Here we go, then: my 40 favourite albums of 2012 thus far. A very personal list, I should say, so please don’t think it constitutes any kind of canonical Uncut pronouncement.
The theory is that these are all January-June 2012 releases, so apologies if any rogues have inadvertently been admitted (I suspect there may be a few things I’ve forgotten, too). As you’ll see, I’ve chickened out of putting them in anything other than alphabetical order, though at this point in the year I may well have played the unlikely pair of Julia Holter and Chris Robinson more than anything else. Links lead to previous blogs on that record, as you might have worked out.
Next step, I guess, is for you to submit your own Top Tens in the Facebook Comments boxes below, and I’ll use the traditional dark mathematics to crunch them into something approximating a proper chart. Once again, thanks for all your engagement, feedback and support over the last six months, and of course beyond; it’s always really appreciated.
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1. Damon Albarn – Dr Dee (Parlophone)
2. Arbouretum/Hush Arbors – Aureola (Thrill Jockey)
3. Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold (Sub Pop)
4. Sir Richard Bishop – Intermezzo (Ideologic Organ)
5. James Blackshaw – Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death (Important)
6. Blues Control – Valley Tangents (Drag City)
7. Neneh Cherry & The Thing – The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound)
8. Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas (Columbia)
9. Cornershop – Urban Turban: The Singhles Club (Ample Play)
10. Dexys – One Day I’m Going To Soar (BMG)
11. The Dirty Three – Towards The Low Sun (Bella Union)
12. Dr John – Locked Down (Nonesuch)
13. Elephant Micah – Louder Than Thou (Product Of Palmyra)
14. The Entrance Band – The Entrance Band (Latitudes)
15. Chris Forsyth & Koen Holtkamp – Early Astral (Blackest Rainbow)
16. Go-Kart Mozart – On The Hot Dog Streets (West Midlands)
17. Gunn/Truscinski Duo – Ocean Parkway (Three-Lobed)
18. Julia Holter – Ekstasis (RVNG INTL)
19. Hot Chip – In Our Heads (Domino)
20. Howlin Rain – The Russian Wilds (Agitated)
21. Icebreaker & BJ Cole – Apollo (Canteloupe/Naxos)
22. Eyvind Kang – – The Narrow Garden (Kranky)
23. King Blood – Vengeance Man (Richie/Testoster Tunes)
24. Lubomyr Melnyk (Hinterzimmer)
25. The Men – Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones)
27. Lee Ranaldo – Between The Times And The Tides (Matador)
28. The Chris Robinson Brotherhood – Big Moon Ritual (Silver Arrow)
29. Ty Segall & White Fence – Hair (Drag City)
30. The Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse (In The Red)
31. Patti Smith – Banga (Columbia)
32. Spain – The Soul Of Spain (Glitterhouse)
33. “Blue” Gene Tyranny – Detours (Unseen Worlds)
34. Spacin’ – Deep Thuds (Richie/Testoster Tunes)
35. Starving Weirdos – Land Lines (Amish)
36. Sun Araw/M Geddes Gengras/The Congos – FRKWYS Vol. 9: Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras meet The Congos (RVNG Intl)
37. Sun Kil Moon – Among The Leaves (Caldo Verde)
38. Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch – Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity (Important)
39. Jack White – Blunderbuss (XL)
40. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Americana (Reprise)