From local bands and beyond, here are Submerge’s favorite albums of 2012, in tweet-friendly format. These albums are certified #awesome!

20) Jessica Pratt
s/t

(Birth Records)

Pratt’s debut of home-recorded, time-capsule folk stood as a brilliant reminder of the beauty in lo-fi love letters.

19) Wife & Son
This That and the Other

(self-released)

A brilliant indie-pop record from one of our favorite new local bands. The suburbs of Sacramento have never sounded so good!

18) Marina and the Diamonds
Electra Heart

(679 Recordings)

Pop anthems with heart and humor for disenfranchised prom queens and introspective home-wreckers.

17) The Ross Hammond Quartet
Adored

(Big Weezus Music)

Jazz requires inspiration. The Ross Hammond Quartet’s Adored comes from a budding father’s lullabies fed through free jazz spontaneity.

16) Beach House
Bloom

(Sub Pop)

Called a “dream pop duo,” Beach House records a calming and eerie sound unique to much of the music today.

15) Metz
s/t

(Sub Pop)

Sporadic screaming bursts, fuzzy bass and plenty guitar chaos, this album has ears both assaulted and surrendering over and over.

14) Thee Oh Sees
Putrifiers II

(In the Red)

Veteran psych-punk loonies leapt out of the garage and into national consciousness with their liveliest cuts of fuzzy fun.

13) Action Bronson and Party Supplies
Blue Chips

(mix tape)

Skillful rapping mixed with humor and bravado over a range of stellar production, and it’s a wrap. It’s a fun album with rewards for mindful ears.

12) Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Here

(Rough Trade)

The perfect band of misfits surpasses all expectations with their second studio album full of charismatic, folk-y love songs and smiles.

11) Fine Steps
Boy’s Co.

(self-released)

Fine Step’s Boy’s Co. should be on Slumberland. On Captured Tracks. Hell, even Burger. Two self-presses later, Fine Steps gets the glory.

10) Witchcraft
Legend

(Nuclear Blast)

Pure, heavy riff alchemy. Progressive, yet retro. Metal shouldn’t sound this groovy, but we’re glad it does.

9) Japandroids
Celebration Rock

(Polyvinyl Record Co.)

A fitting album title, indeed. Anthemic as all hell, this is a singalong, raise your glass type punk rock record.

8 ) St. Lucia
s/t

(Columbia)

Catchy, dreamy electro-pop fit for a night club or sweaty hipster venue. Leader Jean-Philip Grobler is a pop-music force to be reckoned with.

7) The Sword
Apocryphon

(Razor & Tie)

The lords of stoner rock reach new heights on a space-y trip down the heavy metal rabbit hole.

6) The Mars Volta
Noctourniquet

(Warner Bros.)

Nearly three years in the making, Noctourniquet was worth the wait. Sounds exactly like a Volta record should, and that’s why we love it.

5) C-Plus & Lee Bannon

Young Champions
(self-released)

Two of Sacramento’s finest team up for an epic release. No features, just Plus’ smooth flows over Bannon’s undeniably sick beats. Go cop it!

4) Kendrick Lamar
Good Kid M.A.A.D. City

(Aftermath/Interscope)

Believe the hype. A brave debut, from a bright mind who showed that you can create outside the box and succeed. Truly masterful in every respect.

3) Tame Impala
Lonerism

(Modular)

Lonerism is damn near perfect. It’s a psych album with pop melodies; heavy guitars, intricate drumming, humming keys and an irresistible sonic sheen.

2) Death Grips
The Money Store

(Epic)

Weird, angry, non-imitable experimental hip-hop from Sacramento. Is it rap? Is it punk? What the fuck is it? Don’t ask, turn it up!

1) Solos
Beast of Both Worlds

(Joyful Noise)

The sonic symbiosis of this Aaron Ross/Spencer Seim collaboration explored bold and bizarre realms. Sleeper LP of the year.

In 140 characters or less…

It’s probably trite by now to remind you that fans just don’t consume music the way they used to. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. We still enjoy putting on an album and ingesting it en masse, but it’s also fun to put the iTunes on shuffle and let fate decide, troll YouTube for new music videos or share play lists via Spotify. So for this year’s Top 20, we decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of just albums, we included a music video, EPs, live shows (even a comedy album snuck in there). Here’s our favorite music moments of this past year, in tweet-friendly format.

20. Jason Webley (live show)

Beatnik Studios, Sacramento
Oct. 30, 2011
When the man on stage thrusts his torso into a giant red balloon and gets the entire audience drunk enough to link arms and sway, you know it’s a good show.

19. Thee Oh Sees
Carrion Crawler/The Dreamer
In The Red

Each song rocks, and it’s short and catchy enough to listen back to back, and back. They have mastered a sound, exemplified here. Loud fun.

18. Keith Lowell Jensen
Cats Made of Rabbits
Apprehensive Films

Possibly the local comic’s best work to date, if this album/DVD doesn’t have you rolling on the floor, check your pulse, you might be dead.

17. Mastodon
The Hunter
Reprise

Mastodon ditches spacey prog metal for gnarly bruising metal/rock hybrid and makes us wonder why they haven’t tried it sooner.

16. Mike Colossal
The Psychodelic Soundsations of Mike Colossal
Glory Hole Records

From dub to dusty breaks Mike earns the name Colossal.

15. Red Fang
Murder the Mountains
Relapse Records

Metal heads dose heavy riffs w/ stoner-core harmonies, crushing drums, subtly brilliant solos & bring serious balls back to rock ‘n’ roll.

14. The Generationals (live show)
Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Davis
July 16, 2011

The small porch in Davis provided the perfect environment to fall in love with every up-beat strum from The Generationals.

13. Cousin Fik
Hacksaw Ben Thuggin
Sick-Wid-It Records

Hacksaw Ben Thuggin. Period. Fik is a rapper for real. From Halloween concepts, to catchy anthems, his words are precise and full of vigor.

12. St. Vincent
Strange Mercy
4AD

Under-appreciated experimental rocker Ann Clark dropped the most schizophrenic, bipolar mélange of musical porridge ever stirred into a commercial triumph.

11. Death Grips
Exmilitary
Third Worlds

No one expected Oak Park to birth the ingenious production and vocal aggression of Death Grips. Nor expected it to tear down stages worldwide.

10. Youth Lagoon
Year of Hibernation
Fat Possum/Lefse

Eight tracks of chiming synths and fragile vox swelling into magical crescendos. Trevor Powers gives a taste of hibernation at its best.

09. The Nickel Slots
Five Miles Gone
Self-release

Local country-tinged rockers spin 15 songs and something for every mood. Engaging, memorable songwriting at home in any genre.

08. DLRN (music video)
“…Fallen Heroes” (feat. Iman Malika)
Faux Real Productions

Classic Sacto shots in this Faux Real Productions video. Light rail, top level on a parking garage, in front of downtown murals, real nice.

07. Raleigh Moncrief
Watered Lawn
Anticon

A solo debut that amalgamated the producer’s credentials with midnight recordings of glitch hop in the kitchen.

06. Appetite
Scattered Smothered Covered
Crossbill Records

Appetite’s Teddy Briggs masterfully created this rich, dense album that’s nearly impossible to define. Weird pop-folk that dabbles all over.

05. Typhoon
A New Kind of House
Tender Loving Empire

Big band indie rock devoid of cloying twee impulses. Sprawling yet hauntingly intimate. A rare EP that doesn’t feel incomplete.

04. Theophilus London
Timez Are Weird These Days
Reprise

Irresistible neo-retro hip-hop from a fashionable Trinidad-born, Brooklyn-based MC. A “rap” album hipsters and indie-kids can agree on.

03. Feist (live show)
The Warfield, San Francisco
Nov. 14, 2011

Take the gentle vocals of Feist, acoustic guitars, special guest Little Wings, and it might equal the most intimate show of the year.

02. Ganglians
Still Living
Lefse Records

Sacramento’s psych rockers produce yet another gem, keeping that Beach Boys sound meshed with unexpected twists, ballads and tribal rumbles.

01. Kill the Precedent’s EP release show (live show)
Harlow’s, Sacramento
Aug. 6, 2011

KTP made Harlow’s feel like a house show! “Flight” theme featured hot stewardesses and (drunken) pilot outfits. Plenty of moshing ensued.