Best of 2012

Eternal Summers at BVCMJ 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield) Roanoke, VA’s Eternal Summers and Philly’s Bleeding Rainbow are old pals, having released a split 7″ back in both bands’ early days and have toured together more than once…

Jeff of Passion Pit in Austin in September (more by Tim Griffin) Passion Pit do a great job of combining pop songwriting and forward-thinking electronic music trends, so when we reached out to their members for a list of their favorite albums of the year, it makes sense that the list has a pretty even split of both of things…

Marcus Foster at Webster Hall (more) BV contributors Dominick Mastrangelo, Dana (distortion) Yavin, Amanda Hatfield, David Andrako and Fred Pessaro // BBG have all gone to their share of shows in 2012, and each has weighed in on their favorite photos that they took in 2012…

and Tig Notaro Tig Notaro is a living super hero and I was so thrilled that she took the time to do a Top 10 for us. Even though Tig was previously an LA-based comedian, over the years we here at BV have admired her and always did what we could to trumpet her greatness to you, the loyal BV reader…

Purity Ring at Pop Montreal 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo) Purity Ring‘s debut album Shrines has been a mainstay on Best of 2012 lists, from NME and SPIN to personal lists from Freelance Whales and Bowery Presents’ Josh Moore…

Frank Ocean at Angel Orensanz, Sept 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG) BBC Music has announced their Top 25 records of 2012. Like lists from MOJO, Q, and Uncut, it’s got familiar names like Frank Ocean, Baroness, Swans and Grizzly Bear…

Grimes @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (more by Amanda Hatfield) Josh Moore, talent buyer at Bowery Presents, is in charge of booking shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg, but you’ll also find gigs he booked at places like Brooklyn Bowl, Webster Hall and Terminal 5…

Freelance Whales @ Webster Hall, 11/7/2012 (more by Sarah Gainer) Winsome indie outfit Freelance Whales released their latest album, Diluvia, back in October and were just on NPR’s World Cafe for a chat about the album and live session as well…

“Here’s a riddle: Grimes + LDR = the #1 and #2 most-blogged artists of 2012. Grimes LP on tons of year-end blogger lists. Why not LDR?” – Dev Sherlock Hype Machine, which compiles data from countless music blogs, posted the Top 50 Most Blogged About Artists, complete with pretty pictures (like the one of the #1 artist above), and ways to listen to those artists…

FACT is still one of the best sources for cutting edge electronic music, and I always look forward to their top 50 albums of the year list, which they’ve just published for 2012…