Dear 2012: Thank you. For the first time in years, there were actually songs permeating throughout mainstream popular culture that I could not only stand, but thoroughly enjoyed: most notably, Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" (her version with The Roots is endlessly joyful). There were also much-welcome trends, like the return to the 1990s R&B sound, as updated and expanded upon by acts like Haim and Jessie Ware. For me, the year also featured a large swath of compelling and straightforward old-fashioned verse-chorus-verse-chorus punk and rock albums: power chords, sing-along choruses, and punchy amplified solos again proved to be one of the simplest and most affective structures in pop music. More generally, it was an incredible year for the album. Even with heavyweights like Jack White, Beach House, and Grizzly Bear releasing records that left this particular fan in a sleepy pool of his own drool, there was a multitude of exceptional records from newcomers and smaller acts alike that made whittling down this list a sincerely difficult feat. After nearly 12 months, these 35 records are the ones still endlessly spinning on the turntable: the most inventive and relentlessly enjoyable albums of the year based on my completely subjective assessment.
