Patrick Masterson writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2012 (Patrick Masterson)

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its members’ top albums of 2012. Our next list is from Music Director Patrick Masterson.

My favorite albums by Chicagoans are below – let's see how many you heard along with me…

1. Traxman - Da Mind of Traxman (Planet Mu)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   This was the moment that the idea of a footwork album (rather than just a compilation of tracks) was fully realized. Part of footwork's appeal is that it sounds so raw (especially out of context, i.e. home listening) and that smoothing out those edges has been left to the trickle-down effect of producers outside Chicago, but scene stalwart Traxman followed up DJ Diamond's almost-there attempt with Flight Muzik last year by considering pace and sonic sense better than anyone else. I know footwork has taken a backseat to the whole drill thing going on right now, but this is still essential listening.
2. Geronimo! - Exanimate (Self-Released)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   RIYL: MTV's 120 Minutes in its heyday, San Diego, Chapel Hill, "angular" guitars and "muscular" drumming, Chavez, Jawbox, Polvo, the first Clinton term, Microsoft Windows 95, Homerpalooza, etc.
3. DJ Rashad - TEKLIFE Vol. 1: Welcome to the Chi (Lit City Trax)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   It's not that TEKLIFE isn't as good as Da Mind of Traxman – highly debatable, and I'm probably Da Mind's biggest advocate this side of Traxman himself – but it took a different, more familiar approach to the idea of the footwork LP. It's sort of on the same level as Flight Muzik, but the standouts here are as good as anything footwork has produced in the last two years. Between Traxman and Rashad, it's hard to pick a favorite. Just don't bring Young Smoke into it (yet).
4. Golden Birthday - Blue Island (Rainbow Body)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   Liquid indie from a band who embodies the idea of their namesake. Kind of half-remembered, hazy pop pinned down by reverb and distance, they really came into their own with this one by (maybe ironically) sounding more focused than ever. Live shows back it up – catch them if you can.
5. Jeremih - Late Nights With Jeremih (Self-Released)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   It was ostensibly just a free mixtape, but thanks to a prominent inclusion on Joy Orbison's RA podcast with "Fuck U All the Time," DJ Drama backing, slick production from guys like Mike Will Made It, and even album art that looked like serious business, this may as well have been an official full-length. Anyone let down by most "indie R&B" in the wake of The Weeknd would do well to cop this, though that's a stupidly shortsighted assessment of one of the best produced anythings of the year.
6. Lightfoils - Self Titled EP (Saint Marie)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   Among the first albums by a Chicago group to really wow me this year, the Self Titled EP (which I'm still not quite sure is correct, actually) was only four songs long but it brought back a whole surge of noisy shoegazing memories that include late nights listening to Lush b-sides and a lot of aimless hours figuring out where the members of Swervedriver were in 2004 (still not sure). Prime example of what people trying to shoehorn "gossamer" into a band's description would use as a case study.
7. Many Places - Another Oath (Tandem Shop)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   The dude formerly known as Rabbit Red switched names a few years ago, but this was the first I'd heard of Kevin Rieg as Many Places and I really enjoyed it. A resonant, gothic-tinged folk album with a taste for My Morning Jacket's universality and the macabre mundane akin to Revival or fellow Chicagoans Judson Claiborne. Easy/hard listening depending on how much you want to pay attention (which I did, often).
8. Rambos - Rock and Roll Monsters (Grape Juice)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   Love the simple exuberance of this one. I saw Rambos at The Whistler early in 2011 and was familiar with many of these songs (nothing beats their live show), but that made it no less enjoyable to hear in recorded form. The energy (and schtick, to be honest) is infectious.
9. Lil Durk - I'm Still a Hitta (self-released)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   You might have been fooled into thinking the youth movement of hip-hop's next wave was dominated by the Black Hippy crew in LA or the fashion mag buffoons of New York's A$AP Mob, but the most intriguing angle to the genre's evolution was right here in Chicago: I mentioned drill in the Traxman blurb above and while it's probably Chief Keef's name you know better thanks to that Reader feature this fall, I'll take Lil Durk's I'm Still a Hitta mixtape over anything he (or King L, or Katie Got Bandz, or Lil Reese, or etc. etc.) has produced as exemplifying the form. It's also worth mentioning that the unsung hero to this aggressive form of hip-hop is Young Chop, a brilliant producer who's put his stamp on the city with both quality and quantity in the beats he makes. You don't have to like it, but this is where we are right now. In a lot of ways.
10. Fred Lonberg-Holm's Fast Citizens - Gather (Delmark)
    BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
    I was weak on jazz this year, so maybe this seems like too obvious a choice, but the playing on Gather is as good as I can ever remember Fred being; plus, it features a number of city notables ably backing him up. Maybe it was that I listened to this at just the right time, but I enjoyed its straightforward simplicity more than the ambitious Matt Ulery double-disc epic By a Little Light (also a must-hear, though for a different headspace).