43. MAC DEMARCO - 2 (2012) Another entry that's in my personal Top 25. Originally though, I saw this album cover and was like "Yeah, right...whatever." A friend whose tastes I trust almost 100% recommended it though so I dug in. I was hooked within a minute, literally. It's got this loose raw vibe to it, but you can tell they know what's up to and it's by design. I can't say enough good about this record. Tales of suburban boredom, being in love, partying and growing up in the 21st century. Great stuff. This track has this laid back vibe and then it morphs into this jangly, mildy dischordant thing that totally works for me.
Corelli: Complete Edition -- Disc 10 (Concerti Grossi Op. 6 (8-12), Sinfonia WoO1, Sonata a Quattro WoO2)
So does Wikipedia - unless your local host was lying and felt like editing Wikipedia recently - I'm comfortable saying 'Happy Birthday Dave'
Pete Fountain -- Mr. New Orleans (1961 -- this cover, which came on my CD, is from a 1973 MCA re-release of this 1961 Decca recording, I believe)
42. RICK ROSS - Rich Forever (2012) This is the first one that was a true struggle to get through. It's a 20 song mixtape and it's about 8 songs too long. I liked some of it way more than I thought I would, but by the end of it I was constantly checking the clock to see when it would be over. Won't be revisiting this one, but at least I'm vaguely familiar with it now.
41. DUM DUM GIRLS - End of Daze (2012) Don't really see what's so remarkable about this five song EP for it to crack the Top 50. It's not terrible or anything, but it doesn't stick out to me in any sort of way and for a 5 song EP to crack the list I would think it would have to be absolutely transcendent.
40. DIIV - Oshin (2012) I must've been hiding under a rock or something to have missed this. I hadn't heard a single track though I had heard of the band. Holy crap, what a find! I'm going to be wearing this record out soon.
39. HOT CHIP - In Our Heads (2012) This record was a little frustrating for me. I've listened to it 3-4 times and I feel like it has some of the coolest stuff I've heard in a while on it and then some of it is downright corny. Occasionally it happens in the same song. I'll definitely revisit the stuff I really like.
38. LOTUS PLAZA - Spooky Action at a Distance (2012) Lotus Plaza is the side project of Locket Pundt of Deerhunter fame. People always kind of assume Deerhunter = Bradford Cox as he's the Deerhunter frontman, but you can hear how much Pundt influences the sound of Deerhunter on his Lotus Plaza albums. Not that LP sounds like Deerhunter, but Pundt's guitar sound is easily identifiable. And with that, here's an atypical for the album, non-reverb-drenched acoustic song.
37. FUTURE - Pluto (2012) Pitchfork's just trolling now. I couldn't even make through the whole album. I made it eight songs in.