Top Ten of 2012

Here's one for the list: A Thing Called Divine Fits. These songs are all fuzzed out, groovy melodic pop, with that excellent rasp of Britt Daniel and the crunchy bass-and-drums minimalism that makes Spoon so good. The group is a collaboration, most notably between songwriters Daniel of Spoon and Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner. They trade songwriting credits and singing duties, but you can probably already tell which one of the two I favor. The super-powered dancey "What Gets You Alone" and the beautiful Nick Cave throwback "Shivers" stand out on this set. (Watch for more of my top ten list throughout the month.)