Best albums of 2012 | Randall Roberts

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Year in Review - MusicAlabama Shakes, 'Boys & Girls' (ATO)Fiona Apple, 'The Idler Wheel ...' (Epic)Cafe Tacuba, 'El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco' (Universal Music)Django Django, 'Django Django' (Ribbon Music)Dr. John, 'Locked Down' (Nonesuch)Julia Holter, 'Ekstasis' (RVNG)Kendrick Lamar, 'good kid, m.A.A.d. city' (Aftermath/Interscope)Frank Ocean, 'Channel Orange' (Def Jam)Andy Stott, 'Luxury Problems' (Modern Love)Swans, 'The Seer' (Young God)

New York band Swans have been floating between two extremes for 30 years now. Early aural assaults sat alongside Sonic Youth in the New York noise scene, but over the course of founder-composer Michael Gira's creative life, he's drawn in folk, balladry, tension/release dynamics and pure artistic confidence. "Mother of the World," which clocks in at 10 minutes, is a relentless guitar mantra a la the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray," but with more peaks and valleys. Pumped at full volume, it will give you shivers. "A Piece of the Sky" has the heft of a Richard Serra sculpture.

Swans, 'The Seer' (Young God)

( Jennifer Church / Young God Records )

New York band Swans have been floating between two extremes for 30 years now. Early aural assaults sat alongside Sonic Youth in the New York noise scene, but over the course of founder-composer Michael Gira's creative life, he's drawn in folk, balladry, tension/release dynamics and pure artistic confidence. "Mother of the World," which clocks in at 10 minutes, is a relentless guitar mantra a la the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray," but with more peaks and valleys. Pumped at full volume, it will give you shivers. "A Piece of the Sky" has the heft of a Richard Serra sculpture.

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