2012 Top 40, as it stands. There should be about 3 more Frankie Rose songs on here, 12 more Himanshu songs, and another Field Music and Damien Jurado or two, but iTunes only shows 40 tracks at once, and I didn’t want to have a second jpg with like two songs on it. I’ll wait until there’s like 60 or so to do another one.

Note that this is a very rolling-style list, and stuff gets limned for other stuff often, if not replaced by other favorites from the same release. If something comes up on shuffle and I skip it, it gets cut (sorry Lower Dens, sorry Rick Ross, sorry most of that Air album, I tried real hard).

Early in the year the most listened-to tracks are basically my crack. SVIIB, Frankie Rose, Chairlift [new-wavey ladies with “atmosphere”], that Miike Snow song, Field Music [preppy, expensive-sounding pop-rock/post-punk], M.I.A., Himanshu [blunted, messy canvas, modern-day geniuses]). I was really surprised by the Sophia Knapp LP, but I wonder how long it’ll stick around. It’s very good on that 1976 Stevie/Lindsey tip, but she colors inside the lines a bit too much, you know?

I’m typically a rap singles guy who is not a fan of 1) tinny Lex Luger productions or 2) bombastic gothic synth soundtracks, so that explains the Young Fame/Schoolboy Q, Killer Mike, T.I., Don Trip, and Das Racist selections. As for that last one, it’s got a Grizzly Bear “Two Weeks” sample on it, which for some people might be hemlock. But it’s better than anything on Relax, and as far as silly hooks go, “Oh my god/what the fuck/Oh my god” > “Michael Jackson/A million dollars” any old day.