- Listen Whitey! Sounds of Black Power 1967-74 –V/A (Light in the Attic)
- The Coup – Sorry to Bother You (Anti-)
- Krzysztof Penderecki/Jonny Greenwood – Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, etc. (Nonesuch)
- Swans – Seer (Young Gods)
- Sleepy Sun – Spine Hits (The End)
- Father John Misty – Fear Fun (Sub Pop)
- Ty Segall – Twins (Drag City)
- Ty Segall & White Fence /Hair (Drag City)
- Thee Oh Sees – Putrifiers II EP (In The Red)
- Coal Porters – Find the One (Prima)
- Los Straitjackets – Jet Set (Yep Roc)
- Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral (4AD)
- Amadou & Mariam – Folila (Nonesuch)
- Dr. John – Locked Down (Nonesuch)
- Menahan Street Band – Crossing (Daptone)
- On With the Show – The Johnny Otis Story Volume 2: 1957-1974 (Ace)
- Magnetic Fields – Love at the Bottom of the Sea (Merge)
- Lee Fields & the Expressions – Faithful Man (Truth & Soul)
- Jim White – Where It Hits You (Yep Roc)
- Dan Melchior – Backward Path (Northern-Spy Records)
- Howlin’ Rain – The Russian Wilds (Columbia/ DMZ)
- Todd Snider – Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables (Aimless)
- Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas (Columbia)
- The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Meat and Bone (Mom and Pop)
- Chuck Prophet – Temple Beautiful (Yep Roc)
Best Shows of 2012
- Dick Dale at the Uptown, Oakland
- Tenacious D at the Fox, Oakland
- Willie Nelson at the Fox, Oakland
- George Clinton at the Regency Ballroom, SF
- The Magnetic Fields at the Fox, Oakland
- Dan Hicks at Davies Symphony Hall, SF
- Sleep/Oxbow at the Fox, Oakland
- Quintron and Miss Pussycat at New Parish, Oakland
- Dumpstafunk at New Parish, Oakland
- Mount Carmel at One Eyed Jacks, New Orleans
- Treme Brass Band at Louis Armstrong Park, New Orleans
- Washboard Chaz at the Spotted Cat, New Orleans
- Bonerama at the Blue Nile, New Orleans
- Foreverland at New Parish, Oakland
- Jason Brock at Martuni’s, SF
