Albums of the Year 2012: Part one – 200-150

Has 2012 been a good year for music? Well, it’s certainly not been a bad year according to our chart featuring 200 of the best albums to be released this year.

That’s right – a massive 200 albums made the list compiled by the LTW editorial team (John Robb, Phil Newall, Guy Manchester and Sarah Lay). We’ve heard so much great music between us we just couldn’t justify cutting it any shorter!

Two hundred genre-spanning albums all released in 2012 and considered by LTW to be ‘best of class’. We’re not massively into saying X is better than Y because how can you compare a folk album with hardcore rap – not everyone is going to like both so it’s hard to say which is ‘best’. Music is subjective and so is our list. However, we think that these are albums you should definitely hear if you haven’t already.

We’re going to split the countdown, starting tonight with numbers 200 – 150 in our list. What we really want to know though is what have we missed? What would make your Albums of the Year 2012 list?

Albums of the Year 2012 – numbers 200 – 150

200. Sam Willis – Winterval

199. Jim Moray – Skulk

198. Norah Jones – Little Broken Hearts

197. Damon Albarn – Dr Dee

196. Fairhorns – Doki Doki Run

195. Blind Atlas – Kodiak Bear

194. Darren Hayman and The Long Parliament – The Violence

193. Tender Trap – Ten Songs About Girls

192. Snowblink – Inner Classics

191. The Hysterical Injury – Dead Wolf Situation

190. The Pirate Ship Quintet – Rope for No-Hopers

189. Dubkasm – Brixton Rec Master

188. Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio

187. Ry Cooder – Election Special

186. Sam Lee – Ground of Its Own

185. Karriem Riggins – Alone Together

184. Moritz Van Oswald Trio – French

183. Kathryn Tickell – Northumbrian Voices

182. Altered Natives – Tenement Yard Vol.3

181. Brother Ali – Mourning in America

180. Bass Clef – Reeling Skullways

179. November Five – If You’re Satisfied You’re Dead

178. PAWS – Cokefloat!

177. The Peacocks – Don’t Ask

176. Antlered Man – Giftes 1and2

175. Lambchop – Mr M

174. Napalm Death – Utilitarian

173. Guided By Voices – Let’s Go To The Factory

172. Beach House – Bloom

171. Cornershop – Urban Turban

170. Xiu Xiu – Always

169. The Enemy – Streets in the Sky

168. The Cult – Choice of Weapon

167. Joey Ramone – Ya Know

166. 2.54 – 2.54

165. Deathgrips – The Money Store

164. Tribes – Baby

163. Alabama Shakes – Boys and Girls

162. Gallon Drunk – The Road Gets Darker From Here

161. Flats – Better Living

160. Meshuggah – Koloss

159. Azealia Banks – 1991

158. Gonja Sufi – Mu.ZZ.le

157. Katzenjammer  – A Kiss Before You Go

156. Laibach – Iron Sky

155. Paul Weller – Sonik Kicks

154. Sun Arraw and M Gengras Meet the Congos – Icon Give Thank and Icon Eye

153. Off! – Off!

152. Ceremony – Zoo

151. Patti Smith – Banga

150. The Secret – Agnus Dei

So there’s our first 50 picks for the year.

How many have you heard? Do you agree that these should be included on an end of year list? Join us on Twitter with the tag #LTW2012, on our Facebook page or leave a comment below.

Numbers 149 – 100 will be counted down tomorrow (Thursday 13 December 2012).