#1 Chromatics - Kill For Love
(Italians Do It Better)
I have been waiting for this album for 6 years! I was a huge fan of their last album in 2007. Both Night Drive by Chromatics and Beat Box by Glass Candy made it into my top 50 that year. That was also the first year of the Amoeblog and my first top 50 for Amoeba. Glass Candy will have a new album out in 2013. But in 2012 we got a brilliant new album by Chromatics. These guys are from the beautiful town of Portland. They have been around for about a decade. But really became a different kind of band back in 2007. Another perfect album of dreamy electronic love songs. These songs are seriously breathtaking and they make it seem so easy. These guys can do no wrong and always manage to create exactly what I need from them.
Listen to "At Your Door" by Chromatics...


#2 DIIV - Oshin
(Captured Tracks)
The band formerly know as Dive is now called DIIV. This was another album that I was highly anticipating this year. Captured Tracks has done it again this year and released another group of amazing albums. They had two albums in my top ten last year and they have two more in my top ten this year. DIIV is Brooklyn based Zachary Cole Smith of the band Beach Fossils. I actually like this project more than Beach Fossils. DIIV is exactly what I have come to expect from this label. This is shoegaze and dreampop in the year 2012. It brings me right back to the early 90s. I never really wanted to leave that period of music. So I am happy to revisit if often.

I fell in love with the first A Place To Bury Strangers album back in 2007. It just seemed to come out of nowhere and hit me over the head. It ended up in the #1 spot in my top 50 that year. And it has remained one of my favorites over the last couple of years. They put out their second album in 2009 and I have been patiently waiting for the next album from them. I didn't think we would have to wait until 2012! But at least they have thankfully given us a new EP this last week. Onwards To The Wall is out now on CD and LP. This band blows me away every time I listen to them. I always forget just how much I love them until I listen to them again. It is like falling in love all over again. This EP of five songs was worth the wait. And it has got me very excited for the new album later in the year. You have to listen to A Place To Bury Strangers loud. There is no other way. It is never too late to become a fan of this band. They are made for fans of the louder side of shoegaze. Fans of The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. I love listening to these guys in my car. But it usually has to be dark out and preferably cold out. This is the perfect time of year for A Place To Bury Strangers. But there really is no bad time for A Place To Bury Strangers.

Listen to "So Far Away" by A Place to Bury Strangers from the new Onwards To The Wall EP...