Unlike Michael, I haven’t bought 80 albums this year. I’ve bought quite a lot, but not that much. And, when looking through the albums I got in 2012, it turns out only 6 of them were actually from 2012. In fact, most of the albums I bought this past year were from 2011. Go figure.

The good news though is that this low number makes my list much easier to compile. Here are the 6 albums I felt passionate enough to part with money for in 2012.

Two Door Cinema Club – Beacon

If you live anywhere in the UK or Ireland you’ll know Two Door Cinema Club as “that band who did the song on that advert on TV”. The vast majority of their debut album “Tourist History” has been used on adverts or soundtracks of some kind. It was pretty damned popular. It remains to be seen if they can keep this sort of form up. This second album is not quite as catchy but it shows that the idea of guitar based indie pop isn’t dead yet. A band to keep an eye on in the future.

The Shins – Port of Morrow

If I’m honest, I was a little disappointed with this. It’s not a bad album by any means but I feel they’ve stagnated a little bit as a band which is especially strange considering nearly the whole line-up has changed. For a band that really stood out as being dynamic and interesting they’ve become one with a collection of similar sounds and a bland feel. There are still some gems to be found, so hope is not lost but I’m hoping for something a bit different next time round if I’m to keep the faith.

The Hives – Lex Hives

If I had to pick a favourite of the year my gut decision would be this. If you’ve ever heard a song by The Hives then you know what they’re about. There is no messing around. No artsy fartsy self expression. Unless the expression is “We’re The Hives and we’re here to rock you”. Because that’s what they do. Every time. Without fail. They haven’t made a bad album yet and this just continues that streak. Bow down.

Play it at full volume or don’t play it at all.

Fionn Regan – The Bunkhouse Vol.I: Anchor Black Tattoo

I’m a bit of a folk singer/songwriter junkie. If there was a button that makes me go all gooey and useless, they’d be pushing it. Fionn Regan is one of the best in the world at it and if you haven’t gotten his debut album “The End Of History” then I’m not sure I could ever take you seriously on the subject. This is his fourth album but the first real spiritual successor in sound to that first one. A welcomed return.

Here is one of the songs from the album being played on a vinyl record on top a car in the countryside. It’s pretty much the only way to listen to it.

Ben Folds Five – The Sound of The Life of The Mind

C’mon folks, Ben Folds Five are back. Of course I was going to get that album. If I’m honest, it’s not their best album as it’s a little hit and miss but it definitely grows on you and has that vintage BFF sound that you’ve been longing for. And, if you haven’t seen this music video yet you’ve obviously been living under a rock the past year.

Brendan Benson – What Kind of World

Brendan Benson has always pinned his Beatles influence to his sleeve but thankfully he has also more recently started to expand and show that this doesn’t define him. With an approach to some bigger ballads and his time with the heavier Raconteurs under his belt, his musical palette is now much wider. Don’t worry, there is still all those catchy 3 minute pop numbers in there but it’s now not the whole album.

And thanks to modern technology you can listen to all those albums in full using Spotify. JUST CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE THE PLAYLIST.

DOOM’s motley crew of music aficionados are back to give you the rundown of what they’re digging this past month. This month is contributed by Katie Delz, Michael Harris, and Aaron Poole.

Katie:

This month’s recommendation does not come guilt-free. I confess to throwing my will-power out the window when leaks are involved. Such is the case of Beach House’s new album Bloom.

The official release for this album is May 15th, but I’m sure some people can understand the heartbeat-skipping joy I felt when I discovered the leak.

Beach House is a consistently good band, and their last album ‘Teen Dream’ was released 2 years ago. So it’s an understatement to say that I was anxious to hear what they put out.

Result? Nothing short of amazing. It helps that they used the same producer that they had on Teen Dream.

If you aren’t a super evil, leak-downloading person and want to have a taste of their new album, they did release the first track, ‘Myth’, as a teaser.

Michael:

Good Old War – Come Back As Rain (Released March 6, 2012)

Indie Folk. An ever growing corner of the musical world where I’m going to build a nice summer home. In fact, some days I feel as though I might not ever leave. Good Old War makes me feel like hanging out by the crick and reading poetry books to my best gal, bringing to mind images of tire swings and other such quaint nonsense, but slightly more modern, so possibly images of an iPad with a picture of a tire swing. With Come Back As Rain, the band only continues a wonderful tradition of making great music and giving me something wonderfully happy to listen to.

Standout Track: “Loud Love” (which we couldn’t find so here is a different one -Ed.)

The Shins – Port of Morrow (Released March 19, 2012)

Chutes Too Narrow firmly established this band in the realm of “Shut up and take my money” territory for me, and while Wincing the Night Away had its imperfections and just things that I didn’t enjoy, I was throroughly excited for Port of Morrow. Morrow, though not the Shins lineup that I have come to love and a very different one at that, is a lovely mix of new ideas. Frontman James Mercer and his new crew refined their sound to near perfection. New voices, both instrumentally and vocally make for a very new sound and a fantastic little album.

Standout Track: “For A Fool”

Dr. Dog – Be The Void (Released February 7, 2012)

I know that this came out last month and technically shouldn’t count, but I’m the one who’s writing this review and you can technically shut your face. That being said, I love me some Dr. Dog. This effort by the band is more pop oriented, a bit more…fun, than previous records like Shame, Shame or even Fate which were more subdued with key exceptions. Be The Void is a wonderful bit of freedom from the band, with some great experiments and some great new sounds.

Standout Track: “Heavy Light”

Aaron:

I don’t know at what point everyone started hating Coldplay but they do. It’s strange to me as the first time I heard “Shiver” when it was released, just over 10 years ago now, I was instantly smitten. Their debut album Parachutes was a moody, indie bombshell of awesome and they went stratospheric not long after that. But at that time, they were the cool indie band your mates hadn’t heard of. It seems, Coldplay’s biggest problem is that they got popular.

Now sneered at by the same musical elite who used to champion them, it’s weird how that effects you as a fan. I’ve been to a few Coldplay gigs and they’re incredibly tight live, in fact almost eerily so. They’re so polished that I start to see what people are moaning about. They’re the tidiest band in rock. So when the new album came out… I started to side with the nay sayers.

Well, after a few singles got released I got over myself and realised that no matter what people say, they’re one of the biggest bands in the world for a reason. They make solid records. Mylo Xyloto is their most Pop album to date, it even has a guest appearance from Rihanna on one of the tracks. The album as a whole is coehesive and incredibly listenable with some real sonic moments to grab your attention along the way. It’s not their best, but it’s still worth having in the collection.

If Florence + The Machine released this, the hipsters would shit themselves over how good it is.

Audiophilia returns. After last month’s round up of 2011 we’re now back on track to talk about what music has been rocking our world lately. Or soft-rocking it, or hip-hoping it. Or whatever is taking our fancy.

For February, the Audiophilia team nominate Katie and Aaron to fill your headphones. You can CLICK HERE to listen to our previous recommendations.

Katie:

Nothing quite compares to stumbling upon a song and instantly feeling attached to it, only to find out that there isn’t much left for you to listen to. Such feelings worked their way up when I heard the side project of Zola Jesus titled Nika+Rory.

Zola Jesus is the stage name for Nika Roza Danilova, a haunting voice that is most commonly filed under ‘goth’ and ‘industrial’, among others. She is known to participate in side projects, and this particular one struck a chord with me. Starting out as a collaboration between her and Rory Kane in late 2009, Nika+Rory has this amazing synth pop quality that I admittedly eat up. Paired with Nika’s vocals, it’s something I am delighted to find in the current “music scene”.

Nika+Rory released a self-titled demo in 2010, and the track “I’m Not Going Anywhere” may be making it’s way onto a CD of my “Super Hawt Summer Jamz~”.

Aaron:

There is a generation of college kids who watched the film Garden State and fell in love with both the movie and soundtrack hopelessly and deeply. A big part of that was the story of disassociation, about the loss of “home”, and the desensitization of your mid 20s. But equally the pitch perfect score, which featured two tracks from The Shins (one during an incredibly important part of the film) made a small indie film into one of my personal favourites ever made.

Well, three wonderful Shins albums later and I’m chomping at the bit for their fourth release, which has been four years in the making. It’s coming in March but for now all I have to share is their first single from it, titled “Simple Song”. It’s a very typical Shins track with many of the same trappings of previous efforts. So while we may not be getting anything radically different, I am reminded of the phrase “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.

Although I’m at pains to say, I’m not crazy about the video.