Our Top 50 Albums of 2012

This has been a seriously brilliant year for music and as a music site it's basically a responsibility of ours to make a list of the best. So on one sunny morning all the Purple Sneakers minds got together and here are the Top 50 albums we chose from 2012.

50. Diiv Oshin

49. Alpine A Is For Alpine

48. Breakbot By Your Side

47. The Cast Of Cheers Family

46. The Shins Port Of Morrow

45. Die Antwoord Ten$ion

44. Django Django Django Django

43. Kendrick Lamar Good Kid Maad City

42. Of Monsters And Men My Head Is An Animal

41. Reptile Youth Reptile Youth

40. Tall Ships Everything Touching

39. Sharon Van Etten Tramp

37. The Vaccines Come Of Age

36. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Trouble

35. Tallest Man On Earth There's No Leaving Now

34. Chairlift Something

33. OPOSSOM Electric Hawaii

32. DZ Deathrays Bloodstreams

31. Collarbones Die Young

30. Jack White Blunderbuss

29. Wild Nothing Nocturne

28. The Presets Pacifica

27. Bleeding Knees Club Nothing To Do

26. Melody's Echo Chamber Melody's Echo Chamber

25. Lotus Plaza Spooky Action At A Distance

24. Two Door Cinema Club Beacon

23. Breton Other People's Problems

22. Hunting Grounds In Hindsight

21. Purity Ring Shrines

20. Grizzly Bear Shields

19. Crystal Castles III

18. Thee Oh Sees Putrifiers II

17. The Laurels Plains

16. Pond Beards, Wives, Denim

15. Father John Misty Fear Fun

14. Chromatics Kill For Love

13. Hot Chip In Our Heads

12. Cloud Nothings Attack On Memory

11. Japandroids Celebration Rock

10. The Rubens The Rubens

Recorded in New York with David Kahne, and for Ivy League Records, the Unearthed Artists of the Year recipients The Rubens broke through spectacularly with their debut self-titled effort. Full of guitar driven Blues and Soul tracks with tender and soothing lyrics The Rubens are proving themselves worthy of their hype. LL

Standout Tracks: 'My Gun'; 'Lay It Down'; 'The Best We Got'.

9. Jonathan Boulet We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart

At times soaringly energetic, frenetic, melodic and layered with lyrics and sounds that levitate the albums tracks to miraculous places Jonathan Boulet's We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart is a place where the melancholic and the joyous cohabitate in utter harmony. LL

Standout Tracks: 'Animal'; 'Trounce'; 'Cent Xoix'.

8. Last Dinosaurs In a Million Years

Track after track this is an album of totally infectious lyrics and riffs that play better after every listen. So lively and full of energy with In a Million Years Last Dinosaurs prove yet again the sheer talent and fully conceived visions this countries bands have for themselves. LL

Standout Tracks: 'Sunday Night'; 'Andy'; 'Honolulu'.

7. Grimes Visions

A magical journey through a place most people wouldn't dare venture to, Visionsis a journey through the mind of Claire Boucher aka Grimes created with electronic synths that sound oh so mystical. Boucher's high vocals echo throughout the album like a ghostly angel and once you listen to Visions, you're hooked on Grimes and that sweet sweet voice.

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Standout Tracks: 'Genesis'; 'Be A Body'; 'Oblivion'.

6. The XX Coexist

Coexist is 11 tracks of minimal production and inventive arrangements that combining an airy texture with newly embraced electric dance music grooves. In Coexist The XX have much more focused album than its predecessor with direct lyrics about romantic relationships and less of the 'moons and stars' (Oliver Sim). LL

Standout Tracks: 'Angels'; 'Swept Away'; 'Sunset'.

5. Beach House Bloom

The Baltimore duo Beach House gave us their ethereal Bloom this year. Composed of truly special lyrics and progressive, twinkling soundscapes, Bloom is built for any whimsical music lover riding a dreamy wave of blissful ambience with a splash of delirium. HG.

Standout Tracks: ':Lazuli'; 'Other People'; 'The Hours'.

4. Alt-J An Awesome Wave

Mercury Prize winners Alt-J have a sound that is sort-of alt-folk-indie-electro-dub-trip-pop, but also not really any of this. They stand without a clear genre, with influences incredibly far reaching. What this band’s sound is however, is guitar driven with an emotionally rich vocal performance on every track. LL

Standout Tracks: 'Breezeblocks'; 'Matilda'; 'Something Good'.

3. Frank Ocean channel ORANGE

Complex compositions swell an a harmonious relationship jumping between samples and live orchestrations, but lets face it, all the wonderful work with the music is nothing in comparison to Frank Oceans fresh point of view and voice as an artist. LL

Standout Tracks: 'Lost'; 'Pyramid'; 'Super Rich Kids'.

2. Flume  Flume

Snappy synths and countless illusions to pop and RnB dominate the debut effort 21 year old producer Flume. Demonstrating a real sense of house and moody in the arrangements, the LP is also aided by a handful of brilliantly features that include Chet Faker, Jezzabell Doran, T.Shirt and Moon Holiday. LL

Standout Tracks: 'Sleepless'; 'On Top'; 'Ezra'.

1. Tame Impala Lonerism