On Music in 2012

Dec 16, 2012 | 3 minutes read

Tags: blog

I’d never intended for this to be a music blog, but none the less I figured it might be interesting to collect the highlights of what I’ve been listening to in 2012 in one place. I listen to a pretty wide variety of music – anything that’s not Rap or R&B is usually game, but I tend to hover around a mix of electronic music and indie folk. Odd combination, right? I’ve got hundreds of tracks in my listening-to playlist. A few have stuck, and have that intrinsic ‘repeatability’ – these follow.

Klangkarussell are a 2-man team of Austrian producers. This track defines summer – the brief, repeated saxophone note throughout is absolute bliss. This seems to have done well in the German singles chart, but received little fame elsewhere.

London based band Daughter are lead by the chilling, beautiful vocals of Elena Tonra. Best of 2012 is a toss up between this track and Sonnentanz.

I originally came across this track in a remix by ‘Love Thy Brother’ which is also worth a listen.

Florence Welch meets Calvin Harris yet again, in what I think is the best collaboration they’ve had – and let’s keep in mind FATM’s history with Collaborations. Dizzee Rascal? Yea, WTF was that.
Ok, sure – we’re all sick of hearing this one on the radio – but that piano line is pretty epic. The version I’ve included is the Calvin Harris Extended remix, but skipping forward to 1:09 to avoid a pretty dull intro. (Wish I could do this in the car…)

What’s this, Cian? Rap? I thought you hated rap?
Oh but I do, don’t get me wrong – but there’s something incredibly cool about Robert Frost’s ‘Two Roads’ to the tune of that old jazz number we all instantly recognise. Ok, so the following verses are nothing great – but it still got me hooked.

**protip**: If like me you’re thinking ‘Maybe Cam Meekins has done some other cool stuff like this’, he hasn’t.

This video went viral pretty instantly as ‘Stadium Dubstep’, but the accompanying track has stuck with me ever since. PatrickReza posts lots of free mixes on Facebook – like his page to see more of him.

I’ve absolutely no idea where the title comes, but this is Deadmau5 at his very best. 8 minutes of aural bliss, for me this is a rival to 2009’s Strobe.

“And now – for something completely different”.. Originally known to me as the track from the Hyundai advert, this little Piano tune is almost frustratingly short, but very pleasant. See, it’s not all minimalist techno!?