Is there an over-arching theme to my picks for albums to highlight from 2012? Nope. Not really. Of course there’s not a through-line other than my own musical taste and the year.
These albums were all legitimately some of the best work these groups had done in years. And though they came close, they never quite surpassed that level of excellence for the rest of the decade.
Exactly five albums per year, no artist repeats, presented in order of U.S. release date, running list at the end of each post.