It’s always tempting to rush out at the end of a year, and proclaim the “best of” list for new albums. Trouble is, some of those “best of” don’t always hold up so well to second or third rounds of listening. Here are six (plus one) artists with outstanding releases in 2012 that have made it through our tough repeat listening standards:

A$AP Rocky:
Goldie
Wild For The Night

Grimes:
Oblivion
Genesis

Grizzly Bear:
Yet Again
Sleeping Ute

Japandroids
The House That Heaven Built
Fire’s Highway

Frank Ocean:
Thinkin Bout You
Bad Religion

Usher:
Climax
Scream

At KadmusArts, we take pride in featuring a salmagundi of artists in our weekly podcasts. From jazz to pop to classical to techno to punk, we’ve covered the range of what live music has to offer today — and more is to come in the years ahead. For your enjoyment, here is a playlist showcasing recent live performances by the artists we interviewed in 2012, linked to their KadmusArts interviews. You might start with Clara Ponty (featured above), and then explore the rest of the list below. Who knows, maybe one of these artists might be featured in our annual Festival Year in Review slideshow…

Ambrosia — Let Me Down Slow
Sarah Aroeste — El Leon Ferido
Caramelo — Como Quieres
Los Cenzontles — El Chuchumbe
Henry Cole — Comienzo
Veda Hille — To the Surrey East Indian Lady Wearing Black and Black to Whom I Wave My Hand
LoCura — Prendela
Mucca Pazza — Boss Taurus
Samite Mulondo — Trust
RACES — Hope and Gloom
Raya Brass Band — Ederlezi
Nell Robinson — The Gardener (w/Jim Nunally)
Sleepy Sun — White Dove
A Tribe Called Red — Electric Pow Wow Drum
Imani Uzuri — Beautiful (w/Stef Vanes)
Kenji Williams — Kaze Tsubaki (w/Asuca Hayashi)
Zeb and Haniya — Aitbaar

Some bands go for the traditional — you know, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy is woebegone. Others put a bit of a twist on this: girl meets fawn, fawn is boy, rake abducts girl, boy saves girl, boy and girl drown. Much the same, really, only a tiny bit different. The same tiny difference that you would expect from a band that has written songs inspired by David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, has included pirate shanties as a key component of their inspiration, and derived their band name from a nineteenth-century Russian uprising. Without further ado — the Decemberists:

California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade
July, July!
Billy Liar
Red Right Ankle
Sixteen Military Wives
The Mariner’s Revenge Song
O Valencia!
When The War Came
Hazards of Love 2
The Rake’s Song
Down By The Water

So you just picked up a second-hand Stratocaster, and a Fender Champ to go along with it, and you’re all ready to play at the local Go-Go bar, are you? Well, before you rush out the door, you might want to take a minute to take a look at what these masters have to show you. We borrowed the top ten list from David Fricke - but the song choices are all ours. Just make sure that if a stranger approaches you and offers to make you the best player ever, you know what the terms of the deal are before you sign on the dotted line…

Duane Allman — Whipping Post
B.B. King — The Thrill Is Gone
Eric Clapton — Layla
Robert Johnson — Kind Hearted Woman Blues
Chuck Berry — Roll Over Beethoven
Stevie Ray Vaughan — Texas Flood
Ry Cooder — Dark End of the Street
Jimmy Page — White Summer/Black Mountain Side
Keith Richards — Locked Away

As you might have heard, Snoop Dogg is now in the process of becoming Snoop Lion, the reincarnation of Bob Marley, y’all. And while you might wonder whether some unripe ackee fruit accidentally made it into Snoop’s stash, Rohan Marley (Bob’s son) has blessed his quest. So sit back and get in touch with your inner Rastafarian, while we spin some tunes that have influenced Snoop’s latest joint:

Bob Marley — Iron Lion Zion
Bob Marley — Could You Be Loved
Snoop Dogg — Gin & Juice (2006)
Snoop Dogg — Gin & Juice (2011)
Snoop Dogg — Gin & Juice (2012)
Diplo (feat. Nicky Da B) — Express Yourself
Major Lazer (feat. Amber of Dirty Projectors) — Get Free
Lee “Scratch” Perry — Roast Fish And Cornbread
King Tubby (feat. Augustus Pablo) — King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown
Massive Attack & Mad Professor — Radiation Ruling The Nation