How mad is it that 2012 was ten years ago?! It may have only felt like yesterday, but lets take a look back at a few of the year’s most memorable moments. The London Olympics was kicked off by an emphatic Danny Boyle produced opening ceremony (Mr Bean, The Queen’s “diving” skills and Arctic Monkeys all coming together for an unlikely celebration of British culture) Andy Murray’s Wimbledon tears had the nation claiming someone was cutting onions close by and there was that Aguerro goal to win Man City their first Premier League in 44 years (the most iconic moment in Premier League history?).
In the music world, Gotye's ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ became the year’s biggest single and it was impossible to escape the ‘Gangnam Style’ dance craze (ugh). Fear not, there was also some relief through Frank Ocean’s excellent debut album Channel Orange and the emergence of Kendrick Lamar as a Hip Hop G.O.A.T thanks to sophomore release good kid, m.A.A.d city. Plus there were excellent debuts from Lana Del Rey and Grimes, as well as many other big releases that we simply don’t have time to list!
What about guitar music though? Compared with its mid-‘00s heyday, indie rock had been sidelined in the mainstream. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great year for the genre! Here’s nine albums that hit the spot and proved that 2012 was amongst indie’s strongest.
Japandroids – Celebration Rock
Kicking off the list is the glorious blend of punk and classic rock by Japandroids. The Canadian band hit gold with their sophomore album Celebration Rock. The record itself is bookended by fireworks to symbolise a triumphant display of pulsating anthems and you’ll be feeling two inches taller once the 35-minutes reach their conclusion. Oh and it’s also a beautiful racket of distorted noise! It gave the Vancouver duo instant underground classic acclaim becoming one of those albums you’d return to time and again when looking for a pick up.
The reason for that is simple. The songs on the album have you losing control of your limbs and force a desire to hug your pals. Its palpable punk tunes will also make you want to challenge the same friends to a beer chugging contest! “You’re not mine to die for anymore, so I must live!” shouts singer Brian King on the call to action track ‘The House That Heaven Built’. Like elsewhere on the record, the track achieves the perfect middle finger to heartache and despair. Celebration Rock’s strength lies in its warmth, euphoria and lack of pretention, sounding as fresh in 2022 as it did a decade before.
Tame Impala – Lonerism
People are always amazed to hear that the work of Tame Impala is that of one man, Kevin Parker, the Sydney-born artist who self-produces each album and even plays every instrument. In 2012, he achieved his breakthrough moment with second album Lonerism. Upon release in October, the colourful psychedelic sounds of the album contrasted to the bleak autumn the UK was encountering and it’s not a stretch to suggest that this escapism helps explain Lonerism’s sudden success on these shores and beyond.
Despite the perceived brightness of the sound, Lonerism has isolation at its heart. This is revealed on ‘Why Won’t They Talk To Me?’ where Parker searches for meaning and better relationships. It’s followed immediately by the Beach House-inspired (more on them later…) ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’, the most singalong yet heartfelt tune on the record. The album created a bona fide rock star out of the shy and retiring Kevin Parker, soon winning numerous best album of the year awards. It even claimed a nomination for Best Alternative Music Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Kevin Parker has followed it up with two excellent Tame Impala studio albums since and has a lot to thank for the success of Lonerism. The record helped him become a modern-day elite artist and a much sought after producer in the years that followed.
The xx – Coexist
If Japandroids and Tame Impala were two artists to soundtrack your 2012 night out, there’s only one band you’d turn to for the aftermath. That, of course, was the soothing and intense tunes of The xx. The year itself was a pivotal one for the band. Coming off a Mercury Prize win and universal acclaim for their 2009 self-titled debut, the moody London band faced the clichéd “difficult second album” phase. The music world waited with baited breath to see how Romy, Jamie and Oliver would respond: Was their debut a one album wonder? What direction would go in next?
Three years after their debut, The xx released Coexist: the band working on an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. Like before, it was another high-quality effort with desolation and minimalism running through its veins - the brooding template further refined and improved upon. “Being as in love with you as I am” painfully declares Romy on opener ‘Angels’. A haunting riff provides a spine-tingling introduction and this is continued on tracks like ‘Chained’, ‘Reunion’, ‘Fiction’ and Swept Away’. Throughout the album, passionate desire combines with unrivalled smoothness, perfected even further from their debut. Coexist is a beautifully produced piece of work and is, though many will disagree (!), their best album to date!
The Maccabees – Given To The Wild
If it was an emotional rollercoaster you were looking for a decade ago, The Maccabees were your band. “So hold me close, don't let me go, I need you so” sings frontman Orlando Weeks on Given To The Wild’s third single ‘Went Away’ with a trepidation surrounding his gaping vulnerability. It’s a song that grabs your soul and gives you a feeling that words can’t explain. Throughout the London band’s third effort you’re often caught in conflict between wanting to smile or cry. This emotion follows through on tracks like ‘Child’, ‘Feel To Follow’ and ‘Ayla’, whilst there’s a powerful hopelessness to ‘Forever I’ve Known’ and ‘Glimmer’. The band – particularly the excellent guitar work of Felix White - create a desolate soundscape to take you on a despair-filled journey.
‘Pelican’ is by far the most radio-friendly song on the album. It was one you’d hear and jump around to on indie nights out in the mid-2010’s, though, in a way, it feels like a false introduction to the album. Nevertheless, Given To The Wild received brilliant reviews upon release. This includes Gigwise’s Will Lavin who gave the album a 9/10 rating, praising it for “pushing the boundaries of music”. In the September of that year, The Maccabees were nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize, recognised by music critics for producing one of the best albums of the year. It’s difficult to argue. That wave of emotion still hits hard
Beach House – Bloom
As the old cliché goes, Beach House are definitely a marmite band. It’s easy to meet equal numbers of music fans who either love or can’t take to them! For many in the former camp, the Baltimore duo’s fourth album is their finest hour to date (and there’s been a few…). In the early 2010s, Beach House were the darlings of indie blogs and forums, celebrated by those seeking substance-filled dream pop. Bloom furthered that acclaim to an even greater level.
Featuring drawn out, atmospheric guitar notes and keys, the album is both heavily emotional and unique. It's the sound of a band refining their sound and perfecting a mood that’s still distinguishably Beach House. What’s also amazing is how it’s one of those albums which can be listened to a thousand times and you'll be discovering new hidden moments on each fresh play. Today it’s universally recognised as one of the best pieces of musical output of the 2010’s - those smooth jams are still utterly seductive a decade on!
alt-J – An Awesome Wave
With Radiohead on a five year hiatus following 2011’s divisive album King of Limbs, the stage was set for a new art rock band to come along and fill the void. This is where the peculiar indie sounds of alt-J enter. May 2022 marked a decade since alt-J's debut An Awesome Wave, a now-classic record so unique at the time the indie world couldn’t help but take notice. Soon after, it made an unlikely dash for the mainstream.
The Leeds band's debut brings together many elements to give it a memorable sound. The combination of folk, indie pop and Joe Newman's distinctive crooning created one of the most interesting albums of the past decade. And in September 2012, they’d win the prestigious Mercury Prize, before an Album of the Year win at the Ivor Novello Awards a few months later. Their debut gathered cult-like acclaim across the globe, particularly in mainland Europe and in America where they'd chart in the US Billboard Top 200. Today they are, perhaps surprisingly, recognised as a contemporary, top tier band and it was An Awesome Wave that got the ball rolling for them in the first place.
The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know
Towards the end of the ‘00s, there was a buzz surrounding the Scottish guitar scene. This was thanks to the work of three Fat Cat Records bands: Frightened Rabbit from the Scottish Borders, We Were Promised Jetpacks from Edinburgh and The Twilight Sad from Kilsyth, just outside Glasgow. The debut from the latter band (2007’s Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters) is an absolute folk-shoegaze joy, today celebrated as a Scottish indie classic. In 2012, The Twilight Sad blew us away again with their most brooding album yet – No One Can Ever Know. This time the guitars were replaced with moody synths for an even darker collection of songs that couldn’t help but hit the spot at that time!
Tracks like ‘Nil’ and ‘Alphabet’ showcase utter despair and heartbreaking poignancy, whilst ‘Dead City’, ‘Another Bed’ and ‘Kill It in the Morning’ feel breathtakingly anxious and uneasy. The surrounding industrial sonics are beautiful and sparse. Though, the main star of the show is the impassioned Scottish singer James Graham who adds so much character to the songs with his locally accented tales. He also has the fantastic ability to roll his “r’s” without gimmickry! The darkness of this record means it won’t be for everyone, but those who got it found it be their most evocative record to date. And who doesn’t love an album that hits you in the gut and makes you question what you’re doing with your life?!
Diiv - Oshin
Back in 2012, DIIV were exactly the kind of band to soundtrack your visit to indie favourite clothing shop Urban Outfitters. Everything about them spoke hipster and alternative! But rarely for a band with that tag, they had a heap of substance to their indie-shoegaze sound. Fronted by Zachary Cole Smith, the Brooklyn four-piece are up there with the most critically acclaimed artists of the past decade due to each of their three records revealing an intriguing rock sound progression. It began, of course, in 2012 with Oshin, a dream pop record with a sweet air of innocence. It still to this day embraces you like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s day!
What’s unique about their debut is how Smith’s vocals are part of the sound’s texture, the meaning of the song carried instead by the band’s beautiful guitar work. It’s the rare and wonderful result of a singer self-consciously opting out of the limelight. Tracks like ‘(Druun)’ ‘Wait’, ‘How Long Have You Known’ possess a sugary, melodic quality, whilst penultimate track ‘Doused’ provides the album’s euphoric pay off. Oshin might not be the band’s most famous album (that acclaim goes to 2016’s Is The Is Are), but it’s today regarded as a great modern-day dream pop album.
Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
Last but by no means least is the addictive, stoner rock tunes of Parquet Courts. “I was walking through Ridgewood, Queens / I was flipping through magazines / I was so stoned and starving” nonchalantly proclaims frontman A. Savage on ‘Stoned and Starving’. This catchy song soon gained the New York-based garage rock band unexpected world-wide cult acclaim and, despite only having two chords, it revealed an effortlessly cool sound. The acclaim for their sophomore album, of course, was at the second time of asking. ‘Light Up Gold’ was first released on Savage’s Dull Tools label in August 2012. A few months later, in January 2013, the larger New York What’s Your Rupture independent label would release it again, a move which acted as major catalyst to their future career success.
In the following months, an international buzz spread. The band soon became the darlings of Pitchfork, played large international festivals and had their songs played on Radio 1. The tunes, of course, on ‘Light Up Gold’ are by no means original sounding, but there was something about those gritty guitars that felt so romantically rock ‘n’ roll. It was especially appealing to the slackers amongst us who wanted something different from the over-produced world that indie rock was becoming - it still sounds amazing ten years later!
