Top 5 Songs
1. Video Games – Lana Del Rey
2. Inbetweens – Withered Hand
3. MariKKKopa – Desaparecidos
4. Laura – Bat For Lashes
5. Piledriver Waltz – Caitlin Rose

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Isabella Manfredi
Isabella’s band, The Preatures have had a great year, signing with Universal, releasing their second EP and performing on stages across Australia. Isabella is also a writer, with articles appearing in magazines such as RUSSH:

Top 5 Albums
1. Sun – Cat Power
2. Outlands – Deep Sea Arcade
3. Lonerism – Tame Impala
4. Something – Chairlift
5. Born to Die – Lana Del Rey

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Caitlin Park
We first chanced upon Caitlin playing her beautiful folktronica well over a year ago. Since then she has gone on to pick up a SOYA award and is one of the artists to watch in 2013. Big things await:

Top 5 Albums
1. Sun – Cat Power
2. Zammuto – Zammuto
3. Cable Mount Warning – The Maple Trail
4. Sounds of Our City – Emma Russack
5. The Lion’s Roar – First Aid Kit

Top 5 Films
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Woody Allen documentary
3. Searching For Sugarman
4. The Sapphires
5. The Dark Knight Rises

Top 5 Songs
1. Cherokee – Cat Power
2. Too Late to Topologize – Zammuto
3. The Lion’s Roar – First Aid Kit
4. He Was My Family – Emma Russack
5. Hangin’ On – Active Child

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Ruby Frost
New Zealand singer Ruby Frost‘s single, Water To Ice, got stuck in our heads for about three months this year. Here’s what got stuck in her head:

Top 5 Albums
1. Grimes – Visions
2. Solange – True
3. Jack White – Blunderbuss
4. Tame Impala – Lonerism
5. Breakbot – By Your Side

Top 5 Films
1. Moonrise Kingdom
2. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel
3. Looper
4. Prometheus
5. The Hobbit

Top 5 Songs of 2012.
1. Everything Is Embarrasing – Sky Ferreira
2. Solange – Lovers In The Parking Lot
3. Grimes – Genesis
4. Royksopp – Running To The Sea feat. Susanne Sundfor
5. Azealia Banks – 212

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Larry Heath
Larry runs a great Australian music website with which we work very closely, called The AU Review. Here’s what caught his attention this year:

Top 5 Albums
1. Grizzly Bear – Shields
2. Regular John – Strange Flowers
3. First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
4. Metric – Synthetica
5. DZ Deathrays – Bloodstream

Top 5 Films
1. Safety Not Guaranteed
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. Hugo
4. Skyfall
5. Moonrise Kingdom

A special mention to 21 Jump Street on being one of the more surprising films of the year. Expected nothing, ended up laughing my face off for the vast majority of that film. Also yet to be considered, but from what I’m told could easily make the above list: Argo, The Intouchables, The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

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Fanny Lumsden

Along with her trusty band, The Thrillseekers, Fanny Lumsden turned many a venue into a big ol’ hoedown this year. Here is what got her feet tapping:

Top 5 Albums
1. Joe Pug – The Great Despiser
2. First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
3. The Lumineers – The Lumineers
4. Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson – Wreck & Ruin.
5. Sui Zhen – Two Seas

Top 5 Songs
1. Emmylou – First Aid Kit
2. Gracelands – Paul Simon (obviously not released this year but
listened to a lot).
3. Fool for Love – Jordie Lane
4. Take a Card – The Preatures
5. That’s What’s Up – Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zeros

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Sui Zhen

Sui Zhen‘s beautiful LP, Two Seas, made it into our top ten albums of 2012, so it was only right that we asked her what she was listening to. Here are her fave songs of the year:

Top 5 Songs
1. You Changed Me – Sean Nicholas Savage. The intro alone is kills me every time. Huge music crush. 
2. Bus Tickets – Brothers Hand Mirror (Melb). Every time I hear this live or recorded I get chills. Love Oscar and Grant. 
3. Wishing Well – Edgar Summertyme. Amazing vintage aesthetic for a 2012 release.
4. Eternity by No Zu (Melb). Sounds great on the recording and makes people take their clothes off live. 
5. On The Floor – The Ocean Party (Melb). I could listen to these dudes, or counterpart Velcro all day. Suspends me in a perpetual youth. 

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Colin Delaney

Encore Magazine‘s Colin Delaney knows a thing or two about movies, so we thought we’d find out what his ten favourite films of the year were and also what we should be looking out for in 2013:

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild – A stirring tale about a disenfranchised child in the back waters of Louisiana after the deluge of a hurricane. Its beauty will make you weep with its child-like wonder similar to Where The Wild Things Are but a reality much more harsh. It’s the first feature film from Behn Zeitlin – an over-achiever at 29 who also co-wrote the score.

2. The Dark Knight Rises – The conclusion to the gritty and dark comic Christopher Nolan films, it’s the film film studios could learn from – Superhero pics can have a bigger market than 16 year-old boys… But can Nolan’s touch do the same for Superman?

3. Skyfall – Sam Mendes’ deft directorial hand with Roger Deakins’ cinematography gives James Bond a sophistication beyond martinis and tuxedos while still giving a whole lot of ass-kicking.

4. Argo – Say what you like of his acting in J.Lo’s ‘Jenny from The Block’ clip, Ben Affleck has become one hell of a director. Argo’s espionage meets Hollywood picture is a real life thriller. Fantastic.

5. Looper – Watched with Something You Said’s Big Ed, Bobby, we needed a few beers over a couple of hours to unravel the mysteries behind both time-travel and Joseph Gordon Levitt’s upper lip. We reached no conclusion on either matter.

6. Swerve – Craig Lahiff’s Australian-noir, Swerve is stylised and fun, playing out like an Aussie version of an Elmore Leonard novel.

7. The Avengers – A popcorn rollercoaster with Hulk’s role within the team’s make up a lot of fun… the other plus was Scarlett’s bottom.

8. Cabin in the Woods – While The Avengers was Joss Whedon’s big flick, he wrote and produced experimental horror Cabin in the Woods. Watch it. It’s great. That is all I can give you.

9. Storm Surfers 3D – It’s hard to recommend a film you should have watched in 3D at the cinema four months ago and will lose a substantial amount of its impact on DVD but this documentary about two long term friends and pro surfers taking on the biggest waves around Australia, and thus the world, is not just a dude-movie. It’s a high quality adventure that puts you deep inside a barrel that could fit a London double-decker, if you clench your seat tight enough, perhaps you might come out the other end to safety.

10. The Sapphires – The darling of this year’s local cinema, as only a feelgood film seems to achieve, the gals were great, the songs classic and Chris O’Dowd was a loveable Irish drunk and for a first feature it put director Wayne Blair on the international map with a great reception at Cannes.

Honourable mentions: Drive, Wish You Were Here, Moonrise Kingdom, Not Suitable For Children

Haven’t seen: The Hobbit, Life of Pi, The Master

In 2013 I’m looking forward to: Gangster Squad, Rover, Django Unchained, Felony, Zero Dark Thirty, Drift

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What do you reckon to our buddies’ choices? Agree with them? Disagree? Let us know in the comments section below.

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