2012 was a year full of really brilliant music…mostly. We still haven’t heard “Call Me Maybe” in it’s entirety and we are keeping it that way.

It was difficult for us to narrow the options down to some arbitrary number, but here’s a few of our favorite albums to come out in the past year. Oh, an before you ask: no, Frank Ocean is not included.

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There was a lot of fantastic music in 2012, which meant that every week it seemed like some amazing new video was gluing us to our computer screens. If, unlike us, you don’t live inside the internet and missed a few, here are the best thirteen videos of the past year, in no particular order.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ 

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“Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key”

Fiona Apple is the soundtrack of your despair. Wether you’ve just broken up with someone, have spiralled into chemical depression or you just want to curl up and feel sad for a bit, Fiona has cornered the market on raw emotion in songwriting. Her 2012 release, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, is one of the best records to come out this year. It may be Apple’s best record in terms of lyrical brilliance, emotional intensity and sonic craftsmanship.

I got the chance to see Apple’s show at Terminal 5 in NYC earlier this week, my first experience seeing her live. After a short opening set by her guitar player Blake Mills, Apple took the stage to huge applause and, with no hesitation or introduction, jumped right in.

Her roughly hour-long set was a mix of cuts from The Idler Wheel and favorites from her previous releases. Songs like “Shadowboxer” and “Extraordinary Machine” turned into sing-a-longs with roars of joy from devotees and newer tracks were met with just as much enthusiasm. Apple said next-to-nothing between songs and didn’t come back for an encore (and she didn’t play “Criminal” *sob*), but the show was truly incredible. She sings with unrestrained emotion, sounding exactly as she does on record. She bangs out those looming minor chords on her piano with incredible ferocity. She moves to the music her four-piece backing band provides with animalistic sensuality. This is an artist whose songs are the unfiltered musical embodiment of her inner life, alive with her anger and disdain and pain and, sometimes, joy. Oh Fiona, how we missed you. Don’t stay away for so long next time.

-MARK DOMMU

Fiona Apple was arrested yesterday for having some hash in her car. Do you think they let her wear that squid from the “Every Single Night” video on her head for the mugshot? Read the full report from The Huffington Post:

Fiona Apple was arrested at a border stop in Sierra Blanca, Texas on Wednesday, after authorities claim they found hashish on the singer’s tour bus, reports TMZ.

According to the website, when Apple’s bus was stopped for inspection officers uncovered the hashish, which is a concentrated form of cannabis. The “Criminal” singer was arrested for possession and is currently being held at Hudspeth County Jail.

Now the entire Interweb is scrambling to make the best “Criminal” jokes.

She’s been a bad, bad girl.

-MARK DOMMU