ALARM's 50 Favorite Songs of 2012

ALARM’s 50 (+5) Favorite Songs of 2012

Last month ALARM presented its 50 favorite albums of 2012, an eclectic, rock-heavy selection of discs that were in steady rotation in our downtown-Chicago premises. Now, to give some love to tunes that were left out, we have our 50 (+5) favorite songs of last year — singles, B-sides, EP standouts, soundtrack cuts, and more.

ALARM's 50 Favorite Albums of 2012

ALARM’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2012

Another year, another torrential downpour of albums across our desks. As always, we encountered way too much amazing music, from Meshuggah to The Mars Volta, Converge, Killer Mike, P.O.S, and many more.

Watch Sole’s blistering “Assad is Dead” and download “Ruthless”

Sole: A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing (Black Canyon Music, 11/13/12)

DIY rapper and occupier Sole will be releasing his seventh studio album, A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing, next week. Titled from a letter by Marx and written as a member of Occupy Denver, the album is a call to arms, with new anthems for grassroots uprisings.

Sole

MC Sole says “fuck the vote” in co-opted Jay-Z track

Rapper/producer turned Occupy Denver devotee/politico Tim “Sole” Holland rhymes about the police state, class war, and the failure of presidency in “No Presidents,” a subverted version of Jay-Z‘s “Dead Presidents.”

B. Dolan

Review: B. Dolan’s House of Bees Vol. 2

B. Dolan: House of Bees Vol. 2 (Strange Famous)

“Still Here”

[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/B_Dolan_Still_Here1.mp3|titles=B. Dolan: “Still Here”]

In 2005, indie rapper / poet B. Dolan, with a self-released full-length under his belt, hooked up with Strange Famous Records after gaining notoriety among New York City’s slam-poetry scene. His first record, The Failure, was re-released in 2008 through his new independent home with the welcome addition of such names as Sole and label head / fellow Epic Beard Man Sage Francis. Since then, he has pushed deep into foreboding hip hop and sociopolitical commentary on another full-length as well as a mixtape titled House of Bees.

Vieo Abiungo

Review: Vieo Abiungo’s Thunder May Have Ruined the Moment

Vieo Abiungo: Thunder May Have Ruined the MomentVieo Abiungo: Thunder May Have Ruined the Moment (Lost Tribe Sound, 4/17/12)

“With Its Slow Decay”

[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Vieo_Abiungo_Pete_Monro_with_its_slow_decay.mp3|titles=Vieo Abiungo: “With Its Slow Decay”]

Multi-multi-multi-instrumentalist, composer, and all-around whiz kid William Ryan Fritch has lent his musical dexterity to a number of film scores, as well as underground rapper Sole and his Skyrider Band. He also has recently begun making a name for himself under the pseudonym Vieo Abiungo, having released two albums in addition to his latest, Thunder May Have Ruined the Moment.