The Most Disappointing Albums of 2012

Another year, another round of disappointments. While previous years may have been more obvious in their selections, this year’s list is fairly fortuitous, blending a variety of genres and artists — some old, some new, some pretty freaking crazy. Although Thomas Fenwick points out with his review of Ben Folds Five’s The Sound of the Life of the Mind that many disappointments can be foretold, there is evidence here to suggest that disappointment can seep in from unexpected places. Lana Del Rey didn’t turn out to be the second coming that so many expected, but rather a person, and a musician, with a style that wasn’t easily predictable. The xx astounded with its debut but seemingly dropped the ball with its sophomore record. And the reigning Queen of Pop proved that trying too hard doesn’t even suit the coolest of chicks. Yes, it certainly was a year of disappointments from every which way. Enio Chiola

 

Artist: Lana Del Rey

Album: Born to Die

Label: Interscope

Image: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/images/music_cover_art/l/ldr_album_cover.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 10

Lana Del Rey
Born to Die

“Video Games” really blew people away. The lovelorn, yearning sound took many by surprise and, consequently, raised hopes for what a full-length effort could consist of from this tortured torch songstress. Unfortunately, for those whose hopes were raised, they weren’t expecting the bizarre, melancholic self-abuse (mistaken for genuine confessional songwriting). Ultimately, the disappointment in this record comes from it being widely misunderstood; however, misunderstandings aside, it’s undeniable that the record pushed a little too hard at the limits of explicit hardcore depictions of drug abuse, masochism, and sexual proclivities. Not to mention Del Rey’s faked and affected vocal inflections ranging from a drugged out crooner to an annoying high-pitched tartlet, which left hopefuls with a bitter taste in their mouths. The lesson learned? Don’t place all your bets on how brilliant an artist is on the basis of one track. And while this author is in awe of Del Rey’s debut, it’s undeniable that this is one of the bigger disappointments of the year for so many others. Enio Chiola

 

Artist: Spoek Mathambo

Album: Father Creeper

Label: Sub Pop

Image: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/images/music_cover_art/1/11081.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 9

Spoek Mathambo
Father Creeper

Nothing would make me happier than hearing a South African electro-rapper incorporate the sounds and tropes of his nation into a frenetic musical assault. Or so I thought, until the results of Spoek Mathambo’s Father Creeper came out sounding more like drab post-rock. Granted, the drabness changes every minute or so, and Mathambo’s rapping and programmed drums move along at a distractingly fast clip. But his tuneless singing lands on hooks too rarely and beauty even less, until the most memorable moments seem intent on driving listeners away. Most portentous is the single “Let Them Talk”, which morphs a rudimentary soul groove into a relentless barrage of boring alt-rock guitar. If you destroy genre boundaries but the results sound pukey, does it still count? Josh Langhoff

 

Artist: Green Day

Album: ¡Uno!

Label: Reprise

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/g/greenday_unocover.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 8

Green Day
¡Uno!

Green Day always seemed comfortable being the underdog. After the landmark success of Dookie, the rat kings of pop-punk began slowly shedding away their audience by making daring, interesting moves that weren’t always commercial. Although “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” became the dorm-room ballad to end all dorm-room ballads, it wasn’t until 2000’s Warning that they felt truly free, making epic story songs, stealing from the Kinks, etc. The colossal success of American Idiot — a modern-day protest album landing at just the perfect time — led to the undercooked follow-up 21st Century Breakdown. Now, with two rock operas behind them, it was time to get back to the basics, and as one song after another began leaking from ¡Uno!, something terrifying became clear: the band had lost its way. The group was going through the motions, the production completely unadorned, but nothing clicked: the blasé “Stay the Night”, the tired lovesick posturing of “Troublemaker”, the “ironic” dance parody “Kill the DJ”, which merely painted Billie Joe Armstrong as rock music’s angry old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. A straight-through listen revealed absolutely zero diversity of texture, and as a result, ¡Uno!‘s unamplified electrics just blurred together into one clattering mess of attempted glory day redemption. While ¡Uno! will go down as one of the worst comeback albums in recent memory, fans shouldn’t feel too bad: the snarky, aggressive ¡Dos! is much, much better. Evan Sawdey

 

Artist: Beach House

Album: Bloom

Label: Sub Pop

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/b/beach_house_bloom.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 7

Beach House
Bloom

It’s reasonable to expect that Beach House fans — and I do know that there are plenty of them among the indie faithful — don’t consider the Baltimore duo’s fourth full-length a disappointment. It delivers very much what one would expect from the group, further refined. What is disappointing is the effusive critical praise that’s been circulating all year for such a pedestrian record by a band that is to the Cocteau Twins what Coldplay is to Radiohead: a cleaned-up, inoffensive take-off with all the weird bits taken out. Bloom may represent a crystallization of Beach House’s potential, but it also demonstrates just how creatively limited the pair actually is. Its uniformly overlong songs (none of which are under the four-minute mark) are lazy, repetitive drifts through a same-sounding ether that hopes to make up for a narrow technical and melodic vocabulary by prioritizing atmosphere. However, conjuring a beguiling ambiance is a skill in of itself, and not only does Bloom’s vibes exhibit as much personality and nuance as a pair of khakis, but for a supposedly landmark release for Beach House, it does precious little to distinguish the band from all the other gauzy dream pop acts swirling around. AJ Ramirez

 

Artist: Madonna

Album: MDNA

Label: Live Nation/Interscope

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/m/mdna_cover.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 6

Madonna
MDNA

Okay, I concede that MDNA didn’t re-establish Madonna as the queen of pop in the way that was initially believed upon its release. Although I do contend that the record is an example of some fine dark electronic-pop, it’s not quite the standout work that this icon is capable of. Could our blindness into thinking that MDNA was a firmly cemented stake in the ground proving Madonna the reigning queen been the result of all the hoopla around a NEW reigning queen of pop? The fact of the matter is that Madonna is and always will be a superbly significant part of pop history, regardless of the caliber of her output lately. And while we can be forgiving, it sure doesn’t cushion the blow of being disappointed as she trails through some of the worst songs she’s produced: “I Don’t Give A”, “Give Me All Your Luvin'”, and the impossibly bad “Superstar”. Cohesively speaking about half of the record is a disjointed mess that isn’t so much ahead of the curve as five steps behind it. And for every wonderful “I’m Addicted”, there’s a schlocky mess like “Turn Up the Radio”. On the other hand, it’s still miles ahead of Hard Candy and anything Gaga’s done…ever. Enio Chiola

5 – 1

 

Artist: The xx

Album: Coexist

Label: Young Turks/XL

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/x/xx_coexist.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 5

The xx
Coexist

When xx dropped in 2009 it was universally loved. Jamie xx and company hit on a unique brand of stripped-down beats, noodling guitar, and navel-gazing lyricism that made many a critical best-of list. Three years have passed since then, and in the interim Jamie xx got busy with a plethora of projects that positioned him as one of the most innovative beatsmiths working today. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t come back and blow the roof off the joint with Coexist. What he did instead was take the most mellow aspects of xx, slip them a Xanax, and record them trying to stay awake. The result is an album so lethargic that it makes “Crystallized”, their first single way back in 2009, feel like speed metal in comparison. Coexist was applauded by a majority of music critics, but even they were quick to point out its flaws, using words like “labored”, “fractured”, and “redundant”. The music is beyond stripped-down, basically bare walls that feel anemic and samey. The lyricism too lacks punch. Remember the chorus to “VCR” and how it made a mundane act like “Watch things on VCRs” almost revelatory? For all the allusions to tides and water on Coexist there is no similar pull, just song after song that, in the words of our own Arnold Pan, “keeps you waiting and waiting for something more to happen.” xx had us revved up and ready to go, Coexist left us idling for a long 37 minutes. Adam Finley

 

Artist: Band of Horses

Album: Mirage Rock

Label: Columbia

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/6/61eldjhdgl._sl500_aa300_.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 4

Band of Horses
Mirage Rock

The first song I ever heard by Band of Horses was their single “Is There a Ghost?” — a very simple arrangement with fairly repetitive lyrics but still endowed with enough passion that it evoked memories of early ’90s Britpop, yet American, and with an oddly southern flavour. “No One’s Gonna Love You”, another single followed in the same spirit and sealed the deal for me. But they might have been a Band of One Trick Ponies — I wasn’t sure. And then I heard Infinite Arms, which, for me, became the best record of that year. Then came 2012’s Mirage Rock. I met it with enthusiasm, the first in the digital line to get myself a copy. I reasonably expected a further evolution down the same path they’d started. Instead, I heard surf-rock Beach Boys harmony of “a-woo”s. The melancholic guitars now more subdued, further back in the mix and more “southern” sounding than ever before. Ben Bridwell’s vocals take on a more light-hearted tone and there’s even a clap-along chorus. From the first bar of “Knock Knock”, I knew I didn’t want to answer the door. But bands need a little latitude to progress. What I found was Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, the Grateful Dead, and a playlist of a tailgate party. Even on the slightly more rocked-up “Feud”, I could picture the old, mullet-haired, classic-rock hordes of my small-town youth playing air-guitar with cans of Budweiser where their invisible picks should be. I’ll be the first to admit that the best part of Kentucky Fried Chicken is the skin — but that doesn’t mean you throw away all the meat. Darryl G. Wright

 

Artist: Sleigh Bells

Album: Reign of Terror

Label: Mom+Pop

Image: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/images/music_cover_art/s/sleigh_bells_reign.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 3

Sleigh Bells
Reign of Terror

When Sleigh Bells burst onto the scene in 2010 with their album Treats, their howling klaxon of sound coupled with bracingly refreshing pop hooks was something truly to behold. Who didn’t get carried away with such infectious gems as “Tell ‘Em”, “A/B Machines”, and, of course, “Rill Rill”? It turns out that the two-person band of Derek Edward Miller (guitar) and Alexis Krauss (vocals) was a bit of a one-trick pony. With Reign of Terror, Sleigh Bells turned in an album that, although given warm critical reviews in some quarters, failed to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was Treats. In fact, Reign of Terror is an album that is so underwhelming and loaded with songs that are not nearly as memorable as anything on Treats, that I will honestly admit that I’ve only bothered to listen to the album twice. The thing with Reign of Terror is that its lead track feels like poseuring, with its dialed-in crowd noise and chants –- as if the band was trying to make a case that they could hold their own in an arena tour along the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band that Sleigh Bells toured with earlier this year. While Treats was the sound of a band with nothing to prove, Reign of Terror is ultimately the sound of a band trying too hard to be relevant. A big, huge crushing disappointment all around. Zachary Houle

 

Artist: Ben Folds Five

Album: The Sound of the Life of the Mind

Label: Sony

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/b/benfoldsfivecover.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 2

Ben Folds Five
The Sound of the Life of the Mind

Believe me when I say that I couldn’t have wished for anything more than this to be an excellent record. Ben Folds Five are a band for whom I will always have a soft spot. However, the cruel nature of disappointment means that you see it coming from a long way off, even more so when you’ve had 13 years to wait. The most underwhelming aspect of The Sound of the Life of the Mind isn’t that it sounds almost exactly like every solo record Ben Folds has put out in the intervening years since the band first split, nor is it that it sounds like a career-spanning collection of rattled off b-sides, a taster menu of the Ben Folds Five sound that didn’t quite make the final cut. No, the saddest part is that the album forces you to accept a glum reality: that for all the close harmony, fuzzy bass, and pop-eratic angst on display, Ben Folds Five have never been anything more than a one-trick pony. It’s like seeing an old friend for the first time in years that you now have nothing in common with, leaving you to ponder why only one of you has moved on from 1995, and causing you to re-evaluate why you ever liked them in the first place. You want to say, “It’s not you, it’s me,” but you know that would be a lie. Thomas Fenwick

 

Artist: Smashing Pumpkins

Album: Oceania

Label: Martha’s Music

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/s/smashingpumpkinsoceania.jpg

Display Width: 200

Display as: List

List Number: 1

Smashing Pumpkins
Oceania

I think we were all a little too hopeful about the creative wave that Smashing Pumpkins frontrunner Billy Corgan was on. Many of the free tracks produced as part of the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project were pretty promising tunes, especially following the monotony that was Zeitgeist. The stage was primed for a Smashing Pumpkins comeback, ripe with a fabulous new album set to blow us out of the water in the same way they did all those years ago with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Alas, such a comeback never surfaced. Instead, what we got was a fairly watered down version of a band that stopped being the original Smashing Pumpkins all those years ago. And although Oceania is a fairly good record in its own right, it left many Pumpkins fans wanting for a nostalgia that, however unfairly warranted, is still nonetheless real. If bands like Radiohead can produce quality work within roughly the same amount of time, then it’s not wholly unrealistic to hope for the same caliber from a ’90s prodigal child. Oceania is a slow disappointment — it impresses with the first few listens, but over time and with a peeling back of the shiny veneer, reveals a placid bunch of tunes too rife with their own sense of self-importance to emulate some of the genuine catharsis of their ’90s counterparts. While not a wholly bad album, Oceania is the biggest disappointment of the year because it cements the fact that the band that could have ridden a high creative wave for more than a few decades is gone, replaced by something that is about half that — albeit, that’s still pretty good. Enio Chiola