Spin went through a number of major changes in 2012. In February the publication relaunched as a bi-monthly magazine and then a few months later was sold to media holding company Buzzmedia. With all the changes, the company continues to increase its digital presence and today they released their year end lists online.
“This was a volatile year for the music industry, and in lieu of a grand, thematic narrative to bring order to the volatility, we embraced the chaos and upheaval,” said Charles Aaron, SPIN’s Editorial Director. “From R&B’s quixotic creep into the spotlight to Death Grips’ confounding joyride off Epic’s fiscal cliff to metal’s emergence as rock’s new power-source to Japandroids hitchin’ a ride to the Zen Arcade. To paraphrase contributing editor Rob Harvilla, 2012 only made sense when we were screaming in unison those Tom Petty-bequeathed words, ‘OH YEAH! ALL RIGHT!’ Hopefully everybody has as much fun reading as we did testifying.”
50. fun. - Some Nights
49. Heems - Nehru Jackets
48. Best Coast - The Only Place
47. Metric - Synthetica
46. Spoek Mathambo - Father Creeper
45. Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
44. Deftones - Koi No Yokan
43. Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur
42. Lindstrom - Six Cups of Rebel and Smalhans
41. Purity Ring - Shrines
40. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
39. Roc Marciano - Reloaded
38. Taylor Swift - Red
37. R. Kelly - Write Me Back
36. Beak> - >>
35. Jack White - Blunderbuss
34. Mala - In Cuba
33. Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II
32. Goat - World Music
31. The xx - Coexist
30. Frankie Rose - Interstellar
29. Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky
28. Jessie Ware - Devotion
27. Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror
26. Tame Impala - Lonerism
25. Action Bronson - Blue Chips
24. Cat Power - Sun
23. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
22. Torche - Harmonicraft
21. Daphni - Jiaolong
20. Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction
19. Traxman - Da Mind of Traxman
18. King Tuff - King Tuff
17. Grizzly Bear - Shields
16. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
15. Baroness - Yellow & Green
14. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
13. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
12. Death Grips - No Love Deep Web
11. Future - Pluto
10. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe
9. Ty Segall - Twins
8. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
7. Swans - The Seer
6. Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man
5. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
4. DJ Rashad - Teklife Vol. 1 - Welcome to the Chi
3. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
2. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
1. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
Spin's list of best albums is all over the map and Taylor Swift at #38 in particular sticks out. There are definitely some surprising picks although it's no surprise seeing Frank Ocean's Channel Orange at #1.
In addition to announcing their picks for the best records of this past year, Spin also proclaimed Japandroids as band of the year and and Death Grips as artist of the year. [BV]