So, we’ve been leaking hits from the coming 2012 Festival over the past few weeks. This hasn’t been strictly promotional. If you could come to our secret team meetings–they always start with a ritual sacrifice–you would see how psyched all of us actually are for this year’s festival.

We’ve got heavy hitters coming in that we’ve been trying to get for years like Rhys Chatham, The Magnetic Fields and David Cross. In addition to the major names, we’ve got a lot of really exciting up-and-coming artists coming to the festival this year like Little Scream, Dirty Beaches, and The War on Drugs. Add to this a mix of established musicians like Seun Kuti, Sharon Van Etten, and William Elliott Whitmore and you’ve got a solid week of good music on your hands and in your ears.

The lit festival is going to be epic this year as well, going everyday of the festival rather than being confined to its regular Saturday. If that weren’t enough, oh, there’s food this year too. Details are still getting sorted with regards to this thing, but I can present to you the following lineup of this year’s festival on the musical front:

The Magnetic Fields
David Cross
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
William Elliott Whitmore
Justin Townes Earle
Black Milk
Sharon Van Etten
Tim Hecker
Rhys Chatham
Leslie & the Ly’s
The War On Drugs
Kimya Dawson
Dirty Beaches
Bowerbirds
Jon Benjamin
Jon Glaser
Mike Doughty
Little Scream
Oberhofer
Erase Errata
Like Pioneers
Caroline Smith & the Goodnight Sleeps
Rene Hell
Wet Hair
Muscle Drum
Denison Witmer
Weed Wolf
Grand Tetons
Christopher the Conquered
Mumfords
The Olympics
T’Bone
The Lonelyhearts
Alexis Stevens
The Savage Young Taterbug
Ion
Kelly Hogan
Rich Rok
Super Sonic Piss
Lwa

Are you psyched yet? You can still get festival passes. Peep the main site for more about those.

Originally hailing from the state of Iowa, Laura Sprengelmeyer has been a long-time staple of the Montreal indie rock scene, a scene that has brought the world–either for its benefit or utter detriment, you decide–The Arcade Fire. Unlike that band, the music Sprengelmeyer releases under her stage name Little Scream is far less bombastic. Although she is a singer-songwriter, Little Scream’s music does not fall into the traditional acoustic traps that such a classification would entail. Noisy, expansive, and propulsive, Little Scream’s music is meticulous in its construction and adventurous in its sound. This attention to detail can be heard in “Cannons,” the second track from her 2011 breakout album The Golden Record.

Here, layers of electronics, electric guitars, cellos, and the airy voice of Sprengelmeyer make a track that is controlled, chaotic, and shimmering with beauty. It’s a track that could have been too much for many artists, but Sprengelmeyer never lets the cacophony overwhelm her; she is clearly in the forefront, the leader of all the madness around her. This is a formidable feat for any artist, especially one on her very first album.

As a result, she’s gotten a considerable amount of positive press for The Golden Record. I didn’t spend enough time with this album when it came out, but in 2012, I’ve found myself listening to it a lot. It’s a beautiful, well-crafted album from an artist who is, genuinely, more interesting than a number of her colleagues from Canada (Stars, I’m staring at you). She’ll be playing at The Mill on the 1st of April, and it won’t be a joke.

You can learn more about her at her website. The video is for “Red Hunting Jacket,” a beautiful, booming track from The Golden Record.

You can get festival passes here.

DIRTY BEACHES – (2011) BADLANDS

This is the album by Alex (aka Dirty Beaches) Hungtai Zhang, a Taiwanese living in Canada that offered in 2011 an artful mixture of hazy rockabilly and psychedelic lo-fi with a unique “distant-crushed” humid tropical flavor in a sense of a low-energy/drifting vibe of a day spent. In this DIY gem, recorded in its home with very few resources available, he creates a solomonic album, divided into two distinct parts and characterized by different sound.

The first 4-piece sung by the canons of fishing grounds of rockabilly contaminated by industrial sounds and waves. The songs are psychotic rock infuse slow-dancing music of the 50s boogie-woogie. In the second half of the disc, brings a different soul to the album. The sound is always retro atmosphere but here he brings the romanticism and lament.

His songs lean heavier on the distortion feeling of dark beats and crashing waves of reverb.  His proto-blues and sinister crooning is swooning and eerie, always one note away from falling apart, just one second away from suicide. The instrumental side is pure cinephilia, where the space is grim. Layers of sounds are dense and the pace doesn’t stop.

“Lord Knows Best” is been on the list of every blog as one of the songs of 2011. The song is a hypnotic, romantic and desperate at the same time. It has a Golden Age of Hip-Hop piano loop but instead of blunt-stained rappers speaking the truth Hungtai’s liquid croon just flows over it, all simple seduction.

What it makes the album a gem is Alex itself. He is a true crooner. A voice that is always in constant move. He is sexual with the reverb sometimes disturbing, sometimes dreamlike. Unique to the palate. A physical soul voice with stories full of mystery and intimacy and not always with a happy ending.

A quote from Alex ” You walk at night often enough, sooner or later you’ll run into a ghost.”

The link below has an interview with Alex Zhang Hungtai

http://bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/5054

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLEP2riNxxM

We all have shadows and this is a band not shy of showing theirs as the name of the band suggests (NEW order, Joy DIVISION) but there is not carbon copy of their influence. Sure, additive synth keys brings those shadows from’78-’81 – 1^st wave of post-punk. But the unique feature of the CD is the infuse dose of catchy dance beats and the use of atmospheric preludes. The songs have emotional flairs in the vocals and darkness and seduction in the lyrics.

It takes several listening to digest how much is going on. You might wince at the given reference of titling a song “Shallow Play” until it twinkles you into submission as this is a well-thought, well-produced album. The melancholic vocals never feel forced but it focus heavily on angst and hedonist. The drums are aggressive compositions matching the subtle additions of guitar-gaze. The electronic beats are crescendo rhythms resembling club party moods.

There is a song that explains the possibilities of the band; “Hearts for Sale” a superb composition that begins with a bass and a groove that leaves you high and directs you to a dark bridge with some keyboards that explodes into the chorus.

The New Division is able to create an atmosphere mood that inspires a sense of hope and gives us a very good feeling. There is a high IQ in their composition. A youthful ambition with the capability to become something unique in the years to come.

The New Division, comment in their website “It is a dark, kinda indie danceable album that touches upon a lot of serious themes but not in a serious manner”; founded in a California college dorm room as an experimental electro group in 2005 by Uruguayan frontman John Kunkle. The rest of the band is formed by Michael Janz (synth), Brock Woolsey (guitar) and Mark Michalski (synth).

For all those hoping for a list, you’re at the wrong place. I’m not going to actually tell you what the best albums of the year are. For those that insist, the best album to come out this year was PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake. You are, certainly, free to disagree with that and say that I’m a wanker or whatever. I don’t particularly care. Harvey really killed this album in a way that she hasn’t since To Bring You My Love. She never really fell off, but this was the most immediate, forceful record that she has put out in a while. Moving on, let me tell you what I’m doing here.

This year, I’m going to take this time to talk about awesome albums that might have slipped by your collective radars. I’m not going to talk about, among others, Fleet Foxes, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, The Antlers, Cults, Bon Iver, Wu Lyf, Shabazz Palaces, M83, St. Vincent, or Girls. The primary reason is that every other indie music writer will talk about these albums like old white people on NPR talk about Paul Simon and Adele. A secondary reason is that out of those 11 artists, I only want to talk about four of them at length: The Antlers, Shabazz Palaces, Toro Y Moi and St. Vincent. I do like the M83, but it’s not a top album for me this year.

With the reasons and rules out of the way, let’s get into this list. If are interested in any of these albums, you should be able to find all of them on iTunes or through a streaming music service like Spotify. I’ve put samples with each release.

Monster Rally – Coral & Crystal Ball

I hate the term chillwave. I find it to be restrictive and just a stupid word. While I have a bias towards this word, I do think there are a number of groups that can just make super chill music. One such person is Columbus, OH resident Ted Feighan. Using the name of Monster Rally, Feighan constructs beautiful albums of laidback tropical pop. Feighan’s true talent is taking all of the samples that he uses and blending them into something that sounds both original and decidedly fresh. He put out two 12″ records this year, and both are equally good. They can be a nice musical vacation from the hell that is the snowy winter and/or daily life.

Clancy Ever After – Iowania

Using the same sampling tactics as Monster Rally, Iowa City artist Clancy Ever After has created an awesome album in Iowania, full of relaxed beats and having a sense of humor about itself. I listened to this album while I was in the Detroit Airport, and it has a beautiful groove, one for moving through space. As well, I’ve found this and the Monster Rally albums to have considerable amounts of replay value.

Dirty Beaches – Badlands

Canadian Alex Zhang Hungtai has released one of the most truly bizarre yet truly amazing albums of the year. Over the span of 27 minutes, Hungtai creates, on Badlands, a sound that merges 60s girl groups, 50s rockabilly, the lo-fi renaissance of now, and the assaultive vocals and drums of Suicide. It’s not nearly as off-putting as it sounds. It is haunting, but’s a very strong statement from an artist on their first album. If you get psyched by this album like I have, come out and SEE HIM AT MISSION CREEK (!!!) as he’ll be playing live.

Mr. Oizo – Stade 2

Mr. Oizo is a dude named Quentin Dupieux. You might know him from this. He’s changed a lot since then. Stade 2 is only another release in his progression. It’s not for the dance floor per se but it’s not for the headphones either. He keeps four-on-the-floor house beats at the core, but the time signatures will be messed up and the main melody will be this acid freakout sound. This is, definitely, a very different type of electronic album to check out but one well worth it. One of my favorite tracks from the album is “France7″, a song that describes so much of what I’m talking about above.

Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls

Out of all the pop albums that I’ve listened to this year, this one is my favorite. Period. It’s a noisier affair, featuring post-punk guitar speeds, sweet harmonies and effortless beauty. For the more pure poppers, the songs are singalongs, which is always the mark of a good pop track. The part that I like the most about this album is how dark and morbid it is. For example, “Misery” is an absolutely beautiful song…about being horribly, horribly sad. Imagine singing to yourself “Misery (I see Misery)/ Taking over me (Taking over me)/ Misery (I see misery)/ My Old Friend”. I wouldn’t have either until I found myself doing it repeatedly because this song is so catchy. I don’t know how they do it, but I don’t want them to stop. If I were to have made an actual list, this album would be in the top ten.

Times New Viking – Dancer Equired

I am putting this album here not because people don’t know who Times New Viking is. If you’ve been paying attention to indie rock vaguely for the past 5-6 years, you know who this Ohio trio is. I put them in this list because a lot of people are sleeping on this album. Dancer Equired is what the other albums would have sounded like if they had recorded them in the studio rather than in a basement. The noise rockers you know and love are still here, doing what they know how to do best: playing catchy, smart songs although they are a little sadder this time around. If you like TNV already, you won’t be disappointed by this album. If you were turned off by the noise of Rip It Off, this is the album that will help explain the appeal of the band.

True Widow – As High As The Highest Heavens and From The Center to the Circumference of the Earth

True Widow is very hard to explain, but I’ll do my best. Imagine you and a couple of your friends were really into Low, Bedhead, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Galaxie 500. One day, one of the people in this cadre suggested that you listen to Sleep’s Dopesmoker, obviously getting high along the way. Getting really inspired, y’all decide to start a band to mix those two interests. The result is As High As The Highest Heavens… by True Widow. As weird as that sounds, it works well. The sludgy guitar riffs played at disturbingly slow speed create a hypnotic effect, detaching you from your body. This album has been sticking with me since I found it, and I think it would with anyone else who likes at least two of the following three genres: shoegaze, stoner metal, and slowcore.

Peaking Lights – 936

I’ve been talking on here about this album all year. It’s an amazing album. You need to get it into your life. Married couple Aaron Coyne and Indra Dunis take dub, psychedelica, and krautrock and make it into a sound that is distinctly their own. If I had to note one album on this list as particularly romantic, it would definitely be this one. “All The Sun That Shines” is a love song over a dub beat with some sweet keyboard and guitar riffs added for good measure. My track of the year “Tiger Eyes (Laid Back)” is on this album, and tracks like “Hey Sparrow” are the ones that you hear in your head when you stare at the person you love.

Young Prisms – Friends for Now

Most years, you can complain about the underground filling itself with acts that think they are far more important than they actually are and bands who never deliver on the promise of their first twenty-eight singles on their first full album. This year wasn’t one of them. Along with Veronica Falls, Beach Fossils, Craft Spells, and Kids on a Crime Spree, S.F.-based noise poppers Young Prisms stand out and show that the underground isn’t dead nor should it be disregarded. While their sound isn’t particularly creative (shoegaze-y noise, atypical pop structures, rise/fall dynamics), their control of it is masterful. They have built a truly solid album with Friends for Now, one that works its way in and doesn’t leave.

Brilliant Colors – Again and Again

The last album I’m going to put on here is another pop album, but this one is from the all-female trio of Brilliant Colors. If you understand the significance of C-86 and Flying Nun, stop whatever you’re doing and go listen to this album RIGHT NOW. If those don’t, imagine a band that could create an entire album that sounds like a dream filled with jangling guitars and girls singing sweetly. If you can, then you understand this album. You’ll listen to it the first time and be sort of impressed but not really. Take your time with this one. It becomes addictive after listen two as the harmonies sink in and the guitars create the atmosphere in your mind.

Is there something that I’ve missed? Something you want to add? Put it in the comments.