2012 has been a prolific year for music, with many new releases, some interesting new artists, reunions and astonishing live shows. But which albums can be considered the greatest marvels of 2012? The Toonari Post presents you its very own top-five list of albums on which you should have put your hands during this year.

5. Of Monsters and Men – My Head Is an Animal

The debut album of the indie-folk Icelandic band, it was first released in 2011 in Iceland, and only in 2012 in North America. The album debuted at number six on the U.S. Billboard 200. The extremely successful single ‘Little Talks,’ a catchy tune accompanied by dark and inspiring lyrics, reached the Top 20 in over five countries and positioned as No. 1 on the US Alternative Songs chart. Catchy choruses are a characteristic which pertains to the entire album, along with the contrast created by the male and female voices, and with the monumental sound generated by the accordance of the many instruments used on the tracks. The biggest strength is probably the union, given by sound and lyric, of joyful feelings with very dark ones. Great starting point for a band which seems to be very promising.

4. Tenacious D – Rize of The Fenix

This might be a hazard, but the American rock band delivered this year its best studio album. The originality of the band, which succeeded in developing a mature and smooth rock sound together with extremely ironic lyrics, has to be rewarded. The solid rock‘n’roll is helped by the presence of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) on drums, sustaining a series of ridiculous stories told through ironic lyrics and skits. This album is the demonstration that Tenacious D wants to play with everything but the music. Rock’n’roll, indeed, stays as serious as it can get. Rize of The Fenix is the perfect meeting point for two opposite attitudes, with Tenacious D presenting a sound that is completely mature, and an attitude that never matured instead.

3. The Black Keys – El Camino

The album was released in December 2011, but it surely has gained a lot of fame in 2012. Preceded by the single ‘Lonely Boy,’ which captured the attention of most with its catchy melody and amusing video, El Camino reserves many facets to be enjoyed by the listener. With this album The Black Keys have been able to maintain the enormous success gained with the previous studio album Brothers. El Camino is the fastest of the band’s albums, and the rock duo has demonstrated, through its live performances, to be able to keep up with the new tempo and the renovated energy. Drummer Patrick Carney told CBS Local “It [an album] is definitely gonna happen in 2013. It’s just a matter of how long it takes us to make the album and deciding when we want to get back on the road.” With this premises, the expectations are surely set high.

2. Mumford & Sons – Babel

After the success of 2009 Sigh No more, folk-rock band Mumford & Sons released their second studio album, Babel, last September. The fastest selling album of the year in both the UK and the US, Babel keeps up with the great professionalism that characterizes the British band. The band stayed faithful to its musical soul in this album, delivering a highly rocking folk reinvention. Babel, though, sounds angrier, bitterer in respect to Sigh no More. Not to be misinterpreted though, the main message coming from the album is love, the real and deepest meaning of it. Sounding like a crude look at the world, with the frustration won over by the hope created through love, Babel perfectly draws all these different moments of the soul. Excellent work overall, the track ‘Holland Road’ will take the listener into a musical journey hard to forget.

1. Jack White – Blunderbuss

The most awaited album of 2012. After the White Stripes split last year, the future of one of the most talented musicians currently in circulation, as Jack White is, was some sort of concern for most music lovers. In his album Blunderbuss, the Detroit musician experimented with less than expected by many; he mixed in a perfectly smooth and harmonic result different momentum of rock and blues, refreshing old sounds to perform in an innovative final outcome. The mood of the album is a dark one, with the lyrics letting perspire White’s inner demons, although never resulting heavy. ‘Blunderbuss,’ the song that gives the title to the album, is the pearl hidden in the record. A brilliant album, which succeeds to crown White as a solo artist.

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Mumford & Sons, the British folk rock band that has conquered the heart of many during the last couple of years, has confirmed the release date of their second long-waited album, Babel. Multi-instrumentalist Ben Lovett said in an interview with 3FM backstage at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands “We finished the record this week.

We hope to get it out in September. We just figured that out, September 24.” The date has then been confirmed; Babel will be produced by Markus Dravs, and it will contain twelve new tracks, including ‘Ghosts That We Know’ and ‘Lover of the Light’ tracks currently played by the band during their live performances, which give the listeners the best of hopes for the upcoming album.

Mumford & Sons released their debut album, Sigh No More, in 2009 in the U.K. and Europe, and in 2010 in the U.S. and Canada. The fascinating sounds of the tracks, together with the substance of the lyrics, rapidly allowed Mumford & Sons to acquire a privileged place in the music scene, as well as an exceptional commercial success.

The feelings of the debut album are expected to be in the band’s second coming as well. Lovett confirmed that the band has stayed faithful to the sounds expressed in Sigh No More saying to 3FM “There’s similarities, yeah, nothing’s really changed in our dynamic as a band. We write songs together and they’re very much based in our experiences. The instruments are pretty much the same, except for a few we’ve picked up along the way. For the most part, it’s a progression. We don’t want to reinvent ourselves.”

Another thing to expect in the Babel is the perfectionism that characterizes the band. Before the announcement of the release date, Lovett told NME about the upcoming album, “We’re done recording it, but if we listen back while we’re mixing and discover it’s shit, we’ll just start again.”

Perfection is a peculiar feature of this band; not only researched in the records, it is fully expressed during live performances. The level of precision in execution is astonishing. The band, which gained a couple of new instrumentalists to help on the current tour, due to Marcus Mumford’s hand injury, is able to express the beauty of its musical art through perfect cohesion and deep involvement during live performances. Pure joy for the ears and the soul. Mumford & Sons have been touring Europe and are soon headed to the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. For the complete list of tour dates, click here.

Image Courtesy of   Mumford and Sons

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