Top Thirty 7″ Records of 2012 (#30-16)

7inch

It’s that time of year again folks, the time where everybody’s favorite year-end tradition comes back to haunt them – lists! Frankly, if you ask us, the year wouldn’t be the same without these things, which is why we’re bringing you our third edition of year-end wrap-ups today.

We’re going to begin with 7″ records which just may be the toughest category considering we covered over 110 unique singles throughout 2012. As you’re going through the list below, you’ll notice that each record has a rank – our ordering is representative of our anticipation for future releases from these bands in the new year, but also just as importantly, anything that we thought stood out throughout 2012. Bear that in mind as you go through! So without further ado, here goes nothin’.

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It’s tough to admit but there’s always going to be those releases that just barely missed the mark – what’s even worse is that time limits us all and we just couldn’t cover every 7″ we wanted to. Below you’ll find a short list of the singles we couldn’t fit on our list, as well as a few we just didn’t have the time to cover:

Honorable Mentions:
Protomartyr – Kings Boots 7″ (Urinal Cake Records)
Grand Trine – Bohemians 7″ (Almost Ready Records)
VVhile – VVhile is Vanity 7″ EP (Jazz Chairs/Twin Toe)
Bare Mutants – Without You 7″ (Hozac Records)
Tight Genes – Cop Again 7″ (Goodbye Boozy Records)
The Nervous Ticks – Badlands 7″ (Goodbye Boozy Records)
Mining Boom – Dining Room 7″ (Self-released)
Unwed Teenage Mothers – If You Think… 7″ (Speakertree Records)
Wobbly Lamps – Neon Tee Pee 7″ (Polyvinyl Craftsmen)
Cold Warps – Slimer 7″ (FunDog Records)

Some we missed:
Heavy Times – K-9 7″ (Windian Records)
Terry Malts – Living With the Human Race 7″ (Windian Records)
Useless Eaters – New Program 7″ (Anti Fade)
Hierophants – Bow Down to… 7″ (Anti Fade)

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30.)
The Lonesome Savages – All Outta Love 7″
Label: Kind Turkey Records
B-side:
With the combination of Dead Luke and Max Elliot (formerly of Zola Jesus), the Lonesome Savages were born. Together they create these crunchy blues rock dirges, showing off that gritty, Midwestern twang that’s easy to love. Looking forward into the near year, we’ll have to see where they go next.

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29.) adam widener make out 7 ep 2012 fuzz city
Adam Widener – Make Out 7″ EP
Label: Fuzz City Records
A-side:
Formerly in Bare Wires and the Zygoteens, now Widener makes pop music on his own terms. After hearing his two 7″ singles from this year, there’s no second-guessing what he’s up to. Now we wait on what comes next!

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28.)
The Babies – Moonlight Mile 7″
Label: Woodsist
A-side:
The Babies have come a long way to say the least. This 7″ is surely proof of that. We didn’t get a chance to cover their sophomore LP this year, but “Moonlight Mile” is a pretty good indication of what you’d be getting into. Throw in a warming and folksy B-side like “Places” and you’ve got yourself a 7″ gem.

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27.)
Ghost of Chance – Paddle Boat 7″
Label: ObscureMe Records
Track 2:
Ghost of Chance came bearing a peculiar 7″ that blended elements from both garage rock and frothy dream pop, a combination we don’t hear very often. They also mess around with rhythm and tempo mix-ups, making for sudden changes in tracks that occur within moments, requiring close, careful listening.

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26.) magic shadows 2012 sunburned mind 7 under the stairs
Magic Shadows – Sunburned Mind 7″
Label: Self-released
A-side:
Hamilton, Ontario burnouts Magic Shadows dropped this 7″ with more pent-up and psyched-out aggression than thought possible to fit onto wax. Hopefully we get to hear more of these sinister ragers in 2013 because these guys aren’t messing around.

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25.)
Wax Idols – Schadenfreude 7″
Label: Suicide Squeeze Records
A-side:
These are easily two of Hether Fortune’s best tracks to date, leaving us ready for her sophomore LP Discipline and Desire that is due to drop early next year via Slumberland Records. We’ve been lucky enough to hear some of the new material already, but we’re still waiting for the bigger picture. Sit tight until March and we should have a better idea of what to expect.

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24.)
Heroes and Heroines – Two Weeks 7″
Label: Self-released
B-side:
For their debut 7″ Heroes and Heroines brought us their own strand of bubbly garage pop from Los Angeles. Featuring an unmatched level of innocence, the two tracks included here are about as charming and blissful as you could possibly hope for.

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23.)
Missing Monuments – Love You Back to Life 7″
Label: Hozac Records
B-side:
Clean and razor-sharp power-punk anthems dominate this particular Missing Monuments 7″. All three of these tracks feature Julien Fried’s signature shred, not to mention carefully organized pop song structure and a fun, lovable innocence.

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22.)
Zig Zags – Scavenger 7″
Label: Mexican Summer
A-side:
This debut Zig Zags 7″ hit us like a ton of bricks. Bringing us their sludgy punk energy from Los Angeles (and past bands like Unnatural Helpers and the Intelligence), we’re bound to hear more from them in 2013. At least that’s what we’re hoping.

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21.)
Lecherous Gaze – Bagagazo 7″
Label: Who Can You Trust? Records
A-side:
Lecherous Gaze left us a fucking monster on their debut 7″ from German label Who Can You Trust? Clocking in at over 10 minutes of heavy-guitar (and guitar-heavy!) rock and roll, there was no way to possibly forget this lethal single. Let’s hope we hear some more in the new year.

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20.)
King Tuff – Wild Desire 7″
Label: Suicide Squeeze Records
A-side:
The exhilarating qualities and guitar wizardry of “Wild Desire” would probably be enough to get this 7″ up here even without a B-side. Suicide Squeeze dropped this single just before King Tuff’s sophomore LP on Sub Pop this year, quickly leaving us all foaming at the mouth for what would eventually come next.

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19.)
Martyr Privates – Bless 7″
Label: Bon Voyage Records
A-side:
Martyr Privates served up their debut 7″ so hot and heavy that it’ll burn you if you get too close. Harsh repetition, searing guitars and crunchy melodies go a long way to help give us hope for their future. We haven’t heard much about what it includes yet, but let’s keep our fingers crossed.

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18.)
The Pharmacy – Dig Your Grave 7″
Label: Kind Turkey Records
A-side:
If you’re talking solid 7-inches then you can’t forget this. Four tracks, each totally different yet still somehow cohesive from this prolific Seattle band. On top of this they had a pretty busy year, dropping both an EP and a full length on Seayou Records.

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17.)
Red Dons – Auslander 7″
Label: Dirtnap Records
A-side:
Tight, sharp, world-ending post-punk meltdowns with just the right amount of caffeine from Portland. It’s beyond fitting for the Dirtnap label and is easily some of their best material to date. It’s not clear whether or not we’ll hear more from Red Dons in 2013, but it seems likely to happen sooner or later.

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16.)
Plateaus – Do It For You 7″
Label: Hozac Records
A-side:
Do It For You was the much-anticipated follow up to Plateaus debut 7″ from last year. This was followed by a second single on Art Fag, which finally led to their debut LP toward the end of 2012. The LP version of these songs don’t stand a chance against the 7″ recordings, however this single still belongs on this list.