The Dozen: 2012’s 12 Best Tracks

Mouse on Mars – Polaroyced

Whatever happened to electronica anyway? Things went mainstream with glitchsters like Postal Service and their indie romcom stylings, but nowadays only dubstep and its myriad sub-genres serve up the hard stuff. Like Squarepusher, Germany’s Mouse on Mars returned from a sea of white noise to rediscover the joie de vivre of their wonky 90s sounds, now fused with this decade’s digital post-step dayglo.

Grimes – Circumambient

Actually, I suppose electronica lives on through backwoods DIY outfits like Creep, Pictureplane and Purity Ring. Grimes is the queen of the crop, and don’t let the fact I heard this first in American Apparel put you off.

Hans Zimmer – Gotham’s Reckoning

Crashing this plane…with NO survivors! I remember watching the Dark Knight Rises prologue when it was tacked onto MI:  Ghost Protocol, and the hairs on the back of my neck went stratospheric once Zimmer’s looming undertones launched into all-out Jaws and 666 territory.  I think I was excited to see Rises just so I could hear this behemoth again.