Pop Culture Resolutions and Anticipations for 2012: From Matthew Dear to Murakami to Mr. Show

Thanks to the Internet’s love affair with The List, turning over a new leaf into a new year has become, shall we say, blogally laborious. That said, I’ve yet to meet the pop culture freak or geek who would walk away from a chance to tally his or her bests or worsts in a public, numbered format. We’ve given you a few fond looks back at 2011 (Best Songs, Best Moments, Best Discovery … we’ve even had our own wildly would-be hit single mentioned in The Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop Poll), but it’s time to start looking forward, a month into this thing called 2012. Without further ado, check out our Pop Culture Resolutions, as well as three of the records we’re most looking forward to hearing in the new year (numbers 34, 54 and 55), both via The A.V. Club.

Zestfully mean

The A.V. Club recently released its “Spring Music” issue highlighting some fresh faces for the freshest of seasons. I spoke to Dan Deacon, Adam “doseone” Drucker (Themselves) and Bill Callahan, though not a single one of them seemed too stoked for the season. In fact, they were respectively cranky, aggressive and ponderous — but I’ll be damned if they didn’t give great interview.