Polaris Juror Top 10 Albums Of 2012 Lists

To celebrate the fact the Mayans were wrong and that we’ve made it to 2013 we decided to dedicate this week’s Polaris People column to the various top ten albums of 2012 lists some of our jurors have made.

If you’ve ever wanted to look into the minds of Polaris jurors for the purposes of typecasting or disagreement, now’s your chance.

Behold…

As the author/aggregator of this post I get to go first. Aaron Brophy of Risky Fuel’s #1 album was Dirty Ghosts’ Metal Moon. To read the rest of the list go here.

Mike Bell of the Calgary Herald’s #1 album was Diamond Rings’ Free Dimensional. To read his full list go here.

Saskatoon writer Adrien Begrand supports Rush’s Clockwork Angels. Here’s his list:

1. Rush – Clockwork Angels
2. Anathema – Weather Systems
3. Scott Walker – Bish Bosch
4. Pig Destroyer – Book Burner
5. Baroness – Yellow & Green
6. Goat – World Music
7. Neneh Cherry & The Thing – The Cherry Thing
8. Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man
9. Grimes – Visions
10. Amanda Mair – Amanda Mair

Benjamin Boles of NOW Magazine considered Daphni’s Jiaolong one of his top albums. To read his full list go here.

Lorraine Carpenter of Cult MTL’s dug Dum Dum Girls, End of Daze EP. To read her full list go here.

Stuart Berman from The Grid’s #1 album was Swans’ The Seer. Here’s his complete list:

1. Swans – The Seer
2. Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse
3. Tame Impala – Lonerism
4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor -‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend, Ascend!’
5. Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
6. Metz – Metz
7. The Men – Open Your Heart
8. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
9. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, M.A.A.D. City
10. Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Shawn Conner of the Vancouver Sun’s compiled a list of overlooked gems from 2012. Among them: Christopher Douglas Smith’s Earning Keep. To read his full list go here.

Mike Devlin of the Times Colonist’s #1 album was Japandroid’s Celebration Rock. To read his full list go here.

Adam Bowie of the Daily Gleaner considered Alabama Shakes’ Boys & Girls one of his favourite albums. Here’s his full list:


1. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
2. Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur
3. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
4. Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
5. Lee Fields & The Expressions – Faithful Man
6. Dr. John – Locked Down
7. Old Crow Medicine Show – Carry Me Back
8. The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter
9. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d. city
10. Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball

Jim Di Gioia from Quick Before It Melts considered The Darcys’ AJA one of his favourite albums. To read his full list go here.

Lisa Christiansen of CBC Radio 1 considers Shooting Guns’ Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976 one of her favourite albums of the year. Here’s her list:

Japandroids – Celebration Rock
Shooting Guns – Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976
High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis
Drake Take Care
Bison B.C. – Lovelessness

Carla Gillis of NOW Magazine considered St. Vincent’s Strange Mercy one of her top albums. To read her full list go here.

Tom Coxworth of CKUA considers Maria Dunn’s Piece By Piece one of his favourite albums of the year. Here’s his complete list:

Canailles – Manger Du Bois
Maria Dunn – Piece by Piece
Simone Felice – Simone Felice
John Wort Hannam – Brambles and Thorns
Cathy Jordan – All the Way Home
Loreena McKennitt – Troubadours on the Rhine
Passenger – All the Little Lights
The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra – Follow My Lead, Lead Me to Follow
Awna Teixeira – Where the Darkness Goes
The White Buffalo – Once Upon A Time in the West

CHRY’s Ian Gormely considered Cloud Nothings’ Attack On Memory one of his favourite albums. To read his full list go here.

Stuart Henderson of PopMatters considers Todd Snider’s Agnostic Hymns And Stoner Ballads his #1 album. Here’s the rest of his list:

1. Todd Snider – Agnostic Hymns And Stoner Ballads
2. Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur
3. Killer Mike – RAP Music
4. Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
5. Iris DeMent – Sing The Delta
6. Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
7. Neil Young – Americana
8. Dr. John – Locked Down
9. The Walkmen – Heaven
10. THEESatisfaction – awE naturalE

Erik Leijon of Cult MTL’s #1 was Royal Headache’s self-titled album. To read his full list go here.

National Post’s Ben Kaplan chose Jason Collett’s Reckon as his #1 album. Here’s his complete list:

1. Jason Collett – Reckon
2. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, M.A.A.D. City
3. Jimmy Cliff – Uprising
4. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
5. The Cult – Weapon Of Choice
6. Willie Nelson – Heroes
7. Nas – Life Is Good
8. Jack White – Blunderbuss
9. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
10. Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe

Freelance writer Jason MacNeil’s #1 album was Cold Specks’ I Predict A Graceful Expulsion.

Bruce Leperre, 730 CKDM’s Program/Music Director, chose Shovels & Rope’s O’ Be Joyful as his #1 album. Here’s his complete list:

1. Shovels & Rope – O’Be Joyful
2. Lucero – Women + Work
3. Ray Wylie Hubbard – Grifter’s Hymnal
4. Rose Cousins – We Have Made A Spark
5. John K. Samson – Provincial
6. Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur
7. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
8. Heartless Bastards – Arrow
9. Del Barber – Headwaters
10. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls

François Marchand of Vancouver Sun’s #1 album was Grimes’ Oblivion. To read his full list go here.

One of freelance writer Steve McLean‘s favourite albums was Young Fresh Fellows’ Tiempo De Lujo. To read his full list go here.

Guillaume Moffet of BRBR/Voir considers Avec Pas d’casque’s Astronomie his favourite albums of the year. Here’s his complete list:

1. Avec Pas d’casque – Astronomie
2. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
3. Tame Impala – Lonerism
4. Jessie Ware – Devotion
5. Metz – Metz
6. Peter Peter – Une version améliorée de la tristesse
7. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
8. Susanne Sundfør – The Sillicone Veil
9. Lescop – Lescop
10. Grimes – Visions

Toronto writer Dave Morris‘ #1 album was Tame Impala’s Lonerism. To read his full list go here.

One of Joshua Ostroff from Spinner’s favourite albums was Divine Fits’ A Thing Called Divine Fits. To read his and other Spinner staff selections, go here.

Thomas Quinlan, an Exclaim writer, endorsed El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure as his #1. Here’s his full list:

1. El-P – Cancer 4 Cure
2. Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
3. Myka and Factor – Sovereign Soul
4. Aesop Rock – Skelethon
5. P.O.S. – We Don’t Even Live Here
6. Serengeti – C.A.R.
7. JJ DOOM – Key To The Kuffs
8. K-Dot-O-Dot – Lucha Lonely 2 (I Hate Myself And Wanna Die)
9. The Coup – Sorry to Bother You
10. More Or Les – Mastication

The Urban Guy’s Ryan Patrick considered Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange his #1 album. To read his full list go here.

Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star’s favourite albums included The Luyas’ Animator. To read his full list go here.

Tiny Mix Tapes writer Alan Ranta considers Pepe Deluxé’s Queen Of The Wave his favourite albums of the year. Here’s his complete list:

1. Pepe Deluxé – Queen of the Wave
2. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
3. Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny – Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose
4. Kid Koala – 12 Bit Blues
5. ∆ – An Awesome Wave
6. Carolina Chocolate Drops – Leaving Eden
7. Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs
8. Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse
9. Kishi Bashi – 151a
10. Orbital – Wonky

Vancouver’s Trevor Risk didn’t do a top ten as much as he did a predictive list for PopMatters about the future of music. BA Johnston is part of that future. Read about it here.

One of Ian Steaman from Different Kitchen’s favourite albums was Saukrates’ Season One. To see his full list go here.

Metal writer Natalie Zina Walschots‘ #1 album was Dragged Into Sunlight’s Widowmaker. Here’s her complete list:

1.Dragged Into Sunlight – Widowmaker
2. Witch Mountain – Cauldron Of The Wild
3. Gaza – No Absolutes In Human Suffering
4. Pallbearer – Sorrow And Extinction
5. Enslaved – RIITIIR
6. Mares Of Thrace – The Pilgrimage
7. Oak Pantheon – From A Whisper
8. Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage
9. Torche – Harmonicraft
10. Neurosis – Honour Found In Decay

Richard Trapunski of NOW Magazine chose Metz’s self-titled album as his #1. To read his full list go here.

Eric Volmers of Calgary Herald’s #1 album was Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball. To read his full list go here.

Jen Zoratti, a CBC Music and Spinner contributor, believes in Mise en Scene. Here’s her list:

1. Mise en Scene – Desire’s Despair
2. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
3. Mother Mother – The Sticks
4. PS I Love You – Death Dreams
5. Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
6. First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
7. Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
8. Ladyhawk – No Can Do
9. Departures – Still And Moving Lines
10. Dum Dum Girls – End of Daze

Frank Yang of Chromewaves loved a number of albums this year. Amongst them, Bat For Lashes’ The Haunted Man. To read his full list go here.