Top 10 Albums of 2012

Well, the world didn't end, so I guess I need to get my year-end list up. Like in previous years, I aim to make this list a mix of what I enjoyed and spun the most as well as what also was good, technically-speaking, in my opinion. I think people often put far too much weight behind what a year-end list contains, as if what's listed at #5 or #1 is the God's honest truth. If you thought Carly Rae Jepsen's album was the best album of the year, right on. For as much as music writers critique the year's various releases, it really comes down to a matter of opinion -- though I'll admit there are some things out there that are just legitimately bad, and you know what I mean.

2012 was a year of changes for me, and, therefore, for Mixtape Muse, as well. I'd be lying to you if I said I heard all of the year's buzzed about releases -- let alone a bulk of them. But of the ones I did have the pleasure of hearing, this is what I dug the most.

LISTEN: Surgeons In Heat

If Steely Dan embraced indie pop, it would sound something like Surgeons In Heat. This Madison/Milwaukee four-piece crafts smooth, sharp indie pop rock that, without pretension, evokes a mod sort of cool. There's an undertone of agitation beneath their calm and collected surface that gives the music just the right amount of bite, recalling the songwriting of Graham Parker and Elvis Costello. If you wanted to straddle the line between a relaxed night in and a night of cruising the streets with the top down, spin the band's self-titled, debut EP.

Check out Surgeons In Heat's self-titled EP below.