We find ourselves cruising towards the supposed Mayan apocalypse on December 21st as their thirteenth bak’tun calendar draws to a close. Thus humanity’s fate stares into the void of the unknown and, at this crossroads, we discover ourselves lovingly clutching another twelve months’ worth of viscerally emotional music for your ears.
In an incredible year for new bands we see loosely half of our top twenty entries feature as debutants; the youngsters it seems have a strong sparkle in their eyes going forwards into their own new dawn.
From dance music retaining its nebulous gaps to indie taking on further dapper refinements and hip-hop, beats and braggadocio gaining ever more style, 2012 has been shimmering with invention, seduction and sophistication.
Dive deep here and keep swimming. We hope you thrive through immersion as much as we have. These forty labours of love have sound tracked another passionate year of music and fashion in the life of Clash. And so we’ll see you on the astral flipside…
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1. BOBBY WOMACK The Bravest Man In The Universe (XL Recordings)
"We’re here today because Clash has judged Womack’s latest album, ‘The Bravest Man In The Universe’, made in collaboration with Damon Albarn and XL founder Richard Russell, our favourite long-player of the year. “That’s great news,” Bobby responds, genuinely grateful of the honour.
It’s an album that crowns his career, that bridges generations, genres and technologies, and one that nearly killed him. It’s music that affects the depths of your soul, that makes you want to dance, that makes you want to cry."
Read an excerpt from our interview with Bobby Womack here.
We'll reveal the rest of our Top 40 below, stay tuned and clickthrough to read why each made the list.
40. Willis Earl Beal ‘Acoustmatic Sorcery’ (XL) Read more…
39. THE SHINS ‘Port Of Morrow’ (Columbia) Read more…
38. YEASAYER ‘Fragrant World’ (MUTE) Read more…
37. BRETON ‘Other People’s Problems’ (FATCAT) Read more…
36. JULIA HOLTER ‘Ekstasis’ (IGetRVNG) Read more…
35. THE VACCINES ‘Come Of Age’ (COLUMBIA) Read more…
34. MARCONI UNION ‘Different Colours’ (JUST MUSIC) Read more…
33. JAKE BUGG ‘Jake Bugg’ (MERCURY) Read more…
32. DZ DEATHRAYS ‘Bloodstreams’ (HASSLE) Read more…
31. ACTRESS ‘R.I.P.’ (HONEST JONS) Read more…
30. MICACHU AND THE SHAPES ‘Never’ (Rough Trade) Read more…
29. CHROMATICS ‘Kill For Love’ (ITALIANS DO IT BETTER) Read more…
28. MATTHEW DEAR ‘Beams’ (GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL) Read more…
27. PERFUME GENIUS ‘Put Ur Back N 2 It’ (MATADOR) Read more…
26. SHACKLETON ‘Music For the Quiet Hour’ (WOE TO THE SEPTIC HEART) Read more…
25. JIMMY CLIFF ‘Rebirth’ (ISLAND) Read more…
24. POLIÇA ‘Give You The Ghost’ (MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES) Read more…
23. LIARS ‘WIXIX’ (MUTE) Read more…
22. SWANS ‘The Seer’ (YOUNG GOD) Read more…
21. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE ‘Centipede Hz’ (DOMINO) Read more…
20. EFTERKLANG ‘Piramida’ (4AD) Read more…
19. THE MACCABEES ‘Given To The Wild’ (POLYDOR) Read more…
18. THE WEEKND ‘Trilogy’ (ISLAND) Read more…
17. THE XX ‘Coexist’ (XL) Read more…
16. NENEH CHERRY AND THE THING ‘The Cherry Thing’ (SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND) Read more…
15. KINDNESS ‘World, You Need A Change Of Mind’ (FEMALE ENERGY/POLYDOR) Read more…
14. KENDRICK LAMAR ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ (AFTERMATH / INTERSCOPE) Read more…
13. TAME IMPALA ‘Lonerism’ (MODULAR) Read more…
12. GANG COLOURS ‘The Keychain Collection’ (BROWNSWOOD) Read more…
11. JACK WHITE ‘Blunderbuss’ (XL Records) Read more…
10. GRIZZLY BEAR ‘Shields’ (WARP) Read more…
9. BETH JEANS HOUGHTON AND THE HOOVES OF DESTINY ‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’ (MUTE) Read more…
8. DJANGO DJANGO ‘Django Django’ (BECAUSE MUSIC) Read more…
7. FLYING LOTUS ‘Until The Quiet Comes’ (WARP) Read more…
6. EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS ‘Here’ (VAGRANT/ROUGH TRADE) Read more…
5. GRIMES ‘Visions’ (4AD) Read more…
4. DEATH GRIPS ‘The Money Store’ (EPIC) Read more…
3. FRANK OCEAN ‘Channel ORANGE’ (MERCURY) Read more…
2. ALT-J An Awesome Wave (INFECTIOUS MUSIC) Read more…
1. BOBBY WOMACK The Bravest Man In The Universe (XL Recordings) Read more…