Liverpool music’s movers and shakers offer their thoughts to Getintothis on 2012 giving their top albums, tracks, gigs and tips for the new year.
Michael Bennett: Milk:Presents
Albums Of The Year
1. Willis Earl Beal: Acousmatic Sourcery
2. Pond: Beard Wives Denim
3. Tame Impala: Lonerism
4. Jack White: Blunderbuss
5. Woods: Bend Beyond
Top Tracks of 2012:
1. Pond: You Broke My Cool
2. Alt-J: Breezeblocks
3. Mikhael Paskalev: Jive Babe
Top Gigs of 2012
1. International Festival Of Psychedelia: Camp & Furnace (Getintothis review)
2. FestEVOL: The Kazimier
3. White Denim and Pond for Sound City 2012: The Kazimier (Getintothis review)
Event of 2012
Michael said: ‘FestEVOL for a million reasons – mainly the sense of unity.‘
Tip for 2013
Michael said: ‘Make damn sure we have a good a year as the last, right?‘
Mike Deane: Liverpool Music Week founder
Albums Of The Year
1. Burial: Kindred
2. Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid, m.A.A.d city
3. Actress: Rip
4. Mugstar: Axis
5. Dirty Projectors: Swing Lo Magellan
Top Tracks of 2012
1. Evian Christ: Fuck It
2. Jai Paul: Jasmine
3. TNGT: Higher Ground
4. On An On: Ghosts
5. Alunageorge: Your Drums
6. Kankouran: Rivers
Top Gigs of 2012
1. Forest Swords: The Great Escape, Brighton
2. The Haxan Cloak: Unsound Festival, Krakow
3. Savages: Oya festival, Oslo
4. M83: Primavera Sound, Barcelona
5. Stealing Sheep: KCSLU, London
6. Animal Collective: Warehouse Project, Manchester (Getintothis review)
Tip for 2013
Mike said: ‘Albums by Forest Swords, Evian Christ, Mikhael Paskalev and Dan Croll plus the tenth edition of Liverpool Music Week.‘
Getintothis on Evian Christ.
Andrew Ellis: Samizdat
Top Albums of 2012:
1. Andy Stott: Luxury Problems
2. John Talabot: Fin
3. Flying Lotus: Until the Quiet Comes
4. Actress: R.I.P.
5. Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d city
‘An honourable mention for Dopesmoker!’
EPs of 2012
1. TNGHT: TNGHT
2. Luke Abbott: Modern Driveway
3. Lapalux: When You’re Gone
4. King Felix: Spring
5. Burial: Kindred
Top Tracks of 2012:
1. Todd Terje: Inspector Norse
2. Fatima Al Qadiri: D-Medley (Dutch E Germ Remix)
3. Carly Rae Jepsen: Call Me Maybe
Top Gigs of 2012
Swans: Poland OFF! Festival (Getintothis reviews Swans live)
Thee Oh Sees: Primavera Sound
Liturgy: Primavera Sound
Event of 2012
Rhys Chatham‘s A Crimson Grail for 108 Guitars (Getintothis review)
Tip for 2013
Andrew said: ‘Beatlevana‘.
Sam Garlick: everisland
Albums Of The Year
1. Flume: Flume
2. Yeasayer: Fragrant World (Getintothis interview with Yeasayer)
3. Debruit: From The Horizon
4. Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind
5. Four Tet: Pink
Top Tracks of 2012
1. Bwana: Baby Let Me Finish (Black Orange Juice remix)
2. Purity Ring: Lofticries
3. Snowmine: Saucer Eyes
Top Gigs of 2012
1. Purity Ring: The Kazimier (Getintothis review)
2. Muto Leo: The Caledonia
3. Jonquil: Wolstenholme Creative Space (Getintothis review)
Event of 2012
Sam says: ‘Kazimier Garden Gathering. Probably a little bit cheeky to choose this, but it was an absolutely perfect night for me – both as a promoter & music fan. Everything came together perfectly.‘ (Getintothis review)
Tip for 2013
Sam says: ‘All We Are and Waxxx‘s new joint – Haus.’
Tom Lynch: Harvest Sun
Albums Of The Year
1. First Aid Kit: The Lion’s Roar
2. Wild Nothing: Nocturne
3. Lower Dens: Nootropics
4. White Manna: White Manna
5. Woods: Bend Beyond
Tom said: ‘Hard this when there’s been so many great albums this year – I could have picked another 10 easy and feel arlarse on Goat, Ty Segall, Sharon Van Etten, Thee Oh Sees, Peaking Lights, Diiv and many, many more.‘
Top Tracks of 2012
1. Lower Dens: Brains
2. Paqua: Dinosaur Zappa / The Visitor
3. Colorama: Hapus
4. Major Lazer ft Amber Coffman: Get Free
5. Almunia: Pulsar / The Magician
Top Gigs of 2012
1. The War On Drugs: The Kazimier (Getintothis review)
2. Ty Segall: Deaf Institute, Manchester
3. Saint Etienne: The Kazimier (Getintothis talks to St Etienne)
4. Allah-Las, Temples: Leaf Cafe, Bold Street
Event of 2012
Tom said: ‘The Liverpool International International Festival of Psychedelia has to be my selfish pick simply because it exceeded all of our expectations and proceeded to blow us and we hope everybody else who attended away. We hope.
‘Mentions must also go to the Kazimier Garden as a whole and events there – FestEVOL part one (I missed part two, regrettably) and everisland‘s Stealing Sheep garden party which were both great day/nights on all fronts – musically and atmosphere-wise – and proved that when quality events are created with due care and attention, Liverpool goes off like no other place around.‘
Getintothis review and picture gallery.
Tip for 2013
Tom said: ‘Jacco Gardner. I’m not sure about any sort of commercial breakthrough unless somebody pays the BBC an extortionate amount of money to get him on Radio 1, but he’s great. He’s got that psychedelic sunshine folk sound down to a tee and he’s on the ever reliable Trouble in Mind label. Savages because they are brilliant and Temples will definitely take some plaudits this year, and I can’t wait to hear Hookworms‘ album too.
‘On a local tip we’re very much looking forward to hearing The Wild Eyes, The Catchers and Bill Ryder-Jones‘ LPs.‘
Getintothis on The Catchers.
Getintothis talks to Harvest Sun on their remarkable year in 2012.
David McTague: Mellowtone
Top Gigs of 2012
David said: ‘everisland‘s Garden Gathering at the Kazimier Garden – a great use of the space, puppet shows and a stellar bill from Sam Garlick.
‘Ravens at the Floral Pavilion. First gig for the Leeds-based outfit – a 1960s-70s psych-prog pastiche. Lovely stuff. And Rodriguez at the Philharmonic.‘
Getintothis on Rodriguez and review at the Liverpool Philharmonic.
Event of 2012
David said: ‘For me it would have to be Sound City. I was away both weekends of the FestEVOL (bloody weddings, eh?) and we all know what happened with Africa Oyé… With Sound City 2012 it was the first year since its inception that I haven’t been working on the evenings, so this was the first time I could go out and fully appreciate it as a punter. And a great few days it was.‘
Tip for 2013
David said: ‘Ragz has an EP coming out.‘
Steve ‘Revo’ Miller: EVOL and Liverpool Sound City
Albums Of The Year
1. Kendrick Lamar: Good kid, m.A.A.d City
2. Melody’s Echo Chamber Melody’s Echo Chamber
3. Liars: WIXIW (Getintothis interviews Liars)
4. Daphni: Jiaolong
5. Thee Oh Sees: Carrion Crawler/The Dream EP & Purifiers II
Top Tracks of 2012:
1. Solange: Losing You
2. Kendrick Lamar: The Art Of Peer Pressure
3. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti: Only In My Dreams
Top Gigs of 2012
Thee Oh Sees: Primavera Sound, Barcelona
The Rapture: Cine Joia, Sao Paulo
Chilly Gonzales: Capstone Theatre, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
Event of 2012
Revo said: ‘Liverpool Sound City 2012 – proud to be booking in 2013, I remember when it looked like we’d never get through one so delighted the festival is now successfully cemented in the global festival program, here to stay.‘
Tip for 2013
Revo said: ‘The Masque reopening next March – the sleeping giant awakes… Debut albums from Outfit and Forest Swords plus FestEVOL returns.‘
Getintothis interviews Forest Swords.
Getintothis interviews Outfit.
Darren Roper: Liverpool Sound City
Darren said: ‘This year has been a year of strong promise and new thoughts – but in all honestly, it was a year that never fulfilled its potential. If anything I am more exited by 2013 and what it holds.‘
Albums Of The Year
1. John Talabot: Fin
2. Efterklang: Piramida
3. Grimes: Visions
4. Liars: WIXIW
5. Goat: World Music
Top Tracks of 2012
1. Daphni: Long
2. Purity Ring: Lofticries (Getintothis reviews Purity Ring live)
3. Grimes: Oblivion
Top Gigs of 2012
1. Savages: Leaf Cafe, Bold Street (Getintothis picture gallery)
2. Rhys Chatham: Liverpool Cathedral
3. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti: The Kazimer
Event of 2012
Darren said: ‘No one event in general, no nod to ourselves to celebrate our coolness, no one person in particular or no place thing or happening. Our offering as a whole city over the year is stellar and diverse and shows that there will be more of the same in 2013.‘
Tip for 2013
Darren said: ‘My tips for 2013 are Ninetails, Laura J Martin, Bird and All We Are – they’ll be doing some good things in 2013.
‘Other tips I’m exited about are Buke and Gase and Savages – I hope they make me feel like I’m alive with their album. Second that with the Outfit and Loved Ones albums I cant wait for their full releases.‘
Chris Tyler: Bam Bam Bam, You Do The Maths.
Albums Of The Year
1. Metz: Metz
2. Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid, m.A.A.d city
3. Japandroids: Celebration Rock (Japandroids tops Getintothis tracks of 2012)
4. Flying Lotus: Until The Quiet Comes
5. Thee Oh Sees: Putrifiers II
Top Gig of 2012
Chilly Gonzales: Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. (Getintothis review)
