Nathan Flynn's Top 40 Songs of the 2012

After a year of listening to new music, I find that I’m not listening to a lot of 2012 music. There have been a few standout albums (Good Kid m.a.a.d. City, Some Nights, Vital, Cruel Summer) that I still listen to on a regular basis, but most releases, even some that I liked a lot- sorry Regina Spektor- have just fallen by the wayside. Well, this isn’t about the best albums of the year: this is about some diamonds in the rough scattered around some of 2012’s best and worst releases. My 40 favorite songs I would recommend checking out from this year (with links!) are:

Live Review: Leeds Festival 2012

It's not exactly been a vintage year for the UK's major festival circuit. Mediocre lineups, Glastonbury's absence and the odd cancellation have, truth be told, made for a rather quiet season, with no real success stories or headline grabbing antics to speak of. Reading and Leeds, the last of the summer giants can usually be relied on to liven things up, but this year even they appeared a tad underwhelming, with a pair of generic headliners topping a bill which looked average at best. This twin event's ace card, however, has always been its depth, so there was a certain inevitability in the way that the schedule became more and more attractive with each new announcement.

Album Review: The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten

Album Rating: A-

It's hardly a surprise that Handwritten is a great record. In fact, coming from such a dependable outfit, its success was virtually inevitable, with the only unexpected twist being the manner in which it excels. Ok, that's not strictly true - especially for listeners with a hint of common sense - but for the naïve among us, Brian Fallon's comments in the run-up to the its release seemed to herald something of a U-turn. "Fast," "aggressive" and personal" are just some of the adjectives that the frontman has flung around these past few months; could he and his band be about to return to their raw and loose punk roots? Of course not.

2012: A Look Ahead



Great Expectations... will 2012
be the year that The Gaslight

Anthem become huge?

Ah, finally it's 2012, and thank Christ - no more end of year lists!

Yes, the obligatory avalanche of retrospective madness has finally ran it's course, and at long last we can begin looking ahead at what the new year has to offer. And wouldn't you know it, even a cursory glance over the coming months reveals plenty that's worth getting excited about.

As well as the obvious big names and returning old favourites, there are also legions of newer acts hoping to make an impression with debut releases, while others who have already completed that opening hurdle will be looking to kick on and really establish themselves within the industry. So, with a run through the early year release schedule, as well as a few well educated pieces of guesswork, let's cast our minds ahead and behold what could well be another year of stellar musical achievement...