Bears And Bullets Songs Of The Year (#25-#1)

And here it is, the final piece in the all-too-lovable list week: Bears And Bullets Top 50 Songs Of The Year, numbers 25 through one.

Bears And Bullets Albums Of The Year (#10-#1)

Continuing from yesterday, here are the top ten selections for Bears and Bullets Top Albums Of 2012:

New Fiona Apple - Dull Tool

Cut from this year's standout LP The Idler Wheel ... is this more-than-solid extra "Dull Tool." Full of Apple-esque booming virtuosity, subtle string arrangements and her usual stark realism, it's exactly what you want (or expect) with the 35-year-old singer-songwriter. Check it out below.

Albums of the Month: June 2012

Albums of the Month - June 2012

With summer officially beginning, we're more than halfway through 2012. While the year started out casually slow, the succession of months has really displayed some intensely original and invigorating material. This past month featured one of the year's most hyped releases (and it delivered!), emerging artists, and one man who shows up on Bears and Bullets fairly often. Here are my favorite three.

3.) Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse

Continually rising in from the San Francisco garage scene, Ty Segall's stamp on 2012 is more profound than ever. With his band's album Slaughterhouse (Insound), a blistering charm of cruising garage punk, an album collaboration with White Fence, and an upcoming tour with fellow San Fran-soon-to-be-legends Thee Oh Sees, Segall affirmed his name as the apparent torch-bearer to the late Jay Reatard. While there still seems to be a way to go before his name is put on the same pedestal as the Nashville punk pioneer, Slaughterhouse is the next step in that progression. Still unquestionably raw, especially on tracks like "The Bag I'm In," Segall put together his finest album yet.

2.) Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel ...
This year's front-runner for longest album title, the ageless (seriously, I don't think she ages) icon Fiona Apple's first album in seven years, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (Insound) continues the confusing mad-woman allure that is Fiona. She's cleverly affectionate, playing with the ideas of need, desire, and love to the point where the definition is null. There are few who can do this, mending through unconventional rhythms and vocal renditions to the poignant stories in songs like "Werewolf" and "Anything We Want." It's those sweetly chaotic moments, with Apple dolling out melancholy verse between odd-ball sounds, that give you a moment to step into the 34-year-old genius' mind. And maybe it doesn't make sense to you, but there's a serene satisfaction knowing it does to her.

1.) The Tallest Man On Earth - There's No Leaving Now
If you're familiar with Bears and Bullets, then you're aware of my outward affection of Kristian Mattson, The Tallest Man On Earth. On his third album, and first since 2010's The Wild Hunt, Mattson has found his unavoidable niche. The jarring, unequivocally saddening and uplifting style of modern folk music is usually nothing more than acoustics and an occasional piano, but his romantic verses are what keep pushing the limits of his artistic flexibility. Songs like the title track and "Little Brother" are impossibly emotional, evoking scenes that very, very few others are even capable of. But maybe I'm biased. 

New Fiona Apple video - Every Single Night

Fiona Apple's upcoming super-hyped album The Idler Wheel ... is finally set for release June 19th, but you can get a first listen to the album, courtesy of NPR. As well, Apple has premiered the first video for the album, of the lead-single "Every Single Night." The Joseph Cahill-directed video features her in slimy animal paradise. Check it out below.

Actual new Fiona Apple

This is really it, the first new Fiona Apple song we've heard in more than seven years. "Every Single Night," which you can stream below, is the first single from Apple's June 19 album The Ilder Wheel ... which is sure to be pretty huge.

Tuesday Bears: Fiona Apple comes out of the shadow world

Fiona Apple is an American myth. She rarely does shows, is perpetually 24-years old, has only a few albums, but is still very popular, despite the relatively light work-load in her two-decade career. So when the Manhattan native announced her first album (for real this time) since 2005's Extraordinary Machine, it was meant to be noticed.

According to sources, we're at the least expecting a new album "soon" without any regard of when exactly, or what it could be. Stay tuned for that.

Except Fiona Apple's New Cover Song

Found this on Stereogum, and I gotta say it's pretty incredible. Sorry, no download's yet.