Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!… You try thinking of a caption for it

2012 Top 100 LPs #68-65: GY!BE, Regina Spektor, Andrew Bird, Paul Weller

Published on December 9th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams

Yes, it’s…Rocksucker’s Top 100 Albums of 2012!

Rocksucker listened to a lot of albums this year and conferred varying degrees of merit (in quail form) upon them based on our own spurious criteria…

…and now we bring you our favourite hundred of them, counted down in order arbitrarily/for fun. By dint of mathematics (specifically 4 x 25), top spot shall be revealed on Christmas day. Now, let’s get crackling, and then cracking…

68 Regina Spektor – What We Saw From the Cheap Seats

Grinsomely (it’s a word now) theatrical, that key mix of witty and charming both lyrically and musically. Even when it errs towards FM schmaltz as on “How”, it benevolently refrains from becoming the power-ballad it threatens to be. “I can’t write a song for you / I’m out of melodies” she sings on “Jessica”, lying through her teeth.

Oh, and listen out for the ‘borrow’ from “Saint Simon” by The Shins on the otherwise compelling “All the Rowboats”…

Click here to read Rocksucker’s review of What We Saw from the Cheap Seats in full

67. Paul Weller – Sonik Kicks

Fair’s fair: Paul Weller’s attempt at a psychedelic pop album is really quite good, naff title aside. Really quite excellently good that humble pie was eaten on Rocksucker’s part. (What a weird expression that is.) So, yeah.

Click here to read Rocksucker’s review of Sonik Kicks in full

66. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

Two of the most epic tracks ever presented, two static wildernesses. As usual (if you can say that about an group releasing their first album in ten years): wow. Not one for all moods, of course, but worth setting up a stage for.

Click here to read Rocksucker’s review of ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! in full

65 Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself

“Beekeeper, sing of your frustration / In this litigious breeze / Of accidental pollination / In this era without bees” – is this the opening lyrical gambit of 2012? Right from the off, the talented Mr Bird establishes a pastoral setting with uneasy, apocalyptic undertones; this delicate balance of Mother Nature vs her destroyer can be powerful stuff in the hands of an intricate craftsman like Bird, so fortunately we’re led gently through a magical, Nick Drake-y garden and spared the kind of cack-handed tackling of big issues displayed by the likes of Muse this year. Break It Yourself may or may not be a peaceful protest album, but either way it’s a beauty.

Click here to read Rocksucker’s review of Break It Yourself in full

Watch this space for a continuation of the countdown of Rocksucker’s Top 100 Albums of 2012! Bloody do it!

Artists: andrew bird, godspeed you black emperor, paul weller, regina spektor

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.