Favorite 2012 Releases Thus Far

I have a few favorites that differ from Bryan's ,but mostly he got all of my favorites. Just to list the ones I share with Bryan first

Death Grips - The Money Store

Dark. Erie. Noisy. Catchy. Fun. So far it is my AOTY

Portico Quartet- s/t

This album is probably going to be the best jazz release of this year. The saxophone on some of these tracks is so warm in contrast to the somewhat cold electronics on the album, which is shown clearly on my favorite track on the album, Ruin.
This is THE album to chill out to everything just works.


Now for the albums that I liked, starting with another jazz album, BBNG2
BADBADNOTGOOD-BBNG2

BADBADNOTGOOD is a jazz band from Canada that takes hip-hop beats from Kanye West, Gucci Mane, Tyler, the Creator and even does a rendition of James Blake's Limit To Your Love .They take these simple beats and add their own flare, which is not only influenced by jazz , but a large amount of genres. They even have a cover of "You Made Me Realise" which is great.
They don't only re-do people's beats either they even have a few of their own songs, which are actually some of my favorites on the album. This album is a grower, with each listen it gets better and better.
The album is free on their website



Loma Prieta - I.V.

This is a Screamo band that is made up of members of Beau Navire (they made my list last year with their album Hours), Archeopteryx, Punch, Sailboats, and us, haunted bodies. Together the band makes some of the most abrasive hardcore music to ever come out this year. Starting with the opening track Fly By Night, which comes in hard and then later in the track the band turns more and more melodic, something I really loved from Beau Navire's Hours album.
My favorite tracks comes from the Trilogy (Trilogy 4 "Momentary", Trilogy 5 "Half Cross",Trilogy 6 "Forgetting") in which the noisy guitars seems to stack on and on with these crazy riffs. The sound is massive, fast and antagonistic.
Altogether this album delivers the most aggressive music I have heard this whole year.


Children of the Night - Queens... Revisited

Children of the Night delivers everything I like in a hip-hop group. They all have diverse styles they all have great rhymes and luckily they have some great beats. The way the group collectively rides a beat is very amusing especially on "Kids From Queens", which was the first song I heard from them.  The chemistry on the album with the producers and the rappers is strong and it is seen in the tracks.
The album is free on bandcamp