I might as well be the first...

[Wounded Land]

...to post my Top Ten list of 2012. Usually, I obsess about this and I don't have a real bead on things until March or so, but I'm well ahead of the curve this year.

10. Vijay Iyer Trio Accelerando: He's totally overrated as a pianist, but he has what's more important: an artistic vision. Cool choice of tunes (love the Henry Threadgill cover), and great support from bassist Stephan Crump and especially drummer Marcus Gilmore.

9. Astra The Black Chord: I liked this a lot more than the debut...plus it came on cool translucent orange vinyl!

8. Rush Clockwork Angels: My favorite band shows that they still have life left in them. Name another band this far along in their career still writing material of this quality.

7. Anathema Weather Systems: A continuation of the sound they premiered on We're Here Because We're Here. Maybe not as consistent as that album, but the highs are just as high. "Untouchable" is the anthem of the year.

6. The Flower Kings Banks of Eden: Their best, IMHO. They finally took pretty much everybody's advice and pared things down to a single disc of high quality. The new drummer is fitting in just fine.

5. Distorted Harmony Utopia: Killer progressive metal debut from Israel. Production a little bit on the bedroom side of things, but that actually works here. These guys can play their asses off.

4. Echolyn s/t: My first exposure to Echolyn, and certainly not my last. Great songwriting from a band with real crossover potential (in an ideal world).

3. Headspace I Am Anonymous: Damian Wilson rules. I'm loving this sort of Haken-ish metal/heavy prog rock. I've soured on "prog metal" lately, but great writing makes all the difference.

2. Tord Gustavsen Quartet The Well: Revelatory performance and sound. Love the introduction of saxophone (although maybe they had sax on the one previous...regardless, he fits in perfectly). One of my new reference CDs.

1. Anglagard Viljans Oga: Words fail me. Just as good as their past best.

Reissue of the year: Keith Jarrett Sleeper: My introduction to the Garbarek quartet. Great compositions and group chemistry.

Comments welcome!

[Jubal]

I have only one New Year's resolution- to not make any New Year's resolutions. I have long term goals that are not determined by the date of a calendar.

[Yanks2014]

Cool list, Wounded Land, I definitely have a few of those on mine, well, once I compile it.