Albums of the Year: 2012.

The Official Central Track Staff List.

At this point in the game, you've probably seen so many Best Albums of 2012 lists that you'd rather have voluntary dental surgery before you read another.

We get that. We sympathize with it. So much so that, for a moment there, we thought about not even releasing our own Albums of the Year list for public consumption. Why bother, right? There are literally hundreds of others out there already.

But then we remembered why list-making like this is a good time. For one thing, it's just nice to put a little bookmark on a stamp in time and remember the things that have only recently whizzed past. Plus, lists like these really can do some good; maybe you'll find something on our list that you've never heard before, something you've heard of but never given much thought or something you've in fact listened to but forgot about.

Point is, in this era of mass music consumption, there's a lot of music out there to hear. And some of our top choices (see: Marijuana Deathsquads' Tamper.Disable.Destroy., Makeup and Vanity Set's 88:88) haven't gotten much shine elsewhere, far as we've seen.

So, yeah, maybe there is a reason for releasing Albums of the Year lists.

And, hey, if not, screw it. We're doing it anyway — just like we do with our Buzz Rankings, with a handful Central Track contributors (five of us, in this case) submitting weighted lists to be compiled into a single master one. As a result, it's a pretty varied list, we think.

Go ahead and check it out below.

Oh, and be sure to check back with us later on in the week and month, too, as we'll dedicate some space to our favorite local albums and songs of the year.

Hey, it's just that list-making time of the year. We don't make the rules.

Central Track's Top 40 Albums of 2012.
40. Perfume Genius — Put Your Back N 2 It
39. Best Coast — The Only Place
38. Jessie Ware — Devotion
37. Jam City — Classical Curves
36. Micachu And The Shapes — Never
35. Charlift — Something
34. Beach House — Bloom
33. Kishi Bashi — 151a
32. Flying Lotus — Until The Quiet Comes
31. John Foxx — The Shape of Things
30. Geographer — Myths
29. Necessary — Galgeberg/Gimle
28. Deerhoof — Breakup Songs
27. Bruce Springsteen — Wrecking Ball
26. St. Vincent/David Byrne — Love This Giant
25. Neneh Cherry — The Cherry Thing
24. TOPS — Tender Opposites
23. Killer Mike — R.A.P. Music
22. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti — Mature Themes
21. Father John Misty — Fear Fun
20. Mind Spiders — Meltdown
19. Makeup and Vanity Set — 88:88
18. Bat for Lashes — The Haunted Man
17. Laurel Halo — Quarantine
16. Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
15. Black Dice — Mr. Impossible
14. Japandroids — Celebration Rock
13. How to Dress Well — Total Loss
12. Chromatics — Kill For Love
11. Tame Impala — Lonerism
10. Jack White — Blunderbuss
9. Liars — WIXIW
8. Frankie Rose — Interstellar
7. Dr. John — Locked Down
6. Trust — TRST
5. Big Boi — Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors
4. Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.a.a.d. city
3. Marijuana Deathsquads — Tamper. Disable. Destroy.
2. Grimes — Visions
1. Frank Ocean — Channel Orange