The sheer number of instruments used on this album sounds like an excerpt from a Dr. Seuss book: banjo, cello, harpsichord, horns, synths, stand-up bass, vibraphone, violin, etc.  And they all combine effortlessly to produce bursts of Dixieland jazz (“The Feeling Kind”), Jack White-sized rock riffs (“City”), saxophone-driven soul (“Human Heart”), grooves the Black Keys would envy (“Holy Roller,” “Every Body”), and gentle folk (“Kindness Be Conceived”), among many, many other details evident on every tune.  Add to all this Thao Nguyen’s voice, a remarkable instrument in its own right, one that can just as easily shout, croon, warble and lament, sometimes all in the same song, sometimes all within a few lines.  The lines themselves are just as fascinating as the layered music, all slices of juicy wit and mellifluous rhyme schemes (one tiny sampling: “If by a third degree you feel a guilt for me / Then I’ve been a villain all my life / If by a melody you stay and sway with me / Then I’ve been a salesman on the side”).  It’s 21st century alt-rock poetry (Shakespeare for hipsters, if you will), a phrase you won’t hear very often because it doesn’t really exist and I’m being way too facetious for my own good right about now…

To characterize Thao’s music as offbeat would be a fallacy.  We The Common is a charming and brilliant album, maybe ahead of its time, maybe wholly of its time, but indisputably entertaining by any measure.  Rather, Thao is on beat, and everyone else needs to catch up.

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40oz. To Freedom- Sublime

Very few albums so single-handedly defined a distinctly SoCal sound.  Sublime’s debut did so effortlessly in the early nineties, melding the hodgepodge of culture that is Los Angeles together seamlessly, incorporating some of the region’s most prevalent underground genres- ska, reggae, punk, rap, along with a heavy Hispanic influence- to make a record that is defiantly and uniquely Californian in attitude, style, and sound.  Audio samples used throughout the LP range from barking dogs to Bob Marley song snippets, creating a collage of sounds worthy of ’80s hip-hop records; the rhythm section of bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh lay down undeniably funky, addictive grooves; the late and sorely missed Brad Nowell spits, wails and occasionally croons the lyrics with soul and grit, both in Spanish and English.  They can be hard and angry (“We’re Only Gonna Die For Our Arrogance”), sweet and sorrowful (“Badfish”), or funny as hell (“Smoke Two Joints”), and sometimes all of these things at once.  Even despite an extensive running time and a nearly chaotic blending of various genres in almost every song (“Ball and Chain,” for example, starts off as a cover of the classic Toots and the Maytals song “54-46 That’s My Number,” shifts to a funky meditation on the constricting nature of marriage, and ends with hardcore punk ferocity), the band somehow manages to pull it off, creating a disorderly blast of reggae-rock that was justifiably able to appeal to a mainstream audience in the process.

A Whole New Thing- Sly & The Family Stone

Sly & The Family Stone is a band that could’ve only been conceived in the open-minded diversity of San Francisco, a band that symbolized what the future could be amidst the heavy racial divides of the 1960s.  It was a peaceful coalition of race and gender, assimilating black, white, male and female with the sole purpose of creating brilliant music.  And they did too, especially on their bombastic debut, one that was radically different from anything their peers were producing.  When other Bay Area natives like the Jefferson Airplane or Grateful Dead were tripping on acid and writing surrealistic rock jams, the Family Stone infused funk, soul, pop, Motown harmonies and Stax grooves to beget a decidedly quirky brand of feel-good music.  From the speed-of-light groove of “Turn Me Loose” to the dabbling of psychedelic rock in “Trip To Your Heart,” no other band from this era sounded so fresh, so joyful, so bursting with creative energy and a willingness to break down the barriers separating the various genres comprising pop music.  While the band didn’t gain popularity until later in their career, especially with the hit “Dance To The Music,” and critical acclaim with the politically-charged There’s A Riot Goin’ On and Stand, A Whole New Thing was the album that introduced the ‘60s, a time consumed by the dread of draft cards and the threat of nuclear war, to a surge of optimism unclouded by the haze of drugs or flower-power absurdity.  No other debut album title better describes the sound of such an original, free-spirited band.

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables- Dead Kennedys

San Francisco is no stranger to the world of hardcore punk as its long list of alumni attests to (Crucifix, Flipper, Whipping Boy, etc.).  But no other group born in the Bay was more politically active or scathing than the Dead Kennedys.  Their debut Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables is an explosion of fury aimed at an America slowly but surely drifting towards the right in the early ’80s, towards the greed-is-good Reagan administration and its callous attitude regarding poverty (“Kill the Poor”), towards the sins of the country’s most unglamorous foreign policy debacles (“Holiday In Cambodia”), and, proving their bipartisanship, towards Democratic Governor Jerry Brown (“California Uber Alles”).  Then there are the more typically snotty slices of hardcore designed purely to enrage the easily offended (“I Kill Children,” “Stealing People’s Mail”).  But it is not just the exemplary songwriting that made the Kennedys stand out from many punk bands of the time; it’s their superior musicianship as well.  The distinctive, inimitatable cackle and vocal delivery of Jello Biafra; the manic riffage and near-shredding guitar theatrics of East Ray Bay; the spastic, jarring beats provided by Ted (aka Bruce Slesinger); and the biting bass of Klaus Flouride that at times threatens to steal Ray’s spotlight all contribute to the filth, rage and intelligence that is Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables.

Warren Zevon- Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon’s masterful debut is a mournful ode to the underbelly of Hollywood, to the back alleys untouched by the Star Walk and far from the well-worn route of wide-eyed tourists.  From hanging out with the ‘phonies’ at a sleazy Sunset Strip bar (“The French Inhaler”) to wasting away on a heroin addiction at ‘the outskirts of town’ (“Carmelita”), this self-titled LP is nearly equal parts celebration and cynical critique of the seedy Tinsel Town lifestyle of a young man immersed in the entertainment business.  At times he revels in the grime like on the party anthem “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead,” but on the final sweeping track “Desperados Under The Eaves,” a song that perfectly encapsulates the feeling of a bad hangover, he laments the lonely, superficial nature of such a life when all the mistakes become clearer in the morning light, when all the problems materialize instantly in a cheap motel and an empty coffee cup.  The song is so good, so full of chilling harmonies and a haunting melody, that I may be so bold as to claim it is simply the greatest song ever written about Hollywood.  That’s a statement about as big as the city itself, but not nearly as big as the song’s scope and unforgettable refrain.

What The Toll Tells- Two Gallants
One more band from the Bay Area and, no, this one is not a debut.  It is actually the duo’s second full-length release, one in which they refined their unique blend of punk, country, and folk influences to create a brilliant collection of murder ballads, angst-filled scorchers, and anguished dirges.  Though they occasionally pretend to hail from the South like on “Long Summer Day,” a song told from the perspective of an African-American suffering the hardships of Jim Crow America, or “Las Cruces Jail,” which is based on Billy the Kid’s imprisonment, they are, at heart, West Coast boys.  On “Steady Rollin’” the speaker casually mentions dumping the body of his wife in the ‘Frisco Bay,’ “16th St. Dozens” is about the colorful Mission district in the city, and a sense of gloom as thick as the fog that surrounds the Golden Gate Bridge pervades the entire record.  The best duos out there make you forget the fact they’re lacking a bass player.  Two Gallants not only makes you forget, they sound like an orchestra at times, especially on the melancholy “Some Slender Rest” with its sparse but effective use of a cello, or the rambling and sorrowful “Threnody.”  All their albums are good, but What The Toll Tells is damn near perfect.

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The Matrix
A mind bending film couldn’t have anything less than a mind blowing electronic and hard rock soundtrack. The musical journey that is Rob Zombie’s “Dragula (Hot Rod Herman Remix),” and Marilyn Manson’s “Rock Is Dead” give the film an edgy club scene, but the real musical hero is Rob Dougan. The Australian Neo-Classical composer’s “Clubbed to Death” is a musical Matrix, blending classical strings and piano with a driving electronic sound. A modern opus if there was one. Rage Against the Machine’s “Wake Up” is a perfect closing song, and segues into the forthcoming sequels.

School of Rock
Richard Linklater’s Jack Black comedy contains a veritable who’s who of classic rock. Black and company even begged Led Zeppelin to allow the inclusion of their classic “Immigrant Song” in the final release. “Sunshine of your love” by Cream, “The Substitute” by The Who and The Doors’ “Touch Me” are just a few of the multitude of classic rock hits. The movie does an admirable job of integrating them into the soundtrack, though any inclusion is good for classic rock aficionados.

Easy Rider
Only one song can describe Easy Rider and truly all road trip films, Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild.” A classic biker tune for a classic biker film, Easy Rider also includes Jimi Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9,” The Byrds “Wasn’t Born to Follow.” The Who’s “I Can See For Miles” and Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” also make some well appreciated appearances. The film is just a who’s who of late 1960′s rock; even Joe Cocker’s “With a Little Help From My Friends” is included.

Pulp Fiction

The soundtrack in the Quentin Tarantino film is the proverbial icing on the cake to complete the cult classic. Beginning with surf rocker Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” the film is propelled by the eclectic mélange from Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” The film itself is such a unique piece of cinema that the variety and quality of the soundtrack appropriately matches. Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” and Kool &The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” round out the film’s signature hits.

Star Wars
While Star Wars doesn’t include any popular music, the magnitude of John Williams’ score has entered the lexicon of popular music. “Star Wars (Main Theme)” is arguably the most well-known theme song of all time. John Williams’ even upped the ante in The Empire Strikes Back with “The Imperial March” an ominous and bombastic song that defines John Williams’ career.

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Any band that can successfully pull off a chorus like, “I drink cheap beer, so what, f*** you!” is okay in my book.  And that’s just how FIDLAR’s debut LP opens alongside the sound of crashing drums and scuzzy guitar tones ripped from the Dead Kennedy’s East Bay Ray.  This hybrid punk band certainly doesn’t care if they offend your delicate sensibilities.  In other words, they’re a band I can’t wait to see at some dingy house party, attempting to withstand the stench of spilled beer and body odor, pushing back a raging mosh pit threatening to tear down the walls as everyone destructively enjoys the fruits of musical anarchy.  FIDLAR is a pure 21st century party band- exploiting their own excesses yet not glorifying them in the way KISS or Van Halen would have; recognizing their many vices (drugs, smoking two packs a day, drunk driving to Culver City) but helpless to control them, sometimes because it’s too much fun but usually because there’s just nothing else to do.

FIDLAR (an acronym for ‘f*** it dog life’s a risk’; yes, they like to use the ‘f’ word a lot) come from a long musical lineage of grappling with the superficial trappings of modernity or, to put it simply, the aforementioned boredom that causes them to act like teenagers even though they have been legally allowed to enter bars for years.  Nods to this sort of angst pepper nearly every track: the spastic sleaze rock of “No Waves” that sounds like a less freaky Thee Oh Sees; the garage punk reminiscent of the Black Lips on “Wake Bake Skate”; the ominous Mudhoney-esque grunge of “Paycheck”; the surf-tinged “Blackout Stout” that reveals an obvious influence from LA beach culture.  It all ties into the theme of chaotic youth, of being old enough to obtain certain responsibilities yet still too young to really care about them.  It’s a celebration of vulgarity and crude slang, proclaiming that there’s “nothing wrong with living like this” as the pills and booze make the nights run together and the police sirens sound like screams of terror.  Yet it is also a contradictory statement, an aimless lifestyle that eventually leads to the telling exclamation, “I can’t find my way!” on “Blackout Stout.”

Despite the constant parties and reckless fun, the lachrymose shadow covering it all cannot be ignored.  It is a subtle lament, but a lament nonetheless pronounced most clearly on the closer “Cocaine,” a song propelled by a filthy guitar line and wretched vocals.  It’s dark and dirty until the very end after a screech of feedback dies, a few moments of silence fill the void, and then a gentle turn takes the track into an almost folksy reworking of the same theme.  In it, the album’s best line, and a line that could very well define this generation, is delivered: “I don’t know what to do / It kinda sucks being 22.”  That’s damn near Shakespearean in it’s simplistic beauty, or at least as close as these Pabst drinkers will ever get to Shakespearean.  FIDLAR may not be the most poetic or graceful or classy band out there, but you can’t say their music is dumb, no matter how much they’d lead you to believe it is.

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From the cowbell-tastic (I believe that’s a word in some dictionary) opener “Electric Fever” to the horn-fueled “Time Rolls On,” Energy makes no effort to conceal their influences or love for this brand of tasty bubblegum rock.  But, even the sweetest rock candy loses its taste after awhile.  Love Sign is certainly an entertaining album and every song is indeed effortlessly hummable, but halfway through the LP, around the song “Hangin’”- which has a suspiciously similar set of chord changes to the opener- I was wishing the band could find some kind of edge to sharpen their tunes with.  Maybe my ears are simply just too cynical, but I found myself wincing during the heartfelt ballad “True Love” which is about exactly what the title suggests, a song so nostalgic in tone and style it could be played at a high school prom.  “Hold You Close” is another syrupy track, one that heavily draws from Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac from the bouncing rhythm to the lush back-up vocals yet lacking the same bite as the ’70s band after Peter Green left and took all the blazing riffs with him.

It’s hard to be a ‘retro’ band in this day and age for fear of being labeled unoriginal or something your parents might enjoy (one of the seven deadly sins that any contemporary group must avoid), so it does take a lot of guts to go down that musical route.  Sure, you might not exactly be progressing pop music forward, but progressing pop music forward brought us dubstep and that’s really nothing to be proud of.  Free Energy, however, come off as so sincere it’s impossible not to like them.  Other ‘retro’ bands like the Darkness can survive as being near-parodies of the genre they worship with their outrageous vocals and overtly cliche blistering guitar solos.  Free Energy plays it straight and they pull it off too.  They definitely know their stuff, they understand how to write solid pop/rock songs, and they obtain the conviction necessary to back it all up.  The question of their talent is not the issue.  The real question is whether or not their music- so joyous and pristine- fits these times.

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2012 was arguably one of the better years for rock music over the past decade. Pop music has been the most prominent form of auditory entertainment in recent history, and it is good to see rock music staging a comeback. A number of rock icons like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan released new albums over the past year, but this list focuses on more contemporary artists.

El Camino – The Black Keys

The eclectic rock duo has been one of the most successful rock acts over the past few years. After toiling in obscurity back to back big name albums have catapulted the Black Keys into the forefront of rock music. Technically, “El Camino” was released in December of 2011, but it is nominated for the 2013 Grammy Awards so that’s close enough for this list. The album through and through is an auditory spectacle, with “Lonely Boy,” “Little Black Submarines” and “Gold On The Ceiling” some of more widely known hits.

Blunderbuss – Jack White

It’s certainly been an interest trip for Jack White, from The White Stripes, to The Raconteurs, to the Dead Weather, and now as a solo artist. White has always been the driving force behind all of his musical endeavors and this solo album is pure Jack White through and through. His unique style of simple yet unique sounds permeates each and every track. The first four tracks of the album are of the more radio friendly, standard style, but the album really gets going once Jack White lapses into his anything goes style.

Babel – Mumford and Sons

Somehow, British band Mumford and Sons have taken a southern indie rock sound, complete with banjo and made it not only palatable but incredibly enjoyable as well. Rolling Stone describes the album best as “The biggest little string band on the planet followed the surprise pop success of 2010′s ‘Sigh No More’ with a bigger, bolder set of folk revival jams. It’s as simple as that. “I Will Wait” the first big single has pushed Mumford and Sons into the Grammy discussion.

The 2^nd Law – Muse

Muse has been internationally known for quite some time, but it wasn’t until 2009′s “Resistance” that band finally began to break out. With 2012′s “The 2^nd Law” Muse has finally achieved stardom in all corners of the globe. The first single “Survival” was the theme for the London Olympics. While not the most creative song, it was certainly catchy and sets off the album. The following two singles “Madness” and “Follow Me” are solid if not stupendous, but the real treat of the album are the final two tracks entitled “The 2^nd Law: Unsustainable” and “The 2^nd Law: Isolated System.” An interest mix of dubstep and Muse classic sound that is extremely unique.

Some Nights- Fun.

Fun is a band that definitely didn’t follow any sort of cookie cutter path to success. Their 2012 album “Some Nights” is the perfect example, an album true to itself, without compromising any artistic integrity. “We Are Young,” “Some Nights” and “Carry On” are all different, and yet share a number of intangible qualities that make Fun fun. Unique they are, but given their success they’ve got no reason but to “Carry On.”

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You can praise the Dropkick Murphys for many things- an incredibly catchy Celtic-flavored brand of punk rock, the best song on the Departed soundtrack, the theme for the Boston Red Sox 2004 championship season- but what impresses me most is their sheer consistency.  Since their formation in the mid-1990s, every album in their comprehensive catalog is at the very least good, and a couple are even great.  It’s an efficiency that reflects their working-class roots, their strong ties to a blue-collar background that pervades every note and word of their music, from the blitzkrieg rush of their first full-length LP Do or Die to the lyrics describing long, boozy nights full of fist fights, colorful characters and, at the end, sweet, drunken lullabies.  With their massive group vocals that could fill Fenway Park and an extensive array of musical instruments, from standard-issued guitars to bagpipes and flutes, they are more than just a mere band- they’re a gang.  Yes, a gang that would most likely be able to kick the snot out of you, but only if you really deserved it.

Their latest release SIGNED and SEALED in BLOOD continues the now fully established sound of the Murphys, though one that has lately been leaning more towards Irish hard rockers Thin Lizzy than Irish punk rockers The Pogues.  The odes, like anything the Murphys do, are not subtle: the obvious nod on opener “The Boys Are Back”; the theme of fighting for glory, one that echoes Lizzy classics like “Warriors” and “Emerald,” on “The Battle Rages On”; and the boogie-rock of “Out On The Town,” a track that could have fit nicely on Lizzy’s own Johnny The Fox album.  Then there are the more familiar Dropkick punk-rock sounds evident on “Burn” and “My Hero,” the folk-tinged singalong “Rose Tattoo” (maybe a nod to the great Australian punk/hard rock band of the same name?), and one of the best Christmas songs written in recent times “The Season’s Upon Us.”  This jingle perfectly captures the feeling of dysfunctional family gatherings, from the copious amounts of ‘brandy and eggnog’ that are consumed just to survive it to the hilarious observation that, ‘With family like this / I would have to confess / I’d be better off lonely / Distraught and depressed.’  Don’t ever underestimate the songwriting of the Dropkick Murphys; with lines like that they’re ranked up with the best of the lyrical smart-asses (Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Morrissey, etc.).

And, of course, the album ends with the aforementioned sweet drunken lullaby “End Of The Night,” and it is about exactly what you would assume from the title.  It’s a song full of the sorrow that comes with the last call at a dive bar, when you and your friends aren’t ready to go home yet, back to the daylight realities where you ‘can’t catch a break,’ where you’d ‘hold down a job if they didn’t all suck.’  The tune is sung and played almost like a late ’50s, early ’60s rock ballad, one in which you could easily imagine Dion crooning, but which also carries all the typical Dropkick flourishes.  Like they say in the song, this is a band that wears their ‘hearts on our sleeves,’ and it is an easy statement to believe.  They may be a gang on the outside, full of bravado and bristling pride and overflowing testosterone, but at the end of the night they’re just a bunch of boys looking for a place to go.  Or, more aptly, a bar that will serve them one last pint of Guinness.

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Io Echo

Io Echo is a swirl of colors (vibrant pinks, blinding whites, cooling blues) and splashes of Eastern instrumentation combined with Western shoegaze, noise rock and doom metal.  I know you’re chuckling right now, shaking your head in perplexed amusement, scarcely believing the words you are reading, but it’s true.  I saw this band open for Band of Skulls at the Fonda Theatre in LA and by the time their set was over, I forgot all about the headliner.  It was an explosion of senses: all sound and fury and fluid beauty with the bass pounding through my skull, the guitar shooting through the stratosphere with violent yet somehow elegant distortion, the drums keeping me locked into a hypnotic trance with its sense of steadiness and sheer force, and the rail-thin lead singer prancing about onstage in a wispy kimono like a forest nymph, at once innocently graceful and ferociously enthralling.  They only have an EP out currently (which has been repeating nonstop on my iPod for weeks now) and hopefully the new year will bring with it a full-length release.  And if you have a chance to see them live, DO IT.  Nothing beats the feeling of your whole body shaking, the walls of the club rattling, and your brain burning from the sounds of Io Echo, sounds that are equal parts soothing, melancholy, and frightening.

Abby Posner

This singer-songwriter is the most criminally undiscovered artist out there, and by ‘there’ I’m referring to both the physical world as well as the far more influential virtual one.  Her songs are so sweet and achingly beautiful at times that they belong on the soundtracks of romantic comedies (the good ones produced by Judd Apatow, not the ones starring Cameron Diaz and/or Ashton Kutcher).  She has a couple EPs out along with an LP entitled For You, the Spring which was released in September 2012, but next year should be the breakout one.  I consider myself a pretty typically jaded and cynical product of a desensitized, hyper-modernized, information-overloaded society, but even my irony-coated heart was melted by the blissful melodies on songs like “The Dawn” and “I Found My Way.”

Christian Mistress

Christian Mistress wears their N.W.O.B.H.M. influences on their sleeves, but such homages to the past don’t spoil their own unique brand of heavy metal.  Nodding to the early years of Judas Priest and underrated stalwarts like Angel Witch, this band out of Olympia is unabashedly old-school yet also a refreshing breath of huge riffs and enormous attitude.  The hair-raising voice of frontwoman Christine Davis adds a distinctive flavor to songs like the blistering “Over & Over” and the sludgy “Possession.”  Look for them to hopefully break big onto the metal scene next year.  With an album cover like the one above, how could they not?

One High Five

Fans of toe-tapping, high energy power pop in the vein of Green Day or Weezer will adore this band hailing from Long Beach, California.  Their music is irresistibly catchy and composed of melodies neither too simple to grow stale after a few listens nor too complex to turn off more casual listeners.  It’s hummable, danceable, good time rock n’ roll, and if they don’t get a hit off their upcoming full-length in 2013, then I really do have to fear for the state of the music industry.  Check out their website onehighfive.com and download the freebie track “Fully Operational” to get an aural sugar rush or just stalk their Facebook page like I usually do.

Lord Huron

Imagine My Morning Jacket backed up by the ghosts of an old, obscure Ennio Morricone score.  It’s weird, I know.  The image of Clint Eastwood hanging out with Jim James at a crumbling Wild West saloon freaks me out too.  So instead I just listen to Lord Huron’s debut LP Lonesome Dreams, an album that combines lamenting, echoing vocal melodies with some epic instrumentation that conjures glowing, orange sunsets and vast, wide-empty prairies stretching for miles into the horizon.  My guess is the group will grind through the 2013 summer festival circuit and become indie-rock obsessions by the time autumn rolls around.  That’s the only prediction I dare to make for the next 365 days because, who knows, the end of the world could be right around the corner.

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10.) A Giant Dog- Fight
I don’t know how this pop-punk gem managed to sneak by the attention of mainstream music publications.  This Austin-based group delivers a slice of raw, sloppy, simple and, most importantly, fun rock goodness, the kind The Ramones had down to a science by mid-career.  The band sounds like they’re having such a good time it’s easy to forgive the sometimes corny lyrics and basic song structures.  It’s pure bubblegum punk, the kind that Green Day mastered twenty years ago, the kind A Giant Dog absolutely nails with a much-lower budget, surviving on pure energy and inexhaustible enthusiasm.  Check out the tracks “Cowboy” and “Hang Around” for some good time rock n’ roll.

9.) Grizzly Bear- Shields
Grizzly Bear’s music always makes me feel like I haven’t spent enough time in modern art museums or reading obscure 19th century British literature.  In other words, they’re a smart band that makes smart music, and their 2012 release is no exception.  The melodies are as dense and layered as ever but Shields successfully incorporates darker undertones, stripped down backing vocals, surrealistic lyrics and inventive instrumentation.  Listening to this album sometimes feels like walking through a dream, sometimes a nightmare, but it is always captivating.  The closer “Sun In Your Eyes” may just be the most gorgeous tune the band has composed yet.

8.) The Shrine- Primitive Blast
I remember seeing this band over the summer in LA and believe pieces of my brain are still scattered across the floor of the Bootleg Theater out in Silver Lake.  Described by Spin as a group that successfully blends the creaking doom of early Black Sabbath with the hardcore ferocity of Black Flag (a comparison I personally made way before their East Coast ears ever reached these SoCal natives), The Shrine is all kinds of heavy.  From the sloppy punk of “Zipper Tripper” to the Sleep-sized opening riff on “Drinking Man,” The Shrine is guaranteed to become your new favorite metal band.

7.) Jack White- Blunderbuss
Even after three bands and more albums than I care to count, Jack White shows that he’s still got a whole bunch of riffs up his sleeves.  While the rockers on his first solo LP characteristically rock (“Sixteen Saltines,” “Freedom At 21”), it’s the slower, more country infused tracks that really stand out (“Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy,” “I Guess I Should Go To Sleep”).  His cover of Little Willie John’s “I’m Shakin’” is a particular highlight, a blistering three minutes of blissful boogie rock perfectly suited for White’s manic voice and crunchy guitar.

6.) Passion Pit- Gossamer
The best pop album of the year is also one of the darkest, spanning such heavy subjects as the struggles brought upon by the recession (“Take A Walk”), substance abuse and addiction (“I’m Alright”), and relationship woes (“Love Is Greed”).  Delicious synth hooks and upbeat percussion, however, are the spoonfuls of sugar that make the bitter medicine go down a little easier.  Passion Pit shows every aspiring pop band out there that you can take on any subject, regardless of its severity, as long as you set it to a danceable beat.

5.) Titus Andronicus- Local Business
Titus Andronicus cut down in size but not in scope on their third full-length outing.  The punk explosions raging against a careless society and the trappings of ego are still present (“Ecce Homo,” “In A Small Body”), but the band expands their sound to include glam-rock (“Food Fight!”), quasi-blues (“Tried To Quit Smoking”), and even a silly, but fun, attempt at pop (“(I Am The) Electric Man”).  It also includes probably their catchiest and most accessible song to date with the anthem “In A Big City” and some of their heaviest riffage at the end of “My Eating Disorder.”

4.) Bruce Springsteen- Wrecking Ball
Wrecking Ball is Springsteen’s most incendiary and scathingly political album to date, a scorching collection of protest songs where he vows to shoot down the Wall Street ‘robber barons’ (“Death To My Hometown”) and advises the listener to “hold tight to your anger” on the title track.  It is also the best piece of work he has produced since The Rising, modernizing his sound with experimental audio loops and samples and expanding it all with blistering horns, sorrowful strings and glorious percussion.  It’s a sound so big I’m not sure where Springsteen starts and Arcade Fire ends, proving to the potential heirs to his throne that, for now, he’s still The Boss.

3.) Preservation Hall Jazz Band- St. Peter & 57th Street
With a lineup of guests this stunning (the great Allen Toussaint, My Morning Jacket, Steve Earle, Yasiin Bey) it’s impossible to not be impressed by this recording.  The preservers of Dixieland prove that their brand of old-school swing isn’t going anywhere, especially not with performances of this magnitude (the lamenting dirge “St. James Infirmary,” the celebratory “Bourbon Street Parade,” the irresistibly catchy “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business”).  The combination of young blood (GIVERS on “Bonjour Cousin”) with reputable veterans (The Del McCoury Band) was a stroke of genius, turning a great concert into a classic one and the best live album of the year.

2.) Jimmy Cliff- Rebirth
The man who helped popularized the genre of ska may also be the man to revive it with his first album in too many years.  Jimmy Cliff proves he’s still got the voice to deliver blistering criticisms of modern society (“World Upside Down”), exclamations of individuality (“Outsider”) and homages to the power of music (“Reggae Music”).  Rebirth is full of hope, despair, love, anger, politics and everything in between, perfectly encapsulating this moment in history and Cliff’s own continuing relevance in pop culture.

1.) Japandroids- Celebration Rock
No other album this year better captured the feeling of being young and restless than this Canadian punk-rocking duo’s second release.  Think of it as a stripped-down, lo-fi (and low budget) Born to Run with its adolescent yearning for purpose, direction, and escape.  But Japandroids surpass The Boss himself with this collection of big verses and even bigger choruses, their slightly off-key but never underwhelming harmonies, the angst exemplified through raging guitars and booming drums, and their biting street-punk poetry (So we down our drinks in a funnel of friends / And we burn our blends right down to the end / We don’t cry for those nights to arrive / We yell like hell to the heavens).  Japandroids don’t write songs; they write anthems.  Songs are for individuals; anthems are for groups, large groups, groups that pump their fists in the air and shout along to every word in wide open festival fields.  Japandroids write anthems that uplift the soul, that nurture dreams, that channel the aimless energy of wandering youth, energy harnessed to create decade-defining classics that all the great bands of the past were able to successfully achieve (see: The Who, The Ramones, Sonic Youth, etc.)  They are the band that best captures the spirit of rock n’ roll, from the volume to the rawness to the unhinged passion.  Celebration Day is exactly that: a celebration of youth and all the frustrations and anxieties and discoveries and dreams that go along with it.
Oh, and the album also includes a pretty sweet cover of The Gun Club’s “For the Love of Ivy.”  Celebration starts now.

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Justin Timberlake

Who’d thought that Sync front man would have turned into a very solid actor, both on the serious and comedic sides the coin. Justin Timberlake whet his acting chops with a few appearances on Saturday Night Live. Timberlake’s paring with Andy Samberg propelled the Lonely Island guys into national stardom. As for Justin, he parlayed a number of smaller roles into primary characters in The Social Network and In Time. The former pop crooner is now poised to be an A-List actor.

Eminem

While Eminem has only appeared in a few small roles aside from his own biopic 8 Mile, his performance was memorable. Eminem essentially played a fictional version of himself, with Kim Basinger as his alcoholic abusive mother. Marshall Mathers easily connected with the role and did an admirably job in front of the cameras. Though he’s been off screen for a while, he is set to jump back into acting as a boxer in “Southpaw.”

Ice Cube

While Ice Cube will probably always be known as a member of NWA, he’s become a household name for his multitude of family friendly films, like “Are We There Yet” and “College Road Trip.” Cube has starred in the “Friday” Franchise and is currently starring in the TBS show “Are We There Yet.” Certainly the most prolific former rapper and current actor, Ice Cube is always trying to up his acting chops in front of the camera.

Jennifer Lopez

Most people probably forget that Jennifer Lopez actually began as an actress before reaching stardom for her music. Her performance in the biopic “Selena” jumped Lopez into the music industry. After a decade or so of success, she found the transition back to acting quite simple, with a number of quality roles in “The Cell”, “Angel Eyes” and “Enough.” While Lopez’ has found herself in a few too many poorly written romantic comedies, she can surprise with a few meatier roles.

Will Smith

The Fresh Prince has come a long way from spinning records with DJ Jazzy Jeff. The former rapper and TV Actor, Will Smith, is as one of the top grossing actors of all time. After beginning his film career with big budget action films like Independence Day and Bad Boys, he’s since become one of the most respected actors in the industry today with a number of Oscar worthy performances in “Ali,” “I Am Legend” and “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

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