2012 - Best of - Albums

Finally, I conclude my year end lists with the most important of all...ALBUMS OF THE YEAR!!
200+ releases in all that I've heard this year, and I've whittled it down to my Top 33!
#1 should be no surprise as I called it out back in April/May.
Enjoy...and buy all these records!

 1. iamamiwhoami - kin

2. Hot Chip - In Our Heads

3. Saint Etienne - Words and Music by Saint Etienne

4. Chairlift - Something

 5. Silver Swans - Forever

 6. Pearl Fiction - Painted Wolf

  7. The Magnetic Fields - Love at the Bottom of the Sea

 8. Grimes - Visions

 9. Get Well Soon - The Scarlet Beast o' Seven Heads

10. Burning Hearts - Extinctions

11. Klaus & Kinski – Herreros y fatigas

12. The Smittens – Believe Me

13. Piano Magic – Life Has Not Finished With Me Yet

14. Choir of Young Believers – Rhine Gold

15. Martin Rossiter – The Defenestration of St Martin

16. The Irrepressibles – Nude

17. Dragonette – Bodyparts

18. Ice Choir – Afar

19. Cats on Fire – All Blackshirts to Me

20. Allo Darlin' – Europe

21. Jens Lekman – I Know What Love Isn't

22. Trust – TRST

23. Beach House – Bloom
24. Susanne Sundfør - The Silicone Veil
25. School of Seven Bells – Ghostory
26. Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man
27. The Presets – Pacifica
28. Skye – Back to Now
29. Dead Can Dance – Anastasis
30. Lydmor – A Pile of Empty Tapes
31. Wolfgang – The Price of Fame
32. Misstress Barbara – Many Shades of Grey
33. NZCA/LINES – NZCA/LINES

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Thanks to a great 2012 and thank you all for reading!
Happy New Year from the staff of OOBERUS OBLIVIOUS!!!

2012 - Best of - Songs

My favourite songs of 2012 are the following 36 songs compiled across 2 CDs which can be yours if you ask nicely (My beautiful artwork included)!  Here they are, lovingly mixed over the past week into pure pop love!

And let it be known, my #1 Song of the Year award goes to Pet Shop Boys and their perfect pop nugget, "Leaving"!!!

VOLUME 1:  PURE POP INJECTIONS

1. The Magnetic Fields – Andrew in Drag

2. Phèdre – In Decay

3. Frida Hyvönen – Terribly Dark

4. Nite Jewel – One Second of Love

5. Computer Magic – Trinity

6. Grimes – Oblivion

7. Compute – This Is It

8. Hot Chip – How Do You Do?

9. Jupiter – Juicy Lucy (Needs a Boogieman)

10. Chairlift – I Belong in Your Arms

11. Pearl Fiction – Talking Seems to Fade Away

12. Misstress Barbara – The Right Time

13. NZCA/LINES – Okinawa Channels

14. Hortlax Cobra – Viva le Difference

15. Oliver North Boy Choir – Shadows

16. Skye – Featherlight

17. KIDS – Exhale

18. Silver Swans – On the Quiet

19. Chinawoman – Pure at Heart

20. Oliver North Boy Choir – Sleep

21. Hot Chip – Night and Day

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VOLUME 2:  THE SOFTER SIDE

1. Saint Etienne – Over the Border

2. Pet Shop Boys – Leaving

3. Sky Ferreira – Everything Is Embarrassing

4. iamamiwhoami – sever

5. Choir of Young Believers – The Third Time

6. Frank Ocean – Thinkin Bout You

7. Chinawoman – To Be With Others

8. Bat for Lashes – Laura

9. Susanne Sundfør – The Silicone Veil

10. iamamiwhoami – idle talk

11. Still Corners – Fireflies

12. Parenthetical Girls – Curtains

13. Pearl Fiction – Strangulated

14. iamamiwhoami – kill

15. Martin Rossiter – Three Points on a Compass

2012 - Best of - Films

After seeing a total of 60 films released in 2012, these are my bestest!!  Also check out my worst down where they belong...at the bottom!!!

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild

 2. Zero Dark Thirty

 3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

4. Seven Psychopaths

 5. Cloud Atlas

 6. Argo

 7. Skyfall

 8. Paranorman

 9. Moonrise Kingdom 

The worst of the worst!!

1. Chernobyl Diaries

 2. Magic Mike

 3. The Raven

 4. Alex Cross

2012 - Best of - Videos

There were a lot of fantastic videos this year, but I'm trying to hold myself back and limit this to a reasonable number!  Oh it was hard!  Take note, #2 is the entire brilliant video series!!


1. Pearl Fiction - Talking Seems to Fade Away


 

2. iamamiwhoami - kin



3. Steve Aoki ft. Lovefoxxx - Heartbreaker




4. Hot Chip - Night and Day



5. Susanne Sundfør - The Silicone Veil



6. Hortlax Cobra - Viva le Difference

2012 - Best of - EPs

Quite simply, the best EPs of 2012 w/ their super cute mini-covers! WARNING: This list is heavily, heavily POP oriented!  You must listen and dance to them all!!

KIDS
"EP"
Ace ace ACE pop music here! Divine!!
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Coco Morier
"Strangers May Kiss"
More ACE pop music, POP!
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Computer Magic
"Orion"
Synthpop should always be this fantastic!
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Sometime
"Music From the Motion Picture Acid Make-Out"
Synth pop love from Iceland!!
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Sky Ferreira
"Ghost"
Genre-hopping pop bliss!
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Craft Spells
"Gallery"
In the same vein of the blissful pop I love from their debut.
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Rosemary
"A Persian Tale"
Any friends of The Golden Filter are friends to Ooberus Oblivious!
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Parenthetical Girls
"Privilege, pt. 5: Portrait of a Reputation"
A beautifully fitting conclusion to their EP saga.
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Brusque Twins
"A Voice in the Night"
Soft Metals? No! Brusque Twins serving chilly synth realness!
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Husky Rescue
"Deep Forest Green"
I love Finland...because of Husky Rescue!
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Paris
"From Paris to Pluto EP"
More nice pop from Emmon's other project!
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Baffin Island
"EP"
Indie pop loveliness!

2012 - Best of - Concerts

Only attended 44 concerts this year, including 3 festivals. That's pretty unfortunate! But these 12 stand-outs made the year that much more superb!!!

In descending order of awesomeness.

1) PULP - Fox Theatre / Coachella
2) Saint Etienne - The Fonda Theatre
3) The Dø - The Satellite
4) The Magnetic Fields - The Orpheum Theatre
5) New Order - The Greek Theatre
6) Hot Chip - Hollywood Bowl
7) Elysian Fields - The Mint
8) Chairlift - Troubadour
9) The Presets - Club NOKIA
10) Burning Hearts / Cola Jet Set / Orca Team / Allo Darlin' - NYC Popfest (various venues)
11) Garbage - The Palladium
12) Choir of Young Believers - Bootleg Theater

Adventus Oblivious - Day 25 - Wesley Willis

First off, MERRY XMAS!!!

Now you all know, there is nooooo better way to end this Advent Calendar than with the amazing Wesley Willis!!! This random footage montage is pure brilliance and fits the track perfectly!!
And come back real soon because in the closing days of the year, the Ooberus Oblivious Year End lists will arrive!!!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 24 - Darren Hanlon

Super sweet, super cute. Here's Darren Hanlon performing the cutest little Christmas tune on some street in Australia.

Adventus Oblivious - Day 23 - Theoretical Girl

This post is in honor of the great Theoretical Girl who sparked the idea in my little brain to make Adventus Oblivious! TG has been giving us AWESOME advent calendars since 2009, in which she usually covers a new song every day leading up to Xmas. Sometimes she'll just throw us a demo or live track, but usually it's a great cover!  She does all sorts of X-mas tunes too!

Here are some of my favourite covers she's done across the years. THANK YOU Theoretical Girl!! I love you...finish your album!! Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 22 - The Magic Theatre

When I heard that my musical soulmates The Magic Theatre had been picked up by awesome Spanish label Elefant Records, I squealed with glee! Here is The Magic Theatre's first piece of musical glory released on their new label and it is indeed musical gloriousness! Same as the preceding Primitives track, "Christmas Lights" comes from "A Christmas Gift for You from Elefant Records"! BUY IT!! And hopefully the video that they filmed for this song will find the light of day...someday!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 21 - The Primitives

Here's The Primitives doing what they do best (still!)...super cute jangly pop tunes! "You Trashed My Christmas" is taken from the very new and very excellent "A Christmas Gift for You from Elefant Records"!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 20 - Nerf Herder

I don't feel there has been enough perversion on this advent calendar thus far. Thankfully, there's still Nerf Herder's romantic track "I've Got a Boner for Christmas". And stick that to some Peanuts footage. Classic!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 19 - The Del Rubio Triplets

Yes, that's right, those sexy saucer gals, The Del Rubio Triplets are too sweet not to serve up piping hot in freezing white fake snow!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 18 - Charo

CHARO on PEE-WEE!!! That's all...Merry Christmas indeed!!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 17 - Jimmy James

Jimmy James' Bette Davis impersonation is one of the most hilarious and spot-on bits in his show! HILARIOUS!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 16 - Silver Swans

Here are my beloved Silver Swans with their ode to the days of the holidays, with the quite simply titled "Holidays". Precious! And buy it...it wants to be yours!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 15 - The Vandals

There's nothing better than a good ol' song about gender affirmation to say Merry Christmas!!
The Vandals sing it best with their hit "My First Christmas (As a Woman)"!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 14 - Belle & Sebastian

Now I couldn't decide on simply one of my favourite Belle & Sebastian Xmas tracks, so I've picked two!! They are both super-fun LIVE pop nuggets! This is dedicated to Oober-Belle & Sebastian fan, my sister-love, Crysmiss!!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 13 - Shaye St. John

Now I most certainly couldn't go all the way through my Advent Calendar without scaring some people a little!! Here's the amazing Shaye St. John performing "Jingle Bells" for us! Jingle all the way girls!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 12 - Summer Camp

FANTASTIC cover of The Waitresses' Christmas classic "Christmas Wrapping" by indie darlings Summer Camp!

Adventus Oblivious - Day 11 - Eux Autres

Here's a newer Christmas favourite that I can listen to all year long and love all the same! Eux Autres have made a most delightful indie pop Xmas gem!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day Ten - Pet Shop Boys

Here's the Pet Shop Boys performing their new Christmas classic "It Doesn't Often Snow at Christmas"!! There are dancing Xmas trees!!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day Nine - They Might Be Giants

Santa Claus & infidelity...now that's the Christmas spirit!!
"Santa's Beard" is a track taken from TMBG's classic 2nd album "Lincoln"!

Adventus Oblivious - Day Eight - Cocteau Twins

Here is a true angel voice. Cocteau Twins performing "Winter Wonderland"! Bliss! Another of my X-mas compilation staples!

Adventus Oblivious - Day Seven - Dina Martina

Oh, how the angles have come from the heavens above to sing to us...lead by the most beautifully-voiced angle of all...Dina Martina!! This song is taken from another classic & favourite holiday album, "The Dina Martina Holiday Album"!

Adventus Oblivious - Day Six - Saint Etienne & Tim Burgess

Saint Etienne, topless menz, Tim Burgess from The Charlatans, and about 10 flakes of fake snow on the stage...CHRISTMAS INDEED!!!
Here they are, performing "I Was Born on Christmas Day" live on The Word.

Adventus Oblivious - Day Five - Gram Rabbit

Desert pop-rockers Gram Rabbit released the super cute "California Christmas" about four years ago along with this cute little video to match!
Their latest album "Welcome to the Country" was released this past summer.

Adventus Oblivious - Day Four - The Superions

Fred Schneider's other band, The Superions, make super fantastic pop songs just like The B-52's! Their X-mas album "Destination Christmas!" came out in 2010 and it is probably the best Christmas-themed album I've ever heard! "Fruitcake" is just one of the many fantastic tracks!



And then there's "Santa's Disco"! 

Adventus Oblivious - Day Three - Pansy Division

This is just how I like my Christmases to be...Homo-ey!!
This is another X-mas compilation staple! Thank you Pansy Division!

Adventus Oblivious - Day Two - The Boy Least Likely To

The Boy Least Likely To released a delightful X-mas album back in 2010 called "Christmas Special". This is definitely the best track from said album, an ode to the Wham! boys George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley! Christmas brings everyone back together!!



And if you want to be super awesome and be extra giving this Christmas season, please donate to The Boy Least Likely To over at their PledgeMusic site! They need our help to get their awesome new album to the masses!!!

Adventus Oblivious - Day One - Cosmicity

So this year I've decided to make an Ooberus Oblivious ADVENT CALENDAR!! Yes!! How joyous!!! Hark the herald angels bitches!!

Day One is my all-time favourite track to include on my yearly X-mas compilations: "This Is Your Crappy Christmas Present" by synth-pop star Cosmicity. So yes, this is my crappy Christmas present to you Internet...The first-(annual?) Ooberus Oblivious Advent Calendar: ADVENTUS OBLIVIOUS!!! Let these inspire your very own awesome Christmas compilations this year!!