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So my goal this year was to do a best music open thread without mentioning Gagnam Style Parodies, Call Me Maybe, or Taylor Swift. Perhaps the Mayans were right after all. :D

I do like CityPaper's list, and particularly its criterion for inclusion:

We do this every year: Critics and other music dorks give me top 10 lists. I pop them into a spreadsheet and assign points to each album based on things like where a voter ranked it and where I rank the voter as a human. ... Eventually, a master list is printed out and given to our least reliable intern for safekeeping. A couple weeks later, we track the kid down ...and ask him or her to recite it from memory.

Included in the CityPaper List is this delightful band, Hot Chip, which somehow convinced Terence Stamp to do a rap interlude. The Mayans should call me. Maybe.

What music released in 2012 made your ears listen? Open thread below...