwar.com/onesheet.php?cat=JAG227

Not sure if it's a function of age, or being a new-ish father, but lately I've been really prone to nostalgia, sentimentality and oversensitivity to awareness of the nonstop march of time. As such, I was going through new music that I've gotten recently and came across this song from the title track of the Brooklyn band Neighbors new album "Good Luck, Kid". Song of the day, for sure.

P.S. Happy black Friday. I suggest doing something meaningful to help counter all the shallowness going on in the country right now. 

http://neighborsmusic.com/goodluckkid

I still really miss the heck out of the band, Broadcast. And more importantly, RIP Trish. In the meantime this little band, Melody's Echo Chamber, is doing a heck of a job filling that vacuum. Hands-down song of the day from album of the week. "Endless Shore" from their S/T.

http://www.fatpossum.com/artists/melodys-echo-chamber

Been traveling a lot the last few weeks and so haven't made much time to post new music but I just wanted to share an album that's been a good traveling companion - the new Taken By Trees. It's called Other Worlds and it's super dreamy, gentle and lovely. Good stuff when you're dealing with the stresses of the mundanity of life. Here's one of my favorite tracks called "Dreams". Let its sweetness wash over you.

http://www.secretlycanadian.com/artist.php?name=takenbytrees

http://takenbytreesofficial.tumblr.com/

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Four Tet consistently makes some of the most amazing, beautiful music out there and he's flying under a lot of people's radar these days. Finally picked up his last album, Pink, and though it's essentially a collection of vinyl-only singles, it is no less awesome as a complete work. This particular track, Peace For Earth, doesn't necessarily reflect the rest of the album, but it stands out to me as something so out of music-fashion in many ways and perhaps even the more lovelier for charting it's own course.

Also, be sure to check out his recent remix of Neneh Cherry & The Thing's "Dream Baby Dream". It's gnarly.

http://soundcloud.com/four-tet/neneh-cherry-the-thing-dream

Back from a little pre-birthday event of two amazing and highly valued weeks in the Exuma Islands of the Bahamas with my wife and son and good friends. Had a little drama with a gnarly concussion to begin the stay and then catching the edge of the tropical storm that would eventually become Hurricane Issac but overall, it was absolutely incredible.

Had picked up this awesome Frkwys vinyl (Vol.9) featuring Sun Araw, M. Geddes Gengras and The Congros, right before I left for the trip. The blown-out, sun-soaked, lazy dub vibes of this release felt right in line with the trip. Check out this jam called "Happy Song".

http://igetrvng.com/discography/123

Sending good vibes out to those who endured/are enduring the wrath of Hurricane Isaac.

http://www.redcross.org/news/article/Red-Cross-Helping-All-Along-Hurricane-Is...