The Music of 2012

My Fellow Americans,

We are halfway through 2012 and it is clear that the musical gods have not been as generous as the years gone. It says a lot about the year that Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe is my most played song of 2012, or perhaps it says more about me and my unhealthy obsession with her.

In a year where the musical gods felt it necessary to give us a Tyga album and yet another Nicki Minaj one, it became clear that I needed to look away from hip-hop to find musical fulfillment. (apart from you Meek Mill, your mixtape was pretty sweet.)

Aren’t rappers with high-pitched voices the best??

I am not proud to admit that I gave Carly Rae’s EP two thorough plays through, and I think that it would be safe to say that it should be avoided by only the most die-hard fans of so-so teenpop. The biggest problem, none of it is as catchy as Call Me Maybe, which stands head and shoulders above the other 4 tracks. I give it 4 shirtless gardeners out of 10.

Luckily for me I happened upon Ben Howard Every Kingdom shortly afterwards. Speaking as person that isn’t a huge fan of acoustic rock I was pleasantly surprised by the album. Instead of making a strictly acoustic album along the lines of Ed Sheeran’s +, Howard instead mixes things up by incorporating a great deal of folk. the album reminds me of Mumford & Sons’ brilliant Sigh No More. And he even includes a pretty good cover of Call Me Maybe as a bonus track. Overall I am a big fan of this Ben Howard character and would give his album a solid 8 wolves out of 10.

Ben Howard – Secret Twilight fan??

And this brings me on to my personal favourite album of 2012 thus far:

Fun. by name Fun by nature

Some Nights is a fantastic album, it is primarily an indie album, but there is so much more to it. The album was produced by Jeff Bhasker whom you might remember from the last two Kanye West albums and there is a clear hip-hop influence throughout the album. This is especially clear on the track One Foot which has a horn-driven beat that sounds like something you would hear on a Cam’Ron album. The track It Gets Better, is reminiscent of mid 2000s pop-punk, especially that of the Blink-182 variety.

Big Fan of Blink-182

fun. are pretty good singers and they seem fond of harmonies, the title track provides the best example of this and it is a wonderful way to start the album. It is the first song on the album and it feels like the curtain is going up for a stage show to begin. It perfectly sets the mood for the rest of the album as many of the songs feel like big show-stopping musical numbers from any number of west-end musicals.

Overall Some Nights is excellent, it is an album that you put on when you are in a good mood and deserves a solid 9 out of 10.