Wait, she had a record this good in her?

By Alan Scherstuhl

This list of the year's best country albums is assembled with two important premises in mind: First: If the people who record and listen to these records consider them country, than they're damn well country. Purists who argue that country should still sound like '68, '76, '84 or whenever are in the interesting position of being more conservative than Nashville radio.

I have nothing against the opinion that Hank Williams -- or whatever other well-marketed figure of authenticity you prefer -- would love to see Rascal Flatts knocked on their J.C. Penney-endorsing asses. But I also accept that that opinion matters much less than those of the few million people who still actually buy CDs.

Second, Taylor Swift is now beyond country the way that Kanye is beyond hip hop or J.R. is beyond Dallas. She simply is. Red would rank highly here if I were to waste a slot on it, but she belongs on more broadly focused lists, like maybe "Best Things in General in Recent Years."

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Photo by W.B. Fontenot

Elena Vladi from Demona Mortiss

It was a great year for the L.A. Weekly music section and our West Coast Sound blog. On the print side, we offered well-reported profiles, news stories, and essays that helped our readers better understand the music they love. On the blog we wrote compulsively-readable pieces that started conversations and offered up alternative takes on the conventional wisdom. (Five times a day!) We sought to get away from the insider-y, boring critical dictums awash in cultural bias found in most music writing. We specialized in the music that folks in L.A. are actually listening to -- EDM, metal, hip-hop, Latin Alternative, K-pop -- rather than the listless indie shit the New York critics keep insisting on. Here, then, are our most widely-read pieces of the year.

Our most popular print stories

5. Everything You Wanted to Know About Metal but Were Afraid to Ask
By Jason Roche

Djent: Pronounced "junt," it describes a new wave of bands incorporating elements of progressive metal, thrash and death. The name djent comes from the sound of the genre's standard rhythm riff. Examples: Meshuggah, Periphery

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Randy Blythe, vocalist for Lamb of God

A lot of monumental things in metal this year. Some of them involved actual music. Many did not. In honor of the year's end, we gave our notebook a good shaking to help us remember the most important stuff.

Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums of All Time

-Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe was jailed for a month over the summer in the Czech Republic, and faces manslaughter charges. A fan died after a show they put on there in 2010, allegedly because Blythe shoved him offstage. Blythe was eventually released on bail, and the band triumphantly returned to stages this past fall. A court date has been set for February 4th. Blythe told L.A. Weekly that he intends on returning to face the charges. Honestly, we're not sure we would do that ourselves, but it is admirable.

See also: Lamb of God - The Palladium - 10/31/12

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Carlos Basto Spoon

Monsieur Perine

It has become difficult to define what Latin Alternative is these days. The genre seems to encompass everything from traditional roots band playing an accordion to a progressive hip-hop MCs to singer-songwriters crooning romantic ballads -- and can be sung in Spanish, English or Spanglish. It's a hybrid-culture, forward-thinking scene that is ever evolving.

Those following Latin Alternative music can't just be up on what's happening here in L.A. or out in New York City, they music know what's new in the streets of places like Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile. With all of that in mind, here's our list of the ten best Latin alternative albums of the year.

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Timothy Norris

10. My Morning Jacket
The Wiltern, September 11-13
The ever-electrifying My Morning Jacket held a three-night stint at the Wiltern this past September and didn't repeat a single tune. That's right. Three nights and no repeats. It takes one heck of a repertoire not just to have that many songs, but to remember how to play them all. From whiskey-fueled country laments like "Golden" to disco party jams "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part II" to a gospel choir "Holdin On to Black Metal" and some really daring covers including "Tyrone" (Erykah Badu) and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (Prince), The long-haired Kentucky natives brought something for everyone. --Molly Bergen

See also: The Best Los Angeles Concerts of 2011

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Nicholas Pell

Municipal Waste

A live heavy metal show can be one of the most visceral experiences a music fan can experience. Our top five L.A. metal shows of 2012 have made it really fucking hard to go back to watching some dude strumming an acoustic guitar while sitting on a bar stool.

See also: Top Ten Los Angeles Metal Albums of 2012
Best Los Angeles Metal Shows of 2011

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Black Hippy

As Max Bell noted in his round-up of L.A. rap earlier this month, it was a very good year for hip-hop in our city, with all corners of the varied scene -- from Open Mike Eagle's smart 4NML HSPTL to Odd Future's rambunctious The OF Tape Vol. 2 to Ty$ and Joe Moses' raunchy Whoop! -- well represented. Oh, and then there was a certain South Central-based collective you may have heard of. In any case, since we like to play favorites, here are our top five.

See also: The Best Rap Singles of 2012
The Ten Best L.A. Albums of 2012

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TNGHT

The term "electronic dance music" means so many things to so many people, and this year things only got more complicated. Dubstep continued its dance floor takeover, mainstream pop-oriented EDM ruled the radio, and the beat scene pushed on. Although divergent in style and ethos, here are the ten dance tracks that made us move most this year.

What's the Difference Between the EDM Scene and the Beat Scene?
The 20 Greatest EDM DJs

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Julia Holter

Los Angeles music was a big part of the national conversation this year, from Frank Ocean and Miguel's artisan R&B to Top Dawg Entertainment's hip-hop dominance to the electronic inspirations of Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer. Picking but ten albums from this crop as the West Coast Sound writers have was not easy, but we did it for you dear reader because, as Drake once said, you the fucking best. -Ben Westhoff

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Photo: Farah Sosa

5. Kamasi Washington
Footsies Bar, February 8th

Tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington is a force, and stands as thick as a redwood, which is tough when he is blocking your way to the restroom and he happens to be blasting his horn at that time too. But add in Thundercat on bass, his brother Ronald Bruner on pummeling drums and keyboardist Brandon Coleman playing a pile of instruments and you have one of the best jazz/funk/soul bands to fit into a small space. The seething, sweating crowd was really feeling it as Washington rattled the velvet paintings off the walls.

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